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Henry Purcell - Music for a While (Performing Forces :musical_keyboard:…
Henry Purcell - Music for a While
Context
:world_map:
Baroque Era
Second of four movements
Written as incidental music for the play, Oedipus
Features the character 'Alecto' who was a Fury in Greek Mythology
Performing Forces
:musical_keyboard:
Soprano
Continuo (
harpsichord & bass viol
)
RH harpsichord - realisation
LH harpsichord plays the
ground bass
Bass viol plays the
ground bass
Syllabic vocal line
Melisma on words
'wond'ring'
&
'eternal'
Word-painting
'Pains'
- dissonance
'Pains were eas'd'
- dissonance and resolution
The word
'drop'
is repeated and descends
The word
'eternal'
is set to lengthy melisma
Minor key suits the sombre nature of the words
Melody
:musical_note:
Vocal line range of a ninth (E to F)
Conjunct/Stepwise
Passing notes
Descending sequences
Ornamentation
Trills
Appoggiaturas
Grace notes
Upper mordents
Lower mordents
Structure
:house_buildings:
Ground bass structure
3 bar longs
Entirely quavers
Based on arpeggio
Semitone intervals
Ascending before falling at the end
Octave drop on last two notes
Chromatic notes
Texture
:hand:
Homophonic
RH harpsichord provides some counterpoint
Accompaniment - LH harpsichord & bass viol
Tonality & Harmony
:musical_score:
A minor
Tierce de Picardie at bar 23
Middle section moves through Emin, Gmaj, Cmaj, Amaj & Emin
Perfect cadences
Diatonic
Suspensions
Tempo, Metre & Rhythm
:racing_car:
4/4 metre
Mostly quavers & semiquavers
Dotted rhythms in vocal part & RH harpsichord
Syncopation in bar 20
Ground bass entirely in quavers
Off-beat rhythms in bar 24