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recitatives (music which is intoned in a way that resembles speech).
There are notable exceptions to this rule, e.g. Carmen (Bizet) and The
Magic Flute (Mozart), both of which have spoken dialogue. The German
name for operas with spoken dialogue is singspiel (pronounced
ZING-shpeel). German productions pre-Wagner were almost always
singspiel
Many musicals, such as Les Miserables, Chess, Joseph, etc. are sung
through, and are, in the classical world, often referred to as
"popular operas" or "rock operas" to signify that they do bear some
resemblance to "classical" opera.
Another important difference is that in musicals, the principal
singers also dance. In opera that never happens.
Q11. What is the history behind Orff's Carmina Burana?
"Carmina Burana" was originally a cycle of medieval songs. The text is
rather risque poetry written by medieval students. Carl Orff adapted
some of them into the best known arrangement, not surprisingly called
"Carmina Burana," in the 1930s. Of the songs he adapted, some are in
Latin and some are in Middle High German (much as Chaucer's "Canterbury
Tales" is in Middle English). The best known of the songs he used is
"Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi" (a.k.a. "O Fortuna"), which was heavily used
in the film EXCALIBUR.
Carmina Burana is a wonderful introduction to classical music for the
Bruce Springsteen generation. When novice listeners are told that
it's all about sex, drinking, gambling, and more sex, it breaks down a
few of their preconceived notions about the classics.
The full texts to Carmina Burana, both original languages and English
translation can be found in the internet music archives, accessible by
Gopher or FTP (ftp.uwp.edu). We include the first movement here owing
to the frequency with which the request is made.
Q12. What are the words to the first movement? (the one in all the movies)
Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi Fortune, Empress of the World
1. O Fortuna 1. O Fortune
Coro Chorus
O fortuna, O fortune,
velut Luna like the moon
statu variabilis, you are changeable,
semper crescis, ever waxing
aut decrescis and waning;
vita detestabilis hateful life
nunc obdurat first oppresses
et tunc curat and then soothes
ludo mentis aciem; as fancy takes it;
egestatem, poverty
potestatem and power
dissolvit ut glaciem. it melts away like ice.
Sors immanis Fate - monstrous
et inanis. and empty.
rota tu volubilis. You whirling wheel,
status malus you are malevolent,
vana salus well-being is in vain
semper dissolubilis, and always fades to nothing.
obumbrata Shadowed
et velata and veiled
mihi quoque niteris; you plague me too;
nunc per ludum now through the game
dorsum nudum I bring my bare back
fero tui sceleris. to your villainy.
Sors salutis Fate is against me
et virtutis in health
mihi nunc contraria and virtue,
est affectus driven on
et defectus and weighted down,
semper in angaria. always enslaved.
Hac in hora So at this hour
sine mora without delay
cordum pulsum tangite; pluck the vibrating strings;
quod per sortem since Fate
sternit fortem, strikes down the strong man,
mecum omnes plangite ! everyone weep with me !
Q13. How do you pronounce all those conductors', composers', and
performers' names?
We don't have schwas and umlauts in ASCII, so I'll do my best. A *k
indicates that the guttural k sound (as in chutzpah or Bach) should be
used. #k indicates a palatal "ch" sound as in "reich." *n is the
french "n" as in "bon." *r is the French r. "zh" as in "vision"
Note that I assume a generic American accent here. Some of these
pronunciations may not work with other accents.
Claudio Abbado ah-BAH-do
Ernest Ansermet ahn-sair-MAY
Arleen Auger Au-ZHAY
Daniel Barenboim BARE-'n-boim
Berlioz Bair-lee-OHZ
Leonard Bernstein BURN-stine
Bizet BI-zay
Pierre Boulez BU-lez
Dieterich Buxtehude DEE-te*ri#k BOOKS-te-HOO-de
Chailly CHI-yee
Chopin Sho-PA(*)N
Couperin COU-peh*r-a*n
Debussy De-bu-SEE
Antal Dorati AHN-tahl DOH-rah-tee
Charles Dutoit Du-TWAH
Dukas DU-kahss
Dvorak D'VOR-zhack
Faure FAU-*ray
Cesar Franck Say-ZAHR Frahnk
Wilhelm Furtwangler VIL-helm FOORT-veng-ler
Bernard Haitink BURN-ard HIGH-tink
Haydn HIDE-in
Herbert von Karajan HAIR-bairt Fawn KAHR-ay-ahn.
Kodaly KO-da-ee
Raymond Leppard LEP-pard
James Levine Luh-VINE
Liszt List
Charles Mackerras Muh-KAHR-ass
Neville Marriner NEH-vul MARR-in-er
Kurt Masur Mah-ZOOR
Zubin Mehta ZOO-bin MAY-tuh
Monteverdi Mon-te-VARE-dee (not Mon-te-VUR-dee)
Mozart MOH-tsart
Johann Pachelbel YO-hahn Pa-*KEL-bel
Poulenc POO-lenk (that's how he pronounced it)
Ravel Ruh-VEL
Reiner RHINE-er
Saint-Saens Sa*n-SOH*N
Schubert SHOO-bairt
Shostakovitch shash-teh-KOH-vich
Smetana SMET-nuh
Georg Solti jorj SHOL-tee
George Szell jorj sell
Tchaikovsky Chiy-KAHF-skee
Verdi VARE-dee (not VUR-dee)
Richard Wagner *RI#K-art VAHG-ner
Bruno Walter VAHL-ter
Webern VAY-bairn
Weelkes Weelks
Wilbye WILL-bee
(Please do not send mail "correcting" the French pronunciations. I
know there are many schools of thought on them. I finally settled it
for the FAQ by asking a native Frenchman. Unless you can offer a very
compelling argument the other way, it's staying. Sue me. Sorry, but
I'm sick to death of my mailbox flooding every month with thirty
opinions on how to pronounce Debussy. Thank you for your cooperation.)
Q14. How are composers' works usually indexed? Why so many ways?
I just heard this radio guy announce "Foobar's string quartet #13
in E flat minor, opus 173 number 3, the `Boiled Egg,' FWV 145."
Why did he identify it four times over?
Newcomers to the classical repertoire are often disturbed to discover
that a work may have a "catalog number" and an "opus number" and a
name (e.g. The Jupiter Symphony, the Clock, the Cuckoo and the
Nightingale, the Goldberg Variations, etc). Many early composers did
not catalog their works at all, and thus it was left to scholars in
the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to compile thematic catalogs.
Bach, for instance, is catalogged with BWV numbers (Bach Werke
Verzeichnis, "Bach work catalog"), etc. Handel, however, published
some of his work in collections called opera (that's the Latin plural
for "Opus" and has a meaning entirely different from the word meaning
sung musical drama). Thus a Concerto Grosso of Handel might be
referred to as Opus 3 No. 3, but will still have an HWV number. To
make matters worse, some works have their own names and numbers.
Sticking with Handel as example, Organ Concerto #13 is also known as
"The Cuckoo and the Nightingale," and as HWV 295.
Here is a list of the major thematic catalogs...
B - Catalog of the works of Dvorak by Burghauser
BeRI - Catalog of the works of Roman by Bengtsson
BuxWV - "Buxtehude-Werke-Verzeichnis" Catalog of the works of
Buxtehude by Karstadt
BWV - "Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis" Catalog of the works of J.S. Bach
by Schmieder (sometimes designated by "S.")
D - Catalog of the works of Schubert by Deutsch
D - Catalog of the violin concertos of Tartini by Dounias
E - Catalog of the symphonies of L. Mozart by Eisen
F - Catalog of the works of Vivaldi by Fanna
F - Catalog of the works of W.F. Bach by Falck
G - Catalog of the works of Boccherini by Gerard
G - Catalog of the works of Torelli by Giegling
G - Catalog of the violin concertos of Viotti by Giazotto
H - Catalog of the unpublished works of Beethoven by Hess
H - Catalog of the works of Charpentier by Hitchcock
Hob - Catalog of the works of F.J. Haydn by Hoboken
HW - Catalog of the works of J.C.F. Bach by H. Wohlforth
HWV - "Handel-Werke-Verzeichnis" Catalog of the works of Handel by Baselt
J - Catalog of the works C.M. von Weber by Jahns
K - Catalog of the works of W.A. Mozart by Koechel (same as KV below)
K - Catalog of the works of Rosetti
K - Catalog of the works of D. Scarlatti by Kirkpatrick
KV - "Koechel-Verzeichnis" Catalog of the works of W.A. Mozart by Koechel
L - Catalog of the works of D. Scarlatti by Longo
L - Catalog of the works of Debussy by Lesure
LWV - "Lully-Werke-Verzeichnis" Catalog of the works of Lully by Schneider
M - Catalog of the works of Vivaldi by Malipiero
MS - Catalog of the works of Molter
Op - Opus number, generally a chronological publication number that may
have been assigned by either the publisher or composer
P - Catalog of the works of J.M. Haydn by Perger
P - Catalog of the works of Vivaldi by Pincherle
R - Catalog of the works of Vivaldi by Malipiero as published by Ricordi
R - Catalog of the works of Gottleib Muffat by Riedl
RO - Catalog of the works of Gottschalk
RV - Catalog of the works of Vivaldi by Ryom
S - Catalog of the works of Liszt by Searle
SR - Catalog of the works of Soler by Padre Samuel Rubio
SWV - "Schutz-Werke-Verzeichnis" Catalog of the works of Schutz by
Bittinger
TWV - "Telemann-Werke-Verzeichnis" Catalog of the works of Telemann
by Kassel
VB - "Valentini Bakfark Opera Omnia" Catalog of the works of Balint
Bakfark
WoO - "Werk ohne Opuszahl" or "Work without opus number", typically
unpublished works or works that were not assigned an opus number
by the composer
Wq - Catalog of the works of C.P.E. Bach by Wotquenne
WWV - "Wagner-Werke-Verzeichnis" Catalog of the works of Wagner by
Deatheridge, Geck & Voss
Z - Catalog of the works of Purcell by Zimmerman
Q15. What's the point of having a conductor? Can't professional
musicians keep time by themselves?
Yes, professional musicians can keep time by themselves, but a
conductor does significantly more than just beat time. A good
conductor will add interpretation and shape to a piece of music by
controlling the dynamics of the music and by indicating entrances and
cutoffs with great precision. There are some orchestras that play
without a conductor (the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra springs to mind),
but even in that case, there is usually one instrumentalist who
functions as the "leader" for a particular piece and whom the other
musicians look to for cues. Many pieces change tempo in mid-stride,
and a single person making the choice of exactly when and how can make
the transition occur with great precision.
In a large symphony orchestra there is also the additional problem
that very often the acoustics of the hall are such that the musicians
on, for instance, the extreme right of the orchestra simply cannot
hear what the musicians on the extreme left are doing, and thus it is
necessary to have a common reference, namely, the conductor. While it
is true that each musician can keep time, the accumulated error would
eventually cause the rhythm to become murky.
The conductor has yet another purpose, and that is to set the "tone"
of a piece. Whether the conductor uses sudden, forceful movements or
smooth and delicate strokes will in many ways affect the way the
musicians interpret the music and subsequently, the overall color of
the work.
Listen for yourself to the effects of the conductor. Pick any work
that you know well and listen to a particular recording many times...
until you really feel you *know* it. Then buy or borrow recordings of
the same piece under other conductors. How is it different? Is the
conductor interpreting the music differently? Is he adding color to
certain areas and letting other areas speak for themselves? With
practice it becomes relatively easy to differentiate conductors'
styles.
Q16. Will a "DDD" recording always sound better than "ADD" or "AAD"? What
do those codes mean anyway?
In the early days of the CD, the Society of Professional Audio
Recording Services (SPARS) [pronounced "sparz" not "sparse"] developed
a three-letter coding system to distinguish between the types of
recording equipment used at different junctures of the making of a CD.
The D indicates digital equipment, and the A indicates analog
equipment.
The first letter indicates the type of equipment used in the initial
recording. The second letter indicates the type of equipment used for
mixing and editing. The third letter is superfluous. It indicates
the type of equipment used for mastering, which in the case of a CD
can only be digital.
Many people use the SPARS code as a barometer of the sound quality of
a CD, and this is a wrong thing to do. The SPARS code doesn't, nor
was it ever meant to, reflect the actual quality of the CD. Between
digital and analog recorders, neither intrinsically sounds better than
the other. A recording made on a good Studer A820 fitted out with
Dolby SR will generally sound better than a recording made on a cheap
Sony TCD-D3 DATman, though the DATman will sound better than many
cheap analog systems.
In the end, both analog and digital systems have the ability to sound
great or to sound awful. It all depends on the type of equipment and
the skill of the engineer operating it. Many modern DDD recordings
are so carelessly made that they don't sound nearly as good as analog
recordings made 20 years ago. Then again, a good DDD can sound
*excellent*, as can a good analog recording. You get the idea.
Of course, neither method of recording says anything about miking.
Even if the engineer uses the best digital equipment, if the
microphones are not placed properly, the recording won't sound very
good, and a good mic technique recorded to a walkman will in all
likelihood be more aesthetically pleasing.
There is also confusion over what rubric should apply to a particular
recording. What about classical recordings made straight to two-track
and thus don't need any mixing? What about digital recordings mixed
through an analog console versus digital recordings mixed through a
digital console? Why should a 40-year-old reissue get the same AAD
rubric as a carefully-made analog recording produced using Dolby SR?
The code did not evolve with the technology, and is hopelessly
outdated.
Q17. What is "authentic performance practice"?
Any musical work can be interpreted in a variety of different ways.
Authentic performance practice stresses scholarship and an
understanding of the performance characteristics in vogue during the
composer's lifetime, those actually intended by the composer, or those
which the composer might have heard, performed, or been aware of.
Therefore, a performance of the Chicago Symphony playing a Bach
orchestral suite, for instance, would probably fail to impress
authentic performance aficionados, because Bach never even heard (let
alone intended the piece for) such a large ensemble.
Authentic performance practice can extend to the selection of
instruments themselves (you don't see hurdy gurdies or recorders in
modern orchestras), instrument construction, string material, tuning
and temperament, seating arrangements, trills and figures, numbers of
performers on a given part, tempo, doublings, and of course, overall
playing technique. Compare an authentic performance and a modern
performance of the same work. One is likely to notice substantial
differences between them. The choice as to which one prefers is left
as an exercise for the reader.
******
Copyright (C) 1995 by Gabe M. Wiener. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
This compilation document is copyrighted. Permission is hereby granted
for electronic distribution by non-commercial services such as
internet. Any other use, or any commercial use of this document
without permission is prohibited by law. Inquire to gabe@panix.com.
******
--
Gabe Wiener Dir., Quintessential Sound, Inc. |"I am terrified at the thought
Recording-Mastering-Restoration (212)586-4200 | that so much hideous and bad
PGM Early Music Recordings ---> (800)997-1750 | music may be put on records
gabe@panix.com http://www.panix.com/~gabe | forever." --Sir Arthur Sullivan
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