Klarinet Archive - Posting 000223.txt from 2006/10

From: "Keith Bowen" <bowenk@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Improvisation and ornamentation example
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2006 17:36:48 -0400

Dan, I've downloaded it and will definitely study it - but have been
traveling on business.

Keith

> -----Original Message-----
> From: klarinet-return-89023-bowenk=compuserve.com@-----.org
> [mailto:klarinet-return-89023-bowenk=compuserve.com@-----.org] On
> Behalf Of dnleeson
> Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2006 4:23 PM
> To: klarinet@-----. org
> Subject: [kl] Improvisation and ornamentation example
>
>
> I posted a musical example of classical improvisation and
> ornamentation yesterday but there has not been any reaction to
> it. That's surprising since the subject appears to be of rising
> interest for players on this list. I remind you: the link is
> http://www.woodwind.org/voi_che_sapete.wma.
>
> One of the factors of significance in this example is because it
> is such a simple form, not unlike that of the slow movement of K.
> 622; you have a very simple melody, a more active middle section
> in which the emotions become more passionate, and then the return
> to the original melody. Another factor is the fact that the
> melody is deliberately unornamented in its original form -- it
> couldn't be more simple -- and the tempo is not fast, both of
> which give the greatest invitation and opportunity for
> imaginative improvisations. A third is that the middle section,
> where the singer's breathless emotions are more active in the
> original music itself, is very much less ornamented precisely
> because its original form is perceived as being sufficiently
> elegant and the invitation to improvise is withdrawn at that
> point. And the fourth is that there are at least 10 examples of
> the prosadic appogiatura in which the end of a phrase is almost
> never directly delivered; i.e., there is invariably a deliberate
> dissonance that precedes the very consonant ending, which is a
> musical way to show that love has a little sourness to go with
> the sweet.
>
> If you are not familiar with the original and unornamented aria,
> get hold of a copy of Voi Che Sapete as sung by Cherubino in
> Marriage of Figaro and listen to the two performances back to
> back. It is a song about love sung by a 16 year old boy who has
> no idea what is happening to him. He is changing but doesn't
> understand the nature of the change. And he is asking two mature
> women to explain what is going on.
>
> Finally this: a prosadic appoggiatura (which can be very roughly
> translated as "prose that leans upon" is achived when a dissonant
> note in inserted in front of a consonant note at the end of a
> phrase. For example, if the passage is a simple scale heading
> towards a final C, namely "G-F-E-D- C" a prosadic appogiatura
> could be inserted before the C and the passage would become "G F
> E D D C" with the final D offered after the harmony has changed
> for final C. That is what causes the delicious dissonance.
>
> You can learn a lot form this aria. That is why I chose it.
>
> Dan Leeson
> DNLeeson@-----.net
>
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