Andrew Stiller wrote: >Is this that same _Messiah_ that has "Sing ye comfortobbly to >Jerusalem" and "the dead shall be raised, raised incorruptibble"? > >Sorry, couldn't resist. However: my original point is that -ire is very >frequently *not* treated as a diphthong in English poetry, but as two >quite distinct syllables. Musically, this would not be a melisma, and >IMO should not be notated as one.
Speaking of Messiahs, there is a curious example in Benjamin Britten's opera _Paul Bunyan_. In the lyric for Johnny Inkslinger's song, Auden rhymes "fire" with "Messiah", clearly intending two syllables (though without any American r sound). Britten nevertheless sets "fire" on a single note, and the rhyme is lost. " It was out in the sticks that the fire Of my existence began, Where no one had heard The Messiah And no one had seen a Cezanne. " mdl _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
