Cantabile 2

[Zareen Zapata]

Inmusic, cantabile [kanˈtaːbile], an Italian word, means literally "singable" or "songlike". In instrumental music, it is a particular style of playing designed to imitate the human voice.

For 18th-century composers, cantabile is often synonymous with "cantando" (singing) and indicates a measured tempo and flexible, legato playing. For later composers, particularly in piano music, cantabile is the drawing out of one particular musical line against the accompaniment (compare counterpoint). Felix Mendelssohn's six books of Songs Without Words are short lyrical piano pieces with song-like melodies written between 1829 and 1845. A modern example is an instrumental piece by Harry James & His Orchestra, called "Trumpet Blues and Cantabile".

A cantabile movement, or simply a "cantabile", is the first half of a double aria, followed by a cabaletta. The cantabile movement would be slower and more free-form to contrast with the structured and generally faster cabaletta. Louis Spohr subtitled his violin concerto No. 8 "in moda d'una scena cantata," "in the manner of a sung [operatic] scene"; opera arias exerted a strong influence on the "singable" cantabile melodic line in Romantic writing for stringed instruments.

When the performance direction is "cantabile" one must supposedly play it in a song-like manner, but how do I implement it in my playing? Is it just the nature of the piece that will do the work or do I have to add something more to my playing?

Also, technically speaking how can an instrument imitate human voice? Since I'm learning the violin, what should I do in that context? Do I change something about my bowstrokes? Add a lot of vibrato? Play tempo rubato?Also, can I do anything the music sheet hasn't directed me to do? For example playing legato is indeed an important component of cantabile playing but I can't slur all the notes, only the ones that are specified by the slur marks. So, simply playing legato (which is already covered by the score) should not be the answer, unless the nature of the piece makes it cantabile and the musician need not add anything to it (which I don't think is the case)

For me, it means making use of the full bow length, being in charge of the expression, developing particularly the long notes (which means that you don't just start them and then some time later they end and nothing happens in between) with an organic quality of dynamic, bow pressure and speed and also an oragnically unfolding decent amount of vibrato (being able to control both its speed and depth rather than just having one kind of involuntary tremor at one's disposal helps). There might also be a slight amount of rubato where the melodic stresses tend to coincide with some slight prolongation of notes.

Continuous controlled instruments like wind and bellow instruments and bowed instruments have more means at their disposal than percussive instruments like a piano. So it's also instructive to see what a good piano player does when confronted with "cantabile": most of that will still provide some inspiration to the bigger toolbox of the continuous-control instruments.

..in order to have a singing quality, the performer needed to execute the music with expression, flexibility and an overall sense of naturalness. The idea was to convey as much humanness and drama through the line as possible, even if the music was not for the voice.

In other words, when interpreting "cantabile", performers should aim to create a musical line that flows gracefully and melodically, allowing the audience to experience a beautifully lyrical and singing musical ambiance that emphasizes the expressive qualities of the composition.

Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer, the predominant musical figure during the transition between the Classical to Romantic eras. He occupies an unprecedented dominance in the history of Western music history, and has been widely regarded as the greatest, most influential and most popular musician who ever lived.

Beethoven's music inherited the artistic atmosphere of Haydn and Mozart, penetrated the desire for dignity, vented the anger tortured by fate, and demonstrated his determination to fight with fate.

Compared to other musicians, Beethoven is effectively to interact the philosophy of life with audience through music. Although he was not a romantic, he had become the object followed by other romantics.

As a musician, Beethoven suffered from ear diseases. However, he was unwilling to succumb to fate, vowing to take fate by the throat, and continue to complete his career. In the last ten years of his life, without hearing any sound, his compositions influenced the development of music for nearly two hundred years.

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