- •Music in the Modern World western music of the twentieth century (general survey)
- •Discussion Activities Questions on the Text
- •Discussion Points
- •Additional Assignments
- •Some twentieth-century composers arnold schoenberg (1874-1951)
- •The composer speaks: arnold schoenberg
- •Discussion Activities Questions on the Text
- •Discussion Points
- •Bela bartok (1881-1945)
- •Discussion Activities Questions on the Text
- •Questions about Bartok
- •Discussion Points
- •Paul hindemith: his life and work (1895-1963)
- •The composer speaks: paul hindemith
- •Discussion Activities Questions on the Text
- •Discussion Points
- •Electronic music
- •Discussion Activities Questions on the Text
- •Questions about Stravinsky
- •Additional Assignments
- •Britten's operas
- •The composer speaks: benjamin broten
- •Discussion Activities Questions on the Text
- •Questions about Britten
- •Additional Assignments
- •Menotti. The opera composer
- •The composer speaks: gian carlo menotti
- •Discussion Activities Comprehension Questions and Points for Discussion
- •Additional Assignments
- •Michael tippett: a child of our time
- •30 Questions on the Text
- •Experimental (avant-garde) music
- •Olivier messiaen
- •Discussion Activities Questions on the Text
- •Discussion Points
- •Additional Assignments
- •George ligeti (b. 1923)
- •Karlheinz stockhausen
- •35 Discussion Activities Questions on the Text about Ligeti
- •About Stockhausen and Experimental Composers
- •Questions about Western Music of the 20th Century
- •Points for Discussion and Written Compositions
- •Popular music rock
- •Points about rock
- •Discussion Activities Comprehension Questions and Points for Discussion
- •Additional Assignments
- •Elvis presley - story of a superstar
- •Discussion Activities Comprehension Questions and Points for Discussion
- •The beatles
- •Comprehension Questions and Points for Discussion
- •English and American Musical History english music (general survey)
- •1. Opera.
- •2. Performing groups.
- •3. Festivals.
- •4. Education.
- •Discussion Activities Questions on the Text
- •The golden age in england
- •The english virginal school
- •Virginal music composers. William Byrd (1542-1623)
- •Byrd in his time and ours
- •English madrigalists
- •"The british orpheus"
- •Comprehension Questions and Points for Discussion
- •56 American music (general survey)
- •61 Charles ives, the first truly american composer (1874-1954)
- •Charles ives and american folk music
- •Comprehension Questions and Points for Discussion
- •The relation of jazz to american music
- •Louis armstrong
- •The swing era (duke ellington)
- •Spirituals
- •Comprehension Questions and Points for Discussion
- •The Art of Musical Interpretation the problem of interpretation
- •Discussion Activities Questions on the Text
- •Questions for Discussion
- •Additional Assignments
- •Conducting
- •The art of conducting
- •Questions on the Text
- •Some musical encounters
- •Questions on the Text
- •86 Leonard bernstein
- •Comprehension Questions and Points for Discussion
- •Herbert von karajan
- •Interview with herbert von karajan
- •The art of piano playing: glenn gould
- •Interview with glenn gould
- •Comprehension Questions and Points for Discussion
- •The art of violin playing: eugene ysaye
- •Comprehension Questions and Points for Discussion
- •The world of opera handel in performance
- •Franco zeffirelli: the romantic realist
- •La divina: maria callas
- •Callas remembered
- •Comprehension Questions and Points for Discussion
- •Peter pears: ronald crichton speaks
- •Discussion Activities Comprehension Questions and Points for Discussion
- •Notes Page 5
- •Page 21
- •Page 31
- •Page 32
- •Page 34
- •Page 35
- •Page 37
- •Page 39
- •Page 46
- •Page 47
- •Page 48
- •Page 49
- •Page 52
- •Page 53
- •Page 54
- •Page 57
- •Page 58
- •Page 59
- •Page 60
- •Page 61
- •Page 62
- •Page 63
- •Page 65
- •Page 66
- •Page 111
- •Page 112
- •Sources
- •Contents
Discussion Activities Questions on the Text
1. What is the role of interpretation in music as compared with the other arts? What is musical interpretation in a modern
sense?
2. Find in the text a passage describing the difference between the subjective and objective approach in a musical performance. Why does the argument about interpretation continue? What are the interpreter's rights and where are their limits?
3. What evidence does the author provide to show that modern musical notation is imperfect?
4. Find in the text passages describing the relationship between the composer and the performer. What was the performing practice in Palestrina's time? How has it changed since then? Why is it so difficult to perform old works?
5. How have theories of interpretation changed throughout the history of music? Give examples of how twentieth-century composers have tried to limit the freedom of the performer.
6. What are the three recommendations which the author makes to the performer?
7. Give a summary of the text in writing.
Questions for Discussion
1. Music for the public has always been dependent upon the performer. His role in the present organisation of concert-giving is so emphasized that he often overshadows the composer himself. What do you think of this? Do you agree? If not, give your reasons.
2. What, besides inborn, instinct and good taste, is to set the limits beyond which the performer may not go? Tradition, handed down from one generation of musicians to another, is often distorted in the process; yet how else, after the composer's death, are his wishes to be translated into sound? By what standard can one reading of composer's work be considered better than another?
3. What Soviet musicologists have dealt with questions of musical
79
interpretation? Have you read their books? What is your opinion of them?
4. What do you think makes a performance convincing and interesting? In your opinion, what is truth in musical interpretation?
Additional Assignments
1. Write a short critical review of a performance. Discuss the art of the performer in all its aspects - historical, technical and spiritual. Give examples.
2. Write an essay about your favourite performer. What qualities do you value in him/her most of all? In what music does he/she excel? How does he/she tackle the problems of interpretation?
3. Write a composition or give a short talk explaining and illustrating the following statement: "The comprehension of former style sharpens the senses for modern styles."
Conducting
Conducting involves not only precise indication of speed, dynamics and phrasing, but also careful preparation to ensure that the balance is correct and that the intentions of the composer are adequately represented. These requirements are not always observed, but a good performance is impossible without them. Unlike the singer or instrumentalist, the conductor has to persuade others to accept his view of the music and so help him to shape it into a unified and convincing whole. The method by which this is achieved varies according to the individual. Some conductors make detailed annotations in the orchestral parts or vocal scores, indicating details of bowing to the string-players or of breathing to the singers. Others rely on verbal instructions at rehearsals and on the impress of a strong personality.
The use of a baton, though at least as old as the 15th century, did not become the almost universal method of directing a performance until the second half of the 19th century. Other methods before that time included the hand, a roll of paper, or a violin bow. When a stick was employed it was sometimes used to beat time audibly, e.g. at the Paris Opera in the 17th and 18th centuries. Elsewhere in the 18th century it was normal for opera to be directed from the harpsichord, which was in any case necessary for playing the recitative, and for symphonies to be directed by the principal first violin (still known in Britain as "leader" of the orchestra). When the baton was introduced to London by Spohr in 1820 and to Leipzig by Mendelssohn in 1835, it was regarded as a novelty. The increasing complication of orchestral writing and the growth of the forces employed made a clear and visible direction indispensable, and 80
the use of the baton soon became general. Even today, however, there are a few conductors - e.g. Boulez - who prefer to dispense with it and use their hands.
The original purpose of conducting was simply to keep the performers together, and hence it was very necessary when large forces were employed for church or court festivals. By the latter part of the 18th century, however, the growing subtlety of orchestral expression called for something more than the mere indication of time. By the middle of the 19th century the conductor had become an interpreter. Berlioz, Wagner, von Bülow and Richter showed that a conductor needed to be a consummate* musician, with an intimate understanding of every detail of the score and the power to communicate his understanding to others. Hence the rise in the 20th century of the "star" conductor, who is worshipped as intensely as the operatic singer in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The only satisfactory training for conducting is continual practice, which naturally depends to some extent on opportunity. Among the other indispensable requirements are practical familiarity with orchestral instruments and a knowledge of their capabilities and limitations, ability to read a full score and to hear it mentally, and an intimate knowledge of the style of widely different composers and periods.
From: Collins Encyclopaedia of Music