Amabel
Poet: Thomas Hardy
Date of poem:
Publication date:
Publisher:
Collection:
History of Poem:
Poem
Amabel |
||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | I marked her ruined hues, | |
| 2 | Her custom-straitened views, | |
| 3 | And asked, 'Can there indwell | |
| 4 | My Amabel?' | |
| 5 | I looked upon her gown, | |
| 6 | Once rose, now earthen brown; | |
| 7 | The change was like the knell | |
| 8 | Of Amabel. | |
| 9 | Her step's mechanic ways | |
| 10 | Had lost the life of May's; | |
| 11 | Her laugh, once sweet in swell, | |
| 12 | Spoilt Amabel. | |
| 13 | I mused: 'Who sings the strain | |
| 14 | I sang ere warmth did wane? | |
| 15 | Who thinks its numbers spell | |
| 16 | His Amabel?' - | |
| 17 | Knowing that, though Love cease, | |
| 18 | Love's race shows no decrease; | |
| 19 | All find in dorp or dell | |
| 20 | An Amabel. | |
| 21 | - I felt that I could creep | |
| 22 | To some housetop, and weep | |
| 23 | That Time the tyrant fell | |
| 24 | Ruled Amabel! | |
| 25 | I said "the while I sighed | |
| 26 | That love like ours had died), | |
| 27 | 'Fond things I'll no more tell | |
| 28 | To Amabel, | |
| 29 | 'But leave her to her fate, | |
| 30 | And fling across the gate, | |
| 31 | "Till the Last Trump, farewell, | |
| 32 | O Amabel!" ' | |
(Hardy, 8-9) |
||
Content/Meaning of the Poem:
Speaker:
Setting:
Purpose:
Idea or theme:
Style:
Form:
Synthesis:
Published comments about the poem:
✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦
✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦
Musical Analysis
Composition date:
Publication date:
Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes - Distributed by Hal Leonard Corporation
Tonality:
Transposition:
Duration:
Meter:
Tempo:
Form:
Rhythm:
Melody:
Texture:
Vocal Range:
Tessitura:
Dynamic Range:
Accompaniment:
Published comments about the music:
Pedagogical Considerations for Voice Students and Instructors:
✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦
✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦
| Pitch Analysis | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pitch | stanza 1 |
stanza 2 |
stanza 3 |
stanza 4 |
total | |
highest |
A |
|||||
G |
||||||
F |
||||||
E |
||||||
D |
||||||
middle C |
||||||
B |
||||||
A |
||||||
G |
||||||
F |
||||||
lowest |
E |
|||||
| Rhythm Duration Analysis of Vocal Line | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| stanza 1 | stanza 2 | stanza 3 | stanza 4 | total | |
16th note |
|||||
8th note |
|||||
dotted 8th |
|||||
quarter note |
|||||
dotted quarter |
|||||
triplet |
|||||
half note |
|||||
dotted half |
|||||
stanza total |
|||||
✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦
Audio Recordings
To a Poet |
|
 |
|
The Songs of Gerald Finzi to Words by Thomas Hardy
|
|
 |
|
Gerald Finzi |
|
 |
|
The English Song Series - 12 |
|
 |
|
The following are comments by Chia-wei Lee regarding the song Amabel. Dr. Lee extended permission to post this excerpt from his dissertation on February 16, 2012. His dissertation dated 2003, is entitled:
A Performance Study of Gerald Finzi's Song Cycle
"Before and After Summer"
This excerpt begins on page 93 and concludes on page 95.
The preceding were comments by Chia-wei Lee regarding the song Amabel. Dr. Lee extended permission to post this excerpt from his dissertation on February 16th, 2012. His dissertation dated 2003, is entitled:
A Performance Study of Gerald Finzi's Song Cycle
"Before and After Summer"
The excerpt began on page 93 and concluded pn page 95.
The following is an analysis of **** by Gerhardus Daniël Van der Watt. Dr. Van der Watt extended permission to post this excerpt from his dissertation on October 8th, 2010. His dissertation dated November 1996, is entitled:
The Songs of Gerald Finzi (1901-1956) To Poems by Thomas Hardy
This excerpt comes from Volume II and begins on page *** and concludes on page ***. To view the methodology used within Dr. Van der Watt's dissertation please refer to: Methodology - Van der Watt.
1. Poet
Specific background concerning poem:
2. Poem
Setting
1. Timbre
VOICE TYPE/RANGE
2. Duration
METRE
Rhythmic motifs
Rhythmic activity vs. Rhythmic stagnation
Rhythmically perceptive, erroneous and interesting settings
Lengthening of voiced consonants
3. Pitch
Intervals: Distance distribution
Interval |
Upwards |
Downwards |
Unison |
||
Second |
||
Third |
||
Fourth |
||
Fifth |
||
Sixth |
||
Seventh |
Interval |
Bar no. |
Word/s |
Reason/s |
Melodic curve
Climaxes
System no. |
Pitch |
Word |
Phrase lengths
System no. |
From - To |
Suggested reason/s |
Chromaticism
HARMONY AND COUNTERPOINT
Non-harmonic tones
Harmonic devices
Counterpoint
FREQUENCY
RANGE
VARIETY
DYNAMIC ACCENTS
No. of parts |
No. of beats |
Percentage |
2 parts |
||
3 parts |
||
4 parts |
||
5 parts |
||
6 parts |
7. Mood and atmosphere
General comment on style
Unpublished Analysis Excerpts
The following is an analysis of Amabel by Curtis Alan Scheib. Dr. Scheib extended permission to post this excerpt from his dissertation on February 17th, 2012. His dissertation dated 1999, is entitled:
Gerald Finzi's Songs For Baritone On Texts By Thomas Hardy: An Historical And Literary Analysis And Its Effect On Their Interpretation
This excerpt begins on page sixty-five and concludes on page sixty-seven.
Amabel |
||
|---|---|---|
| I marked her ruined hues, | ||
| Her custom-straitened views, | ||
| And asked, 'Can there indwell | ||
| My Amabel?' | ||
| I looked upon her gown, | ||
| Once rose, now earthen brown; | ||
| The change was like the knell | ||
| Of Amabel. | ||
| Her step's mechanic ways | ||
| Had lost the life of May's; | ||
| Her laugh, once sweet in swell, | ||
| Spoilt Amabel. | ||
| I mused: 'Who sings the strain | ||
| I sang ere warmth did wane? | ||
| Who thinks its numbers spell | ||
| His Amabel?' - | ||
| Knowing that, though Love cease, | ||
| Love's race shows no decrease; | ||
| All find in dorp or dell | ||
| An Amabel. | ||
| - I felt that I could creep | ||
| To some housetop, and weep | ||
| That Time the tyrant fell | ||
| Ruled Amabel! | ||
| I said "the while I sighed | ||
| That love like ours had died), | ||
| 'Fond things I'll no more tell | ||
| To Amabel, | ||
| 'But leave her to her fate, | ||
| And fling across the gate, | ||
| "Till the Last Trump, farewell, | ||
| O Amabel!" ' | ||
(Hardy, 8-9) |
||
The poem is an autobiographical reference to a Mrs. Martin, an older woman with whom a young Thomas Hardy formed an attachment. The incident is one where he has seen her many years later, the passage of time destroying her looks and Hardy's feelings toward her. Finzi composed his setting of the poem fairly early, most probably in 1932. (Banfield, 241) It is in an almost pure diatonic style and in the key Finzi seemed to associate with this kind of nostalgia, Eb Major. There is also a folk-like quality to his melodic writing here that seems appropriate to the subject. Finzi groups Hardy's stanzas in pairs, each pair forming a musical strophe. The initial line of the first three groups begins with what is essentially the same phrase, altered only to accommodate the varying word inflection (examples 31-33).
The four "Amabel" refrains that end the first of the paired stanzas all appear on the dominant. The second of the paired stanzas help to shape the overall harmonic framework, the "Amabel" refrains ending on different scale degrees or harmonies. The overall effect is one of tremendous immediacy, the vocal lines having a conversational style and suppleness. At the end, after "Till the Last Trump, farewell," the piano echoes her name twice, a typical Finzi technique (example 34). Of course, if the God of "Channel Firing" is to be believed, the last trump may never sound.
The preceding was an analysis of Amabel by Curtis Alan Scheib. Dr. Scheib extended permission to post this excerpt from his dissertation on February 17th, 2012. His dissertation dated 1999, is entitled:
Gerald Finzi's Songs For Baritone On Texts By Thomas Hardy: An Historical And Literary Analysis And Its Effect On Their Interpretation
The excerpt began on page sixty-five and concluded on page sixty-seven.