Scales
Both Marche au supplice and Rhapsody in Blue are linear music. Most melodies in both pieces are in conjunct motion, often being based on scales. For Rhapsody in Blue, as the name suggests, blues scales are predominantly used, whereas natural and harmonic minor scales are mainly used in Marche au supplice. The importance of scales in Berlioz’s melodic theme can be observed on the first theme that appears at measure 17 after opening motive of the timpani's tonic chord triplets in G minor; the first theme, played by cellos and basses is simply a two octave descending natural minor scale.
This melodic theme derived from descending minor scale is used throughout the piece, played by the strings. The second main melodic theme in Marche au supplice, a march with strong pulses, is also in conjunct motion and has derived from a major scale. It is notable that this theme is a variation of the main theme from the previous movement, Scène aux champs.
Like the theme introduced previously, this melodic theme recurs throughout the piece, played by the winds. Many other melodies are derived from scales. For example, in the development section, ascending scales are used as melodies to open coda.
Similarly, all the melodic themes in Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue are based on blues scales and are usually in conjunct motion. The most common blues scale used in this piece lowers 7ths and uses a mix of major and minor 3rds.
This famous melody is based on such aforementioned blues scale. It is in G major, and 7th, F sharp, is lowered to F natural, and both A sharp, which is enharmonic with B flat, and B natural appears, which are, respectively, minor and major 3rds. Similar to Marche au supplice, melodies appearing in Rhapsody in Blue are just scales themselves, as observed in andantino moderato:
Most of the melodies in both Marche au supplice and Rhapsody in Blue are simply scales or based on scales. This resulted in most melodies moving instepwisemotion.
Texture
Another important link between Rhapsody in Blue and Marche au supplice is that both pieces utilize polyphonic, monophonic, hom*ophonic, and polyphonic textures. This shows the variation of texture within the two pieces and another musical link that connects these two pieces of different contexts. In Marche au supplice, monophonic texture can be observed by the end of the movement where idée fixe, a famous recurring theme that ties Symphonie Fantastique together, appears.
hom*ophonic texture is the most common texture in this piece. Below is an example.
Finally, polyphonic texture can be found when the main melody carried by the violins are juxtaposed to countermelody by the viola and the cellos/basses.
Frequent texture change is also prominent in Rhapsody in Blue. The solo piano’s short cadenza shortly before andantino moderato creates monophonic texture.
hom*ophonic texture is evident in andantino moderato.
Similarly, polyphonic texture can be found in agitato e misterioso when the orchestra plays the melody whilst the solo piano plays the countermelody.
Melodic Themes and Instrumentation
While both pieces have more than one distinctive melodic themes, interestingly, it is possible to see that different melodic lines are assigned to specific instruments. For example, in Marche au supplice, the first main theme, which is of two octaves descending minor scales, is only played by the strings, supported by the winds. When the second theme is introduced, which is the march theme, the strings and the winds switch the role, and winds start playing the main melody line, whereas strings play the supporting line. The orchestra is divided into two groups, the winds and the strings, to create various textures and balance the melodic themes. Similarly, the orchestra and the solo piano is divided in Rhapsody in Blue. Although all melodic theme are played by both the orchestra and the solo piano at least once, for most of the time, when one is playing the primary melody, the other is either tacit or playing supportive harmonic lines or countermelody.
