I had wanted to comment on this the other day, but forgot -
I agree that the "3 brass notes" do seem to add to the "fate" feel, but in reality, I think
they are probably more an echo of the old theatrical tradition of 3 knocks on the floor
signalling the start of a play or scene. Verdi actually used this technique quite a bit in
various forms - it happens a bunch of times in Don Carlo, for instance.
But it's then also interesting that the actual "fate" theme starts with 3 repeated upward
swoops from the strings, each time landing on the same E that the brass started with (the
3rd one held and expanded on). And that whole passage plays 3 times in of itself (with the
3rd one leading further upward from where the first 2 end). So in fact, that theme does
seem to develop out of the "3 knocks" in a very clear and intriguing way.
On Sat, 14 Jan 2017 12:49:01 -0500, Max D. Winter <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Complaints that "The Force of Destiny" should be retitled, "The Force of Coincidence,"
miss
>the point. DESTINY/FATE - embodied in those three brass notes and the surging
"destiny"
>theme, which recurs throughout the opera - pushes all the characters towards that tragic
>final scene. In this opera, there is no coincidence - nothing is random or happenstance
>because the force of destiny, impersonal, inoxerable and tragic, determines these
>characters' choices and movements.
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