William Boyce - Music Gently Soothing Power

Ode for St. Cecilia's Day (libretto by John Lockman)
William Boyce

Part 18. Aria:

Music, gently soothing power,
In what cloud-surrounded bower,
Far removed, in deep disguise,
Dost thou hide from human eyes?
What art thou, sweet being, say,
When thou warblest from the spray;
When thou wak'st the sleeping string;
What art thou when Angels sing?

Alto: William Purefoy

Graham Lea-Cox
The Hanover Band

This is a simple yet profoundly beautiful aria. The male alto voice accompanied by strings, theorbo and flutes is a sumptuously soft timbre, the melody is elegant with "sighing" gestures. It somehow evokes a sense of the pastoral, but one which transcends the typical idealised clichés of this period. The arioso-like central section moves to yet loftier themes. There is a moment of pure melting beauty when the strings enter, the alto swells above them as he tells of divine angel song... then breaks off. A plaintive question follows, as if lamenting the loss of that indescribable sound, before returning to the opening section.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Boyce
• William
• Cecilia
• Celia
• Day
• Ode
• Male
• Alto
• Counter
• Tenor
• Contre
• Purefoy
• Baroque
• Aria
• Hanover
• Band
• Graham
• Lea
• Cox

[breen252]

Beautiful music what a wonderful voice .castrati what a crazy idea!!

[TheCrazyCello]

@breen252 This is not a piece written for a castrato - it was written for a male alto, that is, singing falsetto, which is exactly what you hear in this recording ;)

[grandadpoppyable]

@TheCrazyCello Yes or even a male Baritone singing in falsetto. Quite few Altos and even the odd counter tenor were baritones to start with. Or considered natural Baritone before training.

[TheCrazyCello]

@grandadpoppyable The modal voice of a male alto is typically baritone - I'm a male alto, so yes, I have a baritone speaking voice but I sing falsetto, as will the singer in this video :) Male sopranists generally have a tenor modal voice. There is a rare voice type known as haute-contre (confusing in french as it is the same as alto) which is a man with an extraordinarily high modal voice - encompassing the range of a female alto, but often extending down into the tenor.

[davehshs]

I've often wondered if the baroque fascination with the male alto voice perhaps derived from the popularity of castrati at that time. Ideas, anyone?

[TheCrazyCello]

@davehshs Doubtful, the Baroque tradition of soloist use of the male alto voice predates the use of castrati, stretching back throughout the 17th century. It derives from the church tradition in some countries of only allowing male voices to be used in services - thus choirs used boy sopranos and male altos. Boyce uses exclusively male voices in these works for the Apollo society because the singers he had at his disposal were "borrowed" from the choir at St. Paul's Cathedral. =)

[grandadpoppyable]

@TheCrazyCello Yes or even a male Baritone singing in falsetto. Quite few Altos and even the odd counter tenor were baritones to start with.

[breen252]

Sorry for my misconception.

I just discovered Boyce and some of the other English composers a few years ago-unfortunately he's not as popular as the more well known composers.

I am very pleased that you are posting his music on your channel.

Look forward to listening to more. Thank you.

[yrevV]

Musica exelente, perfeitamente boa, hoje em dia nos so escutamos musicas clichês, e as boa musicas sumiram...exelente musica!

[welmon1958]

It´s so beautiful !!! I love it.