18 February 2025
Dear Singers,
It was 'Agnus Dei week' and we worked hard on these movements from both works. Congratulations to everyone for such intense and focused concentration - a lot of note learning and tuning challenges, which were well handled.
Certain intervals between notes can cause poor tuning, and most of them are in these sections - particularly the Hummel! I always point these out in rehearsal where it is helpful.
Basically, if a note has an accidental sign in front of it (that is sharp (#), flat (b) or natural (the other one - no symbol on my keyboard!!) it means it is outside the key that the music is in at that point, so the interval (gap between it and the following note) has been altered and needs special attention.
Chromatic passages (containing semitones) are usually the most expressive - see the soprano line bars 9 to 16. This effect (together with chord changes beneath) is what makes Hummel & Mozart sound so 'yearning' and expressive - a characteristic of music of this period.
Mozart - Agnus Dei: Compared with the Hummel there is less movement in each part, the whole choir sings the same rhythms, mostly. The expression comes through the harmony changes; thediminished chord (oh don't we just love this music theory stuff?!) is very common (see bars 5, 8, 22, 23,37, 40 & 45).
Everyone, please make the first note of bar 41 a quaver to clear the sound before the basses go on. Basses - turn the last note of that bar into a quaver too please.
Our tuning (intonation) is generally very good and we are much more adept now at listening and making adjustments - well done, great progress, thank you.
There are no NOTICES this week, but just to say, our new revamped website is looking absolutely great and ready for launch very soon..........
WHAT WE WILL DO ON 25.02.25
Hummel: Quoniam (p19) - Sectionals
Check out - Kyrie, Gloria, Qui tollis, Credo & Agnus
Mozart: Domine Jesu (p45)
Check out - Pages 54-64
Here are recordings of the Hummel:
Gloria (p8)
Qui tollis (p16)
https://open.spotify.com/track/7ma5wNCKIOaSjxq53kUQ4M?si=99aa0703c46243a2
Quoniam (p19) FOR NEXT WEEK
https://open.spotify.com/track/4Pblcg7D296skiGBed8eRF?si=b14a827866484111
Thank you everybody.
Happy practising....
Peter Hunt