Word painting
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Word painting, also known as; "Tone Painting" or "Text Painting" is the musical technique of having the music mimic the literal meaning of the words of a song. For example, ascending scales would accompany lyrics about going up; slow, dark music would accompany lyrics about death.
It flourished well into the Baroque music period. One well known example occurs in Handel's Messiah, where a tenor aria contains Handel's setting of the text:
- Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill made low; the crooked straight, and the rough places plain. (Isaiah 40:4)
In Handel's melody, the word "valley" ends on a low note, "exalted" is a rising figure; "mountain" forms a peak in the melody, and "hill" a smaller one, while "low" is another low note. "Crooked" is sung to a rapid figure of four different notes, while "straight" is sung on a single note, and in "the rough places plain," the final word "plain" is extended over several measures in a series of long notes. This can be seen in the following example:
A modern example of word painting from the late 20th century occurs in the song "Friends in Low Places" by Garth Brooks. During the chorus, Brooks sings the word "low" on a low note. Similarly, on The Who's album Tommy, the song "Smash the Mirror" contains the line
- Can you hear me? Or do I surmise
- That you feel me? Can you feel my temper
- Rise, rise, rise, rise, rise, rise, rise, rise, rise, rise, rise, rise, rise....
Each repetition of 'rise' is a half-step higher than the last, making this a clear example of word-painting.
On occasion, a composer may employ the opposite technique for a humorous effect. In the Broadway musical Once Upon a Mattress, Mary Rodgers has the lead character, Princes Winnifred, belt a brash show tune about her shyness called Shy.
[edit] Sources
- Sadie, Stanley. Word Painting. Carter, Tim. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Second edition, vol. 27.
- How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, Part 1, Disc 6, Robert Greenberg, San Francisco Conservatory of Music
 |
This music theory article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
