Analyzing text is great right? I mean, we all love love love annotating our Jane Eyre books, obvserving, and evaluating-- it's a good time. And I always thought that it was just books and essays that we could read and analyze (and maybe movies too). But I have recently learned that you can analyze music too.
In choir we are singing Vivaldi's Gloria. It is a long, but beautiful piece composed with many different movements. The second one, in which we analzyed, was Et In Terra Pax. Et In Terra Pax means "And on earth, peace." First of all, this is a really interesting title. From that title, you would expect that the melody would be major, and that the beat is very upbeat and together; however, this is not the case at all. There is a fugue pattern that repeats itself in the piece, but it's not until the very end that every voice part sings it together. This means that the four voice parts (soprano, tenor, alto, bass) are singing clashed fugues. How does that help us understand the meaning of this peace? Well, clashing fugues don't sound very peaceful, and is that what Vivaldi is trying to say? That we will never live in a world of peace? It's certainly interesting, and up for interpretation. There are other parts of the piece that create tension as well, such as clashing notes, and cresendos.
I think that the piece is hopeful. The clashing fugues suggest, to me, that it's difficult to obtain peace. We all have different beliefs, so we're bound to clash with each other. But it's the end of the piece that keeps me hopeful-- that is when all four voice parts are singing the same rhythm. This ending suggests that there is hope that we can come together. I would've never thought that there was such underlining substance in music that you can analyze, but you can! So the next time you're listening to your favorite Vivaldi choral piece, see what you can analyze.
Nice! Analyzing music is awesome. It's good that you are noticing these things. You should check out Olivier Messiaen. He has some really cool piano pieces. Messiaen wrote this one piece about the cruxifiction of christ. One might not think that the piece is about the cruxifiction by just listening, but if one looks at the chords used, it becomes more noticable. All of the chords are positioned like Jesus was on the cross. He also plays some high notes really fast and swiftly to act like the birds flying overhead. He also has sounds for the nails in the cross. It's pretty intense. It's a very mysterious piece. I can't remember the title of the piece right now though. It has a french title. I'll try to find a video of it sometime.
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