> > [1} I suspect that violinists do not detune for the > _Firebird_ passage > but play it with artificial harmonics. I will try to > remember to ask at > our concert this evening.
No, it's routinely ignored: it's an instruction to tune the E string down to D for the harmonic glissandos in the introduction, and is instead generally played an octave lower, matching the second violins. Which is a shame, because we're missing out on an astonishing effect Stravinsky created. Many players have never even wondered what those funny French words mean - I asked a player with the orchestra of the Royal Opera House (i.e. the Royal Ballet!), and she'd never thought about it. This problem is compounded, if I recall correctly, by a discrepancy between score and parts as to whether things are to be transposed up one or two octaves. Note also that it's the first thing the 1st violins play, so the tuning down could be done while tuning the orchestra, with only the tuning back up again to be done during the performance. (Incidentally, was it on this mailing list some time ago that somebody said Stravinsky never went above fff in dynamic markings? I noticed not long ago that the end of the Firebird has four Fs in the 1st violin part.) _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
