1. Til I Hear You Sing (From Love Never Dies) – Andrew Lloyd Webber
Background/Contextual/Social-Cultural Influences and Information:
Til I Hear You Sing is from the 2010 musical Love Never Dies, the sequel to the musical Phantom of the Opera, with Andrew Lloyd Webber writing the book and composing the music for both.
Though Love Never Dies is written in the modern period of musical theatre, Andrew Lloyd Webber is known to often write in a classical musical theatre period style. Demonstrated through the accompaniment which has a homophonic texture. Overall the piece is well balanced and the salient use of dynamics which expresses the different forms and styles of a particular emotion. The piece also has fluctuations of moods while still representing the main theme and ideas of the piece, the mood fluctuations also demonstrates the surges of different emotions. The characteristics are found throughout the piece and are some of the defining characteristics of classical music.
The musical was modified for the 2011 season in Australia where songs where Til I Hear You Sing became closer to the start of the show following after the overture, and The Ayrie, a small instrumental song with heavy use of the string instruments to create a more solemn tone before the introduction of Til I Hear You Sing.
This song reflects the Phantom’s anguish at having lost the love of his life ten years previously; the anguish is felt because he no longer has Christine, the one woman that could accept the Phantom and love him, Christine was also his muse for his music composing.
This arrangement of the piece is in Bb major and has a vocal range of F3-Eb5.
Structure of the Piece:
Til I Hear You Sing is in a Ternary form. In ternary form there are three parts (ABA), the third section is a repeat of the first section (‘A’) often slightly altered. Ternary form is a common structure in classical western music, appearing as early as Gregorian chant. Often the first section ‘A’ is repeated before the first ‘B’ section before coming backing to another section ‘A’ this approach was prevalent in the eighteenth century operatic arias called ‘De Capo’ loosely translated as repeat from the top.
The structure of Til I Hear You Sing is in this form:
Introduction, Bars 1-4 (with anacrusis). The introduction is cut down from the full introduction. This motif is repeated often in the show, often coupled with the lyrics: “Ah Christine, my Christine”.
Section A, Bars: 4-18
Section A, Bars: 18-33
Section B, Bars 33-41
Section A, Bars 41-56
Section B, Bars 56-64
Section A, Bars 64-82 (end)
The first three 'A' sections are near identical musically but differ lyrically, the final section ‘A’ is like the other ‘A’ sections but phrases of the last ‘A’ section are put up the octave to give a loud shouting tone the final climax of the piece requires. All of the ‘A’ sections contain the hook of the piece which contains the title of the piece “Til I hear you sing, once more”.
First section A
Final (Fourth) Section A
While the two ‘B’ sections are near identical except for the last 5 bars of each ‘B’ section. The second ‘B’ section has the build-up through to the new section, creating the climax by putting the vocal line up an octave from the third beat of bar 3 of the ‘B’ section.
First Section B
Second Section B
The end of the piece has an extended cadential point
The final cadence of the piece is a perfect cadence played by the accompaniment under a sustained tonic by the singer. This type of cadence can be compared in language as a full stop, leading the tone colour of the ending, as a broad and definite ending when also coupled with the tempo marking piu mosso.
Compositional Elements/Rhythmic & Melodic Elements Used:
Repetition is used throughout the piece even throughout the repeated sections. The starting introduction uses repetition to create a simple motif based off