Music for a While (Henry Purcell) Flashcards
Context
In play Oedipus
Scene where priests try to raise ghost of King Laius
Scene where try to calm Fury Alecto
Structure
Ternary (ABA)
Popular structure in Baroque period
Da Capo Aria Ternary (used in operas) - repeated section has improvisation
Harmony and Tonality
Tonality - A minor, modulating through E minor, G major and C major in the middle section before returning to A minor
Harmony - dissonance. E clashes with D when the lyric “pains” is sung
Suspensions in bar 13. Each note sung on the word ‘eas’d is resolved by falling from a note that doesnt belong in the chord to a note that does.
Texture
Mostly Melody Dominated Homophony
Sometimes the soprano line imitates the right hand harpsichord part. Such as in bar 11 where RH plays descending scale, followed by the soprano singing descending scale
Melody
Mostly scalic, Using passing notes - to connect notes of chord - typical Baroque
Bar 5 ‘for a’ - passing notes (E and C) connect B diminished chord notes (F and D) forming a descending shape.
some leaps of 4ths and 5ths
Metre and tempo
4/4
No written tempo, but to be performed slowly, to fir the context of the song
Ground bass
Repeating 3 bar theme of quavers - typical in baroque to use same length notes
Arpeggio shapes + semitone intervals for chromaticism
Ascending sequence - rising ghost of King Laius
Used to prepare for changes in key - modulation
Dynamics
Like tempo, no dynamics are written into the score, common for baroque period
Instrumentation
Voice - counter tenor male/ female soprano - range of 9th (E to F)
RH harpsichord - figured bass - improvises given chords
LH harpsichord - ground bass
Bass viol - grounds bass
Wordpainting
Certain words/phrases repeated - ‘music’/‘drop’/‘shall all’ - reinforces meaning since important
Phrases generally descending - reflects sadness - emphasises mood of play
Phrase in bar 16 - ascending reflects people rising from dead + G major reflects happiness of return to life
