Tasteful Piano Performance in Classic-Era Britain
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Edith Cowan University Research Online Theses: Doctorates and Masters Theses 2021 Tasteful piano performance in classic-era Britain James Huntingford Edith Cowan University Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses Part of the Music Performance Commons Recommended Citation Huntingford, J. (2021). Tasteful piano performance in classic-era Britain. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/ 2439 This Thesis is posted at Research Online. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/2439 Edith Cowan University Copyright Warning You may print or download ONE copy of this document for the purpose of your own research or study. The University does not authorize you to copy, communicate or otherwise make available electronically to any other person any copyright material contained on this site. You are reminded of the following: Copyright owners are entitled to take legal action against persons who infringe their copyright. 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Tasteful piano performance in classic-era Britain This thesis is presented in partial fulfilment of the degree of Master of Arts (Performing Arts) James Huntingford Edith Cowan University Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts 2021 ii I, James Huntingford, declare that this thesis is my own account of my research and that it has not been submitted for a degree at any other university. Signed: _ _____________ Date: _13/07/2021________ iii ABSTRACT In recent decades, British solo piano repertoire of the Classic era has attracted increasing interest from researchers. A number of scholars have sought to identify the compositional elements that comprise late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century British piano music. Despite this interest, there has been little research into the conventions of performance with which this repertoire is inextricably associated. Moreover, scant attention has been given to the notions of taste that are so often encountered in contemporaneous music treatises and philosophical writings. This thesis addresses these gaps in the existing literature by examining tasteful piano performance in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Britain. The thesis provides a survey of contemporaneous British writings on the subject of taste—first, the broad notion of taste in British culture during the period, then the notion of taste in music performance in general, and finally the notion of taste specifically in relation to piano music. This survey includes a comprehensive investigation of selected performance practice issues, again as discussed in contemporaneous British primary sources. The study shows that taste was a vital aspect of music performance in Classic-era Britain. Furthermore, the thesis reveals that tasteful performance was intimately connected with issues arising from performance practice, and that decisions made in relation to these issues involved a degree of freedom on the part of the performer. The findings of the study are manifested in annotated scores of selected contemporaneous repertoire, then performatively applied by the author in a recorded performance of the repertoire using an early nineteenth-century English piano. iv CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vi DESCRIPTIVE CONVENTIONS viii LIST OF FIGURES ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Setting of the Study 1 Research Questions 9 CHAPTER 2: DESIGN AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 11 Design of the Study 11 Significance of the Study 35 CHAPTER 3: REVIEW OF SECONDARY SOURCES 37 The notion of taste in British culture 37 The notion of taste in music performance in London 46 The notion of taste in piano performance in London 55 Summary 63 CHAPTER 4: EXPOSITION OF PRIMARY SOURCES 64 Research Question 1: The Notion of Taste in British culture 64 A definition: elusive and complex 64 Taste defined 66 Component 1: Sensibility 67 Component 2: Imagination 70 Component 3: Refinement 71 Component 4: Judgement 73 Research Question 2: The Notion of Taste in Music in General 74 Accentuation 75 Metrical accentuation 76 Accentuation in relation to register 80 Articulation 82 The normal articulation 82 Articulation in relation to slur endings 83 Tempo Flexibility 85 Tempo rubato 85 Composite Features 88 Appoggiatura figures 88 Phrase endings 94 The extended trill 98 Free Ornamentation 103 Notated examples 105 The messa di voce 113 The dragg 114 Research Question 3: The Notion of Taste in Piano Music 119 Accentuation 120 Metrical accentuation 120 Accentuation in relation to register 122 Accentuation in relation to the slur 123 Articulation 125 The normal articulation 125 Tempo Flexibility 127 Tempo rubato 127 v Composite Features 128 Appoggiatura figures 128 Phrase endings 132 The extended trill 134 The messa di voce 136 CHAPTER 5: ANNOTATED SCORES 138 CHAPTER 6: PRINCIPAL FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS 143 LIST OF REFERENCES 152 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I hereby express my sincere gratitude to Edith Cowan University and the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts for enabling this research, as well as for the provision of a financial allowance. The ever-radiant Bev Lurie generously simplified all things concerning enrolment, forms, signatures and approvals, enabling me to jump through a series of hoops with an apparent suspension of the laws of gravity. My thanks go to Jonathan Paget for his help in the formative stages of the research. I gratefully acknowledge Sally Hyslop for her unruffled and genial assistance in organising the recorded performance. To Paul Tunzi, whose faith, hope and servant-hearted nature glow alongside a firm resolve under pressure that rivals even the coolest of cucumbers, my sincere gratitude is scantily expressed by a barrage of virtual bear-hugs. You are a legend. I am greatly indebted to Jordan Proctor for his assistance in a variety of technical matters, typesetting of the scores of the selected repertoire, as well as help in obtaining a number of primary sources for the study. His persistent questioning as to whether I should begin thinking of a research topic was an enduring source of encouragement, particularly in the final weeks before submission. Sace and Anthea Buma have been a wellspring of encouragement and prayer for which I am ever thankful. My special thanks go to Stewart Smith for helping me to brainstorm my topic, for assistance with sourcing and online databases, for the loan of books, and for the use of his piano for the recording. The sacrifice and devotion of my parents, Barry and Penny, has not only enabled my music life, but has blessed me from the very beginning. To Angelique, I cannot express in words my appreciation to you. I behold in awe a tree heavy-laden with fruits of the Spirit: patience, gentleness, faithfulness and love. You are my treasure. My heartfelt thanks go to Dr Victoria Rogers for her dedicated and rigorous supervision. Her invaluable insight into the world of research, combined with frequent exhortations to ‘precision and concision’, were matched by a heart of unwavering encouragement. vii Words escape me in expressing the depth of gratitude I have for my principal supervisor, Professor Geoffrey Lancaster. Without his passion for the subject, diligent guidance, commitment to detail, thoroughness and vast sacrifices of time and energy, essentially none of what follows would have been possible. Finally, the author wishes to acknowledge another: A prayer in the deeps of a sleepless night Was uttered, and took its celestial flight; ‘I’m tired, I’m weak, I’m worn’ went the prose, ‘Yet for your glory this toil I propose.’ If in these pages are words of insight For students, researchers, performers a light, Then let it be known: ‘Tis a gift from the Lord, Through Jesus, His Son, my heav’nly reward. viii DESCRIPTIVE CONVENTIONS Letter names of pitches Letter names of individual pitches are designated using a synthesis of the Swedish rendering of Helmholtz notation and the English octave-naming system:1 FF—the lowest key of the commonly occurring late eighteenth-century five-octave keyboard—F, f, f1, f2, f3—the highest key. Our contemporary ‘middle C’ is therefore c1. Changes at each octave are designated: FF– EE, F–E, f–e, f1–e1, f2–e2, f3. Pitches and keys with an accidental as part of the name are designated using accidental signs—for example, Eb, C#. In keeping with contemporary British and Australian custom, the word ‘bar’ is used instead of the American ‘measure’.2 Textual Conventions When a sentence or paragraph contains several instances each of which require footnoted text, the traditional single footnote placed at the conclusion of the sentence or paragraph may create a context within which the connection between each instance and its associated footnote text is unclear. In this study, footnote numbers in the body of the text may be positioned immediately following pertinent terms, quotations or other subject matter. ‘In order to avoid use of the mannerism ‘sic’ within the context of quotations, misspellings, errors and eighteenth-century typographical idiosyncrasies remain intact (despite a potential for the emergence of an alluring air of quaintness); insertions are signalled with square brackets.’3 1 Brian Blood, “Helmhol[t]z Pitch Notation,” Music Theory Online: Staffs, Clefs & Pitch Notation, Dolmetsch Organisation, 2000–13, accessed February 18, 2021, https://www.dolmetsch.com/musictheory1.htm. 2 See Geoffrey Lancaster, Through the Lens of Esoteric Thought: Joseph Haydn’s The Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross (Crawley, Western Australia: UWA Publishing, 2019), xxix.