Download Notes on Handel Arias and Ornamentation

Notes on Handel Arias and Ornamentation
I.
II.
III.
Ask yourself what does my voice do well?
a. Ideas include: Ascending scales, descending scales, Trills, Large
interval leaps, Thirds, Long sustained notes, messa di voce, fast moving
notes, trillo, dynamic variation etc.
b. Be sure to include these skills in your ornamentation. Likewise, stay
away from things you don’t enjoy. Dislike large leaps? Don’t write
them into your ornaments.
General Stylistic Concerns
a. Recitative
i. Omit rests as needed to keep thoughts together
ii. In general the weight of the drama forces Handel secco
recitatives to go slower and more deliberately than Mozart
recitatives.
iii. Appoggiaturas are used as need to fill in thirds, and to deal
with the cadential falling fourth. More on appogiaturas later.
iv. Trills should be used at cadential moments. More on trills later.
Ideas for your own Ornamentation
a. Trills
i. Trills involve the Principle note and its Upper (or rarely lower)
auxiliary note.
ii. Trills are used at large section cadences, in cadenzas, on long
held notes, or in repeated figures or passages.
iii. Cadential trills usually start with an upper note preparation
iv. Trills at the end of cadenzas or at large cadence points have
suffixes. A suffix can be a turned ending (lower auxiliary just
before a cadence) or an anticipation of the primary note.
v. Trills can have different speeds to show the character of the
piece. A Ribattuta is a slowly accelerated trill that occurs on
very long sustained notes or in a cadenza.
vi. A Half trill is in a melody that goes so fast that it becomes more
of an inverted or upper mordent.
b. Appoggiatura
i. These are used frequently:
1. In place of one note when two successive notes are
written
2. Before long tones of consonant pitch
3. At internal cadence points
4. Before or after cadential trills
ii. Appoggiatura Types
1. Long Appoggiatura: This takes a portion of the value of
the note it adorns
2. Short Appoggiatura: Usually this is written into the
score as a little note
3. When an appoggiatura is inserted into the melodic line
where two notes of the same value are involved, the
appoggiatura takes the value of the first note.
c. Cadenzas
i. These should be done with only one breathe and be metrically
free. However, many different singers have used a breathe in a
cadenza for some dramatic affect, either to show deliberate
fatigue, passion, or hysteria.
ii. The cadenza should be on the stress of the word chosen to
decorate. Words may be rearranged to compensate for this
feature.
iii. Cadenzas should stay in the same key as the aria, on a I 6/4 or
V chord preceding the tonic.
iv. The highest note of the cadenza shouldn’t be outside of the
scope of what you presented in the aria.
v. The cadenza should match the text and character of the aria,
and sound as if improvised.
vi. Scales, arpeggios, or small motives from the aria itself may be
used in writing the cadenza. Try to make an unexpected or
final surprise for the listener.
vii. Cadenzas should almost always end with a trill, and that trill
should have a suffix.
viii. If there is a postlude after the cadenza, the orchestra should
continue in time to the end, not creating a deliberate ritard to
end the piece.
d. Thoughts on Ornamentation
i. The first entrance motive (or the head motive) of the return of
the A section should be ornamented to let the audience know
to get ready for some new ideas.
ii. Ornamentation, although practiced, should sound improvised.
iii. Ornamentation doesn’t mean the piece needs to be more
technically difficult; it should just sound more difficult. The
level of improvisation should also increase as the music
progresses.
iv. Ornaments should always be written in the style and character
of the aria.
v. Basic counterpoint rules should be followed, especially:
1. No Parallel Octaves or parallel P5 between the voice
and the bass line.
2. When making leaps larger than a third, or a series of
any size leaps, always try to resolve it by ending with a
stepwise motion in the opposite direction.
vi. Types of ornaments:
1. Passing notes: Fill in gaps between small intervals with
passing notes
2. Rhythmic Play: Use the same notes as the first time but
vary the rhythm with syncopation
3. Singing over rests: Enter earlier or later than the first
time. Likewise you can connect across a short rest to
make a longer phrase.
4. Long sustained notes can have more dynamic shape, or
even a messa di voce.
5. Add trills and appoggiaturas
6. In sad arias you can use a technique called dragging,
creating dotted uneven rhythms that sound like sighing.
This is particularly effective in descending phrases of
equal note values.
7. Portamento in performance practice has a different
definition than the bel canto inspired one of today.
Portamento is a connecting of dissonant intervals with
an inarticulate gliding of the voice. This is not so much
of a scoop, but a gentle connection.
8. Scales can also be used to connect large intervals.
9. Octave displacement: write things an octave higher or
lower.
10. Change direction of scales and melismas.
11. Echo effect on repeated passages
12. In general dynamics were used in gradations of volume,
not the terraced dynamics that come later in the
Classical period.
vii. Common Mistakes
1. Try not to repeat ornaments so that they become
predictable.
2. Ornaments just need to sound harder than the original,
they don’t actually have to be more technically or
musically difficult than the original. A good ornament
might just make the passage easier to sing.
3. Ornaments should not slow the dance like feeling of the
piece.
4. Ornaments should be in the character of the music and
text.
5. Ornaments should be grouped together, and occur
frequently. If you have many measures without an
ornament, your audience will go back to their drinks
and company.
6. Ornaments should only make your voice sound good. If
an ornament is sounding “difficult” in your voice,
rewrite it.