Music for a While - Purcell

Context

• 1962

• aria (solo song)

• Lament - falling phrases, slow tempo, minor key

• mid-Baroque

Performing Forces

• solo soprano voice (originally counter-tenor)

• harpsichord

• basso-continuo - harpsichord, lute, bass viol

Baroque Features

• 1600-1750

• terraced dynamics

• harpsichord

• string based orchestra

• basso continuo

• ground bass

• one affection (mood)

• ornamentation

Text Setting + Word Painting

• melisma - ‘eternal’

• mainly syllabic vocal line

• word painting - ‘eternal’ ‘drop’

Structure

• ground bass - 3 bars, entirely quavers, arpeggio shaped, ends in 8ve fall

• ternary form

• rounded binary form

Dynamics

• not written on the score - left for the performers to interpret

• terraced dynamics

• some notes have cresc for expressive purposes

Melody

• soprano range → 9th

• mainly conjunct

• frequent passing notes

• extensive ornamentation

• descending sequence

• rests break up phrases

• leaps no greater than a 4th

Texture

• melody-dominated homophony

• ground bass accompaniment

Tonality

• A minor

• sometimes ambiguous because of chromaticism in ground bass

Harmony

• Tierce de Picardie (major chord at the end) - ‘snakes’ ‘hands’

• some dissonance

• chords are diatonic and functional

• some cadences used to confirm modulations

Tempo

• no tempo marking but slow (typical of baroque)

Metre

4/4

Rhythm

• occasional syncopation

• occasional dotted rhythms

• quavers and semiquavers most prominent

• ground bass entirely quavers