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Schubert as Written and as Performed
Author(s): Paul Badura-Skoda

Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 104, No. 1450 (Dec., 1963), pp. 873-874
Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.
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READERS' LETTERS
Schubert as Written and as Performed

With great interest I have followed the discussion 6 Since dotted quaversand semiquaversmeant in
'Schubert as Written and as Performed'. One of other contexts 1 2 3 4, it is quite naturalthat cases
the main reasonsfor the differenceof opinionscomes of doubt or ambiguityoccur. I fully agree with Dr
from the fact that this ratherimportantsubjecthas Mosco Carnerthat in the C minor Impromptu,op
been almost completelyneglectedby musicological 90 no 1, where the dotted rhythmis first presented
research. A similar discussion might well have without triplet accompaniment,it should persistas
arisen some forty years ago about 'Double dots in 1 2 3 4 throughout the piece. Similarly in the
17th- and 18th-century French music'-a field F sharp major section of the great F minor Fantasy
which has been completely cleared by research, for Piano Duet, D.940, both rhythms should most
although the musical practice even now still often likely be played independently of each other. Yet in
shows a regrettabledisregardof historicalfindings. the same work I have no doubt that at the beginning
As it happens, I have made a rather intensive of the last page the triplet rhythm should persist.
research of my own on this very subject over the In the first movement of the great C major Sym-
last years, studying several hundred manuscript phony, Allegro, main theme, polyrhythmical treat-
pages of Schubert, and also many of the original ment is absolutely necessary. In the last movement
editions. I intend to publish the result of these again it is rather likely that the first two notes of the
studiesin due course. Maybeyour readersmightbe fanfare should be executed in triplet rhythm. In
interestedin a short account of my findings. fact they nearly always are, whether conductors and
orchestras notice it or not.
Regarding Wasserfluth, I have no doubt that Mr
1 In many of his works Schubert wrote semi- Britten, who acted with the instinct and the insight
quaversfollowing a dotted quaverexactly under or of a composer, is right. However, on the basis of
above the third note of a triplet. This habit per- point 6, there is a weak, but only a weak chance that
sisted throughout his life, sometimes even in the the polyrhythmical execution is possible.
If a general rule might be deduced from these
form already quoted in Mr Sillem's second facts, it would be like this: In a general context of
triplets the rhythm (a) indicates (b), and-a matter
letter. which was not discussed yet but which applies to the
2 All the early publishersup to c.1845 followed B flat major Sonata, 2nd movement, and many
his notation which seems to indicate they had no other pieces-a double-dotted quaver followed by a
doubt about the rhythmical value of " demisemiquaver means a quaver tied to the first
(a) note of a quaver plus semiquaver triplet. (One need
being meant as (b). A few examplesmay be only try to write this intricate rhythmical pattern to
understand Schubert's necessity for a kind of
AI__I
given: Sonata major, op 120, D.664, 2nd move- rhythmical shorthand.)
ment, bars 37, 38; Sonata A minor op 143, D.784,
2nd movement, bar 39; Variations A flat major,
piano 4-hand, D.813, variation I, bar 5, bar 18; A last word may be said about quoting great
Var VI, penultimatebar; Rondo A major op 107, artists as authorities, as some of your readers did.
D.951 (piano duet), bar 257; and many other I find this an utterly wrong attitude. Surely a great
instances. artist can make wrong things appear convincing
3 Only towardsthe end of the 19th centurywere through the sheer power of his personality? I was
these rhythmsprinted in the modern way, namely moved to tears by Bach performances given by
the semiquaversafter the third triplet (eg in the Furtwaingler and Fischer. While they showed an
CompleteEdition). overwhelming grip of the main musical values and
4 There is practically a total absence of the the poetic quality of this music, they were absolutely
rhythmic notation (b) in Schubert's manuscripts. wrong in some stylistic details like ornaments,
(I have not found a single one yet.) It is impossible rhythm, etc. It could hardly be different, for they
to conceive that a composerwho so frequentlyused grew up in an entirely different tradition where
triplet rhythms should have avoided the actual historical findings were unknown in performance
execution by sheer obstinacy (to me, this is the practices. Therefore, a great artist can give utterly
strongestargumentin favour of tripletexecution). moving performances without being an authority at
5 The notation (a) for (b) was by no means all in musicological questions. He can only be
obsolete in the early 19th century,as some of your considered an authority if either he can look back on
readers assume. It can be traced in works by a direct teaching tradition, or if he has done re-
Schumann,Chopin, Heller,Liszt and severalothers. search work of his own. The former is the case with
Some examples of these were also quoted in your composers like Wagner, Liszt, Brahms, Richard
correspondence.In fact, even in Beethoven'sworks Strauss; each of them left a definite tradition of their
I have not found the notation so far. In the performance practices, eg the Liszt-Schiller like
Emil von Sauer whom I heard in my early years.
Moonlight Sonata, however, I __ prefer the poly- With Schubert, however, for various reasons there
rhythmicalexecution,not on musicologicalgrounds survived no direct performance practice. He never
but because of a tradition:in his comments on the taught anyone, and besides, the gap between his
interpretationof Beethoven'sworks, his pupil Carl early death and his rather late recognition was far
Czerny says expressivelythat the semiquaveris to too wide to be covered by a 'tradition'.
be playedafter the triplet.1 This might indicatethat Nearly all our great singers grew up in a tradition
such a polyrhythmicalexecution was consideredas (said to be originated by Mahler) which performed
somethingexceptional. all music literally as printed, regardless of whether
873
it made sense or not. The faulty execution of vocal Symphonic Top Ten
appoggiaturas in most of today's opera perform- An analysis of symphonies scheduled for perform-
ances may be quoted as a typical example. In ance in the Festival Hall during 1963 shows that in
Schubert's Ungeduld they struggle to do something
'unvocal' which was hardly ever intended by the comparison with 1962 Sibelius and Shostakovich
have superseded Berlioz and Bruckner in the Top
composer. I find it not adding to the zest, but only
an unpleasant break of tongue, if our singers try to Ten, with scores of 7 and 6. The remaining eight are
mutter a whole syllable or word on a semiquaver in Beethoven, as usual first with 55 (11 more than in
a fast tempo. Neither words nor notes are ever 1962), Mozart 25 (one less), Dvorak 16 (two more),
understood. Haydn 13 (one more), Tchaikovsky 12 (seven less),
Vienna PAUL BADURA-SKODA
Brahms 11 (two less), Schubert 11 (two more) and
Mahler 6.
Carl Czerny, Uber den richtigen Vortrag der sdimtlichen Beet-
Ihoven'schen Klavierwerke; Universal, 1963 The outright winner is Beethoven No 7 (12), the
runner-up Dvorak No 9 (10).
The Widor Toccata It is sad that our own Vaughan Williams appears
I think your correspondent Mr G. F. Knibbs once only.
Chorleywood, Herts DAVID CI-HESTERMAN
(October) is unquestionably right. The late Dr
Alfred Hollins in his autobiography A Blind
Musician Looks Back stated that it was generally
played too fast-and that Widor himself played it
Laryngitis
slowest of all. Is there a modern cure for laryngitis? The vapour
Bristol FERRABY TAYLOR of Friars Balsam is effective, but takes time and
makes a mess to produce. My doctor, not having
Undoubtedly the alternatives to Mendelssohn's paused to reflect that anything swallowed does not
Wedding March are legion. Widor's Toccata has pass through the larynx, gave me some tablets to
been proposed: would it not be logical to move one suck, and when these proved ineffective, a linctus
step further and suggest the Marche Pontificale by to sip.
the same composer? I feel this is eminently more It would be interesting to be able to read in The
suitable, and in the event of only a small wedding Musical Times what some of the great singers do
party it can be brought to a more convenient close when laryngitis threatens, an hour or two before the
than the Toccata. rise of the curtain at Covent Garden.
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Schubert as Written and as Performed

Author(s): Paul Badura-Skoda

Schubert as Written and as Performed

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