'Stravaganze': the presentation of 17th-century improvisation to a 21st-century audience

在过去的五十年里，“早期音乐”运动通过复活一些数百年来没有听到过的曲目，扩大了古典音乐的领域，这些曲目是通过重建早期音乐创作的乐器而实现的。如今，作为主流音乐创作的一部分，“基于历史的表演”变得越来越复杂，但它才刚刚开始认真地接受过去表演的一个关键元素——即兴创作。强大的口述传统的存在和音乐印刷的局限性意味着，一些前古典音乐是用简单的框架写下来的，由表演者熟练的即兴创作技巧来修饰。这一时期的即兴创作论文记录了乐器演奏家和歌手学习技巧的方式，包括练习的增量练习和为教学目的而写出的即兴表演例子。今天，早期的音乐表演者更倾向于演奏那些写好的例子，而不是自己即兴创作——就像爵士音乐家在音乐会上演奏另一位艺术家的独奏一样！即兴演奏为音乐家们提供了一种在音乐上打上个人印记的方式，也是他们技艺的重要组成部分。在我担任AHRC创意与表演艺术奖学金期间，我的目标一直是在早期音乐表演中推广更多的即兴表演，并为观众带来早期即兴表演的快感，尤其是在古典音乐领域。为此，在AHRC研究基金的支持下，我建立了一个17世纪风格的即兴合奏团，the Division Lobby，将早期的即兴演奏带给公众。作为我对17世纪意大利即兴表演研究的一部分，我一直在寻找音乐论文和手稿中的证据，这些证据为表演者如何即兴表演提供了线索。手稿来源可能特别有趣，因为它们非常实用，它们可以揭示音乐如何表演的有趣细节。它们通常是学生在音乐课上使用的书，或者是作曲家可能正在创作作品的笔记本。最近，这样一个17世纪意大利的“工作笔记本”在苏富比拍卖，它包含了我研究领域的迷人证据，关于人们如何装饰音乐，即兴创作旋律线，以及在和弦乐器上用单个低音线即兴伴奏，即持续低音的艺术。这份手稿中的证据支持了我从其他来源得到的许多研究发现，也提供了一些非凡的新证据，特别是关于我的乐器，一种叫做奇塔隆的长颈鲁特琴。我的目标是通过录制三张cd来展示我的发现，突出了早期即兴演奏的不同领域。第一部分将通过独奏歌曲在16和17世纪意大利的平行发展来追溯男低音的发展。一个和弦乐器演奏者会在一条低音线上即兴伴奏，用一个数字编码来暗示和声，这种技术与爵士钢琴家或吉他手可能做的没有什么不同。第二张CD将突出在chitarrone上的即兴演奏，其中将包括添加装饰的独奏，即兴作品和展示该乐器作为旋律低音的合奏作品。与the Division Lobby合作的第三张CD将展示不同类型的独奏和合奏即兴演奏，包括琵琶和吉塔龙、小提琴、“cornetti”、羽管键琴、管风琴和歌手。这些cd将激发人们对即兴艺术的兴趣，把它带给更多的观众，并鼓励更多的即兴表演。他们将进一步了解艺术，并使同事、学生、业余爱好者和来自其他音乐传统的即兴表演者受益。

Over the last fifty years the 'early music' movement has been responsible for broadening the field of classical music by resurrecting repertoires which sometimes have not been heard for hundreds for years, enabled by the reconstruction of instruments from earlier times for which this music was composed. Now a part of mainstream music-making, 'historically-informed performance' grows ever more sophisticated, but it has only just begun to seriously embrace a crucial element of performance from the past - that of improvisation.The existence of strong oral traditions and the limitations of music printing meant that some of pre-classical music was written down in simple skeletal frameworks which were embellished by performers with well-honed improvisation skills. Improvisation treatises from this time document the way instrumentalists and singers learned their craft, with incremental exercises for practise and written-out examples of extemporisation for didactic purposes. Today, early music performers are more inclined to play those written-out examples than to improvise their own - comparable to a jazz musician playing a transcribed solo of another artist in a concert! Improvisation provided a way for musicians to put their personal stamp on music and was a vital part of their craft. It has been my objective throughout my AHRC Fellowship in the Creative and Performing Arts to promote more extemporisation in early music performances and bring the thrill of early improvisation to audiences, especially in the classical music sphere. To this end, with the support of an AHRC Research Grant, I established a 17th-century style improvising ensemble, The Division Lobby, to bring early improvisation to the general public. As part of my research into extemporisation in 17th-century Italy, I have been looking at evidence in musical treatises and manuscripts which gives clues as to how performers improvised. Manuscript sources can be particularly interesting because they are so practical, and they can reveal interesting details about how music was performed. They are often books used by students in their music lessons or notebooks in which a composer might have been working out a composition. Recently such a 'working notebook' from 17th-century Italy came up for auction at Sotheby's which contained fascinating evidence in my research area about how people ornamented music, improvised on melodic lines, and extemporized accompaniments from a single bass line on chordal instruments, the art of basso continuo. The evidence in this manuscript supported many of my research findings from other sources, and also provided some extraordinary new evidence, particularly concerning my instrument, a long-necked lute called the chitarrone. I aim to demonstrate my discoveries practically by recording three CDs highlighting different areas of early improvisation practice. The first will trace the development of basso continuo through the parallel development of solo song in 16th- and 17th-century Italy. A chordal instrument player would extemporise an accompaniment over a single bass line with a numerical code which suggested the harmonies, a technique not dissimilar to what a jazz pianist or guitarist might do. The second CD will highlight improvisation on the chitarrone, which will include solos with added ornamentation, improvised pieces, and ensemble pieces which demonstrate the instrument's role as a melodic bass. A third CD with the The Division Lobby will showcase different sorts of solo and ensemble improvisation with lute and chitarrone, violins, 'cornetti', harpsichords, organ, and a singer.These CDs will stimulate interest in the art of improvisation, bring it to a wider audience, and encourage further extemporised performances. They will further understanding of the art and benefit colleagues, students, amateurs, and improvisors from other musical traditions.