Dear Ed: You wrote: "I think the vocal model extends to purely instrumental pieces in the Renaissance because vocal counterpoint is really the basis of Ren music." Thank you for pointing that out, I had forgotten that tasty little tid bit about early music. The voice was considered the most perfect instrument and of course, in the development of human history, the voice had to have been the first instrument of music. So you are correct, the common corner stone of tempo and performance is rooted in the vocal music that inspired the instrumental compositions or are directly related to them. I had made the comparisons concerning The Earl of Essex Galliard being played to fast, which as you know is also an ornamented version of Dowland's Can She Excuse. I had forgotten to make that link in my opinion.
Vance Wood. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ed Durbrow" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Vance Wood" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, June 11, 2004 5:46 AM Subject: Re: Tempo / Performance speed > At 10:41 PM +0200 04/6/10, G.R. Crona wrote: > >suddenly > >realize, that (for me) much of the music actually gains in "stature" by not > >being played too fast (cf. La compagna). Of course a piece like f. ex. > >Dlugoraj's "Finale" is meant to be played fast, but have others had similar > >experience, and is that drift to play everything virtuoso-fast more a sign > >of our times than HIP? > > I think there were more virtuosos back then than now. > > >What is the consensus on tempo? Did "they" play the > >lute pieces slower than "us"? > > I don't know what "us" is because some people play a piece faster or > slower than others. > I also think jazz makes a good analogy. If you can play a piece > convincingly in one tempo, it may be played just as convincingly in > another. A virtuoso back then may have done that to another person's > music, so it kind of depends what role you are putting yourself in. > Somebody somewhere at some time might have done almost anything. > However, if you are trying to find the original intent of the > composer, then I think the choice of tempos is a little more limited. > > Please check _The Performance of Passaggi_ by Paul Odette in the > April 1977 LSA Newsletter. "The tempo of any piece containing > passaggi can be derived by deleting the ornamentation and learning > the unembellished version as though it had never had any passaggi." > > In the case of La Campagna, it is the second part of a pair of > pieces. It is a kind of second version or second fantasy on the > original and is more ornamental in a way. In this light, the whole > latter 2/3 of La Campagna becomes a kind of cadenza. I think the key > is to make the runs sound effortless at whatever speed you play them > and discover the goals of the sequences and aim for them. I > personally see them as fireworks and quite fast, but if it sounds > like you are struggling to play them fast, then you aren't pulling it > off with the proper sprezziatura. One can play expressively as long > as we don't put too much importance on notes that are really > ornaments or filler to other more import notes or guideposts. > > Vance Wood wrote: > > >I think the real question is, in > >most cases, do they sound good at the speed you play them? > > You hit the nail on the head. > > >If you make yourself happy > >with the way you play it what difference does it make is someone thinks you > >play it too fast and another thinks you play it too slow? > > See my comment above: somebody somewhere etc. > > >There are a lot > >of great players, teachers and musicologists out there but----we all suffer > >from the same limitation; Having never heard this material played by the > >people that wrote it. Lacking that reference point we all speculate. I am > >sure there are a lot of carefully researched points of view on every angle > >of the problem, and many have the degrees to back up their opinion. There > >is one thing that cannot be determined through research: How fast is fast, > >and how slow is slow? It is all relative to some common starting point the > nature of which I am unaware of. > > There are some points of departure: a jumping dance can't be played > so slowly that someone is theoretically hanging in the air on a leap; > Intabulations presuppose a vocal model which has words and natural > places to breathe, you can't play it so slowly that someone would run > out of breath. I think the vocal model extends to purely instrumental > pieces in the Renaissance because vocal counterpoint is really the > basis of Ren music. Therefore a good way to approach a piece is to > sing the individual lines and find a comfortable tempo without > thinking about the technical difficulties of playing it on the lute. > > Another point to be considered, do we play some things too slowly? > Overspun basses and nylon strings, allow for more sustain so some of > today's players perhaps play some pieces, such as sarabands, more > slowly than would make sense on an instrument strung all in gut. Of > course this brings us back to guessing what their strings really were > like. > > Glad we're back talking about music. :-) > > cheers, > -- > Ed Durbrow > Saitama, Japan > http://www9.plala.or.jp/edurbrow/ >
