Sunday, September 24, 2017

JMT series, part 9-2 (Telemann)

n34: This double treatment of the fourth ^5 to ^8. . . .

Telemann, Harmonischer Gottesdienst, cantata no. 9, first aria. My note: where affect and tonal design are nicely linked, as the text is “Liebe, die von Himmel stammet, steigt auch wieder Himmel an" [Love that comes [down] from Heaven, ascends to Heaven again"].

My source was a facsimile of the first score edition, downloaded from IMSLP. I edited the voice part to put it in a modern treble clef.

The violin introduces the two contrasting figures that mimic the text: at (a) descending in eighth notes; at (b) rising sixteenth notes. The voice repeats them -- see (a) and (b) in the third system. At (c) the voice reaches ^7-^8 to end the phrase ("Himmel an") but the harmony undercuts the cadence, which arrives shortly after with the traditional dominant level cadence midway through the A-section of a da capo aria -- see boxed notes in the fourth system.  Beneath the score find the details of the mirror Urlinie reading.




In the second half of the A-section, the violin has a short ritornello on the descending figure, and the voice repeats it, turning quickly toward the minor (another cliché of the da capo aria). The subsequent ascent -- at (d) is expanded: a continuous rise to the tonic ^8 (Eb5) is again undercut by a deceptive close -- at (e) -- which enables another phrase full and a strong close. I have included the violin's closing ritornello and the beginning bars of the B-section for sake of context.




Here are the details of the mirror Urlinie reading: