Initial thoughts and Analysis of With a Lily in Your Hand

At first glance, the similarity you notice is the fact that both of theses songs are forms of vocal music but through deeper analysis I noticed that both of these pieces use ostinato and have quite a lot of syncopation. I would also like to point out that vocal music can range from hard rock to gentle ballads and it can be accompanied by various instruments or it can be song a Capella. The song I chose for western choral music is a beautiful a Capella piece called “With a Lily in Your Hand” music by Eric Whitacre and lyrics from a poem by Federico Garcia Lorca.
Throughout the entirety of “With a Lily”, Eric Whitacre connects the contrasting elements of fire and water. The piece begins with fire growing from embers and eventually bursting into flames. Later on in the section, the lowest three voices sing a triplet rhythm ostinato while the sopranos sing the melody. The ostinato plays a significant role in creating the illusion of waves. The water then slowly returns to the element of fire.

The piece is in A major and begins very legato and at a piano dynamic. The choir sings a series of 5-part chords within a wide tesatura, which grow increasingly more dissonant, with no vibrato. The chords are very conjunct.
Nineteen seconds later, it suddenly erupts to a faster tempo (presto) but it is still at a piano dynamic. The song is multimetric with a constant eighth note, which creates syncopation along with the staccatos and accents.





0:28 The sopranos come in with a haunting legato melody while the lower coives create contrast by having a staccato countermelody. This is subito piano which is effective for building intensity through crescendos, which occur several times.
Now we come to the point of the piece where the element changes from fire to water using the triplet ostinato in the altos, tenors and basses. This uses the technique of imitation.

Whitacre uses the concept of thematic development by altering the theme in the following ways of an accelerando to the tempo of presto, syncopation and contrary motion between sections.
1:30 There is a sudden diminuendo and ritardando to the tempo larghetto and the piano dynamic starts the transformation back into fire. It is syllabic and in order to create a visual image of waves the musical line is conjunct. The singers sound bell-like by using accents and they are moving in parallel motion. The multimetres ends and it remains in common time.
The next section is legato at a mezzo piano dynamic creating the feeling of dolce. The chords are very dissonant creating contrast and it changes into C sharp major. To create interest at this point of the song, hemiolas occur at several spots. In the soprano and alto parts they have quarter note triplets while the tenors and basses have quarter notes.



Finally we come to the end of the piece. Similarly to the beginning of the piece the multimetric feel returns. The sopranos and 1st and 2nd altos hold onto a major chord while the tenors and basses start an accented rhythm

And two bars later the sopranos and altos join the lower parts in the same rhythm. Every note is accented and there is an accelerando to the end of the piece where they end with a glissando. BRILLIANT!