Music for a While - Henry Purcell Flashcards
Which bars is the introduction for?
- bars 1-3
Describe the accompaniment in the introduction (bars 1-3)
- ground bass in ternary (ABA) form
- left hand of harpsichord and bass viol play ground bass - act as the basso continuo
What is a ground bass?
- a short, recurring, melodic pattern in the bass part which acts as the principal structural element.
What instruments are used in this piece?
- soprano singer
- harpsichord
- bass viol
Give an example of a lower mordent.
- bar 1
- right hand of harpsichord
What does the ground bass consist of?
- a three bar loop consisting of entirely quaver rhythms and has a rising pattern
What is the tempo of the piece?
- slow
Which bars is section A?
- 4-21
Describe the ground bass in section A.
- first four sets of four quavers use an ascending sequence
- starting one note higher each time
What is the main tonality of the piece?
- A minor
- tonality is sometimes ambiguous due to the chromatic + non-diatonic nature of the ground bass
What does the tonality of the piece reflect?
- sombre, sad nature of the lyrics
Where does the piece modulate to in the middle B section?
- several related keys to A minor
- including E minor - bar 14
- G major - bar 16-17
- C major - bar 21
- E minor - bar 27
Is the word setting syllabic or melismatic?
- mostly syllabic with some melismatic sections - like ‘eternal’
Does this piece use ornaments?
- yes, there is extensive use of ornaments in both the soprano line and the right hand of the harpsichord
Describe the melody of section A.
- much of it is conjunct and stepwise, any leaps are small and are generally no greater than a perfect 4th (e.g. bar 7)
- passing notes are frequent - e.g. E and C on beat 4 of bar 5 are non-harmony notes and don’t belong to the chord but link to the notes from the chord
- sequences - e.g. bar 7-8
- descending scales - bar 10
- arpeggio based melodic shape
What is given emphasis?
- important words and phrases through repetition such as the word ‘music’ in bar 1 or ‘shall all’ in bars 7-9
What is the texture of the piece?
- homophonic texture -> one main melody + accompaniment
What best describes the chord choice?
- diatonic
- functional
Give an example of word-painting.
- ‘free the dead’ - bars 16-18
- melisma
- major - G
- rising melody
Describe the vocal line in section A.
- mainly syllabic - bar 4
- moments of melismatic writing - bar 5 - ‘for a while’
What sort of intervals does section A use?
- semitone intervals
What happens at the end of the ground bass?
- fall of an octave
What is word-painting?
- technique for writing music which reflects the literal meaning of a song
Which instruments act as the basso continuo?
- harpsichord
- bass viol
- provide accompaniment for the singer
What does the left hand of the harpsichord play?
- the ground bass along with bass viol
What does the right-hand of the harpsichord play?
- a ‘realisation’ -> improvisation which fills out the chords of the piece
Which ornaments are used in this piece?
- mordents - bar 1
- appoggiaturas - bar 2
- trill - bar 13
What rhythm does the right hand of the harpsichord play?
- dotted rhythms
- appoggiaturas
- mordents
How is ‘wond’ring’ word painted?
- melisma
- bar 10
- descending legato
How is ‘pains were eased’ word-painted?
- bar 12-13
- dissonance of E in melodic line against D
- dissonance and resolution presented on ‘eas’d’ as it falls into a descending sequence
How many times is the ground bass played in tonic key?
- 4 1/2 times in the tonic key before it starts to modulate in bar 14 using motifs from the original ground bass
How is ‘eternal’ word painted?
- bar 20
- set to lengthy melisma with repetitive alternating notes showing the everlasting atmosphere of the word -> word painting
What bars is section B?
- 22-28
How is ‘drop’ ‘drop’ ‘drop’ word-painted?
- descending, sequential pattern of three notes
- onomatopoeic
- bars 23-24
- off-beat
- unusual levels of repetition nine times
What is the cadence at end of bar 22?
- perfect in c major
- then a perfect back to a minor between the 2nd and 3rd beat of bar 23
How is ‘snakes’ word-painted?
- sharpened third
- bar 23
- major rather than minor chord called a Tierce de Picardie which highlights the dramatic first use of the word ‘snakes’
Where is syncopation showed?
- bar 24-25
When is there a modulation in section B?
- modulation to E major - bar 27
Where is there an example of double-dotted notes?
- bar 28
Describe the ground bass in the final A section.
- bar 29
- ground bass returns to repeating pattern from start of the piece
- repeat of A section is much shorter than at the start
Which bars is the final A section?
- 28-38
Explain the features of the ground bass.
- minor key
- straightforward rhythm made up of quavers/crotchets/minims
- slow and stately tempo
- ending with a perfect cadence
- chromatic notes to give the bass part melodic interest in its own right
How many times is the ground bass played to conclude the piece?
- 3 times without changing
Describe the final chord.
- spread arpeggiated chord
- harpsichord cannot sustain long chord -> slow spreading of the chord helps it to sustain
Describe the tonality of the final a section.
- returns to A minor - bar 29 - as the original ground bass pattern returns
What is the metre for this piece?
- 4/4 quadruple time
Which rhythms are most predominant?
- quavers
- semiquavers
- dotted rhythms sometimes used in vocal part - bar 10 but used more in the right hand of harpsichord
