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On playing Boccherini
Clefs
C clefs
- treble clef with two extra dots
Thumb position
changing into
- fourth finger
- G- and C-string
- Chromatics
Other
Harmonics
- Accidentals
- Slurs
- Dots and daggers
- Dotted notes
- Grace notes
- Minor scales
- Wave line -
- From piano to piano
- Endless bow
- Arpeggios
- editionwakelkamp.com |
[This article is written by Frank Wakelkamp © 2006-2015. Clarifying images are quotations
from the Boccherini Urtext Edition by editionwakelkamp.com. If you have any comments, please
let me know at info@editionwakelkamp.com. You can download this article.
Reading the sources
As
I have been working on publishing some works by Luigi Boccherini
for quite some time now, the question arose whether or not to
share my personal experiences and findings. Since the Urtext
edition (editionwakelkamp.com) wants to present the material as
objectively as possible, leaving all space for the interpreter to
fill in the gaps, this might lead to a certain indulgence or
misinterpretation by the musician, caused by lack of knowledge.
Being an educated rebel myself, I have tried to find some
suitable solutions for some problems. In most cases these
problems only exist because the way in which music was written down in the
age it was composed differs quite a lot from the modern
practice. Reading the music with a modern mind
creates instant trouble, for example: how to find a long enough bow
for some pedal tone sections, entering into a world of the
strangest harmonies, being puzzled by some unknown signs...
Reading this, you can righteously conclude that I have made up my
silly mind and have decided to share whatever I have gathered
during my travels with Boccherini, whether true or doubtful.
The
Urtext edition as you can find it at editionwakelkamp.com
interprets
the text, giving a description of the uninterpreted original in
the editorial notes. Accidentals that are not indicated in the original
always appear between brackets, changed notes are printed in
small capture and are discussed in the editorial notes of the edition. Quotations and examples below all originate from this
edition.
Boccherini
was a cellist, and a great one, too. All C
clefs (soprano C1, alto C3, tenor
C4) are to be read loco,
that is: as written. One might be tempted to treat this clef as
if it were some kind of treble clef, that would sound an octave
lower in manuscripts and editions for cello music up to, let's
say Dvorak. Any good cello-sportsman however will take the
challenge and mould the gut (or steel) cables into
nice sounding strings, up there.
The edition changes the
original clefs into the ones currently in use (treble, tenor and bass clef), specifying the
original ones in the editorial notes section.
Examples:
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Cello
Sonata G. 2, 2-Allegro, bars 53-66: tenor clef (the lowest note G
could not be transposed down an octave on the cello) changes
into bass clef; the following treble clef (bar 60, second beat - originally without the octavation sign) could be read loco,
but this would mean that in bar 65 there is an octave leap back
into the first position, which is not likely to be intended. Also, the passage
would be too short and too awkward to be played in thumb
position.
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Cello
Sonata G. 11, 2-Largo, bars 18-29: an ascending passage in tenor
clef, which leads into the thumb position where the notes in
treble clef (apparently to be transposed down an octave) can
easily be played using the fourth finger (see below for use of the fourth finger in thumb position).
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The treble clef
with two extra dots around the
second line (like the dots around the fourth line that are part
of the bass clef) is to be read loco, i.e. the notes should as
written, not an octave lower.
Examples:
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Cello
Sonata G. 17, 1-Allegro, bar 15: coming from the alto clef (here modernised to treble clef), being
high up after hitting the open G string, the melody requests a
second, not a none when it goes into the (second) treble clef.
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Cello
Sonata G. 17, 3-Rondo Allegro, bars 28-36: gradually ascending
line, resulting in a section in thumb position.
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Example of reasonable doubt:
- Cello
Sonata G. 16, 2-[Minuetto] Amoroso, bar 9: considering the context (there is
no melodical connection) playing loco seems somewhat unlikely. Only the octave leap at the end of the Amoroso (bar 24) would suggest, considering the parallel octave leap in the basso part, that loco is indeed intended.
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Mostly there is some time (e.g. a rest) for changing from a
neck position into a thumb position. The leaps might be big,
but after the leap one can stay in the same thumb position for
quite a while. In order to find the earliest spot where the
thumb position could have been applied, please take some time to
look over a passage in order to find the right placement for
your thumb and then work your way back.
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Unlike nowadays, Boccherini frequently used the fourth finger
in thumb position. For people with a small little finger
this might be too hard to overcome. Adjustments should be made
with respect for the thumb stability as stated in 3. . For
people with an ordinary size little finger a lot of exercise is
needed to increase the accuracy and the strength of the fourth
finger. According to the newest insights on playing early music
there seems to be no hard evidence for the old folks to have
been playing out of tune...
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The thumb position also applies to the
G-string.
The following example can easily be played within one position,
using an extension between the fingers because of the harmonic
minor scale and with the participation of the fourth finger for
the top d'' in bar 62:
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The
thumb position even applies to the C-string in a passage that
cannot be played otherwise:
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Chromatics within thumb position
are executed
without changing the position of the thumb, by shifting the
other fingers.
Example:
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- Cello
Sonata G. 2, 2-Allegro, bars 29-37: fourth finger and chromatics. The thumb is on e' flat.
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Harmonics are
sometimes used for playing chords. In the following example this
is the easiest way to play it:
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Cello
Sonata G. 1, 3-Allegretto, bars 1-6: the chord in bar 5 could be
played 4-4-2-1, the fourth finger as a harmonic, allowing a
quick shift for the placement of 2-1 in this chord.
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Accidental flats and sharps do
not last for a whole bar. Sometimes they extend their validity
into the next bar, when
there is only one other note in-between. In
the edition all added flats and sharps have been put between
brackets, thus allowing the player to determine whether they are
original or not.
Example:
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Cello
Sonata G. 4, 2-Adagio, bar 8: the c'' natural sign will be valid until the second c'' on the second 16th note of the second beat (see the c' natural in the bass), but probably not until the grace note in the third beat.
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Boccherini's use
of slurs is not frequent and often
inconsistent. The player has to check whether there are
repetitions of any motive at hand, in order to find slurring
differences or to get ideas. The edition excludes any
suggestions from the editor's part in order not to disturb your
imagination. The absence of slurs does not necessarily imply
that the passage should be played détaché: more often a
section would sound smoother and would be easier to play if one
added some slurs.
Sometimes, however, slurring would
undermine the rhythmical effect of a motive.
Examples:
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Cello
Sonata G. 11, 3-Tempo di minuetto, bars 20-26: the rebound note f'
gets a different meaning when the two notes before are
systematically slurred (originally there are no slurs). Without
slurs the triplets are quite hard to play, due to the string
changes and the repetition of the same motive using contrary bow
strokes.
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Cello
Sonata G. 11, 3-Tempo di minuetto, bars 13-18: bar 15 is not to be
slurred, since this is a rhythmical variation on the original
motive of bar 13 that reappears in bar 18.
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Dots and daggers are
often indistinguishable in the manuscripts. Some people state
that dashes should be played longer than dots. Please experiment
a lot and never decide until the moment you play the piece on
stage. You cannot convince your accompanist about the length of
them otherwise than by playing them as beautifully as possible
in the length you would like them to be.
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Grace notes with
a stroke could be played short and in most cases before the
beat, whereas the ones without a stroke could be played taking
as much as two thirds of the value of the following note,
depending on the atmosphere and the underlying harmony. This
matter should be concluded roughly before your recital, since
your accompanist should know at least when to play his
downbeats...
In my experience the practice of replacing a
grace note followed by three triplet eighth notes by four equal
sixteenth notes is quite distasteful and ruins the original
rhythm. Also the rule to change a 16th
grace note followed by an 8th
note and two 16th
notes into four equal 16th
notes should be reconsidered whenever this occurs. If rhythmical
freedom is allowed, why not take it and enjoy it to the max?
Lengthening and/or shortening the first note gives more juice to
an ascending sequence.
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Melodical minor
scales are not a rule. On the
contrary, Boccherini experiments a lot with harmonical
scales!
Example:
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A dotted quarter
note followed by only three
sixteenth notes in duple time can be the equivalent of five
sixteenth notes (a common way of writing in Boccherini's
time), the following sixteenth being "normal"; OR the dotted
quarter note can equal three eighth notes, the following
sixteenth notes being a triplet. The omission of tuplet signs is
normal in this era. The present edition only gives them when
written in the original score.
Examples:
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The wave line
can be used for indicating any kind of trill and also bow
vibrato. A bow vibrato would appear over repeated notes, a trill
over a single note. In one Trio, it appears in the violin part,
whereas the viola part gives the same repeated note motive with
daggers (Keilen) and a slur. On some occasions it has been
placed over a long passage, meaning that the notes should be
played an octave higher. You will find the text 8.va
alta at the beginning of such a
passage. More common in this respect are the line and the dotted
line instead of the wave line.
Examples:
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The dynamical range sometimes goes from piano to piano,
with no other dynamical markings happening in-between. This does
not seem to mean that nothing should happen in-between, though.
This kind of markings strikes me as a reminder to stay within
certain boundaries - in a general piano atmosphere, growing and
going back again.
Example:
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Trio
Sometimes it seems that
Boccherini must have used an endless,
circle-shaped bow.
The following excerpt from Cello Sonata G. 17 would suggest the
use of that feature, when only looking at the second voice.
Please note the extra slurs in the first voice in bars 22 and
26, which would have been superfluous if such a special bow
really existed. These extra slurs suggest that the bow stroke
was not meant to be in one direction only. Generally speaking,
the pedal tone is to be played constantly but not
necessarily within one bowstroke. If it would clarify the
phrasing of the melody or the general sound, the pedal tone may
be played with several bow strokes. Sometimes a pedal tone seems
to be more like an abbreviation, as a comparison with the Noseda
MS and the Bland edition shows for the Largo of G. 13. In G.
565, I would suggest to play the full chord only on the first beats,
since otherwise the crisp of the rhythm would be
obscured.
Examples:
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Cello
Sonata G. 17, 3-Rondo Allegro, bars 21-27: note the extra slurs in the top voice in bars 22 and
26, which suggest multiple bow strokes.
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Cello
Sonata G. 5, 1-Allegro militare, bars 8-12: in bar 9 and 10, just before the third beats, the g stops the open d-string from ringing. I suggest that the d-string should be set into motion and left to ring by itself after the first eight note, in order to create a drum-like effect.
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Cello
Sonata G. 14, 1-Allegro brillante, bars 60-62: since the half notes are stopped notes, they won´t ring long enough. I suggest to copy the rhythm of the top voice here.
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Boccherini never writes simile after an arpeggio pattern. The arpeggio pattern is just followed by a series of chords, which should be played in the same way as the pattern indicated before.
Example:
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