Chamber Music: An Essential History

1. The Nature of Early Chamber Music

one The Nature of Early Chamber Music Haut and Bas instruments Music for domestic performance—chamber music—is the focus of this book. Aristocratic homes of medieval Europe often had rather expansive music rooms, but these spaces were generally smaller than a church or theater . Less volume was required to ‹ll them with sounds, and ensembles tended to be smaller. Early musical instruments were classi‹ed either as haut (i.e., high-volume ) or bas (low-volume). The high-volume instruments included the trumpet, trombone, shawm, buisine, and so forth. The low-volume instruments included the viol, lute, bandora, chitarrone, and the violin family (which came into common use only in the early seventeenth century), as well as the more subtle wind instruments, such as the recorder and transverse ›ute. instrumentation in the music of the late medieval era and the renaissance Idiomatic instrumental and vocal styles came into being during the early Baroque. Older repertoire was constructed according to the laws of voiceleading without regard to instrumentation. This abstract approach to composition led to a singular style that was used both for voices and for instruments . Compositions from this era can often be found in multiple versions, some with texts, others without. Almost any late medieval or Renaissance score could be converted into a piece of instrumental chamber music sim5 ply by performing it on bas instruments with suitable ranges for the particular musical lines. early musical instruments Instruments of the medieval and Renaissance fell out of use during the Classic and Romantic eras, but instrument builders and early music ensembles have stimulated interest in these antiques. Some of the most important early instruments are described in the following list.1 Early Musical Instruments bandora Plucked stringed instrument, similar in construction to the lute but tuned differently, having six or seven courses. buisine Brass instrument constructed like the ancient tuba, but with a long slim pipe curved round and terminating in a funnel-shaped bell. chitarrone See lute. cittern Small stringed instrument having a pear shape, ›at back, six courses and frets; the cittern was usually strung with wire and played with a plectrum . clavichord Keyboard instrument in which the string was activated by a tangent attached directly to the key; tone was subtle in the extreme, but the instrument was capable of producing graduated dynamics. cornetto Curved woodwind instrument with ‹nger holes front and back; conical bore; played with a mouthpiece similar to that of a trumpet, but made of wood and more shallow; available in consort; bass instrument of this sort was curved into the shape of an S to provide access to the ‹nger holes and was therefore called a “serpent.” crumhorn Family of capped double-reed instruments; cylindrical bore; ‹nger holes front and back; shaped like the letter J; literally “bent horn.” curtel Family of double-reed instruments with two parallel conical bores joined at the bottom. The bore often terminated in a small bell. The bass version of the instrument was the ancestor of the modern bassoon. The name is a corruption of the word “curtail.” dulcian See curtel. dulcimer Stringed instrument with ›at soundboard; strings usually activated by striking with hand-held hammers. harpsichord Keyboard instrument often with multiple sets of strings; the strings were activated by a plectrum that plucked the strings when the key was depressed. lute Stringed instrument with rounded back and shaped like a halved pear; of6 • chamber music ten with eleven strings in six courses; ›at ‹ngerboard with gut frets; smaller instruments of this type called mandola; related to modern mandolin; construction varied widely, especially as regards length of ‹ngerboard as related to body. The chitarrone, a large bass lute, was especially popular during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as a continuo instrument. nackers Type of kettledrum usually used in pairs and struck with mallets. pandora See bandora. panpipes Wind instrument consisting of a number of tuned pipes of different sizes bound together with glue; pipes are typically stopped at one end and blown across the top; also known as “vertical ›utes.” psaltry Similar in construction to dulcimer, but strings were activated by plucking with the ‹ngers or with a plectrum. racket Family of double-reed instruments in which the tube is continuously doubled back on itself in order to form nine verticals alternately joined at top and bottom with U-shaped crooks to yield one continuous column of air. This design was devised to keep...