Late Baroque Ornamentation: Philosophy and Guidelines1

David Lasoc~i

N THE PRECEDING ARTICLE, Betty Bang ments) served a number of purposes. First, met with the composers' approval. Wit­ I Mather has set out with admirable it is worth noting that ornamentation was ness those who voiced their belief that simplicity a highly effective method by an essential component of the Baroque performers lacked the qualities of judge­ which a recorder player can learn to orna­ aesthetic. This was the great age of visual ment, inventiveness, and insight that ment a slow movement of a late Baroque embellishment. The basic structure of a Quantz specified. As Birnbaum ex})resse:a sonata, using a vocabulary found in Tele­ painting or church was always covered by it when defendingJ.S. Bach for writing out mann's "methodical" sonatas (in which the the ornamentation; the straight line was all his ornamentation, "only the fewest composer has written out ornamentation masked by the curve. It may be helpful, [performers} have a sufficient knowledge for the slow movements to serve as mod­ without attempting to make any direct [of the of ornamenting}. The rest, by els). The appeal of this method is that a correlation ofpurpose between music and an inappropriate application of the man ... performer can learn to the visual arts, to think of the melodic ner, spoil the principal melody, and indeed creditable in a short time. The difficulty skeleton of a Baroque slow movement as often introduce such passages as might is that ultimately the performer is forced a straight line and the ornamentation as easily be attributed to an error of the com­ to rely on his or her (largely intuitive) its curved manifestation. poser by those who do not know the true sense of late Baroque style, and so, with­ The second important purpose is that state of affairs:'5 In other words, Birnbaum out further background or preparation, ornamentation, as the great flutist Johann believed that composers needed to defend cannot improve beyond the merely cred­ Joachim Quantz noted, gave the performer themselves against the performer's imposi­ itable. "an opportunity to demonstrate his judge­ tion of something incompatible, in taste or In an attempt to give readers more ment, inventiveness, and insight:'2 The invention, with the composer's work. An guidance, I am supplementing Professor castrato singer Pier Francesco Tosi wrote attraction, but also a danger, ofornamen­ Mather's article in two ways. First, the that through ornamentation "the judicious tation - at least, from the composer's view­ present article explores the philosophy of may hear that the ability of the singers is point- was that it could effect "a reinforce­ late Baroque ornamentation and offers greater; and in repeating the air, he that ment ofthe power of a text [or guidelines to performers on learning to im­ does not vary it for the better, is no great melody}, or a more or less radical change provise it stylishly. Second, a further ar­ master."3 of orientation in its expressive quality."6 ticle (to be published shortly) will tackle One of the main differences between the Third, ornamentation seems to have the ornamentation of a specific repertory Baroque performance situation and ours is filled a need for performers at that time. of prime importance to recorder players: that musicians of that time were often Like ja2;2; musicians in our own century, the solo sonatas of George Frideric Han­ composers or were at least trained in com­ they evidently were, by training and tem­ del. position. Ornamentation was a type of perament, incapable of playing the music Let us begin the discussion by defining composition, or rather, recomposition. The exactly as written. 7 Fourth, ornamenta­ our terms. By "ornamentation" I mean the performer recomposed the work on the tion added verve to the performance. addition of fixed ornaments (trills, spur of the moment according to his own Something fresh was imparted to the work mordents, slides, turns, etc.-generally taste and invention. The greatest com­ spontaneous recomposition. also called "graces;' "agrements," or simply posers - Bach and Handel, for example­ ornamentation added variety to "ornaments"; see line 2 of Mather's exam­ were also great improvisers, able to devise multiple performances of a work. Tosi pie) and other, freer melodic material well-thought-out works apparently with­ wrote: "Let a student ...accustom himself (Mather'S lines 1, 3-13) to the out effort. Lesser composers could be in­ to repeat [his ornaments} always different­ written by the composer. Such ornamen­ spired by a skeletal composition left by ly.... A singer is la2;y who, on the stage, tation is also sometimes called "arbitrary;' another composer - a slow movement, say, from night to night, teaches all his songs "extempore;' "free;' or "melodic." As the in a simple melodic style. The composi­ to the audience, who, by hearing them al­ term "extempore" suggests, it was general­ tional style of the movement could be ways without the least variation, have no ly improvised by the performer: relative­ changed in the process. Geminiani's or­ difficulty to learn them by heart:'s ly few written-out examples survive. namentations of Corelli's violin sonatas, Sixth, ornamentation was expected. for example, are in the style of the genera­ Whether performers had the ability to im­ The purposes of ornamentation in the late tion after the composer's.4 Geminiani re­ provise or not, they must have felt Baroque newed these works for himself by recom­ to try to satisfy their colleagues and au­ During this period, the ornamentation posing them in his own style. diences. That this was a fairly common of slow movements (and even fast move- Not that these creative efforts always problem is suggested by the written-out February 1988 7 examples of instrumental works surviving Baroque music, from Mendelssohn to the in manuscript and by the numerous books widespread adoption of instruments based Whom Can of ornamented arias with generic caden, on historical models, few people knew or zas that have come down to us from the cared that Baroque music should be be or' eighteenth century. 9 By writing down namented. The situation during the past You Trust? their ornamentation, such performers twenty years or so has become almost the were able to present a finished product reverse: a great many performers, teachers, Sheila Beardslee that sounded the same as the improvised and listeners know and expect that any version. performance of a Baroque work, by ama, Martha Bixler teur or professional, should include orna, Kees Boeke 'The purposes of ornamentation today mentation. Indeed, they would be disap­ Daniel Bruggen Next, let us examine our own reasons pointed, perhaps even scandalized, if it did for ornamenting late Baroque music. The not. Such ornamentation, moreover, is Frans Bruggen usual motive, the most respectable but often taken as a measure of the performer's Gerry Burakoff also the most problematical, is that we are skill, not necessarily in providing some' Bertho Driever trying to perform the music "authentical, thing appropriate, but in creating some, ly':" to restore period style as closely as we thing novel. Shelley Gruskin can. The principal difficulties with this ap' The problem has been compounded by R.ichard Harvey proach, as Richard Taruskin has recently the change in performance conditions and Bruce Haynes set out, are that 1. we do not have enough repertory since the Baroque era. Although performance practice documents to be some music late in that period was per­ Gunther Holler able to know with certainty how the formed many times by the same perform' Edgar Hunt music was performed; 2. even if we did ers for the same audiences - and, as we Kay & Michael Jaffee know, we might not actually like the per' have seen, variety in multiple perfor, formance styles ofthat period; and 3. our mances was one of the purposes of orna, Hans Maria Kneihs concept of Baroque style-or should we menting - the vast majority of the music Paul Leenhouts say "concepts;' since our ideas change was not intended for repeated hearing. Eva Legene every few years? - has been shaped by One public performance situation in par' modern attitudes to performance and is in ticular was not even dreamed of by Ba, R.ainer Lehmbruck fact a product of our own times.lO Taruskin roque composers: the modern recording, Sonja Lindblad has argued persuasively that it can be just in which exactly the same performance of Hans...Martin Linde as legitimate to perform in modern styles the music - even if the ornamentation is that owe more to the conservatory tradi, improvised in the studio - is heard in' Michala Petri tion of performance (e.g., at modern pitch, definitely. How Tosi would have thrown Philip Pickett with smooth articulation and no metrical up his hands in dismay! Steve R.osenberg accents, with few or no ornaments, etc.). Should we, pandering to the expecta, For him, the only touchstone is whether tions of our colleagues and audiences, or, Michael Schneider the performance is convincing. An "au' nament in order to satisfy their thirst for Karel van Steenhoven thentic" performance will be convincing novelty? If we pander to them, do we Nina Stern only if it succeeds in renewing the Baroque always give them fireworks, or can we work, rather than merely attempting to combine novelty with appropriateness? Han Tol restore it. This is not the place to go into Each performer must answer such ques, John Tyson these ideas any further, but they should tions for himself or herself, but I believe Walter van Hauwe give us pause for thought. It only needs to the questions need to be posed. be said here that we may freely choose to Marion Verbruggen adopt as many of the Baroque attitudes to Parallels between Baroque ornamentation Daniel Waitzman ornamentation as we see fit for our own and jazz improvisation purposes. We have, of course, lost touch with the Kenneth W ollitz Ifwe consciously choose to ornament as living tradition of improvisation in serious Larry Zukof closely as possible in Baroque style, then music. But in the twentieth century we & our purposes in doing so will incorporate have a tradition of improvisation in jazz, most of the purposes of that period. We readily observable in live performance and VON HUENE will want to add verve and variety to our on disc; that has many important parallels performances, to train our temperament so with that in Baroque music. I encourage WORKSHOP that we can never playa work as written, readers to explore the common ground be' 65 Boylston Street and to recompose the work to our own tween the two traditions. In jazz, the taste but at the same time to so steep musician is also a composer: every perfor, Brookline, 02146 MA ourselves in Baroque style that our taste mance is a renewal of the composition be' Try us. (617) 277... 8690 is the taste of that era. ing performed. The musician takes a For consiflently fine recorders Note that I have not recommended that "standard" tune (usually a popular song or we ornament because our contemporaries melody by another jazz musician) or a tune and consiflently good service. expect us to do so. For roughly the first of his own composition and plays it in his hundred years of the revival of interest in own style. The improvised solos he inserts

8 The American Recorder between statements ofthe tune constitute intensify the passion ofour sonata move~ THREE a new composition based on the tune, and ment or change it (and learn when it CENTURIES especially its chord sequence. The effec~ would be legitimate to change it), and we tiveness of the performance stems from can develop the musical means for doing OF VIOLS the musician's technical skill, his inven~ so. Historical Viole da Gamba tiveness, and, above all, his sense of (his 2. Closely related to this, we should be from Early Italian own) style. aware of the style of the composer. Give to Late French The amount of actual improvising that yourself an intensive course in style by built by occurs varies from performer to performer. playing and listening to as much of his Peter T ourin Some of the greatest jazz musicians are music as possible within a short span of Baroque and Renaissance always creating anew, albeit from melodic time. Do you want to ornament a Handel Bows built by H. F. Grabenstein fragments worked out in advance. Listen, sonata? Play all your Handel sonatas. Listen to recordings of Handel sonatas. for example, to those recordings Charlie Write for brochure: Parker made for the Dial and Savoy labels Then broaden your horizons by reading f Hf. TOURIN MUSICA scores of other music by Handel, especi~ P.O . Box 575 in which he needed several takes to find Duxbury. VT a version he could approve for release: ally operas and cantatas, and listening to 05676 U.S.A. minutes after playing one version ofa solo such works, with and without a score. Tel. (802) 244·5557 on a piece he had composed for the record~ Ask yourself what would be an appro~ ing session (albeit on a "standard" chord priate style of ornamentation for the sequence), he could turn round and play sonata in question. If "inappropriate ap~ something radically different.ll Other jazz plication of the manner" of ornamenting musicians have worked up a "standard was common in the eighteenth century, solo" on any given tune and play it more how much harder it is for us today­ or less the same every time. Even in relying, as we must, on written evidence ~ECO~OE~ following this potentially unspontaneous of an improvisatory practice - to ornament ____ t

NOTES in the Performance of 17th, and 18th,Century University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 20 Music," 'The Musical $}(uarterly, XLIV/2 (April 1958), March 1987. This lecture is due to be published soon 1I am extremely grateful to Eva Legene for several 159. by Eulenburg Books in a volume ofessays on authen, inspiring discussions of ornamentation; this article 7Charles Blancq has to go out ofhis way in his Son' ticity. For an earlier expression of Taruskin's views, owes a great deal to her. ny Rollins: 'The Journey of aJazzman (Boston: Twayne, see" 'The Authenticity Movement Can Become a 2Versuch einer Anweisung die Flote traversiere zu 1983),95, to draw attention to an occasion when Positivistic Purgatory, Literalistic and Dehumaniz, spielen (Berlin, 1752); trans. Edward R. Reilly as On Rollins "even plays the melody intact- a rare gesture Early Music XlIII (February 1984), 3-12. Playing the Flute, 2nd ed. (New York: G. Schirmer, for any improvising jazz musician." complete Savoy sessions are available on 1986), 318. 80pinioni de' cantori antichi e moderni, 162. Savoy Jazz SJL,5500 (five discs). The Dial sessions 30pinioni de' canton antichi e mooerni, 0 sieno Osser, 9See Howard Mayer Brown, "Embellishing Eigh, do not seem to be available in the United States at vazioni sopra il canto figurato (Bologna, 1723; reprint, teenth,Century Arias: On Cadenzas:' in Michael present. New York: Broude, 1968); English translation as Collins & Elise K. Kirk, ed., Opera & Vivaldi nEarly Music VI/4 (October 1978), 556-67. Observations on the Florid Song; or, Sentiments on the (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1984), 267, 13'1\ New Look at Handel's Recorder Sonatas, I: Ancient and Modern Singers (London, 1742; 2nd ed., 270-71. Ornamentation in the First Movement of the F ma' 1743; reprint, New York: Johnson Reprint Corp., IOTaruskin's recent ideas are scattered through a jor Sonata:' Recorder & Music 8/1 (March 1978), 1968),94. of sources and have not yet been published 8. Anthony Rowland'Jones has been kind enough 4For examples, see Frederick Neumann, Ornamen, in full. See, for example, his regular reviews and to say that my suggestion influenced him to reduce tation in Baroque and Post,Baroque Music With Special review articles in Opus, but especially "The Crook, the amount of ornamentation he was using in that Emphasis oo].S. Bach (Princeton: Princeton Univer, ed Straight, and the Rough Places Plain, Alas;' 11/12 movement (Recorder Technique: Intermediate to Ad, sity Press, 1978), 559. (December 1986),42-43; and "Bach on Cello and vanced, 2nd ed. [New York: Oxford University Press, 5Johann Abraham Birnbaum, article in Critischer Piano: Throwback or Harbinger?" ill/3 (April 1987), 1986}, 163). Musicus (1738), quoted in Hans T. David & Arthur 22-25. The fullest statement ofthese ideas was con, 14Versuch einer Anweisung, 169. Mendel, 'The Bach Reader (New York: Norton, 1945), tained in his lecture, "I Have Seen the God Pan: A 15Richard Taruskin, review ofFran~ois Couperin, 238. Sketch of the Only Twentieth,Century Musical Aes' Concerts royaux, performed by Trio Sonnerie (ASV 6Marc Pincherle, "On the Rights ofthe Interpreter thetic in the Western World:' which I heard at The LP, GAU 101), in Opus III/3 (April 1987), 34. ...------ImportantAnnouncement------­ In London ... THE EARLYMUSIC • SHOP Has Moved If in the past you have gone in the direction of Chiltern Street, you should now direct your footsteps towards 48 Great Marlborough Street, London. WIV 2BN where a whole floor of SCHOrr'S well-known shop is devoted to Early Musical Instruments and Colin Bromelow is ready to selVe your needs for instruments, reeds, strings etc. Telephone: (01) 439 8282 Telex: 298738