Journal- Week of 27th- 31st:

A frequent subject that entered our discussions this week was text setting and the composer’s
musical setting of the text. Generally, what was sometimes discussed revolved around a person’s
preference of a particular treatment of text in comparison to another composer’s setting. Of
course, this is valid to discuss. Yet, we should not forget that our preference for a idiom should
not blind one to the true content of the piece, and that however heavily idiomatic a particular
instance may be (like the treatment of the word “hark” in Purcell’s St. Cecilia), the most
important question to be asked is whether the setting is serving the music appropriately. I am
guilty of doing this especially in the gallant/classical idiom of music. I find that when I listen to
works of great masters and cannot appreciate the work, it is the fault of my own ear. If I dismiss
it as “boring” or “not my preference”, then I am approaching it with the wrong attitude as it is
my responsibility as a musician to try to understand all genres of classical music. Lastly, I should
mention I do not mean to be repeatedly critical of one or two of our class discussions- there is a
point to my criticism, and it is very easy to criticize!
One aspect of our discussions that interested me is rather strange. You mentioned that war in the
1700’s was very organized. This is fascinating to me, as I think there is an insight into the music
of this time that can be extrapolated from this. Once we find a particular style of music, an
immediate question which could come to mind is “why is this idiom the way it is”? For example,
why was the word painting in both the Handel and Purcell so directly representational? Now, I
could be connecting two drastically different things that do not in fact connect. However, if an
event as brutal and chaotic as war was regulated by strict formal behavior during that time, it is
no surprise to me to find the same strict – and what most people today would call “dumb”-
formality in the music of the time. The text painting in “Ode to St. Cecilia” and “Alexander’s
Feast” is obvious; we can usually understand it immediately when hearing it and can even
anticipate with some accuracy what the text painting will be like before hearing it. But, if you are
going to stand in front of an enemy who you know is trying to kill you, who will take their aim in
an orderly fashion, who will fire when it is their turn, and you will wait and watch them plainly
with the full knowledge of what their actions result in… who is surprised that some of the text
painting of that time period is any less straight forward?