Tombeau De Couperin Pdf
Desiderato Merriwether
Ravel lie sich davon inspirieren und begann noch im selben Jahr mit seiner Komposition, die unter anderem auch die Couperinsche Forlane aus dem Concerts Royaux IV zum Vorbild hatte. Mit dem Wort tombeau wurde in der franzsischen Barockmusik vor allem eine Trauermusik fr verstorbene Musiker bezeichnet, darauf bezieht sich Maurice Ravel in seinem Werk. Er betrachtete es aber nicht als Hommage an Franois Couperin allein, sondern fr die gesamte franzsische Musik des 18. Jahrhunderts. Im Ersten Weltkrieg meldete er sich 1915 freiwillig als Lastwagenfahrer und wurde 1917 aus dem Fronteinsatz entlassen. Erst in diesem Jahr konnte er das Stck vollenden. Die ersten fnf Stze sind jeweils einem im Krieg gefallenen Kameraden Ravels gewidmet. Der letzte, eine Toccata, allerdings einem bereits am 24. August 1914 gefallenen Soldaten, dem Musikwissenschaftler und Kritiker Joseph de Marliave,[2][3] einem bekannten Kenner der Streichquartette Ludwig van Beethovens und Ehemann der Pianistin Marguerite Long, die Ravel gut kannte. Projektiert hatte Ravel das Werk bereits vor seinen Kriegserfahrungen. 1919 erstellte Ravel eine vierstzige Orchesterfassung der Suite. Eine weitere Version, aus drei Stzen bestehend, schrieb er 1920 fr das knigliche schwedische Ballett.[4][5]
Uraufgefhrt wurde die originale Klavierfassung von Marguerite Long am 11. April 1919 im Saal des Pariser Klavierbauunternehmens Gaveau. Es war ein groer Erfolg, die Pianistin musste das ganze Stck als Zugabe wiederholen.[6]
Das Werk ist fr Klavier zu zwei Hnden entstanden und enthlt sechs ursprnglich barocke Tnze. Inspirieren lie sich Ravel durch eine Forlane aus den Concerts royaux IV von Franois Couperin. Mit zeitgemer Harmonik und impressionistischen Klangfarben schuf er eine Tanzsuite, die trotz der nachtrglich eingefgten Erinnerungen an gefallene Kriegskameraden keine reine Trauermusik ist.
1919 begann Ravel eine Orchesterfassung mit vier Stzen der Suite zu erstellen: Prlude, vif; Forlane, allegretto; Menuet, allegro moderato und Rigaudon, assez vif. Die Instrumentation besteht in den Blsern aus einer Piccoloflte, zwei Querflten, zwei Oboen, einem Englischhorn, zwei Klarinetten, zwei Fagotten, zwei Hrnern und einer Trompete. Die Streicher bestehen aus ersten und zweiten Violinen, Bratschen, Violoncelli und Kontrabssen. Auerdem ist eine Harfe vorgesehen. Verffentlicht wurde diese Orchesterfassung am 28. Februar 1920.
Der dritte Satz, eine Forlane, deren Original von Couperin Ravel zu diesem Werk inspirierte, hat einen markanten tnzerischen synkopischen Rhythmus im 6/8-Takt. Sie soll im Tempo Allegretto (langsamer als die Fugue) mit der Metronomzahl = 96 gespielt werden. Auch in diesem eher heiteren Tanzsatz beginnt die Tonart mit e-Moll, die hier weniger Trauer vermittelt, als eher Melancholie. Spter wechselt sie vorbergehend in ein paar Takten zu E-Dur. Die Forlane erstreckt sich (ohne die Wiederholungen) ber 162 Takte. In diesem Satz gelingt es Ravel, eine Verbindung des Urtmlichen mit dem Neuen und des Archaischen mit dem Modernen darzustellen.
Eine ausfhrliche musikwissenschaftliche Analyse des Werks, besonders der darin verwendeten Harmonik, lieferte der Komponist Olivier Messiaen. Seine Schlerin und sptere Ehefrau, die Pianistin Yvonne Loriod, ergnzte die Arbeit und brachte sie 2003 heraus:
With this post I will begin to examine some passages from works where the composer chose to exploit (and thereby, highlight) the woodwinds. Of course there are lots of solo opportunities in the canon of orchestra music, but the focus here will be on the usage of the woodwinds as an ensemble, often without any involvement from the other sections of the orchestra.
My recent series of posts on Kitchen Sink Orchestration explores the large orchestras that began to develop in the later half of the nineteenth century. We tend to think of orchestras of prior times as being a fairly standard group of strings combined with a variety of winds. As true as this might be, the creativity of composers still brought new sounds and new ideas to the audience.
This pattern repeats once again and this time all the winds are included. After this phrase ends, the piano introduces a similar pattern, which is then picked up by the strings. In the ensuing measures, the pattern of a quarter note on an off beat (beats two or four of a measure) followed after a leap by a half note is moved around the orchestra.
For the first of these phrases (measures 156 through 158), the composer opens with the clarinet hitting the second beat of the measure alone with a one line B and immediately leaping up a fourth to E on the third beat. The pattern of a weak beat quarter note followed by a longer note on the strong beat follows with the introduction of the second clarinet and the bassoons. The two horns are added for a bit of color, with the first horn holding its D (concert B) over to the down beat of the next bar and filling out the triad on that beat.
It should be noted that this pattern becomes integrated into the work immediately following the wind passage. It begins with the solo piano, then the left hand of the piano enters. A measure later the strings enter on a similar passage and ultimately the woodwinds return to support the busy, delicate and virtuosic work in the piano.
By a decade or two into the nineteenth century, the instrument was more common in the orchestra. In Example 56.2, you can hear the obvious similarity of double reed tone when the cor anglais is combined with a pair of its higher pitched colleagues. The use of the bassoon here would have been a valid option, but at its high-end, as with most instruments, the bassoon loses much of its unique (and, in this case, woody) character. Instead, the two oboes balance beautifully with the cor anglais playing the bottom of the legato passage.
Many lovers of classical music have mixed feelings about the composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. In his fifty some years, the Russian master wrote operas, symphonies, concertos and chamber music. Yet, for many he is known just for three ballets: Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker.
The passage begins with just two oboes but is immediately followed by cor anglais and two clarinets, the two groups exchanging parts for the next three or four measures. And the repeat of the phrase has the oboes and clarinets together, joined by the four horns. On this iteration the bass clarinet, bassoons and trombones play the antiphonal part. It is a wonderful example of wind writing in a less traditional style, specifically because the composer chooses here to omit flutes and trumpets.
There are a few additional items of interest here. First, note the great effect the entire string section can have on one isolated pizzicato chord at the down beat of measure 121. In addition to the color it adds, one might imagine the composer thinking that he needs to show his audience how clever he can be writing just for winds so he asks himself: Why not toss in an accented note from the strings?
This idea is mostly absurd, because he has none of it on the ensuing downbeat at the silence on the first beat of measure 126. This notable silence leads the way for the woodwinds (again, sans flutes) to be employed for some simultaneous ascending and descending chromatic lines. To spread out the ultimate arrival, Tchaikovsky doubles the length of each chord after the two beat silence at measure 130, momentarily only in the oboes, clarinets and bassoons.
Born into a musical family a generation before Bach and Handel, Franois Couperin was a court and church composer, writing for among others, harpsichord, organ, violes, and choir. His place as a revered French composer was not lost on later composers, including Ravel. However, the suite Le tombeau de Couperin is at least as much an honor to those who died in World War I and to the Baroque suite as it is to the Couperin.
Note how Ravel keeps the melody in the oboe in thirds with the clarinet, while the double reeds have their thirds lower down. To punctuate the second bassoon line, the composer brings in the pizzicato cellos.
As the winds take a brief pause at end of the phrase in measure four, the strings step up to continue the rich harmonies. When the oboe reenters the clarinet drops out and all of the winds are now double reeds. Remember that this work was written a few years after the Daphnis et Chlo ballet (Example 56.2 above) and these double reed passages are certainly familiar to the composer and his audience.
To my ear it seems that the addition of the cello line doubling the second bassoon in measures five and six, emphasizing the second beat of the two measures, provides rhythmic impetus and leads to the destination of the B in measure 8.
The composer also keeps his instruments in comfortable and warm registers. There are a few more interesting items to listen for. First, Tchaikovsky eschews the idea of adding more sound: The first phrase includes two horns, but the second phrase removes them. When we get to the third phrase at measure nine we get more chromatic voices in the horns while the two bassoons double on the pedal A. Yet, even here after a few measures the second oboe drops out as does the first horn. Thus, the phrase ends with a sustained A major chord with just the first horn on the third. (Always a way to add warmth.)
Ravel was close to Jean Dreyfus and the Dreyfus family. In 1917, Ravel was released from the army because of his declining health, and the Dreyfus family welcomed him into their home. He recuperated there, finishing Le tombeau de Couperin the same year. The Menuet is passive and the tenderest of all the movements.
Le tombeau de Couperin
Le tombeau de Couperin is a suite for solo piano that was composed between 1914 and 1917, in six movements based on those of a traditional Baroque suite. Each movement is dedicated to the memory of a friend of Ravel (or in one case, two brothers) who had died fighting in World War I. Ravel also produced an orchestral version of the work in 1919, although this omitted two of the original movements.