L’Arte Armonica or a Treatise on the Composition of Musick
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Book Series
Musical Treatises, vol. 3
- Pages: 160 p.
- Size:210 x 270 mm
- Illustrations:58 b/w, 21 tables b/w.
- Language(s):English, French, German
- Publication Year:2015
- € 90,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE
- ISBN: 978-2-503-56479-1
- Hardback
- Available
This book focuses on the origins of instrumentation and orchestration
BIO
Beverly Jerold's publications concerning performance and other matters in the long eighteenth century have appeared in such journals as Early Music, Eighteenth-Century Music, Dutch Journal of Music Theory, The Beethoven Journal, Ad Parnassum, Recherches sur la musique française classique, BACH: Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute, Journal of Singing, The Consort, The Musical Times, The Strad, International Piano, Choral Journal, and College Music Symposium. Trained in both applied music and musicology, she is active as a performer on keyboard instruments.
Summary
When a professional orchestra today plays an eighteenth-century work with parts for wind and brass instruments, nothing seems amiss. Yet writers in the eighteenth century and beyond indicate that many notes in these scores could not be played in tune by these instruments; certain notes could be produced only with difficulty or not at all. The present work concentrates on the time period least explored in modern writings — the years before Hector Berlioz’s "Grand traité d’instrumentation et d’orchestration modernes" (1843) — and traces the development of instrumentation instruction for composers from its beginnings in the late eighteenth century, after the era of J. S. Bach and G. F. Handel. An introductory chapter includes background information on subjects related to the discussion: intonation, tuning, key action, the lack of a standard pitch level, and the difficulty of reed making. While earlier manuals supply little but the range of instruments, Valentin Roeser’s "Essai d’instruction à l’usage de ceux qui composent pour la clarinette et le cor" (1764) offers composers concrete assistance in writing for the clarinet and horn. Louis-Joseph Francoeur’s "Diapason général de tous les instrumens à vent" (1772) provides the same for all the winds and brass, as does Othon Vandenbroeck’s "Traité général de tous les instrumens à vent à l’usage des compositeurs" (c.1793). This book is not a history of instrumentation per se, but an account of technological progress and ever-increasing knowledge.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abbreviations
Preface
Introduction to the Wind and Brass Instruments
A Compelling Need
Criticism of Unplayable Parts
Intonation
Differing Pitch Levels
Tuning
The Difficulty of Reed Making
Key Action
Transposing Instruments
The Origins of Instrumentation: Rœser, Francœur and Vandenbroek
Flute
Oboe
Clarinet
Bassoon
Horn
Trumpet
Trombone
Accompaniment
Wind and Brass Instruments: Other Manuals and Commentaries to 1820
Flute
Oboe
Clarinet
Bassoon
Horn
Trumpet
Trombone
Wind and Brass Instruments, 1820-1840
Manuals
Flute
Oboe
Clarinet
Bassoon
Horn
Trumpet
Trombone
Instruments from Mid-Century onward
Berlioz on Instrumentation
A Sample of Subsequent Commentaries
The Exposition universelle of 1867
Into the Twentieth Century
Mozart’s Orchestrations for Works by Handel and C. P. E. Bach
Conclusion
Appendix
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Wind and Brass Parts
Selected Bibliography
Index of Names
