Purcell Elements for Music

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  • Henry Purcell Music for a While
    • Instrumentation
      • Solo. Voice
        • Originally composed for countertenor
      • AccompaniedBy lute, bass viol and harpsichord
        • Known as basso continuo
      • Recording sounds a semi tone lower than written pitch of A minor
    • Structure
      • Piece structured as. A ground bass in Ternary Form
        • Features. Of a ground bass include
          • In a minor key
          • A straightforward rhythm
            • Unusual in this piece as ground bass is 3 bars long
          • Slow tempo
          • Ending with a perfect cadence
          • Solemn mood
          • Use of chromatic notes to give bass part melodic interest
      • Intro (1-3)
        • Perfect cadence in bar 3 beat 4 confirms its in a minor
        • Ground bass is:
          • 3 bars long
          • All equal quavers
          • Slow
        • Harpsichord RH is melodic
          • Originally would have been figured bass  as a realisation for harpsichordist
            • Can be shown in bar 1-lower mordant
      • Section  A (4-21)
        • Word painting
          • Eternal bars 19-21 is long
          • Wondering. Bar 10-11 gong in a descending scale
            • Melisma
              • Bar 16 free.
          • Bar 13 perfect cadence on eas’d
        • Melisma
          • Bar 16 free.
        • Dissonant intervals for feelings of pain
          • E..g  bar 12 beat 3  - soprano sings E over D minor chord
      • Section B  ((22-28)
        • Stars in relative major C
        • Bar 22 perfect cadence
        • Bar 23  Tierce de Picarde on word snakes
        • Word painting in 24 with ‘drop’
          • Drama is also heightened by the fact Purcell places the short onomatopoeicWord on the off beat
      • Section A1 (29-38)
        • Conclusion and summary of teh song
          • 35-38 is a reprise of bars 32-35
        • Last chord is a spread arpeggiated  chord
          • Because harpsichord can’t sustain

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