purcell

• background info

  baroque

  music for a play

  stile italiano (popular style at time)
• instrumentation

  soprano female singer

  bass continuo

  harpischord

  bass viol
• structure

  ground bass = 3 bars long (quavers)

  after 4 1/2 repeats it modulates to different keys

  Da Capo Aria (ABA- with extra ornamentation)
• dynamics

  up to the performer
• texture

  homophonic - melody dominated homophony
• melody

  mostly syllabic (sometimes melismatic)

  word painting (eternal, drop, free the dead etc)

  descending sequences

  stepwise
• harmony

  diatonic

  perfect cadences

  dissonance on word painting

  functional harmony
• rhythm

  ground bass = lots of quavers and semiquavers

  occasional syncopation
• tonality

  main= A minor

  section B = E major, G major, C major, A major

  back to A minor

  Tierce de picarde (minor piece ends on major chord)
• tempo/metre

  no tempo although slow is appropriate

  4/4