At 9:39 PM -0500 5/9/10, Noel Stoutenburg wrote:
Kim Patrick Clow wrote:
I'm not exactly sure what the expression under the first violin means
"ottava bassa" or ottava basso." Or how this would impact performance.
This is the first time I've encountered this phrase in Graupner's music.
I'm with Dennis as far as the top part dropping in parallel with the
lower two, but I don't see it as a manuscript error, but rather as
an example of using symbols to keep the music as much as practicable
within the bounds of the staff. The other two sounding parts drop
from the upper portion of their respective staves, to the lower
portion, but if the top does that as well, many of the notes in the
top sounding part will be below the staff; using the ottava bassa
symbol is a way to place the music without confusing the user which
staff the music is associated with. I expect it's impact upon
performance would be that the player encountering it would expect to
play (or hear the music played, if this is is a conductor's score)
an octave lower than written.
On the contrary, I wouldn't expect the player to see it at all, since
the copyist should have taken care to copy it correctly into the
part. I've used LOTS of shorthand in some of my scores written under
deadline, but always copied the parts accurately.
Kim, do you have parts to compare, or just the score?
And in terms of performance practice (or actually composing
practice), in the baroque if a composer had felt a compulsion to
avoid ALL ledger lines, he simply would have changed clefs, since all
musicians were expected to be fluent in the 9 movable clefs. Bach
certainly was! But I doubt that such a consideration would have
occurred to an 18th century musician, since it was unusual for clefs
to change in the parts with the exception of viola da gamba parts
that might jump from alto to bass clef if the music so jumped.
Violin parts commonly used treble clef and used ledger lines both
above and below the staff.
John
--
John R. Howell, Assoc. Prof. of Music
Virginia Tech Department of Music
College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A. 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:[email protected])
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
"We never play anything the same way once." Shelly Manne's definition
of jazz musicians.
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