Epeisodia
Poet: Thomas Hardy
Date of poem:
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History of Poem:
Poem
Epeisodia |
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I |
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1 | Past the hills that peep | |
2 | Where the leaze is smiling, | |
3 | On and on beguiling | |
4 | Crisply-cropping sheep; | |
5 | Under boughs of brushwood | |
6 | Linking tree and tree | |
7 | In a shade of lushwood, | |
8 | There caressed we! | |
II |
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9 | Hemmed by city walls | |
10 | That outshut the sunlight, | |
11 | In a foggy dun light, | |
12 | Where the footstep falls | |
13 | With a pit-pat wearisome | |
14 | In its cadency | |
15 | On the flagstones drearisome | |
16 | There pressed we! | |
III | ||
17 | Where in wild-winged crowds | |
18 | Blown birds show their whiteness | |
19 | Up against the lightness | |
20 | Of the clammy clouds; | |
21 | By the random river | |
22 | Pushing to the sea, | |
23 | Under bents that quiver | |
24 | There shall rest we. | |
(Hardy, 565-6) |
Content/Meaning of the Poem:
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Published comments about the poem:
✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦
✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦
Musical Analysis
Composition date:
Publication date:
Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes - Distributed by Hal Leonard Corporation
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Pedagogical Considerations for Voice Students and Instructors:
✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦
✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦
Pitch Analysis | ||||||
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pitch | stanza 1 |
stanza 2 |
stanza 3 |
stanza 4 |
total | |
highest |
A |
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G |
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F |
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E |
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D |
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middle C |
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B |
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A |
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G |
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F |
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lowest |
E |
Rhythm Duration Analysis of Vocal Line | |||||
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stanza 1 | stanza 2 | stanza 3 | stanza 4 | total | |
16th note |
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8th note |
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dotted 8th |
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quarter note |
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dotted quarter |
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triplet |
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half note |
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dotted half |
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stanza total |
✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦✼✦
Audio Recordings
To a Poet |
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The Songs of Gerald Finzi to Words by Thomas Hardy
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Gerald Finzi |
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The English Song Series - 12 |
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The following are comments by Chia-wei Lee regarding the song Epeisodia. 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 89 and concludes on page 92.
The preceding were comments by Chia-wei Lee regarding the song Epeisodia. 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 89 and concluded pn page 92.
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
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2. Poem
Setting
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2. Duration
METRE
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Rhythmic activity vs. Rhythmic stagnation
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Lengthening of voiced consonants
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HARMONY AND COUNTERPOINT
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Unpublished Analysis Excerpts
The following is an analysis of Epeisodia 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-four and concludes on page sixty-five.
Epeisodia |
||
---|---|---|
I |
||
Past the hills that peep | ||
Where the leaze is smiling, | ||
On and on beguiling | ||
Crisply-cropping sheep; | ||
Under boughs of brushwood | ||
Linking tree and tree | ||
In a shade of lushwood, | ||
There caressed we! | ||
II |
||
Hemmed by city walls | ||
That outshut the sunlight, | ||
In a foggy dun light, | ||
Where the footstep falls | ||
With a pit-pat wearisome | ||
In its cadency | ||
On the flagstones drearisome | ||
There pressed we! | ||
III | ||
Where in wild-winged crowds | ||
Blown birds show their whiteness | ||
Up against the lightness | ||
Of the clammy clouds; | ||
By the random river | ||
Pushing to the sea, | ||
Under bents that quiver | ||
There shall rest we. | ||
(Hardy, 565-6) |
Hardy places the poet and his love in three different scenes; in the country, in the city and at the sea. Finzi uses the contrast of the scene in the second stanza to build an ABA form for the song. The tempo marking at the beginning is Allegretto grazioso, and Finzi begins clearly in G major with a lilting accompaniment having steady eighth note motion. There counterpoint of the introduction meanders a bit at first, but finds clear direction in an ascending line in the treble just before the entrance of the voice. Finzi uses this same idea, but elongated this time, between stanzas two and three. As seen in example 30, the vocal line is one of Finzi's more melodic, gently rising and falling over the counterpoint in the piano.
The second verse paints a rather dreary picture of the city, falling into a march in B minor with markedly lower sonorities in both piano and voice. The lilting motion returns in the third stanza, coming to a gentle repose at the end along with the poet and his love. Finzi composed this setting around the time that he was writing his Bagatelles for Clarinet and Piano. Its relationship to them is evident in the similar relaxed pacing and suppleness of the melodic line.
The preceding was an analysis of Epeisodia 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-four and concluded on page sixty-five.