This piece reflects the internal conflict the poet faces, as well as a narration of the story. The piece uses a substantial amount of word painting to help evoke the emotions and actions of the poet as well as a description of the setting. From measures 1 to 25, the composers uses the use of counterpoint to reflect the disconnection and solitude that the poet feels. Alone and pensive, the poet’s lyrics describe walking deserted fields and does not come in contact with anyone. Because of the contrapuntal texture, the music reinforces the lack of unity as well as the solitude of the poet; there are rarely any moments of homorhythm that could reflect mutual emotions with the poet. To further add to the imagery, the top voice slowly ascends in chromatic steps. This line mirrors the slow steps the poet takes while walking through the fields.
…show more content…
This repeated line of text with its differing melody is capable of showing that the poet has felt this sense of exhaustion multiple times. As with anything done too often, this text can leave the listener frustrated and with a desire for the piece to move forward. Once the piece approaches and resolves to a cadence, the text changes and reveals the “inner flame” that remains in the poet.
In measure 88, the piece returns to a calmer emotion as the poet returns to his thoughts of is solace in nature. There is more use of half and whole notes as well as more sparse melodies, returning the listener to a feeling of solitude. This contrasts the previous section, which contained many melodies with multiple notes. As the poet describes the the rivers he enjoys, a sequence of a quarter note followed by six eighth notes moves from the quinto voice and moves up to the highest voice in measures 93 to 96, visually and aurally imitating the flow of the
This repeated line of text with its differing melody is capable of showing that the poet has felt this sense of exhaustion multiple times. As with anything done too often, this text can leave the listener frustrated and with a desire for the piece to move forward. Once the piece approaches and resolves to a cadence, the text changes and reveals the “inner flame” that remains in the poet.
In measure 88, the piece returns to a calmer emotion as the poet returns to his thoughts of is solace in nature. There is more use of half and whole notes as well as more sparse melodies, returning the listener to a feeling of solitude. This contrasts the previous section, which contained many melodies with multiple notes. As the poet describes the the rivers he enjoys, a sequence of a quarter note followed by six eighth notes moves from the quinto voice and moves up to the highest voice in measures 93 to 96, visually and aurally imitating the flow of the