Heavenly music, heavenly words

Perhaps aware of Tone Deaf’s godlessness Beth comments “I too am a classical music lover and lifelong choir singer (high church Anglican, I'm afraid).” I make noises about being the paradoxical atheist owning CDs of Easter Oratorio, excerpts from Die Schőpfung and Dream of Gerontius.

But I realise I can go further; Christian (or at least Biblical) words can also transfix me. Take the Messiah aria, “He was despised” and especially:

A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

Handel’s setting is masterly (more later) but that’s a hell of a libretto. First glance - “acquainted” seems under-stated; second glance – but not if grief means what grief should. Exaggeration is the enemy of depth; this phrase uses great art to fix a sense of tragedy.

Providing a link to a JANET BAKER version I email Julia asking: Is the aria minor key? For surely (to this ignoramus at least) this is why music and words fuse so effectively

.

Here’s her answer: Handel is playing with major and minor (but) the aria is set in E flat Major and ends with a nice solid E flat M chord. I can see how you would think it was minor though, as he uses the second and the seventh to create tight intervals that make us think of minor keys, and he also adds an E flat minor chord to move the major into minor at particularly sad moments in the text (see "grief" at 1:54).

Conclusions: (1) I remain an ignoramus but my instincts rate 3/10. (2) Handel was well ahead of me – what a surprise! (3) The King James committee score 9/10. (4) Memo: must invite Julia to become TD’s musical consultant. (5) Julia accepts.

SECURITY NOTE Other bloggers, more courageous than me and more sensitive to the needs of commenters, have switched off Blogger's fiendish word verification system. (A simple matter in Settings). Yesterday I did so and received a very strange comment which appeared in Inbox but not in the blog. But I'll give it a week or so before I decide. 

Economy's a shambles, but...

Some languages are meant for singing, others not. A huge generalisation of course and it depends on what mother tongue you start out with. But there is a grudging consensus about Italian (and Welsh, but that's another story). Take this Handel aria:

Ombra mai fu
Di vegetabile
Cara ed amabile
Soave piu.

Never was there a shadow
Of branches
Sweeter, more refreshing
Or more gentle.

Yes, I know vegetabile looks a bit weird, but it doesn’t matter. You don’t have to know the tune – lovely and simple as it is – you don’t have to know the words are Italian, to realise that those syllables are easily singable and that they receive their stresses gracefully.

Contrast that with the second of these two lines from the French national anthem:

Entendez-vous dans les campagnes
Mugir ces féroces soldats?

Do you hear, in the countryside,
The roar of those ferocious soldiers.

I have spent half my life trying to learn French and adore its quirkiness. But that conglomeration of Ss between ferocious and soldiers (Even English sounds better!) requires gymnastics from the singer. And there’s worse.

One aria from Carmen (not my favourite opera) ends with Yes, I love you (Oui, je t’aime.). There’s so little in those vital words for the composer to hang his melody on. No resonances. As luck would have it I went on to play versions of the Queen of the Night aria from Magic Flute and the German for My Dear Son stood out: Mein liebe Sohn. (the Queen yearns achingly here). So much easier for Mozart than if she’d been French, singing Mon cher fils.

Here’s how ITALIAN (with help from Handel) wins every time

Clearing the "first time" barrier

This (above) could be yours

Satisfy me with a substitute for the ghastly word “classical” (as in music) and I’ll send Cosi Fan Tutte (Colin Davis, Janet Baker, Caballé, Gedda) to your home address. Warning: this is far harder than it looks.

Length often makes new “classical” (Ugh!) music hard to react to, hard to absorb. Yesterday I faced two firsts. But what is new? I’d never heard Handel’s opera Rodelinda but I have seen his Xerxes and Theodora and Messiah amply demonstrates his orchestral techniques and vocal sympathies.

Rodelinda, one of 40 GFH operas, is too long (arrive: 5.30 pm, depart 9.50 pm) and isn’t as well paced – or as universal – as lengthier Wagner. Arias repeat themselves several times. The one hit Dove sei was sung by Andreas Scholl the counter-tenor (ie, a vocal range usually taken by women), there’s one duet and a brief ensemble. Otherwise all solos. NY Met cast irreproachable. Two long-line solos by Renée Fleming almost tickled my tear-ducts. An absolute novice could have embraced it but might have been bored.

What about the other new piece? - Janacek’s concertino for two violins, viola, piano, horn and clarinet? Reflect on that curious combination. What does it sound like? Very spare, percussive piano, assertive horn, but recognisably a melody, not aggressively dissonant. Best of all it hangs together unlike some more fragmented modern stuff. But then Janacek (1854 – 1928) is not exactly modern. Second time around I reckon I could hum the first movement theme; hey, just picked it out on the keyboard.

Stuck with Gesualdo and the liturgical stuff? Try http://youtu.be/G8LZbM0Px38 and move forward four hundred years. Thanks Julia