During the first half of the 20th Century, performances of Bach or Handel typically involved huge forces of musicians. This emitted an enormous, penetrating sound that was cloaked in an unrelenting, wide vibrato at a stately, or even stodgy tempo. The music’s contrapuntal complexity and soulful fire were often drowned in a wash of blurry sonority.
Starting after World War II, with the Concentus Musicus Wien, proponents of the historically informed performance, or HIP, seek to use original instruments, tunings and performance techniques. The style provided a crisp, more transparent and flexible sonority, allowing the wonderfully polyphonic lines and gestures of early music to shine through. HIP aims to reestablish a piece of music in its original setting, providing a powerful link with the piece’s musical and cultural roots while educating the listener by providing new perspectives. The result is a delightfully fresh take on vintage musical material.
Think of it this way: A director can set Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” in medieval Denmark, or in modern L.A., and create a powerful statement either way. A classic piece of art can survive translation and still convey beauty and meaning. But if you’ve only seen “Hamlet” set in modern L.A., you’ve missed some of the layers of meaning that Shakespeare assumed would be part of the play.
The HIP approach seeks to place a piece of music in its original context, enabling audiences to experience it more as the composer conceived it. In short, HIP aims to help audiences explore foreign lands in a magical time gone by without the use of a time machine or tesseract. To achieve this, a combination of specialized equipment and techniques, based on scholarly research of contemporary treatises, letters, artwork, and other historical artifacts are utilized.
Period instruments, intended for intimate performance spaces in the churches or courts, are lighter and more flexible in construction. Steel violin strings are replaced by historically accurate gut strings and the instrument is played resting directly on the violinist’s collarbone without the chinrest or shoulder rest that are used today. Bows curve in a convex shape, not concave, producing tones that get softer when played near the tip of the bow. Cellos and Violas da Gamba are cradled on a player’s calves instead of being balanced on an endpin resting on the floor. Flutes are made of wood, not metal, and have only one or two keys. Bassoons are replaced by the dulcain, and trombones are replaced by the sackbut, the instruments they originated from. Horns and trumpets are valveless, relying on the natural overtone series.
Keyboard parts are played on a harpsichord, clavichord, fortepiano, or organ, and typically consist only of the bass line for the left hand. In a figured bass, little numbers – called figures – under the notes indicate which chords the right hand should improvise. Vibrato is considered an ornament, and reserved for special moments only.
There are only one or two players on a part, eliminating the need for a conductor, and resulting in a chamber music effect. Most importantly of all, the music is treated as song and dance with phrases and gestures that mimic speech, shape, and movement.
A perfect example can be provided by looking at two different performances of Bach's “Brandenburg Concerto No. 5." Both performances feature successful musicians at the top of their field, but their approaches are quite different.
The first approach employs a seated chamber orchestra of modern instruments, at very high modern pitch (A=450), and modern performance style. The players sustain the volume on long notes to the end of the note, using a fast, wide, constant vibrato, and a phrasing that is somewhat predictable. The overall sonority does not ebb and flow very much, resulting in a kind of monotony.
The second approach demonstrates many HIP principles: the players – except for the cellist and harpsichordist – stand up while performing. This allows them to dance together with the music while they play at the lower Baroque pitch (A=415). The tempo is noticeably faster, the long notes taper and breathe; there is more dynamic contrast and long phrases have more direction and shape.
Again, in art there is no one ‘right’ interpretation, but the emergence of the HIP school over the past 60 years has provided a fresh life and a renaissance for works buried in the past. Starting with music from the Baroque period, and expanding its scope to include Medieval, Renaissance, Classical and even Romantic works, this method of approaching a piece of music on its own original terms has gained legitimacy and increasing popularity.
Early Music Festivals abound and HIP recordings multiply like rabbits. With the establishment of the Historical Performance Division at the Juilliard School of Music in 2009, HIP has gone mainstream. So bring on your powdered wigs -- it’s truly hip to be square.
For More Information:
The founder of one of the earliest period-instrument ensembles discusses his motivation.
http://www.harnoncourt.info/index_en.php/article/articleview/2468/1/18/
The oldest continuously-performing arts organization in the U.S. explains its HIP conversion in 1986.
The long-time baroque violin professor at Indiana University’s Early Music Institute has a message for today’s students.
The gold standard of music conservatories in the U.S. finally jumps on the early music bandwagon.
