Guess My Favourite Baroque Songs - Episode III

Guess My Favourite Baroque Songs - Episode III
for countertenor (or soprano) and ensemble
From the ReCoding Cloud cycle

The ReCoding Cloud cycle
ReCoding Cloud is a cycle of seven compositions/performances for soloist/youtuber and ensemble, recorded and broadcast on screen in the form of YouTube videos. The soloist of each composition also plays the role of youtuber.

The pieces of the ReCoding Cloud cycle are:

1. The Van Beethoven Code – for youtuber “classical music expert”, virtual symphony orchestras and ensemble
2. Guess My Favourite Baroque Songs – Episode I – for countertenor and ensemble
3. The Best Classical Piano Pieces of All Times – for pianist and ensemble
4. Guess My Favourite Baroque Songs – Episode II – for countertenor and ensemble
5. Words Always Have Two Meanings – for clarinettist and ensemble
6. Guess My Favourite Baroque Songs – Episode III – for countertenor and ensemble
7. Epic Guitar Battle – for youtuber rock guitarist and ensemble

Guess My Favourite Baroque Songs
The Guess My Favourite Baroque Songs cycle arises from the observation that, by giving History enough time, curious musical contaminations occur spontaneously (or so it would seem). Here, Purcell’s ground bass resembles a Led Zeppelin riff that was later picked up by Bach; that Chopin piece is a Radiohead cover (all the YouTube experts agree); both Bach and the Beatles show preference for descending chromatic bass lines in F minor, etc.
But whether the similarities exist or not, and whether they are intentional or not, certain musical organisms seem to be genetically compatible, even if apparently very distant from each other. So why not cross these compatible organism – with a little double-coding – and give birth to new genetically modified musical creatures?
Basically, it is the ancient practice of quodlibet, a place par excellence in which to mix the sacred and the profane (a “mash-up” we would say today).

Episode III
Both Bach and the Beatles show preference for descending chromatic bass lines in F minor that generate chromatic harmonies. Episode III is a mash-up of a descending chromatic bass line, an arranged Bach fugue and a double-coded melody…
The text is mainly based on two different English translations of the first chorus and the aria Sei getreu, alle Pein from Bach’s Cantata Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, BWV 12.

Filippo Zapponi