Fair Phyllis I Saw Sitting All Alone - Essay Example

Identifying and Justifying the Given Pieces of Music Fair Phyllis or Fair Phyllis I Saw Sitting All Alone is a musical work of John Farmer, which has become a member of the music history since 1599 when it was published. This example of listening most definitely points to the Renaissance period, basically due to the era in which was composed and also mostly because it is a madrigal. Madrigals were composed during the Renaissance and this type of music has no accompanying instruments, just as can be seen in Fair Phyllis.

The song deftly makes use of four different voices and these voices again exemplify Renaissance, as the music of that period typically featured independent rhythm within the melody of the song. For instance, when two singers start to sing “Up and down” the others have already completed singing that verse and reached “He wandered” (Farmer). The whole song stands an example to this technique thus showing that it belongs to the Renaissance period. As one listens to J S Bach’s Cantata BWV 140 “Wachet auf, ruft, uns die Stimme” he or she can immediately identify that it is characteristic of Baroque music.

It primarily arises from the fact that this music ensemble gives significant importance to bass such as bass vocals, which for instance leads the other vocals at “3:30” of the song (Bach). Furthermore, there are thematic variations as well as repetition of melodic patterns, which are the main features of Baroque music. Therefore it becomes clear that this listening example is indicative of the Baroque period. J S Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major is also another example of Baroque music.

It is representative of a lot of overtly ornamental notes however the theme remains the same throughout the music. The pitch changes and the octaves change however the same melody is followed by the different instruments such as the flute and trumpet. It also consists of polyphonic lines which is two or more melodies played simultaneously, and polyphony is basically implicative of Baroque music, thus it transpires that this listening example belongs to Baroque music. Works Cited Bach, Johann Sebastian.

Cantata BWV 140 “Wachet auf, ruft, uns die Stimme.” Youtube.com. 2012. Web. 14 Mar. 2014. Farmer, John. Fair Phyllis I Saw Sitting All Alone. Youtube.com. 2012. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.