Programme for Research Fellowships in the Arts Jostein Gundersen, fellow October 2005-September 2008 Project description Project title Improvisation. Diminutions from 1350 ad. to 1700 ad. 1. Project subject and goals The subject for the fellowship period is improvisation, focusing on the practice of improvising diminutions in the period from about 1350 to about 1700. The objective of the project is becoming able to improvise diminutions according to various historic styles within the above historical time frame. Commonly, the term diminution is used to describe melodic ornaments subdividing an interval or a given melodic line in shorter note values. The criteria for the term are vague, and seem to be based as much on chronology as on musical style: Often it is used to denote all kinds of ornaments through the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, regardless of the highly different contexts the diminutions appear in (e.g. falsobordone, trecento- and cinquecento-madrigal, early sonata, etc.). At the same time, "diminution" is seldom used to describe baroque ornaments, although they might be described as such. All possible kinds of diminutions will not be included in this project. It will focus on diminutions within modal polyphonic music within the abovementioned historical time frame. I will narrow the project further below. Through my project I hope to gain more knowledge of the various kinds of improvised diminutions, which in turn will contribute to a more refined terminology. 2. Research material Numerous sources, manuscripts as well as publications, written between 1350 and 1700 show a significant practice of improvising diminutions during the performance. The sources take shape of fully written diminutions to entire, specific compositions as well as treatises for voice and instruments with a separate diminution-manual. Not to be forgotten are the composed
ornaments within "normal" compositions. There are quite a few descriptions of the practice, in theoretical works and musical critique, in letters and other documents. Altogether, the sources supply solid documentation of various styles within a long tradition of improvising diminutions. Ample as it may seem, this rich documentation opens a larger space than it can possibly fill, or formulated differently, it gives more questions than answers. After all, only a very marginal part of the historical music contains direct information about improvisational elements, or other elements of performance practice. Musical notation is never a complete source of information, never giving the whole picture. Sometimes it supplies nothing more than relative pitches and rhythm, and some times even less. Considering those elements of the performance which are not communicated through musical notation gives a unique opportunity to gain insight into not only a piece of music, but into traditions of musical thinking and artistic performance. From this point of view, my research material is as much a tool to explore an open space of the performance. 3. Case studies I have chosen three cases for closer study, centred around three well-known sources of improvisation of diminutions. The sources are Codex Faenza (dated varyingly between 1410 and 1430), La Fontegara (by Sylvestro Ganassi, published in 1535) and The Division-Viol (by Christopher Simpson, published in 1659 and again in 1667). The choice of La Fontegara is motivated by the fact that it is the earliest known instrumental tutorial, containing instructions on how to play the recorder. It also contains an impressively comprehensive manual of embellishments, organised according to melodic interval and rhythm, displaying countless possibilities for diminishing a melody. The Division-Viol is a less obvious choice. It is written primarily for the viol which has a very different nature than that of the recorder. In 1706 a Division Flute was published, with a second part appearing a couple of years later. These editions might seem more suitable case studies for a recorder player. The reasons that I prefer to focus on The Division-Viol is its comprehensiveness, which far outweighs that of the two parts of The Division-Flute. The former has an extensive chapter on the theory of music, which is highly informative and of great assistance in understanding the basics of the work. Also important is the fact that Christopher Simpson obviously was writing within an older tradition than that of the later Division-tutors.
Whereas The Division-Flute is firmly situated in the harmonic realm of the high baroque, The Division-Viol has a closer affinity to the modal origin of the polyphonic music around the courts of Charles I and, after the Civil War, Charles II. Codex Faenza is among the earliest known sources to diminutions, and is moreover the most exhaustive integral source to diminutions of the medieval ages. Thus it forms a natural point of departure for a study of the practice of diminutions. As opposed to La Fontegara, Codex Faenza does not contain any organised catalogue of diminutions, but is simply a large collection of extensive diminutions upon specific compositions. It will be necessary to make a catalogue of those diminutions, organised according to various compositional criteria, such as intervals, cadences and sequences. Thus this case study will be approached in a methodically different way than that of the other two, where catalogues are given, but practical examples are scant. Through the study of these three sources and related material, I intend to develop my skill in improvising diminutions according to the styles represented. In choosing one diminution source for my instrument (La Fontegara), one for another instrument (The Division-Viol) and one without specific instrumentation (Codex Faenza) I will be faced with different problems regarding idiomatic instrumental performance. My motivation for choosing three historical styles this far apart is the aspiration to gain a general overview and understanding of the longlasting phenomenon of improvising diminutions. I hope to obtain knowledge about the development of its form, its extensiveness, and understanding of its relation to stylistic changes in composition. Comparison of the cases may be of importance to discriminate general characteristics from instrumental/vocal and local - or even personal - differences in the art of improvising diminutions. 4. Central questions This project on historic improvisation cannot be captured in a single, descriptive question, but should be guided by a set of central questions or problems. Experimenting with historic improvisation is already a possible solution to a general problem: How can one express oneself artistically in performances of historic music, and at the same time retain musical integrity. Improvising embellishments in keeping with a specific musical style demands creative abilities combined with extensive knowledge about and insight into the music in question. It
opens a door to a wider and more differentiated personal expressiveness, and at the same time attends to the intentions of the musical composition. A central question relating more directly to the didactical aspect of the process of learning how to improvise might be formulated followingly: How can one recognise and remember figures of embellishments, and learn to employ them spontaneously and functionally. To keep focus on and give impetus and direction to the project, it will be necessary to formulate a number of questions which can be asked repeatedly for each of the case studies. These questions need not decide the chronology of the work. 1. To which repertory do the historical sources to diminutions relate. This is fairly clear with a source like Codex Faenza, but less obvious for most other sources. 2. Who performed the diminutions, to which degree, and with what instrumentation. The diminutions may have taken different shape depending on whether they were sung or performed on an instrument, in the last case which instrument was used, and in any case if it was a solo- or an ensemble performance. 3. What kind of diminutions were made to what kind of repertory. It may be that the various kinds of compositions allow different kinds of diminutions. 4. How were the diminutions employed in the composition, and what was their function in regard to compositional and textual elements. 5. What is the value and function of improvised diminutions. What do they add, and what do they take away from the composition. 6. What can I add to the music by improvising diminutions. 5. Methods The process of developing skills in historically informed improvisations demands a combination of practical and theoretical work, where the theoretical processing of the practical experience gives direction to further practical experimentation. On the side of practice we find study of diminutional figures according to historic catalogues, study (and performance) of written-out diminutions to specific compositions, improvisation on a given piece of music, etc. The theoretical work consist of developing and employing various tools for analysis of the practical experience. Learning rules of counterpoint and solmization, making catalogues of
diminutions according to styles and appearance, comparing various styles of diminution, and comparing my own diminutions with historic examples are important processes of analysis. These practical and theoretical exercises will be repeated interchangingly during all three case studies. 6. References 6.1 Artistic references Spontaneous changes and additions to the notated music seem, at least within specific genres, to have been a matter of course since the onset of musical notation. Improvised diminutions in various shapes belong to those kinds of alterations of, and elaborations on, written music. Such improvisatory abilities do not form any significant part of the historically informed performance practice of our times, let alone the mainstream classical music performance practice, despite the numerous historical sources on improvisation made accessible through both editions of facsimile and modern, often translated editions. Among the few performers that have made improvisation a part of their performance of music written within my time period, we find ensembles such as Mala Punica, Super Librum, Concerto Palatino and Le Poéme Harmonique. 6.2 Theoretical references My theoretical references can very roughly be divided into literature on the (history of) theory of music (such as counterpoint, solmization, notation, codicology), literature relating music and other arts, and literature on musical performance (organology, inflection, improvisation). As my project involves reconstruction of historic traditions, the most important theoretical references are historical writings, e.g. books, correspondence and other writings on theory of music (and other arts) and music performance. Much of the important contemporary writings consist of translations of and commentaries on the historic sources, such as Jan Herlinger s translations of books by of Marchetto da Padova and Prosdocimo de Beldomandi, and Oliver Ellsworth s translation of Ciconia s Musica Nova. Other scholars, such as Alfred Einstein, Oliver Strunk, Karol Berger, Willy Apel and Klaus-Jürgen Sachs have made historical sources partially available either through commented translations of selected passages of a historic source or comments simply upon the selections of the original text (assuming that the
reader is familiar with 5-6 languages). Other musicologists whose work should be mentioned here are Margaret Bent, Ursula Günther, Reinhard Strohm, Anne Stone, Yolanda Plumley, Harold Powers, Pedro Memelsdorff, Richard Agee, Timothy McGee and others. 7. Artistic relevance Developing one s acquaintance with the traditions of diminutions to the level that one can perform such embellishments spontaneously is a time-consuming endeavour. At the same time, the historical sources that are available to us today are based on this kind of artistic flexibility and musicianship. The sources do not convey the whole picture, but might still be today s optimal solution: Through the lack of information, we see which parts of the performance were left to the discretion of the musician, allowing room for his or her expressive abilities and stylistic understanding. We might come closer to recognising this open space in music. This also means coming closer to recognising the potential and the limits of that space, and the potential and limits of the various layers of information that have brought a particular piece of historic music down to us. Through experimenting with stylistically integrated improvisastion, we not only develop our own expressive abilities and stylistic understanding, but also a consciousness around the role of the musician and his importance in the process of developing and conveying a piece of music. The pertinence of this kind of knowledge to the study and performance of all kinds of music is illuminated by the lack of information in historic sources of music. 8. Supervisors Senior supervisor: Einar Røttingen Main supervisor: Hans Knut Sveen Secondary supervisors: Maurice van Lieshout and Pedro Memelsdorff. 9. Documentation As the objective of this project is development of artistic knowledge, the main part of the documentation will be in the shape of artistic performances. I will perform several concerts with programmes that give room for, or even emphasise, improvisation of diminutions. I plan to make a recording with a corresponding profile. Through the process of developing my
improvisational skills, I will have to consider several didactic aspects. This will form the basis of a short paper. As a part of the documentation, I will also write a more extensively on the tradition of improvising diminutions between 1350 and 1700. I will take into consideration the function and significance of the artist in the performance of music, and the significance of diminutions in the development of written music.