John Tavener: The Lamb
Written in 1979 by John Tavener using the text by the poet William Blake. The Lamb is a sacred song performed mainly at Christmas. The subject of the setting is Jesus who is often referred to as the lamb of God in the Bible.
Structure
In bars 1 to 10, the first verse of the poem is sung and followed by the second verse in bars 11 to 20. The music is still in The opposite to through-composed - where all verses are sung to the same music., despite Tavener using a fuller vocal texture in the second verse. The melody heard in bars 1 to 2 returns in bars 7 to 10, giving the impression that verse one is in A musical form in which the opening section returns after a central contrasting section. - A-B-A1 - section B is formed by bars 3-6. This is then repeated in verse 2.
Instrumentation
The piece is written for four-part choir Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass. - soprano, alto, tenor, bass.
Tempo, rhythm and metre
The song is unusual as there is no Numbers or letters written at the start of a piece of music depicting how many beats are in a bar and what type of beat are in each bar. and the bar lines are only there to mark the ends of the poem Lines of poetry that make up a section, for example, verses.. Some bars have a feeling of 4/4 but others are much freer. Tavener instructs that the rhythm must be guided by the words and not by a regular pulse which would normally be imposed on those words. The word setting is mostly Singing one note per syllable. although occasionally two notes are Perform two notes with no break between the two. The notes are joined up. together to reinforce the important words.
For the line 'who made thee?', Tavener uses rhythmic A rhythm that is repeated with longer durations. by doubling the note values. As a result, the music appears to be slowing in The speed that the music is played at. before being marked a tempo 'moving forward'.
Harmony, tonality, texture and melody
The lyric line begining with 'an innocent little lamb' is conveyed harmonically by using When at least one note conflicts with the harmony of the chord or key signature.. For example, an A minor chord with an added ninth is heard on the lyric 'such', 'all', 'Lamb' and 'know' in bars 7 to 10. In addition, all four chords are marked as A note played for its full value or slightly longer. in bars 17 to 20.
The opening bar has a A texture consisting of a solo musical line. texture and uses four notes from the G major scale. This could be Tavener’s way of expressing a childlike sense of innocence. The entire work is constructed from this opening bar.
The second bar has a two-part A texture based on chords. texture due to the addition of the altos.