Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
RESUMO (ABSTRACT)
Although few people see the process involved in preparing musical scores for performance, score annotation is a
very important aspect in the art of conducting. Many conductors leave behind a written legacy in the form of
markings entered on the scores they use for study or performance. The collection of score annotations by 20th
century conductor Eugene Ormandy is examined in an effort to better understand the art of conducting in general
and the specific techniques of individual conductors. Ormandy was the renowned music director of the
Philadelphia Orchestra for 42 years, succeeding the legendary conductor Leopold Stokowski. Ormandy's collection
consists of approximately 1,186 scores, 183 sets of scores and parts, and 46 sets of parts without scores.
TEXTO COMPLETO
John Bewley
The art of conducting consists in large measure of elements hidden from the general audience. Other than
participating musicians, few people get to witness the rehearsal technique of conductors and understand how
their musical goals are communicated. Even fewer see the process involved in preparing musical scores for
performance. Fortunately, many conductors leave behind a written legacy in the form of markings entered on the
scores they use for study or performance. While the entire realm of mental preparation cannot possibly be revealed
through these annotations, such markings can offer substantial information about many aspects of a conductor's
preparation process. Therefore, a study of conductor score markings has the potential to increase our
understanding of the art of conducting in general and the specific techniques of individual conductors.
One conductor whose collection of scores is remarkably intact and well-preserved is Eugene Ormandy (1899-
1985). Ormandy was the renowned music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra for forty-two years (1938-80), not
counting the two years (1936-38) he spent as codirector with his predecessor Leopold Stokowski (1882-1977), and
his work as conductor laureate until his final performance with the orchestra at Carnegie Hall in 1984. Ormandy's
extraordinarily long association with a major orchestra is unheard of by today's standards. Faced with the
daunting task of succeeding Stokowski in Philadelphia, Ormandy managed to improve the playing of the orchestra
and brought it to world acclaim. The critical reception of Ormandy's body of work has never been unanimously
favorable, but the duration of his tenure with the Philadelphia
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Orchestra and the extent of his conducting repertoire both stand as testaments to an outstanding career. 1.
The Eugene Ormandy Collection of Scores, housed in the Walter H. &Leonore Annenberg Rare Book and
Manuscript Library of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, offers a wealth of revealing examples of how
score markings can provide insight into a conductor's practices. The collection totals approximately 1,186 scores,
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Every conductor develops a singular approach to marking scores. What may be common practice for one
conductor might never appear in another conductor's scores. Comparison of this sort requires a standardized
approach to the analysis of markings. Categorizing markings by type is one step that can be taken; capturing such
information within catalog records is a second step that can make the information available to a wider audience.
For the purposes of this article, Ormandy's markings have been categorized as indicated in the following outline:
• *Marks of Secondary Interest
• Reinforcement
• Analysis
• Durations
• *Editing
• Tempos
• Bowings
• Conducting Solutions
• Cuts
• Changes to Orchestration
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are few indications that Ormandy approached music analytically; markings of harmonic or structural analysis are
extremely rare in his scores. Occasionally, he marked his scores to reveal phrase structures by marking groups of
measures with the number of measures in the group. One can presume that if Ormandy engaged in any sort of
detailed analysis it was either done on a separate score or intuitively.
Comments from interviewees in the Eugene Ormandy Oral History Collection predominantly support the conclusion
that Ormandy did not use an analytical approach in preparing a piece of music for performance. Composer George
Rochberg noted that Ormandy "was not a sufficiently intellectual enough conductor to know exactly how to
approach getting at the structure of a work and at the core of a work." 3. Rochberg went on to state that Ormandy
"learned my scores not by studying them and coming into the hall knowing them; he learned them during
rehearsal." 4. Robert Page, a choral conductor who often worked with Ormandy, noted that "In my experience he
was not one who could analyze and prepare ahead that much. He had to hear it and work from that standpoint." 5.
Isaac Stern noted that Ormandy "had an innate sense of the inside of a phrase." 6.
Durations
Conductors often mark their scores with durations for a variety of purposes: programming, measuring the effect of
choices of tempos, and for use in the recording studio. Several interviewees 7. in the Eugene Ormandy Oral History
Collection commented upon Ormandy's precise sense of time, and speculated that it was developed in part during
the 1920s when he worked in the Capitol Theater Orchestra in New York City. 8. This work
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environment demanded a practical approach to musicmaking, including a very tight control of durations, especially
when it came to the orchestra's participation in radio broadcasts.
Later in his career Ormandy was said to have been able to repeat performances of a work within an extremely
narrow range of durational variation. This aspect of his ability was commented upon by William Smith (assistant
conductor and keyboard player with the Philadelphia Orchestra, 1952-92) in one of his interviews in the Eugene
Ormandy Oral History Collection. Talking about Ormandy's performances of Mahler's Symphony no. 2, Smith
pointed out: "there wasn't more than five seconds variance between those four performances and this is a work
that lasts ninety minutes." 9.
So it is not surprising to find Ormandy's scores heavily marked with durations. These include timings for entire
works, individual movements, and sections within movements. His markings are also noteworthy because they
include durations for performances by other conductors, including Bernstein, Jochum, Karajan, Leinsdorf, Mehta,
Mengelberg, Mitropoulos, Muti, Stokowski, Swoboda, Szell, Toscanini, Walter, Weingartner, and Weisbach. The
sources of the timings, whether from live performances or recordings, are not noted.
Some of the durational markings in Ormandy's scores were clearly the result of the recording process. One
example is a score of Sibelius's First Symphony that was fully marked by sound engineers to show durations,
recording balances, and instrumental entrances. The score is also marked with changes made to the score by
Ormandy. 10.
EDITING
Conductors frequently edit scores, making changes to dynamics, expression marks, tempos, and bowings. While
these markings do not radically alter the musical substance of a work, they certainly can have an audible effect in
performance. Today's conductors may be less apt to make wholesale changes to a score, but conductors of
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Tempos
Ormandy's tempo markings, almost always marked in terms of metronome settings, are another reflection of his
concern for time and pacing in performance. The majority of the scores to which he added or changed metronome
markings fall into the baroque, classical, and romantic repertoires. In these cases his markings show his concern
for precision of tempos, replacing general terms for tempos with specific metronome settings. Yet there are also
cases where Ormandy changed metronome markings of twentieth-century composers, such as Stravinsky and
Schoenberg, possibly out of concern for clear articulation of certain passages.
Dynamics
Ormandy's concern for orchestral balance is reflected in his frequent changes and additions to original dynamic
markings. The majority of Ormandy's changes to dynamics served to insure that the principal melody would be
heard. The effectiveness of the changes, however, is difficult to evaluate due to several factors, including the
subjective nature of dynamic markings, the variance that may occur from one performance to the next (either by
the players or through adjustments made by Ormandy from the podium), the differences in acoustics from hall to
hall, and adjustments made by sound engineers during the recording process. In Ormandy's case, the issue of
dynamic markings and their effect on orchestral balance is further clouded by his frequent practice of altering
orchestrations, to be considered in more detail later in this paper.
Ormandy's markings in some works of the classical and preclassical repertoire are so extensive, and the original
dynamic and tempo markings so sparse, that his markings virtually constitute a performance edition. 11. Examples
of this type in the collection include scores to Corelli's Concerto grosso, op. 6, no. 8; J. C. Bach's Symphony in B-
flat major, op. 18, no. 2; and Haydn symphonies 80, 94, and 101. 12.
11.
For an excellent discussion of Ormandy's concept and realization of orchestral balance and sound, the reader is
referred to William David Gregory, "The Philadelphia Sound: An Examination of the Creation of the Sound of the
Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy" (D.M.A. thesis, University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of
Music, degree in progress).
12.
Arcangelo Corelli, Concerto Grosso, op. 6, no. 8 (New York: Broude Bros., [195-?]), Ormandy Collection of Scores,
box 320. Johann Christian Bach, Sinfonia in B-dur (Leipzig: C. F. Peters, 1925), box 1. Joseph Haydn, Sinfonia no.
80 (Salzburg: Haydn-Mozart Presse, 1965), box 238; Sinfonia no. 94: Paukenschlag (Salzburg: Haydn-Mozart
Presse, 1965), box 238; Symphony no. 101: The Clock: London Symphony no. 11 (Leipzig: Breitkopf &Härtel; New
York: Associated Music Pub., [195-]), box 337.
Bowings
The sound of the string section arguably forms the basis for any conductor's concept of orchestral sound. This
was especially true for Eugene Ormandy. The lush sound of the strings of the Philadelphia Orchestra, already
famous under the tenure of Ormandy's predecessor, Leopold Stokowski, was further refined under Ormandy. In
speaking of the sound of the Philadelphia Orchestra, composer Ezra Laderman singled out "the string sound ... the
warmth of it, the glow of it, the intensity of it, that made it ... unique." 13. Irving Segall, violist with the orchestra
1963-94, spoke about the rich string sonority in an interview, saying "The string sound was ... famous in the
country, if not the world, in the Ormandy years. He liked using a great deal of bow, he liked having a rich vibrato,
and it was something he caused to happen...." 14.
Trained as a violinist, Ormandy meticulously marked approximately half the scores in his collection with string
bowings. The effect of his bowings was remarked upon by several players interviewed for the oral history,
including Norman Carol, concertmaster 1966-94: "He would have us change bowings to sustain the sound,
because he had almost an obsession with the sound being there, this intensity of sound being there all the time."
15.
Gabriel Braverman, violist with the orchestra 1938-73, supports Carol's statement in his own interview,
emphasizing that Ormandy wanted "Vibrato. More bow. Instead of putting eight notes on a bow, it would be only
four notes to give it a more heightened sound." 16.
The remarks by Carol and Braverman are borne out by an examination of Ormandy's bowings in Samuel Barber's
Adagio for Strings, 17. a work that is extraordinarily well matched to the sound of the Philadelphia string section.
Barber's bowings, as printed on the violin I part ( fig. 1 ),
13.
Ezra Laderman, oral history conducted by Sharon Eisenhour, 12 February 1990, Ormandy Oral History Collection,
transcript, 19.
14.
Irving Segall, oral history conducted by Sharon Eisenhour, 22 October 1991, Ormandy Oral History Collection,
transcript, 14.
15.
Norman Carol, oral history conducted by Sharon Eisenhour, 25 November 1991, Ormandy Oral History Collection,
transcript, 10.
16.
Gabriel Braverman, oral history conducted by John Bewley, 5 November 1993, Ormandy Oral History Collection,
transcript, 10. Braverman also worked as assistant librarian and copyist for the orchestra. In discussing the extent
of markings that he and orchestra librarian Jesse Taynton had to enter into the orchestral parts for the players,
Braverman had the following comments: "It included doubling, it included removing certain instruments to thin out
certain areas. It involved bowing. All the strings had to bow alike, and it had to be put into the parts so that each
part, each stand, would have these bowings. He would add or subtract dynamic markings--piano here, forte there,
and so forth. In order to enrich the sound, he would say, 'Have the basses play what the cellos are playing,' so the
bottom part of the sound was enhanced, or he would say, 'Put the first violins an octave higher and put the second
violins where the first violins were.' That would make it more brilliant--he always looked for more brilliance and
more heightened color from the orchestra."
17.
Samuel Barber, Adagio for Strings (New York: G. Schirmer, 1939), Ormandy Collection of Scores, box 17. The
violin I part is marked "N. C." for Norman Carol; the score is marked "Parts are bowed July 1980." The bowings, if
entered by Carol, presumably reflect the style of bowing favored by Ormandy.
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Penderecki's To the Victims of Hiroshima: Threnody (1961) is an example of a contemporary composition with
notation that is purposely ambiguous. 20. Penderecki notated the score in sections defined not by meter but just
indicated in seconds. Conductors must decide whether or not to supply a constant pattern of conducting beats
and how to provide cues for points of attack within the sections. Ormandy's solution was to subdivide the sections
into patterns of conducting beats, thus superimposing an implicit meter onto the music. For example, the first
section of the piece is marked as being 15 seconds duration. Ormandy marked the score with divisions of 4, 4, and
6, treating the initial downbeat as 1, to add up to 15. The ensuing section of 11 seconds Ormandy marked "in 3, in
3, in 5." It is clear that Ormandy was uncomfortable without some sense of pulse, and felt the need to give the
players a visible cue as to where they were within each durational section.
Ormandy was by all accounts a very practical musician. If he found something that he felt did not work in
performance he did not hesitate to try to fix it. A rather extreme example of this approach is evident in his
reworking of the time signatures in Stravinsky's "Danse sacrale" from Le sacre du printemps . 21. Ormandy rewrote
the time signatures, incorporating measures into larger metric units to reduce the number of changes in time
signature ( fig. 2 ). The documentation of Ormandy's changes extends to the parts he had written out in the new
meters. 22.
While this rewriting reduced the number of time signature changes, it also obscured the placement of accents
essential to the nature of the passage. Michael Bookspan, percussionist with the orchestra from 1953 to 2002,
bluntly stated of the performance with the rewritten meters, "It didn't work. It was not a good performance." 23.
Another example of an alteration by Ormandy to reduce rhythmic complexity can be seen in his changes to the
score of "The Housatonic
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Ormandy's cuts were used for his Columbia recording of Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings; the performance runs
twenty-one minutes and fifty-four seconds, well below the twenty-eight to thirty minute range most conductors
clock for the full version. 27. Given that this was recorded in the days of the LP record with its inherent limitations of
duration, this would seem to be an example where Ormandy wanted to reduce the duration of the piece in order to
leave free time to include more works on a recording.
Although Ormandy was best known for his performances of music from the late romantic period, he also
performed more than 140 United States or world premieres. 28. Ormandy was not inhibited from suggesting
changes to the composers with whom he worked during rehearsals. Thus, composer compliance is an issue to be
considered in alterations to the scores of these composers.
Ormandy performed the world premiere of Leslie Bassett's Echoes from an Invisible World in February 1976. The
score is marked with two cuts sanctioned by Bassett. In a letter of 16 August 1976 to the conductor (in response
to Ormandy's interest in further performances of the piece), Bassett stated "While I hate to give up some of the
fantasy, these excisions do result in a tighter piece." 29. The cuts were restored, however, when the score was
published, an indication that Bassett did not feel they were warranted.
The reverse of this situation can be seen in scores of David Diamond and William Schuman. Ormandy's copy of the
score to Diamond's Symphony no. 4 was marked with several cuts in the last movement, all of which were later
incorporated into the published score. 30. The score of William Schuman's Symphony no. 6 was marked with
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for study of individual composers and the genesis of their works from fair copy through first publications.
The Philadelphia Orchestra toured and recorded extensively during Ormandy's forty-four year tenure as director
and codirector with the orchestra. The combination of both activities formed the basis of a very successful
marketing campaign for the orchestra and its sound, often described as the "Philadelphia" or "Ormandy" sound. 32.
The lush orchestral sound was readily identifiable to listeners and critics of the period. When applied to works of
the romantic period, this sound was usually praised by critics; when the same lush sound was inappropriately
applied to classical and baroque music, Ormandy was derided by critics.
Several factors contributed to the creation of Ormandy's sound. People have attributed the sound in varying parts
to his approach to string playing, the high quality of string instruments in the orchestra, and his conducting
technique, especially the inexact placement of his downbeat. Players noted that this lack of precision led them to
listen more closely to one another, and that it was responsible for a softer, less pointed attack.
Changes to Orchestration
While all of these factors contributed to the "Ormandy" sound, there is another component that is documented in
his score markings: his frequent practice of altering the orchestration of scores to thicken the orchestral texture. It
must be acknowledged in any discussion of this topic that many of these changes are sensed rather than really
heard in the recordings that now document his performances. While it may have been possible to "see" these
changes at a live performance, given a listener with either a thorough knowledge of the score or with a score in
hand, it is difficult to hear the changes to orchestration that are absorbed into the existing texture of a work. There
are other changes, however, that are clearly audible, even in recordings.
The quantity of the alterations is noteworthy in itself. Almost one quarter of the scores in the collection contain
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Ormandy applied doublings to the whole range of his repertoire. 33. One might expect to find alterations to works
such as the symphonies of Robert Schumann, frequently altered by other conductors and extensively changed by
Ormandy. But Ormandy also applied this practice to works by composers (like Debussy and Ravel) known as
master orchestrators, as well as to works by contemporary composers. 34.
It is clear that when faced with a musical passage that could not be satisfactorily realized into his concept of
sound, Ormandy had no hesitation in changing the passage. The evidence seems to refute Ormandy's own
description about his practice of altering scores, in which he asserted:
When conducting older composers, the conductor must sometimes compensate for the technical inadequacies of
the composers' times by delicately rewriting certain passages in terms of today's more complete orchestras and
more highly skilled players. Present-day performances of such works as the Fifth Symphony of Beethoven, the
"Great" C Major Symphony of Schubert, the symphonies of Schumann, to mention but a few, are rarely given
without many instrumental changes. Even so "pure" a conductor as Toscanini did not deny the composer the
benefit of today's heightened instrumental resources. 35.
The variety of Ormandy's doublings and additions to the instrumentation is also remarkable. 36. The most basic
type of doubling is the simple expansion of a woodwind section from two to four players. This is often
substantiated only by the number of parts in the folders and not by indications in the scores. This doubling of
woodwind parts was necessitated in part by the volume of sound produced by the string section of the
Philadelphia Orchestra. 37. Obviously, this practice enlarges the sound while trying to maintain the balance between
winds and strings, but does not substantially alter the basic texture of the sound.
Doubling within an instrumental family was also a technique that Ormandy applied to the string section. There are
many examples of this
33.
It is interesting to note that one type of work Ormandy left relatively untouched was concertos. Only twelve
concertos in the collection contain any doublings or changes to the orchestration. We can infer from this that he
recognized the need to maintain the balance between the solo instrument and the orchestra as written by the
composer.
34.
A partial list includes works by Barber, Bartók, Copland, Dello Joio, Finney, Hanson, Harris, Hindemith, Holst,
Mahler, Persichetti, Prokofiev, Respighi, Rorem, Roussel, Schuman, Sessions, Shostakovich, Sibelius, Stravinsky,
and Thomson.
35.
Eugene Ormandy, interview in The Music Makers, ed. Deena and Bernard Rosenberg (New York: Columbia
University Press, 1979), 157-58.
36.
William David Gregory includes an appendix with his dissertation in which he itemizes Ormandy's changes to
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type in his scores: he would add part or all of one string section (violin II) to another (violin I) to add weight to a
line, either at the same pitch or at a different octave. This type of change often created a domino effect, requiring
alterations in the remaining string sections to cover whatever other section was moved off its part.
One example of this technique is in the fourth movement of Robert Schumann's Symphony no. 4. 38. Ormandy alters
the scoring in the string section in mm. 196-200 by having the second violins double the first violins, the violas
double the second violins down one octave, and the cellos double the violas ( fig. 4 ). As is often the case with
Ormandy's doublings, he reinforced the principal melody at an important point in the movement. The
accompanying harmonic and rhythmic content that was originally contained in the viola and cello parts was
deemed secondary to the momentum provided by the melodic line, and was left to be played by the double bass,
brasses, and bassoons.
Three examples from Symphonie fantastique by Berlioz demonstrate the practicality of some of Ormandy's
alterations. 39. Ormandy made changes to a single measure in the fifth movement in order to insure that the
melodic line in the first violins would be heard. It occurs in m. 495. The first violin part has been doubled by the
second violin, by the flute and piccolo, and by the oboes ( fig. 5 ). 40.
In the second Berlioz example (mvt. 5, beginning m. 480), Ormandy's markings indicate extensive rescoring to
reinforce the sound of the ascending line originally played only by the two tubas. He changed the orchestration to
include the trombones, bassoons, and horns on this line, with the loss of the syncopated attacks that were
originally in their parts ( fig. 6 ). 41.
In the fourth movement, m. 90, Berlioz divides a sixteenth-note figure between the first and second violins ( fig. 7 ).
He may have done this because he imagined performance with first and second violins seated on opposite sides of
the stage, giving the passage an antiphonal effect. Perhaps Ormandy, who seated his violins together on the same
side of the
38.
Robert Schumann, Symphonie No. 4 D moll, op. 120 (Leipzig: E. Eulenburg, [191-?]), Ormandy Collection of
Scores, box 466.
39.
Hector Berlioz, Phantastische Symphonie = Symphonie fantastique: in 5 Sätzen, op. 14 (Leipzig: Breitkopf
&Härtel, 1900), Eugene Ormandy Collection of Scores, box 36.
40.
Audible on the 1960 recording, Columbia Masterworks ML5638 (mono.) and MS6248 (stereo.) [rel. 1961], LP;
reissue, Sony Classical SBK 46329 [rel. 1990], CD.
41.
It is interesting to note that Leopold Stokowski also reinforced the tuba part in this section by doubling the part
in trombone III. Stokowski, however, left the syncopations in the other trombone parts. This passage of the score
with Stokowski's markings can be seen on the Web at: http://(accessed 20 February 2003). The score is in the
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Another example of practical reinforcement is Ormandy's treatment of the descending lines toward the end of the
final movement of Symphony no. 2 by Brahms. 42. Originally scored for second trombone and clarinets in mm. 399-
400, and first trombone and clarinets in mm. 401-2, Ormandy added four horns to the second trombone line (mm.
399-400), and trumpet to the first trombone line (mm. 401-2). 43. This latter addition is also a matter of
reinforcement for the first trombone, which must begin its line on an exposed, high D ( fig. 8 ). The addition of the
trumpet insures that this line will be heard.
The previous examples of Ormandy's practice of doublings are relatively straightforward; however, his changes to
the orchestration in the final six measures (mm. 136-41) of the first movement of Debussy's La mer are less
discreet and perhaps less in keeping with the composer's intent. The most visible change to the passage is the
rescoring of the woodwind parts (the bassoon parts in Ormandy's score are hidden beneath the manuscript insert).
44.
The piccolo was added to mm. 136-37; the second clarinet part, formerly playing in unison with the first clarinet,
was given
42.
Johannes Brahms, Symphonie Nr. 2, D dur, op. 73, für grosses Orchester (Leipzig: Breitkopf &Härtel, [191-?]),
Ormandy Collection of Scores, box 47.
43.
These changes, especially the addition of the trumpet, are audible on the recording: Johannes Brahms, The Four
Symphonies, Philadelphia Orchestra/Eugene Ormandy, Columbia D3M 31636, [1972], LP.
44.
Claude Debussy, La mer: trois esquisses symphoniques (Paris: A. Durand, 1905), Ormandy Collection of Scores,
box 219. Figure 9 shows an example of Debussy's original woodwind parts; figure 10 shows Ormandy's rescoring
of those measures.
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its own line in parallel motion with the first clarinet ( fig. 10 ). The most critical change to the woodwind parts
occurs in m. 138 (four bars before the end) where Ormandy removed the contrary, ascending motion that was in
the clarinets and English horn. These parts were changed to move in parallel, descending motion with the upper
woodwind parts. The score was also marked (bottom of fig. 10 ) with parts for an additional two B-flat cornets to
double the motion and pitches in the woodwind parts. The net effect of these changes, with the addition of
instruments and the extension of range, is a larger, more brilliant sound.
The other, very audible change 45. to the passage occurs in m. 138 where Ormandy added parts for the violins and
violas. The second violin and the viola parts partially restore some of the contrary, ascending motion eliminated
from the woodwind parts. 46. The first violin doubles the descending C-B[flat ] motion in the woodwinds.
This alteration strongly raises the question of Debussy's intent in the passage and whether Ormandy's changes
serve that purpose. Debussy begins the final section of the movement at m. 132 ( Tres lent ) at pp , and five
measures later at m. 136 has already built up to f in the entire orchestra. One measure later (and five measures
from the end of the movement) all parts are marked ff . His decision to score the next measure (m. 138) without
strings is telling. Known for his sense of orchestral color, Debussy is clearly reaching here for an abrupt change of
timbre rather than continuing to an uninterrupted, climactic finish to the movement. This can also be understood
as Debussy's way of reserving a fuller, more complete climax for the ending of the entire composition. 47.
Ormandy's changes clearly negate the change of timbre that Debussy wrote in favor of assuring a higher volume of
sound and intensity throughout the final measures. 48.
The quantity of Ormandy's alterations throughout the collection makes it impossible to fully encompass all of
them in a single discussion. In order to provide some sense of how extensive these markings are, I
45.
Recorded on Debussy Album, Philadelphia Orchestra/Eugene Ormandy, Columbia MG30950, [rec. 1971; rel. n.d.],
LP.
46.
The viola part in the score is missing a change to treble clef for m. 138.
47.
By comparison, the final pages of the last movement build without interruption to the climax of the ending.
48.
Listening to several recordings of the passage in question by different conductors and orchestras reveals
varying degrees of success in performing the passage as written. When performed by orchestras with weaker
woodwind and brass sections (hardly the case with the Philadelphia Orchestra), the passage can indeed sound
anemic compared to the preceding measures. This is precisely what Ormandy attempted to avoid with his
markings. At least one recorded performance, however ( Boulez Conducts Debussy, New Philharmonia
Orchestra/Pierre Boulez, Columbia MS7361 [1969], LP), demonstrates how well the passage can work as written.
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have included here a partial list of changes found in the fourth movement of Dvorák's Symphony no. 7. 49.
mm. 288-301 horn doubles violin I, octave below; violin II (3 stands) doubles violin I
These changes culminate in Ormandy's complete reworking of the final page of the symphony. The high pedal D
tremolo in the first violin part has been eliminated in order to allow the first violins to double the line in the second
violins (an octave above). Ormandy also doubled this line in the violas and by the trumpet an octave below. We can
speculate that Ormandy was not satisfied with the harmonic tension created by this high pedal, which is difficult to
hear in the register where Dvorák wrote it. Instead, Ormandy opted to put more weight behind the only moving line
in those measures ( fig. 11 ). 50.
CONCLUSION
All of the score markings mentioned here were made by Ormandy in response to different musical needs, and they
reveal different aspects of his preparation and treatment of scores. They range from marks of little or no musical
significance to radical changes of musical content. The markings lend credence to the observations of players and
critics interviewed for the Ormandy oral history, and provide physical evidence necessary to unravel questions
about alterations to scores audible in recordings, as in the works by Berlioz, Brahms, Debussy, and Dvorák cited as
examples.
The markings also form part of a larger picture: the art and practice of orchestral conducting during the twentieth
century. A record of the
49.
AntoniÃn Dvorák, VII. Symfonie d moll, op. 70 (Prague: Spolecnost AntoniÃn Dvorák; Export Artia, 1955),
Ormandy Collection of Scores, box 227.
50.
Audible on Ormandy Conducts Dvorák, Philadelphia Orchestra/Eugene Ormandy, RCA Red Seal ARL1-3555
[1980], LP.
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markings, such as is possible to create during cataloging, can serve researchers whose interest extends beyond
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need to include detailed descriptions of the score markings by influential conductors as part of the cataloging of
those conductors' scores held in their library collections. These markings have the unique and irreplaceable value
of revealing hidden nuances about the art of conducting that scholars and musicians cannot discover in any other
way.
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DETALHES
Termo específico: Musical Scores, Music Collections, Musical Notation, Conductors, Conducting,
Historical Significance, 20th century
URL: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/notes/v059/59.4bewley.html
Título: Marking the Way: The Significance of Eugene Ormandy's Score Annotations
Título da publicação: Notes - Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association; Ann Arbor, Mich., etc.
Volume: 59
Edição: 4
Assunto da publicação: Bibliographies, Music History and Archives, Music, Education, Library And
Information Sciences, Music Theory/Analysis/Composition, Sound Recording And
Reproduction
ISSN: 0027-4380