Following Doreen's interest in baroque music I am looking afresh at the French songs and dances from the operas arranged for two hurdy-gurdies. I find they are not as simple as they appear at first sight. This presents an interesting challenge, and one not to be shirked. French baroque music is not played as it is written but uses an unique musical shorthand indicating many forms of rhythmic and stylistic variation. These musical condiments, as we may call them, are essential in performance and without them the music is dull, and lacks both vigour and expression.
The term baroque means 'highly decorated' and is applied to art and architecture as well as music. The word is pronounced as it is written in German: barock. As in Barock Obama. During the 18th century this repertoire was played in the many European courts which followed French fashion: Germany, Russia, Italy, Sweden.The music is as highly mannered and intricate as are the dances it accompanies. On first looking at these short tunes some thought is required to bring them to life and I find it a constant wonder how the latent patterns on a page of music can be coaxed, through the medium of a musical instrument, into the most lively dance music! It is as though a painting has come to life; as though Venus herself has stepped from her shell onto the shore and dances on the strand*. *Wikipedia: Birth of Venus -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "hurdygurdy" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/hurdygurdy The rules of posting, courtesy, and other list information may be found at http://hurdygurdy.com/mailinglist/index.htm. To reduce spam, posts from new subscribers are held pending approval by the webmaster.
