The Performance Practice of Bach' Era - Assignment Example

[Supervisor Background To Articulation In The Performance Practice Of Bach' Era A. This paper is the summary of the article "Bach Interpretation". B. There is a prehistoric and continuing battles in the music world is the divergence between Scholars and Performers, an encounter we must also fight internally. C. "Singing in the Lutheran tradition"; In Lutheran period music is considered as one of the greatest gift from the God. There were certain types of music education that were the main part of Lutheran period like Musica Practica (Performance and Composition). There schools given singing and music a special part in their curriculum shows the importance of music at that time and in their culture. Music and in particular the singing in educational scenario of Bach is a system used for communicating the words o God all the way through its structure. D. The 'cantabile' style; Bach's enticement, almost persistence, on arriving at a 'cantabile' manner of playing of the collected works both striking and imperative for indicating how Bach himself wished these pieces to be realized auditorily. In luminosity of the serious difficulties facing musicologists employing stylistic examination of ancient music (as opposed to very successful structural analysis), it makes common sense to re-claim the term "style" to pass on to the manner in which works are realized by the musician in performance and to merge it with an aesthetic consideration for what may be termed "stylistically informed performance practice". By and large speaking, aside from JS Bach's keyboard pieces in the French style, his objectives for the auditory realization of his mid-period works on stringed clavier instruments were likely to be in the polished, cosmopolitan (Italian) cantabile style of the time, a style which is well predictable and taught by the music aesthetician J.J. Quantz in his treatise on playing the flute. E. Rhetoric and the relationship between composer and performer; rhetoric was an elementary material of education and humanist and considered to be the only way of teaching expressions and grammatical both. There were periods in the times gone by of music in which the rhetorical standard, as expressed by Bach, had a comprehensive connotation in terms of music and more importantly for instrumental music; a fact well-known to musicologists these days by way of the theoretical primary sources available. On the other hand, modern-day practitioners, particularly instrumentalists, are not fully aware of the far-reaching gravity of the rhetorical principle and its submission to an important part of the repertoire. The relationship between speech and music, as well as rhetoric and music without a doubt illustrates that both come about over time and are received by the ear. This implies a further commonality between speech and music: both consist of continuous alterations of their elements (pitch and utterance, respectively), which are syntactically organized. In other expressions, both are systems bottom on symbols that even share common secondary semantic content: repetition, accent, caesura, articulation, range, contrast, extension, dynamics, rhythm, and not lastly the dependence on presentation. F. "Figurae"; Pritz defined two types of figurae that can be used by the singers or at least they should be aware of that; he defines two types of Figurae; one is Simple and other one is compound. Marpurg defines the importance of figurae in such a manner that they should be the part of a rhetoric music. G. "Of itinerary", the separating line between the two camps is rather unclear, since many solemn musicians put a lot of thought into how they play, and often research the chronological background and practices of the works they perform. And scholars inquire about more than mere theoretical correctness in performances. H. This line has become predominantly unclear with the emergence of the Early Music movement, which Modern performers eye with subterranean interest, misgiving, and even a little anger. But I think it's out of harm's way to say that Performers tend to place a higher emphasis upon encouragement, concerning with their own emotions and the audience, and the poetry of the music, whereas Scholars tend to put emphasis on historical and theoretical accuracy. Both approaches to music are significant, and could not, and should not, continue living without the other. I. This dichotomy without a doubt surfaces when the Bach Cello Dots are discussed. J. Rostropovich states the quandary for numerous in his recent Bach Dot videos: The hardest thing in interpreting Bach is the indispensable equilibrium between human feelings, the heart that unquestionably Bach possessed, and the relentless and profound aspect of interpretation... i. One cannot without human intervention disengage your heart from the music. This was the greatest problem I had to resolve in my interpretation ... I had to search for the golden medium between a romantic, rhapsodic interpretation of Bach and scholastic aridity. (www.commentarymagazine.com) K. Its mentioned that this is a predicament we all must face. If we engage in recreation the Dots in a romantic manner, are we playing in a way that is as inconsistent as when Shakespeare's Macbeth is re-set in a fellow ranch, using Bach's notes, but not staying within his sound world, his Bach aesthetic And if we decide a more personal come within reach of to the dots, is it bad L. Bach make up the dots at the same time as deeply connected with his emotions and soul. Or did he just unnerve them off like a mathematician Yes, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach said that his father was no lover of dry, mathematical bits and pieces, but does that give explanation for pouring one's heart and soul into the Dots Or should it level matter to a performer what Bach was thinking or feeling while he composed them M. An additional predicament is whether or not to add ornamentation when playing the Bach Cello Dots. Historians suppose that it was common, and conceivably expected, for musicians in the Bach era to make available their own ornamentation as they saw fit. I have heard, but not yet demonstrated, that excessive embellishment was one of Bach's pet peeves, so he made it a habit to indicate where he wanted ornaments, either by notating them or by writing out the notes of the ornaments so that they are part of the basic text. N. Early on Music performer endeavor to recreate the performance put into practice of the Bach period when playing the Dots, which is a real confront, since Bach musicians had very different instruments, bows, and strings, different concepts of intonation and articulation, and different musical goals. O. Articulation in the Bach era was very different. For example, Bach performers took for approved involved shortening the second note slightly - separating it, in other expressions, from the following note - and making a slight diminuendo from the first note to the second. They have a propensity to play notes with more separate bows, instead of slurring them together, playing such notes fairly short and a bit separated from each other. P. "Chords" were executed in a more appreciated manner, as an alternative of being crunched out triple and quadruple stops. Q. Articulations were the consequence of several aspects. Not only were the instruments dissimilar from today's, but Bach musicians also had a dissimilar aesthetic, a different concept of what a striking sound was, and had different musical goals. These articulations are dependable with the spinning out compositional style, described earlier, since the music steps along, instead of flowing seamlessly. R. The predicament that face as modern cellists is that Bach articulations are not dependable with our modern aesthetic. That have grown accustomed to more smoothly connected musical lines, which is why we tend to disgrace more notes together. The Bach articulations can make a modern listener seasick, since the music can feel very disjointed and beat-y. S. "Bach Hats" When one is continually injecting gaps between notes, or emphasizing smaller divisions of each measure, it is much more difficult to maintain a sense of musical direction and the long phrase. Is it possible to create a sense of musical line with these articulations, and yet do it in a musically satisfying way for modern ears Or do we just need to put on our Bach hats, adjust our aesthetic, and enjoy the stepping and spinning out of the music T. Also, in view of the fact that our instruments are so diverse from Bach instruments, including bows and strings, what is the make use of trying to re-create the Bach sound It will never resonance the same. Or is it our duty to try U. Many queries facade when one decided to play Bach. Given the marvelous variety of performances on record, it should come as no bolt from the blue that there is little agreement on the answers, which probably means that there is no right answer. It give the impression that the best one can do is learn as much as one can about the outstanding issues, and then make informed choices. My hunch is that a hybrid of the two approaches is appropriate, and realistic. V. If one come to a decision to play in an 'authentic' manner, then do so with great assurance! One may annoy some Performers, but conceivably One have just tapped into their guilt about not playing more 'authentically'. And if One choose to play Bach in a romantic manner, then also do so with great conviction! One may anger some Scholars, but maybe One have merely accessed their self-judgment about not being more expressive players. No matter what One choose, do what's right for One. The time without end of Bach will endure. Reference http://www.commentarymagazine.com/Summaries/V61I5P70-1.htm viewed on Mar 4, 2006 Read More