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There is another unison towards the end. This time the viola is in unison with the
right hand of the piano for its bell-like barcarole theme from the opening, and the
Debussy-Iike displacement between octaves is again evident in Example 2.11.
Example 2.11: Black Birds, Red Hills, Third mvt., mm. 29-32 (senza clarinet)
Unlike the other movements, the instruments all end simply together, suggesting the unity
or connection between of the hills and sky or the mother and child.
Fourth Movement: A Black Bird with Snow-CoveredHills
The fourth and fifth movements of Black Birds, Red Hills are connected without
pause and are based on two very different representations of the same scene. Although
they are related musically, here they will be discussed separately. The fourth movement
uses O’Keeffe’s BlackBird with Snow-Covered Red Hills (1946) and the fifth is based on
a more abstract rendering of the same scene, BlackBird Series (In the Patio IX) (1950).
O’Keeffe’s narrative for the first painting is as follows:
One morning the world was covered in snow. As I walked past the V of
the red hills, I was startled to see them white. It was a beautiful early-
morning—black crows flying over the white. It became another painting—