Subscribe via RSS
Pierrot lunaire in Studio and in Broadcast: Sprechstimme, Tempo and Character - the truth behind
In 2005 I went to the Dublin International Conference on Music Analysis, in University of Dublin, in Ireland. I gave a paper called ‘Form Analyses of Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht in Light of his Performance Practice’. At that time the Journal of the Society of Musicology in Ireland (JSMI) just started its first steps. The conference was such fun, the beer was so good and the people were so nice, that I said to myself that I must contribute to this journal. I was also attracted to the idea that online articles usually receive more quotations than the printed ones.
Here is the abstract to the article: A comparison of a recently-discovered broadcast of Pierrot lunaire with the famous 1940 commercial recording of the work, both with Arnold Schoenberg conducting performers of his circle (notably Rudolf Kolisch, Edward Steuermann and Erika Stiedry-Wagner), shows that the different contexts of the recording studio and the live broadcast, as well as other factors, had considerable influence on the performances. This article demonstrates how tempo, character and Sprechstimme contour were affected by these different contexts. Such factors caused many listeners to experience the broadcast as an excellent performance, one which was described as superior to the commercial recording. In increasing our awareness of the distinctions between live and studio recordings, a study such as this of historical performances contributes to our view of performance as a critical element in an understanding of Western art music. Click the following link in order to read the article now: ‘Pierrot lunaire in studio and in broadcast: Sprechstimme, tempo and character’, Journal of the Society of Musicology in Ireland (JSMI), 2 (2006-7).
I feel a great interest in your studies. I would like to ask two questions about the paper you wrote.
First,you compared “breitet”on Figure 1 and Figure 2 (p. 88), but I don’t know why you chose this particular part to compare, because I think there are lot parts which support your opinion.
Second, you wrote “Columns 5 and 6 give the initial tempo of the songs as manifestered in the commercial recordings and the broadcast”(p. 86), but I have no idea how you figured out the initial tempo. When I culculate the initial tempo, I have two steps. First, I measure the time from the opening of bar 1 to the opening of bar 2, and then divide it by the number of crotches in bar 1. How did you culculate the initial tempo? Perhaps I use the software like Sonic Visualizer and plungins.
Best wishes,
Dear Miwako Hibi,
Thank your for your comment.
I have chosen the word “breitet” since it is the only word in this song that is instructed by Schoenberg to be sung normally (not in Sprechstimme).
I am sad to say that I am not sure that I remember how I calculated the initial tempo of the songs. I think that I conducted with the recordings the first few bars and then tried to see with the metronome how fast it is. The tempo often fluctuates so the result is “more or less” how it seemed to me when I measured it. I tried to be as faithful as possible to Schoenberg’s performances. Did you find that my table is inaccurate?
Thank you for your reply.
I don’t think your way is wrong.
It is difficult to calculate the initial tempo of the songs.
Many thanks,
The question is not how difficult it is, but what related better to the listeners’ experiences. When I use myself as a listener I hope to come closer to that than when I just measure. We can measure things until we have smoke in our eyes. Yet, understanding the meaning behind the data, and how this relates to real life experience of music, is the real problem.
Hi, is there any way to get the video on Schoenberg conducting Pierrot Lunaire up again? It seems like it has been taken off Youtube.