The most dangerous note in "Spem in alium"
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ต.ค. 2024
- A footnote to my video about "Spem in alium" by Thomas Tallis, explaining what the most dangerous note in the piece is and why.
The release date, 09/09/2021, adds up to 23, which is one third of 69 (watch the aforementioned video to see why this is relevant).
All through the course on Spem in Alium I found my curiosity wandering at intervals to this most dangerous note, which I felt I would never identify especially given I am not a baritone and still struggling to sing a G when asked to...but now that I am taking a sanity break from making recordings of all this magnificence I am very grateful to have this treat to watch at suppertime. Now I know!
I really want to thank you again for your initial video...the colors in the graphic of the music gave me the idea to use colored pencil on the forty lines of the score; since our chorus invited us to study and record as many parts as we wished to giving each part its own color made the score readable else my eyes drifted all over trying to find which line I needed. Singing sixteen choirs let me experience Spem in a manner that while not usual to a performer, gave an ordinary person staying home a means to know the inner parts of it in a way that listening could not provide. Your video was a part of this journey which I am sure is not over...a masterwork like this has its own magnetism and I feel I will be discovering it in new ways for a very long time. Be well!
That feeling when you are in Choir 4 in concert and realise for the first time just what a minefield that particular spot can be... (been there, done that). Thank you, your comment is much appreciated.
@@jaakkomantyjarvi7515 I can only imagine, given my proclivity to come in a half step off for....anything. I've appreciated more than anything how these ostensibly 'simple' lines are not so simple at all in many places. It's a masterpiece. Please keep making these videos. You are a gifted instructor!
I sang this note when I performed it once!
You found ONE note that is dangerous. MAN, you must have spent a while looking. :-/ :-) When I heard it against the brass, I understood. It doesn't sound difficult, but it had better be right. One of my choir directors used to call those collapses "train wrecks", directly related to your "off the rails", which is quite applicable. And the audience is in the car stuck on the rails (my addition).
Thanks, Jaakko! I'm due to sing this line in two forthcoming performances. I've sung in at least as many performances as you at the Tallis Festivals, sometimes next to you. I hope one day to reprise my devil in Tentatio too. Sadly The Exmoor Singers seems to be defunct and there are no more Tallis Festivals. Best wishes, Mark
I grew up opposite the site of Nonsuch Palace, where Spem is supposed to have first been sung - perhaps written for that venue, there being an octagonal banqueting house with four first floor balconies, allowing for four choirs at ground level and four above. Or perhaps for one of two octagonal towers at the south end of the palace.
Can you tell me of any forthcoming performances in 2023? It's my dream to one day organise a performance on the site of the palace.
If I was performing baritone 4 I would probably focus of baritone 6, assuming every voice is seated together. The beat before the infamous Bb baritone 6 sings a C. Two beats before a D, so you could use those notes as a reference.
I however see the issue if choirs are seated together
Fantastic, thank you. I enjoyed both of your videos on Spem very much. It was great to see the chords in this one - I would love to see a deeper musical analysis of the entire piece, showing all the chord changes and a more technical discussion of the key(s) / mode(s) / intervalic choices (not sure of the correct term... I don't know much about music, esp of this period - were modes even a 'thing'?!). The chords seem to jump around yet the whole is very stable - is this because of the choices of leading tones? Having said that, there seems to be a distinct dissonance in a couple of places - or is that just me? Any further insight very much appreciated 🎶
That whole passage is dangerous because it's just after the first tutti and choristers lose their concentration here. Choirmasters need to be strategic about who they put in these choirs. Completely agree about that note. I've performed the piece in the formation you describe and the spatial separation multiplies the difficulties. So many things can go wrong...
You deserve more subscribers.
I’m intrigued by the score you depict in the title sequence. I’ve spent my Renaissance music career being told “they didn’t use bar lines”, yet I see them in the score. So when did they appear, or perhaps to ask, how old is that particular score, please?
In the original video he says 1610, if I do remember correctly.
Love your videos ❤️
unconvinced that the circular formation is best.
Why so?
@@olialto7 Because the original performance seems to have taken place in a long room, with the most important listeners placed in the middle. It's logical therefore to place choirs 1-2 and 7-8 at the ends, with 3-4 and 5-6 in the middle. That way you get more interesting differences in dynamics with, in the opening section, the music starting and finishing far away before the first big tutti. You can't get that effect in a circle. Note also that all the changes of text and theme happen in the middle choirs, where the important listeners could have heard them clearly.
The same effect can be achieved in a concert space by putting 1-2 and 7-8 behind (and either side if possible) the others. I've conducted it like this, and found that the spacing of all the chords seemed to work better.
@@Grabyrdy Interesting!
Thank you!
No pressure then😮
mite hemmetis tää o Jaako toisiks katotuin video tilaajie määrää verratuna?
Koska tämä on alaviite siihen katsotuimpaan videoon.
Oof!