The appearance of the sound
(2022)
author(s): Giangiacomo Sala
published in: KC Research Portal
Luthiers throughout the centuries have always tried to adapt and improve the characteristics of the instrument to the needs of the musicians of their time. I myself, as a bassoonist, am also a luthier of my own reeds and in their construction I try to help my musical needs as much as possible. It was in trying to improve the characteristics of my reeds that I felt the need to know better how they work. I wanted to understand how my manipulations on the reeds went to influence their functioning and consequently the sound generated. So, I decided to observe a reed while it vibrates and understand its movement. I want to repeat the experiment on different reeds to note any similarities and differences.
E quando mai potro cessar di piangere ? : an exploration of the links between arias with obbligato instruments and musical affects in Antonio Caldara’s oratorios composed between 1716 and 1736 for the Habsburg’s Hofmusikkapelle in Vienna
(2021)
author(s): Maud Haering
published in: KC Research Portal
Student Number
3262561
Supervisor
Inês de Avena Braga
Title
E quando mai potrò cessar di piangere ?
An exploration of the links between arias with obbligato instruments and musical affects in Antonio Caldara’s oratorios composed between 1716 and 1736 for the Habsburg’s Hofmusikkapelle in Vienna
Research Question
What is the link between obbligato instruments, text and affects in Antonio Caldara’s oratorios composed for the Vienna’s Hofmusikkapelle between 1716 and 1736?
Sub-questions
How can the creation of a descriptive catalogue of Caldara’s oratorios help uncover his choices for instrumentation in relation to the libretti and religious context?
How does Caldara’s choice of obbligato instrument emphasize the affects already present in the text?
Summary
The aim of this research is to rediscover music that has been forgotten for centuries. Through the topic of making links between obbligato instruments and affects in the texts from the libretti in Caldara's oratorios written when he was a composer at the Vienna Hofmusikkapelle, I would like to shine a light on new arias for voice and obbligato instruments which are, in my point of view, very beautiful and which deserve to be highlighted. Antonio Caldara needed to adapt to the imperial court music taste and also to its available instrumentarium, and from the day he started to compose for Charles VI, he began to use different instruments in his way of writing arias in his oratorios. In order to keep the focus of the research on his oratorios composed in Vienna, I purposefully will not discuss the considerable number of operas he composed in the same period, and I will contextualize these works thanks to a descriptive catalogue of each of the oratorios, to the translations of the texts of the arias, and by paying attention to the Habsburg dinasty in Vienna.
Short biography
Maud Haering is a French soprano. After studying Medieval Music at the Sorbonne University of Paris (France), she decided to continue her specialization in the Early Music repertoire in singing more Baroque and Renaissance music. With several ensembles, she performed different baroques styles (Italian, German, English and French) of different periods (17th and 18th centuries) either secular or sacred. Always looking for new repertoire to discover and sing, she really enjoys going into libraries to see manuscripts or to explore the thousands of resources available online to find new pieces. This research about Caldara is one of her explorations.
The bassoon in Barcelona in the second half of the XVIIIth century
(2020)
author(s): Bernat Gili Díaz
published in: KC Research Portal
The recent discovery of original bassoons made in Barcelona in the 18th century and the researches made on the musical life of the city during this period give us the opportunity to understand how the instrument was conceived and which role it had in its musical context. When were this bassoons made? By whom? For what purpose? Which repertoire could have been played with them? Do they share any common characteristics? How are these linked to their function in the music of that time? All these and other questions are answered in this research by putting together an organological analysis of the instruments, the repertory that has been preserved and different written sources concerning the historical and musical context and the instrument making. This research will be presented in form of research exposition.
Franz Danzi and Andre Jolivet (Bassoon Concertos)
(last edited: 2023)
author(s): Mira Hristova
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
This article is about two of the greatest composers who wrote Bassoon Concertos - Franz Danzi and Andre Jolivet. It covers information about their lives, experiences, musical periods and Concertos. What made me do this research is that I really enjoy listening to and performing their concerts as well as Danzi's well-known Woodwind Quintets. I find a lot of inspiration, meaning and opportunities for expression in their music and I hope the reader could too.
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