Robert de Visée
(about 1656 - after 1732)
on the baroque guitar
Collection "Musiques Anciennes" of the CNRS
PLAYED ON A BAROQUE GUITAR MADE BY CHARLES BESNAINOU
the Robert de Visée's complete printed and manuscripts works for baroque guitar
2 CD
HMY2928464.65
fourth edition (oct 2015)
Extracts
Suite n° 4 in G minor
THE ART OF DANCING IN ROBERT DE VISEE
One of the most notable progresses in the research in the interpretation
of 17th and 18th century music has been the rediscovery of the Baroque
dance and its practice. In France we owe this to the happy conjunction
of the work of Antoine Geoffroy-Dechaume in the music, and of Francine
Lancelot in the choreography.
The dance at the period was not only a skill practised by certain professionals
: all persons of quality, nobles, courtiers, practised it daily in order
to be able to perform at the court balls or in the theatre in the ballets
of Lully, Destouches or Lalande. Moreover for the musician, "a
knowledge of the art of the dance is a great help for a better knowledge
of the real pace of each piece and to keep the pace of the measure...
" affirmed G. Muffat, the pupil and performer of Lully. It was
most probably there that the young Robert de Visee was initiated into
the art. He published his two volumes of pieces for the guitar in 1682
and 1686, at the great period of Lully's operas for which be acknowledged
his admiration : "I tried", he said, "to adapt myself
to the tate of able people by giving my pieces, as far as my poor abilities
permitted me, the style of those of the inimitable Monsieur de Lully
(Préface, 1682).
In Robert de Visee's bands the suite of dances, often begun by a Prélude,
followed the usual order : allemande, courante, sarabande, gigue, followed
by diverse dances like the passacaille, bourrée, gavotte, menuet
and chaconne. But if we take a closer look at the frequencies their
appearance, we will notice that Robert de Visee was resolutely modern
in comparison with his contemporaries. The courante no longer has the
preponderant position it had had in the suites by Gallot or Chambonnières,
with whom it represented almost ha!f of the number of dances. The gaillarde
and pavane, which were no longer danced, have completely disappeared,
but we notice above all that the menuet, a new dance, is very well represented.
Of the eighty-three pieces in the two books, there are twelve menuets.
Only one of them, that of the Suite No. 4 in G minor, still betrays
its origin, the branle de Poitou, by its unusual cast, based on six
bars instead of four. In order to comprehend this music to rediscover
what it sounded like, it is not enough to play it on an instrument of
the period; it must be given its "choraïque" (dance-like)
character, in Brossard's phrase (1703), that is, each piece must be
given the character proper to it according to its title.
In the first place there is the choice of tempo. Several texts exist
on the subject. At the same time that Raoul Auger Feuillet was perfecting
a system of choreographic notation, musicians had found a way, well
before the invention of the metronome by MäIzel to note the speed
of execution of various kinds of music. In 1696 Loulié described
his "chronomètre ", a kind of graduated pendulum, and
added. "I flatter myself that those of good taste who have felt
how much an Air loses of its beauty when it is played too fast or too
slow, will be grateful to me for having given them a sure way of knowing
the real speed, particularly those who live in the Provinces, who will
be able to know exactly the right speed of all the Works of Monsieur
Lully, which I marked down most exactly on the Chronomètre with
the help of those who played them according to the beat of Monsieur
Lully himself for many years After Loulié, L'Affilard (1705),
Onzembray (1724), and later Choquel (1762), gave numerous examples of
music "figured" according to the chronomètre. We therefore
know the exact pace of each of the dances, as well as the small possible
deviations which bear witness to the flexibility left to the performer.
The tempo is only one aspect of the correct execution of these dances;
there are also phrasing and accent. A typical example of this is the
menuet. The music is in three lively beats, while the choreographic
steps are in six beats, giving the impression of a calm dance to rapid
music. The performer who is aware of this therefore articulates his
phrasing over two bars, knowing that the second is the "false"one.
As for the accents, they are not indicated. The performer must know
them in order to prepare for the silences which precede the "élevés"
of the dancer, generally on the strong beats, and to give impulse at
the right places.
A connoiss eur of the rules, Rafael Andia endows Robert de Visée's
suites of dances with an authoritative musical variety and dynamism
which are new to our ears.
Michelle Castellengo
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THE PRACTICE OF THE BAROQUE GUITAR IN FRANCE
This recording of Robert de Visée might come as a surprise to
certain uninformed listeners. In fact, the manner of playing the guitar
at the end of the 1 7th century presents the peculiarity of remaining
closely linked to that of the instrument with five courses of strings.
By virtue of the "batteries", rapid ascending or descending
strumming movements with the right hand, described by Mersenne in 1636,
this guitar was able to provide simple but effective harmonic and rhythmic
accompaniments, due to the rather harsh sonorities of the strings struck
in this way.
In the compositions for solo guitar, like those by Robert de Visée,
the batteries are abundantly used to provide the harmonic pattern, while
the melody and the counterpoint are plucked in the manner of the lute
or the theorbo. From this combination of sounds result, in the first
place, the differences of timbre and intensity which pose a problem
of the balance of sonorities for the performer, similar to that of the
orchestra. In this regard, Robert de Visée, usually so parsimonious
with information, is the only composer who insistently indicates at
which places in his pieces, and by what means, the batteries should
be "rendered more delicate " and the "tune more distinct
", which clearly shows that after more than three quarters of a
century of the playing of the guitar in Europe, this subtlety, so much
part of the nature of the instrument, is still not in current use among
performers.
Another aspect of the practice of the period is transmitted to us by
the prudent Médard who, after exhorting us "not to hasten
the measure lest your playing become a blur", continues, "which
even many masters cannot resist!…" If we add to this the avouched
playing with the nails more brilliant than that with the fleshy part
of the fingertips, we will better understand the censures of many authors
against the "steely" sound of the guitar which, they say,
can become a veritable cauldron...
On the whole, all these facts give us a glimpse of an early manner of
playing which was much less sweet than is generally imagined today.
As to the instrument, if there is unanimous agreement on de Visée
tuning(*), we have no direct information on his manner of stringing
the guitar. After years of research, I have chosen to string the instrument
entirely with pure gut strings, a single "chanterelle" (highest
string), and the bass of the fourth course on the side of the thumb.
Thus, by means of certain technical devices, especially that of stifling
the sound of some strings, it becomes possible to select one or another
of the strings of this fourth course, thereby avoiding a number of unpleasant
harmonic and/or contrapuntal inversions, which would otherwise be heard.
Very few 17th century guitars have survived in a condition which would
allow them to be played with the subtlety demanded by Robert de Visée's
music. I have, therefore, with this in mind, chosen for this recording,
two particularly satisfactory instruments by Charles Besnainou (Paris,
1980 and 1983). The length of their vibrating string is 680 mm. which
represents a good average, taking into consideration the practice of
French instrument makers, particularly the Voboam, of the second half
of the 17th century.
Rafael Andia
