Joseph Haydn, "The Creation" - Part II
Baroque Concerto (Part Two)
Baroque Concerto (Part One)
Musicians in South Africa - Part II
Musicians in South Africa - Part I
String Quartet in the 19the century
The Preparation of concert performance
1/ An introduction to the String Quartet during the Classical & Classical-Romantic era
2/ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-791)
3/ Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
4/ Similarities and differences in the harmonic language of Mozart and Schubert’s string quartets
5/ Finale
******** Part Two: Tonal exercise *********
6/ A string quartet in the style of Mozart or Schubert Adapted
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Bach uses ritornello form regularly in his concerto. These features clearly show us how much Bach had been inspired by and worked to transform the kind of concerto which Vivaldi wrote before him. Although, all Bach’s violin concertos are three-movement works (following Vivaldi’s use of the concerto form). Bach introduced some new ideas and techniques to enrich the piece. His concertos always emphasise on strong melodic lines over an ostinato bass in the slow movements. Ostinato bass is kind of recurrent bass. This means repeating the use of the same pattern of bass line through a portion of the whole movement. Moreover, Bach enriched the texture of his concertos with thematic accompaniment, counterpoint, interrupting the ritornello with solo passages and chromaticism. These were not often found in Vivaldi’s violin concertos. A brief summary of the structure of Bach’s A minor Violin concerto is shown in following table:
First Movement
The first movement is in ritornello form and in 2/4 time. The key signature changes in every section of this movement and back to the tonic key in the last section. In this movement, the first twenty-four bars dominate the whole movement (4) and the first and second violins play the main theme in unison which is the first Ritornello. Also, the key changes at every ritornello and episode, but returns back to the tonic home key in the final Ritornello.
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(4)Malcolm Boyd, Bach, (New York, 2000)
The detail of the structure of the first movement is shown in following chart (5):
In the opening of a movement from a Vivaldi concerto, it was normally written as a tutti (e.g. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons). Bach used the same composing technique but introduced some ideas of doubling the solo and first violin in unison lasting for twenty-four bars. (See Example 1 below) This little section ends with a change of key to the dominant major of the tonic key. We can see clearly that how Bach announced the main theme in the opening. Besides, the extension of the motivic idea can be seen throughout the entire piece.
Example 1 (First Movement bar 1-9)
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(5) Frank Howes, “Johann Sebastian Bach”, The Concerto, ed. by Ralph Hill, (UK, 1966)
The first time it reappears in bar 43-44 (See Example 2 below) from the first movement.
Example 2 (First Movement bar 43-44)
After the end of the opening section, the solo violin comes in and plays the first episode in the key of A minor. In these 27 bars, Bach enriched the texture by means of thematic accompaniment. This means the fragment of motive ideas has been used in accompany parts. (See Example 3 below)
Example 3 (First Movement bar 31-34)
The Ritornello II begins on last quaver beat of bar 51 in the key of C Major. Later on, the solo violin and first violin play the melodic line in unison in bar 55. It is not difficult to recognise the second Ritornello II here. Based on the traditional structures, Bach attempts to introduce the new technique that you can not be found in Vivaldi. In bar 61-62, Bach transformes the style of Vivaldi’s concerto composition by interrupting the ritornellos with the solo passages the one seen in example 4 below.
In bar 85, the solo violin enters in the key of E minor. It is Episode II. Apart from the Ritornello II and Episode II, Bach uses the tonic as the opening key of the every section in this section. Until the fourth section in bar 89 there, the semi-quaver note value is mainly used by Bach to colour and intertwine the melodic line. Bach uses the tutti once again to interrupt the solo violin in bar 114. This is a different when compare the interruption in Ritornello II by. In Ritornello II, it is solo interruption by solo violin (See example 5 below)
Example 5 (First Movement bar 114)
Backing to the home key, A minor in the last section bar 143, Bach has written a section which is the typical song writing in a Baroque style. Also, this section ends with the key of A minor (Home key). After going through the whole movement, some important features of style need to be pointed out. Firstly, Bach introduces the thematic accompaniment to enrich the texture. Secondly, he builds on the ritornello form to develop the music further by interrupting the ritornellos with solo passages.
In the first movement of the violin concerto in E major BWV 1042, Bach had intended to retain the idea of interrupting the ritornello. But he used this feature far more than in the first movement of his A minor. For example, the solo interruption starts in bar 61 (Ritornello II) of the first movement of the A minor concerto. In the first movement of the E major concerto however, the solo interruption starts in bar 4 and is used far more frequently to develop the concerto.
Bach used the ‘Da capo form’ in the first movement of his E major concerto. According to the Oxford Composer Companions J.S.Bach, ‘Da capo’ is an Italian term (often abbreviated as ‘D.C.’) meaning ‘from the head’, placed at the end of a movement or section to indicate that a piece is to be repeated from the beginning until word ‘fine’ (‘end’) or a fermata is reached. The opening of the first movement (E major concerto) was started by three hammer-stroke style (6) with the tonic chord. (See Example 6 below).
Example 6 (First Movement bar 1)
This motive reappears frequently throughout the first movement. It shows how united his Bach’s music is. In his A minor concerto, Bach united the music by integrating the solo line and the tutti in bar 25-28. (See Example 7 below)
Example 7 (First Movement bar 25-28)
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(6) Michael Thomas Roeder, A History of The Concerto, (Hong Kong, 1994), p79
Besides, the main theme was announced firmly by the solo violin and first violin in unison. It is the same as his concerto in A minor.
Although, Bach introduced the new ideas in his composition, he still intended to preserve the Vivaldi style by repeating the same note in semi-quaver in bar 4, 5, 6, 25, 26 etc., as seen in Vivaldi’s “Four Season”. But this style cannot be found in the A minor concerto (See Example 8 below)
Example 8 (First Movement bar 4)
The first section ends in the tonic key E major and the middle follows in C sharp minor in bar 53. In this section, the three hammer motive appeares in the accompanment part. Bach kept the use of repeating semiquavers by modifying them to two different notes in bar 57 onwards. (See example 9 below)
How do you prepare a concert? How do you prepare a good performance? There are seven stages for preparing a concert or a good performance. I have identified the following area: Selection, Evaluation, Attention, Preparation, Reformation, Interpretation, and Perfection. This is called ‘Perfection staging’.
First of all, the venue of the piano recital should be set in a small concert hall for five hundred musically-educated audiences. The duration of the progamme is one and half hours long with a ten minutes interval at the end of the first half.
Selection
The first step for the performer in order to prepare for the concert happens when he selects the pieces he would like to play. It depends on the audiences’ interest and what level the performer has achieved. Most likely, a performer will choose pieces from the Baroque to 20th century. However, if there is an occasion for celebration, such as ‘Mozart year in 2006’, the performer may be should be chosen a series of Mozart pieces for the concert. Besides, the level of the piece should be chosen within the performer’s own ability and should be easy handle. This is because the performer will normally feel some stress when on stage.
Time management is an essential factor for choosing the performance pieces. The duration of the concert is one and a half hours, which suggests that four or five pieces would be most probably performed. If the piece is 20minutes, the performer should count 25minutes in order to prevent the progamme over running. In my view, the music must have a variety of different time length and style to achieve balanced. For example, if the performer chooses Bach’s Well-tempered, Prelude and Fugue (N0.1) in C, the total time length is around 4minutes, then the other piece should be a Beethoven sonata Op.10 No.1 in Fminor, the total time length is around 18minutes.
Evaluation
After selecting the pieces, the performer should analyse the details of the score. He should try to understand the background of the composer, the background of the pieces, the style of the pieces, the harmonic technique used and compare the difference between various editions. There are few a points that the performer should be aware of.
1/ To check whether the tempo mark, phrasing and the notes are in the original text or not.
Also, the performer should not follow the editor’s marking only. The performer should
take the published of Urtext (‘Original text”’) as a reference.
2/ To pay attention to the different notations in different period, wouldn’t use one rule for
fitting all of the music. Take the downbeatt rule of Haydn’s ornamentation as an
example, the performer should not used this rule for fitting all of his music. In some
cases, the function of the on beat ornament enriches the harmony or conveys a nuance
of warmth, tenderness, or similar emotion. (2) Therefore, the performer should be
concerned about the music rather than follow the rule rigidly.
3/ Before the mid-nineteenth century it was absent the beat symbol , and used to substitute for this absence. Also, the performers should bear in mind the
different notation will be different in different period.
Example 1 shows the differences between editions of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1. In the first bar of remark (1), it was indicated that different notation was used. The unknown addition of the E note has not been sustained, so the sonority will alter between the Bach Ausgabe and the Associated Board version.
Attention
The performer should listen to different recordings of different interpretations of the works to be presented. The performer will have to select which style of interpretation he should use. It depends on the performer's own preferred style. Sometimes, we found that pianists could not follow the characteristic of different periods. For example, the interpretation of Bach's music, the performer should use the pedal to achieve the sonority of Baroque period, but too much romantic sounding and personal expression should be avoided. I've heard a pianist who used the romantic style to perform the Bach's music. It could be too individualized and lose the original style of Bach.
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The Creation is set for three vocal soloists that included soprano, tenor and bass. The alto soloist was not included. The four-part chorus consists of soprano, alto, tenor and bass. In addition, this was a work which demanded a large orchestra that included 3 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 Clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, and the usual string sections of first and second violins, violas, cellos, and double basses. This was typical of a late Classical style orchestra. For the recitative, a harpsichord or fortepiano is also used (6).
Haydn wrote orchestral introductions in part one with titled ‘Representation of Chaos’ and part two. However, the musical conception is quite difference between them. Part One opens with full orchestra with C minor by holding a long note to represent chaos before the world was created. It is a slow movement with simple rhythm and unison C. In this introduction, by using dynamic contrast such as forte and piano in order to paint the void and darkness instead of complicated structure. He used the brass section and timpani’s sudden drop out in bar 41 to achieve the effect of dynamics contrast. (See Example 5 below) Haydn’s logical mind can be seen at work here.
Part Two opens with light string parts sounding an E major chord. Haydn illustrates this with a tonally stable, sweetly pastoral introduction (7). Then three flutes play the melody accompanied with string pizzicato. The warm, sweet, peace can be heard and felt. The instruments used here are fewer than those heard during Part One’s introduction. The trumpet, timpani, trombone and double bass are now absent. Haydn seemed to remove the ‘heavy sounding’ instrument from beginning of Part Two in order to create a soft and silent scenery.
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(6) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Creation, (access date 30 April, 2007)
(7) Op. cit Nicholas Temperley, p.82
Vocal Arrangement
Haydn mainly used three forms to incorporate the voice – i.e. recitative, arias and choruses. These were popular familiar forms in eighteenth-century Europe. More details of the movement number are shown in the table below:
I/ Recitative
In 1600, recitatives with bassoon continuo accompaniment begin to appear. There were two kinds of Recitative, secco recitative and accompanied recitative. Secco means ‘dry’ and it was an excellent route for the singer to interpret the music with their own musical sense. In The Creation, there is a very large descriptive element in the recitative texts, and Haydn and Swieten selected for obbligato treatment the ones containing the most lyrical descriptions of nature (8). There are a total of eleven movements that contained secco recitative such as Nos.4 (bar 1-6), 6, 8, 10, 12, 17 (bar 1-5), 18, 21, 24, 30 and 32. Most of them were a very short movement. Haydn used it to narrate the prose. As mentioned above about the planning of the text, recitatives were in section 1 and section 3. According to the characteristics of secco recitative, Haydn arranged them for matching the text setting. From nos.4 (bar 1-6), 6, 8, 10, 12, 17 (bar 1-5), 18, 21 and 24, the secco recitative was used for narrate what God had done. Take nos. 4 and 24 as an example. (See example 6 below)
In The Creation, Haydn used accompanied recitative to create a musical picture of every element before the singer’s words provide the key that included No.3 portrays the elements: storms, clouds, rain, snow, and so on: No.12 depicts the sun, moon and stars.
No.17 (See example 7 as below) shows how Haydn uses accompanied recitative to create a musical picture. From Haydn’s early sketch book, we can know how he followed the suggestion from Swieten to write a conventional accompanying chord for no.17. Moreover, Haydn transfigured this with rich sounds by dividing the cello and viola part into four separated sections. Besides, Haydn used high or low pitches to match the meaning of the words. This is called ‘word painting’. For example, he used the note A below low C to match the word “deep” in bar 15. And he used the note G above low C to match the word of “grow”. In fact, he attempted to link all the musical ideas that related to the setting of the text and the meaning of the word by his brilliant logical mind.
Other than the above three different forms, duet also can be found in No.31 and trios can be found in No.27
After discussing the setting of the text, orchestration, vocal arrangement, we can see how Haydn used his logical mind to cultivate his music in the setting of the words. He arranged all these things that with great precision. Moreover, it is difficult to find other large-scale vocal piece as successful as The Creation around the 18th century. It is no surprise that it stands at the pinnacle of classical choral music.
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Bibliography
Book resources:
- Nicholas Temperley, Haydn: The Creation, (Cambridge University Press, London, 1991)
- Jones, Oxford Composer Companions, edited by David Wyn Jones, (Oxford University Press, New York, 2002)
- Laresen, The New Grove Haydn, edited by Stanley Sadie, (Macmillan, London, 1980)
- Edward Olleson, Haydn Year Book IV, (T. Presser Co., London, 1968)
- Juliet Meyers, Haydn and His World (Princeton University Press, Chichester, 1997)
Recording:-
From music library,
- Haydn, The Creation (CD1917)
Score:-
- Haydn, The Creation, (Piano Score in Novello edition)
- Haydn, The Creation, (Orchestral Score in Eulenburg edition )
Website:-
- http://www.classicalarchives.com/bios/codm/haydn.html (access date 27 April.2007)
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Creation, (access date 30 April, 2007)
Other resources:-
- MUSO, Feb/Mar 07, Issue 27, p.7 (The color Survey)
- Paper from Dr.Charles McKnight, Haydn’s The Creation, November 8th, 2002
- Lecture notes from Dr. David Evans, School of Music, University of Wales, Bangor
Written by Cheng Po Chun (Eva)@2007
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(2) Nicholas Temperley, Haydn: The Creation, (Cambridge, 1991), p.48
(3)Lecture note from Dr. David Evans (School of Music, UWB)
Parts 1 and 2 represent the six days of creation. Each day has a similar planning. Those begin with narration, continuing with descriptive commentary and end with a hymn of praise. The narrative passages are sung by soprano called Gabriel, tenor called Uriel and bass called Raphael (4).
We only look from part division, the aesthetic construction can be found in such a large-scale of work. It should be a foundation structure for Haydn to build up the music afterward. The setting of the text, orchestration and voices arrangement are also link with each other logically. He used his imagination and sense to plan and arrange the music. Ideally, the pictures of the days of creation can be seen under his excellent sense of descriptive. In eighteenth-century vocal music, there was no other piece like Haydn’s The Creation.
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(4)Jones, Oxford Composer Companions, edited by David Wyn Jone, (New York, 2002)
Setting of the text
Each of the days has a similar text setting. It roughly contains four sections as shown below (5): Take Second Day as an example 1.
Section 1/ Prose from Genesis, in the past tense, for recitative.
Section 2/ Commentary in verse, in the present tense, for aria or ensemble.
Section 3/ Prose, in the past tense, for a recitative introduction…
Section 4/ Choral hymn of praise by the heavenly host.
Example 1
(The Second Day, no.3)
Section 1/ Prose from Genesis, in the past tense, for bass recitative.
【Recitative】And God made the firmament, and divided the waters, which were under the firmament, from the waters, which were above the firmament, and it was so.
Section 2/ Commentary in verse, in the present tense, it was set for bass aria or ensemble.
Outrageous storms now dreadful arose; as chaff by the winds are impelled the clouds. By heaven’s fire the sky is enflamed and awful rolled the thunders on high. Now from the floods in streams ascend reviving showers of rain, the dreary wasteful hail, the light and flaky snow.
(The Second Day, no.4)
Section 3/ Prose, in the past tense, for a soprano recitative introducing…
【Air】The marvelous work beholds amazed the glorious hierarchy of Heaven
Section 4/ Choral hymn of praise by the heavenly host
【Chorus】and to the ethereal vaults resound the praise of God and of the second day.
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(5) Op. cit Nicholas Temperley, p.21
From example 1, the prose for the first half bass recitative comes from Genesis, Chapter One, verse six to seven. Another half of the bass recitative is a kind of commentary on how the environment around was in that period of time. But in the section three (Aria) that mentioned in example 1, the section divisions can not be seen clearly. In the last section of the second day ends with a Choral hymn of praise. However, this division can be seen clearly from song no.11 which will be discussed later.
Haydn attempted to write his music in accordance with the setting of the text that I mentioned above such as key signature, musical ideas and orchestration etc.
I/ Keys are related to the setting of text.
Generally, the minor and major keys are used in different contexts. Also, Haydn also used the minor key to create the atmosphere of the scenery before created. In the opening, Haydn used full orchestra playing in the key of C minor to describe the chaos and darkness. Take item.7 as example 2. Haydn used D minor key to describe the situation before the mountains and rocks were merge. He changes measure 28 to F major in order to matching the words that describe the mountains and rocks emerging afterwards.
Example 2
Words:-
D minor [Rolling in foaming billows uplifted roars the boist’rous sea.]
F major [Mountains and rocks now emerge;]
Score:-
According to the survey from MUSO, Feb/Mar 07, Issue 27, the key signature is related to the colour. For example, c major is white and c minor is black. This can be traced from how Haydn used key signatures as colour in The Creation. Moreover, Haydn also linked his key signatures with the meaning of the word. (See example 3 below)Example 3
II/ The Musical Ideas are related to the setting of text.
Haydn interwove his musical ideas into the text as well. Take item no.11, Awake the Harp as an example 4, it is a Chorus that represents the Heavenly Host, called on to praise God. If you remember what I mentioned in the plan of text setting before, the division of part four can be seen clearly here. The words are shown below:
Awake the harp, the lyre awake!
In shout and joy your voices raise!
In triumph sing the mighty Lord!
For the heavens and earth has clothed in stately dress.
Obviously, the words are calling people to praise God. This piece starts with a full chorus in singing ‘Awake the harp’ as if they are calling people to praise. (See example 4 below)
Moreover, Haydn also used the technique of ‘call and respond’ in the third beat of bar 1 and strings parts and woodwind parts in the third beat of bar 2 as well. The chorus part as appears as it is calling people to praise and the strings parts respond to the call from chorus. (See example 4 below) Later on, the chorus has the same technique in bar 11.
Example 4
written by Cheng Po Chun (Eva)@2007
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Musicians also did what they could. They passed the anti-apartheid message through the song and hoped that more people would come to know what the situation in South African was like. Then the government used their power against to intervene and prevented them from doing so. It seemed as if it was non-stop political war. Music somehow has always been a very good way for people to express their own feeling. But in the South Africa, it seems that for a time, the function of the music was partly destroyed. Weak economic countries are still threatened by the rich economic countries even in the present day. Whereby we have a concept of who is the strong side and who will get more power and right. It could be interpreted further as only the strong side can be left in the world and the weaker should have no human right. But is this a healthy world community?
Freedom is a right for a people, if the freedom itself invades or occupies other people’s freedom, is that freedom at all?
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Bibliography
Book resources:-
- Carol A. Muller, South Africa Music, A century of Traditions in Transformation, (California, 2004)
- Michael Drewett, “Music in the struggle to end apartheid”, Policing Pop, Edited by Martin Cloonan and Rebee Garofals, (Temple University Press, 2003)
- Charles Hamm, Putting Popular Music In Its Place, (Cambridge, 1995)
- Roger Lucey, Stopping the music: censorship in apartheid South Africa, Shoot the Singer!, edited by Marie Korpe, (London, 2004)
Website resources:-
- http://education.yahoo.com/reference/factbook/sf/flag.html (Access date 12 Dec, 2006)
- http://www.worldflags101.com/s/south-africa-flag.aspx (Access date 3 Jan, 2006)
- http://www.steviewonder.org.uk/Albums/InSquareCircle.htm (Access date 2 Jan, 2007)
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Clegg_(musician) (Access date 3 Jan, 2007)
- http://www.3rdearmusic.com/ (Access date 3 Jan, 2007)
- http://www.rock.co.za/ (Access date 3 Jan, 2007)
- http://www.onepeople.com/intArtists/artists/sonytemp.html (Access date 3 Jan, 2007)
- http://www.kalaharisurfers.co.za/ (Access date 3 Jan, 2007)
- http://www.freemuse.org/sw4915.asp (Access date 3 Jan, 2007)
- http://juluka.free.fr/biography.htm (Access date 3 Jan, 2007)
Other resources:-
- Lecture Note from Music in the struggle to end apartheid by Simone Kruger
- Louise Meintjes, “Shoot the Sergeant, Shatter the Mountain: The Production of Masculinity in Zulu Ngoma Song and Dance in post – Apartheid South Africa, Ethnomusicology Forum, Volume 13 Number 2 November 2004
- Flag from World Flags 101.com
Written by Cheng Po Chun (Eva)@2007
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PART I
South Africa is the country (the region is called Southern Africa) in the southernmost part of the African continent. The Dutch were the first Europeans to settle in the area. In subsequent years, the English and French also played an important role in the colonization of the region. Today, South Africa has eleven languages though Afrikaans is probably the most significant language since the colonial period.
On 24th April 1994, Nelson Mandela became the first black president of South Africa. This was the year that marked the end of apartheid and the birth of a new nation in South African also. In many ways, the South Africa flag is a symbol of the newly found rights and freedom of the black communities (2).
Although the colors have no official meaning attached to them the South African flag incorporates the colors black, green and yellow of Nelson Mandela's political party, the African National Congress and the former Boer republics flags (red, white, and blue). The Y shape represents the convergence of South Africa's diverse society and the desire for unity. The South African flag is basically made up of former South African flags and the past meanings of the colors were Red for bloodshed, blue for open blue skies, green for the land, black for the black people, white for the European people and yellow for the natural resources such as gold.
From the mid-seventeenth century to the close of the twentieth century (up to 1994), South Africa was ruled by different groups of Europeans. They called themselves as ‘The Afrikaner Nationalist Party’ from 1948 onwards. At that time, the Nationalist government was to use the Bantu-language, which is the general term for over 400 different ethnic groups of people in Africa, from Cameroon to South Africa (3). They have been treated as the white people’s slaves, labouring in both the field of agriculture andindustry. However, the government was not willing to allow the Bantus to be permanent residence
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(1)Map from Carol A. Muller, South Africa Music, A century of Traditions in Transformation, (California, 2004)
For instance, the Nationalist government established the geographical boundaries to separate the different races that lived together. The black people became ruled by white. They lived without rights to become permanent residents and worked only as a temporary labour. Each “homeland” was identified by language and culture, for example, Zululand was only for Zulu people who spoke Zulu as their mother tongue (5). The government also introduced the Apartheid Legislation law to suppress the indigenous musician and prevent their public performances of their native music. Therefore, many musicians protested against the government for their discrimination and for trying to take possession of their land through the music. (for example, Syncretic black “freedom songs” and the hymns of “Nkosi Sikelel’ in Africa”). At that time, one state was divided into eleven countries. It was the period of Apartheid in South Africa.
During this period of major political and social upheaval (Apartheid), the Nationalist government attempted to suppress, restrict and control the people’s so-called controversial music from being heard. This was done by means of a list of censors.
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(4) Ibid, Chapter one, p.11
(5) Carol A. Muller, South Africa Music, A century of Traditions in Transformation, (California, 2004), Chapter one, p.16
