Beyoncé Goes Country– and Classical
Beyonce Goes Country– and Classical
Urgency fills the first few notes in “Daughter,” a track from Beyoncé’s latest album, Cowboy Carter. She sings of something amiss, a mistake made, a plea to her Lord to save her from herself. This ballad touches on familiar themes for Beyoncé—fame, attention, and elaborate daydreams of revenge. It is amid this plea and fantasy that she turns to another kind of supplication—one from the 18th century, in fact.
Opera and classical music students may have recognized a familiar tune in Beyonce’s bridge, the famous operatic song “Caro Mio Ben.” It was written by a Neapolitan composer, either Giuseppe or Tomasso Giordano, in the 1780s and according to Head of Music Mario Antonio Marra, it is one of the first songs a classical vocalist will learn in their training to sing more complex operatic and classical pieces .
“It’s harkening back to something so old in something so new—it’s really an interesting juxtaposition. She’s always on the cutting edge, reinventing herself, trying something new, and the inclusion of “Caro Mio Ben” is no different,” notes Marra. “In the opera world,” Marra continues, “we’re often talking about ways we can bring the art form to people who enjoy other genres. Beyonce is featuring this piece of classical music and exposing her fans to a really beautiful piece for classical singers, especially, but in true Beyoncé fashion, she’s adding something new to it.”
Marra plays the original piece, pointing out the major key it was originally written in. He then plays Beyoncé’s bridge and it’s clear she’s made a significant change. “She presents this in a minor mode in order to connect it with the texture of the song she’s constructed. By doing that, she’s presenting this song in a different light—it’s not just this beautiful song singing to a lover, there’s something else going on. The major key in the original makes the words seem more optimistic, hopeful—in this minor mode, Beyoncé seems to tell us there is something more sinister and haunting at play.”
Marra, a scholar of Italian music, notes that the melodic breakdown of the original Neapolitan song is a clear example of what classical period music sounds like. The step-wise motion of the notes is typical for Italian classical music from this period. And it is perhaps that simplicity of construction that makes it malleable for vocal students and Beyoncé alike. Marra notes, “The text is simple, the melody is simple, but the expression through that simplicity is heightened; timeless almost.”
From 1780 to 2024, timeliness indeed.