music for a while

Question 1

Composer and piece

Answer 1

• henry purcell english baroque composer

- written for king arthur

Question 2

instruments and handling

Answer 2

• harpsichord, bass viol, and soprano singer
• right hand of HPSCD realises the melody, highly decorative and embellished with frequent dotted rhythms,
• -> ornamentation such as upper lower mordents, grace notes, and appoggiaturas
• left hand of HPSCD plays the ground bass
• Ground bass also played by bass viol.

Question 3

Tempo, metre and rhythm

Answer 3

• There is no tempo indication but a slow tempo would be appropriate for this piece.
• The metre is 4/4 quadruple time.
• The piece uses a wide variety of rhythms but quavers and semiquavers are the most
  predominant.
• Dotted rhythms are sometimes used in the vocal part (e.g. bar 10) but used more
  extensively in the right hand part of the harpsichord.
• There is only occasional syncopation (e.g. bar 20) and off-beat rhythms (e.g. bar 24).
• The ground bass is presented entirely in quavers.

Question 4

Tempo, metre and rhythm

Answer 4

• There is no tempo indication but a slow tempo would be appropriate for this piece.
• The metre is 4/4 quadruple time.
• The piece uses a wide variety of rhythms but quavers and semiquavers are the most
  predominant.
• Dotted rhythms are sometimes used in the vocal part (e.g. bar 10) but used more
  extensively in the right hand part of the harpsichord.
• There is only occasional syncopation (e.g. bar 20) and off-beat rhythms (e.g. bar 24).
• The ground bass is presented entirely in quavers.

Question 5

Harmony

Answer 5

• Chords are diatonic and functional.
• Perfect cadences are achieved from the chord V at the end of the ground to the chord I at
  the start of the next playing of the ground bass (e.g. bars 3–4). This is a Ic–V–I cadential 6–
  4.
• Suspensions are used very occasionally. For example, there is a 4–3 suspension in bar 3
  beat 41⁄2 in the harpsichord part.
• Dissonances are infrequent but examples can be seen on the word ‘pains’ in bar 12 with a
• D in the bass against and E in the voice and on the word ‘eas’d’ in bars 13–14 where there
  is dissonance followed by resolution at the start of each repetition of the word.
• Another type of dissonance used is false relation, which can be seen in bar 1 with an F♯ in
  the ground bass and a F♮ in the right hand of the harpsichord (although strictly not adjacent
  to each other, they do colour adjacent chords).

Question 6

Tonality

Answer 6

• The music is in A minor (coloured by a Tierce de Picardie).
• The tonality, however, is sometimes ambiguous due to the chromatic and non-diatonic
  nature of the ground bass.
• The central section modulates to closely related keys. These include E minor (bar 14), G
  major (bar 16), C major (bar 21), A major (bar 23), E minor (bar 27).
• The music returns to the tonic key of A minor in bar 28 until the end.
• Modulations are confirmed by perfect cadences.

Question 7

Texture

Answer 7

• The texture is melody and accompaniment/melody-dominated homophony.
• The accompaniment is provided by the ground bass in the left hand of the harpsichord and
  the bass viol.
• The right hand of the harpsichord is an elaborate realisation and provides some
  counterpoint with the vocal line.

Question 8

Structure

Answer 8

• This piece follows a ground bass structure. also known as a basso ostinato
• Features of the ground bass in ‘Music for a While’ include:
  → It is three bars long.
  → It consists entirely of quaver rhythms.
  → Its melodic shape is arpeggio based.
  → It makes use of semitone intervals.
  → It has a rising line, starting on A then moving up to a B, C, D and E before falling at the end
  of the phrase.
  → At the end of the ground there is a characteristic fall of an octave.
  → The ground sounds incomplete as it ends with chord V but a sense of a perfect cadence is
  achieved with chord I at the start of the next repetition of the ground bass.
  → The Ground bass is heard 4 1⁄2 times in the Tonic key before it starts to modulate in bar 14,
  using motifs from the original ground bass.
  → The ground returns in the original key in bar 23
  beat 3 for a three-bar reminder. It returns, complete in bar 29 and is heard a further three
  times before the close of the piece.
• sense of forward looking: hints at ternary form da capo aria structure used in operatic arias later in the Baroque period.
  → This is seen at bar 29 where there is a reprise of material from the opening in identical form with just slight extension to conclude the work.

Question 9

Melody

Answer 9

• The soprano line has a range or compass of a ninth (apart from the ornamental G in bar 36)
  from the lowest note of E just above middle C to F just over an octave higher.
• Much of the music is conjunct or stepwise.
• Passing notes are frequent. For example, the E and C on beat 4 of bar 5 are non-harmony
  notes and do not belong to the chord but link to notes from the chord.
• Any leaps are small and generally no greater than a perfect fourth (e.g. bar 7).
• Rests are used to break up phrases.
• There are some descending sequences (e.g. bar 20).
• There is extensive use of ornaments in both the soprano line and the right hand of the
  harpsichord:
  o Trills (e.g. bar 13)
  o Appoggiaturas (e.g. bar 35)
  o Grace notes (e.g. bar 6)
  o Upper mordents (e.g. bar 22)
  o Lower mordents (e.g. bar 1).

Question 10

Text setting and word-painting

Answer 10

• The vocal line is mainly syllabic following speech rhythms.
• There are paired slurrings (e.g. in bar 5 on the words ‘for’ and ‘a’).
• There are melismatic moments (e.g. bar 10 on the word ‘wond’ring’).
• There is an extended melisma in bar 20 on the word ‘eternal’.
• Repetition of text is used, such as the word ‘Music’ at the start or in bar 23 the word ‘drop’
  sung nine times.
• There are many examples of word-painting in this aria. Word-painting is the technique of writing
• music that reflects the literal meaning of a song. Below are some examples:
• Appropriately the word ‘pains’ in bar 12 features a dissonance of E in the melodic line
  against D in the bass part.
• In the phrase ‘pains were eas’d’ dissonance and resolution is presented on the word ‘eas’d’
  as it falls in a descending sequence, bars 13-14
• The word ‘drop’ is presented in a descending pattern on the weak off-beat and is sung with
  unusual levels of repetition nine times, bars 23–25. This represents the snakes dropping
  from Alecto’s head.
• The word ‘wond’ring’ in bar 10 captures the mood of the word and shows a wistfully
  descending legato melismatic melody.
• The word ‘eternal’ in bar 20 is set to a lengthy melisma with repetitive alternating notes
  showing the everlasting atmosphere of this word.
• The phrase ‘free the dead’ is in the bright key of G major containing rising melodies, bars
  16–17.
• In general the predominantly minor key suits the sombre nature of the play and the text.