Phrase and Cadence in the Music of Benjamin Britten

David Forrest, Texas Tech University

Defining phrase and cadence in post-tonal music can be challenging. Rhythmic changes, articulation changes, and, in vocal music, the text can all influence how we shape phrases. While these aspects give us a good place to start, this paper will focus on harmonic analysis in order to locate phrases. While a comprehensive discussion of the issue is beyond the scope of this paper, I will explore how Benjamin Britten uses pattern-completion, pattern interruption, and the tritone to build phrases and cadences in his post-tonal, pitch-centric music. I will use O Deus, Ego Amo Te, the fifth movement from the posthumously published cycle for unaccompanied choir, Ad majorem Dei gloriam (A.M.D.G), as a model piece, drawing comparisons with other pieces where appropriate. Starting with Michael Marcades' musico-poetic analysis of the phrase structure of the piece, my paper explores how the harmonic material reinforces Marcades' analysis and adds an element of coherence to the piece as a whole.