As if we weren't loud enough....tonight we were joined by a chorus of 120 singers, all blasting out as loud as possible. I'm embarrassed to admit that I found the loudest passages frightening.
The aria with bass and guitar in Act 2 is fairly substantial for the guitar, but it is accompanied by the brass and wind. I played as hard as I could, but still I was told that I needed to play 'much louder'. I eventually cracked and said, 'If I play any louder, I'll rip the f###ing strings off!'. I feel they might amplify me. The big surprise tonight was when the guitar aria finished, the entire 120-strong choir started laughing! It's in the score! I started laughing too. Clearly this is one big joke by Wagner. I asked the conductor about the fugue based on guitar tuning, mentioned by Bone. He said it is not a strict fugue, more a fantasia. It comes towards the end of Act 2, and is incredible. I'm not aware of any published scholarly articles on this 'fugue', but it is surely deserving of one. Time to remind ourselves of the comments on this list by Krzysztof Komarnicki: >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>The original, by your truly (Krzysztof Komarnicki), was published in "Gitara Historia Aktualno¶ci", No 1/1998 pp. 19-20 as a part of the series "Great Composers & The Guitar". Two comments: 1. I will ommit here the large part dealing with the instrument Wagner used for Beckmesser's song. This is Lute-Guitar (Lautengitarre), in the score referred to as "Laute". In fact it is a guitar with EADGBE tuning and evrything guitar-like except for the body shape. There is no need to deal with the problem in detail in this forum of specialists. 2. Further minor changes were added to the original as being the author of the original I take my right for that, thank you. Here we go: The lute is conected with the character of Beckmesser, who plays the instrument himself. The very beginning of the instrumental part is quite quixotic: it contains only open strings notes - EADGBE. This appears to be the easiest thing to play on the instrument. But at the same time it makes ultmate use of the lute's tuning. It is a daring idea, not followed untill the Heitor Villa-Lobos studies. The Brasilian composer made use of the guitar's tuning resources making them his textural Credo. The meaning and purpose of this unusual passage is as follows: 1. the lute's part is intended for the singer; it should be playable after shortest possible training. 2. the character of Beckmesser is a personification of all things Wagner hated in music. Beckmesser is not a proffesional singer; he is an amateur in the worst sense of the word. Not only he thinks singing and music is easy; he thinks he is good at it himself. Beckmesser is in opposition to Hans Sachs, a shoemaker, therefore technically an amateur singer too. But Sach's approach to the art is by all means proffessional. Beckmesser's one is not, and the opening passage of the lute becomes his Leitmotive, that illustrates his self consiousness of bourgeois dillettante. 3. some researchers have suggested that the passage illustrates a process of tuning of the lute. This last point needs a word of comment here. At first glance the point is doubtful, as nobody would be able to check the correctness of tuning this way, to say nothing of the tuning. The opening passage is written in small, flowing rhythmic values. Nobody ever was able to tune the instrument this way, dependless of the musical training she or he had received. But indeed, few bars later we are told by Wagner that the D string is out of tune. This is the explanation of the comical search for the correct note to complete the A minor chord. The D-E oscillation suggests that Wagner calls for overtuning of the D string (closer to D# actually). Therefore, as Beckmesser is a mockery, we can accept the interpretation of "tuning" considering the satirical purpose of the song and the scene. The Laute is therefore used by Wagner in most unfavourable light, as an attribut of the low, uneducated, musically untrained and taste-lacking class of society. From the other hand, the effectivness of the instrument's usage, the ultimate effect achieved out of conciously and purposedly limited resources make us believe that Richard Wagner studied the instrument well before writing this scene.<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< =============================================================== Rob To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
