One caveat, and one caveat only, to add to Howard Posner's excellent
perspective- Don't be playing at any time when all the other continuo
players have stopped (or haven't started). Sometimes it's infinitely
worse for the theorbo to be heard!
Dan
On 3/17/2014 7:12 AM, howard posner wrote:
On Mar 16, 2014, at 4:51 AM, Edward Chrysogonus Yong <edward.y...@gmail.com>
wrote:
so i was asked to play continuo for a Händel Concerto Grosso and spent some
time working it out. at the first rehearsal i discover that the continuo line
is also being played by 3 violoncelli, an electronic harpsichord, and a double
bass all 'playing out'.
all of these are modern instruments, played aggressively by players more
accustomed to symphonic music. full chords on my large archlute and twiddling
nonstop means i am audible to the celli and to the conductor. the tutti violins
on the other side of the semicircle have said they can't really hear me, so i
wonder if i'd even be heard by the audience.
i'm sure other lute players have done gigs like this, so what does one do in
situations where one's lute seems largely ornamental? do i just make sure i
look pretty?
You play continuo, don’t worry about it, and relax knowing there isn’t any
pressure on you to carry the part.
It doesn’t matter whether the violinists think they can hear you. If you were
playing with a big French harpsichord and baroque instruments, they might say
the same, most of the time. And I’ll bet they can’t distinguish the sound of
one of those cellos from the other two, and none of those cellists is writing
to the cello list about his predicament.
About once a year on this list I have occasion to remind someone that playing
continuo isn’t like playing a lute concerto. It isn’t necessarily about being
heard as a distinct, identifiable sound. You’re part of the mix. In a big
group you’re there to make the overall sound fuller, or mellower, or brighter,
or whatever. The group should sound better when you’re playing and worse when
you’re not, even if it isn’t obvious why. You’ve done your job when the
listeners like the sound, not when someone in the third row says, “really nice
voice-leading on that last six-four chord by the guy playing that weird giant
mandolin.”
And if the sound is really so thick that it doesn’t matter at all what you
play, just do your best, enjoy the show and chalk it up to practice time.
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