Baroque Pieces; Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Act III, Dido's Lament (due 1/24)

1. The lament consists of a brief opening recitative, followed by an aria. In what key does the recitative start, and how long does this key last? What key follows the first?


2. The aria commences in m. 9. In what sense is this aria a set of variations? (i.e., where is the theme first stated).


4. Altogether, how many variations follow the theme?


5. How many sections make up the vocal line? Indicate the measure numbers where these parts begin and end.


6. Based on the vocal line, is the lament essentially binary or ternary?


7. What is harmonically or melodically odd about the relationship between soprano and bass? (Compare each phrase of the voice and bass parts, noting where each phrase starts and ends). Can you find a peculiar lack of synchrony, between them? Explain, citing exact measure number locations.


8. Do the soprano and bassline up in mm. 44-48, compared to that of mm. 33-38?


9. The instrumental postlude exploits a motive heard earlier. Can you find it? Describe briefly.


10. In the postlude, the outer-voice relationships are again rather strange (like the passage referred to in Question 7), especially around mm. 57-59. What is going on here?