Listening Journal: L'Orfeo by Monteverdi (first 4 minutes)

Because of the length of Monteverdi's opera, L'Orfeo, I could not analyze the entire piece. However, I found an excerpt from the opera that includes only the opening. A recording is provided below:

Instrumentation

• Purely instrumental from 0:00-2:20
• Female voice in latter half (opera style singing; emphasis on vibrato)
• Chordophones
• Violin consort (with cello?)
• Viola da Gamba
• Lute (?) - looks like a small guitar
• Theorbo (?)
• Harp
• Membranophones
• Drum
• Aerophones
• Brass:
• Horn
• Sackbut
• Wind:
• Dulcian (?)
• Recorder
• Flute

Meter/Tempo/Rhythm

• First melody:  
• 4/4 with strong beats on one
• Allegro ~135
• Hardly any syncopation, all parts on beat
• Second melody (starting at 1:40):
• 4/4 
• Slightly slower but still allegro ~120
• More syncopation, notes tied over strong beats in instrumental parts
• Rubato with singing; less clear of a meter

Melody

• First melody (0:00-1:40) 
• Conjunct runs, yet there are disjunct leaps
• Present in higher parts - violins, horns
• Not a very large range - stays near tonal center
• Second melody (1:40-2:17 and 3:10-3:26 and 4:10-4:25)
• Also conjunct within the many stepwise runs, but disjunct considering the leaps
• Still present in higher parts - mainly violins
• Not a very large range - stays near tonal center
• Third melody (2:18-3:10 and 3:27-4:09)
• Very disjunct
• Belonging to the female vocalist 
• Large range

Texture

• During purely instrumental sections, texture is homophonic, as there is one melody line with harmonizing parts below it
• Texture is similar when the vocalist is singing, but she is accompanied by only one instrument (harp or theorbo)

Tonality

• The first melody definitely has a major tonality
• The second melody is more minor, yet has major cadences
• The third melody is minor as well

Structure 

• The general structure of the piece is as follows:
• Part A: 0:00-0:33 (brass)
• Part A': 0:33-1:05 (winds and strings)
• Part A'': 1:05-1:39 (brass, winds, and strings all together)
• Part B: 1:40-2:17 
• Part C: 2:19-3:10 (vocalist)
• Part B': 3:11-3:26 (shorter version of original Part B)
• Part D: 3:26-4:10 (vocalist again, yet different melody and text)
• Part B': 4:11-4:26 
• Follows some sort of modified strophic form, as parts A and B repeat with only minor changes

Context

• Italian opera
• Secular
• Composed by Claudio Monteverdi 
• Follows the Greek legend of Orpheus (hence, L'Orfeo)
• Text depiction
• First form of musical 'drama'
• Example of Monteverdi's Second Practice
• composed this by combining all of the oldest and newest techniques
• this was rejected at first, then came into practice as it was accepted
• Singer includes lots of embellishment
• Orchestra exists!
• Instruments and singers together

Listening Journal: Se la mia Morte Brami by Carlo Gesualdo

For this listening journal, I've chosen the song Se la mia Morte Brami by Gesualdo, an Italian madrigalist. A recording of the piece is provided below:

Instrumentation

• 5 voices, 3 female and 2 male
• Equal parts

Meter/Tempo/Rhythm

• Simple duple meter, most likely 4/4
• Begins on the very high end of largo (larghetto?)
• Tempo changes around 2:30 to allegro
• Lots of syncopation in Part B

Melody

• Passed between parts
• Staggered entrances at the beginning
• Imitation
• Huge range (soprano line especially)

Texture

• 5-part polyphony
• Sometimes the bottom two voices come together while the upper voices create polyphony above

Tonality

• I'm not exactly sure which mode this piece is in because Gesualdo includes both sharps and flats. However, the piece has an overall minor feel, as many of the cadences are "minor"
• Lots of suspensions
• Final cadence is major?

Structure

• The general structure of the piece is as follows:
• Part A: 0:00-1:33
• Part B: 1:34-2:29
• Part B': 2:30-3:24
• It is arguable that Part A could be broken into three separate parts because there are two distinct cadence points within the Part. However, I feel as if those two cadences are half cadences, and end phrases instead of parts.
• Part B is repeated at the end of the piece, with no distinguishable changes other than a bit of musica ficta at the end.
• Strophic, binary form

Context

• Italian madrigal
• Vernacular
• Secular
• The lyrics of this piece are originally from a poem. Translated to English they read:
• If you desire my death, oh tyrant, I shall die happy and after death adore you alone. But if you desire that I not love you, ah, with but the thought alone, grief kills me, and my soul departs.
• The emotions present in these lyrics, depression and torment, are very profoundly depicted throughout this piece because of the frequent "minor" harmonies and triads, even thought they were not yet distinguished as such.
• The suspensions, extremely high notes, and surprisingly major final cadence also depict the conflicting emotions of the poem's main character
• Most likely written for amateur singers, like much of the music from this time period was