| Mozart,
Handel, and Gaubert
This
is the second in a series of columns I shall devote to pieces from
the Project: Flutewise Music Books. In my Fall 2003 column you read
my performance guide to Rameau's Tambourin, Saint-Säens's The
Swan, and Gluck's Minuet and Dance of the Blessed Spirits, all from
the Flutewise: Project book 1. This time I provide historical background
and performance tips for Mozart's Allegro, Handel's Siciliana and
Gigue, and Gaubert's Madrigal.
Mozart:
Allegro
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) is one of the greatest composers
of all time. He was a very prolific composer of 41 symphonies, 25
piano concertos, over a dozen operas, masses, other orchestral,
solo, and chamber works, and the splendid flute concertos in G and
D Major, Concerto for Flute and Harp in F Major, and four quartets
for flute, violin, viola, and cello.
Born
in Salzburg, Austria, Mozart was a child prodigy who began performing
on the keyboard at age six, touring throughout Austria, Germany,
France, England, and Italy. He sometimes performed with his sister
Maria Anna, whom he called by her nickname Nannerl. Mozart's music
was first published when he was seven. There is a famous story about
Mozart as a little boy. After dazzling the empress Maria Theresa
of Austria with his extraordinary playing, he reportedly climbed
into her lap and asked her to marry him!
This
Allegro is in F Major. The tempo should be quick, the character
light and cheerful. Remember to practice all your music with your
metronome, starting slowly and gradually getting faster in order
to build your rhythm and technique. For this piece, aim for a tempo
of crotchet = 120.
The
rhythm is syncopated, or off the beat, in the second and fourth
measures. To shape the phrases, play the crotchet more softly than
the quaver on the downbeat. In measure 12, lean on the E a little
before resolving to the F. This emphasis on the leading tone, or
seventh scale degree before a resolution on the tonic is called
an appoggiatura. In Italian, appoggiare means "to lean."
This same effect occurs again at 26. Make these appoggiaturas elegant
and graceful.
Notice
how there are two halves to the piece and each one is to be repeated.
Your music is marked f-p, meaning that each half should be played
loudly the first time and softly the second. To keep your interpretation
from becoming repetitive, experiment with other dynamics, crescendos,
and decrescendos. For example, try playing measures 3 and 4 louder
than 1 and 2 in order not to play both statements of the melody
the same way. Then decrescendo gradually from measure 11 to 12.
Be imaginative with the dynamics, always keeping in mind the stately
yet spritely mood.
Handel:
Siciliana and Gigue
George Frederic Handel (1685-1759) is one of the great composers
of the Baroque period. He is a contemporary of Bach, Vivaldi, and
Telemann. The Siciliana and Gigue are two movements from Handel's
Sonata in F Major, one of his numerous sonatas for recorder and
harpsichord. During the Baroque period, it would have been performed
on a wooden recorder held vertically, instead of our modern-day,
metal, transverse or horizontal flute.
The
siciliano was a popular dance during the Baroque period which was
adopted by composers including Bach and Handel. Originating in Sicily,
it was typically in 6/8 meter. This one is in 12/8. Play it in 4
with a slightly rocking rhythmic feeling. Accentuate the contrast
with the following, fast Allegro by playing the Alla Siciliana as
lyrically as possible. Strive for your most beautiful, open sound.
The
gigue was a fast, lively dance in the Baroque period. Handel wrote
gigues that were usually in the French style, meaning that they
were in 6/8 or in this case 12/8 and had lots of interval jumps
in the melody. But the origins of the gigue are much closer to home
for you UK players: the English and Irish jig!
Handel's
Gigue is good for practicing your tonguing. Play it slurred for
rhythmic evenness and a solid sound, then start single tonguing
it. Practicing tongued pieces slurred is always a good idea.
Gaubert:
Madrigal
The French flutist, composer, and conductor Philippe Gaubert (1879-1941)
was a professor of flute at the Paris Conservatory. Beginning in
the late nineteenth century, the Paris Conservatory was a center
for flute playing and compositions. Many staples of the flute repertoire
were written as morceaux de concours (competition pieces) for the
Paris Conservatory by composers including Taffanel, Gaubert, Fauré,
and Chaminade. In the 1940s and 1950s, important pieces were written
for the Paris Conservatory competitions by Henri Dutilleux, André
Jolivet, and Pierre Sancan.
Along
with his teacher Paul Taffanel, Gaubert published a book of 17 daily
exercises, a standard work for technique. He became conductor at
the Paris Opera in 1931. Gaubert's other flute compositions include
Nocturne et Allegro scherzando, Fantaisie, and sonatas for flute
and piano, and Three Watercolors for Flute, Cello, and Piano. His
music is in the French Romantic style, and throughout his works
he combines lyrical melodies with fluid virtuosity.
Gaubert's
flute music is highly idiomatic because he was a flutist himself.
The Madrigal is a short piece perfect to be played as an encore.
Like all Gaubert's music, it invites the flutist to play with a
wide variety of tone colors, meaning expressive differences in sound.
The madrigal was a musical and vernacular poetic form dating back
to the fourteenth century. Madrigals were typically works of pastoral
or love poetry, and Gaubert acknowledges this in this work of poignant
simplicity. The opening theme recurs throughout the piece. Play
it simply, with a beautiful tone and relaxed vibrato. Make the phrase
from measure 9 to 13 a delicately shaped arch with crescendo and
decrescendo. The middle section of the piece begins at the pick-up
to measure 23. Gaubert marks it Un peu plus vite, which is French
for "a little faster." Aim for a playful character in
the semi-quaver passages during the middle section. Pay close attention
to the composer's dynamics and tempo markings. The indications to
slow down, speed up, or return to the original tempo at measures
32, 34-35, 41-42, 51-53 invite you to use rubato and make the phrases
ebb and flow. At 53, return to your slightly slower original tempo
and singing tone. Taper the final B so that it seems to evaporate
into thin air.
Activities
- Listen
to Handel. Suggestions: Messiah, Water Water Music
- Listen
to Mozart: Symphonies #40 and #41, opera The Magic Flute, piano
concertos #21 and #23.
- Visit
a museum or look in a book to see Impressionist art painted during
Gaubert's time, by artists such as Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir,
Edgar Degas, and Paul Cezanne.
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I look forward to seeing you at the Flutewise event in Seattle,
Washington, USA in March, 2004, where we will work on these pieces
together.
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Keep sending me all your wonderful emails!
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Always have fun playing the flute!
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