Purcell: My Heart is Inditing

• Movement 1, Symphony:

  -Begins with an instrumental section known as a symphony- strings and organ

  -Polyphonic second section and slower first section: similarities to French overture

  -Modal: Use of the mixolydian mode

  -Imitation in the second section: not exact enough to form a fugue, but the dotted rhythms create a dance-like feel

  -Use of the dominant minor compared to dominant major
• Movement 2, Chorus:

  -Accompanied by the strings and organ, the vocal parts enter independently, in an imitative texture, building until all are singing at the same time

  -False relations: Use of the flattened 7th creates false relations, a technique very characteristic of early English Baroque

  -Antiphony: antiphony between the upper and lower voices as the texture moves into homophony

  Chorus ends with a short instrumental ritornello
• Movement 3, Chorus:

  -Word painting on 'glorious': a jaunty dotted rhythm is set, performed by voices in pairs, singing in 3rds or 6ths, while there is an extended melisma on the word, reflecting the meaning of the word glorious; the very sound created on the word is 'glorious' in its nature
• Movement 4, Verse and Chorus:

  -Reduction of instrumentation and vocal parts: only seven soloists are used, where the first bass is silent. Moreover, the accompaniment is reduced to just continuo

  -Word painting on 'the virgins that follow her': imitative texture and a stepwise descending shape reflects the meaning of the words

  -Lots of modulation: E minor, passing into D major, G major and A minor, with a chromatic section that leads into G major

  -Word painting on 'joy': dotted rhythm on the word reflects its meaning
• Movement 5, Symphony:

  -At the middle of the anthem the symphony is repeated, with a change to the final two bars
• Movement 6, Verse:

  -Word painting: Meaning of the words, that the Queen is to forget her own family and think only of her duties to King and Country is reflected with the minor key, chromaticism, and false relation between F and F#

  -Triple time: A new section contrasts the previous by being in triple rather than duple time, potentially marking the importance of the words being sung
• Movement 7, Chorus:

  -Dual tonality and modality: Begins in F major with no Bb in the key signature

  -Begins in homophony but transcends to polyphony: the praise being sung is emotive and important, being sung with imitation until returning to a homophonic texture later on

  -Section concludes with an instrumental ritornello, ending in the original key, C major
• Movement 8, Chorus:

  -Contrasting motifs: presented in imitation, a long held 'amen' and short 'alleluia' are sung simultaneously, until finally the alleluias dominate the texture

  -A false relation is featured between the 1st bass and 1st soprano

  -Anthem ends with grand homophonic alleluias, with a range extending over 3 octaves