"And the Glory of the Lord" Hadel Gcse Analysis
And the Glory of the Lord – G.F Handel
‘And the Glory of the Lord’ is a chorus taken from Handel’s oratorio Messiah (1741) written for SATB choir and orchestra.
The movement opens with a short orchestral introduction. The first entry is by altos singing the melody of the orchestral introduction.
There are 4 main ideas in the piece; “And the glory of the lord” (Opening words in the piece, sung by the altos), “Shall be reveled”, “And all flesh shall see it together” and finally, “For the mouth of the lord hath spoken in”.
Each melodic idea is contrasting. The first idea, “And the glory of the lord”, has it’s words set in mainly, a syllabic form, where as the second idea, “shall be revealed”, it is a melismatic setting when the word “revealed” is sung. The 3rd idea, “and all flesh shall see it together”, is a repetitive idea, which consists of three statements of the descending fourth idea. It gives the impression of a firm statement, because it is repeated like this. In fourth idea, long, repeated notes distinguish “for the mouth of the lord hath spoken it”. These notes emphasize the power of the words sung, to achieve the strength of the statement.
The first vocal entry in the piece is homophonic, and is sung by the altos. They are singing “And the glory of the lord”. The texture is constantly changing from homophonic, to polyphonic, as the ideas combined. When the ideas are combined, there is a varied amount of imitation throughout. There is some doubling of the parts when “for the mouth of the lord” is being sung. The texture is homophonic for the final cadence. The piece ends with a plagal Cadence.
Throughout the piece, it is marked by recurrent perfect cadences, fortifying the key. The tonality is major throughout the piece. The A major key gives the piece a cheerful, jolly and an exuberant mood. Any modulations are to the dominant, contributing to the bubbly feel.
As is common in baroque music, the dynamics are terraced. The number of
‘And the Glory of the Lord’ is a chorus taken from Handel’s oratorio Messiah (1741) written for SATB choir and orchestra.
The movement opens with a short orchestral introduction. The first entry is by altos singing the melody of the orchestral introduction.
There are 4 main ideas in the piece; “And the glory of the lord” (Opening words in the piece, sung by the altos), “Shall be reveled”, “And all flesh shall see it together” and finally, “For the mouth of the lord hath spoken in”.
Each melodic idea is contrasting. The first idea, “And the glory of the lord”, has it’s words set in mainly, a syllabic form, where as the second idea, “shall be revealed”, it is a melismatic setting when the word “revealed” is sung. The 3rd idea, “and all flesh shall see it together”, is a repetitive idea, which consists of three statements of the descending fourth idea. It gives the impression of a firm statement, because it is repeated like this. In fourth idea, long, repeated notes distinguish “for the mouth of the lord hath spoken it”. These notes emphasize the power of the words sung, to achieve the strength of the statement.
The first vocal entry in the piece is homophonic, and is sung by the altos. They are singing “And the glory of the lord”. The texture is constantly changing from homophonic, to polyphonic, as the ideas combined. When the ideas are combined, there is a varied amount of imitation throughout. There is some doubling of the parts when “for the mouth of the lord” is being sung. The texture is homophonic for the final cadence. The piece ends with a plagal Cadence.
Throughout the piece, it is marked by recurrent perfect cadences, fortifying the key. The tonality is major throughout the piece. The A major key gives the piece a cheerful, jolly and an exuberant mood. Any modulations are to the dominant, contributing to the bubbly feel.
As is common in baroque music, the dynamics are terraced. The number of