And the Glory of the Lord Analysis Gcse Music

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And the Glory of the Lord “And the Glory of the Lord” is a chorus taken from the oratorio Messiah written by Handel in 1741. An oratorio is like an opera, but based on Biblical themes. It was written during the Baroque period in music. The piece has a very bright A major tonic key and a dominant E major key it also has a supertonic key which is B major . The whole piece is assembled around four different motives. The first motif “And the Glory of the Lord...” it is first heard when sang by the altos from bars 11-14, it outlines the first three notes of the tonic key. The second motif “.. shall be revealed..” is introduced by tenors at bar 17 it uses a descending sequence and the word “revealed” is stretched over 3 bars. The third motif “… And all flesh shall see it together…” this bit of the piece is first sung by altos in bar 43 it has a short 5 note repeated figure. The fourth and final motif “for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it” is sung by the tenors and basses and the majority of notes have the same pitch- A. The texture alternates between homophonic and contrapuntal textures, but there are a few short monophonic sections. Handel often combines different motifs to create polyphonic textures. Instruments often double vocal line although usually at different octaves. The composition is in ¾ and maintains a fast tempo (allegro) until the end when it pauses to create a stretched ending. Handle uses imitation to overlap the melody at a different pitch. The whole piece ends in a plagal cadence in A

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