Claudio Monteverdi is an italian composer who developed two different styles of music changing the course of music from renissance style to the baroque period. He was very well known for his operas and madrigal pieces of music such as “Ah dolente partita”. He transitioned from renissance polyphonic music to the monodic style typical of baroque music while writting his madrigal books. In the “Ah dolente partita” text from Claudio’s fourth book of madrigals it sounds like a protagonists sorrowful separation displayed by changes in pitch and speed of music and voice. Claudio emphathsized this heartbroken and lonely feelings through word painting and dissonance. The first line of text is “Ah, painful separation!” which the musical piece paints as two people separating each other by two voices in unison separating into two distinct voices. Then there is a descending in the voices in the second line “Ah, this is death to me!” as the protagonist makes it seem like there is no hope only pain and anguish. All the while these two or three voices mimic each other in resinging the first two lines. The third line of text is interesting because the voices are elevated as if there may be hope that this is not the end it reads “Can I part from you and not die?”. It seems like the repittion of these lines by each person signifies an ongoing and ceaseless despair.
In the second section of the song, Claudio has the first line of the text “And yet I feel” repeated by both voices at different intensities, and then the second line “the pangs of death” just like the second line of the first section descends to a lower pitch to signify intense grief. Then there is a rest period before the line “and, in our separation,” which sounds different hinting at the protagonist accepting his own fate and looking to the future. The fourth line “a smarting death” repeats and rises in pitch until the end of the second line “that makes pain come alive” where it gradually slows down, as if the music goes from lively and a little enjoyable back down to sorrow. The next line “so that my heart may die eternally” is repeated until the end of the piece often in a descending tone, this sounds like the protagonist my never love again. The end just like the begining is signified with voices parting ways like two lovers parting ways. Franz Schubert was an austrian composer who wrote many operas, symphonies, and sacred music. He is ranked among the greatest composers of the late Classical era and early
Romantic era and is one of the most frequently performed composers of the early nineteenth century. In “Frühlingstraum” (Dream of Spring) Shubert’s first section is very cheerful with the background piano and the protagonist speaks of flowers blooming in may and green medeaws, the last line which is repeated ends with a higher pitch at “merry bird calls” to signify high pitched bird calls. The second section
