[Mark D. Lew, about Gounod aria being edited, corrected, etc.:]
>Now suppose I notice some peculiar beam and stem directions, or a measure
>that doesn't add up, or a missing accidental that is obviously intended, or
>an inconsistency in note length for no apparent reason, or a missing tie
>that is obviously intended, etc, etc? Where is the benefit in faithfully
>observing the source?
None. As one of those who was defending the composer's notation, I should
say I wasn't talking about obvious mistakes - only about intentional, obviously
well-considered styles of notation, especially when dealing with music of living
composers being published for the first time.
The difference here is that, at least for a living composer, you can go and
ask him about any dubious points; but you can't do that with Gounod now. You
*have* to make certain decisions without his help or agreement.
>But in fact, I'll even go a little further than that. The reason this
>particular example comes to mind is because it includes an interesting
>issue of key signature. The aria on the whole is in Db major, but in the
>middle of the main section (which later repeats) there is an interesting
>little harmonic journey when the Ab becomes a common tone for a move into
>Fb, then Cb dom, then Db minor, then Bbb, and finally back to Db major.
...
>And so I make an editorial decision and write those four bars with sharps
>instead.
>
>Do I thereby do a disservice to the composer, or to the performers? Some
>here seem to be suggesting that I do, but that's my call nonetheless.
I think "disservice" is not how I would express it in this context. (I've
responded to this because I presume I am one of those you are referring to
here.)
I'm trying to ignore my ingrained feelings on such matters, and thinking
about it from your point of view and your audience's point of view. I guess, if
it is appearing as your edition of the piece, it's okay to do the things you've
mentioned.
>I don't include editorial notes on the music itself, though I do generally
>offer a few lines of notes separately for those who care to look. In this
>case, I expect I would mention the key change.
Given your situation, and that you explain in the score the changes you've
made, at least briefly, this is, I suppose acceptable. If I were doing this, I
would also put "edited by..." on the title page (perhaps you've done that
anyway).
Something purporting to be the composer's unedited manuscript probably
shouldn't do this, though. Leaving aside all the difficult issues of older
music that David Fenton has described well, I would regard making these changes
without the composer's agreement as a bit of a liberty with a more modern piece,
especially if the composer was there to disagree with it. At least, if I wrote
a passage with flats like you described (and I have done), I would, I suppose,
resent it if an editor changed that without asking me first, or even if he asked
me but it was effectively a command, where publication was conditional upon
compliance.
I guess I do regard choice of enharmonic spelling as one of those things,
like the key-signature change business, as the composer's territory rather than
an editor's. No-one ever respells Beethoven's Funeral March (from the 13th
Piano Sonata) in G# minor, in preference to the original Ab minor. (They *do*
sometimes give it a key signature of 4 flats instead of 7, which I think
actually makes it harder to read.) Bach's C#-major Preludes and Fugues are
rarely respelled in Db major, Scriabin's C#-major Étude or Granados's "Allegro
di Conciert" in C# major is never respelled in Db major, and so on. (Pardon me
if I've misspelled Granados's Spanish title.)
However, these pieces are intended for skilled pianists who practise before
performing them, and are probably not casual sight-reading material. I guess
things are a bit different with educational music, piano versions of operatic
arias, and other special situations of this sort.
Regards,
Michael Edwards.
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