Скачать или смотреть Midnight shout and Revelry! - Thomas Arne's Now Phoebus Sinketh in the West ARSM Practice Sesh!

With one rhythmic mistake the interpretation was better than last time first time!

🌅 Thomas Arne: Now Phoebus sinketh in the West
🎭 Context: The Masque Comus (1738)
Composer: Thomas Augustine Arne (1710–1778), a major figure in English music, who, alongside Handel, dominated the London stage in the mid-18th century.
Source Work: This song is from Arne's score for the masque Comus, which premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in 1738. It was the work that established Arne’s reputation as the leading English lyric composer.
The Text: The libretto was adapted by John Dalton from John Milton’s 1634 original. Arne's great success came from setting this English poetry with a grace and clarity that appealed directly to the public.
Scene: The song is sung by The Lady early in the masque, immediately after she is separated from her two brothers and finds herself lost in a dark forest as evening approaches. It is a moment of profound solitude and apprehension.
🎵 Musical Features
Style: The music is an exquisite example of the emerging English Rococo style—light, graceful, and highly lyrical, moving away from the heavier Baroque opera style perfected by Handel. It possesses a delicate simplicity.
Melody: The vocal line is elegant and memorable. Arne prioritizes the natural rhythm and clear pronunciation of the English text, allowing the beautiful imagery to be easily understood. The phrases are well-balanced and emotionally reserved, befitting a Lady of high standing expressing private distress.
Accompaniment: The instrumental accompaniment (originally strings and continuo) is characterized by a gentle, flowing figure, often arpeggiated. This consistent, undulating motion evokes the visual image of the sun's descent and the gathering twilight—a soft, aural landscape against which the inner turmoil is expressed.
Emotional Climax: While restrained throughout, the final words of the stanza usually contain a slight rise in pitch and intensity, musically highlighting the singer's troubled heart before the melody gracefully subsides, maintaining the overall sense of twilight serenity.
"Now Phoebus sinketh in the West" is a miniature masterpiece that perfectly balances picturesque natural description with sensitive personal feeling, securing its place as one of the most beloved examples of 18th-century English song.