Context

‘The Lamb’ was composed in 1982 by British composer, John Tavener. The lyrics come from a poem by William Blake.

The Lamb by Tavener

Listen For

  • This music is acapella (unaccompanied voices)
  • Are you finding it hard to tell whether it is in a major or minor key? That’s because it is neither!  ‘The Lamb’ is modal, meaning that the music is based on modes (musical system used in medieval music preceding diatonic system) In this case, it is the Aeolian mode.
  • The sopranos begin, with altos joining a line later, with a direct inversion of what the sopranos first sang.

Musical inversion is where the intervals (space between the notes) are turned upside down e.g an ascending major 3rd becomes a descending major 3rd.

Using real inversion here creates a lot of dissonance (clashing notes) between the vocal parts, which adds to the haunting atmosphere of the music.

  • At 00:59 the tenors and basses also join in, giving real depth to the musical texture.

Things To Consider

  • As you continue to listen, can you hear where the parts sing in octaves?
  • What do you notice about the tempo throughout the piece?
  • Would this music be as effective if it had an accompaniment?