Analysis of Musical Experience: Listening Exercise

Analysis of Musical Experience
Your Name
Subject and Section
Date
Listening Exercise
After I listened to the aria, I felt like I was listening to a ballad where a story of grief and sorrow turns into accounts of acceptance and moving forward while still carrying the burden of sadness. At the start of the audio, the first theme felt like some kind of heartbreaking tragedy happened and the person singing was generating sadness from her words while describing the incident. The slow enunciation of the lyrics further stresses the misery of the person. Then, the second theme, played and it felt like the person singing was making a stand of moving forward from the tragedy she experienced. The second theme felt like an angry declaration of strength that this is not the end of the line for her. The fast loud pitched sounds of the lyrics felt like the singer was moving towards a goal or a known objective from where she stood and anticipating hope. Lastly, the repetition of the first theme emphasized that the tragedy should not be forgotten and the events should be accepted and endured for a person to carry on and grow further. I felt that the second theme had an effect to the first theme where the underlying solemn impression of sadness was reduced and added the angry feeling of optimism.
After I read the synopsis of the opera and the translation of the aria, the tragic sadness of the music that I felt was greatly amplified but I never thought that the angry feeling of optimism that I felt while describing the allegro part was actually the feeling of vengeance. The music was actually enough to give me the broad idea of the emotions that I needed to feel; however, the understanding of the text combined with the music accurately establishes the emotions that the audience should feel which was intended by the writer even after centuries had passed. It was easier to vi...