Caroline Shaw, Allemande
The image conveys the idea of constant movement that is emphasized throughout the song.
Overall Song
In her song “Allemande,” Caroline Shaw divides the song into about four stanzas with ornamental melisma in between to separate the stanzas. The first two stanzas are mainly composed of a recitative without clear melody and predictable rhythm instead of singing, and the last one is composed of the singers actually singing. The transition from a recitative to singing takes place halfway through the third stanza where the two become intertwined for a while and then the singing breaking through to overpower the recitative.
To me, the title of the song is meant to emphasize the movement and direction, normally two people joined in hands spinning the other, that takes place in the dance that this song was named after. By implementing a major ornamental melisma, she compares the music to the feeling one normally gets when dancing- a joyful mood. And, by using melisma as dividers, Shaw separates the different characteristics of the type of dance, Allemande, that she named her song after: shape, direction and movement.
The first stanza is composed of lyrics such as “to the side, and around, through the middle end,” “through the midpoint,” and “and around, and around” to emphasize the idea of movement that is associated with the dance that the song is named after.
The second stanza is composed of lyrics such as “the square divided horizontally and vertically,” “cut the diamond,” and “red diagonal line from the lower left corner,” to emphasize the idea of shape and direction.
The third stanza is made up of lyrics mainly stating, “the detail of the pattern is movement” once again to emphasize the idea of movement that takes place in the dance that the song was named after.
The final stanza is a bit hard to understand but it may say “funny are all around me,” or “find me, are all around me.” Either way, the ending line finishes with the idea of being surrounded, being circled.
If a closer look is taken, it is easy to notice that the overall idea has to do with movement reinforcing the connection between the song and the dance.
The similarities and differences
The style of Shaw’s Allemande relates to the style of Gesualdo's Moro Lasso. Allemande is recitative like with little accompaniment similar to Moro Lasso. The combination of all the voices in Allemande results in Allemande lacking a melody and creates the image of a person with many voices in their head not being sure which to listen to. The result of this could possibly create dissonance with such a person and the multiple overlapping voices that they are listening to.
Another similarity shared between the songs is the use of somewhat disorienting rhythm. Although both make use of this, the overall result is completely different. Allemande is sung in a major scale throughout the song, and along with the disorienting rhythm, it emphasize the idea of movement and dancing. Moro Lasso is sung in a minor scale, and along with a disorienting rhythm, it emphasize his grief and longing to die and end his suffering.
Personal Reaction
The overall feel of the song struck me as very energetic and relatively fresh. Although the clashing voices made it a bit hard to understand the song, the combinations of the voices created a new sound that I truly enjoyed. Although I'm not sure what to call it, I would enjoy to hear it being implemented in more of today's songs.
Aside from the author connecting the song to a dance, I feel as though she created the song to portray the idea of your life going in circles even when it seems like you have the "helping hands" of others. In the dance, people are linked together and spin the other. Although it may seem like they are trying to help you with the dance, or continue in life, they are actually causing you to go "around and around," and telling you to go "to the side, and around, through the midpoint" to confuse you; the overlap of the many voices being there to confuse and disorient you.
