An Analysis of Virtuosic Self-Accompanied Singing As a Historical Vocal Performance Practice
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The Ideal Orpheus: An Analysis of Virtuosic Self-Accompanied Singing as a Historical Vocal Performance Practice Volume One of Two Robin Terrill Bier Doctor of Philosophy University of York Department of Music September 2013 2 Abstract The Ideal Orpheus: An Analysis of Virtuosic Self-Accompanied Singing as a Historical Vocal Performance Practice Evidence of self-accompanied singing in western music permeates elite music making from classical antiquity to the early twentieth century. Originating in the mythology and culture of Ancient Greece, self-accompanied singing became an idiomatic component of medieval song and early Christian depictions of musicians. Self-accompaniment was central to the identity of sixteenth-century musicians like Tarquinia Molza, whose performances transformed a ubiquitous practice amongst the amateur gentry into a unique vehicle for virtuosity and sprezzatura. Self-accompaniment played a prominent role in the foundations of modern vocal pedagogy, presented in the treatises of Bacilly, Tosi and others as part of the skillset of the professional singer. Self-accompanied singing reached artistic decadence on the nineteenth-century concert stage in the performances of prima donnas like Maria Malibran, Pauline Viardot-Garcia and Jenny Lind, who fascinated audiences with their dual personification of Orphic siren and domestic angel in self-accompanied encores, entr'actes and arie de baule. Late nineteenth-century song recitalists like George Henschel brought self-accompaniment to new heights of technical complexity, contributing to the development of the modern song recital as a concert form and the establishment of German lieder as a repertoire of international importance. Evidence of this tradition is preserved on early recordings and radio broadcasts from the early twentieth century, and these recordings reveal that self-accompaniment enabled unique nuances of expression and ensemble. Throughout this history, the construct of self-accompanied singer as a symbol of ideal musicianship yields insight into the origins, persistence, and eventual disappearance of self- accompaniment from classical vocal performance practice. This thesis undertakes to explore the technical feasibility and artistic potential of self-accompaniment, and to provide singers with the contextual evidence and practical tools to reconstruct self-accompanied singing as a historical vocal performance practice. 3 Contents Volume One Abstract 2 Contents, Volume One 3 Contents, Volume Two 5 List of Illustrations 6 Acknowledgements 7 Author's Declaration 8 Introduction 9 Statement of Purpose 11 Rationale for Approach 11 Thesis Structure and Chapter Summaries 13 Chapter One. Literature Review 17 Perspectives on self-accompaniment as an applied performance practice 17 Perspectives on self-accompaniment as a historical performance practice 19 Evidence of self-accompaniment in other disciplines 24 Examples of self-accompaniment as an unarticulated concept 25 Chapter Two. Overview of Primary Sources 29 General overview 29 Personal accounts 30 Newspapers – concert reviews 31 Early recordings 32 Visual art 34 Literature – novels, encomia and mythology 35 Literature – musical treatises 36 Chapter Three. Origins: Establishing the Self-Accompanied Singer as Ideal Musician 37 Ancient Greece 37 Lasting influence of Orpheus and Orphic imagery 39 Chapter Four. Tarquinia Molza: Self-Accompaniment as a Vehicle for Virtuosity 44 and Sprezzatura in Sixteenth-Century Italy Evidence of self-accompaniment by Molza and her contemporaries 44 Self-accompaniment as a vehicle for virtuosity, sprezzatura, Orphic symbolism 51 Virtuosity 51 Sprezzatura 53 Orphic symbolism 56 Chapter Five. Early Vocal Pedagogy: Self-Accompaniment in Seventeenth- 60 and Eighteenth-Century Singing Treatises References to self-accompaniment in singing treatises 1600-1800 61 4 Le nuove musiche (1602) 61 Musiche varie a una voce con il suo basso continuo per sonare (1618) 62 Remarques curieuses sur l'art de bien chanter (1668) 63 Opinioni de’ cantori antichi e moderni (1723) 66 Observations on the Florid Song (1743) 66 Anleitung zur Singkunst (1757) 66 Anweisung zum musikalisch-zierlichen Gesange (1780) 71 The Singer’s Preceptor (1810) 71 The role of self-accompaniment in early vocal pedagogy 73 Practical rationale 73 Social and political rationale 74 Chapter Six. The Diva's Drawing Room: Self-Accompanied Singing 81 by Maria Malibran, Pauline Viardot-García, and Jenny Lind on the Nineteenth-Century Concert Stage Maria Malibran (1808-1836) 82 Entr’acte performances in theatres 82 Character performances in operas 84 Variety concerts 89 Salons 90 Pauline Viardot-García (1821-1910) 92 Jenny Lind (1820-1887) 95 Self-accompaniment as a nineteenth-century performance practice 97 Performers 98 Performance space 100 Instruments 101 Repertoire 101 Programmatic context 103 Presentation 106 The artistic and social significance of self-accompaniment 109 Private intimacy upon the public stage 109 Evocation of the Orphic Ideal Musician 114 Chapter Seven. George Henschel and Reynaldo Hahn: 126 Specialization, Art Song and Recording George Henschel (1850-1934) 127 Specialization in self-accompanied art song 129 Joint song recitals with Lillian Henschel, 1883-1899 133 Solo song recitals, 1909-1914 137 Radio broadcasts, 1928-1930 141 Significance of self-accompaniment in Henschel’s song recitals 142 Reynaldo Hahn (1874-1947) 151 Specialisation in self-accompanied art song 152 Salon performances 156 Significance of self-accompaniment to the salon setting 161 Recordings 166 Research questions 169 Recordings analysis 170 1. Reynaldo Hahn: ‘La paix’ by Reynaldo Hahn 171 2. Reynaldo Hahn: ‘L’énamourée’ by Reynaldo Hahn 172 3. Reynaldo Hahn: ‘Le parfum imperissable’ by Gabriel Fauré 173 4. Nellie Melba: ‘Mattinata’ by Francesco Paolo Tosti 174 5 5. Nellie Melba: ‘Down in the Forest’ by Landon Ronald 175 6. Richard Tauber: ‘Ich glaub’ nie mehr an eine Frau’ by Tauber 178 7. Richard Tauber: ‘Ständchen’ by Franz Schubert 179 8. Marcella Sembrich: ‘Aimez-moi’ by Chopin/Viardot-García 181 9. Marcella Sembrich: ‘Zyczenie’ by Frederic Chopin 183 10. George Henschel: ‘Das Wandern’ by Franz Schubert 183 11. Ernst Wolff: ‘Das Wandern’ by Franz Schubert 187 12. George Henschel: ‘Der Leiermann’ by Franz Schubert 188 13. George Henschel: ‘Der Erlkönig’ by Carl Loewe 189 What these recordings reveal about self-accompaniment 191 Orphic connotations and the voix du compositeur 196 Chapter Eight. Transition: The Decline of Self-Accompanied Singing 203 in the Twentieth Century Pedagogy 203 Professional expectations and social context 209 The last generation of specialists 212 Conclusion 221 From Ideal Orpheus to dilettante 222 Redefining self-accompanied singing as a historical performance practice 225 Areas for Further Research 229 Volume Two Contents, Volume Two 231 Appendix One. Documentation of Historical Self-Accompanied Singing 232 Newspapers and Periodicals 233 Personal Accounts 324 Literature 346 Historical Music Treatises 366 Appendix Two. Singers 374 Appendix Three. Repertoire 380 Appendix Four. Discography 401 Appendix Five. Developing a self-accompanied performance of 411 Paisiello’s 'Nel cor più non mi sento' Conception 411 Preparation 412 Presentation 415 Performers experience 417 Audience response 417 Bibliography 418 6 List of Illustrations Figure 1. Eugène Delacroix, L'amoureuse au piano, watercolour, c.1830 112 (Collection Vaudoyer, Paris). Figure 2. J.L. Asher, Portrait of Mlle. Jenny Lind, 1845. 113 Figure 3. Henri Decaisne, Maria Malibran as Desdemona in Rossini's 'Otello', 115 oil on canvas, 1831 (Carnavalet Museum, Paris). Figure 4. 'Her friends were impatient to hear her. Even the common people 118 knew her fame, and, as imagination rendered them judges of poetry, they closed silently round'. Illustration in Corinne; or, Italy, by Madame de Staël, 1833, 12. Figure 5. Felix-Joseph Barrias, La mort de Chopin, oil on canvas, 1885 122 (National Museum Krakow). Figure 6. Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Sir George Henschel, oil on canvas, 197 1879 (private collection). Figure 7. Lucie Lambert, Reynaldo Hahn, oil on canvas, 1907 (Bibliothèque 197 nationale de France, Paris). Figure 8. Jean Cocteau, Reynaldo chant 'l'île heureuse', undated sketch. 198 7 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Nicky Losseff, whose time, advice and encouragement has been invaluable. I would also like to thank Professor Peter Seymour and Dr. Susan Rutherford for their insights and advice through the examination process. I gratefully acknowledge the Sir Jack Lyons Scholarship fund, which made the pursuit of this degree possible. I am grateful to many who generously gave their expertise and time during the researching and writing of this dissertation. In particular I would like to thank Rachell Nicholls, Yvonne Seymour, Richard Jackson, Sally Bruce-Payne, Evelyn Tubb, Stephen Varcoe, Jason Darnell, Lynne Dawson and John Potter for their insightful coaching and discussion, Professor William Brooks, Professor Jonathan Wainwright, Professor Tim Howell and Professor Charles McGuire for their advice, Sinead Faherty for allowing me to co-opt a portion of her MA recital, Jamie Oliver for his excellent accompanying, Andrew Passmore for the use of his harpsichord, Larry Lustig for supplying discographies, Catherine Duncan, Gilly Howe and Helen Gillie for answering many logistical questions, and Richard Wistreich for putting me on to the phrase ‘The Ideal Orpheus’. The friends and family who supported me through this process are too