Bohemian Rhapsody

Bohemian Rhapsody makes part of Queen´s "A Night at the Opera" album released in 1975, is one of the most well known pieces in history, chosen by the Rolling Stones magazine as one of the top 5 songs of the XX century. Queen was a famous British rock band formed in 1971, made up by Freddie Mercury (piano, lead vocal), Brian May (guitar, vocals), John Deacon (bass guitar), and Roger Taylor (drums, vocals).

Bohemian Rhapsody is well known for its distinct sections, the song can be divided into 6 main sections, each of which may be part of a different music genre, from which we can outline; the balled (romantic or narrative song with slow tempo, between 52 to 62 BPMs), the Opera and the hard rock. One of the most unusual characteristics of this piece is that it does not have a chorus (taking into account that it was recorder by a rock band of the XX century), and its structure is much more alike that of a classic piece.

Instrumentation

-Acoustic Piano

-Electric Bass

-Drums

-Electric Guitars

-Lead Vocal

-Overdubbed vocals

-Chinese gong (at the very last sound of the song)

The two main rolls within the song are those of the electric guitar and the Lead voice, the rest of the instruments/mediums play the roll of accompaniments. The leading voice is Freddie Mercury’s´, his wide register and his constant use of falsettos (technique where the male voice reaches a higher register than its usual one) are evidenced throughout the song. The song begins with an Capella section sung by Mercury and gradually the different instruments come in (piano, followed the bass, the drums and finally the guitar).

The guitar solo is played on a mixolydian scale (5th scale degree of any major scale) from Bflat to Bflat. Different elements such as power chords, bends and slides are used to create tension.

Although there are sections where the texture is monophonic (parts of the opera section and the guitar solos), the song is homophonic; the different mediums accompany the main melody.

Throughout the piece, the dynamics change in drastic ways creating an effect of surprise in the listeners, this characteristic within dynamics may be referred to as Sotto Voce. In addition to the change in dynamics, there is also a drastic change in the tempo and rhythm. These characteristics not only help to create tension and relaxation, they are used is such a drastic manner that the different sections within the song cold be completely different songs if listened separately. This section - contrast element within the same song, is what I find most interesting about this piece.

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