O Magnum Mysterium by Tomas Luis De Victoria Analytical Piece

Answer

O Magnum Mysterium by Tomas Luis De Victoria Analytical Piece

            Rhythm is the repeated sound movement heard in a music composition. This is a measure of the flow of phrases and words in a music composition. For instance, O Magnum Mysterium relies on a slow rhythm which makes it easier for the listeners to follow the composition while appreciating the importance attached to the words. Tempo is the speed at which the music is played. For instance, O Magnum Mysterium is played at a tempo of 78 BPM (Gerhard & Luebke, 2010). Melody is the single notes sequence that is musically satisfying, hence producing a tune. For instance, at the start of O Magnum Mysterium, the duo is initiated by two upper voices in a reverential awe which further mimics an intense great fall of a melodic fifth. Notably, the melody is featured with a characteristic motif of a falling fifth that further rebounds and later rushes upward. Harmony refers to the orderly manner in which sounds go together to suggest a pleasing combination. To illustrate this, in O Magnum Mysterium Victoria relied on the use of open 5^th interval to bring out the sense of awe. However, the third of the chord is not present in this piece, hence leaving the listener in suspense as determining if the harmony is a minor or a major is not possible at this point. Timbre outlines the quality and tone of sound. For instance, in the piece, a full timbre is heard majorly as a result of the use of Renaissance era instrumentation which mainly belongs to the equivalent sonority family. Texture is what determines the overall quality of a song. For instance, in this composition, Victoria relied on a homophonic texture whereby voice and guitar codes can be heard in the background as an accompaniment to the singer’s voice. The structure of the music composition is what determines its form. O Magnum Mysterium has an extraordinary form. For instance, the music is a motet divided in six parts and founded on the responsorial chants having the same name focused on Christmas celebrations.

In O Magnum Mysterium, Victoria focuses on expressing awe and joy that the shepherds felt when the celebrated the birth of Christ as well as worshipped him while he was still on the manger on the eve of Christmas day. Alongside this, Victoria provides a demonstration of a desirable musical training and prowess in Rome’s counter-reformation that resulted to an increased attention to the extensive detail of the composition (Gerhard & Luebke, 2010).

O Magnum Mysterium expresses a high emotional value in that Victoria wrote the composition while implementing a dramatic expressiveness that fails to include any form of parallel consideration (Gerhard & Luebke, 2010). Notably, the piece has a dramatic expressiveness written purely in a choral literature form.

O Magnum Mysterium composition is considered a creative quality piece. Despite being a piece of the renaissance period, Victoria was able to determine and recreate the music to meet the requirements of the original performance conditions. However, it is also clear that Victoria implemented a twist in the composition to match the 20^th and the 21^st century sensibility to ensure that it fits within the current context and meets the needs of the listeners (Gerhard & Luebke, 2010).

Victoria upholds a personal effect by reconstructing the physical materials available to him. For instance, Victoria effectively used instrumentation and venture to achieve a personal authenticity element through effective expressive and interpretative decisions (Gerhard & Luebke, 2010). This makes it possible for him to ponder the meaning of the performance during the composition’s presentation to attract the attention of the audience.