Belshazzar's Feast - Walton - 1. Prophecy/By The Waters Flashcards
How does Walton begin the piece?
With a monotone fanfaric Bb trombone rhythm which crescendos as it becomes diminuted. This fanfare announces the prophecy.
Describe the timbre of the choir in the introduction.
A capella with just male voices, representing the prophets. Homophonic.
How is speech imitated in the introduction?
The choir sing lots of fast, aggressive dotted rhythms. There are also lots of triplet rhythms to give it a free feel. There are lots of swells and dynamic contrasts to create a crying effect such as on ‘Howl Ye’.
What do the choir sing on the first word ‘Thus’?
The all sing a Bb, the note the trombone just gave them, in homophony.
What do the choir sing on the second word ‘spake’?
The Bass parts of the choir move in contrary motion to create an Eb minor chord.
What do the choir sing o the third word ‘Isaiah’ (the Prophet)?
On the syllables ‘saih’, a D minor chord is sung with a diminished octave (Db) in the Tenors. This creates dissonance and represents the tragic prophecy that Isaiah made.
What features in the Bass voices when the choir sing ‘They shall be taken away’?
A D pedal which hints at the next tonal centre, as there isn’t really one at the moment.
What happens the first time we hear the word ‘Babylon’?
The choir crescendo up to an Ab, the highest note so far. This represents Babylon’s power. There is also a D within the chord the choir sing, creating a dissonant tritone interval to represent evil as Babylon is the place the Jews are being kept. This is also the introduction of the dotted Babylon rhythm which is used throughout this piece.
What does the melody do at ‘Howl ye’?
There is a semitone fall to represent sadness.
Why does the time signature change to 3/4 when the choir sing ‘For the day of the Lord is at hand’?
So that the word Lord is on the 1st beat of the next bar.
How does the choir end the prophecy section?
They sing the last line ‘For the day of the lord is at hand’ in octave unison. There is a semitonal decrease between the words ‘Lord’ and ‘Hand’, eventually falling to the choir singing an A note, the dominant of the next section which is in D minor.
What theme does the orchestra introduce when it begins playing?
The ‘If I forget thee’ theme, foreshadowing when it is to be used later.
What happens with the choir at figure 1?
The Tenors begin singing the ‘By the waters’ theme, singing the 3rd and the 5th of a D minor chord. The Bass enters canonically pedalling a tonic. A bar later, the female voices enter for the first time in the piece. This section is a capella again.
What do the female voices sing when they come in for the ‘By the waters’ theme?
The Altos sing a legato melisma on the word ‘waters’, which is then dovetailed by the sopranos. The legato melisma is representing the flow of water.
Describe the treatment of the word ‘Babylon’ when it reappears in the ‘By the waters’ section.
The aggressive, dotted Babylon rhythm is sung with a C minor 9, with the D in the bass creating a clash.
