Music for a While Cheat Sheet:

Melody:

1.) Main melody is sung by a soprano singer

2.) Most of the words are syllabic but words such as ‘eternal’ are melismatic

3.) Word Painting is used to make the music reflect the meaning of the lyrics

4.) Most of the melody moves in steps

5.) Lots of ornaments in both the right hand of the harpsichord and in the soprano line. For example:
Trills, appoggiaturas, grace notes and mordents

6.) Repetition is used on words such as ‘drop’ to help emphasise them

7.) Descending sequences are used

8.) Rests are used to break up melodic phrases

9.) A general stepwise (conjunct) melody

Tonality:

1.) The main tonality of the piece is A minor

2.) The minor key helps to reflect the sad and sombre nature of the lyrics

3.) In the B section, the piece does modulate through some major keys and then back to A minor

Dynamics:

1.) There are no dynamic marking in the whole piece, but would normally be quiet

Instruments:

1.) Piece is made up of a soprano singer, harpsichord and a bass viol

2.) Harpsichord and bass viol act as a basso continuo, providing an accompaniment for the singer

3.) The Harpsichord and bass viol are also responsible for playing the 3 bar ground bass

4.) In the B section the harpsichord plays a ‘realisation’ which would have most likely been
improvised

Tempo:

1.) There is no tempo marking on the score, but a slow tempo would be appropriate
Texture:

1.) The texture is homophonic – One main melody and an accompaniment. The accompaniment is
played by the ground bass

2.) The right hand ‘realisation’ makes the texture feel polyphonic at times

The Ground Bass:

1.) The ground bass is a 3-bar loop. It consists entirely of quaver rhythms, and it is a rising pattern.

2.) At the end of the ground bass there is a perfect cadence and an octave drop. Also, the ground
bass is used to modulate into different keys later on in the piece

3.) The idea that the ground bass is only 3 bars long makes it unsettling as it should be 4 bars long

Harmony:

1.) Accompaniment is provided by the ground bass

2.) Chords are diatonic

3.) Perfect cadences as the ground bass ends going into the next loop of it

4.)Dissonance is used on words such as ‘pains’

5.) False relation (a type of dissonance) is used for example when the bass plays an F sharp, and the
melody plays an F natural

6.) Suspensions are used occasionally on the word “eas’d”

Word Painting:

1.) Minor key helps to demonstrate the serious and sad mood of the piece

2.) ‘eternal’ is sung as a long melisma to signify it being eternal

3.) ‘drop’ is represented as a descending pattern to represent the snakes dropping from Alectas head

4.) ‘Free the dead’ is set to a triumphant major key (G major)

5.) ‘Wondering’ uses a wandering, descending legato melismatic melody

6.) ‘Pains were eased’ features a dissonance and resolution

Rhythm and Metre:

1.) 4/4 metre which uses repeated quaver rhythms

2.) Wide variety of rhythms but semiquavers and quavers are most common.

3.) Some dotted rhythms in the vocal part and occasional syncopation
Background Info:

1.) This piece is an Aria from the opera Oedipus – written in the baroque era