L3 - Intro and Verse 1
Lesson Objectives:
To learn what is meant by recitative and underscoring
To understand the importance of perfect 5ths both in the melody and harmony
To analyse the introduction bars 1 - 32
To analyse the 1st verse bars 32 - 49
Introduction - Bars 1 - 32
The Story: In the introduction Glinda confronts Elphaba about standing up to the Wizard and destroying all she has worked for. Elphaba responds by accusing Glinda of ‘grovelling in submission to feed your own ambition’ . The two witches are sarcastic and angry. Glinda doesn’t understand why Elphaba is risking all she has worked for and wanted but Elphaba realises that the Wizard is not who she thought he was and she doesn’t want to be a part of it anymore. The music reflects this anger and realisation.
It is composed like a recitative in opera—a section that moves the story on quickly with fast, speech-like lines.
It begins with a dramatic, accented chord followed by Glinda’s sarcastic and shouted ‘I hope you’re happy now’. Each following phrase is an extended version of this opening line.
The chords move down and up chromatically, a semitone at a time for the first 7 bars.
This chromatic movement makes the tonality (whether it is major or minor ) uncertain.
Elphaba answers Glinda’s taunts by mimicking her a semitone lower in bar 9 (Glinda starts on a G# and Elphaba on a G)
When Glinda says ‘Elphie listen to me. Just say you’re sorry’ the underscoring (music under speech) hints at the song Elphaba is about to sing with motif (B) and motif (C) in B major and then in F major
Glinda tells Elphaba ‘you can still be with the Wizard’ sung to a melody from an earlier song in the show called ‘The Wizard and I’. This is a musical reminder of a time when Elphaba dreamt of working for the Wizard.
Elphaba replies that ‘I don’t want it anymore’ marked colla voce (sing freely)
At bar 32 the music suddenly moves to D major as the brass enter with syncopated chords (motif B) followed by the synth playing motif C.
Verse 1 - Bars 34-49
The Story: Elphaba realises that something has changed within her. She is not the same and refuses to play along with the evil rules of the Wizard. She needs to be brave and trust her feelings and ‘leap’ into the unknown. The music reflects this feeling of possibility and opportunity. It begins with motif B played in low brass and motif C on a twinkling synth.
Elphaba enters at the start of the verse with the words ‘something has changed within me’ marked colla voce accompanied by tremolo strings, creating a trembling sound of anticipation by playing the same note very quickly, moving the bow across the string as fast as possible.
We have looked at how perfect 5ths make up a lot of the melodic material. This is also the case in the harmony accompanying the verse. The chords feature bare 5ths.
Chords that lack the 3rd in the middle create a feeling of space and possibility because it is the 3rd that informs us of it’s tonality (major or minor)
From bars 34—42 the melody uses only 5 pitches (A B C D E) and is full of perfect 5ths.
The rhythm is syncopated throughout the verse with a great piece of rhythmic word painting as it moves on to the beat (observing the rules!) for ‘rules of someone else’s game’
Bars 42—45 also only uses 5 pitches (G F# D A B) and then from bars 46—49 only the first 5 pitches of D major.
The 2 notes that are constant in all of these are D and A—the tonic and dominant that themselves form a perfect 5th.
It is these intervals of perfect 4ths and 5ths that ends the verse as Elphaba literally ‘leaps’ with the orchestra lifting off at the same time.
Review Questions:
1) How does the bass line more in the introduction?
2) What is meant by underscoring?
3) What is meant by recitative?
4) What effect does having no third in a chord have?
5) What key is reached at the start of the verse?
6) Name two keys visited in the introduction?