Music Practice Commons^™

Score Review: Rameau, Jean-Philippe. "Les Indes Galantes" And "Daphnis Et Eglé.", Geoffrey Burgess

Performance Practice Review

Score review: Rameau, Jean-Philippe. Les Indes galantes: Symphonies, RCT 44 ed. Sylvie Bouissou, ed. no. BA 7568. Paris: Société Jean-Philippe Rameau; international distributor: Bärenreiter, 2017; Rameau, Jean-Philippe. Daphnis et Eglé, RCT 34, ed. Érik Kocevar, piano reduction François Saint-Yves. Paris: Société Jean-Philippe Rameau; international distributor: Bärenreiter, 2017.

Geoffrey Burgess discusses this 2017 edition of Jean-Philippe Rameau's works.

"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)

Unearthing Forgotten Treasures: Anonymous Arias With Obbligato Violoncello At The Estense Library, Modena, Alessandro Sanguineti

Performance Practice Review

Recent studies regarding the first steps of the violoncello in North Italy at the end of the seventeenth century have been concentrating on the vast musical output collected by Francesco II, Duke of Modena, now held at the Biblioteca Estense Universitaria. Nonetheless, there is still a conspicuous number of anonymous manuscripts copied in Modena at the end of the seventeenth century containing opera arias which include several examples with obbligato violoncello. A connection has been made with one of these collections and a particular performance of L’Ercole Trionfante in Piacenza in 1688 with music by the composer and organist Bernardo …

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

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...

What Can The Organ Partitura To Tomás Luis De Victoria’S Missae, Magnificat, Motecta, Psalmi Et Alia Quam Plurima Of 1600 Tell Us About Performance Practice?, Noel O'Regan

Performance Practice Review

Article written by Noel O'Regan

Realizing The Continuo In Monteverdi's Lamento Della Ninfa And Its Implications For Early-Seventeenth-Century Italian Continuo Practice, Roland Jackson

Performance Practice Review

Monteverdi’s “Amor, dicea” (Lamento della ninfa), appearing in his Eighth Book of Madrigals published in 1638, is regarded as among his most emotionally moving works, Denis Arnold (for one) calling it “unforgettable” and “almost unbearably intense.” Nonetheless, our full sense of it and of its expressive potential, remains uncertain in that its accompaniment has come down to us in incomplete form, consisting of but a single bass line on a descending fourth, A – G – F – E, repeated throughout. How this line is to be interpreted has not been agreed upon among scholars or performers, despite its critical …

"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.

On Divided Lines: Instrumentation For Bass Parts In Corelli-Era Sonatas, Peter Walls

Performance Practice Review

There has been considerable debate in recent years about the appropriate treatment of bass lines in Corelli Op. 5 and other duo and ensemble sonatas of the era. This article examines the relationship between continuo parts and separate bass parts in publications that include both. It argues that the case for accepting publication formats as a guide to performance practice is weaker than has often been claimed. The inadequacy of the standard terminology (particularly ‘trio sonata’) for Italian chamber-music ensembles in this period has been much commented on. Italian practice in the 17th century was to designate pieces a 2, …

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?...

The Mandolin: Its Structure And Performance (Sixteenth To Twentieth Centuries), James Tyler, Paul Sparks

Performance Practice Review

RILM: "A history of the instrument, with information about the construction and repertoire, and particular reference to performance techniques. The derivation of the term "mandolin" is discussed, as are the differences between the mandolino and the Neapolitan mandolin."

Performing On The Trombone: A Chronological Survey, David M. Guion

Performance Practice Review

RILM: "A history of the trombone from the late 14th c. to the present, with special emphasis on performance practice."

Musical Venues In Vienna, Seventeenth Century To The Present, Ingeborg Harer

Performance Practice Review

RILM abstract: "Consideration of musical venues is often neglected in research on historical performance practice. Many musical works are directly linked to a particular location. The characteristic features (type, size, Acoustics) of the room or building for which the music was written influenced the composer in the creation of his work. A number of venues have had a special place in the musical life of Vienna over the past four centuries. A list of principal Viennese musical buildings (theaters, opera houses, music rooms, concert halls) is included, along with the circumstances surrounding their construction, and the more important musical works--especially …

Violin Playing In Late Seventeenth-Century England: Baltzar, Matteis, And Purcell, Mary Cyr

Performance Practice Review

RILM abstract: "In the late 17th c., violin playing in England underwent a virtual revolution as a result of virtuoso techniques introduced by violinists from abroad such as Thomas Baltzar and Nicola Matteis. Iconographical evidence illustrates the popularity of the French bow grip and various ways of placing the instrument against the body. Technical features such as multiple stops and the messa di voce were employed extensively by Baltzar and Matteis. The likelihood that their playing influenced Henry Purcell suggests that violinists today might incorporate lively Articulation and the messa di voce in Purcell's trio sonatas of 1683."

Brossard And The Performance Of Jacquet De La Guerre's Céphale Et Procris, Wanda R. Griffiths

Performance Practice Review

RILM abstract: "Sebastien de Brossard made an arrangement of the prologue of Jacquet's tragedie en musique, and had it performed by his Academie de Musique in Strasbourg in 1696, two years after the opera's run at the Paris Opera. His arrangement sheds light on performance issues including breathing, vocal ornamentation, notes inegales, and scoring.(author)"

Polychoral Performance Practice And "Maestro Di Cappella" Conducting, Florian Bassani

Performance Practice Review

This article disputes some basic questions concerning the coordination of seventeenth century sacred music, approaching the phenomenon through a musical species of particular interest, though largely unstudied from a performance practice point of view. Roman polychorality with its specific performing conditions offers an illuminating perspective on principles of musical direction and interaction which differ significantly from our modern access path towards these topics. The inquiry ranges from basics of performance (such as sheet music, rehearsals, direction technics, models and stylistic conditioning of the performers) over the concrete role of the maestro di cappella as well as the tactus as cornerstones …

"Jean-Henry D'Anglebert And The Seventeenth-Century Clavecin School." By Beverly Scheibert., Erich Schwandt

Performance Practice Review

Reviews and critiques Scheibert's 1986 book.

The Performance Of French Baroque Music: A Report On The State Of Current Research, Albert Cohen

Performance Practice Review

A survey, with a bibliography, of published research on French Baroque performance practice that appeared during the period 1978-88.

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.

Concerning Articulation On Keyboard Instruments: Aspects From The Renaissance To The Present, Sandra P. Rosenblum

Performance Practice Review

RILM abstract: "The organ, harpsichord, clavichord, and piano have different articulative characteristics due to their actions. An apparent norm of nonlegato playing for secular music existed prior to 1600, with probable playing of notes in ligatures. Signs specific to Articulation began to appear in the 17th c. The articulatory quality of short slurs is discussed, and the persistence of nonlegato into the early 19th c. is illuminated. Changes in the piano and in styles of Articulation went hand in hand in the 19th c. In the 20th c., new signs were added by composers seeking greater specificity of articulative color."

The Guitar And Its Performance From The Fifteenth To Eighteenth Centuries, James Tyler

Performance Practice Review

RILM abstract:"Discusses the four-course guitar from the 15th to the 17th c., the five-course guitar from the late 16th to the early 18th c., and the six-course guitar from the later 18th c."

Tu Ru Or Not Tu Ru: Paired Syllables And Unequal Tonguing Patterns On Woodwinds In The Seventeenth And Eighteenth Centuries, Bruce Haynes

Performance Practice Review

RILM abstract:" Original source material on historical tongue-strokes describes "paired syllables", or double-tonguing, as contrasted to single-tonguing. Patterns place the accent on the first, second, or both parts of the pair. Double-tonguing uses a rebound motion to enhance the velocity of Articulation; it reinforces appropriate metrical patterns, but is more often used to achieve speed in extended (and therefore fatiguing) runs of quick notes. Descriptions of double-tonguings began in the early 16th c. and continued to ca. 1827, and were used in Italy, Germany, Holland, France, and England."

The Timpani And Their Performance (Fifteenth To Twentieth Centuries): An Overview, Edmund Addison Bowles

Performance Practice Review

RILM abstract: "From the 17th to the early 18th c., timpani performance practice was determined by stock formulas, some of which are seen in Bach's and Handel's orchestral writing. Characteristic written-out patterns only came into use in the late 18th c. In the 19th c., rapid changes of pitch became a challenge, and hand screws and mechanical linkages with tuning levers gave way to the modern pedal timpani. The modern era featured the exploitation of various and unusual tone colors and effects, such as glissando passages, stepwise ascending and descending passages, hitting the center of the drum, using different kinds …

The Performance Of Roman Sacred Polyphonic Music In The Late Sixteenth And Early Seventeenth Centuries: Evidence From Archival Sources, Noel O'Regan

Performance Practice Review

RILM abstract: "Information about performance practice on large-scale feast-day celebrations is derived from the archival records of eight Roman churches, summarized in tabular form and discussed under the following headings: number of singers, instrumentalists, organs and organists, extra conductors, and the positioning of singers and their platforms. While practices varied considerably among institutions, some common ground is established."

"Music Of Forty Several Parts": A Song For The Creation Of Princes, Ian Woodfield

Performance Practice Review

Examines the performance circumstances surrounding an early 17th-c. English adaptation of Thomas Tallis's 40-part motet, Spem in alium nunquam habui (Sing and glorify heaven's high majesty), for two investiture ceremonies in 1610 and 1616; the purpose of these two particular ceremonies are investigated. The resurrection of the work for the next investiture of the new Prince of Wales is proposed.

Tuning Renaissance And Baroque Instruments: Some Guidelines, Mark Lindley

Performance Practice Review

Provides detailed guidelines for tuning keyboard instruments, including the harpsichord, piano, and organ. Musical examples for tuning unisons between overtones in consonant intervals and octaves are included. Other musical examples illustrate the procedures for setting a quasi-Pythagorean temperament, a meantone temperament, a temperament ordinaire, a Bach-style irregular temperament, and an equal temperament.

Stephen Hefling's Book: Another View, Erich Schwandt

Performance Practice Review

A brief review of Stephen Hefling's book "Rhythmic Alteration in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Music: Notes inegale and Overdotting."

Last Words On Inequality And Overdotting: A Review Of Stephen Hefling's Book, David Fuller

Performance Practice Review

Fuller attempts to make definitve decisions about "appropriate" articulation and rhythmic interpretation in 17th and 18th century music.

Some Thoughts About "Last Words And Overdotting", Stephen E. Hefling

Performance Practice Review

A review and analysis of Fuller's preceeding article.

Vocal Ornaments In Durante's "Arie Devote" (1608), Donald Clyde Sanders

Performance Practice Review

Ottavio Durante's Arie devote (Rome, 1608) is a collection of sacred monody in the style of Caccini's Le nuove musiche. The preface strongly affirms the use of the stile nuovo in church music in terms that reflect the spirit of the Counter-Reformation. Durante's preface also contains significant information on performance practice in early monody. Although most of his ideas are borrowed directly from Caccini, some points relate specifically to the application of the new style to liturgical music. Besides the ornaments found in Le nuove musiche, Durante describes the combination of a crescendo and a portamento on certain ascending semitones …