What are the stylistic features of sing we at pleasure by weelkes?

Answer 1

Genre

English madrigal

Style

Ballett

Date

First published in 1598

Form Binary form

A bars 1 - 22

B bars 23 - 85 (23 - 53 + 53 - 85)

The AB structure is typical for English madrigals

Fa-la-la refrain

The Fa-la-la refrain is a typical feature of the English Ballett and closes both sections of the structure.

A - bars 8 beat 3 - 22

B - bars 43 beat 3 - 53; bars 74 beat 3 - 85

Style Ballett

The work has a typical dance-like feel in the sprung rhythms heightened by the dotted rhythm

Setting

The text is set typically in syllabic form to enhance the dance quality of the music.

Text

The text concerns archetypal, clichéd Elizabethan subjects: love, shepherds and dancing.

Texture

The complex nature of the counterpoint is typical of the English Ballet form. Here, again in keeping with the strictures of the time, the work is homophonic, that is all parts moving together with a clear chord structure. However, the parts move in a highly contrapuntal manner.

Part movement

This is an important feature of the English Madrigal and this work is a good example of each vocal part being highly melodic and vocally dextrous whilst remaining idiomatic.

Metre

¾ simple triple time is a characteristic metre for a Ballett. In the anthology recording the performers create the sensation of one beat per bar.

Hemiola

The use of hemiola towards the cadence at bar 20 - 21is a feature typical of the genre and period

Tonality

Music at of this period was caught between the old modal and the new diatonic styles. This work has both modal and diatonic traits, and again was a distinctive feature of English Madrigals of this period.

Key signature

There is no key signature although the tonality is clearly G major. Weelkes typically employs accidentals in place of a key signature.

Modulation

Weelkes modulates to the subdominant by simply omitting the F# accidental from the music. Modulations in a Ballett are to related keys, such as the modulations to the sub-dominant key of C major at bar 14 - 17. There is a brief modulation to the dominant at bar 10 - 11 with the addition of C# in the bass.

Harmony

The harmony is typically simple as the drama of the Ballett lies within the rhythmic language. Here, Weelkes employs many root position chords such as the starkly homophonic passage from bars 31 beat 3 - 34 beat 2.

Word painting

This is an essential feature of any Madrigal and emphasised the marriage between music and text. There is no overt word paining here although the high spirits of the text are reflected in:

· The dotted crotchet + semiquaver theme which is almost omnipresent

· The syncopation in the alto causes tension in the rhythms and forces a suspension between the G and F#

· The use of hemiolatowards the cadence at bar 20 - 21

• The quaver runs in the bass and tenor in the Fa-La-La refrain after bar 44 heighten the excitable rhythmic language