Evolution of harmony
Three recent publications from Editions Minerve, devoted to the history of harmony between 1750 and 1900, the songs of the troubadours and music dedicated to the flute since 1945.
Favored, among other things, by the abandonment of unequal temperaments, the gradual exploration of the possibilities of tonal harmony and the expressive qualities of chords and modulations was the subject, at the turn of the century, of a book by Jean-Pierre Bartoli, clearly synthesizing the contributions of various historians of musical language. This second, revised and expanded edition takes into account the results of musicological research over the last two decades. The author places less emphasis on ruptures than on the semantic continuity of the classico-romantic period, which stretches from approximately 1750 to 1900, beginning with the cohabitation of savant and libre or galant styles, as well as a plurality that cannot be summed up in Viennese classicism alone, and ending with a dilution or questioning of tonal functions, transformed, enlarged through complexification or neutralized by a return to modality. Drawing on the analysis of over 130 musical examples, he discusses the evolution of the elements of harmony and their sequences, the impact of melodic voice leading, formal syntax (small- and large-scale modulations), and the parallel development of various harmonic theories. The flowing style of the writing does not make the material seem arduous, making this didactic reference work useful for students, professionals and the curious music lover alike.
In 2019, Gérard Le Vot published a compendium of current knowledge on the troubadours and their music (see our review here). As a complement, it presents an anthology of 50 songs dedicated to fin'amor: canso, planh, sirventès, tenso, joc partit, pastorela, alba or chansons à danser by 23 poet-composers, each with a biographical note, from Jaufre Rudel to the late Guiraut Riquier, via Bernart de Ventadorn, Gaucelm Faidit, Raimon de Miraval or Countess Beatritz de Dia, the only trobairitz in the collection. The introduction, summarizing certain fundamental notions concerning courtly love, as well as the poetic forms and genres used, and explaining the method of musical transcription, is followed by the melodies surmounted by the original neumes, with their complete text in Occitan and a French translation. The extensive critical apparatus, including the sources, a commentary and an analysis of the metrics and music of each song, appears in the endnotes.
Flautist and musicologist Olivier Class, a specialist in contemporary music, has written a wide-ranging overview of the flute repertoire of the last 80 years, preceded by an account of new playing techniques for his instrument (from percussive sounds to multiphonics, from the simultaneous use of voice and breath to micro-intervals), with examples of their use in the 20th and 21st centuries. The author looks in particular at the interest shown by composers in expanding the tessitura thanks to the different members of the family, from piccolo to octobass (and even to hyperbass, whose lowest notes fall into the infrasound domain). In chamber music, in standard or rarer ensembles, or in concert, in connection with musical theater or electroacoustic music, the transverse flute remains abundantly solicited by creators, as witnessed by the 140 or so short excerpts from scores and the considerable number of pieces examined in this book.
Jean-Pierre Bartoli: L'Harmonie classique et romantique (1750-1900). Éléments et évolution, Second revised and expanded edition, 240 p., € 24.00, Editions Minerve, Paris 2023, ISBN 978-2-86931-170-1
Gérard Le Vot: Chansons d'amour des troubadours. Une anthologie texte et musique, 264 p., € 27.00, Editions Minerve, Paris 2022, ISBN 978-2-86931-168-8
Olivier Class: La Flûte aux XXe et XXIe siècles, 264 p., € 27.00, Editions Minerve, Paris 2022, ISBN 978-2-86931-169-5
