How Could I Ever Know from The Secret Garden

"How Could I Ever Know" from the Broadway musical The Secret Garden. Composed by Lucy Simon, Book and Lyrics by Marsha Norman.

Ready for some more musical theatre DePauw??? I thought so... :-)
This song takes place when Archibald Craven's dead wife Lily comes to console him about her death.
The song begins pp in a minor key, with i chords in different inversions being rolled very gently on the piano. After two measures, the vocal part comes in. A few different elements give the vocal line a very haunting quality, which is appropriate since she is dead. The soprano singing the part of Lily has a beautiful, resonant, and clear voice. She can sustain notes with almost a perfect straight tone, which she uses wonderfully in the opening of the song. The vocal line is mostly the pitch sol being repeated on eighth notes, and every once in awhile there is a do. This almost monotonous quality over the pp rolled chords is haunting.
After about 10 measures, the whole orchestra comes in and the accompaniment changes to eighth notes playing the notes of 1 iv and V triads. The eighth notes help to move things along, picking the tempo up a little bit, The dynamic also shifts to mp. Gradually, it keeps building and building. We now have a much faster tempo, a forte dynamic, and the vocal line is in a much higher range. After this great climax, there is a huge ritardando and things settle back down again. The accompaniment goes back to rolled chords on the piano, and the haunting motive from the beginning of the song returrns.
When Archibald begins to sing with Lily, we have another build. At the climax the dynamic is FF, the loudest thus far. Trumpets call out in a celebratory fashion, and both vocal parts are soaring. The countepoint and harmonies between the vocal parts are breathtaking. Once again, things calm down, and they finish the song together at a very hushed dynamic. The violins finish the song and create a bittersweet feeling of Archibald knowing how much Lily loved him, and also knowing that he will never have her on Earth to love again.