Da capo...

Greetings, dear students!

Well, the Grinch is already undergoing his heart-size transformation on TBS (and seeing the Whos come out to sing in the town square after he'd stolen all of their presents totally made me cry this year...that's a first for me...I must be getting even more sentimental, which is saying something for a choral conductor), there is general growling about people's decorations going up too early, and I taught the world's highest Silent Night descant to my graduate choir this afternoon...yes, I believe the holidays may be coming, like it or not.

I've been a little out of touch with the passing of time lately, so the typical post-halloween retail rush into things Christmas-y didn't get my attention like usual...it took something else, something more iconic, something melismatic....

Yes, that's right -- it took the first rehearsal of the choral numbers from Part the First of Messiah for me to realize that Christmas isn't too far away.  I hadn't sung them in quite awhile...in fact, I'm reasonably certain the last time I interacted with them closely was way back in my undergraduate days with my pals from the Pacific Conservatory music fraternities.  I still have an orange Novello score from the experience that is marked up within an inch of its well-loved life, as I used all of my brain power to digest and understand this music that so many before me have known, sung, played, and loved.  It was a nice experience...I felt like I was meeting an old friend.  The vocal lines never seem to have left that settled place in my voice, the imitation still makes good sense to my ears, the dance allusions still make my feet itch to move.  It made me miss that time in my life, true to the predictions of my dear teacher who heard me do a lot of complaining at that time about how busy I was and how irresponsible my colleagues were being in rehearsal, and how I just wanted the whole darn thing to be over, etc., etc.  So, while I feel a little ashamed of the me of a decade past because she couldn't be patient enough to enjoy the process, I am also grateful for one of the things about life that also has a way of driving me (and probably most people) nuts:

For better or worse, things have a way of coming around again.

Perhaps this is the reason why composers dreamt up musical forms like rondo, sonata-allegro, theme and variations, and da capo, where material returns, giving the listener a feeling of closure.  A professor told me way back when that humans find repetition psychologically comforting, and that's why the return of A material is such a prevalent practice in music -- I thought he was a little nuts.  And now, being the person who gets teary over Dr. Seuss movies and only knows it's almost Christmastime because Handel showed up in my choir folder, I think I believe it.  I'm far from the first to notice this, I'm sure, but it seems to be worth saying, just the same.

So, I have some da capo (or at least, repetitive) examples for your analytical, musical, and psychological enjoyment:

Rising Level 2's


Take a look here:

http://erato.uvt.nl/files/imglnks/usimg/4/49/IMSLP11350-
Handel_Messiah_No.18_Rejoice_Greatly_O_Daughter_Of_Zion.pdf

And a listen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1xlYIoekE8&feature=fvsr

You've likely heard it before, but listen with the score anyhow.  You'll likely be able to pick out the big sections right away.  What distinguishes them from one another?  Tonality?  Tempo?  Character?  All of the above?  What seems to motivate these changes?

Now, there are modulations within each big section, too.  Listen again with the score, and at each cadence you hear, circle the home tone.  Do the accidentals leading up to each cadence reflect that change?  How would you sing the melody in solfa in light of this information?  How would you sing the bass (continuo) line?  Where is the easiest place to change keys?

Rising Level 3's


Take a look at this:

http://erato.uvt.nl/files/imglnks/usimg/3/3d/IMSLP11111-Handel_Messiah_No.6_But_Who_May_Abide_The_Day.pdf

And a listen to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlB3E_OmpT4

(NOTE: I personally like my soloists on this one to sound a little more freaked out -- this guy's calm is impressive and his voice is lovely, but it's all somehow emotionally unsatisfying to me...call me a drama queen, but is it a refiner's fire or a space heater?)

Now, the form of this one is a bit different, yes?  The repeated material is marked in even more obvious ways than the rising 2's example.  Why do you think that is?

What keys do you go through in order to sing the vocal line of this little ditty?  When the surface material gets extremely active in the fast section, what is happening in the bass line?

Rising Level 4's


Here is your wickedly chromatic selection:

http://erato.uvt.nl/files/imglnks/usimg/3/3d/IMSLP11111-Handel_Messiah_No.6_But_Who_May_Abide_The_Day.pdf

And a recording to match (with the recitative that precedes it...the aria begins at about 3:00....and this guy's face totally makes up for the placidity of the rising 3's guy...maybe a little too much, as it turns out...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rukah9okGs

So, perhaps at this point, you're saying to yourself: um....where's the da capo?  Good question.

What was the problem with the da capo aria from a plot-line standpoint?  If the singer has to go back and sing the music from the beginning of the aria over again, has the plot progressed?  Has his/her mind changed?  Nope.  That's right, da capo = static, at least to some extent.  So, if you look here:

http://imslp.org/wiki/Messiah,_HWV_56_(Handel,_George_Frideric)

at the context of the other movements and the text they contain, can you think of a reason why Handel might have chosen not to bring material back?  In terms of the Christmas story, was something important about to happen in, say, the very next movement?

Anyway, see if you can dream up some clever chromatic solfa solutions to this rather tricky melody line.  Feel free to email them to me if you come up with something you'd like to share!