Dissonance (2012)
“At the front of the room Hans Knorr, principal composition teacher at the Hamburg Conservatorium, sat at a desk on a raised platform. Knorr was in his sixties, his face consumed by a wild, grey beard that he kept stroking and twisting as he moved his hand up to his nostrils, which he cleaned out with a strong, vigorous movement of his index finger. He leaned forward across his desk and lifted his head to see his students. His wide, blue eyes moved from one boy to another, settling on them, work...ing them out, moving on to the next as he used his finger to clear wax from his ears.
‘You, Hergert,’ he said in German, ‘how old are you?’ Erwin looked up from his exercise. ‘Fifteen, sir.’ And Knorr scribbled in a big, brown ledger.
Erwin was copying a ground bass from the blackboard. Once he had these notes he started adding harmonies in the left and right hand. He wrote the name of the chord in each bar and indicated sevenths and ninths, flattened fifths and augmented octaves.MoreLess
‘You, Hergert,’ he said in German, ‘how old are you?’ Erwin looked up from his exercise. ‘Fifteen, sir.’ And Knorr scribbled in a big, brown ledger.
Erwin was copying a ground bass from the blackboard. Once he had these notes he started adding harmonies in the left and right hand. He wrote the name of the chord in each bar and indicated sevenths and ninths, flattened fifths and augmented octaves.MoreLess
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