Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
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Gustave Reese feels that MM. 60-80 would be a more accurate descrip-
tion. Willie Apel sets the speed of the tactus at MM. 50-60. Robert Don-
ington strikes a medium by suggesting that Quantz's statement should be
interpreted as MM. 75 to the motor unit, but he goes on to say that it is
somewhat flexible. Recent writers on this subject feel that, particularly in
the seventeenth century, not one but two or three basic speeds of the tactus
were practiced. Curt Sachs makes the point that in the transition through
the centuries from longer to shorter note values as motor units, the tactus
must have been slowed down as shorter note values were being introduced,
until sub- división was necessary and the next smaller unit became the tactus.
Denn diese Signa bedeuten eben so viel an als wenn ich die
Italienischen Wörter gebraucht hätte:
C Idest, lento, tarde: langsam
(f Idest, presto, velociter: geschwind
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Tempo Indications
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C Tempus (tardior) ^ 60
^ Tempus (celerior) ^ 72 (90)
3, $3, C? Tripla ^ 108 (135)
3. *3, *£ Sesquiáltera ^ 90
6 Sextupla (tardor) ^ 60
JL "
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' w- Ì O- U- il.
Largo, ou Adagio, ou Affettuoso Presto,
Adagio, Ad. Lento, ou ou quelques ou Stretto
Grave fois Allegro
Thus, composers may have used these terms to remind the performer
not to slow down in a "black" passage and not to speed up in a passage
with consecutive long-note values. This viewpoint coincides at least in part
with Rothschild's idea that the editorial adjective assists in choosing the
right tactus i and that quite often it is superfluous. It should be mentioned
that tempo indications which govern an entire section or movement are
infrequent in this period. Sometimes they govern as little as two measures.
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The tempo adjective, then, may perform one of the following func-
tions:
4. It may imply a moderate tempo change with a 3:2 (or 2:3) rela-
tionship as the maximum.
Performance Guidelines
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From the various points of view studied and the author s own exam-
ination of seventeenth-century music, the writer would offer the following
suggestions as guidelines: should more than one interpretation of the pro-
portional signature be possible, the answer may lie in the tempo adjective
if there is one. If none is present, the note picture and the text are the
deciding factors. Today a different vocabulary of Italian expresses some of
the ideas inherent in the seventeenth-century markings, and it would be
wise for modern editors to "translate" these terms. For instance, Adagio -
Presto - Adagio may mean Adagio - più mosso - a tempo. The modern
performer associates words like Allegro, Lento , Vivace , etc., with a double
bar. This is not the case in early Baroque music. Therefore, terms such as
the ones suggested above may result in a better reading.
Franz Tunder's tempo indication in Ach Herr lass deine lieben Enge-
lein 1 might well serve as an example. The Adagio at the beginning of this
work indicates that the basic pulse is the semi-minima, not the minima.
There are no further tempo indications until the entrance of the voice after
the second sinfonia. The note picture of the second sinfonia suggests that
the basic pulse is the minima (half-note = 60). Since this section is pre-
ceded by a double bar, the Adagio of the first sinfonia no longer applies.
At the outset of Verse II, the rhythmic activity increases and the seven-
teenth-century choir master might well have slowed down the tactus at this
point unless he was told otherwise. Tunder wrote Allegro, indicating that
this section should be fast, but not necessarily faster than the preceding one.
In other words, this tempo adjective may be interpreted as verification of
the note picture. The modern editor, therefore, may take the liberty of
placing the Allegro at the outset of the sinfonia, omitting the indication at
the entrance of the soprano voice.
The word "Adagio" appears again above measure 15, page 104 ( Denk -
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FOOTNOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES
Apel, Willi. The Notation of Polyphonic Music, 900-1600, Cambridge, Mass., 1942
p. 146.
Dahlhaus, Carl. "Zur Entstehung des modernen Taktsystems im 17. Jahrhundert"
Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, XVII 1961, pp. 223-240.
Donington, Robert. The Interpretation of Early Music, London, 1963, pp. 164, 345.
Frotscher, Gotthold. Aufführungspraxis alter Musik, Locarno, 1963, p. 45.
Herrmann-Bengen, I. Tempohezeichnungen, Ursprung und Wandel im 17. und 18.
Jahrhundert, Tutzing, 1959, pp. 27-57.
Livingstone, Ernest: The Theory and Practice of Protestant School Music in Ger-
many as Seen Through the Collection of Abraham Ursinus, c. 1600. Thesis
(Ph.D.), The University of Rochester, Eastman School of Music, Dept. of
Musicology, 1962, pp. 251-254.
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