Baroque - key points: Recitative

• An extended accompagnato recitative in an arioso style for contralto
• Story of Jesus hanging on the cross
• Obligato oboe de caccia - plaintive, sorrowful tone. Continues throughout with a repeated pattern which is like a wail
• Plaintive tone of contralto - richer than soprano yet still able to produce high, sighing effect
• Organ used - more appropriate for sorrowful mood than harpshicord
• Use of cello pizzicato broken chords - unique use of instrumenation (late baroque), could represent drops of blood
• Use of diminished harmony, eg. on 'shame and scorn must perish'
• Melody is fluid and expressive, createds a sighing effect due to being fairly disjunct eg. downward leap on 'ah gologtha'
• Unrestrained - close to speech however perhaps closer to singing than usual recitative, hence 'arioso style'

• Secco recitative
• Evangelist played by soprano, Jesus by bass giving Jesus the more powerful tone
• Swapping of roles like dialogue - Jesus speaks the hebrew 'Eli, Eli, Lama ...' and evangalist translates, 'My god, my god, why hast thou forsaken me?' . The different voices help mark this out.
• Very thin accompaniment, Jesus usually has a halo of strings but it is not there in this piece, to represent his death/dark hour
• Dissonance, flattened notes (Db and Fb in Eb maj) on words 'there was darkness all over the land'
• Choir in homophony represent mocking crowd, 'He calleth for Elias' syllabic and forceful with driving semiquaver string accompaniment (becomes accompagnato briefly)

• These recitatives for soprano move the story along, linking choruses 'For unto us a child is born' and 'Glory to god in the highest'

14 a 'There were shepherds abiding in the field'

• Simple secco, uses chords I and V in C with tonic pedal

14 b 'And lo, the angel of the lord came upon them'

• Accompagnato (aka stromentato)
• F major - bright, calm, heavenly major key
• Strings in high register and just cello for continuo
• Driving semiquaver string rhythm - beating of angels' wings
• Glistening, bright sound of violins' E string
• High, disjunt movement in the voice, arch shaped vocal line peaking at 'and the glory of the lord'
•  leaps on 'and lo' (perfect 5th), 'lord' (perfect 4th), 'glory' (major 6th)

No 15, 'and the angel said on to them'

• Back to secco
• Dominant lift from A major to E major 'to all people'
• Ends in F#m and uses a diminished chord - a sense of unease/mystery