Historical Performance and Teatro Nuovo’s “House Style”
An Informal Guide
by Will Crutchfield & Jakob Lehmann
Like other groups in the Historically Informed Performance world, Teatro Nuovo sees meaning in the search for performance styles contemporaneous with the music we present. We all know that perfect answers can never be reached, and yet we find that the search for them leads us to discoveries - about the music itself, about our own instruments and voices, and about our conscious and unconscious ways of using those.
Again like other groups, we have developed a “house style” in addressing certain questions in our repertory. This document is an informal summary of that style, which may be useful both for returning artists and for new participants in our projects.
Everything described here is based on “hard evidence” in the musicological sense, but the way that evidence is interpreted naturally involves elements of choice and taste. Here, we’re not explaining the evidentiary background (we often get into that in our seminars and rehearsals), but instead offering a handbook to “our” version of HIP as it has developed during the five years TN has been in existence. We emphasize that this is not, and hopefully never will be, a finished product - we are always open to improvement and revision as we absorb the contributions of our present and future participants.
Historical recordings
TN puts considerable emphasis on the study of early sound recordings, especially those made before the introduction of the microphone in 1925. This is not a substitute for the traditional sources of “performance practice” information in treatises, scores, and other written documents from the farther past; rather, it is a way of re-shaping our interpretation of such documents. If we imagine their lessons in comparison to sounds from our own lifetimes, we have one way of guesstimating the things they describe. If we add thorough familiarity with the way people performed 100 to 130 years ago, we create a second reference point, free from our own unconscious assumptions and materially closer to the conditions that prevailed during the whole pre-technological history of music.
In the particular case of singing, there is another reason to emphasize these sonic artifacts, a purely technical one: they document the way singers produced their voices at a time when the microphone and its possibilities formed no part of any singer’s upbringing or instincts.
The idea of legato
The notion of “bound” or “connected” lines as an ideal of Italian singing goes back beyond the beginnings of opera itself, and the emulation of Italian singers was held up as an instrumental ideal throughout opera’s heyday. TN puts this concept into effect with special attention to several features. One is portamento, discussed separately below. Another is timbral and dynamic continuity. When “legato line” is the goal, we favor a rich, full-bodied tone that either maintains the same color and intensity throughout, or changes those things in a steadily graded crescendos and diminuendos.
We take care to avoid unintentional emphases, internal diminuendos fading to insubstantiality, sonic weakness in shorter notes compared to adjacent longer ones, and multiple dynamic differences within a phrase. Against this default setting of scrupulous continuity, intentional non-continuities (such as accents, subito piano, sforzando, staccato, marcato) can stand forth strongly and effectively.
We also observe a hierarchy of musical elements, in which melodic lines are assumed to be in “legato” unless there is a conscious choice to the contrary, while accompanimental and harmony-sustaining elements are likelier to seek transparency, sometimes in the form of stating chord changes at a higher dynamic and then lowering the volume for continuations of an unchanged harmony.
Portamento (vocal)
TN embraces the liberal use of portamento found in written accounts stretching back to the 18th century and heard on early 20th-century vocal recordings. We emphasize the execution of portamento in full voice, with the same timbre and dynamic that prevail on the departure and/or destination notes, without any gap in the intensity of breath support.
We also caution that there is a difference between intentional portamento as an expressive gesture (which we encourage) and a constant, unconscious portamento in ongoing declamatory lines. The latter can occur naturally when the line proceeds from vowel to vowel or passes through sustainable pitched consonants, but is to be avoided across unvoiced or non-sustainable consonants (again, unless it is specifically desired as an expressive gesture).
Portamento (instrumental)
TN embraces the liberal use of expressive portamento found in written accounts and fingerings stretching back to the 18th century and on early 20th-century string recordings.
We emphasize the execution of expressive portamento without diminuendos (other than the continuation of an intentional diminuendo applying to the larger phrase), maintaining the bow pressure already in use before the slide begins. We generally prefer same-finger and old-finger slides over new-finger slides.
We also embrace the more casual portamento that arises randomly from the use of old-fashioned fingerings, for which we can supply examples to anyone interested.
Our players are also encouraged to experiment with fingerings that can be heard on historical recordings, and to attempt “unlearning” some of the default fingerings that were developed in the 20th century for the purpose of minimizing slides.
We also encourage those wind instruments that have any possibility of imitating portamento, even if only in certain intervals, to explore that possibility in lyrical lines.
Non-legato vocal articulations
TN embraces the varieties of vocal articulation described by García in 1847, recognizing legato, portamento, and marcato as the predominant modes, encouraging picchiettati (staccato notes) in certain limited contexts, and generally avoiding aspiration and unintentional lapses of legato. A full translation of García’s account will be available when we meet in the summer.
Vocal registration
TN encourages, on the basis of pedagogical works from the Bel Canto period and before, the development of chest voice and head voice as distinct registers, and the skill of coordinating them timbrally and passing with security and ease from one to the other. We observe that among recorded singers of the pre-microphone era these concepts were still fully in force, and conclude that later confusions and/or deficits in this area are by-products of the influence of microphone singing, which we seek to reverse.
Ornaments and cadenzas
TN embraces the long survival of free ornamentation in Italian music, and seeks to restore three things: the variety and boldness of ornaments in use; the expertise of individual musicians in devising their own; and the channeling of our imaginations through a disciplined musical understanding of the many surviving examples of period ornamentation.
Though this aspect of performance style is too complex for quick summary, it is an essential part of our rehearsal process. To musicians preparing for that process, TN emphasizes “fidelity to the skeleton” as a foundational principle in historical examples of melodic ornamentation. Ornamentation, from this viewpoint, is neither free composition over a given harmony nor the invention of an alternative melody, but rather the application of recognized practices (appoggiaturas, passing notes, turns, anticipations and delays, scales and arpeggios, etc.) to an existing line. The key factor is returning to the written note or an appoggiatura resolving to that note on nearly all strong beats or important melodic contours, no matter where an ornamental gesture may have gone in between such points. (Occasional exceptions to this general rule will be identified in the course of our preparation process.)
Cadenzas, being based on a harmony and not a thematic element, are naturally more free, and here we emphasize study of the construction of period examples to build our soloists’ capacities, which can then be set loose to follow their fantasy.
To keep our interpretations fresh and exploratory, we generally ask that any particular ornamentation familiar from other modern performances should be avoided in ours.
For orchestral musicians playing a solo, ornamentation along the same lines as that heard in vocal music is encouraged. Additionally, TN embraces the small incidental ornaments that historical sources tell us were employed in accompanimental or secondary parts.
Puntatura
TN embraces the concept of adapting vocal lines to the range of individual voices (“puntatura” - so named because it was traditionally carried out by adding noteheads, “punti,” over an already-written vocal line). We encourage singers to do this as needed if certain notes or phrases in their assigned parts lie outside their effective ranges, and we provide guidance for this process from many historical examples of it.
Vocal appoggiaturas
The appoggiatura is both an ordinary ornament (to be used according to taste) and a grammatical necessity in certain vocal phrases, when a solo line ends with a strong syllable followed by a weak syllable notated on the same pitch. TN style, following what is known of period practice, is to avoid this pitch-repetition, either through a simple appoggiatura or one of the recognized substitutes for it. This applies equally in recitative and musical pieces.
Note for 2022: Bellini was the first major composer to write all appoggiaturas directly into his score. Maometto soloists and covers who have any doubts about where to sing appoggiaturas can find perfect guidance by looking through a few pages of the Sonnambula recitatives and musical pieces.
High notes and allegro endings
The enjoyment of impressive notes in the high end of a singer’s range is probably as old as singing itself, but the concentration on this in opera increased significantly in the later 19th century, and increased again as the extra high notes inserted by certain popular artists gradually became “obligatory” in the mid-20th century. TN enjoys a good high note like anyone else, but seeks to restore the more limited way they were used in the Bel Canto era. In particular, we do not change the end of allegro movements (cabalettas) from “down” to “up,” and we do not interrupt their rhythmic motion with fermatas. We prefer instead to explore the wide variety of ornaments for such endings found in period sources.
TN also avoids the practice of vocal dropouts (“tacets”) in allegro codas, which were introduced only in the mid-20th century when final high notes started to be considered obligatory.
Vibrato
Our approach to this eternally controversial topic begins with the observation that it is fundamentally different for voices and instruments.
“Vibrato” occurs in the human voice as a manifestation of the inherent neuromuscular tremor that accompanies all controlled bodily motion. Its speed and pitch extent are defined indirectly, over the course of vocal training. Although vastly different outcomes of this process are possible, singers have little or no voluntary control of those parameters once their voices are developed to professional-performance level. In practice, they generally have only the two choices of permitting the vibrato-as-developed, or suppressing it altogether by holding the vocal cords rigid.
Instrumental vibrato, generally speaking, is a voluntary imitation of this vocal characteristic, and its speed and pitch extent are, within certain limits, variable by choice. The question then becomes when, and in what degree, to undertake this imitation.
TN parts company with some of our H.I.P. colleagues in one important respect: we find no convincing evidence that the suppression of vocal vibrato (“straight tone”) was ever practiced as a part of European tradition. We see instead ample evidence that the perception of vibrato “by choice” refers in actuality to certain singers developing their vibratos to be more prominently audible than others’, and/or cultivating a vibrato that (while always present) became more noticeable on certain notes, usually louder or higher notes.
The study of early sound recordings allows us to observe the state of vibrato at the end of the pre-microphone era, which can be summed up (with some oversimplification) as follows:
Since we recognize that vocal vibrato is not generally subject to modification within a rehearsal process, we try to invite singers whose vibrato-as-developed is near the fast-and-narrow edge of the modern range of possibilities. In instrumental playing, we assume that while vibrato was known and used during the era of our repertory, it was probably employed still less than what is heard on the early 20th-century recordings, and was probably limited to passages analogous to those in which vocal vibrato became noticeable in the way described above.
Finally we take note that the word “vibrato” and related forms of the verb vibrare did not always have our modern connotation of undulating pitch, and were sometimes used - as in ordinary spoken Italian - to describe spirited or forceful action, irrespective of any pitch element. The occurrence of “vibrato” as a musical instruction in Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and their contemporaries is generally analogous to the terms “marcato” or “con forza.” As described above, noticeable undulation of pitch could be a byproduct of such execution in voices, and that meaning gradually took over in musical use of the word.
Orchestral note-lengths
TN follows the traditional Italian practice whereby final quarter-notes and most other un-slurred quarter-notes are played “short.” Exactly how short depends on the general character of the music and the interpretation we are giving it. The point is that they are not longer than other “black notes” in the same positions unless the composer has affirmatively requested sustaining, for instance by writing “tenuto” or “lunga” or by tying the note to another note of the same pitch.
Some composers used the note-value within the “black note” family as a symbolic reinforcement or shorthand for dynamics, which often went missing in the age of hand-copied parts (thus, 16th notes followed by rests for very soft playing, quarter notes for forte, etc., again without implying that the quarter notes would be played at full length).
In quick upbeats, especially in the case of tutti chords, we follow the practice called “overdotting” or “bunching” or (in Italy) “stretto,” meaning that the short upbeat is played as close as possible to the downbeat, following the bow of the violinist-director, regardless of the notated value of the short note.
Rallentando and accelerando
One striking lesson of early historical recordings is the surprisingly small amount of music that remains for long periods in an unmodified tempo. We observe that certain evidence from much earlier periods (in scores, performers’ annotations, and descriptions) suggests similar practices, and though we can never be sure exactly how close this correspondence was in reality, TN seeks to explore versions of these tempo modifications in our work.
We encourage a general feeling of forward motion (sometimes even to the point of “rushing”) in crescendo passages, and a corresponding relaxation in diminuendo passages. We also recognize a strong inclination towards rallentando at perfect cadences concluding a phrase or section, and an inclination to activate the crescendo/accelerando impulse at harmonic moves away from the established tonality.
In addition to those cues for tempo modification, there is the freedom of soloists to linger over features of their melodic lines - the peak of a phrase, or an expressive ornament, for instance. TN welcomes this, and emphasizes that it is not necessary for accompanimental figures to coordinate precisely with it. Often, we prefer for the players of an accompanying figure to finish what they are doing within a certain beat, and then simply wait for the next beat’s arrival.
Più mosso
We have many examples in composers’ own indications to show that concluding allegros reached successively faster tempos, especially in finales and large ensembles, and especially codas, codettas, and postludes. We also have evidence of such practices being applied even when not indicated in the score, and TN embraces this. Sometimes, especially with Bellini, there is evidence that these “più mosso” passages reached all the way to double-time, even though that is rarely indicated literally in the score. Our watchword here is “be ready to move it” as we approach allegro conclusions.
Fermatas
The familiar symbol that is called in Italian the “punto coronato” (crowned dot) or simply “corona” (crown) had many meanings. Many of us are familiar with its use in individual parts from the Baroque era, in which it sometimes means simply “your part stops here,” even if other parts continue in motion and there is no expectation that your note will be sustained. That custom was obsolete by the “bel canto” period, but other meanings were still in use beyond - or instead of - the familiar modern meaning of “elongate this note or rest.”
In solo parts (vocal or instrumental), the corona may signal the insertion of a cadenza or other free ornament. In accompanimental or tutti parts, it signals some version of “stopping” (a “fermata” is a stop, including the stops on a bus line) - but not necessarily sustaining a note or expanding the overall quantity of time. When a fermata appears over a “black note,” it generally means to stop after the note, which is played short, unless accompanied by a verbal instruction such as “tenuto” (see “Orchestral note-lengths”). It often means “stop until the next thing happens that requires you to play,” and that next thing may come in less time than would be guessed by counting the empty beats. Finally, some composers and annotators used the fermata informally in accompaniments, as a quick symbol for what we would call “rallentando” or “col canto” - in which case it does not mean a complete halt, but instead an attentive readiness to stretch or wait as needed, depending on the delivery of the solo part.
Notes inégales and other rhythmic modifications
TN seeks to explore multiple sources of evidence about the departures from literal rhythm that still thrived in 19th-century interpretation, including the tendency to elongate the first note of slurred pairs, the tendency to coordinate with triplets appearing in other parts, and the tendency for phrase peaks and destination notes to be reached “before the beat” in certain circumstances. All this will be discussed in our preparation, and we encourage an approach of boldness and enthusiasm in the early phases of rehearsal; sometimes an idea expounded by one player will “catch on” and spread through the orchestra. We allow enough rehearsal time for things to be sorted out by the leadership group if chaos ensues!
Orchestral seating
TN employs historical seating plans to facilitate the listening-and-watching basis of ensemble performance. The principle is to arrange the orchestra so that the maximum number of players can see the stage and each other as well as the violinist-director. We also follow the period practice of placing basses, cellos, and violas on both ends of the “pit” (sometimes also in the middle) so that their sound is distributed evenly and all can hear it promptly.
Free bowing
In alignment with historical evidence, we employ free bowings in all string parts. We find two main advantages in this: first that each player is freed to choose whatever is most physically comfortable, second that we avoid the exaggerated inequality that can result in some passages when everybody is approaching the tip or the frog at the same time. In some other passages, nearly everyone will adopt a uniform bowing automatically, and occasionally we will decide on one if necessary for good ensemble. But where it is not necessary, we prefer the sound that results when some are playing in longer strokes and others in shorter, and we encourage section members to look around and consciously choose a contrasting bowing.
We recognize that bouncing strokes entered standard string playing through a gradual process over a long period, starting with soloists and later emerging in orchestral playing - and we know that Italians were pioneers in this. On the other hand, we also know that as late as the early 20th century, many passages that today are routinely played off the string were still played on. TN’s approach to this is case-by-case; we favor on-the-string strokes in general, but certain brilliant Violin 1 passages suggest that people had been listening to Paganini, and we do not always resist that suggestion.
As will emerge in rehearsal, TN gives special attention to certain instructions that are not familiar from later music, or were executed differently in the Bel Canto period. Among these are a punta d’arco, battuto, portato and a variety of modes for unmeasured (usually “tremolando”) accompaniment in recitative.
Instrument guidelines: strings
Violins, Violas and Cellos
Instruments: We ask our string players to use instruments in (late) Classical or Romantic set up. Please do not use instruments with baroque bridges and short fingerboards etc. Chin rests are generally accepted, and we recommend them due to the often demanding nature of writing in especially the first violin parts. Shoulder rests are accepted.
Bows: (Late) Classical and transitional bows. Early Tourte models up to the mid-19th Century are also acceptable. Please contact a member of the artistic team or the section principal as soon as possible to discuss options for sourcing an appropriate bow if necessary.
Strings: For the violins three unwound (E, A, D), the violas and cellos two unwound (A, D) gut strings. For the wound gut strings please make sure they have a gut core, and no synthetic or steel core.
Double basses
Instrument: Given the ubiquitous use of the three-string double bass in the repertoire that is central to Teatro Nuovo’s artistic mission, TN strongly encourages its double bass players to perform on a three-string double bass. If this poses an issue, please contact the section principal as soon as possible to discuss options and potential solutions.
Bows: Either an early through mid-century 19c ‘Dragonetti’ - style (or similar) underhand bow, or similar early through mid-century 19c-style overhand bow. Please contact a member of the artistic team or the section principal as soon as possible to discuss options for sourcing an appropriate bow if necessary.
Strings: Pure gut g and d strings are required. Either a pure gut AA or wound AA is acceptable.
Instrument guidelines: Winds and brass
The nature of our orchestra has taught us that wind instrument players in the HIP world are the best specialists and connoisseurs of their own instrument, so we encourage them to explore and experiment with historical evidence on types and models of instruments. Generally, any type of European early to mid-19th Century wind and brass instrument that works well at our designated pitch is welcome to be used.
Pitch
TN adopts a tuning of A=430. We can read of various pitches in use on the Italian peninsula, and it is not clear that one had precedence over another. We do know that Verdi, who seems to have had a particularly acute version of “absolute pitch” and who wrote about this topic more than others, considered A=432 the ideal, but we accept A=430 as the most commonly used compromise in today’s H.I.P. practice of Classical and early Romantic music
Recitative accompaniment (orchestral)
Following a tradition that is still largely observed when Italian opera is played in Italy itself, we recognize “recitativo” as a mode of delivery in which there is no sense whatever of pulse or “tempo” as normally understood. Instead, the actors declaim the text freely and the orchestra intervenes following the bow of the violinist-director, with no counting or marking of what seem on the page to be empty beats or parts of beats.
At recitative cadences (including broken or deceptive cadences), TN follows the style described by Leopold Mozart and C.P.E. Bach, among others, in which a harmony change expressed by two consecutive quarter notes is played with two consecutive downbows.
Recitative accompaniment (continuo)
Our repertory comes from a period in which some theaters still used what is now called recitativo secco or recitativo semplice, with accompaniment supplied only by the continuo group, and written by composers as a single bass line in long notes, without dynamics or articulations, and with the harmonies to be realized by improvisation. That accompaniment could be provided in various ways, among which TN favors the one most in use in Italian theaters: a trio of players, with contrabass supplying the fundamental bass note (usually short), and chords improvised by cello and keyboard. (The most common alternative to this approach was simply subtracting the keyboard and performing with just bass and cello.)
Note for 2022: This year we will be offering sessions in recitative practice led by our principal cellist Hilary Metzger, for cellists to work on the practice of realizing figured bass on their instrument and for singers, bassists, and keyboard players to join in with the cellists in preparing selected “secco” recitatives.
Keyboard continuo outside recitative
A little-recognized curiosity in Italian opera is the survival of the term “maestro al cembalo” - along with descriptions and pictures of orchestra leaders with a keyboard in the pit - long after there was no missing harmony to be filled in and thus no apparent necessity for an audible keyboard part. TN takes its cue from an unusually explicit description written in 1826, in which a critic explaining Italian opera to newcomers points out that while spectators sitting near the piano might occasionally hear it, it was intended only “for the guidance” of the orchestra.
Divided direction
Italian opera was remarkable in its slowness to accept the profession of “conducting,” which established itself in the rest of Europe roughly between 1810 and 1830, but was not standard in Italy for several more decades. As late as the early 1870s, Verdi was telling his publisher that his new operas, because of their complexities, should be rented only to theaters that used a conductor; some still didn’t!
It’s obvious what the advantages of shifting to single direction were; the more interesting question is, what did Italy value so much in the older system? What were they getting from it that made them so reluctant to move on? Finding those answers was one of the founding impulses for TN. As far as we know we are the only group in the world attempting to re-create this practice in Romantic opera.
Leadership in Italian theaters was divided between a “Primo Violino e capo (sometimes ‘direttore’) d’orchestra” and a “Maestro al Cembalo” (sometimes “direttore della musica”). Very roughly speaking, the former had the main responsibility for orchestral execution and for setting tempos in performance, while the latter had the main responsibility for rehearsing the singers and supervising the overall interpretation. (Composers usually took this role when mounting their premieres.) We can read quite a lot about occasional competition between the two leaders for the “upper hand” at their theaters - with sometimes one and sometimes the other coming out on top - and there are many accounts (often humorous or derogatory) about the results of conflict between them.
Obviously the ideal was for the two leaders to respect each other and cooperate well, but even then it cannot have been a frictionless process, and neither is ours at TN. Our practice, however, has revealed certain advantages. First and foremost: the simple fact of division prevents the situation of “one boss, many subordinates,” and this has the effect of empowering the musicality of all participants. Italy valued soloistic impulse and the charisma of the individual performer, and TN wants to re-valorize this. Moreover, even in purely ensemble situations, we find that leading while playing instead of conducting shifts the responsibility for ensemble to every player’s listening, reacting, and alert visual contact.
While the main responsibility for interpretation and musical pacing lies naturally with the leadership group of each opera, we do not want to control the musicality of others during performance. We see value in dispersing that control, and we accomplish TN’s mission best when the maximum number of people are able to take creative responsibility for their own parts.
The Italian language; text and rhythm
Italian opera was designed to be performed by Italian speakers, and we can’t all be that, but we lay great stress on daily study of the language for our singers, and close reading of the librettos by all participants.
TN observes that the earliest recorded singers constantly used non-literal rhythms, often derived from the rhythmic patterns of speech, to a degree far exceeding anything familiar in current performance style - and also exceeding anything described in written accounts or treatises, from that era or earlier. This non-literalism often takes the form of notes inégales (beyond the general use of them discussed elsewhere). It also includes substitution of triple for duple subdivision (or vice versa), arrival on accented syllables “before the beat,” various degrees of overdotting or underdotting - in other words, many notes falling “in the cracks” between where a literal rendition would place them.
TN values this approach and seeks to restore it. These practices were very rarely described by “how-to” writers back in the day. We assume this is because they were taken for granted as being natural and self-evident, and because they arose from spontaneous attachment to the rhythms of declamation more than from conscious choices to alter something seen on the page. We put great emphasis on rehearsing text without music, to habituate ourselves to its inherent proportions so as to feel the natural tension between those and the written musical rhythms. We also encourage immersive listening to recordings made before the 20th-century modernization of vocal delivery. In particular, we actively avoid singing a series of equal note-lengths, unless we see a distinct musical reason for equality to prevail over the natural syllabic lengths (example, an ostinato pattern such as “la testa vi gira, la testa vi gira” in Barbiere).
We also note that in this earlier practice, rhythm and not vocal timbre was used to differentiate short syllables from long ones. We therefore avoid “lightening” the voice or breath pressure on unstressed syllables; instead we simply make them shorter.
Cuts
TN’s default setting is to perform operas complete, but we are not purists about this. We recognize that abbreviation was a part of “performance practice” from the beginning, sometimes even before an opera’s premiere, and we honor this by staying faithful to cuts of the type found in contemporary sources when we judge that an abbreviation is desirable. Correspondingly, we often open cuts made by the composers themselves if we believe the omitted music is convincing and within our capacities to convey persuasively.
A final thought on musicality, period evidence, and TN’s process
Our version of the “Historically Informed Performance” idea seeks constantly to navigate the distinct currents of instinct and evidence.
By “instinct” we mean “what feels right to us as musicians.” By “evidence” we mean “whatever we know about the way things were done in the past.” Neither of those by itself is sufficient to our mission. What “feels right” may be governed by our training and experience, and may sometimes be contrary to “whatever we know” about past practices - and yet our choices must “feel right” by the time we perform, or our performances cannot be convincing, either to ourselves or our audiences.
So our goal is constantly to try things out, even if they may seem strange at first, in hopes of discovering a way of doing them that feels, or comes to feel, musically natural. If we do not reach that point, then we’re not ready to expound that particular historical idea in that particular passage, and may need to set it aside for further experimentation another time.
Inevitably this is a process led by the musical directors and principal players, but it is important to us not to limit the input to those. Our company is full of musicians who have made their own investigations of historical information and who have their own unique musicalities, and our leadership group is eager to learn from all.
Although we do not adopt the policy of “hands raised whenever anybody has a thought,” the floor is opened for suggestions and discussion in certain moments of our rehearsal period, for instance when the leadership group decides to try something in different ways to reach a choice. And meanwhile we are always open to suggestions and queries between rehearsals. We need and encourage those! They have already contributed significantly to the “house style” outlined in this handbook, and we hope they will always continue to do so as it evolves.
© Will Crutchfield & Jakob Lehmann
Read Will’s message to Bel Canto fans
An Informal Guide
by Will Crutchfield & Jakob Lehmann
Like other groups in the Historically Informed Performance world, Teatro Nuovo sees meaning in the search for performance styles contemporaneous with the music we present. We all know that perfect answers can never be reached, and yet we find that the search for them leads us to discoveries - about the music itself, about our own instruments and voices, and about our conscious and unconscious ways of using those.
Again like other groups, we have developed a “house style” in addressing certain questions in our repertory. This document is an informal summary of that style, which may be useful both for returning artists and for new participants in our projects.
Everything described here is based on “hard evidence” in the musicological sense, but the way that evidence is interpreted naturally involves elements of choice and taste. Here, we’re not explaining the evidentiary background (we often get into that in our seminars and rehearsals), but instead offering a handbook to “our” version of HIP as it has developed during the five years TN has been in existence. We emphasize that this is not, and hopefully never will be, a finished product - we are always open to improvement and revision as we absorb the contributions of our present and future participants.
Historical recordings
TN puts considerable emphasis on the study of early sound recordings, especially those made before the introduction of the microphone in 1925. This is not a substitute for the traditional sources of “performance practice” information in treatises, scores, and other written documents from the farther past; rather, it is a way of re-shaping our interpretation of such documents. If we imagine their lessons in comparison to sounds from our own lifetimes, we have one way of guesstimating the things they describe. If we add thorough familiarity with the way people performed 100 to 130 years ago, we create a second reference point, free from our own unconscious assumptions and materially closer to the conditions that prevailed during the whole pre-technological history of music.
In the particular case of singing, there is another reason to emphasize these sonic artifacts, a purely technical one: they document the way singers produced their voices at a time when the microphone and its possibilities formed no part of any singer’s upbringing or instincts.
The idea of legato
The notion of “bound” or “connected” lines as an ideal of Italian singing goes back beyond the beginnings of opera itself, and the emulation of Italian singers was held up as an instrumental ideal throughout opera’s heyday. TN puts this concept into effect with special attention to several features. One is portamento, discussed separately below. Another is timbral and dynamic continuity. When “legato line” is the goal, we favor a rich, full-bodied tone that either maintains the same color and intensity throughout, or changes those things in a steadily graded crescendos and diminuendos.
We take care to avoid unintentional emphases, internal diminuendos fading to insubstantiality, sonic weakness in shorter notes compared to adjacent longer ones, and multiple dynamic differences within a phrase. Against this default setting of scrupulous continuity, intentional non-continuities (such as accents, subito piano, sforzando, staccato, marcato) can stand forth strongly and effectively.
We also observe a hierarchy of musical elements, in which melodic lines are assumed to be in “legato” unless there is a conscious choice to the contrary, while accompanimental and harmony-sustaining elements are likelier to seek transparency, sometimes in the form of stating chord changes at a higher dynamic and then lowering the volume for continuations of an unchanged harmony.
Portamento (vocal)
TN embraces the liberal use of portamento found in written accounts stretching back to the 18th century and heard on early 20th-century vocal recordings. We emphasize the execution of portamento in full voice, with the same timbre and dynamic that prevail on the departure and/or destination notes, without any gap in the intensity of breath support.
We also caution that there is a difference between intentional portamento as an expressive gesture (which we encourage) and a constant, unconscious portamento in ongoing declamatory lines. The latter can occur naturally when the line proceeds from vowel to vowel or passes through sustainable pitched consonants, but is to be avoided across unvoiced or non-sustainable consonants (again, unless it is specifically desired as an expressive gesture).
Portamento (instrumental)
TN embraces the liberal use of expressive portamento found in written accounts and fingerings stretching back to the 18th century and on early 20th-century string recordings.
We emphasize the execution of expressive portamento without diminuendos (other than the continuation of an intentional diminuendo applying to the larger phrase), maintaining the bow pressure already in use before the slide begins. We generally prefer same-finger and old-finger slides over new-finger slides.
We also embrace the more casual portamento that arises randomly from the use of old-fashioned fingerings, for which we can supply examples to anyone interested.
Our players are also encouraged to experiment with fingerings that can be heard on historical recordings, and to attempt “unlearning” some of the default fingerings that were developed in the 20th century for the purpose of minimizing slides.
We also encourage those wind instruments that have any possibility of imitating portamento, even if only in certain intervals, to explore that possibility in lyrical lines.
Non-legato vocal articulations
TN embraces the varieties of vocal articulation described by García in 1847, recognizing legato, portamento, and marcato as the predominant modes, encouraging picchiettati (staccato notes) in certain limited contexts, and generally avoiding aspiration and unintentional lapses of legato. A full translation of García’s account will be available when we meet in the summer.
Vocal registration
TN encourages, on the basis of pedagogical works from the Bel Canto period and before, the development of chest voice and head voice as distinct registers, and the skill of coordinating them timbrally and passing with security and ease from one to the other. We observe that among recorded singers of the pre-microphone era these concepts were still fully in force, and conclude that later confusions and/or deficits in this area are by-products of the influence of microphone singing, which we seek to reverse.
Ornaments and cadenzas
TN embraces the long survival of free ornamentation in Italian music, and seeks to restore three things: the variety and boldness of ornaments in use; the expertise of individual musicians in devising their own; and the channeling of our imaginations through a disciplined musical understanding of the many surviving examples of period ornamentation.
Though this aspect of performance style is too complex for quick summary, it is an essential part of our rehearsal process. To musicians preparing for that process, TN emphasizes “fidelity to the skeleton” as a foundational principle in historical examples of melodic ornamentation. Ornamentation, from this viewpoint, is neither free composition over a given harmony nor the invention of an alternative melody, but rather the application of recognized practices (appoggiaturas, passing notes, turns, anticipations and delays, scales and arpeggios, etc.) to an existing line. The key factor is returning to the written note or an appoggiatura resolving to that note on nearly all strong beats or important melodic contours, no matter where an ornamental gesture may have gone in between such points. (Occasional exceptions to this general rule will be identified in the course of our preparation process.)
Cadenzas, being based on a harmony and not a thematic element, are naturally more free, and here we emphasize study of the construction of period examples to build our soloists’ capacities, which can then be set loose to follow their fantasy.
To keep our interpretations fresh and exploratory, we generally ask that any particular ornamentation familiar from other modern performances should be avoided in ours.
For orchestral musicians playing a solo, ornamentation along the same lines as that heard in vocal music is encouraged. Additionally, TN embraces the small incidental ornaments that historical sources tell us were employed in accompanimental or secondary parts.
Puntatura
TN embraces the concept of adapting vocal lines to the range of individual voices (“puntatura” - so named because it was traditionally carried out by adding noteheads, “punti,” over an already-written vocal line). We encourage singers to do this as needed if certain notes or phrases in their assigned parts lie outside their effective ranges, and we provide guidance for this process from many historical examples of it.
Vocal appoggiaturas
The appoggiatura is both an ordinary ornament (to be used according to taste) and a grammatical necessity in certain vocal phrases, when a solo line ends with a strong syllable followed by a weak syllable notated on the same pitch. TN style, following what is known of period practice, is to avoid this pitch-repetition, either through a simple appoggiatura or one of the recognized substitutes for it. This applies equally in recitative and musical pieces.
Note for 2022: Bellini was the first major composer to write all appoggiaturas directly into his score. Maometto soloists and covers who have any doubts about where to sing appoggiaturas can find perfect guidance by looking through a few pages of the Sonnambula recitatives and musical pieces.
High notes and allegro endings
The enjoyment of impressive notes in the high end of a singer’s range is probably as old as singing itself, but the concentration on this in opera increased significantly in the later 19th century, and increased again as the extra high notes inserted by certain popular artists gradually became “obligatory” in the mid-20th century. TN enjoys a good high note like anyone else, but seeks to restore the more limited way they were used in the Bel Canto era. In particular, we do not change the end of allegro movements (cabalettas) from “down” to “up,” and we do not interrupt their rhythmic motion with fermatas. We prefer instead to explore the wide variety of ornaments for such endings found in period sources.
TN also avoids the practice of vocal dropouts (“tacets”) in allegro codas, which were introduced only in the mid-20th century when final high notes started to be considered obligatory.
Vibrato
Our approach to this eternally controversial topic begins with the observation that it is fundamentally different for voices and instruments.
“Vibrato” occurs in the human voice as a manifestation of the inherent neuromuscular tremor that accompanies all controlled bodily motion. Its speed and pitch extent are defined indirectly, over the course of vocal training. Although vastly different outcomes of this process are possible, singers have little or no voluntary control of those parameters once their voices are developed to professional-performance level. In practice, they generally have only the two choices of permitting the vibrato-as-developed, or suppressing it altogether by holding the vocal cords rigid.
Instrumental vibrato, generally speaking, is a voluntary imitation of this vocal characteristic, and its speed and pitch extent are, within certain limits, variable by choice. The question then becomes when, and in what degree, to undertake this imitation.
TN parts company with some of our H.I.P. colleagues in one important respect: we find no convincing evidence that the suppression of vocal vibrato (“straight tone”) was ever practiced as a part of European tradition. We see instead ample evidence that the perception of vibrato “by choice” refers in actuality to certain singers developing their vibratos to be more prominently audible than others’, and/or cultivating a vibrato that (while always present) became more noticeable on certain notes, usually louder or higher notes.
The study of early sound recordings allows us to observe the state of vibrato at the end of the pre-microphone era, which can be summed up (with some oversimplification) as follows:
- Vocal vibrato was distinctly faster than is the norm today, and usually (but not always) narrower in pitch extent.
- Italian vocalists generally cultivated a more prominently audible vibrato than northern Europeans; the main source of this audibility was wider pitch extent; and this was considered at the time to be a relatively recent historical development.
- Instrumental vibrato was used more selectively than in modern “mainstream classical” style, and was in the process of some observable changes.
- String vibrato, when used, was generally fast and narrow; some younger players were beginning to approach what we now call “continuous vibrato,” while others still included an appreciable amount of non-vibrato execution.
- Most wind players still performed with little or no use of vibrato.
Since we recognize that vocal vibrato is not generally subject to modification within a rehearsal process, we try to invite singers whose vibrato-as-developed is near the fast-and-narrow edge of the modern range of possibilities. In instrumental playing, we assume that while vibrato was known and used during the era of our repertory, it was probably employed still less than what is heard on the early 20th-century recordings, and was probably limited to passages analogous to those in which vocal vibrato became noticeable in the way described above.
Finally we take note that the word “vibrato” and related forms of the verb vibrare did not always have our modern connotation of undulating pitch, and were sometimes used - as in ordinary spoken Italian - to describe spirited or forceful action, irrespective of any pitch element. The occurrence of “vibrato” as a musical instruction in Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and their contemporaries is generally analogous to the terms “marcato” or “con forza.” As described above, noticeable undulation of pitch could be a byproduct of such execution in voices, and that meaning gradually took over in musical use of the word.
Orchestral note-lengths
TN follows the traditional Italian practice whereby final quarter-notes and most other un-slurred quarter-notes are played “short.” Exactly how short depends on the general character of the music and the interpretation we are giving it. The point is that they are not longer than other “black notes” in the same positions unless the composer has affirmatively requested sustaining, for instance by writing “tenuto” or “lunga” or by tying the note to another note of the same pitch.
Some composers used the note-value within the “black note” family as a symbolic reinforcement or shorthand for dynamics, which often went missing in the age of hand-copied parts (thus, 16th notes followed by rests for very soft playing, quarter notes for forte, etc., again without implying that the quarter notes would be played at full length).
In quick upbeats, especially in the case of tutti chords, we follow the practice called “overdotting” or “bunching” or (in Italy) “stretto,” meaning that the short upbeat is played as close as possible to the downbeat, following the bow of the violinist-director, regardless of the notated value of the short note.
Rallentando and accelerando
One striking lesson of early historical recordings is the surprisingly small amount of music that remains for long periods in an unmodified tempo. We observe that certain evidence from much earlier periods (in scores, performers’ annotations, and descriptions) suggests similar practices, and though we can never be sure exactly how close this correspondence was in reality, TN seeks to explore versions of these tempo modifications in our work.
We encourage a general feeling of forward motion (sometimes even to the point of “rushing”) in crescendo passages, and a corresponding relaxation in diminuendo passages. We also recognize a strong inclination towards rallentando at perfect cadences concluding a phrase or section, and an inclination to activate the crescendo/accelerando impulse at harmonic moves away from the established tonality.
In addition to those cues for tempo modification, there is the freedom of soloists to linger over features of their melodic lines - the peak of a phrase, or an expressive ornament, for instance. TN welcomes this, and emphasizes that it is not necessary for accompanimental figures to coordinate precisely with it. Often, we prefer for the players of an accompanying figure to finish what they are doing within a certain beat, and then simply wait for the next beat’s arrival.
Più mosso
We have many examples in composers’ own indications to show that concluding allegros reached successively faster tempos, especially in finales and large ensembles, and especially codas, codettas, and postludes. We also have evidence of such practices being applied even when not indicated in the score, and TN embraces this. Sometimes, especially with Bellini, there is evidence that these “più mosso” passages reached all the way to double-time, even though that is rarely indicated literally in the score. Our watchword here is “be ready to move it” as we approach allegro conclusions.
Fermatas
The familiar symbol that is called in Italian the “punto coronato” (crowned dot) or simply “corona” (crown) had many meanings. Many of us are familiar with its use in individual parts from the Baroque era, in which it sometimes means simply “your part stops here,” even if other parts continue in motion and there is no expectation that your note will be sustained. That custom was obsolete by the “bel canto” period, but other meanings were still in use beyond - or instead of - the familiar modern meaning of “elongate this note or rest.”
In solo parts (vocal or instrumental), the corona may signal the insertion of a cadenza or other free ornament. In accompanimental or tutti parts, it signals some version of “stopping” (a “fermata” is a stop, including the stops on a bus line) - but not necessarily sustaining a note or expanding the overall quantity of time. When a fermata appears over a “black note,” it generally means to stop after the note, which is played short, unless accompanied by a verbal instruction such as “tenuto” (see “Orchestral note-lengths”). It often means “stop until the next thing happens that requires you to play,” and that next thing may come in less time than would be guessed by counting the empty beats. Finally, some composers and annotators used the fermata informally in accompaniments, as a quick symbol for what we would call “rallentando” or “col canto” - in which case it does not mean a complete halt, but instead an attentive readiness to stretch or wait as needed, depending on the delivery of the solo part.
Notes inégales and other rhythmic modifications
TN seeks to explore multiple sources of evidence about the departures from literal rhythm that still thrived in 19th-century interpretation, including the tendency to elongate the first note of slurred pairs, the tendency to coordinate with triplets appearing in other parts, and the tendency for phrase peaks and destination notes to be reached “before the beat” in certain circumstances. All this will be discussed in our preparation, and we encourage an approach of boldness and enthusiasm in the early phases of rehearsal; sometimes an idea expounded by one player will “catch on” and spread through the orchestra. We allow enough rehearsal time for things to be sorted out by the leadership group if chaos ensues!
Orchestral seating
TN employs historical seating plans to facilitate the listening-and-watching basis of ensemble performance. The principle is to arrange the orchestra so that the maximum number of players can see the stage and each other as well as the violinist-director. We also follow the period practice of placing basses, cellos, and violas on both ends of the “pit” (sometimes also in the middle) so that their sound is distributed evenly and all can hear it promptly.
Free bowing
In alignment with historical evidence, we employ free bowings in all string parts. We find two main advantages in this: first that each player is freed to choose whatever is most physically comfortable, second that we avoid the exaggerated inequality that can result in some passages when everybody is approaching the tip or the frog at the same time. In some other passages, nearly everyone will adopt a uniform bowing automatically, and occasionally we will decide on one if necessary for good ensemble. But where it is not necessary, we prefer the sound that results when some are playing in longer strokes and others in shorter, and we encourage section members to look around and consciously choose a contrasting bowing.
We recognize that bouncing strokes entered standard string playing through a gradual process over a long period, starting with soloists and later emerging in orchestral playing - and we know that Italians were pioneers in this. On the other hand, we also know that as late as the early 20th century, many passages that today are routinely played off the string were still played on. TN’s approach to this is case-by-case; we favor on-the-string strokes in general, but certain brilliant Violin 1 passages suggest that people had been listening to Paganini, and we do not always resist that suggestion.
As will emerge in rehearsal, TN gives special attention to certain instructions that are not familiar from later music, or were executed differently in the Bel Canto period. Among these are a punta d’arco, battuto, portato and a variety of modes for unmeasured (usually “tremolando”) accompaniment in recitative.
Instrument guidelines: strings
Violins, Violas and Cellos
Instruments: We ask our string players to use instruments in (late) Classical or Romantic set up. Please do not use instruments with baroque bridges and short fingerboards etc. Chin rests are generally accepted, and we recommend them due to the often demanding nature of writing in especially the first violin parts. Shoulder rests are accepted.
Bows: (Late) Classical and transitional bows. Early Tourte models up to the mid-19th Century are also acceptable. Please contact a member of the artistic team or the section principal as soon as possible to discuss options for sourcing an appropriate bow if necessary.
Strings: For the violins three unwound (E, A, D), the violas and cellos two unwound (A, D) gut strings. For the wound gut strings please make sure they have a gut core, and no synthetic or steel core.
Double basses
Instrument: Given the ubiquitous use of the three-string double bass in the repertoire that is central to Teatro Nuovo’s artistic mission, TN strongly encourages its double bass players to perform on a three-string double bass. If this poses an issue, please contact the section principal as soon as possible to discuss options and potential solutions.
Bows: Either an early through mid-century 19c ‘Dragonetti’ - style (or similar) underhand bow, or similar early through mid-century 19c-style overhand bow. Please contact a member of the artistic team or the section principal as soon as possible to discuss options for sourcing an appropriate bow if necessary.
Strings: Pure gut g and d strings are required. Either a pure gut AA or wound AA is acceptable.
Instrument guidelines: Winds and brass
The nature of our orchestra has taught us that wind instrument players in the HIP world are the best specialists and connoisseurs of their own instrument, so we encourage them to explore and experiment with historical evidence on types and models of instruments. Generally, any type of European early to mid-19th Century wind and brass instrument that works well at our designated pitch is welcome to be used.
Pitch
TN adopts a tuning of A=430. We can read of various pitches in use on the Italian peninsula, and it is not clear that one had precedence over another. We do know that Verdi, who seems to have had a particularly acute version of “absolute pitch” and who wrote about this topic more than others, considered A=432 the ideal, but we accept A=430 as the most commonly used compromise in today’s H.I.P. practice of Classical and early Romantic music
Recitative accompaniment (orchestral)
Following a tradition that is still largely observed when Italian opera is played in Italy itself, we recognize “recitativo” as a mode of delivery in which there is no sense whatever of pulse or “tempo” as normally understood. Instead, the actors declaim the text freely and the orchestra intervenes following the bow of the violinist-director, with no counting or marking of what seem on the page to be empty beats or parts of beats.
At recitative cadences (including broken or deceptive cadences), TN follows the style described by Leopold Mozart and C.P.E. Bach, among others, in which a harmony change expressed by two consecutive quarter notes is played with two consecutive downbows.
Recitative accompaniment (continuo)
Our repertory comes from a period in which some theaters still used what is now called recitativo secco or recitativo semplice, with accompaniment supplied only by the continuo group, and written by composers as a single bass line in long notes, without dynamics or articulations, and with the harmonies to be realized by improvisation. That accompaniment could be provided in various ways, among which TN favors the one most in use in Italian theaters: a trio of players, with contrabass supplying the fundamental bass note (usually short), and chords improvised by cello and keyboard. (The most common alternative to this approach was simply subtracting the keyboard and performing with just bass and cello.)
Note for 2022: This year we will be offering sessions in recitative practice led by our principal cellist Hilary Metzger, for cellists to work on the practice of realizing figured bass on their instrument and for singers, bassists, and keyboard players to join in with the cellists in preparing selected “secco” recitatives.
Keyboard continuo outside recitative
A little-recognized curiosity in Italian opera is the survival of the term “maestro al cembalo” - along with descriptions and pictures of orchestra leaders with a keyboard in the pit - long after there was no missing harmony to be filled in and thus no apparent necessity for an audible keyboard part. TN takes its cue from an unusually explicit description written in 1826, in which a critic explaining Italian opera to newcomers points out that while spectators sitting near the piano might occasionally hear it, it was intended only “for the guidance” of the orchestra.
Divided direction
Italian opera was remarkable in its slowness to accept the profession of “conducting,” which established itself in the rest of Europe roughly between 1810 and 1830, but was not standard in Italy for several more decades. As late as the early 1870s, Verdi was telling his publisher that his new operas, because of their complexities, should be rented only to theaters that used a conductor; some still didn’t!
It’s obvious what the advantages of shifting to single direction were; the more interesting question is, what did Italy value so much in the older system? What were they getting from it that made them so reluctant to move on? Finding those answers was one of the founding impulses for TN. As far as we know we are the only group in the world attempting to re-create this practice in Romantic opera.
Leadership in Italian theaters was divided between a “Primo Violino e capo (sometimes ‘direttore’) d’orchestra” and a “Maestro al Cembalo” (sometimes “direttore della musica”). Very roughly speaking, the former had the main responsibility for orchestral execution and for setting tempos in performance, while the latter had the main responsibility for rehearsing the singers and supervising the overall interpretation. (Composers usually took this role when mounting their premieres.) We can read quite a lot about occasional competition between the two leaders for the “upper hand” at their theaters - with sometimes one and sometimes the other coming out on top - and there are many accounts (often humorous or derogatory) about the results of conflict between them.
Obviously the ideal was for the two leaders to respect each other and cooperate well, but even then it cannot have been a frictionless process, and neither is ours at TN. Our practice, however, has revealed certain advantages. First and foremost: the simple fact of division prevents the situation of “one boss, many subordinates,” and this has the effect of empowering the musicality of all participants. Italy valued soloistic impulse and the charisma of the individual performer, and TN wants to re-valorize this. Moreover, even in purely ensemble situations, we find that leading while playing instead of conducting shifts the responsibility for ensemble to every player’s listening, reacting, and alert visual contact.
While the main responsibility for interpretation and musical pacing lies naturally with the leadership group of each opera, we do not want to control the musicality of others during performance. We see value in dispersing that control, and we accomplish TN’s mission best when the maximum number of people are able to take creative responsibility for their own parts.
The Italian language; text and rhythm
Italian opera was designed to be performed by Italian speakers, and we can’t all be that, but we lay great stress on daily study of the language for our singers, and close reading of the librettos by all participants.
TN observes that the earliest recorded singers constantly used non-literal rhythms, often derived from the rhythmic patterns of speech, to a degree far exceeding anything familiar in current performance style - and also exceeding anything described in written accounts or treatises, from that era or earlier. This non-literalism often takes the form of notes inégales (beyond the general use of them discussed elsewhere). It also includes substitution of triple for duple subdivision (or vice versa), arrival on accented syllables “before the beat,” various degrees of overdotting or underdotting - in other words, many notes falling “in the cracks” between where a literal rendition would place them.
TN values this approach and seeks to restore it. These practices were very rarely described by “how-to” writers back in the day. We assume this is because they were taken for granted as being natural and self-evident, and because they arose from spontaneous attachment to the rhythms of declamation more than from conscious choices to alter something seen on the page. We put great emphasis on rehearsing text without music, to habituate ourselves to its inherent proportions so as to feel the natural tension between those and the written musical rhythms. We also encourage immersive listening to recordings made before the 20th-century modernization of vocal delivery. In particular, we actively avoid singing a series of equal note-lengths, unless we see a distinct musical reason for equality to prevail over the natural syllabic lengths (example, an ostinato pattern such as “la testa vi gira, la testa vi gira” in Barbiere).
We also note that in this earlier practice, rhythm and not vocal timbre was used to differentiate short syllables from long ones. We therefore avoid “lightening” the voice or breath pressure on unstressed syllables; instead we simply make them shorter.
Cuts
TN’s default setting is to perform operas complete, but we are not purists about this. We recognize that abbreviation was a part of “performance practice” from the beginning, sometimes even before an opera’s premiere, and we honor this by staying faithful to cuts of the type found in contemporary sources when we judge that an abbreviation is desirable. Correspondingly, we often open cuts made by the composers themselves if we believe the omitted music is convincing and within our capacities to convey persuasively.
A final thought on musicality, period evidence, and TN’s process
Our version of the “Historically Informed Performance” idea seeks constantly to navigate the distinct currents of instinct and evidence.
By “instinct” we mean “what feels right to us as musicians.” By “evidence” we mean “whatever we know about the way things were done in the past.” Neither of those by itself is sufficient to our mission. What “feels right” may be governed by our training and experience, and may sometimes be contrary to “whatever we know” about past practices - and yet our choices must “feel right” by the time we perform, or our performances cannot be convincing, either to ourselves or our audiences.
So our goal is constantly to try things out, even if they may seem strange at first, in hopes of discovering a way of doing them that feels, or comes to feel, musically natural. If we do not reach that point, then we’re not ready to expound that particular historical idea in that particular passage, and may need to set it aside for further experimentation another time.
Inevitably this is a process led by the musical directors and principal players, but it is important to us not to limit the input to those. Our company is full of musicians who have made their own investigations of historical information and who have their own unique musicalities, and our leadership group is eager to learn from all.
Although we do not adopt the policy of “hands raised whenever anybody has a thought,” the floor is opened for suggestions and discussion in certain moments of our rehearsal period, for instance when the leadership group decides to try something in different ways to reach a choice. And meanwhile we are always open to suggestions and queries between rehearsals. We need and encourage those! They have already contributed significantly to the “house style” outlined in this handbook, and we hope they will always continue to do so as it evolves.
© Will Crutchfield & Jakob Lehmann
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