Blog 5

Autograph

 

An Autograph is simply a document that is written or signed by a particular person of interest. In music, this would be the composer. This distinguishes a copy from an original signed document. There may exist multiple autographed manuscripts. I found it interesting that Beethoven ‘s string quartet includes two autographs, the latter reflecting his revised work. The period preceding 1600, many autographed manuscripts (as opposed to copies) cannot be identified with complete assurance.  This creates, in my mind, some skepticism and wondering that perhaps some originals were tampered with. Tampered enough, that possibly when I am rehearsing a piece of music from that period and I do not agree wholly with something written stylistically or for whatever reason, my claims may be justified when I outright resort to blaming the composer for (what was originally thought to be) my poor playing.

 

Holograph

 

Holograph distinguishes itself from Autograph, in that it is unaware exactly who the composer or person of interest is. I first learned about Holographs from ‘Antiques Roadshow.’ In fact, I enjoy the relation and importance of musical compositions’ and their value being directly related to whether it was an original or copy.

 

Sources

 

Sources are the notes and information that are used in the circulation of music. At times, musical compositions (when transcribed or copied) can misinterpret what the composer wrote or intended. I see this myself, when editors and publishers leave out certain words (ritard.) or interpretations, or even adding some marks or terms that they deem acceptable. This is where sources can sometimes alleviate any confusion. This is why I feel that it ultimately should be up to the performer (the ultimate interpreter) of certain cuts, adjustments, articulations etc.  But this should also involve the performer researching the sources contained in the piece. This is one of the many reasons I feel privileged to use ILL, in that I am able to research different versions of the same piece.

 

Editions, Historical

 

Historical editions include both scholarly and critical editions of music publications. I was familiar with the term Anthologies, as many theory and history books that we covered during Undergraduate studies included these. I am happy to learn what Facsimile series are, as I would occasionally see this word in the past, but never remembered to look up its meaning. I am surprised actually that this word needs to exist; I guess there are a plethora of editions that are reproduced without editorial comments, and its importance is vast. It is interesting that only newer works were published during the 18^th century, leaving old ones to their own survival based on popularity and demand. Editorial criteria did not exist in the early period. Each editor followed his own judgment, which assumed that the source’s knowledge, criteria, and understanding would surpass and exceed that of the editors’. During the mid-19^th century, a second phase developed of historical editions in which completeness became the rule instead of exception. Therefore, modern editing became established, more than not in collected editions of single composers and their complete works. Some incomplete works also remain the standard reference editions of today. Collected editions also appeared during this period, although they were limited. Aside from these, music publications grew at the request of amateur musicians. I was happy to read that after 1950, there were revisions made to older complete work sets. The article lists many major composers’ works that this was done to, I am curios if it was also done to lesser-known composers also.

 

Urtext

 

Urtext is basically an original text. I was surprised to read that Urtexts were developed during the study of biblical and medieval texts, where autographs and even holographs didn’t exist.  Stemattics comes into play to help validate the surviving versions.  This does become difficult though; certain changes made by the composer during and after that composition may not be considered his final work. It is hard to distinguish when marks and changes were made exactly during the composition, therefore any editorial interventions become suspect at the claims of any modern Urtext edition.

 

Facsimile

 

As discussed before, a Facsimile is the name given to a genre of book publishing based on photo-mechanical printing techniques that attempts to recreate the appearance of an original handwritten manuscript or printed edition. This was the only definition I had trouble paraphrasing into my own definition, minus the short definition I listed above, therefore I give full credit to Steven Immel from Oxford University Press for this explanation of Facsimile. It was the first half of the 19^th century which produced the ability to make photo reproductions uncanny to original documents. This was done by transferring the negative of a photo to the plate, which also is treated with photo-sensitive material. This makes sense, perhaps it is done similarly to counterfeit paper money, I am not sure. These abilities became prevalent during the heights of romanticism and post-romanticism (some of my favorite periods of music). I was surprised to read that Handel’s Messiah was one of the original facsimile editions. Interesting, that we are still have not completely perfected this process, and I am excited to see what is yet to come technologically!

 

Shelf life of Urtext

 

This makes one wonder, some Urtext editions are considered revised, but do they have expiration dates? Apparently yes, since new sources can appear and the urtext edition can be altered. When autographed famous works that were possibly in private possession then come available, this can screw everything up. Therefore, reviews must be done of the existing edition. Though I imagine that only small changes are to be made then, however small changes can impact the style, and interpretation of the piece dramatically in my opinion. I do enjoy at the end of the article, Annette mentioned that based on the information, we musicians are in a position to decide for ourselves. Ahh..freedom of expression!

 

Brahms’s Hungarian Dances: New Finds…

 

It’s relieving to read that the urtext catalogue is regularly checked and revised as needed. As a result, specifically Brahms’ Hungarian Dance had a new discography. But get this, the information had been out there in the public for 100 years, it was just looked past for that long. Now there were considerations for why this could’ve gone unnoticed, but it leads me to wonder if there are other major works where this is information already out there that may change our views of certain compositions etc.

 

Brahms’s Hungarian Dances: Struck’s edit. Notes

 

This article delves into the specifics of Brahms’ middle section of the Allegro. Interestingly enough, Brahms wrote a letter to I guess one of his critics Wilhelm Tappert explaining clearly how the measures should be played. I find this fascinating that they were able to find a letter that answers the question many performers has in mind. I wonder how many other letters, revised works etc. are out there somewhere having the answers to questions we may have about a certain section or passage of music.

 

The Art of Making a Book

 

How Cool! I never actually learned how a book is made. Though at times, I wish the video had someone explaining every move they made, although the piano music in the background adds a nice relaxing touch. And this way I personally can understand the process a little easier, although there are some instruments they use that I am not familiar with. I am also a little intrigued by the hand-made process, I thought that this day and age that it must be made completely by a machine. I also was not aware that decoration was made with hot tools on the leather outside of the book.

 

Upside Down, Left to Right

 

At a first glance, as they were pulling out drawers, I thought I may have been watching a film about the Dewey Decimal System. Thank god it is not! The Letterpress is a 500 year old process. I was never aware how much this process is that of an Art. Unfortunately, this process has jumped on the Lithography bandwagon, although looking up its definition, Lithography seems pretty interesting too. The quality is astounding of the Letterpress. I really enjoyed the different colors added too.