Revision:A level music - Arias and Recitatives

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I will give you some general features of arias and recatatives, because once you know them you can spot them easily from anything. And remember (baroque) opera is a part of the general syllabus too so it could come up in the unprepared listening section of the exam.

Arias

Generally a small quantity of text used. Frequent use of melismas, repetition, sequences and any other musical devices as appropriate to the setting of the text. Full accompaniment (usually, although Purcell's Dido and Aeneas has most of its arias accompanied by continuo only). Have a da capo structure (ABA) where the return of the A section is ornamented. I recommend you listen to an aria from Handel's Messiah as it will give you a good impression. Usually they focus on important parts of the text; in baroque musical theory the affect experienced by each character is made evident in each aria.

Recitatives

Loads of text. The idea of them is to get through a lot of plot. So not many melismas, if any. Therefore they are predominantly syllabic (one note per syllable) and occasionally neumatic (a few notes per syllable). Much less 'melodic' i.e. imitates speech in music rather than following techniques of melodic construction. Often have wilder key changes than in aria; used as a form of word painting. No repetition, and no structure; they are through-composed.

Secco - the only accompaniment is from the continuo (keyboard instrument like organ/harpsichord, and a bass instrument like cello or bassoon). It consists of just plink plonk chords played every now and again. Loads of perfect cadences to finish off the phrases. Very basic accompaniment. No sustained notes! I repeat, no sustained notes at all and no strings en masse. If these are present it is an accompagnato recitative.

Accompagnato - pretty much full accompaniment. Fuller, richer texture than secco. Often sustained string notes. And other stuff like in JS Bach's St Matthew's Passion, whenever Christ speaks there is a 'halo' of strings to give divine connotations. Or in the Messiah, when the angels are speaking there are semiquaver arpeggios from the strings to represent the flapping of the angels' wings. Within actual opera, 'Alma del Gran Pompeo', from Handel's Giulio Cesare, is a famous accompagnato recitative within baroque opera seria.

Word Painting

Remember all of the above feature masses of word painting - seriously, its an easy way to get marks. find a bit of music that has word painting and explain why. Ranges from simple ones like "Thou art gone up on high" (an aria from the Messiah by Handel) being set to music as an ascending figure, from more complicated ones like the flapping wings mentioned earlier. Also words in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, like "grief" and other negative words are often set to dissonant chords, representing the negative connotations of the words.

Comments

Hope this helps, feel free to ask questions :-)

• For: A Level Music