Apply 1 wk 3

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1:08 Ritornello starts with opening phrase. Opening phrase returns and then a softer new phrase with oscil- lating notes to depict the murmur- ing brook; Forte for the return of the opening phrase; then forte repeated low notes foreshadowing the appear- ance of lightening.

“Murmuring streams” “caressed by the breezes”;

1:49 Solo section. Solo violinist playing rapid notes in groups of three to represent lightning; answered by low repeated note in other strings representing thunder

“Thunderstorms…roar”

2:07 Orchestra plays the ritornello. Open- ing theme (just three measures)

2:15 Solo section: Solo violin + 2 violins; cello sustains a drone pitch. More high-pitched, ornamented and re- peated notes to represent

More chirping birds

2:33 Orchestra. Return of a motivic fragment from the opening phrase now more legato and repeated in a sequence.

2:45 Solo violin + basso continuo. More fast, repeated and oscillating notes

Final reference to birds and streams

2:58 Orchestra: ritornello. Forte for the first melodic phrase of the ritornel- lo; last phrase ends piano

4.7 musiC of GeorGe frideriC handel (1685-1759) George Frideric Handel was one of the superstars of the late Baroque period

He was born the same year as one of our other Baroque superstars, Johann Sebas- tian Bach, not more than 150 miles away in Halle, Germany. His father was an at- torney and wanted his son to follow in his footsteps, but Handel decided that he wanted to be a musician instead. With the help of a local nobleman, he persuaded his father to agree. After learning the basics of composition, Handel journeyed to Italy to learn to write opera. Italy, after all, was the home of opera, and opera was the most popular musical entertainment of the day. After writing a few operas, he took a job in London, England, where Italian opera was very much the rage, even-

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tually establishing his own opera company and producing scores of Italian operas, which were initially very well received by the English public. After a decade or so, however, Italian opera in England imploded. Several opera companies there each

competed for the public’s business. The divas who sang the main roles and whom the public bought their tickets to see demanded high sala- ries. In 1728, a librettist name John Gay and a composer named Johann Pepusch premiered a new sort of opera in London called ballad opera. It was sung entirely in English and its music was based on folk tunes known by most inhabitants of the British Isles. For the English public, the majority of whom had been attending Italian opera without understanding the language in which it was sung, English language opera was a big hit. Both Handel’s opera company and his competitors fought for financial stability, and Handel had to find other ways to make a profit. He hit on the idea of writing English oratorio.

Oratorio is sacred opera that is not staged. Like operas, they are relatively long works, often spanning over two hours when performed in entirety. Like op- era, oratorios are entirely sung to orchestral accompaniment. They feature rec- itatives, arias, and choruses, just like opera. Most oratorios also tell the story of an important character from the Christian Bible. But oratorios are not acted out. Historically-speaking, this is the reason that they exist. During the Baroque period at sacred times in the Christian church year such as Lent, stage entertainment was prohibited. The idea was that during Lent, individuals should be looking inward and preparing themselves for the death and resurrection of Christ, and attending plays and operas would distract from that. Nevertheless, individuals still wanted entertainment, hence, oratorios. These oratorios would be performed as concerts not in the church but because they were not acted out, they were perceived as not having a “detrimental” effect on the spiritual lives of those in the audience. The first oratorios were performed in Italy; then they spread elsewhere on the conti- nent and to England.

Handel realized how powerful ballad opera, sung in English, had been for the general population and started writing oratorios but in the English language. He used the same music styles as he had in his operas, only including more choruses. In no time at all, his oratorios were being lauded as some of the most popular per- formances in London.

His most famous oratorio is entitled Messiah and was first performed in 1741. About the life of Christ, it was written for a benefit concert to be held in Dublin, Ireland. Atypically, his librettist, took the words for the oratorio straight from the King James Version of the Bible instead of putting the story into his own words.

figure 4.13 | Georg Friedrich Händel author | Philip Mercier source | Wikimedia Commons license | Public Domain

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Once in Ireland, Handel assembled solo singers as well as a chorus of musical am- ateurs to sing the many choruses he wrote for the oratorio. There it was popular, if not controversial. One of the soloists was a woman who was a famous actress. Some critics remarked that it was inappropriate for a woman who normally per- formed on the stage to be singing words from sacred scripture. Others objected to sacred scripture being sung in a concert instead of in church. Perhaps influenced by these opinions, Messiah was performed only a few times during the 1740s. Since the end of the eighteenth century, however, it has been performed more than al- most any other composition of classical music. While these issues may not seem controversial to us today, they remind us that people still disagree about how sa- cred texts should be used and about what sort music should be used to set them.

We’ve included three numbers from Handel’s Messiah as part of our discus- sion of this focus composition. We’ll first listen to a recitative entitled “Comfort Ye” that is directly followed by an aria entitled “Every Valley.” These two numbers are the second and third numbers in the oratorio. Then we’ll listen to the Hallelujah Chorus, the most famous number from the composition that falls at the end of the second of the three parts of the oratorio.

lisTeninG Guide

For audio, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDEi38TxBME&feature=youtu.be

Tenor Anthony Rolfe Johnson with The Monteverdi Choir and the English Ba- roque Soloists and John Eliot Gardiner, Conductor Composer: George Frideric Handel Composition: “Comfort Ye” and “Every Valley” from Messiah Date: 1741 Genre: accompanied recitative and aria from an oratorio Form: accompanied recitative—through composed; aria—binary form AA’ Nature of Text: English language libretto quoting the Bible Performing Forces: solo tenor and orchestra What we want you to remember about this composition:

• As an oratorio, it uses the same styles and forms as operas but is not staged

• The aria is very virtuoso with its melismas, and alternates between orchestral ritornellos and solo sections

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Other things to listen for: • The accompanied recitative uses more instruments than standard

basso continuo-accompanied recitative, but the vocal line retains the flexibility of recitative

• Motor rhythm in the aria • In a major key • In the aria, the second solo section is more ornamented than the first,

as was often the custom. Accompanied Recitative: “Comfort Ye” Timing Performing Forces, Melody,

and Texture Text and Form

0:00 Reduced orchestra playing pia- no repeated notes

0:13 Mostly stepwise, conjunct sung melody; Homophonic texture

Vocalist & light orchestral ac- companiment: “Comfort Ye my people”

0:27 Orchestra and vocalist alternate phrases until the recitative ends

Vocalist and light orchestral accompaniment: Comfort ye my people says your God; speak ye comforter of Jerusalem; and cry upon….that her inquity is pardoned. A voice of him that cry-eth in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way for the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God

Aria: “Every Valley” Timing Performing Forces, Melody,

and Texture Text and Form

2:22 Repeated motives; starts loud, ends with an echo

Orchestra plays ritornello

2:39 Soloist presents melodic phrase first heard in the ritornello and the orchestra echoes this phrase

Tenor and orchestra: Every valley shall be exalted

2:52 Long melisma on the word exalt- ed…repeats

High note on mountain and low note on “low”

Tenor and orchestra: Shall be exalted

And every mountain and hill made low

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3:17 Repeated oscillation between two notes to represent crookedness; then one note is sustained on the word straight.

Tenor and orchestra: The crooked straight

3:23 Repeated oscillation between two notes to represent roughness; then one note is sustained on the word plain.

Tenor and orchestra: And the rough places plain

3:38 Melismatic descending sequence on the word “Plain”

Continued

3:53 Goes back to the beginning, but with even more ornamentation from the melismas

Tenor and Orchestra: “Every valley shall be exalted” (Repeti- tion of text and music)

5:10 Repeats the music of the ritornello one final time

Orchestra: ritornello

lisTeninG Guide

For audio, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptBZwDYKA14&feature=youtu.be

Performed by English Baroque Soloists and Monteverdi Choir, Conducted by John Eliot Gardiner Composer: George Frideric Handel Composition: “Hallelujah” from Messiah Date: 1741 Genre: chorus from an oratorio Form: sectional; sections delineated by texture changes Nature of Text: English language libretto quoting the Bible Performing Forces: solo tenor and orchestra What we want you to remember about this composition:

• It is for four-part chorus and orchestra • It uses a sectional form where sections are delineated by changes in

texture Other things to listen for:

• In a major key, using mostly major chords • Key motives repeat over and over, often in sequence

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Timing Performing Forces, Melody, and Texture

Text and Form

0:00 Orchestra: Introduces main musical motive in a major key with a homophonic texture where parts of the orchestra play the melody and other voices provide the accompaniment

0:09 Chorus + orchestra: Here the choir and the orchestra provide the melody and accompani- ment of the homophonic texture

Hallejulah

0:26 Chorus + orchestra: Dramatic shift to monophonic with the voices and orchestra performing the same melodic line at the same time.

For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth

0:34 Chorus + orchestra: Homophonic texture, as before.

Hallelujah

0:38 Chorus + orchestra: Monophonic texture, as before.

For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth

0:45 Chorus + orchestra: Homophonic texture, as before.

Hallelujah

0:49 Chorus + orchestra: Texture shifts to non-imitative polyphonic with the initial entrance of the sopranos, then the tenors, then the altos.

For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth

1:17 Chorus + orchestra: Homophonic texture, as before.

The Kingdom of this world is begun

1:36 Chorus + orchestra: Imitative polyphony starts in bass- es, then is passed to tenors, then to the altos, and then to the sopranos.

And he shall reign for ever and ever

1:57 Chorus + orchestra: Monophonic texture, as before.

King of Kings

2:01 Chorus + orchestra: Homophonic texture, as before.

Forever, and ever hallelujah hallelujah

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2:05 Chorus + orchestra: Each entrance is sequenced higher; the women sing the monophonic repeated mel- ody motive Monophony alternating with ho- mophony

And Lord of Lords…Repeated alternation of the monophonic king of kings and lord of lords with homophonic for ever and ever

2:36 Chorus + orchestra: Homophonic texture

King of kings and lord of lords

2:40 Chorus + orchestra: Polyphonic tex- ture (with some imitation)

And he shall reign for ever and ever

2:52 Chorus + orchestra: The alternation of monophonic and homophonic textures.

King of kings and lord of lords alternating with “for ever and ever”

3:01 Chorus + orchestra: Mostly homo- phonic

And he shall reign…Hallelujah

focus Composition:

movements from handel’s Water music suite

Although Handel is perhaps best known today for his operas and oratorios, he also wrote a lot instrumental music, from concertos like Vivaldi wrote to a kind of music called the suite. Suites were compositions having many contrasting move- ments. The idea was to provide diverse music in one composition that might be interesting for playing and listening. They could be writ- ten for solo instruments such as the harpsi- chord or for orchestral forces, in which case we call them orchestral suites. They often be- gan with movements called overtures and modeled after the overtures played before op- eras. Then they typically consisted of stylized dance movements. By stylized dance, we mean a piece of music that sounds like a dance but that was not designed for dancing. In oth- er words, a stylized dance uses the distinct characteristics of a dance and would be recog- nized as sounding like that dance but might be too long or too complicated to be danced to.

Dancing was very popular in the Baroque period, as it had been in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. We have several dancing text- books from the Baroque period that mapped

figure 4.14 | An illustration from Kellom Thomlinson’s Art of Dancing, London, 1735 author | Kellom Tomlinson source | Wikimedia Commons license | Public Domain