Chaminade, Berceuse, Op.6

Chaminade, Berceuse, Op.6 (published c. 1878). The main theme, section A, is a 24-bar double period (12 bars each in the antecedent and consequent). Here is the consequent. The upper note Bb5 reached to begin the second 6-bar phrase might be taken as a focal note.

Section B ends with a partial return -- beginning in the third bar below. Note that the flourish has now been extended upward to Eb6.

Section C is in D major (= Ebb major). A full reprise follows, where only the latter part of the consequent is altered, as below. Here Eb6 has become Eb7 in the flourish, and the figure is now an arpeggio rather than a scale. In the eighth bar of the excerpt, the harmony A 6/5 pulls the close in a different direction. The trills maintain the register of the previous closes: so A-natural4, G-natural4, Ab4, Gb4. Above that, E-natural5, ornamented at first, turns into a sustained half-note, then F5, then Gb to close--suggesting that the prominent Gb5 from the main theme may be the best choice if one is looking for a focal tone overall.