GCSE Edexcel Music: Handel 'And the Glory of the Lord'

The tempo is Allegro, which means quick.

It changes at bar 136 to Adagio, which means slow movement.

Handel uses both homophonic and contrapuntal/polyphonic textures.

A homophonic texture can be heard at bars 135 - 138 and a contrapuntal/polyphonic texture can be heard at bar 81.

There is a very short monophonic phrase where the upper strings are in unison with the sopranos.

Handel uses imitation to create a polyphonic texture.

He also varies the number of parts playing/singing.

'And the Glory of the Lord' uses 4 motifs.

Motif A is "And the glory the glory of the Lord"

This is first sung by male altos/countertenors.

It includes dotted rhythms.

The word setting is syllabic.

Motif B is "Shall be revealed"

The melodic device used on the word 'revealed' is a sequence.

The word setting is melismatic.

Motif C is "And all flesh shall see it together."

The male altos sing this motif first.

It uses repetiton.

Motif D is "For the mouth of the Lord has spoken it"

This has longer note values.

The word setting is syllabic.

The choir is made up of Sopranos, Altos, Tenors and Basses, known as SATB.

They are accompanied by a string orchestra, made up of 2 violins and a viola, and a continuo, using either a cello, harpsichord or organ.

The orchestra often double the vocal lines.

The piece begins with a ritornello, which is an orchestral introduction. Shortened versions of the ritornello return later in the piece.

There is no formal structure to this movement, but it is based on 4 motifs.

The motifs are repeated and imitated between voices, creating sequences.

The piece is in 3/4, which is simple, triple time.

The first 3 motifs use mainly crotchets and quavers, but the 4th motif uses long repeated notes. These notes put emphasis on the lyrics "For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it". To strengthen it further, it is doubled up between the tenors and the basses.

Handel uses hemiolas to create a syncopation effect. This makes the music feel like is has 2 beats rather than 3 beats per bar. This is mainly used before a cadence and the first example of it can be seen in bar 4.

The piece is in A Major.

It modulates to two related keys, the dominant (E Major) and the Supertonic (B Major)

The piece ends with a plagal cadence (IV-I).

The piece is mainly diatonic, which means all the notes tend to follow the scale with very few large leaps or intervals between notes.