How Handel Schieves a Sense of Majesty in his Setting of The King Shall Rejoice

How Handel Schieves a Sense of Majesty in his Setting of The King Shall Rejoice

There are many factors that come together in Handel's The King Shall

Rejoice to create majesty. This essay will include such musical

aspects as; style and influences, texture, rhythm, the texts used,

melody and instrumentation. There are five movements within Handel's

The King Shall Rejoice; this essay will include examples from each

movement.

Handel achieves a powerful and bright opening at the start of the

first movement through a strong and steady tempo. The music is in four

four time; this common time signature helps to emphasize the vocal

line and the majesty of the words. The key signature of D major is

used as the tonic from the start of the first movement; this key

conotates strength, happiness, positivity and majesty.

Handel has many influences, mostly European. The influences that we

can see coming through in Handel's The King Shall Rejoice to create

majesty are, Italian, French and English. The sense of the dramatic in

Handel's The King Shall Rejoice is an Italian influence on the piece.

Italian opera was renown for being dramatic and Handel incorporates

this device successfully into his music.

The dotted quaver and semi quaver rhythmic motif that keeps appearing

all the way through the five moments is an example of a French

influence on Handel. An example of this is on the last beat of bar 22

in the first movement. This rhythm is commonly referred to as 'the

French overture rhythm'. Hemiolas are another example of French, dance

influences in The King Shall Rejoice. An example of a hemiola (where

the music feels like it is in two f...

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...ment finishes on a

Phrygian cadence which sets the stage for the tonic minor (B minor)

used in the fourth movement.

The fourth movement (Thou Hast Prevented Him With The Blessings Of

Goodness) is in the tonic minor, B minor, the only minor mode movement

in the anthem. This movement has a fugal and often contrapuntal

texture, an example of this is in bars twenty-three and twenty-four of

the fourth movement. In the fifth movement (Alleluia) the texture is

thick and contrapuntal, this heralds the end of the anthem and

accentuates the name of the movement 'Alleluia', this word, meaning

'praise the lord' has a double meaning; the audience is encouraged to

both praise god and praise the king. The word is repeated through out

the movement for effect and emphasis of the majesty of the occasion

and importance of the word.