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Purcell-Music For a While 2nd Attempt Revision (Harmony/Tonality (The…
Purcell-Music For a While 2nd Attempt Revision
Genre
Written as an 'Aria' for a play with music in 1695
Is a play of Greek mythology which was very popular
Is very bloodthirsty
Purcell was a famous English Baroque composer
Melody
The melody has been treated by Purcell to fit the lyrics in WORD PAINTING
The melody is mostly Melismatic
This contains more than one note per syllable
Often has lots of scales in melismatic sections
Features lots of ORNAMENTATION
These include trills
Mordents
Appoggiaturas
Grace Notes
Dynamics
Very little dynamics due to lack of touch sensitivity of harpsichord
Rhythm/Tempo/Time Signature
Is in 4/4
Has a medium to slow tempo
Use of short rhythms in the realised harpsichord part
Harmony/Tonality
Mostly minor tonality
In the key of A Minor
Main Modulation is to the dominant; of E Minor
The Ground Bass maintains a fairly repetitive harmonic language
Changes every 3 bars
The bass line features lots of chromaticism in order to enrich the harmonic language
There are also several Tierce de Picadies
These are minor sections which end on a major chord
Adds contrast and interest
Structure
This piece is in Ternary Form
Has an A, B and an A1 section
The A1 section is very similar to the A section but is shorter
B section different for effect
Texture
Mostly homophonic but there is some polyphony within the harpsichord part
Main melody is the soprano vocal line
Instrumentation
All Purcell wrote was a melody, bass line and chords
The Basso Continuo is usually a harpsichord and violone
However could theoretically be any chord playing instrument plus bass instrument
Could be Lute (type of baroque guitar)
Or Bassoon
Or cello
Or Organ