The Lamb

A mindmap made using the Edexcel notes fo AS level music, on Tavener's The Lamb. Fee free to make suggestions/comment :)

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  • Created by: Nora
  • Created on: 04-05-13 11:45
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  • The Lamb
    • Performing forces
      • Four part SATB choir
      • Unaccompanied
      • Ranges of upper parts are narrow: soprano=aug 5th alto= maj 6th tenor=maj 7th
      • Bass range = major 9th low Es at end of verse provide depth and weight
      • Parts sometimes cross (alto and soprano)
      • Some difficult melodic and harmonic intervals
      • Dynamics restricted to mp-pp
    • Texture
      • Verse 1: monphonic, two part (homorhythmic), monophonic, two-part (homorhythmic), four-part (homophonic, chordal)
      • Verse 2: octave writing, two-parts doubled at octave, octave writing, two-parts doubled at octave, four-parts
    • Structure
      • Poem has two stanzas
      • same musical material for both BUT textural change
      • strophic
      • each bar corresponds to a line of poem BUT broken bar lines show couplet thinking
    • Tonality
      • No key signature
      • opening of  each verse in G major (ambiguous because later harmonised in in E minor)
      • Bitonality in 2nd to 6th bar of each verse; G major and Eb major
      • Last four bars Eminor aeolian
      • Begins and ends in different but closely related keys
      • All inversion exact e.g. bar 2 (does not remain within a scale
    • Harmony
      • Two part writing
        • harmonic intervals do not imply chords
        • melodic  pattern against inversion
        • diminished 3rd created in bar 2
        • double false relation
      • Four part harmony
        • more conventional
        • triads and seventh chords
        • discords prepared and resolved
      • Less conventional
        • some modal harmony at cadences due to no leading note
        • soprano and tenor have consecutive 5ths on 'tender'
        • Some dissonances Am9 in bars 7-10; bars 17-20
        • tenor's second note is an unprepared 7th
    • Melody
      • Bars 1 and 2 are basis for all that follows
      • Influence of serialism: retrogrades, inversions and 7 note set
      • Bar 1: two three pitch segments
      • Bar 2: same with exact inversion in altos
      • Bar 3: all seven pitches combined to make new melody (P)
      • Bar 4: retrograde of bar 3
      • Bar 5: P in soprano inversion in alto
      • Bar 6: Retrograde in soprano; retrograde in alto
      • Bar 7-10 melody from 1 + 2 harmonised ordinarily
      • Bar 1 stepwise movement, major and minor thirds, repeated leaps
      • Last four bars introduce 4th and 5ths in basses (V-I)
      • Word setting syllabic, some pairs of quavers slurred with a single syllable each
    • Rhythm and Metre
      • No time signature, bar lines reflect poetic structure
      • always guided by the words
      • much fairly slow movement in even quavers
      • one or two long notes emphasise end of line/bar
      • Seven syllable lines: 6 quavers + crotchet, feeling of quadruple metre
      • Three of 6 syllable lines: 6 quavers + dotted crotchet + crotchet. emphasis on penultimate syllable
      • last bar of each verse has rhythmic augmentation
      • verse 2, last 4 bars slower than verse 1 + augmentation + rit. = very slow!

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