The marking "A doi [voce] con Ritornelli di Violini & di Viole �
beneplacito" is not in correct Italian; that, should be: "A due [voci]
con Ritornelli di Violini e di Viole a beneplacito", which one could
interpret as an indication of executing "colla parte" (literally, "with
the score"), when the violins usually played doubling the vocal parts.
Violins where usually used for doubling female voices, but, there where
no fundamental rule, having, the conductor at time, not much to chose
between the resources of the orchestra. The violins could be of different
type and measure, and in a mixed voices choral part with orchestra, the
"colla parte" ("con la parte" in modern Italian) violin(s), viola(s) and
cello(s) (violoncello, violone), would be used. What the conductor, at
time (and today) would refer to, is the texture of each vocal part and
have that doubled in coherent way by the instruments the orchestra would have.
Just a word on the meaning of the marking: "con ritornelli" refers to the
repeats; di violini e viole a beneplacito means to use violins and violas
as you like, as you prefer, according to your needs, etc.
So, one could interpret it as :
1. play the repeats with the string orchestra's higher parts (or with
whatever you dispose) doubling the vocal part
2. play the vocal parts repeats with the string orchestra's higher parts
(or with whatever you dispose) without the vocal sections singing
Other choices are (and where) possible so, in an edition, what I would
like to see, would be a preface explaining that instrumentation and
conducting choices are not a matter of a couple of rigid rules, but, how
it historically was, it's a matter of coherence and balance with many
factors, from the dimension and quality of the choir, of the orchestra,
of the performing location and other factors.Giovanni Andreani >Thanks for these comments, John. Perhaps I wasn't clear, but there are TWO >"viola" parts. Neither of them have any indication or label (and appear in >the vocal part-books). The piece itself is marked "A doi [voce] con >Ritornelli di Violini & di Viole � beneplacito". One of these "viola" parts >is in C3 clef (with changes to C2 and C4), and it's range is D3-D5. The >second is in bass clef all along, and its range is E2-D4. So they both >cover about two octaves, and are an octave apart. Does that give any clues? > >Dennis > > >_______________________________________________ >Finale mailing list >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
