Vogler och pergolesis stabat mater: En väg till historiskt informerad uppförandepraxis

Abstract

The author is active as a musician in the field of historically informed performance practice (HIP) which emanated from the 20th century early music movement. Studying of historical sources has a central role, but the problem of how interpretation and selection of source material is affected by art and music ideals of our time, is commonly acknowledged. Georg Joseph Vogler shows in a series of articles in "Betrachtungen der Mannheimer Tonschule" (1778-1781) how Stabat Mater by Pergolesi could, and in his opininon, should be improved. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how this source can be used from the standpoint of a performing musician: How can I use Vogler’s methods in my playing? The introduction problematizes Vogler’s action in relation to his time, and to ours. What Vogler does corresponds to the ideals of the enlightment, and others also did things similar to this. Today, the use of the word "improvement" is not possible – we can better describe Vogler’s action as an update, as an adaption to a new situation. In order to connect Vogler’s improvements to performance practice and interpretation, the author presents a discussion where the work concept and the role of the musician in the 18th century is problematized: The attitude to a musical work was different, the "work" was more open, more free and less predeterminated, the musician was both composer and performer, the borders between the terms play, compose and improvise are blurred – Vogler’s improvements are an exponent of this. Maybe, by trying to do as Vogler, we could approach that 18th century spirit. Three musical investigations in ensemble form follow, where Vogler’s methods (separated from his goals) in various ways are moved from theory to practice: The pre-study is a simulation worked out as a theatre play, experiment 1 tries out Vogler’s tools without artistical intentions, experiment 2 integrates the tools in a rehearsal with artistical intentions. The music used in the second experiment is from an opera performance that was premiered six months later. The final versions are presented in the following chapter. The experiments show that it is possible to do as Vogler, and that his methods can be used artistically. As a by-product, the author can formulate a musical material exploring rehearsal method, built on the methods of Vogler. In the end, the histori- cal relevance of the thesis to the HIP musician is discussed. This should above all be described as indirect: the method is a way of approaching music from the 18th century angle described above. The author makes a comparison to theatre, and sees similari- ties in the way of working – the rehearsal method becomes a "theatre method" for musicians, not necessarily locked to a certain genres, style or time. The method can be used solely as a means for investigation but it is also possible to actually go further, eventually ending up with one’s own, new version of the piece. Whether to choose to do that or not, is a different question.