Music in 17th century Vienna, part 6; 200th post

"Margarita" is from Schmelzer's Balletti francesi, written in 1669 for a production of Cesti's opera Nettuno e Flora festeggianti. The numbers are Allemanda, Aria, Courente, Margarita, Sarabanda, Retirada.

I admit that I placed this piece here to allow a small joke on the occasion of the 200th post to this blog. But, surprise, "Margarita" does not refer to the cocktail—it is Margaret, far better known as the Spanish Infanta painted multiple times by Velasquez than as the wife of the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I.

This is a bright and stately march that was most likely meant for the ingress of the Empress on stage (family members frequently participated in ballets and other staged events in the court). It is especially interesting for the sharp timbral distinction in tonal space between the trumpets and the first violin and for the three-part Ursatz design that results (note especially the ending).

This, incidentally, is the last in the 17th-century Vienna series.

Music in 17th century Vienna, part 5

Today another dance from Johann Heinrich Schmelzer's second ballet for a production of Cesti's Il pomo d'oro in 1667. The numbers in this ballet are Gran ballo, Aria, Branle di Morsetti, Sarabanda per la terra, Balletto per il mare, Trezza, Aria Viennense, and Gigue. In an earlier post I looked at "Trezza," today the Branle di Morsetti.

In what has become a recurrent theme in this series, the Branle opens with a clearly defined tonal space of ^5-^8, from which a line proceeds, but in this case extending from ^5 rather than ^8. Note that the first strain even works out an interruption form (^5 down to ^2 in the antecedent, ^5 finishing on ^1 in the consequent), a design that seems anachronistic for what was already then considered an old-fashioned dance.

In the second strain a largely simple ascent from ^5 to ^8 is preceded by a neighbor note figure.

Music in 17th century Vienna, part 4

Here is the sarabande from what is either a ballet or other stage piece: Fechtschule (Fencing School). The numbers are Aria I, Aria 2, Sarabande, Courente, Fechtschule, Bader Aria.

Typical features are the well-defined initial tonal space ^5-^8 (circled), and the continuation from ^5. The second strain is unusual, not only for Schmelzer but for the repertoire of music with ascending cadence gestures, in the expansion of ^7. Note the unfoldings that help justify this reading. Whether an Urlinie would be a primitive ^5-^7-^8 or ^8-^7-^8 depends on which note in the initial tonal space you take as the focal note for the whole dance.

Music in 17th century Vienna, part 3

Today's dance by Johann Heinrich Schmelzer is from the second of two ballets he wrote for a production of Cesti's Il pomo d'oro in 1667, an event that successfully initiated Italian opera into Viennese musical culture. The numbers in this ballet are Gran ballo, Aria, Branle di Morsetti, Sarabanda per la terra, Balletto per il mare, Trezza, Aria Viennense, and Gigue.

Here a triad space (circled) is defined at the outset: C#5-E5-A5), but as in the courante in the first post in this series, the continuation is firmly from E5, or ^5. The second strain has the longest stepwise ascent to ^8 that I have seen anywhere, beginning from E4 in bar 6 and ending on A5. Above and below the staff, I've identified two ways of parsing the upper half of this line.

Music in 17th century Vienna, part 2

Continuing the series of posts on music by Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, here is another courante from from DTÖ volume 56. The suite is titled Partita ex Vienna, and its five numbers are Branle de village, Courente, Sarabande, Brader Tantz zu Wien, and Alio modo. I have no further information on the piece, as the introduction to volume 56 was published separately (that is, not included in the music volume).

In terms of melodic design, this is the simplest of the pieces in this series of posts: strong emphasis on ^5 throughout and an uncomplicated treatment of the upper register resulting in a simple ascending Urlinie.

Music in 17th century Vienna

Johann Heinrich Schmelzer was one of the leading musicians in the Viennese court in the seventeenth century. His career is closely associated with Leopold I, the Holy Roman Emperor from 1658 to 1705 (Schmelzer died in 1680).

Particularly known throughout his life as a violin virtuoso, Schmelzer joined the court musicians as a young teen, though the first record of an official appointment is in 1649, when he would have been in his mid to late twenties. He was director of instrumental music no later than 1658, and three volumes of his own music were published between then and 1664. It is possible that Antonio Bartoli was influential in Schmelzer's training as a violinist. The senior musician came to the court in 1624 (at the age of 19) and became widely known as an excellent violinist. He was appointed Kapellmeister in 1649, after which time he focused on the introduction of Italian opera to court performances.

The music readily available to me is instrumental: sonatas for one or more violins, and orchestral music for ballets incorporated into operas or meant for other staged performances. Dances from suites discussed in this series of posts come from DTÖ volume 56, Wiener Tanzmusik in der Zweiten Hälfte des Siebzehnten Jahrhunderts, edited by Paul Nettl (1960).

This courante is typical in its treatment of tonal spaces in the principal melodic part. A clear definition of the fifth A4-E5 is reinforced at the beginning of the second strain. A fairly complex treatment of the upper register ensues. The primitive Urlinie, ^5-^7-^8, that I have traced is probably the best abstraction for bars 19-28, but the reader will note that I have not attempted to "finish" the analysis by incorporating the several unfoldings.

Biographical information from "Johann Heinrich Schmelzer" and "Antonio Bartoli," by Rudolf Schnitzler and Charles E. Brewer, articles in Oxford Music Online. Brewer has also published a book on the topic: The Instrumental Music of Schmeltzer, Biber, Muffat and their Contemporaries (New York: Routledge, 2016).

Celtic series, part 4

This is the final entry in the Celtic series, which offers a preview of a documentation essay I am preparing now and hope to publish by the end of April.    [17 May 2017: see this entry--link--for an abstract and a link to the published essay.]

Of the four categories, the third is represented here with one more tune: "long" cadences where the lower and upper registers are connected by a stepwise sequence. The others are in category 4: modal tunes, or tunes showing a modal heritage.

"The Ruins of Killmallock" differs from the tunes discussed yesterday in that its B-section is concerned throughout with scaling the octave, down and up, rather than keeping the upper and lower registers separate until the run to the cadence. The result is a clear unfolding of the 6-8 clausula vera figure (see the final two bars).

Modal tunes are difficult to assess on a number of counts, not least being reliability of the transcriptions. If the tunes are as old as their modal turns suggest, then there is also the likelihood of multiple regional or individual variants, only one of which would have been captured in the particular published version. In the two dozen sources I am using for the documentary essay, only a small number of modal tunes appear, almost all of them in two volumes of Irish melodies.

The "Kerry Jig"--in two versions from different sources--is the easiest to read. Beginning in A minor, it closes in C major with a simple rising line, C: ^5-^6-^7-^8.

"The Oyster Wives Rant" is a reel, a Dorian melody (on A) assuming the i-VII-i harmony one associates with Celtic music nowadays. The boxes block out the fifths frame: A4-E5, G4-D5, E5-A4. I haven't marked the possible lines involved, but A4-G4-(A4)-B4-A4 is possible in the lower voices, and a modal primitive line E5-(D5)-E5-G5-(A5) in the upper.

"Thou fair pulse of my heart" is a slow ballad, not a dance tune. Although it is a song, it makes interesting use of lower and upper registers in a manner similar to the fiddle tunes. At the beginning G4-D5 is unfolded, then D5 is extended with a neighbor note Eb5. In the continuation phrase a scale (boxed) moves directly up to F4 and the close is on ^8. In section B, the registral order is reversed—as we've seen several times already in the fiddle tunes—with the upper one first (see directional arrows beginning in bar 9). The slow-moving cadence in the lowest register (boxed at the end) is a surprise.

Celtic series, part 3

This post continues the small sampling of items from a documentary essay I am now preparing and hope to publish by end of the month.

I've established four categories to discuss here. They are: (1) simple examples of rising lines, with appropriate focal tones; (2) play of registers common in—and congenial to—the violin; (3) "long" cadences where the lower and upper registers are connected by a stepwise sequence; (4) modal tunes, or tunes showing a modal heritage.

Today's topic is category (3), or "long cadences," though topic (2) also plays an important role in each of the tunes below.

Two versions of "Lady Binning" differ in a number of details. At (a) the Scotch snap rhythm puts equal emphasis on C#5 and E5, but the first phrase (that is, bars 1-2; the strathspey, recall, is played in a slow tempo) clearly focuses on C# (as ^3). In the consequent, however, the same gesture at (b) gives an opportunity to change focus to ^5 and engenders the rising cadence figure.
The registral pairing of lower, then upper, is reversed in the B-section--see (c) and (d)--and this time a simple third-line C#5-B4-A4 concludes the theme (see the fourth box in the third system). But the real point of interest for this post is the variant at (e), which charts either a rising octave scale (starting at A4) or, if you wish to begin with C#, a sixth.

In this version from another source, C#4 as focal note in the first section is even more obvious (box in bar 1 shows the variant that's responsible), but note the two endings: the first in the lower octave, where one might even imagine an implied B4 (as ^2), the second being the same in the first version above. The B-section is essentially the same.

From a mid-19th century source, two versions of the same tune, cast in a slow-fast pair (strathspey-reel). Here again, a strong emphasis on the two registers--upper, then lower--in the B-section ends with a charting through the entire octave. Note also the "one-too-far" stretch to B5, corrected with the Scotch snap, at the very end.

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Celtic series, part 2

Recently I began a series based on a small sampling of items from a documentary essay I am now preparing and hope to publish by end of the month.

The four categories for this series are: (1) simple examples of rising lines, with appropriate focal tones; (2) play of registers common in—and congenial to—the violin; (3) "long" cadences where the lower and upper registers are connected by a stepwise sequence; (4) modal tunes, or tunes showing a modal heritage.

Here I continue with tunes that mix categories (1) and (2).

"The Runaway Bride." A jig. This may be a good moment to note that, as with the many old English and French country dances, titles usually have little if any obvious relation to their music (unless texted, of course). At (a) a simple line creates focus on B4 (^3) but the register jumps upward at (b) in the violinistic pattern I describe in the first post. In the consequent phrase (a) is repeated but (b) is transformed at (c) into a simple rising cadence. The same registral pattern is repeated at (d) and (e).

"Donald Dow." Here I can thank the Highland Music Trust (link) for making available a number of collections transcribed via music notation programs (link to free downloads page). "Donald Dow" is a strathspey that could be nothing other than a violin tune. I have parsed the registers in this initial example (thicker rectangles with downward or upward pointing arrows).

As in "The Runaway Bride," the upper register follows and enables a rising cadence gesture. The strong "violin fifth"—though F4-C5 here, not open strings—with its repeated neighbor D5 (at (a) below) creates a focal tone C5 and so what I call a "primitive rising line" ^5-^7-^8, as C5-E5-F5 (beamed).

As in "David Grady's Reel" (see the first post in the series), every phrase ends with this cadence. Phrases 3 & 4, however, alter the earlier part of the phrase to make a space of the triad—at (b) and (c)—or A4-C5-F5, and by this means F5 becomes the focal note. An interesting moment at (d) brings a bit more emphasis to the bottom of the triad, so that one can hear—and in some variation a player might very well literally generate—a subsidiary line A4-G4-F4. See my small added notes in parentheses at (e).

Celtic series, part 1

I am preparing a new essay to be published on the Texas Scholar Works platform (link to my page there). The title is English, Scotch, and Irish Dance and Song: On Cadence Gestures and Figures, and it will be primarily a documentation of some 270 ascending-cadence examples from eighteenth and nineteenth century sources. With luck, I will have graphics and commentary finished before the end of April.     [17 May 2017: see this entry--link--for an abstract and a link to the published essay.]

Two large caveats are in order (both are discussed at length in the introduction to the essay): (1) my usual warning about music for social uses (the published version is not "the piece," which would certainly involve multiple iterations, but also variations, improvisation, interludes (or "trios"), and sequences ("sets" or "medleys"); (2) a warning that the sources are of all sorts, from published commercial products to ethnographic transcriptions. The sequence, here as in the essay, must be topical; a chronological sequence by publication date would be nonsensical (to give a taste of the problem: in the large collections of Joyce and O'Neill, one repeatedly finds notes to the effect "I remember this from childhood" or "from the singing of _____ in County _____"). Related to (2): the bass-clef accompaniments are additions to commercial publications. This is historically a repertoire of song, fiddle, and flute; the most likely more complex accompaniment (before the piano in a mid-nineteenth upper-middle class household) would be a harp.

The four categories are: (1) simple examples of rising lines, with appropriate focal tones; (2) play of registers common in—and congenial to—the violin; (3) "long" cadences where the lower and upper registers are connected by a stepwise sequence; (4) modal tunes, or tunes showing a modal heritage.

To begin, then: "The Duchess of Gordon," my one example of a simple rising line. The strathspey is a slow, often highly ornamented fiddle tune making frequent use of dotted notes, including the "Scotch snap" (see beat three in bar 1). This version, where the two phrases are identical, is most likely a fragment.

The next example is "David Grady's Reel," from P. W. Joyce, Ancient Irish Music: comprising one hundred airs hitherto unpublished, many of the old popular songs, and several new songs (1873). The reel is a lively dance in common time. I can't speak to the dances, but the music for the reel and the jig are often "cousins," the one in duple, the other in triple time.

As this already demonstrates, categories (1) & (2) overlap more often than not. By far the most common registral distinctions map onto the violin's fifths layout as lower fifth and upper fourth of the octave, or G4-D5 and D5-G5, indicated with directional arrows in the first system below. In this instance, the lower register dips down still further to the open D string. The upper register easily accommodates a stepwise ascending cadence gesture, repeated in every phrase here (boxed). Two points of interest: (1) phrases 2-4 open with a gesture to a successively higher note (circled and connected); (2) the high note B5, sforzando, articulates the division between repetitions of the tune (arrow in the final bar).