Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2017 A Study of Franz Schubert's Arpeggione Sonata and Claude Debussy's Premiére Rhapsodie: A Performer's Perspective Jeffrey Michael Brooks Follow this and additional works at the DigiNole: FSU's Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]
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Florida State University Libraries
Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School
2017
A Study of Franz Schubert's ArpeggioneSonata and Claude Debussy's PremiéreRhapsodie: A Performer's PerspectiveJeffrey Michael Brooks
Follow this and additional works at the DigiNole: FSU's Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]
Ex 2.1 Letter A in Adagio from Schubert’s Sonata in A minor, D. 821.............................................8
Ex 2.2 Rehearsal B in Adagio...........................................................................................................9
Ex 2.3 Allegro Moderato at rehearsal S. ………………………………………………………………..……10
Ex 2.4 Nine measures at rehearsal 5 in the third movement, Allegretto…........……………..……11
Ex 2.5 Rehearsal 10-11 in the Allegretto........................................................................................12
Ex 2.6 Measures 8-11 in Adagio.....................................................................................................13
Ex 2.7 7 and 6 measures before letter A in Adagio..........................................................................14
Ex 2.8 13th
measure of rehearsal 1 in Allegretto..............................................................................14
Ex 2.9 Measures 44-48 of the Allegro moderato……………………………………………….....17
Ex 2.10 Measures 66-69…………..………………………………………………………….......17
Ex 2.11 Measures 74-79 in Allegro moderato……………..………………………………….….18
Ex 2.12 Measures 128-147 from Allegretto…………………………………………..……….….19
Ex 2.13 Measures 114-119 from Allegro moderato……………..………………………………..21
Ex 3.1 Measure 2 in Debussy Première Rhapsodie ……………......…………………………..…29
Ex 3.2 Measure 69 in Debussy Première Rhapsodie…………….……….....…………………....31
Ex 3.3 Measure 168 in Debussy Première Rhapsodie……………...………………………….…31
Ex 3.4 Measures 185-188 in Debussy Première Rhapsodie ………...…………………...…….....32
Ex 3.5 Measure 201 in Debussy Première Rhapsodie ….……………………..…………….....…33
vii
ABSTRACT
This treatise, comprised of the transcriptions from two lecture recitals, discusses Franz
Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata as transcribed for clarinet and piano and Debussy’s Première
Rhapsodie. Schubert composed his Arpeggione Sonata on the cusp of his great Beethoven
Project, a project that defined his legacy. It was subsequently transcribed by four different
clarinetists. Debussy composed his Première Rhapsodie during a period when he was learning to
master his own musical style through musical imagery. Both pieces helped to define these
composers’ musical focus and have become important pieces in the clarinet repertoire. Topics of
discussion include comparisons of selected editions and arrangements, fingerings, tessitura,
intonation, ensemble balance, instrumentation, and tempi.
1
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
This treatise, comprised of the transcriptions from two lecture recitals, discusses Franz
Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata as transcribed for clarinet and piano and Debussy’s Première
Rhapsodie. Schubert composed his Arpeggione Sonata on the cusp of his great Beethoven
Project, a project that defined his legacy. It was subsequently transcribed by four different
clarinetists. Debussy composed his Première Rhapsodie during a period when he was learning to
master his own musical style through musical imagery. Both pieces helped to define these
composers’ musical focus and have become important pieces in the clarinet repertoire. Topics of
discussion include comparisons of selected editions and arrangements, fingerings, tessitura,
intonation, ensemble balance, instrumentation, and tempi.
2
CHAPTER TWO
FRANZ SCHUBERT’S ARPEGGIONE SONATA: A PERFORMER’S PERSPECTIVE
Franz Schubert completed the Arpeggione Sonata in A minor, D. 821 in November of
1824. The Sonata is significant because it marked Schubert’s compositional departure from
predominantly vocal works and songs to strictly instrumental compositions; this period would
later become known collectively as Schubert’s Beethoven Project.1 This chapter will explore the
historical context of this piece, focusing on the impact of Schubert’s poor physical health due to
his contraction of syphilis, and the sway of his circle of friends. In addition, this paper will also
address the modern performance of this piece by analyzing, comparing, and contrasting four
selected editions of the Sonata that have been arranged for clarinet and piano; as well as a short
comparison on performing the piece with piano versus guitar.
Franz Schubert died at the age of 31. The last six years of his life were riddled with
symptoms of illness: both which took a toll on his body and his mind.2 Though the official cause
of his death (19 November 1828) was ruled to be typhoid fever, there is evidence suggesting that
Schubert had died from syphilis.3 One piece of evidence supporting this theory involves the
medical use of mercury lotion, bloodletting, and fasting. It was a common practice to use
bloodletting to remove impurities from the body, extreme fasting to further rid the body of
toxins, and mercury lotion to topically treat the rashes associated with syphilis.4 Modern
medicine does not recognize these as viable treatments for syphilis and suggests that these
methods did more harm than good. The fact that Schubert developed dementia four to six years
1 John Michael Gingerich, Schubert's Beethoven Project (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014), 5.
2 Rold, “S Robert L. Rold, “Schubert and Syphilis,” Journal of Medical Biography 3 (March 1995): 232.
3 Rold, “Schubert and Syphilis,” 235.
4 Ibid.
3
after contracting the disease, and that his symptoms during the final years of his life matched
those of mercury poisoning, it suggests that he was dealing with the effects of syphilis. Despite
the treatments available, the disease was ultimately fatal.
Schubert, in his last years, conceiving that his lifespan would be cut short due to his
declining health, began to write works in the hope that he might achieve some level of financial
gain and leave a legacy similar to that of Beethoven, Mozart, and Haydn.5 Schubert, however,
was not a great promoter of his music and tended to lack vision as to what musical works would
be profitable. As such, he relied on his circle of friends for inspiration regarding his musical
compositions. Much of Schubert’s musical output during this time was written with the influence
of this group in mind. This circle of friends, who would gather and privately perform his works,
would later become known as the Schubertiade. Though he achieved a level of notoriety in his
lifetime, his compositions were rarely performed in public. It would be many years after his
demise that his musical genius would be truly recognized.6
Drawing upon Beethoven’s success, Schubert focused his composition on piano sonatas,
string quartets, and symphonies. The Arpeggione Sonata was one of the works that marked his
transition from writing music solely for the aristocracy to more commercialized music that
would appeal to the public. Even though he intended for the piece to be comparable to
Beethoven’s sonatas, the Arpeggione Sonata was not considered to be part of the fourteen pieces
that made up the Beethoven Project.7
An interesting aspect of his compositions during the last years of his life was the abrupt
changes of tone and mood and how these changes mirrored the undulating states of his mental
5 Gingrich, 6.
6 Ibid.
7 Ibid.
4
and physical health.8 The Arpeggione Sonata displays these abrupt tone and mood changes. He
was bedridden for most of 1823 and into the summer of 1824. Depressed, Schubert in a letter to
his friend, Kupelwieser, wrote:
In a word, I feel myself to be the most unhappy and wretched creature in the world.
Imagine a man whose health will never be right again, and who, in sheer despair over
this, ever makes things worse and worse, instead of better; imagine a man, I say, whose
most brilliant hopes have perished, to whom the felicity of love and friendship have
nothing to offer but pain…9
In another letter from August of 1824, one can see how his mood and health are
completely opposite:
I am still well, thank goodness, and should be quite comfortable here…I have composed
a grand sonata and variations for four hands, which the latter are having a great
success…10
The arpeggione, also known as the “bogen-guitarre” or the bow-guitar, was created by
one of Vienna’s most prominent guitar luthiers, Johann Georg Staffer. Staffer is credited with
developing many upgrades to the guitar such as the “flying fingerboard,” the “persian slipper”
shape of the guitar headstocks, and longer fingerboards. The arpeggione has six strings and is a
combination of the shape of a guitar and cello. Its tuning is that of the guitar. Lacking an end pin,
the instrument has to be held by the feet, much like its instrumental cousin, the viola de gamba.
The bridge of the arpeggione is slightly curved, more so than the guitar, but less than that of the
cello. This curvature made playing one string at a time somewhat difficult. The name,
arpeggione, was given in part because of the ease of which the performer could play arpeggios. It
8 Michael Hovnanian, et al., Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata Revisited, http://www.discordia-
music.com/Arpeggione_Project/introduction.htm(accessed January 13, 2017). 9 Maurice Brown, et al., The New Grove Schubert (New York: W.W. Norton, 1983), 42.
10 Ibid.
5
is interesting to note, however, that Schubert, in his sonata, does not emphasize this capability of
the instrument.11
The Arpeggione Sonata is the only significant work known to exist for the arpeggione. It
was likely written for Schubert’s friend and cellist, Vincenz Schuster, who at the time was at the
forefront of the development of technique and repertoire for the arpeggione in Vienna.12
While
there is no evidence that Schubert received any monetary compensation for this piece, it does
seem likely that Staffer would have commissioned a piece for this new instrument.13
The Sonata
was premiered the following month, which was the only known performance of the work during
Schubert’s lifetime.14
During 1825, Schuster published a leaflet on how to play the bow-guitar
(arpeggione), which, was perhaps an attempt to boost his career and the popularity of the
instrument.
Not long after its creation, the arpeggione was already on its way out of fashion. By the
time the Arpeggione Sonata was published (posthumously) in 1871, the instrument was
completely obsolete. The possible reasons for this are purely conjecture, but are nonetheless
intriguing. The arpeggione was a relatively quiet instrument and was originally intended by
Schubert to compete with the volume demands of the pianoforte. As the dynamic capabilities of
the pianoforte increased, however, the arpeggione became a less viable option. The arpeggione
was directly related to the viola de gamba family, which were viewed as Baroque instruments,
that were also going out of style during this time period.15
11
Hovanian, 4. 12
Ibid. 13
Gingrich, 6. 14
Hovanian, 5. 15
Ibid.
6
The Arpeggione Sonata, created on the cusp of Schubert’s Beethoven project, was written
in a distinctly Beethovenian style and showed similarity to Beethoven's Cello Sonata Op. 102.16
In the romantic repertoire there are only a few other works of this magnitude that have been
transcribed as often. It is interesting that a composition written for an extinct instrument [the
arpeggione] is now performed most often as a transcription. A transcription for the clarinet
seems natural due to the clarinet’s capability of smooth large leaps, the similarities of range
between the arpeggione and clarinet, and the written key center of A minor being idiomatic for
the clarinet.
In the sections below, the following aspects of the piece will be discussed regarding how
they relate to four different arrangements made for clarinet and piano by four different arrangers:
displacement of melodic material, tessitura, length of the piece, choice of key center, choice of
accompaniment instrument, page turns, and the choice between using the Bb clarinet or clarinet
in A.
Three of the four selected editions find a unique way to displace some of the clarinet’s
melodic material to the piano while the fourth edition stays true to the original composition.
Tessitura displacements are necessary to make the piece work on the clarinet due to the range of
the arpeggione, which is wider than that of the clarinet.17
One arranger offers an abridged version
with the A clarinet indicated as the solo instrument and two editors chose to change the key
center and one offered an alternate accompanying instrument.
One of the first published arrangements of Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata for Bb clarinet
and piano was completed by Simeon Bellison in 1940.18
Claude Debussy, Première Rhapsodie Pour Clarinet En Sib (et Piano). Paris: Durand & Cie, 1910. 36
Dennis Quentin Nygren. The Music for Accompanied Clarinet Solo of Claude Debussy: An Historical and Analytical Study of the Premiere Rhapsodie and Petite Piece. Ann Arbor, Michigan:
ProQuest/UMI, 1982, 1.
27
There is nothing more absurd than the competition. There are pupils from the
Conservatoire who have never won any prize or award and yet who have become
excellent and accomplished Musicians.37
Nevertheless, Debussy served on the competition committees at the school and agreed to
compose two pieces for solo clarinet and piano for the 1910 competition: the Première
Rhapsodie and the Petite Piece.
Composed between December 9, 1909 and January 10, 1910, the Première Rhapsodie
and the Petite Piece served two different functions. The Première Rhapsodie was given to the
students one month before the competition performance as a prepared piece and the Petite Piece
was used as a sight-reading piece. Only days before the competition, Debussy wrote:
On Sunday, you should feel sorry for me; I will have to hear the Rhapsodie for Clarinet
in Bb played eleven times. I will tell you all about it if I am still alive.38
The following week he wrote:
The competitive examination for clarinet was especially brilliant and, if I may judge by
the look on my colleagues’ faces, the Rhapsodie was a success. One of the candidates,
Vandercruyssen, played it by heart and like a great musician. As for the others, they
were fair and rather mediocre.39
The Première Rhapsodie was dedicated to the Paris Conservatoire’s clarinet professor,
Prosper Mimart, and was publicly premiered in a concert setting by Mimart and pianist, Maria-
Georges Krieger, on January 16, 1911. It was after this successful performance that Debussy
decided to orchestrate the work. On December 8, 1911 Debussy wrote,
Surely this piece is one of the most pleasing I have ever written…40
37
Nygren, 2. 38
Nygren, 3 39
Ibid. 40
Nygren, 4.
28
While Debussy orchestrated the Première Rhapsodie for a 1911 publication, other
arrangements of the work were completed by other composers/arrangers: a four-hand piano
version from 1910 and a solo piano version from 1912. Later versions of the piece would also
follow: a version for violin and piano from 1926, and multiple versions for clarinet and wind
ensemble from the last decades of the 20th
century. Like other solo works for clarinet that were
generated from the competitions at the Paris Conservatoire, such as the Solo de concours by
Raubaud or the Solo de concours by Messager, Debussy’s work for clarinet has become a staple
in the clarinet repertoire and is held dearly by the international clarinet community. Due to its
purpose as a competition piece, Debussy probably didn’t envision that he was creating a
cherished masterwork that would epitomize the musical gestures for which he was striving.
His harmonic language in all of the aforementioned pieces include the use of triads;
varying seventh, ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth chords; and his use of melodic material is often
constructed of whole-tone, tri-tone, pentatonic, and modal material. Chordal movement is often
not functional: modal progressions, unresolved dissonances, nontraditional root movement, and
parallelism. However, in consideration of the mood of the music, Debussy did employ functional
movement when deemed appropriate.41
With this piece he pushed the limits of the compositional
practices of the day, and musicians and critics either loved or hated it.42
Debussy’s tendency to immediately repeat melodic phrases, rhythmic motifs, and even
basic intervallic ratios is prevalent throughout the Première Rhapsodie. An interesting note about
these gestures is that they sometimes are connected with a crescendo from a medium or loud
dynamic, only to unexpectedly land on a soft dynamic. Debussy said,
41
Ibid. 42
Vallas, 196.
29
I would like to see, and I will succeed myself in producing music…consisting of one
continuous “motif” which nothing interrupts and which never turns back on itself.43
One specific cell of motivic movement from the Premiere Rhapsodie illustrates this idea
and can be seen as the basis for much of the melodic material used in the piece. Starting at the
beginning there is an outlined major 2nd
followed by a minor 3rd
in a descending pattern (F-Eb-C)
which is inverted within the same two measures in an ascending pattern as a minor 3rd followed
by a major 2nd
(F-Ab-Bb).44
Première Rhapsodie pour clarinette en Sib (et piano) by Claude Debussy