During the late seventeenth century in France, the viol was beginning to emerge as one of the mos... more During the late seventeenth century in France, the viol was beginning to emerge as one of the most important musical instruments of the day. French luthiers had created the quintessential French viol, which allowed violists in France to make their mark on viol playing, both as performers and teachers. So fervent was this enterprise that players soon formed cliques, creating two opposing schools of viol playing. One of the main protagonists who is the focus of this thesis, De Machy, led one of these schools. Although we are fully aware of this historical dichotomy, it is widely assumed that De Machy’s rivals were the eventual victors of this conflict, and thus have become the model for modern violists to emulate. This has, however, encouraged modern violists to completely disregard the efforts of De Machy, which, as this thesis shall demonstrate, are as important as those of his contemporaries. Chapter 1 discusses De Machy’s place in modern scholarship, giving readers an overall view...
counted this factor for the moment. The book comes to focus on administrative history, and Dratwi... more counted this factor for the moment. The book comes to focus on administrative history, and Dratwicki’s collection of documents deserves its own project, fit to tackle the Opéra in the round. The plethora of texts hopes to promote (to borrow Carr’s words) ‘some kind of contact with the mind of those about whom [the historian] is writing’ (What is History?, 24). Dauvergne worked long years in underpaid assistant functions; after resigning in 1782 he lived nine months of the year outside Paris for want of funds. His financial reward, even at the top of the Opéra, came late. A startling account (250) shows that the Opéra performers attempted an administrative takeover as early as 1767. When they finally succeeded, without Dauvergne (1782–1785), they ran up a large debt and were decried as inefficient, yet 1783 was a bumper year for successes and 1784 saw five major new operas: this during a decade marked by extraordinary expansions of ambition. Was Dauvergne influential in this respect? Obviously, anecdotal history is not enough to explain these phenomena. The Opéra management is accused of ‘la décadence et la corruption’ (316) yet these are paraphrases, not authorial conclusions. As administrator, Dauvergne sometimes ‘seemed niggling’, his zealousness even comical, causing animosity from the artistic and public community (305), which even suspected him of vengefulness towards a young composer, Étienne Floquet. We are left to imagine the true picture. Happily, the texture tightens towards the end; the later 1780s become Dauvergne’s finest moment as directeur, judged by quality, quantity and diversity of productions at the Opéra. Signs of haste are various. The wrong illustration from Hercule mourant appears (223), the engraving of the Little Theatre at Versailles (95) gets separated from its discussion (91–92), which in turn neglects to point the reader to it. The music examples are not usually captioned with their act and scene designations: they rely on their placement in the main text for such identification, but this system is haphazard more than useful. The French symphony is declared to have taken off ‘from the start of the 1760s’, ten years later than the time this actually occurred at the Concert Spirituel (256); the myth is perpetuated that earlier programming remained traditional (51). ‘Picpus’ (a Paris street) replaces ‘Picus’, a character in Canente (207). We have ‘Saint-Mard’ for ‘Saint-Marc’ (363), and ‘three’ Grétry comedies instead of four (368), because Colinette has been forgotten (see page 350). Indeed, Colinette might have been a Dauvergne commission: such questions remain to be resolved. Notwithstanding its length and generous ambition, then, Dratwicki’s book constitutes only a first step in giving Paris the kind of treatment it deserves, and which others have already applied to Vienna’s musical life during the same decades. In truth, there is material here for two books. Paris lacked a Mozart, and in any case it is good to seek alternative ways of tackling opera history. Single-composer studies will continue to be needed, but probably do not constitute the best way of understanding the complexities of French musical life before the Revolution.
This thesis sets out to uncover the ornamentation practices of French violist-composer Marin Mara... more This thesis sets out to uncover the ornamentation practices of French violist-composer Marin Marais (1656-1728). Marais wrote almost nothing about the execution of his ornaments in his music; in the avertissement of his first book of viol pieces, Pièces à une et à deux violes (Paris, 1686), he listed all the ornaments and their corresponding symbols, but provided no realisations and little explanation of how they are to be performed. While a historical violist could simply visit the master to learn how to properly perform his ornaments, the modern performer has little choice but to consult other historical musical works and treatises to gain a better understanding of the subject. In this thesis, I argue that the ornamentation practices in Marais' music have largely been misunderstood because these historical works have not been properly examined. This study begins with a brief historical background of Marais, underpinning his significance as a major composer of the French Baroque era, thus showing that his style of ornamentation can be regarded as one of the prevailing methods of the day. The study then focuses on the modern writings that deal with issues that are relevant to Marais' music, demonstrating how modern writers have sometimes overlooked historical sources, and how this results in their misunderstanding of Marais' ornamentation practices. Lastly, the practices of historical violists and writers are analysed. The findings of this study offer a range of interpretive possibilities for Marais' ornaments such as the tremblement, batement, port de voix, coulé de doigt and pincé or flatement. This information provides a basis on which modern performers will be able to apply appropriate historical ornamentation in performing the music of Marais and his contemporaries today.
During the late seventeenth century in France, the viol was beginning to emerge as one of the mos... more During the late seventeenth century in France, the viol was beginning to emerge as one of the most important musical instruments of the day. French luthiers had created the quintessential French viol, which allowed violists in France to make their mark on viol playing, both as performers and teachers. So fervent was this enterprise that players soon formed cliques, creating two opposing schools of viol playing. One of the main protagonists who is the focus of this thesis, De Machy, led one of these schools. Although we are fully aware of this historical dichotomy, it is widely assumed that De Machy’s rivals were the eventual victors of this conflict, and thus have become the model for modern violists to emulate. This has, however, encouraged modern violists to completely disregard the efforts of De Machy, which, as this thesis shall demonstrate, are as important as those of his contemporaries. Chapter 1 discusses De Machy’s place in modern scholarship, giving readers an overall view...
counted this factor for the moment. The book comes to focus on administrative history, and Dratwi... more counted this factor for the moment. The book comes to focus on administrative history, and Dratwicki’s collection of documents deserves its own project, fit to tackle the Opéra in the round. The plethora of texts hopes to promote (to borrow Carr’s words) ‘some kind of contact with the mind of those about whom [the historian] is writing’ (What is History?, 24). Dauvergne worked long years in underpaid assistant functions; after resigning in 1782 he lived nine months of the year outside Paris for want of funds. His financial reward, even at the top of the Opéra, came late. A startling account (250) shows that the Opéra performers attempted an administrative takeover as early as 1767. When they finally succeeded, without Dauvergne (1782–1785), they ran up a large debt and were decried as inefficient, yet 1783 was a bumper year for successes and 1784 saw five major new operas: this during a decade marked by extraordinary expansions of ambition. Was Dauvergne influential in this respect? Obviously, anecdotal history is not enough to explain these phenomena. The Opéra management is accused of ‘la décadence et la corruption’ (316) yet these are paraphrases, not authorial conclusions. As administrator, Dauvergne sometimes ‘seemed niggling’, his zealousness even comical, causing animosity from the artistic and public community (305), which even suspected him of vengefulness towards a young composer, Étienne Floquet. We are left to imagine the true picture. Happily, the texture tightens towards the end; the later 1780s become Dauvergne’s finest moment as directeur, judged by quality, quantity and diversity of productions at the Opéra. Signs of haste are various. The wrong illustration from Hercule mourant appears (223), the engraving of the Little Theatre at Versailles (95) gets separated from its discussion (91–92), which in turn neglects to point the reader to it. The music examples are not usually captioned with their act and scene designations: they rely on their placement in the main text for such identification, but this system is haphazard more than useful. The French symphony is declared to have taken off ‘from the start of the 1760s’, ten years later than the time this actually occurred at the Concert Spirituel (256); the myth is perpetuated that earlier programming remained traditional (51). ‘Picpus’ (a Paris street) replaces ‘Picus’, a character in Canente (207). We have ‘Saint-Mard’ for ‘Saint-Marc’ (363), and ‘three’ Grétry comedies instead of four (368), because Colinette has been forgotten (see page 350). Indeed, Colinette might have been a Dauvergne commission: such questions remain to be resolved. Notwithstanding its length and generous ambition, then, Dratwicki’s book constitutes only a first step in giving Paris the kind of treatment it deserves, and which others have already applied to Vienna’s musical life during the same decades. In truth, there is material here for two books. Paris lacked a Mozart, and in any case it is good to seek alternative ways of tackling opera history. Single-composer studies will continue to be needed, but probably do not constitute the best way of understanding the complexities of French musical life before the Revolution.
This thesis sets out to uncover the ornamentation practices of French violist-composer Marin Mara... more This thesis sets out to uncover the ornamentation practices of French violist-composer Marin Marais (1656-1728). Marais wrote almost nothing about the execution of his ornaments in his music; in the avertissement of his first book of viol pieces, Pièces à une et à deux violes (Paris, 1686), he listed all the ornaments and their corresponding symbols, but provided no realisations and little explanation of how they are to be performed. While a historical violist could simply visit the master to learn how to properly perform his ornaments, the modern performer has little choice but to consult other historical musical works and treatises to gain a better understanding of the subject. In this thesis, I argue that the ornamentation practices in Marais' music have largely been misunderstood because these historical works have not been properly examined. This study begins with a brief historical background of Marais, underpinning his significance as a major composer of the French Baroque era, thus showing that his style of ornamentation can be regarded as one of the prevailing methods of the day. The study then focuses on the modern writings that deal with issues that are relevant to Marais' music, demonstrating how modern writers have sometimes overlooked historical sources, and how this results in their misunderstanding of Marais' ornamentation practices. Lastly, the practices of historical violists and writers are analysed. The findings of this study offer a range of interpretive possibilities for Marais' ornaments such as the tremblement, batement, port de voix, coulé de doigt and pincé or flatement. This information provides a basis on which modern performers will be able to apply appropriate historical ornamentation in performing the music of Marais and his contemporaries today.
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