A Few Classical Music Terms for Non-Musicians Sep 13 '07    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Music Jersey Boys [Original Broadway Cast Recording] by Original Broadway Cast From $8 Mai by Eri Sugai From $4 The Bottom Line Listen/watch a clip of Va, pensiero chorus while learning a few terms we use in describe music. What’s In The Music?: Learn A Few Classical Music Terms From Verdi’s Chorus Of The Hebrew Slaves Do you ever get frustrated in finding musical terms that you don't understand when reading reviews of classical music performances/recordings in non-professional publications? Here are a few that you can learn about while listening to what they describe in the famous Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves, Va, pensiero, from Giuseppe Verdi’s Nabucco. For a vocal score for the number, try: www.schillerinstitute.org/graphics/music_group/VaPensiero.pdf Open a new tab to either: - video clip from a 2001 performance at the Metropolitan Opera : www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BZSqtqr8Qk - audio clip: www.centomovimenti.com/audio/va'pensiero.mp3 and follow along This chorus opens with heavy bass calls, which is answered by the woodwinds and a solo flute, playing its 2nd note in a held trill (quickly oscillating between 2 adjacent notes). After some flittering around, the music settles into a steady arpeggio (playing the notes of a chord in succession rather than simultaneously) before the chorus starts singing in unison in the key of F sharp major: Va, pensiero, sull’ali dorate;..... Fly, thought, on golden wings; Va, ti posa sui clivi, sui colli,..... Go and rest on the cliffs and the hills, Ove olezzano tepide e moli..... Where, the soft and gentle breezes L’aure dolci del suolo natal..... Blows the sweet fragrant of our homeland Note how the syllable ‘ra’ in dorate is spread over 3 notes (and also the ‘dol’ in dolci)? This is what is called a melisma, where one syllable of a sung lyric is spread over many notes. The whole chorus singing in unison (no harmony) combines with the simplicity of the music line to give the piece a very dignified and nostalgic quality. This chorus is standing in for all the Hebrew people (or... symbolically, for all the suppressed and the disenfranchised). Del Giordano le rive saluta,..... Greet the banks of the River Jordan, Di Sionne le torri atterate. ..... And the fallen towers of Zion Oh mia patria si bella e perduta..... Oh, my fatherland, so beautiful and so lost Oh membranza si cara e fatal ..... Oh, remembrance that is so dear and so doomed Verdi was a perfectionist who took great care to wed the music to the text of the opera. From the first sung note to the 2nd line of the phrase above, the chorus sings in a smooth legato (with smooth transition between notes), but the words 'torri atterate (the fallen towers)' are pictorially sung staccato (each note is played disconnectedly from the others). Also note how the words mia patria si bella (my fatherland, so beautiful) are sung forte ('loudly', marked on the score as ‘f’), and then the volume is hushed straight to piano ('softly', marked as 'p') on e perduta (And so lost ). The passage sounds a lot more effective with this change in dynamic than it would be if the whole line is sung at a steady volume, doesn't it? Arpa d’ôr dei fatidici vati, .....Golden harp of the prophets, Perchè muta dal salice pendi? .....Why do you hang quiet on the willow? Le memorie nel petto raccendi, .....Remind us our our memories, Ci favella del tempo che fu .....Tell us of the time that has passed The big difference at the beginning of this section is how the chorus breaks into 6-part harmony (multiple melodies being sung at once), instead of continuing to sing in unison. Note how effective Verdi contrasts each line dynamically. 'Arpa d’ôr dei fatidic vati' is sung fortissimo ('ff'.... very loudly), while the following ‘perchè muta dal salice pendi?’ is sung pianissimo ('pp'... very softly). This is repeated in the next 2 lines, effectively highlighting the slaves’ cries of anguish and its heart-broken sadness. O simile di Solima ai fati ..... In the memory of the fate of Solomon, traggi un suono di crudo lamento, ..... Sing us a song of lamentation, As the chorus incites the name of Solomon, his spirit soars over them in the form of a solo flute obbligato (a solo instrument is playing an independent melody in accompaniment of the voice, adding more texture/complexity to the music), dancing its own tune along with the chorus. As the last sung word, lamento here fades, the orchestra swells into a crescendo (a gradual increase in volume. Marked on the score as ‘<’ above the measure that the crescendo is to take effect), taking the voices along with it. O t’ispiri il Signore un concento..... Or let the Lord inspire in us Che ne infonda al patire virtù ..... The strength to bear our sufferings Hear the long crescendo from the start of the first phrase, cresting in volume in the middle of ‘Signore (the Lord)’ before ending it with a decrescendo/diminuendo (a gradual decrease in volume. Marked on the score as ‘>’). This pattern is repeated with each line, until the final ‘al patire virtù’ fades itself into a devastating state of nothingness. What a magnificently simple yet penetrating aria of many voices this is, ay? When the opera Nabucco made its debut, Italy was fighting for freedom from Austria, and this chorus so struck a chord with the populace that they practically adopted it as the country’s second national anthem. I hope this piece will help the non-musicians among us in picking up on some technical terms that may pop up in classical music reviews. If you are interested in learning more about what to listen for in a classical music opus, Aaron Copeland's What To Listen For In Music is a really good 'lay-friendly' book to read up on. Happy listening!

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