Le 30 juin 2017
de 12h00 à 12h30
Le Patio (université de Strasbourg)
22 rue René Descartes, 67000 Strasbourg
salle 3202
Séance - Analysing and Interpreting Music with Text
Pré-acte / Acte
Auteurs : Caiti Hauck-Silva et Marco Antonio da Silva Ramos
Music performance requires choices. In choral music, performance choices include aspects related to text diction, such as duration and dynamic of vowels and consonants, which may contribute to performance expressivity. The use of diction as an expressive device is discussed in a few choral conducting handbooks, and some researchers have observed the use of lengthened or sharp consonants in recorded performances of solo vocal repertoire. Nonetheless, little is known about the expressive use of diction specifically in choral performances and about its effects on performance expressivity. This paper discusses performance choices related to German choral diction in recordings of two movements of J. S. Bach’s motet Jesu, meine Freude BWV 227, and Schubert’s part-song An die Sonne D439. It aims to shed light on how diction may be used as an expressive device in choral performances and on the implications of this use for performance expressivity. The research used a mixed methods approach, consisting of analyses of writings on choral conducting, interviews with conductors, score analyses, and recording analyses. Results show that, in some recordings, important words are highlighted by means of manipulating the duration and the dynamic of vowels and consonants. Such manipulations can be understood as expressive gestures that not only reinforce the meaning of the piece, but also add different meanings to it. Although only some of the analysed recordings explore the expressive potential of diction, results suggest that diction can play a central role in the expressivity of choral performance.
