THE AFFECTS OF INSTRUMENTS IN THE BAROQUE ERA = Rita Stebin — 1 Se yf aa | Get the Best Sound from Your Records! || Weuse the ultimate professional record cleaning machine to thoroughly wash and vacuum dry your records. | Improves Sound Reduces Record Wear Removes All Contaminants Cleaner Seon ent Economical & Affordable | zaman eetL = not oven in a higtoricl context ~ a great deal from the concept of individuality of instruments of scientific information on the consteudion of intruments, ye, but no attention paid to emo- ‘Thema eat uch tha hers were ko ai times wen the rationhip between mink ad tional meaning. Perhaps ingruments have no rmentluound asses tml Ee meanings anymore. tuampi, bbe the mae of he ihe century - tnume| when compen any og of ag {aso found some serious misconceptions about ar the produ ter mse Be payed y ne ‘the baroque attitude towards individuality of in-__itrments [A ine] when chance an ccuane rumen. In 1928, Wilhelm Heinitz, in the fil dcemnd he irenttion, When th ‘volume Inthumentnkinde (part of Ent Bcken's __‘odfesk tint oul” f cant ifrument in She penny hal eye Ger important Handbuch der Musikwisenschaft series), Wien the comer was so ae oto wth ape ‘wrote that the young composers of his day were tote tone eu, but ao the mca Bow 3 sick ofthe emphasis on intrumental tone colours see, tht haan the wraneothe in romantic music and were atempeing to get Ba Het nd vara pn ta of he mee. Sian coettegtionsin te compos gaa eh und men he a wath nitz equates this twentieth-century the ped tock cs rin ver he wonder wold ‘move avay from romantictimbral associations aime colony uae tan o et with the baroque ea, when as he ates, com- Sahena phot axl pista Posershad not ye dscovered the “timbral soul” 2nd pal aco! of intruments and were aesthetically removed fore proceeding further, kt us consider the Cauda Montven, L1(Manin, 1607), exer, ACT: Chora of Nmphe and Shepherds “Laine f mon "ing ene, 3 chtaron, 1 double hr, ?hapschods, 1 soprano son, ACTH: Second and Thin Shepherd “In gut pas om ply Rend the ee: 2 earn and 2 reson. ACT Mk: Charon “Ota, cinnane mane 3 que se” ‘Charon chaeges Ores, othe ind of oa Chor of Spe Nala pen! srk enna di leg, 3 trombones, 2 bs vile de amt, 1 doublets vil SAAS AOS SSE, Harps Same! SO, MEDIEVAL & RENAISSANCE STRINGED INSTRUMENTS, HARPSICHORDS “UNICORN GEMSHORNS” | p {= Instruments built 1o the most exacting standards of excellence © Complete satstaction guaranteed eS ¢ : |ingrumentation in wo great baroque matter pieces, Table 1 shows several excerpts from CCaucio Monteverdi's opera Of fom 1607, with the composer's precise specification of instra- ‘ments. For the pastoral music of nymphs and shepherds Monteverdi uses string in truments and recorders, To accompany Charon, the boatman to Hades, he uses the snarling real (red orga Trombones and the lower Stings accompany the Chorus of Spirits from the Underworld. This separation in the we of inftruments — utes and Strings for the pastoral Uppersorld, and regal and low bras for the realm of shadows is continued ‘throughout the opera and shows careful planning, fon Monteverdi's par ‘Table 2 contains the dipositon of voce types and obligato instruments in Heinrich Schutz’s (Chritmas Omtorio fom 1664. Notice the use of ing instruments to accompany all four ap- pearances of angels. Like Monteverdi, Shia uses recorders to accompany shepherds. ‘The three Kings (Wisemen) were assigned homs (in the ‘original version), the high prt and scribes, four basses, ae accompanied by trombones, and the king Herod is asociated with the trumpet, Schiie's scoring is very deliberate, and, like Monteverdi's scoring in yf, contradias Heinite's assertion that baroque composers were ‘not concemed with the aethetcal properties of ingrraments In fet, baroque composers were greatly AAuenced by theories of the symbolic traits of Skruments. Ths symbolism had is roots inthe role indruments played in medieval sacred drama, ARLE Heine Schite, Mebane Dred, 1660), exces Except Woicig Idtromentation Invdaion: “Die Geb sla ‘ice inrment 1, ered. The ange 1 opin 2 gambas chet each rch = & 2. temetim. Hoo ange 2 open, 1 ao 2 valine “She Gon mm 3. osermeis. The sept aoe 2 conde Mtaner one nun gcc” 4. linemen. The thre wenn: 2 eno 2 hom “NO der cosine Kang" 5. lesen. Th hgh pecs nd se: mes 2 remtones “Za Bahichan™ 6 tremetin, Herd 1a 2 eumpets eons 7. teed, Te ng: 1 opto 2 pmbss "Sache a, kph 4 meme, The sg 1 opto 2 gamit tee a ecp sci ce ‘oie inten End: “Dank sagen walewhich in turn was ingpired by Biblical and ancient Greek associations. Plato wrote thatthe aulos, a piercing red instrument, was ft only for Dionysus and vulgar pleasures, whereas the stringed Ire was rmoce refined and moderate, and asoiated with the civilized Apollo. The Church Fathers approved of tring instruments like the harp, becalise this was King Davi’ instrument. In the medieval era ringed instruments were associated with the figure of Chia, and so Schitz’s use of gambas and violins to accompany angel sin keeping with this tradition. Inthe medieval nativity play, the reeds and other loud instruments were wsed to depid the noise of Hell. Soft recorders were associated with shepherds and pastoral scenes Trumpets were employed for anfres and the en tranees of kings. This allegorical use of intruments in the medieval sacred drama was carried into the Renaissance intermatie — those short pastoral dramas which influenced early opera — and from here into baroque music.? Baroque theorits tied hard to find paral bet ween their music and that ofthe anctene Greeks. They were mom impresed by the accounts ofthe power which ancient music had to move the emo- tions of steners, They attempeed to codify many musical devices — into what we now call the oarine of Affedtions — inthe hopes of achiev- ing similar results. Thus, they began to lis the affeets associated with various instruments Marin Mersenne, for example, writes the follow ing in his Harmonie Unneraile (Pars, 1635) mel deen gi ee een ais ier uae ec teed bys young man ping he oan Nhe tlre oe church and sround- RESTORATION OF EARLY PIANOS FOR SALE! J.B. Streicher fortepiano, 1848, European Walnut, Serial no. 4213 Bechstein Grand Piano, 6°7”, Ebony finish Collard & Collard Grand Piano, 5°10”, Rosewood EXCELLENT REFERENCES * TRADE IN WELCOME ” RESTORATIONS ACCEPTED THROUGHOUT CaNaba AND THE UNITED Srares MARINUS J. VAN PRATTENBURG 15523 - 90A Avenue * Surrey, B.C., Canada V3R 8W1 (604) 581-7997 AYE —_cd by 2 harp and le, the plucked instrument sociated with Apollo. The “hardy and war-ik Phrygian mode is represented by a military scene with brandished sword, and features many loud wind insruments and drums or ther percussion indruments; the ‘sad and languishing” Lydian ‘moa is illarated by a uneral im and other sy bols of mourning (skull, broken Strings, mourn ing veils, smoking torch, funeral lamp) and in cles the muted ketcle drum and tolling bell; the “gay and joyous” Ionian mode features dancers accompanied by violin players Other baroque musicians drew interetting parallels between aye in painting and the affeas Of nstraments. The Englishman Charles Avison, \weotein Aw Esay on Musca! Expresion (London, 1753, p. 27) that scenes of battles or sieges, painted ina rough ayl, are analogous to music tsing the trumpet, horn or kettle-drm, and pin tings ina softer, more finished @yle, expressive oflove, tendemes or beauty, are similar to music using the lute or harp “The vious Soda in Pising the and —the te De the pactl the rendre pasion the joyous = hive al her rate Arsopes a Mas "TAnd we may 288 Camco i th the Manner andi dif in anting. cording the Sj waren in Mate a ara Stamens nated to the eet Kino meal Com Seepage seed a one prope fr Rats, Spe, and bate ort cfd. on th consary thew hand a re fined Touch, ae eprenie of Lane Fenaermes or ey Maat Tape Horr Dram. ar mt proper) employed on he tess Sates the Lite Se Hap the a Avison then refers the reader to an antcle by Richard Steele in the Tater of April 1, 1710: "have earl fry sae pidure when all se amen of he ogy in which a dame ‘race ting ogni ‘amor of mane Each of hem pas opon sacha ular instrament a the ol aaa ‘hiner, anderen tht ye apd na pa ting whch peel to hin The Bows ep pater of those tines, to show the pando and Feline rhs gue hha horn a hut wach esc to wi th peat eg and eee Oe crema, snemoct =, who soap Ue Sire pe sen. and pe thn a hoe cat eoche whch apt fete ni, SSrepented ms rning seo, The me kid of uur rns though he whole pie (Cam tying to trae the painting described here by Steele, bur have been unsuccessful thus fa.) Its obvious that the symbolism of instruments Oran) indo nawas well-known to baroque artists and writers Johann Mattheson, the greatest of the German baroque theorists, and noted for his lit of key charosterstis in Das newerfficte Oe (Flam burg, 1713), also includes here a lengthy discus: Sion ofinsiniments (pp. 253-89), He describes the physical properties and use of instruments, begin- hing each section with a brief epigram in heavy boldce type on the instrument's ae, ain the Following: (atlanta Fe “Te ho tether has “The followings preliminary ist only of baro- aque sources which Spey the affetve properties OF instruments: Fea Philip Rama, Nn tne asp th tne Pa, 1726, 8 "ei no longs conser x marl thatthe Trump animate the ler hate Ob cers a a the Fae sens i.” James Grasineas, A Maal Diiury (London, 1740, p 242 ‘STYLD Symphonie, ia Sle fr indrumentl mc butch tent a pascal, thee aes many cient yen Se: he Sy te eli frat, ayy to oe Fe ‘petinboly and lansing, aod at of Tamper righ and snmateg™ Recorder, Gamba and Lute Music of all publishers ‘A knowledgeable and elticient ‘mail order service in its 20th year [Ask for our bimonthly blatin of new muse, he Music for Gambia lting, ‘and the Thematic Cataloa of Provincetown Bookshop Editions Jea-Laurn Se thy, tind a hi dee rae de bs mu (Piss 1789), p. 778 The sound ofthe German fe end ads ‘ssuted wosorow snd imetaton The sound of theo py and ted pricy ko rat ner one he nln the mom Beulah {straens whch play he upper prs aks slre ofchandep, ceding te dneriy of peses Sich excuterand te een manne in Shih ‘he ply ther Feanacques Rowen, Dit de Marie Pai ap. pals Jneuments ako have vey dent exreions a contig whether tc wound reg wea hc Tibet sel or sof thr th hwo igh and tether the sounds can be dan in preter or esr Sinty They sender, thee. the ape I rake bo arson mati sete grand fspesiots Br fee noindrumen fom whihcan {eft an expresion moe sae and more univer thar the ns Trine sume om the Fundaton of al dc orhes and suet fra lrmpner to eate the 88s which poor mus snc eee the mare of mule fire inramenss EDC, Sapling 176), p26 “Awake mah a much mer efedve wh rump thuvobos wih obs tha es, wh Woks han ft 2 (Ame, In moit of the above quotations the violin i singled out as the most beautiful instrament and. the one which ean portray a great diversity of caradters Iwas during the seventeenth century that violnitc technique was perfeéted tothe ex rent that bowed String instruments took over 35, the foundation of the opera orchestra, Brass and Adrian Koppejan 48223 Yale Road East, Chilliwack, B.C., Canada, V2P 6H4 Telephone (604) 792-1623‘woodwind instruments Sill made occasional ap- Pesrances, usually for symbolic purposes. For Instance, thee isthe famous example of Ces ‘opera It Pon ds, rtten for theemperor’s wed- dling celebrations in Vienna in 1667, in which Pluto's realm is depited by the traditionally in- fernal sounds of comettos, trombones, bassoon ind regal. Lally’s opera orchestra was @adied in reat detail by Jrgen Eppelsheim, who came to fhe conclusion that utes were used when the basi ae in quedtion was love, that oboes were employed to depict scenes of idyll peace, and that frumpets appeared in connedtion with regal triumph or war scenes, A ceneury’afer Lully, Ber. nad Lacépeie, in La Pofique de be masque (Pais, 1786, [: 360-61) was Sill associating the same affes with these instruments: Now the wind inrumens prot them The missin shold ie the erent ands 3 There no see fru inte vo him Sha the fa are tnd for owe tender sad and eons tatters the obs fo peor pcs which ae eens wh ae lgsbious, ater ight Spinal gett crema ied Ela ncges ees api Blown, ot cant acl ages tepid the hr of ello dvs bon i te Gani eager ee sens Sarto ream in The lage Po Haj Voperad Sond tiaAe? OWA Ke fm 8 C wep theme epee al oe trunpets(Gr Cake hatel: Ecaple inda Cont Eaten Amma CLnoe Su ganer” ne Sores TOS ne None" in Grows Patt 1782), Ina ee ee ee aD nate neeepe eae ee vie (780) Had’ ever v0 Ne _vhich alo features bom, hes Beebe Emote then movement of ie Syephony in baci oi Cet Tee ace ‘pest bad Spirent ey cnc oe ‘niterenappesedin sald asco: wand like symphonies An important issue in baroque aesthetics was the move towards purely instrumental music. Music had always had a dose sociation with words, in Postcard From Morocco re ED ann eC a)Which ese the aff of he piece was obvious. But What was the affect of a sonata, published as playable on either the violin, ute or oboe? Is his fhot a contradiion ro the’ specific emotional ‘meanings ofnitrument? This problem wasiden- tiled by Eugine Borte as one of the paradoxes fof baroque music.» Perhaps it was this loss of ‘meaning through che interchangeably of in ‘uments which led Fontenelle toask the famous aquettion: “Sonate, que me veux?” (Sonata ‘what do you want with me? or, what good! ar you to me) “The history of ninoteenth-century aesthetics centres on the polemic of absolute vers program: ‘matic msc, The new claim was that instrumental ‘music — primal the symphony — was the only true music — a-musie based on its own formal logic. This was 2 revolutionary challenge t0 a ‘musical tradition inherited from antiquity — a ‘musical tradition based on language, whether {2hual words or an implied programme. Wagner 1, Wiel Heit, ronan nach dr Mi 2. Fees compere dicunion of the symbol arb rhe Roe of Musa Indramens in Mbeval Sacred Den 1. Marin Menem, Th Biko nme, ane. RogerE. Chapman (The Hague 1987 traces the dts iid by Mepeme was one ofthe lat great defenders of music 25 2 language of symbols. There is a very revealing passage in a letter ofhis from 1852. In discussing key charaeritics, which Wagner Sates. had former become at much a dogma as the ith in God, he claims that keys have unique characers ‘only according tothe inatraments used and that “Whoever in judging my music vides the har- mom fiom the instrumentation does meas much injustice a he who divides my music from my poetry, my song from the words!" The reaction against Wagner in the twentieth century alluded to inthe opening quotation from Heinitz, not only abolished tonality, and all the affects that went alongwith keys, but aso severed the link with meanings of instruments ~ through such devices as Klaygfirdemechnit and Pointlon The end result has been the replacement of tradi tional instruments by eleelronic subStinutes— and four loss in understanding, che original symbolic ‘meaning of barogue music sha Er Bike (Wid Pot, 1925p 2. ndramens inthe moti ence Edmund A. Bowles, The lal Quran 45 (1989) 67-84 p23 The putin square 4 Fora dacusion of Hays ws of ky sbi ce aie “Key Carin and Hayes Oper in ner fina Jac Haydn Kong War 198 (Munich: G, Henke Vrs. 1986) pp 9-100, 5. Engine Bone, “Un Pradoxe mas at XVIMc wk Maanges de scl Pri, 193, pp. 217-21 (6. See Rend Wir La» is Deo ri, Tekr Uh, i cher and eran Hae, ne. Shek (New York, 1890) pp. 25031 to the Vancouver Early Music Program We will have our usual display of sheet music in the Hall of the UBC Music Building during the Early Music & Dance Workshop of the Vancouver Early Music Program. We also specialize in fine recorders and other instruments, WARD MUSIC 412W. Hastings, Vancouver, B.C. V6B 1L3 — 682-5288