Assignment 12: Recitative

Due Thursday 20 June A Look at the second excerpt of Jacopo Peris LEuridice (NAWM # 68 b). 1. Write a scheme with the length of the lines and the rhyme for lines 1-11. Is there any regular pattern? L1 7a L2 8b L3 11b L4 8a L5 10c L6 7c L7 7d L8 8d L9 7e L10 12e L11 8f 2. Which style of music did Peri use to set this kind of verse? Is the melody songlike or speech-like? Does the continuo push rhythm forward? Why (not)? Recitar cantando, imitates speech, the continuo offers support but doesn't push rhythm forward. 3. Which musical device does Peri employ to set aside the description of the snake and its biting Euridice (m. 23-32) from the preceding bucolic scene (m. 1-22)? a key change 4. How are the ideas of sunray (m. 28) and of darkening (m. 30) depicted in the music? Sun ray is depicted as a D maj chord. Darkening is a E maj chord 5. Orpheus reference to a sigh that he is unable to utter (m. 67) is a painful one. Which resource(s) did Peri use to convey this emotion? Harmonic minor tendancies. B Now look at the first excerpt of the same piece, Nel pur ardor (NAWM # 68 a). Quickly compare it to Monteverdis Vi ricorda o boschi ombrosi, NAWM # 69 a, a typical canzonetta (dont just look at the score, for you could be confused; listen to the recording), and read the relevant paragraph of Burkholders commentary, p. 407. 6. Is Nel pur ardor radically different from Dafnes or Orpheus recitatives (as different as Monteverdis piece is)? Why (not)? ?? 7. Can Nel pur ardor also be called a canzonetta? Why (not)? It is similar to a canzonetta but is an aria.