Klarinet Archive - Posting 000584.txt from 2000/09

From: "Kevin Fay (LCA)" <kevinfay@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] being expressive in Italian
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2000 20:51:49 -0400

Bill Wright wrote:

<<<Does verbal language -- more than just 'allegro' or 'con brio' -- belong
in music (without lyrics)? Should I restrict my language to the title?
Perhaps it's proper to title my song "Bill's Lament, an Angry March in G
minor", but it's not proper to put above the key signature "Largo march,
filled with lament and anger"?>>>

Hoo boy, flame bait fer shure.

I've heard interesting discussions about whether or not music should *have*
lyrics -- that somehow language detracts from music, and that they're better
off mutually exclusive. I'll not comment on that premise, other than to
point out that many opera singers seem to have taken the position to heart .
. .

. . . but this is about written words on the page. Are titles "more
important" than directions to performers? Depends on the piece, of course,
but I'd say probably not. Certainly not for a piece like Copland's
Appalachian Spring, which was named well after its composition -- I remember
an anecdote where Copland scoffed at the notion that the title had any
meaning at all.

OTOH, the stuff Percy Grainger put in his scores is a hoot. (To the Fore!)
I have no doubt that they assist the performer in getting Percy's point.

Slowing off,

kjf

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