Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion , sometimes greatly rejoice, O daughter of Sion ( HWV ... 56 16 dt u a by Christoph Daniel Ebeling Rate Adults' to songs of joy ), is a soprano - arias from the oratorio " Messiah " by Georg Friedrich Handel and one of the most famous and most sung arias of the entire work. The aria is set to music by Zechariah 9: 9-10 in the English translation of the King James Bible (selected and compiled by Charles Jennens ). As part of the oratorio, the aria was composed in the summer of 1741 and premiered on April 13, 1742 in Dublin . In the oratorio it represents the 16th movement and is just before the end of the first of three parts.
occupation
The orchestral part of the aria for soprano solo consists of strings and basso continuo. However, the exact line-up varies greatly from performance to performance.
music
The aria is in B flat major and is notated in 4/4 time . “Allegro” is given as the tempo, which corresponds to the joyful character of the piece.
The aria consists of 108 bars and can be roughly divided into three parts - a cheerful, virtuoso and coloratura section from bar 1 to bar 44, a quieter middle section over the last movement of the text, which begins in bar 44 and which extends to bar 65 extends, as well as a final part, which ties in with the first part, but develops differently, until the orchestra picks up the prelude in a modified form and ends in bar 108. So the piece is quite symmetrical. Such a formal structure according to the ABA scheme is also called a "ternary structure".
The aria begins with an orchestral prelude in which the orchestra anticipates the opening theme. Shortly before the start of the soprano, the orchestra changes from forte to piano, in order to end the orchestral prelude triumphantly in forte. The soprano starts with an upward fourth jump from f 'to b', expands this to a fifth jump to c "and only increases this to a sixth jump until he even reaches the f" and returns to the f '. The orchestra fills the pauses in the soprano part with virtuoso, coloratura modeled sixteenths in the forte, but takes back when the soprano part is used and accompanies in the piano. This is followed by the first coloratura on "rejoice", which extend over many bars and which are reminiscent of corresponding passages in Handel's operas. The following "O daughter of Jerusalem, rejoice greatly, shout, O daughter of Jerusalem, behold your King cometh unto thee." From bar 25, a dotted rhythm is marked in many places, which is reminiscent of the character of French overtures , which also include the overture of the Messiah . In some places the music seems to be strongly oriented towards the text, for example in bar 28, where the "shout" appears for the first time and is sung on an f "held for more than three quarters. The first part ends with an orchestral part, the an the prelude remembers, but this time it doesn't begin and end with the tonic in B flat major, but with the dominant F major .
This is followed by the middle section, which, apart from connections with dotted eighth notes, does not contain any sixteenth notes, remains in piano, does not reach the heights of the first part and is overall much more serene and calm, which creates a strong contrasting effect. It now begins with the parallel minor key of G minor and its dominant D major and is finally led to D minor via the double dominant A major . "Peace" is often repeated in a descending line and kept on one note for a long time.
The final part initially seems to be a da capo of the opening part, but after the first use the part develops differently, but no less virtuoso than the opening part. Like this one, it is characterized by long coloratura passages that jump back and forth between the singing voice and the orchestra. The final section now ends with a replay by the orchestra, which is very similar to the prelude and, like this, comprises 8 bars and lets the aria end in the basic key, the tonic in B flat major.
Other versions
As with other sentences of the Messiah , there are also different versions of "Rejoice greatly". While the current version is usually counted as the 16th movement of the oratorio, the other, rather widespread version is given the number 16a. This older version is in 12/8 time, with the time being divided into four groups of three, creating a triplet character. The version is significantly longer, the coloratura are not written in sixteenths, but in triplet-like eighth notes. In this version, the first part is repeated in full after the middle part.
text
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Original text "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion" |
German translation after Christoph Daniel Ebeling "Wake up to songs of bliss." |
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Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! |
Wake up to songs of bliss. Rejoice, daughter of Zion, |
Interpreters
Although the aria was sometimes sung by boys, it is usually performed by women. Well-known singers have made recordings and performed the aria. These include: Arleen Augér , Dorothea Röschmann , Elisabeth Schwarzkopf , Joan Sutherland and Kiri Te Kanawa .
Others
- The performance usually lasts just under 5 minutes.
- The aria, like the entire Messiah , has been arranged by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , who rearranged the work. This version is based on the translation by Christoph Daniel Ebeling.