Daniel R. Melamed
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195169331
- eISBN:
- 9780199865376
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195169331.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Johann Sebastian Bach's two surviving passions—St. John and St. Matthew—are an essential part of the modern repertory, performed regularly both by professional ensembles and amateur groups. These ...
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Johann Sebastian Bach's two surviving passions—St. John and St. Matthew—are an essential part of the modern repertory, performed regularly both by professional ensembles and amateur groups. These large, complex pieces are well-loved; but because of our distance from the original context in which they were performed, questions and problems emerge. Bach wrote the passions for a particular liturgical event at a specific time and place; we hear them hundreds of years later, often a world away and usually in concert performances. They were performed with vocal and instrumental forces deployed according to early 18th century conceptions; we usually hear them now as the pinnacle of the choral/orchestral repertory, adapted to modern forces and conventions. In Bach's time, passion settings were revised, altered, and tampered with both by their composers and by other musicians who used them. Today, we tend to regard them as having fixed texts, to be treated with respect. Their music was sometimes recycled from other compositions, or reused itself for other purposes. We have trouble imagining the familiar material of Bach's passion settings in any other guise. We can learn about these issues by exploring the sources that transmit Bach's passion settings today, performance practice (including the question of the size of Bach's ensemble), delving into the passions as dramatic music, examining the problem of multiple versions of a work and the reconstruction of lost pieces, exploring the other passions in Bach's performing repertory, and sifting through the puzzle of authorship.Less
Johann Sebastian Bach's two surviving passions—St. John and St. Matthew—are an essential part of the modern repertory, performed regularly both by professional ensembles and amateur groups. These large, complex pieces are well-loved; but because of our distance from the original context in which they were performed, questions and problems emerge. Bach wrote the passions for a particular liturgical event at a specific time and place; we hear them hundreds of years later, often a world away and usually in concert performances. They were performed with vocal and instrumental forces deployed according to early 18th century conceptions; we usually hear them now as the pinnacle of the choral/orchestral repertory, adapted to modern forces and conventions. In Bach's time, passion settings were revised, altered, and tampered with both by their composers and by other musicians who used them. Today, we tend to regard them as having fixed texts, to be treated with respect. Their music was sometimes recycled from other compositions, or reused itself for other purposes. We have trouble imagining the familiar material of Bach's passion settings in any other guise. We can learn about these issues by exploring the sources that transmit Bach's passion settings today, performance practice (including the question of the size of Bach's ensemble), delving into the passions as dramatic music, examining the problem of multiple versions of a work and the reconstruction of lost pieces, exploring the other passions in Bach's performing repertory, and sifting through the puzzle of authorship.
Kenneth Hamilton
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195178265
- eISBN:
- 9780199870035
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195178265.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Theory, Analysis, Composition
This book dissects the oft-invoked myth of a romantic Golden Age of Pianism. It discusses the performance-style of great pianists from Liszt to Paderewski and Busoni, and delves into the ...
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This book dissects the oft-invoked myth of a romantic Golden Age of Pianism. It discusses the performance-style of great pianists from Liszt to Paderewski and Busoni, and delves into the far-from-inevitable development of the piano recital. The book recounts how classical concerts evolved from exuberant, sometimes riotous events into the formal, funereal trotting out of predictable pieces they can be today; how an often unhistorical “respect for the score” began to replace pianists' improvizations and adaptations; and how the clinical custom arose that an audience should be seen and not heard. The book chronicles why pianists of the past did not always begin a piece with the first note of the score, nor end with the last. It emphasizes that anxiety over wrong notes is a relatively recent psychosis, and that playing entirely from memory a relatively recent requirement. The book presents a vivid tale of how drastically different are the recitals of the present compared to concerts of the past, and how their own role has diminished from noisily active participants in the concert experience to passive recipients of artistic benediction from the stage. The book's broad message proclaims that there is nothing divinely ordained about our own concert-practices, programming, and piano-performance styles. Many aspects of the modern approach are unhistorical — some laudable, some merely ludicrous. They are also far removed from those fondly remembered as constituting a Golden Age.Less
This book dissects the oft-invoked myth of a romantic Golden Age of Pianism. It discusses the performance-style of great pianists from Liszt to Paderewski and Busoni, and delves into the far-from-inevitable development of the piano recital. The book recounts how classical concerts evolved from exuberant, sometimes riotous events into the formal, funereal trotting out of predictable pieces they can be today; how an often unhistorical “respect for the score” began to replace pianists' improvizations and adaptations; and how the clinical custom arose that an audience should be seen and not heard. The book chronicles why pianists of the past did not always begin a piece with the first note of the score, nor end with the last. It emphasizes that anxiety over wrong notes is a relatively recent psychosis, and that playing entirely from memory a relatively recent requirement. The book presents a vivid tale of how drastically different are the recitals of the present compared to concerts of the past, and how their own role has diminished from noisily active participants in the concert experience to passive recipients of artistic benediction from the stage. The book's broad message proclaims that there is nothing divinely ordained about our own concert-practices, programming, and piano-performance styles. Many aspects of the modern approach are unhistorical — some laudable, some merely ludicrous. They are also far removed from those fondly remembered as constituting a Golden Age.
Clive Brown
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198161653
- eISBN:
- 9780191716263
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198161653.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
Despite the continuing interest in historically informed vocal and instrumental performance practice, the relationship between a composer's notation and the sounds it was intended to elicit remains ...
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Despite the continuing interest in historically informed vocal and instrumental performance practice, the relationship between a composer's notation and the sounds it was intended to elicit remains problematic. Early recordings reveal a strikingly different sound and style from modern practice, and written sources indicate that earlier practice was even more radically different. This book looks beyond modern responses to the notation in an attempt to understand how Classical and Romantic composers may have expected to hear their music realized in performance. Theories of accentuation and their relationship to practice are discussed in relation to the notation of accents and dynamics. Similarly, articulation and phrasing are examined in theory and practice as well as in relation to composers' articulation markings and slurs. String bowing is treated as a special case, since detailed bowing instructions provide particularly important evidence of the difference between historical and current practice. Aspects of tempo are covered in detail in four chapters: evolving tempo conventions, the impact of the metronome, the range of meanings of tempo terms, the practices of particular composers, and various types of tempo modification are examined. Changing attitudes to embellishment, ornamentation, and improvization during the period are discussed in general; and individual chapters examine particular issues relating to appoggiaturas, trills, turns and other ornaments, vibrato, and portamento. A final section deals with the fermata, recitative, arpeggiation in keyboard playing; the variable dot of prolongation and other aspects of rhythmic flexibility; and the conventions of ‘heavy’ and ‘light’ performance.Less
Despite the continuing interest in historically informed vocal and instrumental performance practice, the relationship between a composer's notation and the sounds it was intended to elicit remains problematic. Early recordings reveal a strikingly different sound and style from modern practice, and written sources indicate that earlier practice was even more radically different. This book looks beyond modern responses to the notation in an attempt to understand how Classical and Romantic composers may have expected to hear their music realized in performance. Theories of accentuation and their relationship to practice are discussed in relation to the notation of accents and dynamics. Similarly, articulation and phrasing are examined in theory and practice as well as in relation to composers' articulation markings and slurs. String bowing is treated as a special case, since detailed bowing instructions provide particularly important evidence of the difference between historical and current practice. Aspects of tempo are covered in detail in four chapters: evolving tempo conventions, the impact of the metronome, the range of meanings of tempo terms, the practices of particular composers, and various types of tempo modification are examined. Changing attitudes to embellishment, ornamentation, and improvization during the period are discussed in general; and individual chapters examine particular issues relating to appoggiaturas, trills, turns and other ornaments, vibrato, and portamento. A final section deals with the fermata, recitative, arpeggiation in keyboard playing; the variable dot of prolongation and other aspects of rhythmic flexibility; and the conventions of ‘heavy’ and ‘light’ performance.
Murray Campbell, Clive Greated, and Arnold Myers
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198165040
- eISBN:
- 9780191713675
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198165040.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This book explains musical instruments in their various forms: how they work, what they can do, and how they came to be the way they are. It concentrates on instruments of western music built to play ...
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This book explains musical instruments in their various forms: how they work, what they can do, and how they came to be the way they are. It concentrates on instruments of western music built to play in musical traditions transmitted in large part by notated scores and parts. The recent growth of early music performance is reflected in an emphasis on the historical development of the main types of instrument. For each class of instrument, the underlying acoustical principles are outlined and the commonly found members of the family are described. Their manufacture, playing techniques, and performance practice are treated.Less
This book explains musical instruments in their various forms: how they work, what they can do, and how they came to be the way they are. It concentrates on instruments of western music built to play in musical traditions transmitted in large part by notated scores and parts. The recent growth of early music performance is reflected in an emphasis on the historical development of the main types of instrument. For each class of instrument, the underlying acoustical principles are outlined and the commonly found members of the family are described. Their manufacture, playing techniques, and performance practice are treated.
Russell Stinson
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195116663
- eISBN:
- 9780199848959
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195116663.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This book explores Bach's “Great Eighteen” Organ Chorales—among Bach's most celebrated works for organ—from a wide range of historical and analytical perspectives, including the models used by Bach ...
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This book explores Bach's “Great Eighteen” Organ Chorales—among Bach's most celebrated works for organ—from a wide range of historical and analytical perspectives, including the models used by Bach in conceiving the individual pieces, his subsequent compilation of these works into a collection, and his compositional process as preserved by the autograph manuscript. It also considers various issues of performance practice, and provides a comprehensive examination of the music's reception, its dissemination in manuscript and printed form, and its influence on such composers as Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Brahms.Less
This book explores Bach's “Great Eighteen” Organ Chorales—among Bach's most celebrated works for organ—from a wide range of historical and analytical perspectives, including the models used by Bach in conceiving the individual pieces, his subsequent compilation of these works into a collection, and his compositional process as preserved by the autograph manuscript. It also considers various issues of performance practice, and provides a comprehensive examination of the music's reception, its dissemination in manuscript and printed form, and its influence on such composers as Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Brahms.
Craig H. Russell
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195343274
- eISBN:
- 9780199867745
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195343274.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western, History, American
Music in the California missions was a pluralistic combination of voices and instruments, of liturgy and spectacle, of styles and functions—and even of cultures—in a new blend that was nonexistent ...
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Music in the California missions was a pluralistic combination of voices and instruments, of liturgy and spectacle, of styles and functions—and even of cultures—in a new blend that was nonexistent before the friars made their way to California beginning in 1769. This book explores the exquisite sacred music that flourished on the West Coast of America when it was under Spanish and Mexican rule; it delves into the historical, cultural, biographical, and stylistic aspects of California mission music during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Aspects of music terminology, performance practice, notation, theory, sacred song, hymns, the sequence, the mass, and pageantry are addressed. The book explores how mellifluous plainchant, reverent hymns, spunky folkloric ditties, “Classical” music in the style of Haydn, and even Native American drumming were interwoven into a tapestry of resonant beauty. The book examines such things as style, scribal attribution, instructions to musicians, government questionnaires, invoices, the liturgy, architectural space where performances took place, spectacle, musical instruments, instrument construction, shipping records, travelers' accounts, letters, diaries, passenger lists, baptismal and burial records, and other primary source material. Within this book one finds considerable biographical information about Junípero Serra, Juan Bautista Sancho, Narciso Durán, Florencio Ibáñez, Pedro Cabot, Martín de Cruzelaegui, Ignacio de Jerusalem, and Francisco Javier García Fajer. Furthermore, it contains five far-reaching appendices: a Catalogue of California Mission Sources; Photos of Missions and Mission Manuscripts (with more than 150 color facsimiles); Translations of Primary Texts; Music Editions (that are performance-ready); and an extensive bibliography.Less
Music in the California missions was a pluralistic combination of voices and instruments, of liturgy and spectacle, of styles and functions—and even of cultures—in a new blend that was nonexistent before the friars made their way to California beginning in 1769. This book explores the exquisite sacred music that flourished on the West Coast of America when it was under Spanish and Mexican rule; it delves into the historical, cultural, biographical, and stylistic aspects of California mission music during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Aspects of music terminology, performance practice, notation, theory, sacred song, hymns, the sequence, the mass, and pageantry are addressed. The book explores how mellifluous plainchant, reverent hymns, spunky folkloric ditties, “Classical” music in the style of Haydn, and even Native American drumming were interwoven into a tapestry of resonant beauty. The book examines such things as style, scribal attribution, instructions to musicians, government questionnaires, invoices, the liturgy, architectural space where performances took place, spectacle, musical instruments, instrument construction, shipping records, travelers' accounts, letters, diaries, passenger lists, baptismal and burial records, and other primary source material. Within this book one finds considerable biographical information about Junípero Serra, Juan Bautista Sancho, Narciso Durán, Florencio Ibáñez, Pedro Cabot, Martín de Cruzelaegui, Ignacio de Jerusalem, and Francisco Javier García Fajer. Furthermore, it contains five far-reaching appendices: a Catalogue of California Mission Sources; Photos of Missions and Mission Manuscripts (with more than 150 color facsimiles); Translations of Primary Texts; Music Editions (that are performance-ready); and an extensive bibliography.
Donald Maurice
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195156904
- eISBN:
- 9780199868339
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195156904.003.0010
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter investigates those aspects of the interpretation of the Viola Concerto that are predominantly in the domain of the performer. The issues of tempi, dynamics, phrasing, and articulation in ...
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This chapter investigates those aspects of the interpretation of the Viola Concerto that are predominantly in the domain of the performer. The issues of tempi, dynamics, phrasing, and articulation in the solo part are brought to the fore, and comparisons are made with the performance practice of William Primrose and the differing opinions of the revisionists. The chapter brings attention to the clues left by the composer, both in the manuscript of this work and also in similar parallel passages in other works. As Bartók left almost no precise markings on any of the above aspects, there will always be scope for individual interpretation of his actual intentions. The chapter sets out some of the factors that performers would be well advised to consider when determining their various interpretive ideas.Less
This chapter investigates those aspects of the interpretation of the Viola Concerto that are predominantly in the domain of the performer. The issues of tempi, dynamics, phrasing, and articulation in the solo part are brought to the fore, and comparisons are made with the performance practice of William Primrose and the differing opinions of the revisionists. The chapter brings attention to the clues left by the composer, both in the manuscript of this work and also in similar parallel passages in other works. As Bartók left almost no precise markings on any of the above aspects, there will always be scope for individual interpretation of his actual intentions. The chapter sets out some of the factors that performers would be well advised to consider when determining their various interpretive ideas.
Susan Rankin
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195124538
- eISBN:
- 9780199868421
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195124538.003.0010
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
The song Diastematica vocis armonia belongs to an extensive repertoire of songs with which, from the late 11th century on, clerics in France and related areas were accustomed to celebrate the highest ...
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The song Diastematica vocis armonia belongs to an extensive repertoire of songs with which, from the late 11th century on, clerics in France and related areas were accustomed to celebrate the highest feasts of the church year. Comparison of this song and its source, GB-Cu MS Ff.1.17 (the so called Younger Cambridge Songbook), with similar songs, as copied in the later MS I-Fl MS Plut. 29.1 (F), shows that conductus songs of this sort were evidently on the margins of the liturgy in the 11th and 12th centuries, but by the mid-13th century had become an officially supported part of the performance of the Divine Office in many parts of France. The nature of the manuscripts that survive containing the repertory reflects its change in stature.Less
The song Diastematica vocis armonia belongs to an extensive repertoire of songs with which, from the late 11th century on, clerics in France and related areas were accustomed to celebrate the highest feasts of the church year. Comparison of this song and its source, GB-Cu MS Ff.1.17 (the so called Younger Cambridge Songbook), with similar songs, as copied in the later MS I-Fl MS Plut. 29.1 (F), shows that conductus songs of this sort were evidently on the margins of the liturgy in the 11th and 12th centuries, but by the mid-13th century had become an officially supported part of the performance of the Divine Office in many parts of France. The nature of the manuscripts that survive containing the repertory reflects its change in stature.
Katherine Bergeron
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195337051
- eISBN:
- 9780199864201
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195337051.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
The singers and actors of the Belle Epoque are the focus of this chapter, which investigates the French art of diction in theatrical and musical performances circa 1900. The survey of performance ...
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The singers and actors of the Belle Epoque are the focus of this chapter, which investigates the French art of diction in theatrical and musical performances circa 1900. The survey of performance practice includes not only sound recordings but also written records — treatises, memoirs, self-help manuals, and musical scores — that reveal how performers thought about the act of speaking French. Evidence from celebrities such as Sarah Berhardt and Marcel Proust, as well as lesser-known personalities such as Léon Brémont and Reynaldo Hahn, provide unique insight into pronunciation habits that defined both the French character and the character of French. The chapter ends with a close reading of the end of Debussy's opera Pelléas et Mélisande.Less
The singers and actors of the Belle Epoque are the focus of this chapter, which investigates the French art of diction in theatrical and musical performances circa 1900. The survey of performance practice includes not only sound recordings but also written records — treatises, memoirs, self-help manuals, and musical scores — that reveal how performers thought about the act of speaking French. Evidence from celebrities such as Sarah Berhardt and Marcel Proust, as well as lesser-known personalities such as Léon Brémont and Reynaldo Hahn, provide unique insight into pronunciation habits that defined both the French character and the character of French. The chapter ends with a close reading of the end of Debussy's opera Pelléas et Mélisande.
Craig H. Russell
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195343274
- eISBN:
- 9780199867745
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195343274.003.0003
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western, History, American
Music notation, as employed by the friars, is explored in this chapter. Notational choices tell us much about the style and interpretation, as well as hinting at who might be singing, how many people ...
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Music notation, as employed by the friars, is explored in this chapter. Notational choices tell us much about the style and interpretation, as well as hinting at who might be singing, how many people are performing, and whether or not instruments are playing. Square- or diamond-shaped notes indicate accompanied homophony, whereas oval note heads indicate a more modern Baroque or Classical style. Each voice follows a different color of notation, thus enabling multiple voices to be indicated on a single staff. Similarly, clefs indicate not only pitch locations but also performance practice, such as transposition. Alternatim performance was a daily occurrence in the missions, in which a long text would be subdivided into alternating subsections that contrasted in style, texture, and density. This chapter deals with instrumental passages—indicated by the terms música or tocata—that often were interspersed with vocal phrases. Finally, the modes and their emotive associations are explored.Less
Music notation, as employed by the friars, is explored in this chapter. Notational choices tell us much about the style and interpretation, as well as hinting at who might be singing, how many people are performing, and whether or not instruments are playing. Square- or diamond-shaped notes indicate accompanied homophony, whereas oval note heads indicate a more modern Baroque or Classical style. Each voice follows a different color of notation, thus enabling multiple voices to be indicated on a single staff. Similarly, clefs indicate not only pitch locations but also performance practice, such as transposition. Alternatim performance was a daily occurrence in the missions, in which a long text would be subdivided into alternating subsections that contrasted in style, texture, and density. This chapter deals with instrumental passages—indicated by the terms música or tocata—that often were interspersed with vocal phrases. Finally, the modes and their emotive associations are explored.
Britta Sweers
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195174786
- eISBN:
- 9780199864348
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195174786.003.0006
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
This chapter provides a broader overview of the different musical elements that form the hybrid genre electric folk. This includes adaptations from the tradition (e.g. Child Ballads, broadsides, ...
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This chapter provides a broader overview of the different musical elements that form the hybrid genre electric folk. This includes adaptations from the tradition (e.g. Child Ballads, broadsides, uneven metric-rhythmic structures), borrowings from modern music (particularly progressive rock), and specifically hybrid elements like the sound combination of electric and acoustic instruments. The complexity of electric folk becomes particularly apparent in the variety of arrangement possibilities employed by the musicians. Another significant characteristic is the integration of traditional singing styles. The physical and ornamental techniques have been adapted from a variety of sources and were combined with new elements (including Bulgarian singing styles). The chapter is completed by a discussion of the performance practices such as rehearsal practices, differences between live and recorded versions, yet also amplification and volume of electric and acoustic instruments.Less
This chapter provides a broader overview of the different musical elements that form the hybrid genre electric folk. This includes adaptations from the tradition (e.g. Child Ballads, broadsides, uneven metric-rhythmic structures), borrowings from modern music (particularly progressive rock), and specifically hybrid elements like the sound combination of electric and acoustic instruments. The complexity of electric folk becomes particularly apparent in the variety of arrangement possibilities employed by the musicians. Another significant characteristic is the integration of traditional singing styles. The physical and ornamental techniques have been adapted from a variety of sources and were combined with new elements (including Bulgarian singing styles). The chapter is completed by a discussion of the performance practices such as rehearsal practices, differences between live and recorded versions, yet also amplification and volume of electric and acoustic instruments.
Sean Williams and Lillis Ó Laoire
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195321180
- eISBN:
- 9780199893713
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195321180.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music, History, American
Sean-nós Singing in Theory and Practice. This chapter explores what it meant to be a sean-nós singer in the 20th century. Based on a foundation of 19th century cultural ...
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Sean-nós Singing in Theory and Practice. This chapter explores what it meant to be a sean-nós singer in the 20th century. Based on a foundation of 19th century cultural nationalism, the Gaelic League established the Oireachtas, a competition intended to award the best of Ireland's traditional performance practices, including traditional singing. The musician and composer Seán Ó Riada later set up a series of rules about what he regarded to be proper performance practice, including performance in the Irish language, individual variation between verses, and other factors to which performers and scholars have reacted ever since. Joe Heaney was a product of this era, and his expert performances of his regional style of Connemara singing helped to set a standard that contemporary singers still refer to. The Irish language also appears as a part of the representation of national identity. The chapter closes with a discussion of Heaney's recordings.Less
Sean-nós Singing in Theory and Practice. This chapter explores what it meant to be a sean-nós singer in the 20th century. Based on a foundation of 19th century cultural nationalism, the Gaelic League established the Oireachtas, a competition intended to award the best of Ireland's traditional performance practices, including traditional singing. The musician and composer Seán Ó Riada later set up a series of rules about what he regarded to be proper performance practice, including performance in the Irish language, individual variation between verses, and other factors to which performers and scholars have reacted ever since. Joe Heaney was a product of this era, and his expert performances of his regional style of Connemara singing helped to set a standard that contemporary singers still refer to. The Irish language also appears as a part of the representation of national identity. The chapter closes with a discussion of Heaney's recordings.
Sean Williams and Lillis Ó Laoire
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195321180
- eISBN:
- 9780199893713
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195321180.003.0003
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music, History, American
Joe Heaney came from a regional tradition with a particular style of singing that included complex practices of ornamentation and close attention to poetic rhythm and meter. His performance practice ...
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Joe Heaney came from a regional tradition with a particular style of singing that included complex practices of ornamentation and close attention to poetic rhythm and meter. His performance practice brought those features into public notice both at home and in the United States, whether he sang in the Irish language or in English. This chapter explains some of the governing features of Heaney's choices in ornamentation and performance practice. Heaney's song lyrics often featured aspects of metaphor and implication. Because part of his intention was to instruct his audience members and students on proper performance style, he insisted that using a vocal vibrato was inappropriate; his own voice, however, had a vibrato. In addition, though he presented himself as an Irish-language singer, most of his songs performed in the United States were in the English language.Less
Joe Heaney came from a regional tradition with a particular style of singing that included complex practices of ornamentation and close attention to poetic rhythm and meter. His performance practice brought those features into public notice both at home and in the United States, whether he sang in the Irish language or in English. This chapter explains some of the governing features of Heaney's choices in ornamentation and performance practice. Heaney's song lyrics often featured aspects of metaphor and implication. Because part of his intention was to instruct his audience members and students on proper performance style, he insisted that using a vocal vibrato was inappropriate; his own voice, however, had a vibrato. In addition, though he presented himself as an Irish-language singer, most of his songs performed in the United States were in the English language.
Robert Toft
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199382026
- eISBN:
- 9780199382064
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199382026.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Performing Practice/Studies, Theory, Analysis, Composition
The sixteenth century was an age of rhetorical persuasion, and singers delivered solo and part songs through a dramatic display of passion that inflamed the hearts and minds of listeners. Composers ...
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The sixteenth century was an age of rhetorical persuasion, and singers delivered solo and part songs through a dramatic display of passion that inflamed the hearts and minds of listeners. Composers relied on performers to transform the written page into a powerful musical discourse and never notated subtleties of rhythm, phrasing, dynamics, pauses, accents, emphases, tempo, or ornamentation. Knowledge of the strategies Renaissance vocalists employed to liberate music from its notation enables modern performers not only to complete the creative process the composer began but also to bring songs to life more from within the culture of the era. This book draws on a wide range of historical documents, both musical and nonmusical, to reconstruct the style of singing known in England and Italy between 1500 and 1620; it provides vocalists with the tools they need to turn skeletally written music into persuasive communication. Exhaustively illustrated with excerpts from frottole, madrigals, monodies, and lute songs, this book captures the breadth of practices singers used in the sixteenth century to realize those aspects of the music that remain hidden in the score until released by performers. Discussions of complete works by composers ranging from Cara and Tromboncino to Monteverdi, Caccini, and Dowland explain how vocalists today can use the old methods to personalize the music, and a companion website offers demonstrations of the principles involved.Less
The sixteenth century was an age of rhetorical persuasion, and singers delivered solo and part songs through a dramatic display of passion that inflamed the hearts and minds of listeners. Composers relied on performers to transform the written page into a powerful musical discourse and never notated subtleties of rhythm, phrasing, dynamics, pauses, accents, emphases, tempo, or ornamentation. Knowledge of the strategies Renaissance vocalists employed to liberate music from its notation enables modern performers not only to complete the creative process the composer began but also to bring songs to life more from within the culture of the era. This book draws on a wide range of historical documents, both musical and nonmusical, to reconstruct the style of singing known in England and Italy between 1500 and 1620; it provides vocalists with the tools they need to turn skeletally written music into persuasive communication. Exhaustively illustrated with excerpts from frottole, madrigals, monodies, and lute songs, this book captures the breadth of practices singers used in the sixteenth century to realize those aspects of the music that remain hidden in the score until released by performers. Discussions of complete works by composers ranging from Cara and Tromboncino to Monteverdi, Caccini, and Dowland explain how vocalists today can use the old methods to personalize the music, and a companion website offers demonstrations of the principles involved.
Sandra Jean Graham
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780252041631
- eISBN:
- 9780252050305
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252041631.003.0003
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This chapter explores the process of musically and culturally translating oral folk spirituals into notated arranged spirituals performed on the concert stage. The American Missionary Association ...
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This chapter explores the process of musically and culturally translating oral folk spirituals into notated arranged spirituals performed on the concert stage. The American Missionary Association hired people’s song composer and church musician Theodore F. Seward to transcribe the Fisk Jubilee Singers’ spirituals as arranged for them by their director, George L. White. Using Seward’s transcriptions as well as those by Jubilee Singers Ella Sheppard and Thomas Rutling, plus reviews and primary sources, as well as early recordings, this chapter recreates as far as possible the performance practice of the concert spirituals sung by the Fisk Jubilee Singers on their tours. The reception of the Fisk Jubilee Singers is surveyed through numerous reviews and is interpreted to show how a codified discourse about spirituals was created in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, which stressed, for example, primitivism, wildness, nature, and the inherent musicality of the African race.Less
This chapter explores the process of musically and culturally translating oral folk spirituals into notated arranged spirituals performed on the concert stage. The American Missionary Association hired people’s song composer and church musician Theodore F. Seward to transcribe the Fisk Jubilee Singers’ spirituals as arranged for them by their director, George L. White. Using Seward’s transcriptions as well as those by Jubilee Singers Ella Sheppard and Thomas Rutling, plus reviews and primary sources, as well as early recordings, this chapter recreates as far as possible the performance practice of the concert spirituals sung by the Fisk Jubilee Singers on their tours. The reception of the Fisk Jubilee Singers is surveyed through numerous reviews and is interpreted to show how a codified discourse about spirituals was created in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, which stressed, for example, primitivism, wildness, nature, and the inherent musicality of the African race.
Alejandro L. Madrid
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195326376
- eISBN:
- 9780199851652
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195326376.003.0006
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
This chapter discusses the performance of Nor-tec as an interactive event and as a process where role playing is crucial in the staging and construction of multiple identities. It focuses both on ...
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This chapter discusses the performance of Nor-tec as an interactive event and as a process where role playing is crucial in the staging and construction of multiple identities. It focuses both on performance practice and on its performance character as social and cultural discourse. It examines the musical and extramusical behavior of musicians and audiences, the codes that regulated their performance, and the social interactions among participants in an attempt to get closer to their meaning.Less
This chapter discusses the performance of Nor-tec as an interactive event and as a process where role playing is crucial in the staging and construction of multiple identities. It focuses both on performance practice and on its performance character as social and cultural discourse. It examines the musical and extramusical behavior of musicians and audiences, the codes that regulated their performance, and the social interactions among participants in an attempt to get closer to their meaning.
Russell Stinson
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195116663
- eISBN:
- 9780199848959
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195116663.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter considers the Great Eighteen as individual works. It examines aspects of the music, particularly issues of performance practice. The pieces in their order of appearance in the autograph ...
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This chapter considers the Great Eighteen as individual works. It examines aspects of the music, particularly issues of performance practice. The pieces in their order of appearance in the autograph manuscript are covered. Registration, ornamentation, and tempo are some of the problems of performance practice of the Great Eighteen.Less
This chapter considers the Great Eighteen as individual works. It examines aspects of the music, particularly issues of performance practice. The pieces in their order of appearance in the autograph manuscript are covered. Registration, ornamentation, and tempo are some of the problems of performance practice of the Great Eighteen.
Alejandro L. Madrid and Robin D. Moore
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199965809
- eISBN:
- 9780199369874
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199965809.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
This chapter offers a history of the danzón and proposes that instead of looking at it as a genre it should be understood as a performance complex. The chapter continues with an extended discussion ...
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This chapter offers a history of the danzón and proposes that instead of looking at it as a genre it should be understood as a performance complex. The chapter continues with an extended discussion of the danzón’s performance practice in Cuba and Mexico between the 1850s and about 1950.Less
This chapter offers a history of the danzón and proposes that instead of looking at it as a genre it should be understood as a performance complex. The chapter continues with an extended discussion of the danzón’s performance practice in Cuba and Mexico between the 1850s and about 1950.
Alejandro L. Madrid and Robin D. Moore
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199965809
- eISBN:
- 9780199369874
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199965809.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
This chapter begins by exploring the presence of Latin American musicians and musical repertoire in early 20th-century New Orleans. It continues by providing a detailed analysis of early danzón ...
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This chapter begins by exploring the presence of Latin American musicians and musical repertoire in early 20th-century New Orleans. It continues by providing a detailed analysis of early danzón performance practice (especially its use of improvisation), and shows the possible ways in which these musicians and the danzón more broadly played a role in the development of early jazz.Less
This chapter begins by exploring the presence of Latin American musicians and musical repertoire in early 20th-century New Orleans. It continues by providing a detailed analysis of early danzón performance practice (especially its use of improvisation), and shows the possible ways in which these musicians and the danzón more broadly played a role in the development of early jazz.
Nick Wilson
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199939930
- eISBN:
- 9780199369775
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199939930.003.0006
- Subject:
- Music, Performing Practice/Studies, History, Western
Whilst the primary focus of the book is on early musicians (performers), this chapter invites the reader to consider a set of other professionals who have been pivotal to Early Music’s success ...
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Whilst the primary focus of the book is on early musicians (performers), this chapter invites the reader to consider a set of other professionals who have been pivotal to Early Music’s success (musicologists, editors, publishers, organologists, and instrument-makers). The chapter first discusses some of the musicological challenges of working on ‘old scores’,including making them fit for performance in the modern age. Here, the editor must walk a fine line between scholarship and performance. The role of the publisher is perhaps most readily over-looked; but their painstaking work (including copying out parts by-hand before the advent of the computer) represents a vital link in the chain. Early Music has relied heavily on the availability of period instruments (either originals or later copies). The approach of the instrument-maker with regards to ‘authentic performance’ (whether to copy or to improve?) is highlighted as being hugelyinfluential on the movement as a whole.Less
Whilst the primary focus of the book is on early musicians (performers), this chapter invites the reader to consider a set of other professionals who have been pivotal to Early Music’s success (musicologists, editors, publishers, organologists, and instrument-makers). The chapter first discusses some of the musicological challenges of working on ‘old scores’,including making them fit for performance in the modern age. Here, the editor must walk a fine line between scholarship and performance. The role of the publisher is perhaps most readily over-looked; but their painstaking work (including copying out parts by-hand before the advent of the computer) represents a vital link in the chain. Early Music has relied heavily on the availability of period instruments (either originals or later copies). The approach of the instrument-maker with regards to ‘authentic performance’ (whether to copy or to improve?) is highlighted as being hugelyinfluential on the movement as a whole.
