Music for a While - Henry Purcell

performing forces

soprano voice, harpsichord and bass viol

harpsichord part

the right hand is an elaborate realisation with lots of ornamentation and arpeggiated chords (would've been improvised). the left hand plays the ground bass.

bass viol part

plays the ground bass

text setting

mostly syllabic but Purcell uses a melisma sometimes, repetition of text, mostly conjunct (leaps aren't more than a perfect 4th

use of rests

to break up phrases

word painting

'pains' - dissonance

'eas'd' - resolution to dissonance, descending sequence

'drop' - descending pattern on the weak off-beat, staccato

'wond'ring' - legato and melismatic

'eternal' - lengthy melisma

'free the dead' - bright key of G maj, rising melodies

vocal range

ninth (E4 to F5)

ornamentation

trills, apoggiaturas, grace notes, upper mordents, lower mordents

ground bass

aka basso ostinato - three bars, entirely quavers, arpeggio based, uses semitone intervals, rising line before falling at the end of the phrase (fall of an octave), modulates

structure

ternary form of a da capo aria

texture

melody dominated homophony, some counterpoint in harpsichord RH

tonality

originally A minor but this edition is a minor, tierce de picardie is used, sometimes ambiguous because of chromatic and non-diatonic ground bass, modulates to related keys (E minor, G major, Cmajor, A major) but end in home key, modulations confirmed by perfect cadences

harmony

diatonic and functional chords, occasional suspensions, some dissonance and false relations, tierce de picardie on ‘snakes’

tempo

slow tempo appropriate but no indication

metre

4/4 quadruple time

rhythm

lots of quavers and semiquavers, some dotted in voice and RH harpsichord, only occasional syncopation, entirely quavers in ground bass