Instrumentation: Voice (soprano woman soloist), Harpsichord, strings (violins?)
Texture: medium: Homophonic: the voice provides the primary melody, with the harpsichord playing accompaniment (Voice with Harpsichord accompaniment, Harpsichord and strings interludes?)
Range: The vocalist demonstrates a wide vocal flexibility, but remains fairly high in the vocal register for most of the song.
Tempo: The song moves fairly slowly during the vocal/harpsichord interludes, and picks up during the harpsichord/strings interludes for a brief change of pace. There is one exaggerated change ¾ of the way through the song.
Meter: For the most part, the song remains in triple beat: there is one section where the meter changes to a rapid duple beat, and some runs the singer takes artistic license with and so are in fluid meter.
Volume: The volume of the piece stays mostly moderate: this is because the focus is not on dynamics, but on the intricacy of the melody and its interplay with the accompaniment.
Timbre: The timbre of the song generally seems to be sad: the voice seems especially sorrowful, while the harpsichord and violin interludes sound elegant and refined. In contrast, the one short interlude is very joyous and energetic, with frivolous runs in the singer’s line and excited twanging from the harpsichord.
The song seems to me to sound distinctly Baroque: maybe it’s the presence of the harpsichord, or the trills/appogiaturas the singer does.
It did seem to get pretty repetitive after a while (12 minutes?), and it seemed maybe a little more bare than baroque music I am used to hearing (string-heavy) – maybe because of the audience it was intended for (private or smaller audiences) …?
I appreciate your comments especially at the end of your notes -- repetitive indeed, that was a hallmark of Strozzi's earlier cantata forms, and yes -- this was definitely written for a salon environment. Thanks!
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