“No Place Like London,” Act 1, scene 1 from Sweeney Todd by Stephen Sondheim The orchestra enters with a full and resonant timbre, sounding the melodic theme “No place like London,” twice. The second echo ends on a peculiar chord, unresolved. The first soloist’s timbre is bright, energetic and full of hope, in contrast to the second soloist’s timbre that is dark. As the second soloist enters the music changes, the key shifting from major to minor. The second soloist sings in a lower register and saddened tones. Todd’s warning “You will learn,” is followed by two rising notes of hope, only to fall back down again with two notes of sorrow. A woman enters, her melody is chromatically inflected, and follows a downward spiral. After she is given money the music changes, thick tones of brass enter, the tempo of her lyrics increase and her words become agitated. They swirl around, quickly returning
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The brass and the base play on different notes, adding to the disorganization and disorder. Brass and percussion sounds explode in short flashes. The first gang enters, the alliteration of “r” is growling in their lyrics, placing emphasis on the words. The second gang enters, a new rhythm introduced, the section is much shorter than the previous gangs. Both gangs, growl angrily against one another, building tension. They both end in unison on “tonight,” transitioning the song. A woman enters, the orchestration lightens and sounds less threatening. On the word “tonight,” the song shifts to two lovers Maria and Tony, singing sweetly to each other, seemingly oblivious to the agitated gangs, and the fight that is to come. Later in the song, Bernstein layers Marias, sweet and gentle timbre over the agitated and course timbre of one of the gang members. By overlapping these parts the composer is emphasizing the importance of the relationships in the play and also tying everything
The brass and the base play on different notes, adding to the disorganization and disorder. Brass and percussion sounds explode in short flashes. The first gang enters, the alliteration of “r” is growling in their lyrics, placing emphasis on the words. The second gang enters, a new rhythm introduced, the section is much shorter than the previous gangs. Both gangs, growl angrily against one another, building tension. They both end in unison on “tonight,” transitioning the song. A woman enters, the orchestration lightens and sounds less threatening. On the word “tonight,” the song shifts to two lovers Maria and Tony, singing sweetly to each other, seemingly oblivious to the agitated gangs, and the fight that is to come. Later in the song, Bernstein layers Marias, sweet and gentle timbre over the agitated and course timbre of one of the gang members. By overlapping these parts the composer is emphasizing the importance of the relationships in the play and also tying everything