tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3534568135940084548.post711483161886622573..comments2024-02-26T01:48:07.140+01:00Comments on Flutin' High: Syrinx - who is playing whom?Flutin' Highhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05247994800560776502noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3534568135940084548.post-13494730952777494192010-02-21T09:06:54.791+01:002010-02-21T09:06:54.791+01:00I'd think about the Sarabande primarily as an ...I'd think about the <i>Sarabande</i> primarily as an <i>elegant</i> dance, and as such it would not be out-of-place in a sensual, fin-de-siècle stage music. As far as rhythm is concerned, the <i>Sarabande</i> isn't really "strong, weak, weaker", but "long, short; short long" - the difference might be small, but I believe there actually is a difference: there are, so to speak, "two beats" in each bar (a long one, and a short one…). The idea that the long one has to equal two short ones I don't believe to be <i>that</i> strict (after all, in "proper" Waltz time the three beats aren't of equal length either, are they?). A dance, and the <i>Sarabande</i> is no exception, is about a specific pulse, not a metronome beat…<br /><br />The sources for <i>La flûte de Pan</i> are the edition based on Marcel Moise's publication, one manuscript (not autograph) copy, and a few bars Louis Fleury published in his article <i>The Flute and its Power of Expression</i>. The manuscript has bar lines just like the edition - with one single exception, where a bar line is omitted, and I have very strong reasons to believe that is no mistake. I don't have the Fleury article at hand, but if I remember correctly, there are bar lines as well - the part Fleury publishes, however, does not really match the music we today know as <i>Syrinx</i>. The manuscript has very clear <i>rubato</i> markings that clearly show where it starts, and where it ends - just like Debussy usually does in his manuscripts…csanthttp://csant.info/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3534568135940084548.post-43494802869980519072010-02-13T15:36:06.270+01:002010-02-13T15:36:06.270+01:00Claudio I'd very much look forward to reading ...Claudio I'd very much look forward to reading what you have to say if you did "write down all of this in detail some day".<br />Peter-Lukas Graf mentioned in a recent masterclass the sarabande connection too. It is an intriguing thought that and gives an impulse in organising the phrases rhythmically. <br />However, I'll ask the following without having studied sarabandes in detail: wasn't the idea of a sarabande in the Baroque tradition a stately, courtly dance? Would the musical (not rhythmical) evocation of this noble dance be out-of-place in the mythical drama of Psyche? <br /><br />In La flute de Pan and Epigraphes Antiques, Debussy uses whole tone and octatonic tonalities to their advantage since they have no particular "center", no hierarchy, and can easily evoke a lability, an "otherness" that suggests sensuality or something "exotic". <br /><br />Could it be that he was doing the same with rhythm? That is, deliberately avoiding the traditional hierarchy of a 3/4 meter of Strong, weak, weaker.... <br />And didn't the original version have no bar lines anyway?<br /><br />I’m also curious as to whether the Rubato marked in the score is original. Even if it is, you and I are definitly in agreement that it often goes too far. Looking forward to your (or other's) ideas!Flutin' Highhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05247994800560776502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3534568135940084548.post-14938164466591534122010-01-31T11:51:53.192+01:002010-01-31T11:51:53.192+01:00Syrinx (or La flûte de Pan, as it was originally c...<i>Syrinx</i> (or <i>La flûte de Pan</i>, as it was originally called) is actually stage music. In the scene a nymph describes what she is hearing, while the music plays in the background - and what she describes is a dance, a very sensual dance that pulls her into its rhythm, until she cannot but start dancing herself in trance. She even speaks of beating her foot to the dance's beat! More on the musical side, it actually is a <i>sarabande</i>. Think of it in terms of (I won't even try to write musical notation on the web!) "long, short | short, long" (where long equals two shorts…). And what about <i>rubato</i>? Absolutely no! ;) (or well, not like (modern) flutists would be thinking about it). As a listening hint: listen to <i>sarabandes</i> by Rameau, or even by Debussy - even though I don't have too much faith in the performance style of a <i>sarabande</i> by modern pianists, listen to <i>clavecinistes</i>… And the "Egyptian" piece in Debussy's <i>Epigraphes Antiques</i> is written in (almost) the same scale <i>La flûte de Pan</i> is written in… I guess I should write down all of this in detail some day, as I know my opinion on the piece strongly differs from most musicians' approach… And I have strong reason to believe we have been pursuing a huge misunderstanding for decades… :)claudiohttp://csant.info/noreply@blogger.com