LEADING FROM THE HARPSICHORD: A HISTORICAL INFORMED APPROACH TO EARLY MUSIC 'CONDUCTING'
(2023)
author(s): Pablo Devigo
published in: KC Research Portal
The harpsichord enjoyed a preponderant role at the end of the 17th century, not only on its own but, in the words of C. P. E. Bach, as an instrument "entrusted [...] with full command" and "in the best position to assist [...] the entire ensemble in maintaining a uniform pace."
The following is a study of the aspects related to ensemble leadership as exerted by the harpsichordist. For this, this research draws conclusions from historical sources in regards to the influence of the basso continuo realization in the ensemble, and other non-verbal communication devices (such as gestures) in order to reveal a global picture of this kind of leadership that was particularly prevalent at the time.
No Joy in the Brilliance of Sunshine
(2022)
author(s): Sean Bell
published in: KC Research Portal
Sean Bell
Student number: 3230643
Master Early Music Voice
Research supervisor: Dr. Inês de Avena Braga
Title: No Joy in the Brilliance of Sunshine
Research question: How can I create a stage performance combining and connecting my two sound worlds/style identities as a performer?
Summary of the results of the research:
In this research I have explored the creative development of a stage performance, combining operatic music by Handel with contemporary performance art. Through this I have explored how I can combine my duality as a performer: the early music singer and the contemporary performer and creator. This project and its connected research are a part of my artistic development as a musician, creator and performer, and the urge to explore this music and questions grew out of previous projects and ideas.
I have created and developed my project through following a consequential progression of artistic choices, and through this space that has unfolded I have come to find an essential identity of myself as a performer and creator. By being honest towards myself through the critical reflection, I have been able to investigate my process, my preferences, inspirations and my distinct personal style. Through this I have been able to strengthen my artistic identity and the artistic tools I use, bringing forth a more complete performer.
Short biography:
Sean Bell is a countertenor and performance artist from Oslo. His studies centre mainly on chamber and sacred music and opera, yet also includes a focus on new ideas and methods of interpreting classical and contemporary repertoire. Through sonic imaginations and arrangements, he explores this repertoire in new ways. This has led him to a series of collaborations and solo performances on the border line between classical music and performance art. Bell also works with contemporary music and has premiered several pieces for countertenor. He is an active improviser, plays baroque guitar and engages in instrument building and music electronics.
Batterie & Baroque Guitars
(2021)
author(s): Matthew Xie
published in: KC Research Portal
The objective of my proposal is to educate aspiring professionals and students of baroque guitar on the history and development of the instrument and the strumming style in France
Angelical music XVI-XVIII centuries music from the New World
(2020)
author(s): Carlotta Pupulin
published in: KC Research Portal
CARLOTTA PUPULIN
Baroque Harp
Supervisor: Dr. Inês de Avena Braga
Title: Angelical music for a New World
Research question: How did music develop in Hispanic America between the XV-XVII centuries?
To bow, or not to bow
(2018)
author(s): Alexandra Lopez Arca
published in: KC Research Portal
Name: Alexandra López Arca
Main Subject: Classical Violin
Research supervisor: Liesbeth Ackermans
Title of Research: To bow, or not to bow. Modern bow vs. baroque bow: comparisons and inspirations
Research Questions: To what extent do the shape and construction of the bow affect the violinist’s sound and to what extent do her/his use of the bow and musical choices influence the sound? What can a modern violinist learn from experimenting with a baroque bow? What are aspects of the evolution of the violin bow, its use and the evolution of right hand technique from the 18th century until now that are essential to be aware of when playing with both modern and baroque bow?
Summary of Results:
The bow is the soul of the violin. Playing with different bows alters our sound. Their shape and construction affect the articulation that we naturally get with them. This fact tells us a lot about the music for which they were built, and we can learn from it in a natural way. But when a violinist is only familiarised with a modern bow, the learning process with an old bow can hardly take place. It is better to know what the characteristics of each bow are and experimenting with them in order to get used to them. After having this experience, different attacks, articulations and nuances will emerge and facilitate the music for which every bow was thought. It is interesting to see how the sources from those times show us the musical value of the different possibilities of the old bow. Nevertheless, if the musical idea the violinist has in mind does not match the old bow’s natural behavior and the indications made for its use, using it would not bring any advantage. After an overview of the evolution of the bow and its relation with the right hand technique, I will explore the possibility of combining a modern instrument with an old bow as well as the benefits of using it for playing, especially when used following the indications the sources of that period reveal.
Biography:
Born in Santiago de Compostela, she finished her bachelor’s degree at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya before moving to The Hague, where she studies with Vera Beths. Since her years in Barcelona, she has developed a special interest for early music performance practice, stimulated by her lessons with Alba Roca and Lorenzo Coppola, and with Walter Reiter in the Royal Conservatoire.
Violin Baroque Pieces on Soprano Saxophone
(2018)
author(s): Benjamin Falces Vaquero
published in: KC Research Portal
Name: José Benjamín Falces Vaquero
Main Subject: Classical Saxophone
Research Supervisor: Jarmo Hoogendijk
Title of Research: Baroque Violin Pieces on Soprano Saxophone;
Transcription of Caprice No. 26 for Violin Solo by Pietro Locatelli
Research Question: How should a baroque violin piece be transcribed and played on a soprano saxophone?
Summary of Results:
There are so many baroque pieces for violin which have been transcribed for soprano saxophone, but there are even more performances of these pieces by almost all classical saxophonists. The reason is that saxophonists often need to improve their repertoire and that these pieces were already frequently transcribed during the period which were made. Also, there have been many saxophonists who have thought that this instrument can give something special to these kinds of works. Based on interviews, questionnaires, comparison of baroque transcriptions and my own experience documented through the whole process of a transcription, this research investigates what is the best way to transcribe and play violin baroque pieces for soprano saxophone. My main conclusion is when writing for these arrangements it is allowed to make many modifications from the original version but always depending on the characteristics of the instrument and the baroque transcription criteria and keeping the original intention of the composer. These results will give the saxophone world more sources of how to transcribe and play these pieces, keeping in mind the original idea of the composer in the baroque style and making it more useful for the instrument.
Biography:
José Benjamín Falces Vaquero has had lessons with teachers like Vincent David, Ensemble Squillante, Berlage Saxophone Quartet, Arno Bornkamp and others. He won national prizes in Torrent, Xativa and Lliria. He now collaborates with a few Young Orchestras: JOGV, IYPO and ORSAXCOVA. In 2017 he received a Scholarship from the Government of Valencia.
As a jazz performer he has had lessons with teachers such as Perico Sambeat, Jerry Bergonzi, Bob Mintzer, Gregory Fritze, and recorded a CD with Big Band Talleres Sedajazz.
Investigating smaller bassoons from the XVIII and XIX centuries, with practical performance on a Baroque fagottino
(2017)
author(s): Hugo Rodriguez Arteaga
published in: KC Research Portal
Name: Hugo Rodríguez Arteaga
Main Subject: Baroque Bassoon
Research Supervisor: Johannes Boer
Title of Research: Investigating smaller bassoons from the XVIII and XIX centuries, with practical performance on a Baroque fagottino
Research Question:
Is there a (lost) tradition using these instruments in the XVIII and XIX centuries? What are the musical and technical advantages and disadvantages of performing a piece with fagottino?
Summary of Results:
The idea of this study was to collect information about smaller-sized bassoons found in the XVIII and XIX centuries. Berlioz talks about the "quint bassoon", and other "fagottino" in his treatise about orchestration, and smaller bassoons called "tenor", "octave", and "quart" are described in James Kopp's book, The Bassoon. Today the modern "fagottino" is used to teach children, as the modern bassoon is too big and too heavy, but historical models have been strangely ignored in early music performance practice. Is there a (lost) tradition using these instruments in the XVIII and XIX centuries? What are the musical and technical advantages and disadvantages of performing a piece with fagottino? This research project is a mixed work: the written part has background information about instruments, titles and performers. A description of practical experimentation approaching one work with fagottino, as well as the observation of a young player’s first confrontation with the instrument is included.
Biography:
Hugo Rodríguez Arteaga began studying bassoon in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain, in 1999 with Prof. Maximiano Vera. In 2007 he started studies at the Conservatorio Superior de Canarias with Ana Sánchez Clemente and finished with honors. He has played in ensembles as Orchestra of the 18th Century, Die Kölner Akademie, MusicAEterna, Capella Cracoviensis, Lutherse Bach Orchester, Les Vents Atlantiques, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Vox Luminis and more several groups. He has worked together with such conductors as Frans Brüggen, Teodor Currentzis, James Coonlon, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Alfredo Bernardini, Marcus Creed, Kenneth Montgomery, Alessandro de Marchi, Michael Alexander Willems and Pietro Rizzo. Currently he is studying historical bassoons at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague with Donna Agrell, as well as orchestral conducting with Kenneth Montgomery, Alex Schillings and Jac van Steen. He is active as a historical and modern bassoonist with different period and symphony orchestras all over Europe.
Apollo’s Banquet for children: Teaching baroque music to the young violinist
(2016)
author(s): Ryuko Reid
published in: KC Research Portal
Name: Ryuko Reid
Main Subject: Baroque Violin Research Supervisor: Johannes Boer
Title of Research:
Apollo’s Banquet for Children: Teaching baroque music to the young violinist
Research Question:
How can the baroque “rules” being used today in the field of historically informed performance practice be taught at a young age?
Summary of Results:
The purpose of this study is to investigate what aspects of the musical language of the baroque era can be experienced from twenty songs found in John Playford’s Apollo’s Banquet. This is a collection of country-dances, broad street ballads, theatre tunes, tunes from Morris dancing, Scottish tunes and French dances, that were published for the amateur violinist in 1670. In this study, these songs were taught to students between the ages of 5 and 10 with activities designed to create awareness of gestures, bar hierarchy, light cadences and other important baroque features, in a fun and approachable way.
Videos and observations of the lessons show that the repertoire was well received and the paper shows that the use of the songs provided an effective initial stage in experiencing baroque music However the students would need to be exposed to many more examples of these baroque elements before they become consciously learned. This paper also concludes that other elements of baroque music not included in this study, such as rhetorical devices and improvisation could be investigated, and exploring folk music repertoire of the seventeenth century would provide our students with a richer experience of the baroque style.
Biography:
Ryuko Reid is a baroque violinist specialising in historically informed performance practice and is the artist director and leader of Amsterdam Corelli Collective. Ryuko works as a violin teacher in Muziekschool Amstelveen and studied the Kodály method at Koninklijk Conservatorium.
She came to study baroque violin with Sophie Gent at Conservatorium van Amsterdam and is currently finishing her masters at Koninklijk Conservatorium, with Kati Debretzeni and Walter Reiter. Before moving to Amsterdam, she studied modern violin with Jan Repko, taught at Chetham’s School of Music and studied Dalcroze method in Manchester, UK.
A practical exploration of the historical fingerings of Baroque Recorders in England, France and Germany
(2016)
author(s): Koske Nozaki
Limited publication. Only visible to members of the portal : KC Research Portal
Name: Koske Nozaki
Main Subject: Recorder
Research Supervisors: Inês de Avena Braga and Peter Van Heyghen
Title of Research:
A practical exploration of the historical fingerings of Baroque Recorders in England, France and Germany
Research Question:
What is “historical fingering” for Baroque recorders, and how does it work and affect our modern recorder performance practice.
Summary of Results:
The recorder was an important instrument in the Early Music revival, partly due to its large repertoire of Baroque music. However, most recorder players today do not use the instruments that were most commonly used in the Baroque period, i.e. those with historical fingering systems. Instead, we normally use instruments with “modern fingering,” a slight modification that simplifies fingerings and homogenizes notes. With our modern instruments and their different fingering systems, several notes and trills do not work with the existing fingering charts for Baroque recorders. The Investigation of this research, on 7 actual original 18th century recorders from England, Germany, and France, and 40 fingering charts from historical methods shows us; it is a very logical system. The people at the time were playing the recorders in a different way, with differently tuned instruments. Fingerings on the recorder have always been found by trial and error, by players, with their own comfort and ease in mind. Though it is clearly not possible to know how the people in the Baroque period were choosing their fingerings; the best approximation is to have the same instrument tuned in the same system from the time. Historical tutors allow us to realize how their system of thought was different, which helps us to get closer to them. A bit of effort to accept the valuable tips from centuries past, with a taste for authenticity on the Baroque-fingered recorder, is a necessity.
Biography:
Koske Nozaki (Tokyo, 1988) began playing recorder at the age of 9. He loved the friendliness of such a simple flute with so many possibilities, and had a lot of curiosity for repertoire and the instrument itself. His school life at a beautiful seaside was focused on the recorder ensemble with his friends, which taught him a lot of basic musical knowledge. In his high school life, on a mountain this time, he learned not only recorder, but cello in the school orchestra as well. He studied recorder and Early Music performance at The National Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music, where he obtained his Bachelor degree. After three years of working as a recorder player and teacher in Japan, he moved to The Netherlands in 2014. He is currently completing his Master’s degree at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, where he studies recorder and baroque flute.
Holding the violin and how it influences sound and playing in historical performance practice. Historical perspectives.
(2016)
author(s): Agnieszka Papierska
published in: KC Research Portal
Name: Agnieszka Papierska
Main subject: Baroque violin
Title of research: Holding the violin and how it influences sound and playing in historical performance practice. Historical perspectives.
Research coach: Margaret Urquhart
Research questions: How much would the sound of the violin change with holding it in different position? Could this be a tool of expression? Does the way we hold the instrument influence other choices we make about performance practice e.g. regarding fingering, bowing? Could this knowledge be used in performance practice today?
Summary of results:
During the baroque and classical period many different ways of holding the violin existed, often at the same time. This paper investigates the way in which the different positions of holding the instrument could change the sound of it. After studying at sources and making experiments with different posture it can be confirmed that that the sound changes with different ways of holding the violin. The technique and interpretation are also affected. The main conclusion is that violin technique is not unchangeable. We can adjust it in order to develop sound that we desire.
Biography:
Agnieszka is an accomplished and experienced chamber music and orchestral musician. She started her professional career at a very early age. While still a student in Poland she collaborated with many professional orchestras where she worked with world-class conductors and soloists.
After completing her Bachelor's diploma in modern violin an interest in historical performance practice let to her move to the Netherlands in order to study in the early music department of The Hague Royal Conservatory. In 2012 she also completed the master studies in Wroclaw Academy of Music in Poland.
Currently she works with Theresia Youth Baroque Orchestra in Italy and also performs with other groups in the Netherlands and abroad.
She plays an anonymous 18th century violin from the Klingenthal region.
LESSONS in the SHADOWS of DEATH
(last edited: 2024)
author(s): Laasonen Belgrano, Price, Hjälm, Carlsson Redell, Ideström
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
The research project 'Lessons in the Shadows of Death' explores and exposes an almost lost tradition of public mourning - the Art of Lamentation. The project follows the structure of the 17th century musical genre 'Leçons de Ténèbres' – traditionally composed as vocal ‘lessons’ performed during Easter week contemplating the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC and based on the Biblical Lamentations.
The overall purpose is to create and promote an intra-active 'grief-entangled' music practice in relation to public mourning and wounds of loss. Previous artistic research on vocal mad scenes, lamentations and Nothingness (Laasonen Belgrano 2011) and performance philosophical explorations of apophenia and autopoesis (Price 2017) has since 2019 merged and developed into a growing archive investigating ‘ornamentation-as methodology’.
The primary aim of this project is to transform the ornamented music and words of Michel Lambert’s nine Leçons de Tenebres from 1661 into nine video-essays. Together with an international network of artists and scholars we will bring the 17th century musical mourning to a contemporary Jerusalem – a city which lives as a symbol of any falling, wounded and embodied space-time. The project reconfigures the Art of Lamentation as a living practice for a wounded world in need of re-learning how to attend to existential consciousness and communal grief.The research project 'Lessons in the Shadows of Death' explores and exposes an almost lost tradition of public mourning - the Art of Lamentation. The project follows the structure of the 17th century musical genre 'Leçons de Ténèbres' – traditionally composed as vocal ‘lessons’ performed during Easter week contemplating the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC and based on the Biblical Lamentations.
The overall purpose is to create and promote an intra-active 'grief-entangled' music practice in relation to public mourning and wounds of loss. Previous artistic research on vocal mad scenes, lamentations and Nothingness (Laasonen Belgrano 2011) and performance philosophical explorations of apophenia and autopoesis (Price 2017) has since 2019 merged and developed into a growing archive investigating ‘ornamentation-as methodology’.
The primary aim of this project is to transform the ornamented music and words of Michel Lambert’s nine Leçons de Tenebres from 1661 into nine video-essays. Together with an international network of artists and scholars we will bring the 17th century musical mourning to a contemporary Jerusalem – a city which lives as a symbol of any falling, wounded and embodied space-time.
The project reconfigures the Art of Lamentation as a living practice for a wounded world in need of re-learning how to attend to existential consciousness and communal grief.
How Can A Contemporary Violinist Approach Performing In Different Styles?
(last edited: 2023)
author(s): David Pablo Bellido Herrero
archived in: KC Research Portal
Name: DAVID PABLO BELLIDO HERRERO
Main Subject: VIOLIN
Research supervisor: GERARD BOUWHUIS
Tittle: HOW CAN A CONTEMPORARY VIOLINIST APPROACH PERFOMRING IN DIFFERENT STYLES?
Research Question: what is the better way to approach performing different styles to be respectful with the composer and, at the same time, apply interesting ideas to our performance?
Summary of Results: we can still find great performances and performers that don't take care enough of basic elements of the score, over all in classical and baroque music and in contemporary music. In one hand, we should go more often to the sources, because as I explain in the research, it is the better way to have a good approach. The sources could come from books (classical, baroque and romantic music), or in the case of contemporary music by the composer itself, interviews or videos. At the same time, it will show that we have the responsability of being strict enough to don't make the same mistakes that we are use to listen to.
A historical Overview of Flute Materials
(last edited: 2023)
author(s): Elin Körnich
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
The flute is one of the oldest instruments in the world. Most likely, after humans figured our percussion, they blew across reeds to make sounds. And so the flute was born. They are an instrument shrouded in mystery and ritual, but that is not what this text will be focusing on. Rather I would like to ask the question how we went from making flutes out of the bones of animals, to wood and today to using precious metals such as gold and silver? What makes this material so much better than the wood that had been the standard for hundreds of years, even though it arguably is much more difficult to acquire? In this text I will explore the different materials used throughout history for the European Flutes, and when and why it changed.
The reflections of memory : an account of a cognitive approach to historically informed staging
(last edited: 2023)
author(s): Gilbert Blin
connected to: Academy of Creative and Performing Arts
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
The research is dedicated to Gilbert Blin’s work in staging operas of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Nourished by a decade of productions for the Boston Early Music Festival, the first objective of his dissertation is to enable a better understanding of both his creative and interpretive processes in the operatic field. The main research question he attempts to answer in his dissertation can be phrased as follows: how can a post-modern stage director use historical research for creative purposes?
The title of this dissertation, The Reflections of Memory, is the appellation Gilbert Blin has been giving to his current approach as an artist and constitutes a conceptual answer to this question.
The 'cello' in the Low Countries : the instrument and its practical use in the 17th and 18th centuries
(last edited: 2023)
author(s): Elske Tinbergen
connected to: Academy of Creative and Performing Arts
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
This research of Elske Tinbergen is only available in Dutch.
In 20e-eeuwse naslagwerken is niet veel geschreven over de cello in de Lage Landen in de 17e en 18e eeuw, wat doet denken dat het instrument in die tijd hier niet of amper gebruikt werd. Echter, geschreven en pictoriale bronnen alsmede instrumenten en bladmuziek uit deze twee eeuwen geven wel informatie. Op basis hiervan kan gesteld worden dat de cello in de Nederlanden veel meer gebruikt werd dan gedacht. Er werden hier instrumenten gebouwd, er werden zeer veel afbeeldingen geproduceerd (schilderijen, maar ook bijvoorbeeld gebruiksartikelen zoals tegels, drinkglazen en
zilver) en er is ook een substantiële collectie muziek voor cello gecomponeerd, zowel voor cello solo als cello continuo.
De meest verrassende uitkomst van het onderzoek is wel dat er door veel cellisten in de 17e eeuw een andere streektechniek (n.l. onderhands) werd gebruikt dan in de 18e eeuw. Deze uitkomst wordt ondersteund door een overweldigende collectie afbeeldingen. Deze andere streektechniek resulteert in een andere klank en articulatie wat een ander karakter aan een muziekstuk geeft.
Daarnaast is er uitgebreid onderzoek gedaan naar Alexis Magito, lid van een beroemde 18e-eeuwse Rotterdamse familie van voornamelijk kermisklanten maar ook van enkele musici. Alexis was cellist, componist en graveur. Tijdens dit onderzoek is veel informatie over zijn levensloop boven water gekomen. Twee van zijn cellosonates zijn door de promovenda op cd gezet.
Conclusie: het onderzoek laat zien dat de cello ook in de Lage Landen wijdverbreid was en dat er vele verschijningsvormen en speelwijzen waren.
Dolce Napoli: Approaches for performance
(last edited: 2023)
author(s): Inês de Avena Braga
connected to: Academy of Creative and Performing Arts
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
This thesis of Inês de Avena Braga examined two previously neglected topics, Baroque Italian recorders and the Neapolitan Baroque repertoire for the recorder, and then combined both aspects. First, information was collected on all Italian Baroque recorders currently known, including biographical references about the makers of these recorders, as well as technical drawings, measurements and photographs. The practical experience with the copies of a few of those recorders was described by the author. Second, the Baroque repertoire composed in Naples for the recorder was researched, uncovering a rich and forgotten corpus of music written and copied between 1695 and 1759. The Neapolitan recorder works were also listed with a brief analysis and further commentary on the recorder part, with a view of connecting the works with the instruments that might have once been used to play them. Furthermore, an overview of the social and cultural atmosphere of Naples in the early eighteenth century was offered as contextualization to the musical ambience, aided by iconographical references. Conclusions on performance practice are presented as a result of the combination of both research aspects. The artistic outcome of this study has brought together, also in performance, the two main aspects of the research: 'new' instruments and 'new' works.
Eclatante Amarante. A portait of the French Singer Anne Chabanceau de La Barre (1628-1688)
(last edited: 2022)
author(s): Elisabeth Laasonen Belgrano
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
A journey through the language of passions inspired by the life of the French soprano Anne Chabanceau de La Barre (1628-1688). Highlighting her career in Paris, but also her sojourn at the court of Queen Christina of Sweden (1653-1654), it features her repertory from the Kings chamber, the 'ballets de our' and the 'salons'. Shifting from music to poetry to narration, the project explores how Mlle de La Barre and other female performers in the seventeenth century moved their listeners by expressing the affects through the mirror of the soul - the voice. Music by M. Lambert, S. Le Camus, A-M-. Bartlett, C. Huyghens, P. Chabanceau de La Barre, J. Chabanceau de La Barre, J.-B. Lully & L. Rossi.
[61:55]
Elisabeth Belgrano, voice
Lucas Harris, theorb, lute
Carlene Strober, viola da gamba
Jennifer Ellis, voice
℗© 2004 Elisabeth Belgrano
www.elibelgrano.org
EB2004