What is the Anthem: Post 4

Beginning in the mid-16th century, the anthem is a form dedicated to choir and orchestra. However, the form may provide soloists for both choir and instruments, though anthems later in the 17th and 18th century used voices and solo voices with instrumental/orchestral accompaniment. More importantly, anthems delve into religious text and for sacred ceremonies, usually from the Bible or Qur’an. Concerning both pieces of the investigation, there are specific aspects of the anthem that both pieces utilize.

As far as the structure of anthems, they are broken down into sections, in this case, three for Zadok the Priest. The structure is sectioned by discussing religious themes, as expected from an anthem:

• The first section is broken from measures 1-30 with a tempo of andante in key of “D,”  where the commencement of the piece is instrumental, leading to the introduction of the chorus, chanting “Zadok the Priest.” The choral entry uses soprano, alto, tenor, and bass, now heard forte throughout.

• The second section brings up the same chorus from measures 31-62 with a tempo of adagio, with the choir repetitively chanting “And All the People Rejoiced.” Like the previous section, the same key is used for same voices/instruments with an opening chordal sequence in accompaniment from the the instrumental intro.

• The final section. broken from 63-121 in allegro, dedicates the choir to sing with repetition, “God Save the King,” heard chordally, interspersed with “Amens” incorporating long semiquaver runs by the chorus. The chorus ends with a largo plagal cadence on “Allelujah.”

When translating the lyrics for Saz Va Avaz, the piece has also been broken into three sections, still maintaining religious themes, despite being from the Qur’an.

• Section 1 breaks down to an introduction of a tenor playing the tar,

maintaining a tempo of allegro, bringing a chordal chant of “Oh Beloved” with a

repetition of “Without You, Life can’t go on.”

• Section 2 introduces the same tenor to chant, still allegro, a discussion of

the love of God, along with the repetition of “Without You, Life can’t go

on.” However, where the first section played in a dynamic of forte, this section play with a dynamic of piano for its entirety, with one terraced dynamic to forte, but decrescendos to piano again.

• In the final section, the tenor still sings, adagio, though remains with the dynamic

of piano. The tenor now sings about how sacred the Garden of Eden is, but is saddened if everything should disappear, once again, ending the chordal section and the piece with the repetitive theme/phrase “Without You, Life can’t go on.”

In both pieces, there is definitely evidence of a structure, despite the themes are different, though both pieces still speak of religious aspects, which follows the form of the anthem. Among the pieces, repetition was heavily used of phrases in order to reinforce the main theme of the piece or section of the piece, which is known to be present in anthems. Of course, tempos are present in many pieces, especially when they are different in the piece. However, the change in tempo builds the climactic moments to initiate finales or make powerful introductions. More so, the chordal harmony is present throughout each piece for a homophonic texture of harmony, though this will be discussed in further detail in the next post. For both pieces, the anthem form is clearly expressed throughout both pieces.