ARTISTIC RESEARCH REPORT 2

ARTISTIC RESEARCH REPORT 2 Data collection and intervention cycle The needs of my research so far, are leading me to a case study research as I need to get into depth in the very specific research area of sound colors, regarding a very specific composer and performer, Eugene Ysaye. He is a legend of performance in violin and on the same time his compositions appear to contain all his musical wisdom and creativity.in this intervention cycle I triangulate between literature, which is the most important part of this cycle and the base of my whole research, interviews and media material ( photographs ) LITERATURE What I have done so far in this intervention cycle was to try to get into the core of what is called Franco-Belgian tradition or Franco-Belgian school, which is the school of musical origin of Eugene Ysaye. This is going to be the first step of deep understanding of this specific person and the environment in which he grew and thrived. One approach like this, would only be reliable if it would search for the historical evolution of the violin traditions from its beginning until the point of the division into different schools. THE ORIGINS OF THE FRANCO-BELGIAN VIOLIN SCHOOL The origin of the violin technique in general is Italian, with Arcangelo Corelli being considered as the father that gathered all the confused violin idioms of his predecessors (Gabrieli, Monteverdi, Farina) embodying them into a dignified musical expression that inspired the next generations until our days. Corelli > Somis > Pugnani > Viotti > Rode, de Beriot Viotti was a landmark of the evolution of the violin technique and styling of his time. As a world fame virtuoso, traveling around Europe and giving concerts, exported the Italian mastery in a very broad way. As a gifted composer and progressive violinist he brought the instrument officially into classics along with his genius contemporaries like Haydn and Mozart by making the first ever concerto for violin and orchestra. Tartini > Nardini > Pollani > Baillot, +(Kreutzer, Rode) = French school of Paris > de Beriot = modern franco-belgian school De Beriot > Vieuxtemps > Ysaye The collaboration Baillot, Kreutzer and Rode publishing the la Method de violon of the new French school of Paris, represents a solid but cold fusion of all the great violin traditions since Corelli. However, it couldn t satisfy the French leaning towards superficial brilliancy and showy emotionalism and the danger the school to fall apart before the sensation that Paganini arised was real. The overwhelming success of Beriot s compositions saved the French school from the dissaster, creating the new combination of modern Franco-Belgian

violin school. That school produced more first rank virtuosos than any other school in 19nth century, like Vieuxtemps, Wieniawski, Sarasate, Ysaye and Kreisler. Ysaye was carrying in a way all this violinistic culture of the masters before him, whose legacy altogether formed the so called Franco-belgian school. Ysaye was propably the top incarnation of a performer coming from that school, and definitely one of the top performers of all time, enhancing many diversities, which altogether at the end of his life composed his greater work, the 6 sonatas for solo violin. Ysaye, as I can understand him so far, was a performer of extreme measures, doing anything possible to capture firstly the attention of the audience, and then seduce it and dominate musically and spiritually on it. HOW CAN YOU DO IT??? Alberto Bachmann SHOWS the way! Who is Alberto Bachmann? A.Bachmann was a student o Eugene Ysaye of the late 19nth century, carrying much of his master s wisdom and sharing it in his book. In 1925 he wrote a book regarding all the aspects of violin-constructive, technical, artistic. Eugene Ysaye, by the time that he finishes the writing of 6 sonatas he decides to write the preface of his former student s book, giving his full approval and recommendation regarding the result of the book. So Bachmann can be interpreted as a loyal student of Ysaye, who takes the responsibility to transfer the knowledge of his teacher to the next generations. In this retrospect, and with the general approval of Ysaye still in life, we can consider this book as an original 1 st degree source. What were the qualities of Ysaye according to Bachmann? Created a violinistic ideal Awakens enthusiasm The appeal to the heartstrings and the fervor of exultation are always present on his playing He dominates the violin and those who hear him Vigorous playing, with powerful staccato Slower pace in tempo but sustained beautiful tone with broad and powerful bow strokes Unconventional style of playing with fiery energy and frequent use of rubato (It is well to note the fact that the violinists themselves have been the greatest obstacles toward progress and development in violin technique, a fact that is as strange as it is true. And we have not changed. We are still the same at the present day, and take but little interest in new things unless they are placed on the market with a great outcry of advertisement)

Bachmann then shows all the necessary parts that bring to that end, naming all the important elements of a true artist as he was ofter saying: Portamento & accentuation,tone development, rhythm On the violin, beauty of tone is secured by the use of a broad and powerful bow stroke, and the powerful bowing may be employed quite readily for music which is to be played lightly.

As it seems, the attack of the sound, is a very basic ingredient for a powerful bow stroke and in his book Bachmann gives a lot of attention to it.

MEDIA MATERIAL (photographs) Marsick, Massart, Thompson, Ysaye ( the source reffered to the year 1887 ) The visual part is certainly very important, although music is the art for the acoustic sense. This photo is an excellent sample of how Eugene Ysaye would look while performing in his prime, and we can find a lot of interesting information by his body language to apply in the intervention. Without the photograph, this wouldn t be possible. The grip of the bow is remarkable. In this specific photograph we can see the teacher Massart and his students Marsick, Thompson and Ysaye giving us an idea of theis styl. Many interesting factors can be found in this photo. First of all, starting from the legs Ysaye is the only one that leans on his right foot stepping forward his left. Marsick and Thompson are following the pattern of their teacher leaning on their left foot. Going upwards to the right hand we can see that he is the only one not to handle in angle his bow being on the tip of it. Seems like he holds the bow with his fingertips and without the support of the little one. The wrist seems as well having a break towards the floor. His left hand is totally vertical to the ground, holding high the instrument.

INTERVIEWS Goran Gribajcevic: The bow grip of the photo for me is fantastic [ ] Eugene Ysaye was, monumental, a true big soloist who would play chamber music just for fun[ ] The Franco-belgian school is the best school that ever existed, coming from the very great violin school of Viotti who was the first to give attention to sound quality, and not to fireworks like Paganini. The Russian school came actually afterwards, borrowing some characteristics from Franco-belgian school. J. ter Haar: Looking at E. Ysaye s bowing technique, I get an impression of very little pressure on the strings, and more of a free playing bow without the dominance of its player on its reactions. A style totally opposed to the Russian school. But even for the standards of the 19nth century violinists his style tends on the light side of playing. N.Morozova: From just a photo I can t be convinced that he was playing always like that, and I don t believe, however from what I see there is a violinist with absolutely brillante playing, with very light bowing and propably very fast as well. But it doesn t seem to me to be of a violinist with powerful tone.

Grobajsevic: Ysaye s, and every violinist s of that era, secret for the sound colors was the Son Filé. Ter Haar: Son file is a really old treatise in practicing, from 18nth century, which aims to produce a tone without pressure and with minimum speed. If you can do this, then a free tone in performance without nessecarrily low speed can be achieved in performance. Morozova: The slow bowing, and the ability to reserve your bow in every beginning of its running, having afterwards the possibility to run with bigger speed, is an ability of great violinists and this ability secures a great and free tone production.

Ivan Galamian gives a definition regarding Son Filé in his book the violin principles, which was published in 1962 after 12 years of writing. Propably as old as the study of scales is the practicing of the son file, namely, the long sustained tone, which has served generations of violinists as a medium for the study of tone production and bow control [ ] What breath control is for the singer- the ability to sing long phrases without having to interrupt them for a new breath-bow control in the long, sustained stoke is for the violinist- the ability to sustain a long tone or musical phrase without having to change bow. Carl Flesch, some 35 years before Gallamian, says more or less the same thing in his book the art of the violin. He gives his own definition regarding Son Filé as so called a sound coming out only from one bowing, sustained and long enough to produce a cantabile character. According to the great master, the duration may last 15 seconds, and if someone wants to try longer than 15 seconds then this is for the sake of study and not performance. On the purpose of studying, a forte son file may last from 6-24s and a pianissimo from 12-60s. A successful sustained tone needs as less bow changes as possible and evenness of the bow without bumps, jerking and tone loses. The continuous sound needs more than any other kind of bowing the aid of the left hand, because the left hand has the means to animate and motivate the sound with the proper use of vibrato. So, the Son Filé is not purely a right hand s duty, but it is more of a combination, at least for a performing situation. Demetrius Constantine Dounis, one of the most prominent pedagogues of the 20 th century published eleven books of studies for the violin from 1921-1946 with intense concern on the proper ergonomics of violin playing and on the proper bow grip. Dounis had studied medicine in Vienna, and he used his knowledge to provide a technical guide ideal to the ergonomy of the human body on a scientific basis, beyond tension and muscle mismanagement. Among others, he published as well one exercise about sustained tone. However, Dounis was always saying the following regarding his technical guide: The true technical training of the violinist is not merely a training of the arm and fingers but, principally, a training of the brain and memory. The fingers and the arm should obey perfectly the intention of the player in order to be able to perform any movement with complete mastery[ ] What we call technique is nothing but a series of brain reflected movements. The secret lies in building up these movement pictures into a rational, logical whole-namely, technique.

However, Dounis didn t really give a very specific instruction on the production of the tone. Flesch, on the other hand talked about the the right point of contact in order to produce a fine tone, without vacillating from there and towards there. In other words, Flesch was saying that the point of contact has to be firm and certain during a sustained tone. He said furthermore, that this kind of tones need a bow touch barely touching the string without any weight on it but the sound should not be breathy, but a solid sound. Dounis Son File exercises

Gallamian gave more extended information in his book regarding the tone production. He said that there are 3 main factors upon which the tone production relies on: Speed, Pressure and sounding point (taking for granted of bow stroke moving parallel to the bridge). These three factors according to Gallamian are interdependent, so If one of them changes in relation to the other two, at least one of the others should be adjusted as well. Gallamian gives some examples for this interdependence Increase of pressure with constant sounding point requires increase of the bow speed; decrease of pressure requires decrease of bow speed Increase of pressure with constant bow speed requires a sounding point moving to the bridge Decrease of pressure with constant bow speed requires a sounding post toward the fingerboard. Greater speed with constant pressure requires the sounding point to move toward the fingerboard. Slower speed with constant pressure requires a sounding point toward bridge. Speed and pressure are the two energy producing factors on the instrument, and the sounding point is the stabilizer factor between two vertically opposed forces of nature. So, the sounding post is the ratio of weight/speed. But beyond these factors, very important on the decision where the sounding point is to be placed is also the length, the thickness and the tension of the string. The sounding point should be closer to the bridge on thinner strings rather than thicker strings. And of course, on higher positions, because the length of the string is dimished the sounding point should be as well moved toward the bridge. However, it is unlike that Ysaye and violinists of his era used to change frequently during their playing sounding post. Carl Flesch himself, that represents this era says very strongly that the sounding point does not change ever. So we will proceed with the approach of Flesch who was closer to Ysaye as well and can give us more safe information to approach his secrets.

INTERVENTION & EXPERIMENTATION https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=65&v=vj-wxuuwfcw In this recording, I play a very specific phrase in four different modes. The first one is the interpretation that I used to have before the research, in terms of tone production. In the second one, I try to apply my findings regarding the bow grip, trying a more shallow and sensitive to the fingertips grip, and a different approach on the drawing of the sound out of the instrument, with respect to the son file technique. Son file however, is about a very slow and sustained tone on a very specific register of the string, usually close to the bridge, trying to generate the clearest and fullest in overtones sound possible. I am experimenting with three different registers of the string, close to fingerboard, middle, and close to the bridge, to see the result of the sound, and how the son file drawing of the sound will work in every occasion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxudkuwrtnq In this recording I play the same phrase, with new approach in the tone production, experimenting with two different bows that have completely different balance. The one used first is 58gr, balancing in the middle towards the tip, whereas the second one is 60-61gr balancing closer to the frog. The feeling with the new technique is very different with the two bows, and although I am used to playing with the second one, in this approach the first bow seems more friendly and responding with more direct sound, however the second one makes very interesting sound effects on the tip where without pressure and less bow weight gives back a sound cold, peculiar and unearthly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycwlygsseaw In this recording I play the excerpt I have been experimenting with the new approach until the end of the movement. PLANS FOR NEXT INTEVENTION Michel Ysaye, Ivry Gitlis interviews Louis Persinger and students, Gingold and students De Beriot: 3rd book, singing recordings of Marchesi school of singing, compare with Wagner singers! Garcia singing treatise. Crickboom: violin method. The Legacy of Eugene Ysaye: Transmitted, Adapted, and Reinterpreted