I for one learned a lot by intabulating harpsichord music by Nicolas Lebegue (1637, 1st print of harpsichord music in France). To me, French baroque tunes in lute or harpsichord music are deeply affiliated to oratorical singing. There's a gesture to be found in every motif. As for lute music in particular, I hasten to add that George Torres composition on French melodies and their relation to French contemporaneous poetry was enlightening to me, as well as Catherine Liddell's booklet to her Gallot CD (La Belle Voilée).
My perception of what French style actually is, was confused by ancient recordings of our forefathers of blessed memory. They used to play French lute music as it consisted but of arpeggios, more or less. Yet I've come to insist that there _are_ parts, that there is imitation and that this must must be played with the strongest possible distinction. Rather slow down than play muddily. Mathias "Roman Turovsky" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> schrieb: > Nah, the duck is far more important, i.e. phrasing, syntax, melodic and > harmonic rhythms etc. > I.e. the drivetrain. Your list is chromeplating. > RT > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "David Tayler" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "lute-cs.dartmouth.edu" <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> > Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2008 4:38 PM > Subject: [LUTE] Re: French Style > > > > All the things on this list are uniquely French; they give the music > > the character. > > For French music, the truffle is more important than the duck. > > A ground bass can have the exact same harmony in France as an Italian > > one, but the sauce is different. > > dt > > > > > > At 01:08 PM 6/19/2008, you wrote: > >>This is all truffle sauce, but it tells you nothing about the wild > >>boar underneath. > >>RT > >> > >> > >>----- Original Message ----- From: "David Tayler" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >>To: "lute-cs.dartmouth.edu" <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> > >>Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2008 3:59 PM > >>Subject: [LUTE] Re: French Style > >> > >> > >>>That's a terrific question for which there is no easy answer. > >>>Here's a few basic starting points: > >>>1. It is different at different times--don't conflate the different > >>>genres > >>>2. Inegal is the most misused and most misunderstood. Read the > >>>original sources, don't rely on secondary sources. > >>>At a minimum,Distinguish between coule & pointe, and distinguish > >>>rhythmic inegal from articulation inegal--this is where it always goes > >>>wrong. > >>>3. Read up on the "gout" > >>>4. Learn all the agreements. Most people know 2 or 3, some know half > >>>a dozen, few know them all. > >>>You need to know at least a dozen, to put an arbitrary number on it. > >>>5. Learn the three parts of the trill--the starting note, the > >>>repetition, and the escape. Most people don't play their trills > >>>right, or play them "evenly". > >>>6. Use the 2/3rds rule for grace notes and the first note of the > >>>trill as a starting point--the grace note is the long note, not the > >>>other way around > >>>7. Distinguish between the weight of medial and final cadential > >>>trills and ornaments, the lighter ones are often at the end, not the > >>>other way around. > >>>8. At a minimum, read Monteclair on the agreements, especially for > >>>the port de voix, the ornament which is most often performed > >>>backwards (enough here for a separate post) > >>>9. Also read the following which describes the actual ornaments used > >>>in Rameau's time: > >>> > >>>Author: MCGEGAN, Nicholas; SPAGNOLI, Gina > >>>Singing style at the Opera in the Rameau period. (Paris: > >>>Champion; Geneve: Slatkine, 1986) Music. In French. See RILM > >>>1987-00887-bs. Collection: Jean-Philippe Rameau > >>> > >>>10. You are right about the language, lots to investigate there. > >>>11. Listen to a few recordings of unmeasured preludes for > >>>harpsichord, then arrange them for lute. A new take on stile brise. > >>> > >>>dt > >>> > >>> > >>>At 12:35 PM 6/19/2008, you wrote: > >>>>I'm wondering: what is it that makes up the "French style" of > >>>>Baroque music? I don't mean particularly stile brise, notes inegall > >>>>etc. Those are obvious, and to me insufficient explanations to > >>>>convey the French Baroque. It seems to me there's more to it than > >>>>that. Are there, for example, considerations in the French style > >>>>that have to do with the cadences and general kinds of rhythms of the > >>>>French language itself? What things does one need to understand / > >>>>appreciate in order to make effectively rhetorical music in the > >>>>French style? > >>>> > >>>>Anybody got any ideas on this? > >>>> > >>>>Best, > >>>> > >>>>David Rastall > >>>>[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>>-- > >>>> > >>>>To get on or off this list see list information at > >>>>http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > >>> > >>> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >>__________________________________________________ > >>D O T E A S Y - "Join the web hosting revolution!" > >> http://www.doteasy.com > >> > > > > > > > > > > > __________________________________________________ > D O T E A S Y - "Join the web hosting revolution!" > http://www.doteasy.com
