I heard a chorus pronounce the words "called," tellest," "reigneth" and "revealed" with an added sylable like "cal-led," "tel-lest," "reig-neth" and "revea-led" respectively. Is there any rule to pronounce such words like these in singing or poet recitation?
pronunciation of -ed ending in singing
No rule besides whatever fits the rhythm and only add the extra syllable if you want to sound archaic. However, "tellest" and "reigneth" are two syllable words anyway.
Listen to Haendel's Messiah. They pronounce it with the extra syllable.
It's an archaic pronunciation. You'll see it in Shakespeare as well. But it isn't used much in modern English. The only examples I can think of off the top of my head that retain it are "learned" (as in "scholarly", NOT as in the past tense of learn) and "beloved". There are probably a few more, but no more than a handful.
<<You'll see it in Shakespeare as well.>>
Yeah, he used a grave accent (e.g. "destroyèd") to show where you should pronounce "ed" as a full syllable.
Yeah, he used a grave accent (e.g. "destroyèd") to show where you should pronounce "ed" as a full syllable.