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Full-Text Articles in Music Practice
"The Accompaniment In 'Unaccompanied' Bach: Interpreting The Sonatas And Partitas For Violin," By Stanley Ritchie, David Schulenberg
"The Accompaniment In 'Unaccompanied' Bach: Interpreting The Sonatas And Partitas For Violin," By Stanley Ritchie, David Schulenberg
Performance Practice Review
David Schulenberg discusses Stanley Ritchie's 2016 work.
Ritchie, Stanley. The Accompaniment in “Unaccompanied” Bach: Interpreting the Sonatas and Partitas for Violin. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2016. ISBN 978-0-25-302198-4 (ebook: 978-0-25-302208-0)
Numbers And Tempo: 1630-1800, Beverly Jerold
Numbers And Tempo: 1630-1800, Beverly Jerold
Performance Practice Review
After discussing the role of technology in achieving modern performance standards, this article examines sources that have been cited in support of extremely rapid tempos for the time frame 1630-1800. It summarizes recent findings about the French time devices in which a new source ‒ the Paris dancing master Raoul Auger Feuillet’s reasonable pendulum tempo numbers for dance forms ‒ provides the most accurate information to date for tempo around 1700. Continuing then with other sources cited for rapid tempos, the present article discusses the conflicting statements in Marin Mersenne’s Harmonie universelle and his inaccurate pendulum measurements. It considers the …
Some Misconceptions About The Baroque Violin, Stewart Pollens
Some Misconceptions About The Baroque Violin, Stewart Pollens
Performance Practice Review
Much has been written about the baroque violin, yet many misconceptions remain most notably that up to around 1750 their necks were universally shorter and not angled back as they are today, that the string angle over the bridge was considerably flatter, and that strings were narrower gauge and under lower tension...
"Vivaldi's Music For Flute And Recorder" By Federico Sardelli, Jane Bowers
"Vivaldi's Music For Flute And Recorder" By Federico Sardelli, Jane Bowers
Performance Practice Review
Bowers discusses and critiques Sardelli's book on Vivaldi's music for flute and recorder.
How One Learned To Ornament In Late Sixteenth-Century Italy, Timothy J. Mcgee
How One Learned To Ornament In Late Sixteenth-Century Italy, Timothy J. Mcgee
Performance Practice Review
Several of the sixteenth-century ornamentation manuals state that they are self-sufficient tutors; that instrumentalists and vocalists could learn the skill without further assistance from a teacher. While this may have been possible for one type of ornamentation, it did not hold true for the newer, dramatic, Neapolitan style of ornamentation that was heavily based on rhetorical models, and which needed careful guidance from an experienced teacher (Author).
Bach's Tempo Ordinario: A Plaine And Easie Introduction To The System, Robert Marshall
Bach's Tempo Ordinario: A Plaine And Easie Introduction To The System, Robert Marshall
Performance Practice Review
The initial impetus for this inquiry came from a question posed by Arthur Mendel during a coffee break in a Bach seminar some thirty years ago. Why, he asked, did Bach notate the last movement of the fifth Brandenburg Concerto in two-four time, with triplets rather than in six-eight time?...
Monsieur De Saint-Georges' 'Règles Pour L'Accompagnement': A Translation And Commentary, Sara-Anne Churchill
Monsieur De Saint-Georges' 'Règles Pour L'Accompagnement': A Translation And Commentary, Sara-Anne Churchill
Performance Practice Review
Saint-Georges' 'Règles pour l'accompagnement,' which provide instruction in figured bass realization at the harpsichord, are found in an undated manuscript (Paris, Bn, Vm8 1139). This article examines questions of authorship, date of copying, and the author's identity. The manuscript exhibits a close connection to Jean-François Dandrieu’s Principes de l’accompagnement du clavecin (1719) and probably represents an early version of that work.
It Can “Spoil All The Beauty”: The Duplicating Of Solo Dissonances In Seventeenth-Century Thorough-Bass Accompaniment, Roland Jackson
It Can “Spoil All The Beauty”: The Duplicating Of Solo Dissonances In Seventeenth-Century Thorough-Bass Accompaniment, Roland Jackson
Performance Practice Review
17th-century accompaniments avoid duplicating the dissonances present in solo parts. This is borne out in available written-out versions (composer's copies, orchestral scorings), e.g. by R. Dowland, Cesti, A. Scarlatti, and Purcell. The same is evident in unrealized accompaniments (bass lines with or without figures) if interpreted according to contemporary strictures (e.g. Rule of Octave). Following these guidelines, harmonizations are suggested for laments by Monteverdi, Cavalli, and Cesti.
Del Suonare Sopra Il Basso: Concerning The Realization Of Early Seventeenth-Century Italian Unfigured Basses, Thérèse De Goede-Klinkhamer
Del Suonare Sopra Il Basso: Concerning The Realization Of Early Seventeenth-Century Italian Unfigured Basses, Thérèse De Goede-Klinkhamer
Performance Practice Review
RILM abstract:"A number of thorough-bass realizations in modern editions of early-17th-c. Italian music are compared with the rules for harmonization, voice leading, musica ficta, and performance practice as laid down in treatises from the same period. Early pieces often should be harmonized differently from how they have been in modern editions. There are also many possibilities such as playing 5-6-5-6 sequences, doubling the bass in octaves, and adding dissonances in certain progressions and allowing false relations, that have hardly been used or have been avoided because they were not thought to be allowable.(Tashiro, Mimi)"
Some Thoughts Concerning The Effects Of Tuning On Selected Musical Works (From Landini To Bach), Mark Lindley
Some Thoughts Concerning The Effects Of Tuning On Selected Musical Works (From Landini To Bach), Mark Lindley
Performance Practice Review
RILM abstract: "The type of tuning system in use during any particular period in history sometimes had a profound influence on the musical works produced. The impure intervals of the Pythagorean, quasi-Pythagorean, and later meantone temperaments might well have been used and heard as dissonances in certain contexts. Composers such as Louis Couperin, Francois and Bach exploited the distinctive tonal colors of different keys arising from the French and German irregular temperaments. However, systematically varied intervallic nuances for different keys were not a characteristic feature of the music for Baroque fretted instruments; for these works, equal temperament was the norm."
The Baroque Cello And Its Performance, Marc Vanscheeuwijck
The Baroque Cello And Its Performance, Marc Vanscheeuwijck
Performance Practice Review
RILM abstract: "Provides a short survey of the earliest sources on the bass violin and discusses both the first appearance of the term violoncello (in 1665) and terms used in Italy and elsewhere. Performance practice, playing technique, and tuning from the 16th c. are described. The possible identity of the problematic 17th-c. violone (an 8' or 12' instrument of either the violin or gamba family) is proposed in relation to the violone in contrabbasso. A discussion of playing technique is given on the basis of treatises and compositions by late-17th-c. Bolognese musicians and 18th-c. descriptions by Michel Corrette and Salvatore …
Some Observations Concerning Baroque And Modern Vibrato, Frederick Kent Gable
Some Observations Concerning Baroque And Modern Vibrato, Frederick Kent Gable
Performance Practice Review
Supports a narrow and ornamentally used vibrato in Baroque music, and the basic conclusions of Greta Moens-Haenen in Das Vibrato in der Musik des Barock (RILM 88-8038), adding personal observations and comparisons of present performance styles. Emphasizes solo and ensemble vocal vibrato and violin vibrato. Disputes the pro-vibrato views of Robert Donington (RILM 82-1459) and Frederick Neumann (RILM 91-3698).
More (And Less) On Bach's Orchestra, Joshua Rifkin
More (And Less) On Bach's Orchestra, Joshua Rifkin
Performance Practice Review
Hans-Joachim Schulze has argued that Bach wanted his music to be performed by large forces, and therefore performances with sharply downsized, even so-called soloistic ensembles misrepresent the composer's intentions. A review of the matter, however, shows that Schulze has misread, and even misrepresented, the relevant evidence, and that Bach's preferences indicate a far more varied picture than Schulze would allow.
"J. S. Bach As Organist: His Instruments, Music And Performance Practices" George Stauffer And Ernest May, Eds., Kimberly Marshall
"J. S. Bach As Organist: His Instruments, Music And Performance Practices" George Stauffer And Ernest May, Eds., Kimberly Marshall
Performance Practice Review
Marshall discusses and reviews Stauffer and May's 1986 book.
"The Organ Music Of J.S. Bach. Volume Iii: A Background." By Peter F. Williams, Kimberly Marshall
"The Organ Music Of J.S. Bach. Volume Iii: A Background." By Peter F. Williams, Kimberly Marshall
Performance Practice Review
Marshall reviews and discusses Peter Williams' 1984 work.
Williams, Peter F. The Organ Music of J.S. Bach: A Background. Vol. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984. viii, 309p.
ISBN 0-521-24412-9
Francesco Rognoni's "Selva De Varii Passaggi" (1602): Fresh Details Concerning Early Baroque Vocal Ornamentation, Stewart Carter
Francesco Rognoni's "Selva De Varii Passaggi" (1602): Fresh Details Concerning Early Baroque Vocal Ornamentation, Stewart Carter
Performance Practice Review
"One of Milan's most important musicians during the late 16th and early 17th centuries was Francesco Rognoni (died before 1626), a Knight and Count Palatine, son of Richardo Rogniono. The father had published an important treatise on ornamentation nearly thirty years prior to Francesco's. The title page of Francsco's Selva tells us that Francesco was head of instrumental music at the ducal court and maestro di cappella at Santo Ambrosio Maggiore in Milan. In an earlier publication he calls himself a "player of the violin, of the viola bastarda, and other instruments." He may in fact have written the first …