Is Pierrot singing? 3/3

In the previous posts,I was trying to understand Pierrot as an poetic idea.as a character and personality.now it is time to check his representation in music.

where to begin??????

if you already listened to a bit of the piece in youtube or in the luna nova,you noticed that this is not exactly singing.it is actually reciting in pitches.saying the words in defined pitches more or less. or just acting it in somewhat graphic prosodic lines.that is the all meaning of Pierrot.as he is anti reflection of the romantic hero,the known concept and convention of singing and melodies goes far beyond our perceptions. he will no longer sing.moreover he will no longer sing any melodies or patterns which are known to us.he shatters everything.



while Siegfried, Rodolfo and the rest of those dudes,had complex infrastructures of motives set by the composers(aka lite motifs),Pierrot is not singing but reciting in different ranges of the voice as a reflection of the feelings a man has.his "melody" is a set of notes which build up in different ways as the poems differ from each other in atmosphere,mood,subject.using the voice in various colors and ranges in prosodic lines is abstracting the speech and music into the pure meaning.the violence ,the fear,the nostalgia etc.in this sense,Schoenberg introduces a new composing mechanism into the world.


how?

• the lack of "known" harmonies -the "cell harmony"(this "modern music") is the result of a process started at the time of Wagner (the 1st chord of Tristan und Isolde),slowly growing to its peak in the last movm` of Mahler 9th symphony or early works by Schoenberg(Gurre-lieder etc).the frame of harmony which already had already expressed everything possible, and stretched the borders of tonality to its extreme (all those dissonances which has nowhere to go) .the collection of notes which represents Pierrot,can work either in linear(motivically) or horizontal(harmonically) way.the roots for this are already set up in op. 11-3 piano pieces which Schoenberg wrote earlier.this mechanism is a root itself to the serial and 12 tone music.the only user of known patterns are in the valse somehow,and more recognizable in the "alter duft".the last poem where Pierrot goes back to Beragmo.that is the only place in this piece where there is a familiar romantic-nostalgic pattern.and that is the whole idea.creating a non familiar land,where you recognise only one old smell which brings you home.......
  
  later you can encounter this "trick " in pieces by Boulez,or Berg`s violin concerto or in Berio`s pieces.
  

• the use of sparchgesang,the pitch reciting,is also the experiments of a new mean in music.the abstraction of the music itself.later we find it in much developed manner in the opera Moses und Aaron where god is represented by a mixed choir of which 6 are reciting in defined pitches(sparchgesnag) and the other4 are singing the music itself.the part is written in heterophony which means they are altogether singing\reciting more or less (and not precise!) at the same time creating somewhat of a delay.what could i tell you .you must hear it for yourself.the next episode of music after this is of course the electronic music and sound effects.

• the orchestration which the composer uses in order to "help" both Pierrot and the audience(!) understand and expresses the mood of each poem and thus reflect Pierrot inner feeling is an exquisite demonstration of how the composer masters the text-character-mood-instrumental relationships of this small ensemble.that is yet another root of the farewell from all those super grand monumental orchestras that reigned the stages until not so long ago.in fact there is a nice essay written by Schoenberg on orchestration,in which he states his idea of small ensembles in usage rather than the large orchestra,explaining how -"Indeed, if our orchestra consisted of a smaller number of colors, it would be
  possible to approximate the excellent balance of the string quartet. There, each of
  the four players -- though only three different colors -- is able to make his part
  come through, so long as he is using a register of his instrument that contrasts with
  the other instruments"- for example.in this case as you noticed,3 string and 3 wind 1 voice and 1 piano.

• there is also the experiment of how the sounds of words and vowels interacts with the prosodic features of Pierrot`s line.if you have ever seen Bernstein in his Harvard Lectures,speaks about the formation of the general language and words according to Chomsky,Shceonberg experiments this matter in the prosodic feature(which Bernstein in his point of view does not approach).

those are only few main points of the style of this piece.but those are already the foundations of the expressionism-entire era.with the same equivalents in cinema(Fritz Lang and his Metropolis or in art Kokoshka)

I could continue on and on,but you might find information also in this book.

to conclude I would like to refer to the performance itself.

after reviewing all the information analysed,the approach of the is debatable.one thing is sure,this is an extremely difficult piece to conduct.some of the poems are quite tricky,meters are being broken,subdivision etc.in this opportunity i would like to state ,that when i had the opportunity with the orquestra de cadaques to rehearse 2 numbers,they were in such a high level.meaning,very eloquent ,rhythmic.on the 1st rehearsal they got everything sorted out,which left place to dedicate the remaining time for the musical expressions.

and how?

by passing your inner understanding of meaning to the players.from the mood,through the colors of the voice,instruments.the phrasing both with the singer,and the ensemble.phrasing meaning articulation,diction.the consideration in regards to voice range and its colors and prosodic meaning.that is the concept.but this is the essence of all the information i have reviewed so far.and never forget-Pierrot is primary the artist himself!and now a word about the moon-the light of the moon is the mirror of the sun.and in a Zizekien view,that is the shadow of the alterego-the one the artist is connecting in the creation.........

in this quest,I permitted myself to listen to various recording.the web is full of recordings.I would like to state that also that is the source to understand HOW NOT TO PERFORM PIERROT,as there are so many charlatans that you can hear on them that the technical level is still poor.or old hens(or young) which think they can just shout the part of Pierrot ,and thus to be called an artist or a performer.i am sure you can distinguish them for yourself.however I would like to review the work of Boulez.

two interesting recordings.both convincing.one is sung!the other recited!

I am aware of Schoenberg's intention.I would just add,that the sung version,is just a compass to the what seems to me the way how Pierrot should be sound...

with this I bring down the curtain about Pierrot.and since this Pierrot made me hungry,I will write in my next post,about a nice chunk of bloody-rare-barley-medium of roast beef sliced thin and lying comfortably on a slice of country bread covered with homemade red grapes jam...................