Typical features of Purcell's compositional style in this excerpt include the use of the scotch snap. The scotch snap was revived as a feature of English music by Purcell, it suits well the natural rhythmic patterns in the English language, an example of the use of the scotch snap is bar 7 (P. 90) on the word `press'd´ or one the word `torment´ in bar 15. Both examples can also be seen as examples of word painting, also a typical feature of Purcell's compositional style as well as a general feature typical of Baroque vocal music, whereby the scotch snap symbolises well the word `pressed´ and the interval of the descending 5 th coupled with the scotch snap on 'torment' illustrates this well too. More florid word painting, as inspired by the writing of Purcell's predecessor Matthew Locke, can be found in the melisma on the word `languish´ in bar 33 - b. 37, unlike Locke however who used florid vocal writing for meaningless words such as `with´ or `and´ , here the use of this drawn-out gradually descending melisma well emphasises the meaning of the word. The melodic chromaticism which can also be seen in this melisma and even more clearly in the vocal line form bar 40 to b.41 is also another typical feature of Purcell's compositional style, he inherited this particular feature from his teacher John Blow who used melodic chromaticism prolifically in his work.
Another typical feature of this work is the way Purcell combines regularity with irregularity. The 4 bar ground bass which repeats incessantly, only modulating briefly to the dominant minor from b.29 b.36, is the foundation of this piece, however the irregularity of Dido's phrasing over the ground is sheer mastery on Purcell's part, for example the way the melismatic languish phrase starts on an anacrusis in b.32 and finishes on `known´ in bar 39, which is half-way through the ground bass. Even the beginning of the aria proper `Peace and I´ in bar 20 ellipses beautifully with the ground, indeed Purcell opens it with the `head´ of the ground which is then imitated one bar later by the basso continuo.
Harmonically, the significance of the brief modulation into G minor is also a typically Purcellian touch, as G minor is the key which represents Dido's fate (her final aria before she dies, `When I am Laid in Earth´, is in G minor. Purcell's use of harmony reflects the plot in a much more significant way than other composers of the time: he uses harmony as a dramatic tool: here the use of the key of G minor on the word `languish is foreshadowing Dido's ultimate fate.
Structurally, Purcell favours traditional song forms, this is an example of a da capo aria with an opening declamatory passage followed by an instrumental coda.
Typical features of Purcell's compositional style in this excerpt include the use of the scotch snap. The scotch snap was revived as a feature of English music by Purcell, it suits well the natural rhythmic patterns in the English language, an example of the use of the scotch snap is bar 7 (P. 90) on the word `press'd´ or one the word `torment´ in bar 15. Both examples can also be seen as examples of word painting, also a typical feature of Purcell's compositional style as well as a general feature typical of Baroque vocal music, whereby the scotch snap symbolises well the word `pressed´ and the interval of the descending 5 th coupled with the scotch snap on 'torment' illustrates this well too. More florid word painting, as inspired by the writing of Purcell's predecessor Matthew Locke, can be found in the melisma on the word `languish´ in bar 33 - b. 37, unlike Locke however who used florid vocal writing for meaningless words such as `with´ or `and´ , here the use of this drawn-out gradually descending melisma well emphasises the meaning of the word. The melodic chromaticism which can also be seen in this melisma and even more clearly in the vocal line form bar 40 to b.41 is also another typical feature of Purcell's compositional style, he inherited this particular feature from his teacher John Blow who used melodic chromaticism prolifically in his work.
Another typical feature of this work is the way Purcell combines regularity with irregularity. The 4 bar ground bass which repeats incessantly, only modulating briefly to the dominant minor from b.29 b.36, is the foundation of this piece, however the irregularity of Dido's phrasing over the ground is sheer mastery on Purcell's part, for example the way the melismatic languish phrase starts on an anacrusis in b.32 and finishes on `known´ in bar 39, which is half-way through the ground bass. Even the beginning of the aria proper `Peace and I´ in bar 20 ellipses beautifully with the ground, indeed Purcell opens it with the `head´ of the ground which is then imitated one bar later by the basso continuo.
Harmonically, the significance of the brief modulation into G minor is also a typically Purcellian touch, as G minor is the key which represents Dido's fate (her final aria before she dies, `When I am Laid in Earth´, is in G minor. Purcell's use of harmony reflects the plot in a much more significant way than other composers of the time: he uses harmony as a dramatic tool: here the use of the key of G minor on the word `languish is foreshadowing Dido's ultimate fate.
Structurally, Purcell favours traditional song forms, this is an example of a da capo aria with an opening declamatory passage followed by an instrumental coda.