Dear Craig and Vocalisters:
You wrote:
>There is a very interesting two volume collection "edited" by Pietro
>Floridia and published by Oliver Ditson (in the 1920's I think). This
>collection takes a completely opposite approach to the Alfred collection.
>Existing accompaniments and figured bass lines were removed and the melodies
>reharmonized. The reason being "...these old melodies have been presented
>either in their original setting... obsolete, thin, uncertain, obscure...
>or... in pedantic, heavy arrangements, or... with poor, amateurish
>inadequate accompaniments." If you can find this collection, a comparison
>of Caro Mio Ben among Schirmer, Alfred and Ditson would certainly be
>entertaining!
COMMENT: This famous statement by Floridia is often used as an
example of the turn of the century attitude that believed western
civilization was on the apogee of greatness, that all could be solved
with science, and that the arts were at their very highest expression
and could not really improve much more. It was natural, in this
setting, that the harmonies of the early Italian masters would be
viewed as inadequate and lacking in "modern" devices. What was the
need of a figured bass when so many, newer harmonies had been
invented since their time?
This is a very foreign viewpoint to that of our present day wherein
we view the archaic or early musical works as beautiful in their own
right without the need to modernizing them. We even seek ways of
playing the old, clumsy instruments in order to hear the sounds that
were present when this music was created. I do feel that we are less
arrogant and more willing to discover a beauty that is different from
that which we know well. The 20th Century experiments in new music
have, perhaps, opened our ears.
Personally, I am satisfied to hear what the composer wrote regardless
of the quality of tone that it was sung with or played on. But I do
want to have present all of their musical structure and nuance of
word settings.
Thank you for bringing up this most important point.
--
Lloyd W. Hanson, DMA
Professor of Voice, Pedagogy
School of Performing Arts
Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, AZ 86011
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