Monthly Archives: April 2015

Étude Op. 10 No. 3 in E Major Facsimile

Pages 1 and 2 of the facsimile

Pages 1 and 2 of the facsimile

The University of British Columbia’s Rare Books and Special Collections houses two identical facsimiles of Chopin’s Étude Op. 10 No. 3 in E Major autograph, produced and published by the Robert Owen Lehman Foundation in 1965[1]. The piece is reproduced via the collotype printing process to preserve an authentic feel similar to its original autograph. This copy is enclosed in a protective envelope with an additional insert specifying its limited print run, price and seller in English, French, German and Italian.

Note that this reproduced holograph (pictured above) has the composition date on the top left of the first page: “Paryz 25 sierp. 32” meaning Paris 25 August 1832. Consistent with this piece’s history, the tempo marking underneath is vivace ((It.) vivacious, fast and lively[2])It is also interesting to consider the cr0ssed-out sections from this autograph and what ultimately did not make the final cut.

The reproduction of the 1832 autograph has caused some speculation about its origins. Hedley tackles two points of controversy concerning the authorship of the piece and its composition date[3]. The first addresses a legend that the piece was composed with the help of Chopin’s friends and publishers. There is, however, no evidence for such a claim, and what we know about Chopin’s character supports this[4]. The second concerns its composition date. This precisely-dated autograph handwriting is comparatively different from previous autographs under Chopin’s name. Hedley suggests that since the handwriting on Étude Op. 10 No. 3 is continuous with Chopin’s succeeding works in the next 17 years and that the previous so-called autographs should instead be rejected[5].


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Étude

Étude comes from the French word meaning study.  An étude is a short instrumental piece, usually for piano, used for practicing particular musical skills and usually requires considerable technical dexterity. The spectrum of the étude ranges from the private and purely mechanical exercises of Czerny and Hanon to concert performance pieces of Liszt and Chopin[1]. The piano étude was popularized in the early 19th century as the piano became more popular and affordable. Composers who wrote in this era include Clementi, Hummel and Henselt[2]. As the century progressed, the étude turned to the public scene into concert performance repertoire. Liszt and Chopin are among some of the first composers credited for this shift.  Paganini famously wrote solo violin étude in this era. In the 20th century, études continued to be written for professional and amateur use, most notably by Skryabin, Rakhmaninov, Prokofiev, Bartók, and Ligeti[3]. Études continue to be composed and performed today although unparalleled to the technical difficulties of 19th century concert etudes.


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Étude Op. 10 No. 3 in E Major

Étude Op. 10 No. 3 in E Major was composed in August of 1832 by Frédéric Chopin. It was first published in French, German and English. It has been nicknamed Tristesse for its slow cantabile melody.

Composition

The set of études in Op. 10 was composed by Chopin in the 1830s and published in 1833. Chopin dedicated the twelve études to fellow composer and friend Franz Liszt[1]. Étude Op. 10 No. 3 in E Major, composed in August of 1832, is one Chopin’s most popular and well-loved études. Because of its cantabile ((It.) in a singing style[2]) melody, it has earned many nicknames including Tristesse((Fr.) sadness, sorrow, melancholy[3]). As such, it has also been compared to the style of Chopin’s nocturnes, which feature lyrical melodies. Étude Op. 10 No. 3 was originally set in tempo to vivace ((It.) vivacious, fast and lively[4]; original score), appended with ma non troppo ((It.) but not too much[5]; French manuscript) and eventually changed in print to lento ma non troppo ((It.) slowly[6], but not too much), the latter most of which has been retained in modern editions where the metronome is specified at 100 to the eighth note[7].

Structure & Stylistic Traits

Like his other études, Op. 10 No. 3 is written in ternary form (ABA), characterized by three parts with the second half of the A section returning again at the end in a shortened form[8]. The polyphonic texture of the piece, particularly in the A sections, displays three voices[9], requiring the performer to bring out the melody in the top line with the right hand while simultaneously providing accompaniment with the left hand. In practice, the right hand should lean slightly more to the right to bring out the melody on top[10].

pocopiu01The middle section, poco più animato ((It.) a little more animated, lively[11]) features five different eight-bar motifs, the first of which is animated and bright (21-24), repeated and transposed in bars 25 through 29. The second motif features irregular rhythms and a lilting melody highlighted by jumps in sixteenth notes (30-31) followed by inversions of diminished sevenths (32-33). This motif, like the first, is also transposed in its second half (34-37). A darker third motif follows (38-45), characterized by a sequence of diminished fifths and augmented fourths in both hands.

The beginning measures of the fourth motif: con bravura

The fourth motif, con bravura ((It.) with skill, brilliance[12]), reaches the climax of the piece with eight bars (46-53) of double sixths for both hands, finally culminating on an extended dominant seventh from bars 52 to 53. The section is marked with two-note slurs requiring extensive practice in the up and down contrary movements of both hands. The fifth motif transitions back a tempo ((It.) return to the previous speed) featuring trills in the left hand, returning once again to a polyphonic three-voice structure, and gliding into a restatement of a shortened A section.

Technical Difficulties

While relatively short, the piece is technically difficult, especially in its faster sections, and requires what Clarke calls “Bachian clarity”[13], crisp, yet lyrical, fingerings required for Bach’s pieces. The main technique being studied here is legato ((It. smoothly[14]) playing and syncopation[15]. There are no pedal markings in the original, which is meant to suggest that the etude is intended to be played legato throughout with little to no use of the pedal. According to Hipkin[16], Chopin employed the pedal a great deal in his pieces, explaining why many modern editions of this etude include pedal markings. The Pleyel piano for which Chopin composed, however, differs greatly from the modern piano[17]; players should be wary and conservative in their pedal use. The syncopated double notes in this piece also require sufficient clarity and speed; playing at mezzopiano ((It.) moderately soft) with as little excess movement as possible will allow the appropriate velocity for which the piece demands[18]. Huneker and Bauer also note that this piece requires the use of rubato ((It.) robbed time[19]), wherein the player can indulge some artistic tempo license for a more expressive quality. Comments on Chopin’s own use of rubato stress the importance of tasteful tempo rather than maintaining a strict rhythmic pulse.

First Edition Publications

There are three first editions of the Op. 10 manuscript from which Étude Op. 10 No. 3 belong: French, German and English. The French manuscript was printed in June of 1833 in Paris, published by Maurice Schlesinger. The first impression of this manuscript was used to prepare subsequent German and English versions, hence the erroneous “J. Liszt” dedication present in all three first editions[20]. The German edition was printed in August of 1833 in Leipzig, published by Fr. Kistner. The English edition was printed around 1835-36 in London, published by Wessel & Co. with added dedicatees Ferdinand Hiller and Julian Fontana. All three versions feature engraved musical text with varying types of covers. The German and English versions, unlike the French, divide the études into two volumes, Nos. 1 thorough 6 in the first, and Nos. 7 through 12 in the second.


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Frédéric François Chopin

Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) was a Polish Romantic composer during the 19th century. He was born in Warsaw, but spent the majority of his music career in Paris where he performed, taught and composed for the piano. His most famous pieces include nocturnes, études, mazurkas, polonaises and waltzes.

Life

Chopin01Frédéric François Chopin was born in 1810 in Duchy of Warsaw to a French father and a Polish mother[1] . He spent most of his early life in Warsaw, receiving education at the Warsaw Lyceum where his father also worked[2]. He studied piano privately under Adalbert Żywny and later with Józef Elsner at the Warsaw Conservatory. Other composer‐pianists who greatly influenced Chopin include Václav Würfel, with whom Chopin studied thoroughbass and the organ; Józef Jawurek, an accomplished pianist and popular teacher; and Henryk Lentz, who instructed in organ and thoroughbass[3]. From an early age, it was apparent he was a child prodigy and his talents were very much in demand in aristocratic households[4]. In 1830, he left Poland for a concert, and the November Uprising later that year would prevent his return. He eventually arrived in Paris in 1831 where he would spend the remainder of his career. Although he never returned to his homeland, Chopin never lost that part of his identity: his music often invokes inspiration from the idealized image of Poland and is full of nostalgia for his homeland.

Paris in the 1830s was the centre of Romanticism, and Chopin soon found himself surrounded by prominent Parisian artists and intellectuals, among them composer and virtuoso pianist Franz Liszt, painter Eugène Delacroix, cellist August Franchomme and German poet Heinrich Heine[5]. After a failed engagement to Maria Wodzińska in 1837[6], he became increasingly involved with writer George Sand (pen name of Aurore Dudevant), whom he met through his good friend Franz Liszt[7]. For eight years, Chopin spent his summers at Sand’s estate in Nohant, entertaining her guests[8]; these were his most productive years although his health worsened and his relationship with Sand also deteriorated. He was known as a fond piano teacher and a virtuoso performer who greatly preferred the salon to the concert hall[9]. When his relationship with Sand finally ended bitterly in 1847, he composed little more[10]. In 1848[11], he returned a final time to the concert scene touring in England and Scotland. He died of tuberculosis in Paris at the age of thirty-nine[12].

Music, Performance & Compositional Style

Parisian salon in the 1900's

Parisian salon in the 1900’s

Chopin is known, first and foremost, as a legendary virtuoso pianist. Unlike most composer-pianists at the time, he greatly preferred the intimate setting of the French salon to the public concert hall. These salons allowed for gatherings of professional and amateur musicians alike. In Europe and America, these salon settings became widely popular, and still remain one of the most popular forms of classical music performance[13].

Chopin is well-known for his improvisation skills as well as his playing style which possessed a “lyrical, flowing quality, the remarkable delicacy of his touch, and the subtlety of his dynamic shading and pedaling”[14]. The rise in popularity of the piano in the 19th century helped shaped the cultural scene surrounding the instrument: a series of technological developments and manufacturing standards eventually led the piano into homes of middle- and upper-classes as a universal fixture[15]. Chopin’s reputation was built on the mastery of this one instrument[16], and the new improvements on the piano at the time permitted great virtuosity.

Chopin’s early musical compositions from Warsaw, including his polonaises, rondos and variations, reflect the influences of Hummel, Weber, and Kalkbrenner[17] in the stile brillante tradition. His piano concertos marked the end of his apprenticeship, and with the composition of Études Op. 10 in 1832, he gained his own unique musical style. Much of Chopin’s music is also greatly influenced by Bach in his use of a strong harmonic base with linear-melodic elements overtop. His use of form, particularly the ternary form (ABA), also reflects his preference for formal schemes. Chopin’s nocturnes famously showcase the operatic bel canto style of early 19th century opera[18]. Much of his music is also influenced by his roots: both his polonaises and mazurkas are native Polish dance forms.

Innovations & Legacy

“Everything must be made to sing.”

Chopin’s music has become a staple in piano repertoire. His music is deeply rooted in the Romantic style: his lyricism, above all, shines in all his pieces. He famously said to his pupils, “Everything must be made to sing”[19]. His exploited the new and improved instrument with his use of delicate trills, grace notes and runs, all sustained by chords in the bassline with the pedal. His singing melodies feature most prominently in his meditative nocturnes. His extreme mastery of the piano has led to his being credited with originating the modern piano style[20].

Like other Romantic composers, Chopin also followed in the wave of interest in folklore and nationalism: he composed many mazurkas and polonaises rooted from his homeland, Poland. As music moved gradually from the church to concert hall in the early 19th century, orchestras gradually grew to compensate. As a result, new orchestral forms and sounds were allowed in orchestral music. Chopin did not venture far into this field; although he did write two piano concertos, his focus was always on the piano. Huneker also credits Chopin for his innovations in the prelude, the waltz, the ballade and the scherzo[21].

Chopin, along with Liszt and Debussy, is also credited for developing the concert étude. Unlike previous studies whose sole purpose was the study of technical skills, the étude became virtuosic performance pieces. Chopin’s music also calls for the use of rubato ((It.) robbed time[22]), in which certain liberties are taken with the rhythm without upsetting the basic beat. Schonberg claims Chopin explained rubato as: “The left hand is the conductor, it must not wave or lose ground; do with the right hand what you will and can”[23].

Major Works

Two piano concertos • Piano music, including four ballades, three sonatas, preludes, études, mazurkas, polonaises, scherzos, waltzes, impromptus, and nocturnes • Chamber music, all with piano • Songs[24]


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Robert Owen Lehman Foundation

ROLF's home page

ROLF’s home page image

The Robert Owen Lehman Foundation Incorporated was founded in 1943 by the aforementioned Mr. Lehman[1]. Like his father, Mr. Lehman became an important collector of valuable art pieces. Upon his death in 1969, his entire collection was bequeathed to the Foundation. A complete list of his collection is available here. On January 30, 1970, more than three thousand works of art dating from the Renaissance to the 20th century were brought over to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Today, these pieces are held in the Robert Lehman Wing, exhibited in accordance to his wishes.

Mission & Aims

The Musical Times Vol. 105, No. 1454 (Apr., 1964), p. 290 outlines the ROLF’s five major aims[2]:

  1. to assemble in the Lincoln Center Library an archive of these manuscripts and other source material (and ‘by so doing ROLF hopes to encourage those collectors who, unenlightened as to the public interest, hoard their precious source material to make these cultural treasures available for the benefit of the community’);
  2. to publish, below cost price, a quarterly magazine, Opus 1, consisting of complete scores and their performance on a 10-inch LP ‘by the finest musicians available’; Op 1 No 1 is due this month;
  3. to sponsor live concerts; the first is in New York on April 11;
  4. to give grants for composition and research;
  5. to publish fine facsimiles of musical manuscript. A thousand of each are then distributed free of charge to libraries, conservatories and universities all over the world; another thousand are made available to individuals at a low cost.

Concurrently, ROLF’s states on their webpage:  “It is the mission of the Foundation to fulfill and further Robert Lehman’s vision and therefore to support the visual arts in any fashion that seems likely to enhance the appreciation, knowledge and enjoyment of this central aspect of our culture”[3].

Grants

Two Young Girls at the Piano 1892 Pierre-Auguste Renoir, part of ROL collection at the Met

Two Young Girls at the Piano 1892 Pierre-Auguste Renoir, part of ROL collection at the Met

At present, the ROLF is accepting funding proposals for the Robert Lehman Foundation Art Lectureship Program, grants meant to provide Colleges with the opportunity to enrich their art history curricula. The website features guidelines for grant proposals as well as an upload page for potential grantees. Recent grantees include: Alliance for the Arts, Columbus Museum of Art, The Drawing Center, among many others. The Board of Trustees of the Foundation reviews proposals on a bi-annual basis, with meetings generally held in October and May. Since 2012, organizations that have received the grant for four consecutive years are not eligible for consideration for a subsequent two years[4].

Facsimile Reproductions

The first facsimile reproductions by ROLF began in 1964 with Debussy’s Prelude a I’apres-midi[5]. Chopin’s Étude Op. 10 No. 3 was reproduced the following year in 1965, upon the death of Alfred Cortot to whom the original manuscript belonged[6]. This Étude is a collotype made from the original Chopin score.


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Collotype

English: collotype (Albertype, Albert-type, artotype, phototint, photogelatin, hydrotype, ink-photo, autogravure, etc.); French: phototypie; German: Lichtdruck[1]

Derived from the Greek word kola meaning glue, the collotype process requires printing from a gelatin surface in a lithographic manner as compared to intaglio and relief printing. This form of photomechanical printing creates accurate reproductions. It was invented by Alphonse-Louis Poitevin in 1855 and first used in 1859 by F. Joubert. Important improvements were introduced in 1868 by Joseph Albert and Jakub Hunsnik[2].

Print Process

Collotype print example

Collotype print example

Specifically, the collotype process is a screenless photomechanical process that allows high-quality prints from continuous-tone photographic negatives. Using heat and cold water treated dichromate-sensitized gelatin, a random surface micropattern is created that, once exposed to UV light, hardens, becoming more hydrophobic under light area and remaining hydrophilic under darker areas. The hydrophobic parts receiving more light will hold more ink since water and oil do not mix well. This matrix can then be inked and printed using a rotary flatbed or rotary graphic press[3].

History & Technological Improvements

Collotype printing timeline

Collotype printing timeline

In 1855, Poitevin patented collotype printing, which was first successfully used in the June 1860 issue of The Photographic Journal by Joubert in 1859. Similar methods were explored in 1865 by du Motay and Marechal using a copper plate as the substrate. Problems with the adhesion of the gelatin to the copper plate limited runs to no more than 100 prints. This was greatly improved in 1868 by Albert and Husnik via applying a subbing layer of thick glass coated with gelatin[4]. This increased runs to 1,000 prints and variants years after improved the durability of the substrate and the speed of printing. In 1874, Joseph Albert introduced the three-color collotype process using continuous separation. In 1922, Robert John introduced the Aquatone process using halftone negatives in the preparation of the collotype plates. This was followed by the development of the Optak and Triton processes in 1946 and 1955. Several attempts have also been made to replace the gelatin with synthetic polymers; however, these have proved to be unsuccessful. The collotype process remains technologically challenging and expensive and has since been replaced by faster and cheaper offset lithography. As of 2010, very few collotype print facilities are still in print[5].

Identification & Variants

CollotypeMagnified

Collotype print magnified

The collotype process was used for short-run printing editions from photographic negatives. To the untrained naked eye, it looks like a black-and-white photograph, but with a powerful microscope, the image will look as if it is made up of tiny polygon grains. Often, collotype prints will be coated with varnish to achieve the look of real photographs[6]. Shellac varnish is most commonly used. ATR-FTIR analysis will detect and identify the presence of varnish or surface coatings. Many variants exist to the collotype process, the most important of which are halftone and colour collotypes[7].


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History of Music Printing and Publishing

The history of music printing and publishing is technical, social and artistic[1]. Its technical history revolves around the solution to representing music as visual symbols. Its social history encompasses how tastes, styles and audiences have changed the scope of what music has been produced. The artistic component reflects the history of musical typography.

Principle Techniques of Music Printing[2]

Music printing has three main techniques: music-type, engraving and lithography. A fourth technique has developed recently over the past 30 years in music-processing software. The majority of music published today is printed via lithography and its photographic processes.

Printing01Created in the mid-15th century by Gutenburg, music-type evolved much like movable type for text. The design for a note, rest or clef is cut into a punch made of steel. A matrix is produced by striking the punch into a metal bar. The type is cast matrix is inserted at the base, and molten lead is poured in. The mould is taken apart and the type remains. The notes and symbols are assembled together by a compositor following a manuscript. Using a composing-stick, the compositor transfers the music type line by line into the machine. Early music required relatively few sorts, or separate notes, but by the 19th century, music hadinto a mould. Thedeveloped so much that a case of music-type could contain up to as many as 400 sorts[3]. Printing via music-type became increasingly difficult, time-consuming and costly; musical knowledge was also required the compositor. Although it initially flourished in Europe and America, this printing method grew out of favour and became obsolete in the mid-20th century. Music woodblock printing also developed later in the 15th century, alongside woodblock illustrations to accompany text, and was quite popular in the 16th century. The first surviving example of music-type print is the Constance Gradual (c. 1743)[4].

Music engraving developed in the 16th century and became extremely popular in the 17th century. The process involved a burin which was used to engrave the music onto a copper plate and then etched with acid. Music engraving was highly preferred to movable type since it allowed for more complex notations. Working in mirror image from a manuscript, the engraver first draws lines with a five-pronged score for the staff. Second, punches are used to stamp text for tempo indications and expressions along with clefs, key signatures, rests and accidentals. Last, but not least, the notes are added in. The earliest known example of music-engraving is present in the Intabolatura da leuto del divino Francesco da Milano (c.1536).

Lithography was developed in the early 18th century by Alois Senefelder. The process is based on the principle that grease repels water; an image can be inked onto a metal plate and transferred onto a surface. Unlike engraving, lithography does not produce crisp marked edges but well-inked printers can still produce sharp images. The lithographic process became the quickest, cheapest and most efficient way to print music, and was taken up by the principle musical printers of the time; Schott of Mainz, Breitkopf of Leipzig, and Ricordi of Milan. Wagner famously wrote his Tannhäuser opera on lithographic transfer paper.

Recently, there have been developments in the digitization of music print. Notation software programs such as Score, Notewriter, Finale and Sibelius have been making headway in this new industry. These advances have changed music printing and publishing, but are nowhere near as developed as word processors are for text.

History of Music Print in Europe[5]

The early history of music print is closely related to the development of print. Gutenberg’s invention of movable type in 1440 transferred over easily into music print. The two dominant styles of typography or notation used around this time were the Gothic and the Roman. The former was preferred by German-speaking parts of Europe, while the latter was used most in Latin countries including England and the Netherlands. The earliest examples of music print are from the Latin incunabulum including the Constance Gradual. It was printed from two impression from music type in Gothic, characterized by the diamond-shaped notation, and rubricated initials in red.

By the late 15th century, Venice had become the central hub of Italian printing. Petrucci obtained the exclusive rights to print canto figurato music. His perfections in music-type spread throughout Europe: Attaingnant in France followed suit in the 16th century, establishing himself as a prominent bookseller and the first music publisher to operate on a large scale. His business was carried onwards by Le Roy & Ballard, whose music type was distinctly rounder than the ones before it. They became a leading publishing house well into the 18th century. By the mid-16th century, many music publishing houses had sprung up, most notably in Antwerp, which became the centre for thepublishing trade.

English music publishing flourished mid-17th century in the houses of the Playfords and the Walshes. The latter publishing house, in particular, was known for developing cheap speedy print techniques. By the mid-18th century, Leipzig had become the centre of music publishing as a result of German typefounder and printer Breitkopf’s music type. Leipzig would remain a prominent figure in music publishing business despite houses establishing in other cities, particularly Vienna, until after the Second World War.

History of Music Publishing in Europe[6]

A large part of printing and publishing in music was made through agreements between composer and publisher. Attaingnant, working in the 16th century, offered little in terms of financial payment to his composers, but printed an agreed number of copies which brought them honour and fame. Copyright protection had not yet been implemented and composers such as Haydn and Beethoven felt taken advantage of. Haydn, for some time, corresponded with the Viennese printing of Artaria but switched over to Breitkopf & Härtel. Mozart was the opposite: his father failed to interest Breitkopf & Härtel early on and turned to Artaria to publish his chamber works. Publishers before the 21st century had to be “adaptable, diplomatic, experimental, businesslike, and above all sensitive to emerging gifts and talents and to the changing patterns of the musical scene”.

With the turn of the 21st century, new technological developments have changed the focused on copyright laws and performing rights. The music publishers’ income comes principally from performing-right fees, mechanical reproduction fees, royalties, hire fees, and the sale of music. The composer’s income is derived from royalties on copies of music and fees accruing from performances. Copyright is typically owned by the publisher in the duration of the composer’s lifetime and 70 years after death. The royalties paid to the composer immeasurably less than incomes earned in the 19th and 20th centuries while publisher incomes are continually being eroded by illegal photocopying and the like.

History of Music Printing and Publishing in Warsaw

Warsaw01Prior to 1795, Poland’s music industry was only easily accessible to the aristocratic and wealthy, all of whom represented only a small portion of the population[7]. Poland’s partitioning and loss of independence around 1795, however, only ignited the rise of Enlightenment ideals which lead to a major change in the music publishing industry in its capital Warsaw[8]. While political instability rocked the country, the music printing industry flourished and expanded well into the 1820’s. Early 19th century Warsaw faced a period of increased demand for music by the bourgeoisie. Among the many that began opening music engraving shops included Elsner and Cybulski[9]; the latter published Chopin’s first published work, Polonaise in G Minor. Besides the increased production in pianos and the rising presence of musical institutions, dance music, especially in the ballroom, also featured prominently in this era[10]. Chopin grew up in the heyday of these popular forms and their features undoubtedly influenced his composition of waltzes, polonaises and mazurkas during his early years. Non-dance music was also fairly popular around 1810-1830[11]. Forms such as marches, nocturnes, romances, études and preludes sprung about, many of which Chopin experimented with. During the Uprisings, nationalism flowed through the country in the form of music in operas and fantasias featuring patriotic themes. Following the fall of the Uprising, Poland suffered decades of extreme censorship[12]; the music printing industry suffered as well. It would take a long time for Warsaw to return to its prosperous music printing years during Chopin’s youth.


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