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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