“WHAT IS EARLY MUSIC? FOR ME IT’S A WAY OF LIFE.” JEANNE LAMON, FORMER MUSIC DIRECTOR OF TAFELMUSIK BAROQUE ORCHESTRA
JULIE’S STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO CONNECTING WITH BAROQUE COMPOSERS, YOURSELF AND YOUR AUDIENCES
1- Understand the music
2- Enhance the music with your own creativity and unique qualities (be a performer-composer).
3- Embody the music in a way that your audience can understand.
There are three aspects of Romanticism that stand out as strikingly DIFFERENT than music written prior to 1800 but have become part of our everyday musical lives. We can let go of these ideals to embrace historically informed performance of baroque music! (from Bruce Haynes The Pathetick Musician)
Beauty as a unique artistic standard
“The business of music, though it should mainly strive to be charming and pleasing, still serves occasionally with its dissonances or harsh variations to some measure and with suitable instruments to present not only something of the unpleasant and disagreeable, but also something of the frightening and horrible.” - Johann Mattheson Der Volkommene Capellemeister (1739)
“It is not enough to be beautiful, my dear, you must be smart.” - Lorand Fenyves in the hall outside of Room 116 ca. 1997
“The Intention of Musick is not only to please the Ear, but to express Sentiments, strike the Imagination, affect the Mind, and command the Passions.” Francesco Geminiani The Art of Playing on the Violin (1751)
Beauty, is not, in and of itself, a passion (emotion) – it can be part of one, but cannot be the only intention.
Autonomy or Absolute music: self-contained works of art
Pre-romantic music is all about communicating something – composers rarely wrote music for its own sake (ex. Biber Mystery Sonatas, Couperin Pieces de Clavecin, Vivaldi 4 Seasons, etc.)
“Musick speaks so transcendently and Communicates Its Notions so Intelligibly to the Internal, intellectual, and Incomprehensible Faculties of the Soul; so far beyond all Language of Words, that I confess, and most solemnly affirm, I have been more Sensibly, Fervently, and Zealously Captivated, and drawn into Divine Raptures, and Contemplations, by those Unexpressible Rhetorical, uncontroulable Persuasions, and Instructions of Musicks Divine Language, than ever yet I have been, by the best Verbal Rhetorick, that came from any Man’s Mouth, either in Pulpit or elsewhere” – Thomas Mace (lutenist), Musick’s Monument (1676)
Emphasis on individual expression (the inspirational basis of art is formed from the artist's personal experiences/the artist as “prophet").
In early music, the emphasis was on connection with the audience, shared experience, dialogue.
At this time the Passions were thought to be moved by an external source – this is the reason that there is a dorky Minuet at the end of a piece of Baroque music – we need to return the listener to a state of neutrality after stirring up their passions!
Bruce Haynes writes in The Pathetick Musician: Moving an Audience in the Age of Eloquence “Baroque musicians were quite serious about reaching their audiences through expressive performance, but they did not draw inspiration exclusively from personal feelings. In a society where patronage controlled art and where creative artists were expected to conform to social conventions and established codes of expressions, musicians could not afford to be indifferent to the reaction of their audiences…Evoking passions in Rhetorical music does not preclude describing private or individual feelings, but the main focus is on passions that can be recognized, understood and shared between audience and performer”.
Step 1 - Understanding the music
A) Context/text – Be curious! You can find inspiration anywhere! Learn everything you can about your composer’s time and the place they lived. Travel, watch movies and documentaries, look at art, read books, etc.
Leclair was French but studied in Torino with Corelli’s student Somis (French person experimenting with Italian music).
Geminiani got kicked out of an orchestra in Italy (!) because he played with too much rubato and the orchestra could not follow him.
Learn about composers and the specific piece you are playing – if it is from an opera, watch a production of the full opera on youtube, read the translation of the text, learn about when or why, or who it was written for, learn about the subject material.
B) Look carefully at the full score – start with what you are given. What is written down in baroque music? Some notes, rhythms, harmonies, a few dynamics or tempo markings, some articulations, but what about the rest?
“You need all of the pieces to put the puzzle together” - Chris Verrette (Tafelmusik)
Understanding baroque music is like searching for the pieces to a puzzle. Not everything is already there for you - you have to work for it. When you do, it is incredibly fun and satisfying! This is the age of the performer/composer. The composer NEEDS you, they expect your help. There are so many decisions to be made about everything – tempo, articulation, sound, notes, rhythms, phrasing, pacing, timing, etc. How do we know how to answer those questions?
What are the clues from the composers?
What key am I in? To me this level of detail is irrefutable evidence that composers thought their music meant something specific, important, detailed, vivid. They are writing to communicate if they think just a tonality can do all of these things!
Harmony – Go to theory class! Be able to recognize the quality of chords – major, minor, V7, other 7th chords, use of dissonance, appoggiaturas or non-chord tones, etc. (ex. Bach G minor Sonata, every chord is some kind of painful chord – how many major chords in there?) keys have meaning, chords have meaning, certain composers (like Bach) need us to understand that meaning and how the chords relate to each other.
Dance type: Know your dance type! Sometimes the dance type is given but not always. We are expected to know the tempos, and know how to dance them – at the very least be able to recognize them. For example, if I have a two note pick-up and I’m in cut time, it’s probably a Gavotte - Baroque Suite Movements
MINUET
Rhythms – what kind of rhythms is my composer writing? Slow notes? Quick notes? Syncop? What does that tell me about affect?
Tessitura – what is the range? Is the composer using the top, middle or bottom of your range? Or all of it? On the violin, each string has a different colour.
What is the shape of the line? Step-wise (smooth), jumping (fun or difficult? Weird intervals or consonant?) Going up or down? (Up often means getting louder, down getting softer)
Articulation – if the composer is writing slurs, it means something – smooth or jumping? How many notes under a slur? How many slurs? Notes under a slur are definitely smooth, anything else is variable depending on the context.
Use of silence – Is the music flowing? Or stopping and why?
Tempo - Grave – slow and solemn (20–40 BPM), Adagio – slow and stately (literally, “at ease”) (55–65 BPM),Andante – at a walking pace (73–77 BPM), Allegro – fast, quickly and bright (109–132 BPM)
Phrase structure – 2+2+4? 4+4? Knowing typical phrase structures, for example 4 bar phrase starts on I and ends on V, the second 4 bars ends on I. When you know what is typical, you can pay attention to what is unusual!
Rhetorical figures / Melodic figures – Ascending or descending scale, bow vibrato (sobbing figure), ripping off of the sound?
The abruptio occurs when, instead of sounding the anticipated consonance which II resolution would require. The composition is torn apart or even broken off. It can be torn in the middle of the contextus when a rest is written instead of a note.
Ornamentation – what is ornamentation, what are essential notes? Why is he/she writing these figurations? How much and what kind of ornamentation is written in (Bach vs. Corelli)
Figuring out the Affect – all of these clues (context, text, musical clues) will lead you towards different affects. When you have some understanding of the affect, you can start to make decisions about how to enhance that affect. Ex. If I think the composer is leading me towards a joyful affect, I am probably not going to choose to play with a weak sound and soft consonants.
Step 2- Enhancing the music. What is up to me?
Choose the affect! When you have an idea – and you will, often pretty quickly once you start looking/listening carefully to the music – get creative about what you can do to enhance what the composer is already doing.
Tempo – choose a tempo that works for that affect. Try walking around in that pulse and see if your body can feel that affect.
Sound –think about dynamics, colours in the sound (nasal, open, warm, harsh), variation in the sound (ex. Fear), etc.
Articulations – consonants at the beginnings and ends of notes, how hard and soft? Julie’s Consonants and vowels exercise.
Timing - use of rubato, silence, pauses, etc.
Shaping/structure – baroque music, like language, is made up of strong and weak syllables, words, sentences and paragraphs. Find the nuance in one gesture or phrase, combine gestures and phrases to make a section or a whole piece. Ex, Baroque table
Ornamentation – what am I adding and why? Study amazing ornamenters like Couperin, Corelli (Op. 5, Roger edition), Telemann, Handel, Bach, etc.
“Of the the Beat (lower note trill/long pincé) This is proper to express several passions; as for Example, if it be perform’d with Strength, and continued long, it expresses Fury, Anger, Resolution, etc. If it be play’d, less strong and shorter, it expresses Mirth, Satisfaction, etc. But if you play it quite soft, and swell the Note, it may then denote horror, Fear, Grief, Lamentation, etc. By making it short and swelling the Note gently, it may express Affection and Pleasure.” – Francesco Geminiani, The Art of Playing on the Violin, (1751).
How does a small thing like how long I hold an appoggiatura on a trill transmit an affect?
Rhythm – how do I enhance the rhythm – playing on the front or back or the beat, dragging, rushing, use of inégales, “crushing” rhythms, filling out the bars, etc.
Intonation: " For example, the major third, which naturally excites us to joy according to what we feel in it, drives us as far as ideas of rage whenever it is too large; and the minor third, which naturally brings us to sweetness and tenderness, saddens us whenever it is too small." - (Rameau 1726)
Step 3 - Embodying the music - how do I connect to the audience?
This is a tool I developed quite early in my teaching career to try to help students understand how to express emotions in music, and specifically in terms of violin technique, how to use our right arm, which is the most important tool we have in expression.
On one side we have energy level, on the other side, we have quality of the emotion, which affects the quality of our movements.
“ Since a musician cannot move others unless he too is moved, he must of necessity be able to transport himself into all of the affections that he wants to arouse in his listeners; he makes the listeners understand his sentiments and thus moves them to share the same sentiments in the best way. In languishing, sad passages, he becomes languishing and sad. You see and hear it in him. The same thing occurs in the case of forceful, light or other kinds of ideas; there, too, he transports himself into these affections. He barely calms one before arousing the next, and thus he constantly alternates between the passions. He most certainly will observe this duty in pieces that are composed to be expressive, whether by him or by someone else. In the latter case he must feel within himself the same passions that the creator of the piece felt while producing it.” - Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach – Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments (1787)
Were going to take a closer look at some of the passions, and the first emotion or passion we are going to learn is one of my favourites - Joy!
My favourite source of inspiration for the passions is the English actor Aaron Hill’s Essay on the Art of Acting from 1753. Aaron Hill was the stage director for Handel’s opera Rinaldo, which premiered in London in 1711.
Joy
“Joy is Pride, possessed of Triumph. It is a warm and conscious expansion of the heart, indulging sense of present pleasure, and comparing it with past affliction: It cannot, therefore, be expressed without vivacity, in look, air, and accent.” Aaron Hill, Essay on the Art of Acting (1753) (Hill staged the premiere of Handel’s Rinaldo in London, 1711)
Joy: energy comes up from the floor, shoulders back, relax the back of the neck, unfurl the brow, a smile on your face, and a twinkle in your eye.
Johann Mattheson (friend of Handel in Hamburg) describes Joy’s application this way: “...since joy is perceived as an expansion of our vital spirits, it follows rationally and naturally that I can express this affect best by large and expanded intervals.” - Is this where the term jumping for Joy comes from?
Musical example - Tambourins from Rameau Dardanus
Grief
“Grief is Disappointment, void of Hope. It is a mournful, and unstruggling resignation of defence, to apprehension of calamity: and therefore must require, to express it rightly, a sad look, careless air, and voice un-rais’d, and indolent.” Aaron Hill Essay on the Art of Acting (indolent – wanting to avoid exertion or activity)
Sadness: allow the jaw and face to slacken, Eyes down, shoulders down and forward, Slowly exhale, limbs heavy and slow, release the core of the body, Release your energy into the ground.
Mattheson again, on the topic of sadness:“…sadness is a contraction of such subtle parts of our body, one can easily imagine that small and the smallest intervals are the most appropriate to this passion.”
Musical Example - Modéré from Telemann E- Paris Quartet
Wonder
Wonder, is inquisitive Fear. It is an ebb of spirits, rushing back upon the heart; but leaving an alarm on the muscles, that invigorates them toward defence and oposition: No actor can imitate this Passion with ints natural propriety and force, without dividing its idea, into the following two degrees of distinction: the first degree is Amazement, the second is Astonishment. (Aaron Hill Essay on the Art of Acting).
Anger
Anger is pride provoked beyond regard of caution. It is a fierce and unrestrained effusion of reproach and insult: It must therefore be expressed, impatiently, by a fiery propension in the eye, with a disturbed and threatening air, and with a voice strong, swift, and often interrupted by high swells of choaking indignation. (Aaron Hill Essay on the Art of Acting)
The joints are braced, (energy in the body). The blood is impelled into violent motion, fire in the eye; teeth are set and nostrils are wide. Have a furrowed and furious brow, the breath is fast, restrained and inflamed by the tumultuous emotions. What follows that - a punch? A scream?
Johann Mattheson says this about the less pleasant affects: “For although the musical profession should concern itself primarily with grace and pleasure, it also works at times with dissonant sounds or harsh-sounding themes and appropriately strident instruments to represent not only matters adverse and unpleasant, but even horrible and dreadful, in which the mind occasionally finds a particular kind of delight.”
Musical example - G minor chords in Vivaldi Concerto for Strings in G Minor, RV 152
Jealousy
“Jealousy is doubtful anger…it is a painful softness in the heart, resisted by a vindictive disposition in the spirits; it cannot, therefore, be expressed without a doubtful variation in both look and air, divided and suspended betwixt wavering passion.” - Aaron Hill
Jealousy is a mix between anger, sadness and fear. “The nerves must assume the strong brace that is proper to anger; and the look must express a turbulent mixture of anguish, from a struggle between fury and sorrow.” - Aaron Hill
Musical Example - Jealousy from Hercules
Other treatises on historical acting techniques (Charles Le Brun, Jelgerhuis, Gilbert Austin, John Walker, Grimarest, etc.)
K. Richards Thesis: The Re-Embodiment of Affect in Historical Violin Performance
Use our body, our face, whatever we have at our disposal. Rhetoric – how to create meaning with our words and bodies was a common subject that has gone out of fashion. Even though we are not formally taught rhetoric certain things we automatically understand. When I see slumped shoulders, I think sad, when I see on open chest and a sparkling eye, I see confidence and joy.
We need to commit fully. This world needs musicians who are able to take what is inside them and share it with others in a way that they understand. We need to express our emotions in a safe way. By transforming a deep emotion into something else, we release the emotion. In sharing it with others, we realize that we are not alone. Let people in, share yourselves with the world. What you have to say is important. You have the ability to connect, to heal, to transform. Your music is a gift to this world.