Music - Music For A While

What type of voice is singing?

soprano

What instruments play throughout?

harpsichord, bass viol

What is the overall key of the piece?

A minor

Describe the right hand of the harpsichord throughout

elaborate and highly decorative, embellished with frequent dotted rhythms and ornamentation such as upper and lower mordents, grace notes and appoggiaturas.

At the time this would have been improvised by the player, not notated

Describe the left hand of the harpsichord throughout

it plays the ground bass

it uses a repeated pattern of quavers in a rising sequence.

What other instrument also plays the ground bass?

What is the combination of these two instruments called?

bass viol

Basso continuo - provides accompaniment

The vocal line is mostly…

syllabic

Syllabic

melody where there is one note per syllable

What period was this piece composed in?

Baroque

Melisma

Melody where there is more than one note per syllable

Conjunct

melodies that move by step

Disjunct

melodies that move by leap

Mordent

where you play the note one step above quickly before returning to the original note

Trill

rapid alteration of two notes

Grace notes (appoggiaturas)

short notes which are ‘squished’ in between main melody notes

Word-painting

a technique of writing music that reflects the literal meaning of the song

‘pains’ (bar 12)

dissonance of E in the melodic line against D in the bass part, reflects the word ‘pains’

‘pains were eas’d’ (bars 13-14)

dissonance and resolution is presented on the word ‘eas’d’ as it falls in a descending sequence

‘drop’ (bars 23-25)

descending pattern on the weak off-beat and is sung with unusual levels of repetition nine times. This represents the snakes dropping from Alecto’s head.

‘wond’ring’ (bar 10)

captures the mood of the word and shows a wistfully descending legato melismatic melody.

‘eternal’ (bar 20)

a lengthy melisma with repetitive alternating notes showing the everlasting atmosphere of this word.

‘free the dead’

in the bright key of G major containing rising melodies, gives a sense of hope amongst the sadder atmosphere of the song.

Describe the melody line.

• soprano has a range of a ninth from the lowest note of E just above middle C to F just over an octave higher.

• mostly conjunct

• passing notes are frequent

• most leaps are small, no more than a perfect fourth

• rests are used to break up phrases

• some descending sequences

Features of the ground bass:

• three bars long

• consists entirely of quaver rhythms

• melodic shape is arpeggio based

• makes use of semitone intervals

• has a rising line

• at the end there is a characteristic fall of an octave

Describe the texture of music for a while?

• melody and accompaniment

• accompaniment provided by ground bass in left hand of harpsichord and bass viol

Describe the tonality of music for a while

• overall key of A minor

• sometimes ambiguous due to the chromatic and non-diatonic nature of the ground bass

• central section modulates to closely related keys; E minor (bar 14), G major (bar 16), C major (bar 21), A major (bar 23), E minor (bar 27)

• the key returns to the tonic key of A minor in bar 28 until the end

• modulations are confirmed by perfect cadences

Cadence

musical punctuation of two chords which conclude a phrase

What are the three types of cadences?

perfect, imperfect and interrupted

Perfect cadence

sounds finished, commonly used at the end of a piece.

Uses chord V to chord I, for example in C major it would be G (chord V) to C (chord I)

Imperfect cadence

like a musical comma, sounds incomplete and unfinished, commonly used in the middle of a phrase

Uses chord I to chord V, sometimes chord IV to chord V, for example in C major it would be C to G or F to G

Interrupted cadence

sudden and abrupt, sounds incomplete and unfinished but in a more sudden way than an imperfect cadence, commonly used in the middle of a phrase to create a sense of suspense or drama

Uses chord V to chord VI, for example in C major it would be G to Am

Describe the harmony of music for a while

• chords are diatonic and functional

• use of perfect cadences in ground bass from chord V to chord I

• Dissonances are infrequent but there is one on the word ‘pains’ (D contrasts with E in the bass) that is then resolved on the word ‘eas’d’

Describe the tempo, metre and rhythm of music for a while.

• no tempo indication, but slow tempo would be appropriate

• metre is 4/4 quadruple time

• wide variety of rhythms but quavers and semiquavers are most prominent

• dotted rhythms sometimes used in vocal line (e.g bar 10) but mostly used in the right hand of the harpsichord

• only occasional syncopation (e.g bar 20) and off beat rhythms (e.g bar 24)

• ground bass is entirely made up of quavers