Klarinet Archive - Posting 000459.txt from 2010/09

From: "Dan Leeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Some terminology problems: Improvisation and ornamentation
Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2010 11:11:40 -0400

I thank Keith Bowen for his lengthy and detailed note about improvisation. =
But I hastily add that two things are getting mixed up here.

When the performer is placed in the position interpreting ornamentational a=
bbreviations that the composer placed in a manuscript (for example a trill,=
an appogiatura, a grace note, etc .) that is the world of ornamentation. =
The player interprets the composer's ornamentational shorthand in a way tha=
t is pleasing to his/her musical values and consistent with the performance=
practice of the era. We do a great deal of ornamentation whenever we play =
music of the 18th century, and there is a lot of it that has to be done in =
other eras as well. A trill in the 18th century was done one way, a trill i=
n a Brahms sonata is something else again).

Ornamentation is not what I have been talking about with respect to improvi=
sation. When the performer adds text to replace what the composer wrote, ad=
ding new material to his/her own satisfaction -- in effect, composing real =
time -- that is improvisation. One is not ready to consider the matter of i=
mprovisation before understanding what performance practices of the 18th ce=
ntury involved.

For example, one of the posters on this subject spoke about the cadenza in =
K. 622, making reference to two of them in the first movement and one in th=
e slow movement.

THERE ARE NO CADENZAS IN K. 622 and there never have been. What is being ca=
lled for by Mozart in the three places spoke of is a very distant cousin to=
the cadenza. It is termed a "lead-in," in German an Eingang (plural Eing=
=E4nge). And one has to know what an Eingang is and what the player is supp=
osed to do when asked to execute one. To play a cadenza when an Eingang is =
requested is somewhat akin to sticking a finger in the eye. And the worst =
offender was Jaques Ibert who wrote a two page 5 minute cadenza for K. 622 =
and presumed that he was making a contribution of some sort.

A composer ornaments by writing an abbreviation to request something he wan=
ts done, and the player interprets what is meant by that ornament, sometime=
s correctly, other times incorrectly.

A player improvises and the composer provides hints to places where improvi=
sation is appropriate. (If the music is florid, improvisation is generally =
not appropriate).

For example, when the composer repeats something, either immediately or aft=
er a period of time, he is offering the player an opportunity to create mus=
ic not explicitly given in the text. For example, the third measure of the=
clarinetist's first entrance in K. 622. There is one figure repeated twic=
e. To play both figures the same way misses the composer's well defined hi=
nt. The player may not want to improvise at that point. That's OK, but he =
recognize what opportunity is being offered to him.

The slow movement of K. 622 is of the form A-B-A. One plays the A section,=
then the B section and then the composer notes the score so that the A sec=
tion is repeated. He generally does not write out the A section again, but =
says, "Da Capo xx measures," meaning Da Capo for xx measure and then leap t=
o some other point. One would have to be a stone to play the two A sections=
the same way. But publishers produce the score by writing out the A sectio=
n all over again, which hides the fact that the composer did not write that=
A section a second time and for a very good reason. He expected the secti=
on to be improvised upon.

This is what I referred to when I said that some players chose not to follo=
w my suggestion under the assertion that to do so is "gilding the lily." T=
he fact that publishers print the A section a section time introduces the l=
ily on which one is advised not to gild.

So before one even considers improvisation as something you might want to d=
o, you need to read about performance practice, if for no other reason that=
one learns the difference between an Eingang (how long is an Eingang?, wha=
t is its purpose?, what does the player do?) and a Cadenza (which has an en=
tirely different purpose, is very much longer than a Cadenza, and requires =
high quality improvisatory abilities).

If you believe that you are ready to consider introducing improvisation int=
o your performances without knowing something about performance practice, y=
ou are probably not yet ready. There are tons of books and articles written=
about performance practices of the various eras of music. More than this I=
cannot do.

Dan Leeson
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