I Dreamed A Dream Listening Analysis [PDF]

Zitiervorschau

Listening

Name:_____________________________________________________ Date: ______________

SONG:_________________________________________________________________________ Element Duration

Description/Observation The tempo is fairly slow, a little slower than a walking pace. As Fantine starts singing (1’30”) the strings give a gentle accompaniment with a simple but pulsing rhythm, almost like a heartbeat (Fantine’s life of love).

Pitch – Melody

The introduction is sung in a recitative style with Fantine reflecting on her situation and the emptiness and desperation that she feels. It is a type of speech-singing. The ‘sigh’ moment is when she moves above the repeated note. (2mins) the melody moves into a very low register when Fantine acknowledges the struggle that she has been through/is going through.

Pitch – Harmony

(2mins) chord progression moves the music out of the standard F major and through a variety of major and minor contexts: D, Gm, D, G, C, Fm…

Pitch – Tonality

Once the song commences (after the intro), the music is established in a major key. The use of the major key is used to reflect Fantine as she sings about her former life of love and romance. “But the tigers come at night” – the tonality shifts with alternating major and minor chords. Fantine wants to hold onto her happy life but the darkness creeps in and we feel the struggle (2mins). Key change in the third verse pushing the song to a higher emotional intensity.

Expressive Devices

SHAME – this word is given extreme importance in the music. Fantine has sold her hair, teeth and now body in order to be the best mother she can be and keep her daughter ‘alive’. The word SHAME is the loudest moment so far in the music and has an ascending pitch line to emphasise her ultimate shame.

Texture Declamatory introduction has a very thin texture with few instruments and little progression. Once the song commences, the number of instruments that accompany Fantine increases but the texture still remains thin.

Timbre

Use of the oboe in the opening melody sets the scene for the desperate situation that Fantine finds herself in.

Form and Structure At the start of the song, the strings gently accompany Fantine as she reflects on her former life of love and romance. Use of the harp as an instrument of romance. The harp is most noticeable when she is singing about love and her former life. The oboe has fragments of melody that play underneath Fantine as she sings, representing that part of her that is broken and dying.