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Handel’s Messiah No. 9 (measure 107-138) Handel’s Messiah is a Baroque-era, awe-inspiring composition; rich with history, profound in meaning, and intensely intimidating when asked to dig deep into its inner workings. When first receiving this assignment, I was overwhelmed by what I was being asked to do. But after analyzing and critiquing the melody, adding figured bass symbols, macro-analyzing the chords, adding roman numerals, and commenting on the voice leading in chords moving in root position, I feel as if I have only scratched the surface of all Handel put into the Messiah. In this paper I will be discussing and critiquing the melody, addressing the effect of consonant and dissonant sounds, commenting on the uncommon motion between root position chords, and observing the aesthetic effect of what Handel did with this part of the Messiah. Beginning with the melody, which I have assumed to be the vocal parts, the first thing I noticed was that in the soprano part there is a leap from an A3 to a D4, followed by an E4. This is interesting, because according to the principles of voice leading a melodic interval larger than a perfect fourth, which is what we have from the A to D, should be approached and left in the direction opposite to the leap or should outline a triad. What we have instead is a continuation upwards, without outlining a triad. This happens in the tenor part in measure 114, again in the bass part at the end of measure 119 to measure 120, and one last time, again in the bass part, with an octave leap. Handel breaks this rule as well as the rule of repeated figures of three or more tones. This can be found in measures 117 to 118 in tenor and alto,... ... middle of paper ... ...as. In this paper I have outlined my critique of the melody, the exciting effect consonance and dissonance have, odd motion between root position chords, and how I perceive the difference of ensemble at this part in Handel’s work. Overall, this assignment helped me realize how important it is to know theory in order to fully understand the musicality of a composition. Music isn’t just about the sound, although that does play a colossal part. Fully comprehending a composition takes patience, a positive perspective, and a desire to take time to grasp all of the hidden meanings behind chord structures, note sequencings, and the chosen lyrics. This assignment taught me how to take what I have learned in class and apply it in reality. Everything I have been taught this semester was put to the test, and has hopefully stood up to the challenge.
Boynick, Matt. "Georg Friedric Handel." Classical Music Pages. 1 Feb. 1996. 13 July 2005 .
influence on Handel. An example of this is on the last beat of bar 22
Aristotle’s Appeals — Discuss the song’s logos, pathos, and ethos separately (in subsections, if you wish); which of these is the most effective in the song, and stating why you think so. Remember, “why” is the big question in this paper – for every opinion you give, you must tell why you believe it.
Word painting, a “musical representation of specific poetic images”, was a fairly common characteristic of music in the European Baroque period. Composers would often set words like “heaven” on a high note and “hell” on a lower note or set depressing lyrics to a descending chromatic scale. One of the most well-known pieces of the European Baroque period is Messiah by George Frideric Handel, which is an oratorio telling the story of Christ’s birth. Since an oratorio lacked costumes, sets, or acting, Handel used a lot of word painting to give the sacred text an ...
In mm. 54-56 Mahler's purpose to create not only a harmonic and rhythmic but also a timbral complexity is once again observed. A very quiet, almost "masked" dissonance is created which is again brief but so often evident.
The music of George Frideric Handel has been celebrated throughout time, especially his oratorio work. Handel’s oratorios are considered to be some of the best in existence. However, much discussion and reverence is given to his Messiah, while the others are not as commonly subject to this praise. Therefore, I will investigate the origin and creation of the oratorio, Esther by Handel, with focus on his music for the scene. I will argue that Handel expresses the drama and emotion of this biblical story through the musical elements he employs, particularily
German-English composer, George Frederick Handel, is one of the greatest composers of the Baroque period if not of all time. His work, Messiah, is one of the most famous and beloved works of music in the world. During his career in music, Handel composed Italian cantatas, oratorios (like Messiah), Latin Church Music, and several operas. Handel moved around from country to country writing, composing, and producing music for royalty such as Queen Anne and George of Hanover. In his life, Handel mastered several instruments including the violin and the harpsichord.
Producers Qunicy Jones and Mervyn Warren took George Frederic Handel’s Messiah for a spin and did a wonderful job with it. They took a classical masterpiece and funk-defied it. This was one of the most important pieces of music to come across in decades, taking Handel’s Messiah to the masses of R & B lovers. In true style, the composer re-arranged Handel’s Messiah, to produce a classic collection of black music, while at the same time, carrying a European and Western tradition that is opposing to African origins of Black American music. History and music are combined in this project that celebrates G.F. Handel’s original Messiah, an oratorio for four-part chorus of mixed voices, soprano, alto tenor and bass solo and piano.
Before one learns of Handel’s life it is important to know his music genre and methods. Handel’s musical collection has been placed in the style of Baroque. A term used generally, Baroque has many different origins and definitions. The word in Portuguese is defined as odd pearls and in English simply means strange or different (Buelow 1). Defined in The Oxford Dictionary of Music by Michael Kennedy as Bizarre, Baroque was a term applied to German and Austrian architecture in the 17th and 18th century. Only later was the term borrowed to describe music (51). Antonio Vivaldi, Johann Sebastian Bach, Henry Purcell and Handel have all had works classified in the Baroque set. The Baroque style eventually began to describe a large portion of musical styles in the late 16th century, which ultimately added even more vagueness to an already imprecise term. Not a lot of things tied pieces of the time together; every piece seemed to be different in style (Buelow 1-5). Contrary to the information put forth by Buelow, Baroque was described in The Complete Book of Classical Music as having a fairly uniform style. Most of the works of th...
Handel’s childhood started out like many great composers. Even though his father saw his skill in music, he was unwilling to let his child journey down the harsh, un-respected, frivolous road of a musician. Instead, he longed for the young Handel to become a businessman or lawyer, but that was soon to change. The Handel’s were very religious people, this quality of which was evidently passed down to George, and were very active in the church. Young George played the postlude in the church and it was during a service that he was discovered by the Duke of Weissenfels. The Duke passionately persuaded George’s father to advance his talent. Eventually, his father succumbed and at the age of 9, George was placed under the only teacher he had during his lifetime, Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow. By age 11, the prodigy Handel had completed his first composition and could play the organ well enough to substitute for his own teacher, when needed. Between the ages of 17 and 18, Handel moved to Hamburg, Germany to begin his “great search for ways to work out the ideas flooding his mind.” In 1708, he moved to Rome, which certainly catapulted his thinking to a level to create the oratorio, The Resurrection, and his second opera, Aggripina, w...
Rejoice (TKSR) is studied as a set piece at A level shows it still has
Horatio Parker’s work “Dream-King and his love” which was performed at the American Symphony Orchestra is a Cantata which was original written in German and has gained a lot of attention by composers all over the world, which led Horatio Parker to win the first prize in a composition contest. Even though there are no online recordings of the “Dream-King and his love”, listening to it in person gave me the feeling of grief and despair due to its slow pace and low pitch. The piece sounded as if a tragic event has been going on in a person’s life and took a sudden turn and things went straight, giving the piece an anticipated upbeat
A strong relationship between the music and the text can be seen throughout the melodic line, particularly in measures 22-23; 26; 32-33; and 36 as the soloist sings the word “ah!” This word is particularly emotive and in fact does not even act as a word, but rather something closer to a sigh. The music reflects this by placing multiple notes on one syllable, stretching it melismatically to mimic the drawn-out and lethargic nature of sighing. Additionally, each instance of “ah!” involves an arching line within the melody (this is particularly evident in measures 26 and 36), which further solidifies the resemblance to sighing (an act that involves a “swell” of breath). The idea of sighing occurs in many instances throughout this piece, even acting outside of the melodic line. The string accompaniment contains occasional slurs, and these slurs usually occur on a strong beat moving to a weak beat (e.g. see both violin parts in measure 9). This adds to the...
George Handel thrived during the Baroque Period, and was arguable one of the best composers at the time. Handel produced many great oratorios, operas, and concertos; but most of them go unrecognized, and lye under the shadows of his most famous pieces: Water Music and Messiah. These two pieces are both fantastic pieces of music, and gave Handel great fame during the early seventeen hundreds, and still do today. The Hallelujah chorus from Messiah can be easily associated with Christmas time, because of how popular it is during the holiday season. George Handel was an amazing composer of the Baroque period, and he sure gave Bach a run for his money.
Handel’s Messiah, recognizable as a fixture of the Christmas season, has had a lasting impact on many generations due to its canonical status. Debuting in Musick Hall in Dublin during 1742, the piece was originally an Easter offering, telling the story of Christ through music and lyrics inspired by the Bible. Essentially, Messiah was intended to not merely be entertainment, but also to be a lesson to all. During the eighteenth century, England was primarily protestant, whereas Ireland was dominated by Catholics. Being performed in Ireland after the Glorious Revolution of 1688, which sought to establish Protestant rule and override Catholicism, Messiah further established Protestantism while seeking to expand England’s colonization through this religious identity. Despite the tension between Protestantism and Catholicism, the piece was well received, for, during this time period, illiteracy was common among more lower class families, and not many could afford to buy a Bible. However, Handel’s oratorio allowed those who could not read or afford a Bible the chance to hear the story of the Messiah. As a result, Messiah was a huge