8/13/2019 AA302 13J Tut. 2 Summary
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AA302 13J Block 2 Tutorial 2 Summary 1
As before, the following summary of the tutorial on Saturday,
11thJanuary 2014 is largely forthose who were unable to attend, but
might also be useful as a reminder to those who werethere. The
activities related to h.11!1" of #loc$ 2 and, as with the %revious
tutorial, werefocused not &ust on the ne't T(A )0*+, but more
widely on the bloc$s main issues, with the endof course e'am also
in mind. -n %articular, we considered the nature and e'tent of
the%erformers role in com%osition, a to%ic that has come u% more
than once in %ast e'am %a%ers.
)/e did not e'%licitly discuss another such to%ic, the
relationshi% between com%osition andim%rovisation, but several of
the days activities would throw light on it.+
I. /e began by lin$ing the issue of the %erformers contribution
to com%osition to summaryuestion " )#l.2, %.2*+ on scores as
insufficient or misleading bases for %erformance.
irst, we listened to three recordings of the Adagio first
movement of orellis violin sonata,3%., 5o.*, com%aring them with
the score )Scores 4, %.6+. The score is a facsimile of the 1710
Amsterdam edition by 8oger, which includes an ornamented version
of the violin %art, claimedto re%roduce the com%osers own
embellishments )the to% line of each system in the score+.9owever,
when 3%. was first %ublished in 8ome in 1700, it consisted of
&ust the sim%le,unornamented violin line and the figured bass
%art )the lower two lines in each system+.
The violinist in the 1strecording followed the 1700 score
e'actly, adding nothing to the %rintednotes, not even trills at
cadences. The 2ndviolinist )on :1*, trac$ **+ gave a faithful
renditionof 8ogers embellished version, while the *rddevised his
own, less florid ornaments. /econsidered three uestions, firstly,
which %erformance would have been closest to what orellimight have
e'%ected, deciding that it was recording three )since he would have
e'%ected someembellishment, but not sim%ly a re%roduction of
%reviously written out ornaments+. Secondly, wediscussed whether
and how far the 1700 score was an insufficient and;or misleading
basis for%erformance, concluding that it would not have been for
%erformers familiar with the -talian styleand its conventions of
ornamentation, but might be for those who were not so
familiar)insufficient if they were aware of what was missing but
unable to su%%ly it themselves,misleading if they were not even
aware of what was missing+.
Thirdly, we considered the e'tent of the 2ndand *rd%erformers
influence on the com%osition)imagining that the embellishments were
actually devised by the %erformers+. /e noted thatcertain elements
were ois+, from c.1"1!"1. -n this genre, all the notes to be %layed
are s%ecified,but the rhythm in which they are to be %erformed is
left to the %layer. /e discussed the 2 ndand*rdof the above
uestions, coming u% with similar $inds of answers, though we were
divided onwhether the %erformers contribution to the com%osition
was greater or lesser than in the orellie'am%le.
II.#efore the ne't listening activity, we discussed the conce%t
of the
8/13/2019 AA302 13J Tut. 2 Summary
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AA302 13J Block 2 Tutorial 2 Summary 2
At one end of the continuum is a %erformance of a wor$ li$e,
say, #eethovens ?iolinoncerto, where the model )the fully notated
score+ has a very high %ro%ortion of fi'edelements, so that sco%e
for truly com%ositional in%ut )as o%%osed to merely inter%retative+
onthe %erformers %art is minimal. 5earer the other end, one might
%lace a com%oser!%erformerli$e (o@art, im%rovising on a given
theme. 9ere, the %ro%ortion of fi'ed elements is lower.9owever, the
%erformers freedom is never absolute a model will always have at
least some
fi'ed elements and a %erformer would be e'%ected to follow
recognised conventions to somee'tent.
/e then tried to a%%ly this conce%t to two e'am%les, the basse
danse
