music for a while

Question 1

who composed it?

Answer 1

henry purcell

Question 2

which musical period was this composed in?

Answer 2

baroque period

Question 3

why was this piece composed?

Answer 3

to accompany a play on the story of oedipus, in a scene where the fury alecto is being summoned - people are trying to calm her down

Question 4

what is the instrumentation (3)

Answer 4

• voice
• harpsichord
• bass viol

Question 5

what is the tessitura of the vocal part?

Answer 5

• written for male countertenor but in the recording it is performed by a soprano female singer

Question 6

range of vocal part

Answer 6

E4 to F5 (9th)

Question 7

what does the RH harpsichord play

Answer 7

a realisation over a figured bass (baroque feature)

Question 8

what does left hand harpsichord play?

Answer 8

ground bass

Question 9

what does the bass viol play?

Answer 9

ground bass

Question 10

what is the structure?

Answer 10

ternary form (ABA). but can also be called “da capo aria”

Question 11

how many bars is the ground bass pattern?

Answer 11

3 bars, which is unusual since it is usually 2, 4, or 8 bars

Question 12

what is the text setting?

Answer 12

both melismatic and syllabic

Question 13

what ornamentation is used to decorate the melody? (3)

Answer 13

• mordents
• appogiaturas
• trills

Question 14

melodic features of ground bass (4)

Answer 14

• ascending sequence
• outlines first 5 notes of A minor scale
• fall of an octave at the end
• chromaticism

Question 15

is there wordpainting?

Answer 15

yeah on ‘eternal’ and ‘wondering’ and ‘pains were eased’

Question 16

what is the metre

Answer 16

4 4

Question 17

what is the tempo?

Answer 17

not stated but it’s pretty slow

Question 18

is there use of syncopation

Answer 18

not really, most of it is on the beat

Question 19

overall texture

Answer 19

MDH

Question 20

texture of bars 19-22

Answer 20

imitation/dialogue/contrapuntal/counterpoint between voice and RH harpsichord

Question 21

home key

Answer 21

A minor

Question 22

tonality of section a (2)

Answer 22

A minor from start
E minor for the last half of the last bar

Question 23

tonality of section B (3)

Answer 23

G major at start
C major in middle
A minor at end

Question 24

tonality of second section A

Answer 24

A minor

Question 25

in which section is there a tierce de picardie

Answer 25

section b

Question 26

is the harmony functional or adventurous

Answer 26

functional

Question 27

in which chord progression does the piece end?

Answer 27

cadential 6 4