Senior Recital 09 TBVE

Purcell was the leading composer of England, and a favorite among royalty. Throughout his life he held prestigious positions and wrote great amounts of music in nearly every genre. He is most remembered for his dramatic music. He worked primarily with vocal music as well with an incredible ability to set English text so effectively that the words sound as natural as speech. The full title to this beast of a song is closer to, The Blessed Virgin's Expostulation when our Savior, at twelve years of age, had withdrawn himself, Z196. It is a sacred song written for soprano and continuo around 1693. Altogether, this piece is dramatic and recitative-like. The scene is the moment Mary could not find Jesus because he had gone to the temple to talk to the Elders instead of leaving with his parents. Being as he was at a young and vulnerable age, this poem, by Nahum Tate, documents the distress and fear that run through a mothers mind when she discovers a missing child- especially in a land where the ruler would prefer that her child is dead. Notice how the music represents the different passing emotions from the remembrance of the slaughter as demanded by Herod to fleeing through savage wild lands in search of refuge, to the feeling of desertion by Gabriel, the arch angel supposedly sent to protect her and her son.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Stephanie Dailey
• Purcell
• at twelve years of age
• had withdrawn himself
• Z196
• Recital