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Section 2. Musical art
https ://doi.org/10.29013/EJA-19-3-8-15
Davitadze Anastasia Galaktionovna, postgraduate of Kharkiv National Kotlyarevsky University of Arts
E-mail: [email protected]
TIMBRE DRAMATURGY OF THE TRIO ACCOMPANIMENT IN FOLKSONGS SETTINGS BY L. BEETHOVEN (ON THE EXAMPLE OF WOO 158 AND WOO 153 COLLECTIONS)
Abstract. The article explores certain principles of timbre dramaturgy of the trio accompaniment in L. Beethoven's folksongs settings, and these principles have been found at the genre-style, composition-dramaturgy and intonation levels of the compositions.
Keywords: timbre dramaturgy, trio accompaniment, the genre of folksongs settings, intonation development of the thematic material, ensemble texture.
In Ukrainian musicology, the attempt to per- the author studied the works by foreign researchers,
form a serious and detailed study of Beethoven's 179 folksongs settings, which present about 20 European ethnic groups, has been done for the first time. The author of the proposed publication has a number of articles on this topic, which is explored in the following aspects: the role of the setting's genre in L. Beethoven's creativity, the song writing and melodic features in the original compositions, the composer's techniques and principles of folksongs interpretation, the interaction of the national and international styles (author's = individual and international = folk), the poly-genre, the origin of text sources, the features of the musical content, the interpretation of the form-structure of songs, the study of stylistic - Beethoven's polyphonic texture, harmonic language, rhythm, the complex of performing means of expressiveness - dynamics, agogics, phrasing, articulation, timbre dramaturgy of the trio accompaniment in Beethoven's folksongs settings [1; 2; 3]. While writing the present material,
in particular, those by Hugh Conor Angell [5], Barry Cooper [6], Damien Sagrillo [7], Hee Sung Lee [8], Nicole Biamonte [9].
In this article, the object of consideration is the timbre dramaturgy in the piano trio accompaniment of Beethoven's folksongs settings. There are two collections to serve as the musical material - "Songs of Different Peoples" (WoO 158) and "Twenty Irish Songs" (WoO 153).
In the genre of the author's piano trio, the composer worked in the period of his creative development and maturity - from 1786 to 1812, when he created thirteen opuses, most of which are represented by the classical instrumental composition - the piano, the violin, the cello (opuses 1, 63, 70, 97, 121a, WoO 38, 39). Other compositions by the composer in this genre demonstrate creative pursuits of new timbre combinations: opuses 3, 9 (the violin, the viola, the cello), 11 (the piano, the clarinet, the cello), 38 (the piano, the clarinet or the
violin, the cello), 87 (for two oboes and the English horn), WoO 37 (the piano, the flute, the bassoon).
The decision to create an accompaniment in the form of the piano trio (the piano, the violin, the cello) for the settings of the folksongs does not belong to the composer, but to the person with whom he collaborated - the Edinburgh publisher and amateur musician George Thomson (1757-1851). The latter provided Beethoven with many recommendations about ritornellos and accompaniment, and insisted that it should be simple to perform and same in the stylistic and genre way. Trying to follow Thomson's instructions, Beethoven identified the stringed parts as ad libitum, and in some other collections rewrote the violin part for the flute.
Generally characterizing the trio in the settings, we should note that all the compositional principles that the composer laid down in the author's compositions of this genre, we find in the accompaniment as well. For example, it is the intensity of the thematic (motive) development that serves as a momentum for the development and the figurative-semantic basis; the timbre contrast (timbre mixing of the piano with stringed and vice versa - the division of instruments by timbre - stringed and keyboards); the ensemble and functional equality between the trio accompaniment parties and the departure from the piano party presidency, as a result of which the stringed get their "leading roles" - the violin as an instrument equal to the piano, the cello as an instrument independent of the piano. "Beethoven was the first to write sonatas for the cello, thus laying the foundations of this genre" - we find according to N. B. Mikheyeva [4; 5].
In general, in Beethoven's approach to instruments in the ensemble, unlike his predecessors - I. Playiel, L. Kozhelukh, J. Haydn, K. M. Weber, I. N. Gummel, who also created folksongs settings with the piano trio, Beethoven made the greatest contribution to the ensemble balance among the voices of the trio. Although the composer leaves the interpretation of the piano obligatory (mostly on the request of the publisher G. Thomson), he imparts the stringed to
the musical expressiveness means, thus forming the equality of all the three voices of the instrumental ensemble. Such a new approach to the interpretation of the violin and cello testifies to the search and expansion of the technical capabilities of these instruments, which requires higher technical skills from the performers and indicates the average level of the complexity of these compositions.
Moreover, Beethoven's reforming abilities are manifested at other levels of a musical composition -settings. Separating from the folklore source and developing motif-intonation in the introductory and closing ritornellos, the composer transforms or enhances the semantic context of the overall image of the song, that is, «re-intones» or «artistically translates» the folklore text. The active motive development indirectly influences the general form of a musical composition, and the compositional proportions of structural sections.
The composer is experimenting with the size of the introductory and closing ritornellos. On the example of the selected collections, we note three techniques: the introductory expanded ritornello with a quiet culmination at the end - in the collection of "Songs of Different Peoples" these are numbers 5, 8, in the Irish songs WoO 153 these are songs number 2, 3, 5-8, 13, 16; the closing expanded ritornello with a concise introduction in two or three bars - in WoO 158 songs 6, 9, 10, 13, 21, 23, in WoO 153 songs 12, 14, 15, 17, 20; both ritornellos receive an extensive thematic and compositional development - WoO 158 numbers 11, 14-20, 22, WoO 153 songs 4, 9, 11, 15, 19.
Let us start the review of some music examples with "Songs of Different Peoples".
In the Tyrolean song ("Wann I in der Früh aufsteh" #4), the triole chants in a vocal voice that closely resemble the Swiss yodel are also present in the piano, mainly in the right hand, while the left -the bass and two chords - look like the texture of the waltz genre. The stringed in this case duplicate the triole arpeggios, that is, by means of timbre the central motive is increased.
The Tyrolean "Carpet Seller's Song" ("I bin a Tiroler Bua..." #15) demonstrates Beethoven's orchestral thinking, which is manifests itself in the exact alternation and combination of all voices. For example, in the introductory ritornello (nine bars), the piano performs a vocal voice motif (four bars), with a sforzando accent on the second part of the bar in the three-part meter. The function of
the stringed in the introduction is to enhance this second part by the notes of tonic and dominant triads. But already from the introduction of the voice the timbre colours change: in the piano part the bass is dominated by two chords, the stringed group completely uplicates the jumping pattern of the folk melody:
That means that Beethoven's orchestral thinking manifests itself in the timbre complementarity of the instruments, their alternate exchange of dramatic functions, the coherence or separation of these functions. This, in turn, indicates the presence of the timbre contrast and ensemble balance.
The Ukrainian song "The Cossack was riding over the Danube" (#19) draws attention to its origi-
nal solutions of the development of the theme in the introduction and conclusion, where the composer adds his author's motive - the lament intonation of "e - f- e". In the introduction, its imitation conduct between the right hand of the part of the piano and the violin creates an elegant, somewhat tense and agitated character.
Further in the song among the voices of the trio we see a kind of a dialogue ofthe violin, the piano and the cello. The violin duplicates the sentimental intonation of the song - a descending move from the first to the fifth (the elevated) stages, and the piano and the cello continue to perform the motive that was central to the introductory ritornello. At the same time, it is interesting to note that the composer supplemented the piano part with the elements of a certain concert-ness, the complexity of the performance: the lament motive "e - f- e" is performed either in the bass key (the small octave), then in the violin key (the second octave), with the help of crossing the right hand with
the left hand. This feature is explained by the fact that Beethoven was a virtuoso pianist and improviser, and therefore tried to diversify the performing techniques of the piano part in every possible way.
The intonation, accented in the settings of the Ukrainian song, fill it with a new genre-dramatic content of the lyrical song-lament. In addition, sensing the authentic march of the song, the composer introduces an ostinate figure - a continuous movement of the eight in the vocal, piano parts, which evokes the listener's sense of movement, stride and, with them, of the endless road along which the Cossack on the horseback is going.
In addition to the short overview of the timbre dramaturgy of "Songs of Different Peoples", collection WoO 158, let us briefly review the examples of the other collection, WoO 153 - "Twenty Irish Songs".
The stringed instruments in these songs can be used as a means of imitating or reproducing some artistic phenomenon: for example, the British Light Dragoons Horse Army (#3 D-dur) «illustrated» by ostinato sixteenths in the violin and the cello, or the instrumental sound of the lyre from song #7 (g-moll) by pizzicato eighths. The ironic-sarcastic title, the verbal and musical content in song #4 (g-moll) - "Since Greybeards inform us that Youth will decay" - are illustrated by the composer in the
final ritornello (13 bars): here we find the triole of thirty-seconds in the violin and the piano, the fast pace, the dynamic shades of crescendo, sforzando and forte.
The final ritornello of song #19 (B-dur) called "Judy, lovely, matchless creature" is impressive in its scale - 21 bars. The peculiarity of this ritornello is the symphonic principle of the distribution of the musical material among the trio voices. The central motive of the song, laid at the beginning of the vocal part, sounds in the dominant tone:
This motive in the final ritornello is split by the on the combination of the trio-voices of these two
composer into two intonations: a small second of intonations: the first seven bars are the imitating
"f - e cancel - f", an ascending movement of "g - f - e conducts: cancel". The theme of the closing ritornello is based
The next eight bars are dominated by the vio- descending directions, and then the violin register lin in the timbre way, which first performs the in- goes into the third octave, which can be defined as tonation of "g - f - e cancel" in the ascending and the culminating point of the ritornello:
The last six final bars are the code for the second intonation of "f - e cancel - f":
Conclusions. Within one article, it is impossible to fully explore the multidimensional and procedural notion of timbre dramaturgy in the folksongs settings by L. Beethoven, so it is a prospect for the further research. At present we summarize the results obtained: the trio accompaniment reveals the orchestral thinking of the composer - the intense motive development, timbre contrast or timbre complementarity, the balance of the instrumental ensemble, in which all parts are responsible for harmonious accompaniment, development of thematic material, polyphony, texture relief, and the dynamics of the whole. Using the means of timbre dramaturgy, the composer reflects the intonation and verbal dramaturgy and avoids the cli-ched (monotonous) approach - a unique image of each
folklore source is reflected in various composing decisions. It is the accompaniment that becomes a kind of "comment" on the song, its orchestration, and, at the same time, harmonization, thus, the harmonious function of the voices is combined with the melodic-polyphonic one - the echo to the singing, sub-voices, counterpoints, and imitations.
At a more conceptual level, timbre dramaturgy in the settings is responsible for the plot-image context in which there is the image of the person, his/her feelings and inner world that L. Beethoven tried to interpret in the piano trio. This phenomenon can be defined as a step towards the psychologization of the style, which in the conditions of the already begun era of romanticism was relevant for the composer.
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