The beginnings and development of a New Zealand music: The life ...

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in this extract is echoed in the main theme of Allegro, a melody that
is likewise, initially, based on the lower tetrachord of G minor. The
modal progression here, though, is stated in first inversion, and the
sharp definition of the tonic is blurred by bimodal elements in the
second violins. These elements, in fact, help define the modality of
the passage as aeolian, and the progression as one of iv7d to VIIb in
the G-based mode:
Ex.Il: Allegro for strings, bars 10-14.
l,'-'~ -- t:>
I/f,. ~ ..
v1J. _~-
In both of the above extracts from Allegro (Ex.JO,JI), there is an
instance of a change of chord not being effected simultaneously in all
the instrumental lines. In the first extract (Ex.IO), the mOve to chord
VII begins first in the melody in bar 2 with the sounding of the note C.
This is then followed in bar 3 by the upper harmony (second violins)
sounding the note A. The change of chord is only realised fully in bar
4, with the shifting of the bass harmony to the note F.
In the second extract (Ex.!I), the change from chord VIlb to the
tonic begins at the first beat of bar 13 in the bass-line of the harmony,
with a sounding of the note G. Above this, the remaining notes of chord
VlIb are sustained until the second beat of the bar when they, along with
the melody line, sound the notes of the G minor tonic chord.
This overlapping of chords, as will become increasingly evident,
is a prominent feature of Lilburn's harmonic writing. As a characteristic
technique of effecting changes of chord, its application is not
restricted to his modal harmonisation. Most commonly, this overlapping
is a two-part one, between the bass-line and the upper harmony lines.
The sounding of the new chord is either anticipated or delayed in one
or other of these harmonic parts. Sometimes the overlapping is in three