A palindrome is a phrase or word that can be read exactly the same way from right to left and from left to right, which means it has the same meaning forwards or backwards. For example, Rise to vote, sir is a palindrome phrase. Other good examples of palindrome words are: level, madam and racecar.
This curious linguistic game can be complicated until reaching high levels and go beyond words. It is so true that it happens in literature, the film industry and even music, which is never absent from this phenomenon.
In music, the first known example of palindrome music, is a reversible rondo by the French composer from the Middle Ages, Guillaume de Machaut.
Joseph Haydn also used this resource in his Symphony No. 47 in G major, specifically the third movement, there is a minuet entitled Minuetto al roverso in which the second part is exactly the same as the first one, but backwards. The musical score is completed with a trio that is also a palindrome, which explains that this symphony is usually known under the name The Palindrome.
Another example of the palindrome music comes from a great genius in history: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and we can hear a clear example of his overflowing imagination and creativity through the Mirror Duet.
Mozart´s Mirror Duet is a divertimento in G major for two violins. Although we do not know whether the composer thought about the palindromes while creating this piece, the truth is we could call it palindrome music. This piece is played by two violinists at the same time, but placed one facing the other and with the musical score in the middle, one goes forwards and the other one backwards. A display of imagination, knowledge, and mainly a lot of fun.
In the 20th century, Arnold Schoenberg, one of the first atonal composers and creator of the dodecaphonism, uses the palindromes again in part of his Pierrot Lunaire. The music moves forwards till the middle of the piece and there it starts going backwards.
Something different is the work of Serguéi Rajmáninov in 1934 with his Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini, but it is worth to highlight his variation XVIII, in which he reverses Paganini´s original theme and which has been used in the soundtrack of several films.
An even more curious example of palindrome music is the Ludus Tonalis composed by Paul Hindemith. The piece starts with a prelude that remembers Bach´s toccatas and it ends with a postlude which is a retrograde inversion. This final part is the same as the prelude but it is played upwards, downwards and backwards.
Translation by Alberto Morales
