Musical Link #1 - Melody
Both pieces share some interesting similarities in the way that their melodies are constructed. Ultimately, the melodies in both genres of music are constructed from ascending and descending progressions in a relatively narrow band of notes. Rather than being based upon chord progressions from the Western diatonic scales (major and minor), they are primarily modal and based on sequences of steps, which are often heavily ornamented.
First, let us take note of the tonal foundations of the two pieces. Both lack a clear key in the modern Western sense and are instead based upon modes, one western and one Arabic. La Bouree from Dances from Terpsichore appears to be constructed from the D Mixolydian mode, similar to a major scale but with a lowered 7th. Samaii Muheiyar, on the other hand, is based upon the Maqam Jiharkah, an Arabic modes which contains B flat and E half-flat (Parfitt). This mode is shown in Figure A below. It is interesting to note that although the modes which the two pieces are based upon differ significantly, both pieces are similar in that they are based primarily upon progressions of notes in their respective modes rather than specific intervals or chords, as is common in modern Western music.
First, let us take note of the tonal foundations of the two pieces. Both lack a clear key in the modern Western sense and are instead based upon modes, one western and one Arabic. La Bouree from Dances from Terpsichore appears to be constructed from the D Mixolydian mode, similar to a major scale but with a lowered 7th. Samaii Muheiyar, on the other hand, is based upon the Maqam Jiharkah, an Arabic modes which contains B flat and E half-flat (Parfitt). This mode is shown in Figure A below. It is interesting to note that although the modes which the two pieces are based upon differ significantly, both pieces are similar in that they are based primarily upon progressions of notes in their respective modes rather than specific intervals or chords, as is common in modern Western music.
This becomes clearer if we examine the techniques used to construct the melodies of the two pieces. For example, if we examine the piece Samaii Muheiyar, we can see that the melodic contour is broadly stepwise, containing few large pitch leaps. Passages alternate between undulating around a central pitch and ascending or descending. Both types of phrase are characterized by heavy use of ornamentation, primarily in the form of mordents, but also through the use of grace notes. If we consider the first bar of the piece we can see that D is used as the tonal center of the phrase, with mordents ascending by an interval of ¾ of a major second and descending by ¼ of a major second. The first 16th-note phrase is D – E (half-flat) – D – C and the second is B (one-and-a-half flat) – A – B (one-and-a-half flat) – C. Note the use of half-flat markings in the music to indicate the subdivision of the octave into quarter-tones (24 divisions). We can also observe that the contour stays in a relatively narrow interval, never moving more than a major 4th away from the tonal center of D. This is indicated in Figure B with red lines showing the melodic contour of the mordants and a blue line used to indicate the phrase's tonal center of D. Similarly we can observe that even as the melody descends in bar 2, sixteenth notes are used to ornament it with contrary ascending motion. The same can be seen in bar 4, where a grace note and a leap of a minor third is used to ornament a descending passage to A.
Similar characteristics and ornamental techniques are also found in the Renaissance dance music of Michael Praetorius. For example, if we consider the second movement of the La Bouree, we can observe that the 13th to 16th beats of the first phrase show the use of lower mordents which ornament an ascending passage from G to D. This can be seen in figure A, with the ascending motion indicated in blue and the ornamentation highlighted in red. The same phrase is observed again in the third movement, at the 9th beat. The use of a central tone, around which the melodic contour undulates, is also clearly exhibited in the first phrase of the first movement. Starting from the 4th beat of the 1st phrase, the melodic line ascends and then descends, however it stays within a major third (above or below) the tonal center of the phrase, which is D. This can be observed in figure B. This narrow melodic contour in some sections of the melody is similar to what was seen in the Samaii Muheiar.