page_title: Bethena
section_title: Form
hierarchical_section_title: Bethena / Form
caption_attribution_description: English: "B" Theme from Bethena, A Concert Waltz, by Scott Joplin, bars 36-40.
context_page_description: "Bethena, A Concert Waltz" is a composition by Scott Joplin. It was the first Joplin work since his wife Freddie's death on September 10, 1904 of pneumonia, ten weeks after their wedding. At the time the composer had significant financial problems; the work did not sell successfully at the time of publication and was soon neglected and forgotten. It was rediscovered as a result of the Joplin revival in the 1970s and has received acclaim from Joplin's biographers and other critics. The piece combines two different styles of music, the classical waltz and the rag, and has been seen as demonstrating Joplin's excellence as a classical composer. The work has been described as "an enchantingly beautiful piece that is among the greatest of Ragtime Waltzes", a "masterpiece", and "Joplin's finest waltz".
context_section_description: Introduction A BB A CC DD EE A Coda
  Bethena has five musical strains  in five different keys; G major, B-flat major, F major, B minor, and D major respectively.  The sections are linked by "transitional passages" which enable the work to change key between the strains by means of a chromatic interlude or modulation. Each of the themes is written with the instruction "Cantabile", which means "songlike and flowing in style".
  The piece is notated in 3/4 time with the main theme repeated three times in the work as well as in the introduction and the coda. The "sadly poignant", "graceful, wistful" and tenderly nostalgic mood is partly dictated by this main theme, which starts with the melody note A harmonised against a G major chord thus creating a dissonance. In the next measure the theme is set against a different harmony before Joplin creates variations. There are variants of the theme in the "haunting" B minor key of the D strain and in the E strain's D major key which "brightens the mood".
  Joplin combines the waltz' "oom-pa-pah" rhythm and its conventionally accented three quarter notes in the bass, with a syncopated melody in the treble. The main melody line used in the introduction and then repeated regularly throughout, with its alternate unaccented eighth notes and accented quarter notes, is the rhythm of the Cakewalk minus the final note. The Cakewalk was a popular African-American dance which originated in plantation slave communities in nineteenth century America, and ultimately contributed to the musical style Ragtime.  The simultaneous sounding of the two independent rhythms, he combination of the waltz in the bass and the syncopation of the main theme in the treble, is an example of a 4 against 3 polyrhythm. There are many subtle variations of this sequence which occur throughout the work.
  The left hand follows the standard approach of classical waltzes, with a bass note followed by two mid-range chords, and in addition there are some contrapuntal passages where two melodies move independently but complement each other harmonically. For example, the B and C themes are examples of Joplin employing counterpoint in octaves. The B theme in the key of B-flat major is closely related to the main theme presenting its counterpoint with the bass and the treble melody lines moving in opposite directions (in contrary motion), to each other and then exchanging their melodies (bars 29-30 and 31-32). This pattern repeats itself during the theme. In the opening phrase (bars 77-81) of the "rag-like" C theme in the key of F major, counterpoint is evident with the harmony of the treble moving in contrary motion to the bass line in a similar way to that used in the B section. In the treble, the harmony falls from F to D, while the bass rises from F to G-sharp
caption: The B strain in B-flat major, bars 36–40, showing the contrapuntal contrary motion section, with the two melodies highlighted in blue and red
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