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From:  Joel Figen <natural@f...>
Joel Figen <natural@f...>
Date:  Thu Sep 27, 2001  8:11 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Hark, the ech'ing air! from Purcell


At 08:37 PM 9/27/2001 +0100, velluti@c... wrote:
>I think this is a reference to "echoing"; resounding, maybe; or "repeated
sounds"; doesn't sound nearly as well !
>In French: "faire echo" (sorry; can't do accents).
>I'm afraid that I will have to leave the field open for Portuguese, Spanish
and Hebrew; German and Italian are all I can
>mange,
>Lovely song.
>

I agree with your interpretation. There's really nothing else it
could be, I think. I'm not familiar with the aria, but I suspect I
would probably sing "ech'ing" as "Eh-kwing" with as
long a "w" as I dared, and give it an o-ish tint, even though
the O is omitted in print. I might even slip in a brief O sound,
depending on the shape of the melody. "Eh-king" just wouldn't be
English as I know it, nor would it sound good from a singing
perspective. I suspect Purcell or his printer were trying to
convey something like what I just said, with a single apostrophe.

Now, if I saw "ech'ing" in the work of a 20th century composer,
I would know something was up. I would suspect a
double-entendre: "echoing" on the one hand, and "yech" or "ack"
on the other.... a judgment on the echoing song itself. Do you
suppose Purcell had anything like this in mind?
Unlikely perhaps, but his lyrics are often very clever. And
English is their original language, a more sedate form
of English, but even in his day people did clear their
throats before singing.


Joel Figen
Occasional Bass



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14291 Re: Hark, the ech'ing air! from Purcell Jennifer   Sun  9/30/2001   2 KB

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