o care thou wilt despatch me analysis
...entirely lengthy (12 lines) and yet it incorporates so many emotions in so few words. By using word painting in accordance with key changes with accidentals throughout the piece, Thomas Weelkes expresses each emotion very intricately and passionately. Each phrase and sentence has been delicately placed with the melody to enhance the poetry and overall feeling of this 17th century composition. The five voices in this madrigal are precisely spaced and repeated to emphasize the idea of desperate longing and hope. At bar#24, we hear the ending of the hopeful “fa-la-la” section and enters “so deadly dost thou sting me”, so deadly is emphasized by a very significant slowing of the tempo and it is made to sound like it is heavy and dragging on. Word painting is evident here because the term “dying” is being musical performed to sound like its ending or dying away. The moods of this piece all have relative tempos and feelings. The term “deadly”originally presented in bar #24 is dragged on for a 15 measures until bar#39. This is showing us her pain and sorrow, her mourning, like weeping when all of the voices repeat this over and over again about the “deadly” pain and the “sting”. In bars 72, We hear the desperation and begging, her last hopes when the poem hits a stretched line of “Come, sick man’s jewel”. Flowing contrapuntal lines with contrasting tempos vary by way of the rhyme scheme and change as the poetry begins to enter a new emotionally expressive direction or thought. This strophic poem is very descriptive and very metrical in meter. Weelkes’ method of emphasizing important or symbolic words from the poetry in his music seems to be to raise notes or to give them longer note values. He took great care when arranging the rhyme scheme with his musical melody. The poetry and music are expressed very colorfully and descriptively. In particular at bar# 28, Weelkes uses an evaded cadence with the word “Sting” holding in the soprano as the tenor sings “Dead-ly”. This is an example of Thomas Weelkes’ immense attention to detail and the thought that went into this work. We see the word “Mirth”(bar#44), which means gladness and/or laughter, is presented in a slightly more upbeat tempo and tonally brighter than the rest of the piece. The mood is quite content for those 7 bars until we enter the reoccurring motive of “Fa-la-la” (bar# 50). When listening to this English madrigal it could have a tendency to be too gloomy or to drag on, but Weelkes lightens it by using sections of “Fa-la-la” that act as a contrast and which add variation to not only the minor key which this piece is written in but also to the poetry which is quite depressing as a whole . When we hear this reoccurring motive of “Fa-la-la ”(bars 19-24, 50-55, 82-87, 107-113) being frequently repeated throughout the piece we underst...