No less a personality than James Galway has felt the intimidating force of playing Baroque and Classical music. As he puts it, "The temptation is to be correct to the point of inflexibility." Although "in the case of Baroque music, you do have to get inside that past world before you can make it actual to the present," he urges performers not to present the music "as a scholarly thesis." He feels that the overriding rule is to "carry its message to the audience whatever the musical conventions of the century in which it was written."

Nancy Toff writes that the primary consideration is whether performers are introducing "anachronisms" into their musical presentations. She points out that of the five basic elements of music--rhythm, melody, harmony, dynamics, and tone color--the first three remain the same on any instrument. The last two, plus aarticulation, differences in phrasing, ornamentation, and cadenzas, are variable and are of great concern to modern flutists. These points are addressed in this chapter.

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Tone Color

Obviously, tone color has changed from the days of the wooden, one-keyed flute; metal flutes have a clearer, more strident tone. In the early twentieth century this was cause for some dismay among flutists who felt that the new metal flutes sounded harsh.

Peter Lloyd does not advocate trying to copy a Baroque wooden flute sound on a twentieth-century metal instrument; however, he does feel that a change in tone color is desirable.

We can't imitate the Baroque flute, so let's not try. On the other hand...we want to soften the color enough [to] take away the aggression of what we can do on the silver flute. On my own flute, I would take away a lot of the lower harmonics...and just play much softer.

Generally, cut out strength of color....I don't want to hear your enormous big, rich sound coming out of a Baroque sonata. Somehow--unless the pianist is terribly loud--I don't think it's appropriate, because I think the whole beauty now, for us, is that wwe can play these pieces very gently and very beautifully [and] in a completely different level of dynamic control. And I think we can on our flutes do [it] very well.

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Dynamics

When playing Baroque/Classical music on a modern flute, Lloyd asks flutists to narrow their dynamic range. When playing on a twentieth-century instrument, the temptation is to use all the resources of a twentieth-century instrument. This, he advises, should be avoided.

I know that there are feelings that when we play these pieces on this [modern] flute that we need to play them according to what the flute does [but]...I think we can actually control dynamics much better... and my feeling is that piano is dolce and forte is rich, rather than loud and soft.

What are dynamic differences on the Baroque flute? You know the CPE Bach Solo Sonata [Sonata in A Minor]? You've noticed that he's going along [at a dynamic of] piano quite happily and all of a sudden he drops these great fortes. Well, he can't possibly mean that. But you hear people on modern flutes going "do, do, do, DAHHHH," and it just doesn't make any sense. And you think well, what does this mean? I don't think piano and forte meant the same thing. It didn't necessarily mean loud and soft. I think a lot of it meant gentle, peaceful [and] maybe just that little bit broader. And that way it starts to make just a little bit more sense.

In CPE Bach...when it's piano, it's often dolce. If it's forte, it's rich. They hadn't the dynamic range....I think that's very important. If you look at practically all CPE Bach you find funny little dynamic changes that just don't make sense. I mean look at the Sonata in A Minor, super-piano for two notes and then super-forte. All that means [is] an enrichment of the sound--a change of color.

The other example [besides] the CPE Bach is the G Major Concerto of Mozart. You think in terms of the last movement where you've got forte and piano--the fortes are only stresses. And I think that would make it sound right.

Forte is "warm, rich" sometimes and not just loud.

Think of "p" as "gentle" and "f" as "richer" when playing Baroque music on modern flute.

Note lengths can also help differentiate dynamics in music of these periods. Although he cautions against making it a general rule, Lloyd suggests as an aid in some problematic areas, "Play...longer notes in the fortes and then shorten them in the lighter places."

Flutists should keep in mind that dynamics of the time were terraced, which is perfectly possible on a modern flute. As a rule of thumb, Lloyd suggests that dynamics rise and fall with phrases [or sequences].

There's a very easy way of [dealing with]...any Baroque composer that tends to write in terraces. Go up with it. As your tessitura rises, crescendo. It's a very nice thing to use if you've got a difficult piece to understand. It's a very easy way to get some idea of where lines are going to go. Of course, it's a generalization so there are of course exceptions.

In conclusion, he stresses, "Try to emphasize that the difference in dynamics is mood, character, color, pathos, and all that as against the present day dynamic change in volume.

In general, for Baroque and Classical works, Peter Lloyd recommends slightly shorter note lengths than flutists tend to play on twentieth-century works. In many classes he has advised flutists to "let some light in" between notes. "It's all very slow and ponderous," he told one player. "You've got to let the light in!" After working with another player, he said, "You see, it gives the piece more air and light....Let it have space and light above all ....Think of it as more light in character [with] more lightness in the articulation."

This does not mean that flutists should play with a choppy, "staccatissimo" articulation. This would be just as inappropriate.

Baroque and Classical era texts tend to equate articulation on the flute with bowing strokes on a violin.

In a comparison between the violin and the flute, it will be found that what the bow is to the violin the wind is to the flute and what the arm, governing the bow, is to the former--the tongue, governing the wind, is to the latter.

The tongue is the means by which we give animation to the execution of the notes upon the flute. It is indispensable for musical articulation, and serves the same purpose as the bow-stroke upon the violin.

Baroque and Classical musicians used a bewildering array of syllables, with an equally bewildering number of rules, to represent the various styles of articulation. Quantz lists extremely detailed instructions for use of the following syllables: ti, di, ri, (and combinations of those three), did'll, and tid'll. Tromlitz lists thirteen rules, followed by their exceptions. He cites the following articulation syllables: ta, da, ra, hat (or at). Other syllables in Baroque era tonguings included "tootle" and one for tonguing four notes, which was the British pronunciation of "territory." Peter Lloyd stops short of incorporating these on modern flute.

I'm not suggesting that you use curious articulations because I don't think they work on this flute very easily. But I do think we can do quite a lot with...lengths of notes--they were generally a lot shorter--slow movements and such. There was much more life in them.

With [forward tonguing] articulation technique there are a multitude of different positions on the lip that we can use to make different types of articulation. Maybe...modern flute [players] can cope with quite a lot of problems that we have [with Baroque articulations].

As far as slurring and tonguing notes, Baroque and Classical musicians left many decisions to the performer. Musicians of today find this a worrisome task. What is the "right" thing to do? So much is left unmarked in urtext editions, but overmarked in modern editions. Lloyd encourages flutists to use common sense in marking their own articulations and to "make use of the few original marks that are there." Using the flute sonatas of J.S. Bach as an example, he explained:

What Bach did...was to put in a consistent slur and expect you to be consistent later on. If he put a slur on a phrase and did it [that phrase] again later on, he expected you to do it [the same articulation]. It was natural. If there are [written] slurs, use them as suggestions....

It's [only] a suggestion. Difference, between one phrase and another even if the phrases are exactly the same, will sometimes emphasize a point on the repeated phrase--especially if the phrase is repeated in a different key. Think of improvising as you go along. Try to be aware of what thee accompaniment's doing and see where the modulation is going.

When slur markings are added, Lloyd advises highlighting them, to bring out the smaller shapes of articulations within the larger phrases. For instance, during a series of paired slurs, he encouraged a flutist:

When you see phrases like this, on the [slurred] pairs, lose the second notes more, so they don't slur into one another.

The pairs of notes--I think you should make a little more of it. Lose the second of the two notes, so you don't get [sings a more connected verrsion]. Then when you get your [slurred] threes, there'll be a difference....I think these little things really are important, and I think that we can do it with this [modern] flute.

It's hard on the flute to clear the ends of slurs ....The trouble with the flute is that it tends to go all over the slur unless we cut [i.e., shorten] the end of the [last] note [of the slur].

One articulation flutists should avoid in Baroque-era music that is more acceptable in Classical-era music is a grouping of four where the first two notes are slurred and the second two are tongued. Often cited but rarely explained, Lloyd speculates that the rarity of this articulation had to do with the violins of the day.

They very rarely used [sings slur two/tongue two] in those days. You'll find very few examples in the literature of that phrasing at all. One of the reasons [was] because for violin in those days, the bridge was much lower, and so the strings were therefore that much closer. Not only that, but the bow was much floppier which also made things more difficult. And gut strings were not so hard. [So] it was much harder for them to play [this articulation]. It was much easier for them to play three slurred, one tongued or one tongued, three slurred or groups of slurs in twos. ⁵¹²

Modern flutists using facsimiles must be careful that markings are not misunderstood. For instance, notes with vertical dashes over them may be interpreted as marcato. However, as Lloyd explains, these markings were meant to be staccato. "Originally they had vertical dashes, which are equivalent to dots, so it's half the note value."⁵¹³

Although Peter Lloyd cautions flutists not to become too worried about exact historical tempi, he urges some attention to relative tempi between movements in a work, citing Hans Peter Schmitt's Bahrenreiter edition of J.S. Bach's Partita in A Minor:

Look, it's very important to remember...that they say "with the accepted tradition" that one bar of Courante equals 1/2 a bar of Allemande... If that is right, your Courante should have been quicker or your Allemande slower.⁵¹⁴

It seems to me that the slow movement needs to move....I won't expound upon how I believe these pieces should be played, but certainly the slow movements need to move onwards slightly.⁵¹⁵

Have a look at the Handel Sonata in E Minor. It [should] always dance. And we never hear it dance.⁵¹⁶

Dynamics and articulation are not isolated issues in the performance of Baroque music on modern flute, but are related to bringing out phrasing. Peter Lloyd believes that the shapes of Baroque and Classical era phrases are muddled by over-Romanticizing these works--shaping phrases into long lines more suitable to later works. He feels that shaping smaller phrases within longer ones is more appropriate to the intimate nature of these works, many of which were written for private patrons' concerts or chapels. Emphasizing articulation markings and using dynamic terracing highlight smaller phrases, which in turn shape larger areas.

Try to think in terms of a long phrase that's built up of small units. You're not destroying the phrase. Make use of the small units to build the phrase. It's different. And then the difference in Classical music is [that] the phrase units are longer--not so small.⁵¹⁷

I think you can be a lot freer....I think your peak [phrase climax] was absolutely right. But I think there are other little peaks. You see, I'm not going to tell you how to play this because I think there's 120 different ways of playing this. [But] I think it's important that you should get an idea of how freely you can play this.⁵¹⁸

It's like playing a slow movement of a Bach sonata [when] we hear these long, long lines that never seem to stop. It shouldn't be. The phrase should be a long phrase, but the pieces of it should be broken up more. And it's the same with all these pieces. Light is so important. Silences in music are probably more important than noise.⁵¹⁹

I think we should make mention of French style ...Blavet is somebody I think we need to watch very carefully, because he is the only person we know of who actually put in his own phrasing marks where you can take breaths. You [may] take so much time...that it's almost as though you're becoming totally spontaneous. When the idea's over, it's like [dance] steps [being over]. I think in order to interpret the Blavet sonatas in the way he's implied, we need to take dancing lessons in French Baroque technique. It would give us a chance to understand why some of these very curious colors were put in there. He's--to my knowledge--the only person who did that. If we use that as an example and manage to play the Blavet sonatas as he's written, using those colors and doing them properly--you'll find some editions where they've been totally left out because obviously the editors don't understand--if we could do that, maybe that would influence the way we play Couperin, Rameau, and any of the others.⁵²⁰ I think one of the things that we must remember in music, the most effective parts of music are the silences.⁵²¹

One way that Lloyd has found to keep Baroque music moving even when using shorter phrases and periods of silences is to count in longer note divisions, especially in slow movements that use subdivision. If the performer would normally count eight beats to a bar, Lloyd advocates counting four--or even two. In that way musical lines seem to move forward, avoiding the stodginess often heard in even the most correct performances.⁵²²

Peter Lloyd feels that most modern-flute performers do not give the placements of bar lines proper respect in Baroque era music. Bar lines were a relatively recent addition to music by the Baroque era, and he feels that much attention was paid to where the strong and weak beats were placed. By using longer Romantic era phrasings in these works, modern performers blur the intentions of the composer and lose some of the flavor of a work. A case in point is the J.S. Bach "Badinerie" movement of his Suite in B Minor, where the entire movement seems to be two beats off-center.

I feel that you must use the first notes [of the Badinerie] as a pickup. So often you hear performances where the bar line's turned around and the shape of the tune really changes. But it isn't [sings tune with strong beats on second beat]. It's [sings tune with strong beats on first beat]. I think that's a much lighter, more elegant line. I think bar lines here are far more important than they are in other styles.⁵²³

Bar lines, I think are important....If you start doing too much accent on the second beat, we've already upset the intent....Feel the lines, go toward the bar lines. You may think that it's going to sound all chopped up. It doesn't, because the line is right through it...let light into it.⁵²⁴

Try to have slightly longer appoggiaturas. Appoggiaturas are more important than what follows ...the appoggiatura is always the important note.⁵²⁵

We must remember the length of the appoggiatura is not determined by the piece. It can be a long one, a short one, or a mixed up sort of thing. Length is very much determined by the mood.⁵²⁶

It is a mistake to believe that vibrato was unknown to Baroque and Classical flutists. It was a special effect known as "flattement," used to embellish long notes and produced by waving up and down the fingers not covering a tone hole.⁵²⁷ Vibrato produced by fluctuations in air speed was also known, but was frowned upon.

I remind you once again that on the flute the flattement may not be made with the chest because if it is, one can very easily get into the habit of wobbling, which results in a miserable execution....I also remind you again to use this ornament only seldom, so that it will not fail to have its good effect, whereas on the contrary it will certainly arouse disgust if it appears too often.⁵²⁸

Above all, flutists should avoid any vibrato that calls attention to itself. Nancy Toff decries "wide, Brahmsian, orchestral-style vibrato" as an obvious anachronism when playing music of the Baroque and Classical eras.⁵³⁰

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Re-editing Baroque Works There are many editions of Baroque works in which editors have added articulations and dynamic markings. Because scholarship of Baroque and Classical era music has grown in the last thirty years and so much information is currently available to players, Peter Lloyd suggests that flutists start from a "clean" copy of a work and add their own markings.

This does not mean that players should over-edit their own copies. Lloyd suggests putting in as few marks as possible.

Adding your own markings, again, limits your own possibilities towards any potential spontaneity. I very rarely put markings in unless I have to, because I do want to be able to do something else. You suddenly see your markings there and you're stuck with it, and you're almost limiting yourself by the marks. I think for one's students, maybe a certain amount of marking is a good idea. I know [though] that some people mark everything.⁵³¹

Ornaments are more usually added to Baroque works, as composers of the Classical era had begun to write in the ornaments of their choice rather than leaving ornamentation up to the performer. Ornamentation was expected of performers, rather as jazz players are expected to improvise a standard tune. It is especially important that younger players realize they are not breaking a rule by adding ornaments. Slow movements and repeated phrasings are particularly suited to ornamentation.

Peter Lloyd's biggest concern about ornamentation is that it sound improvisatory. Most flutists are so worried about playing "correct" ornaments that the works become static museum pieces instead of living works of art.

The late Thomas Nyfenger captured the joy of ornamenting Baroque works when he wrote:

What fun! So what of the fellows with the powdered wigs and the funny instruments? Is there not jazz or its equivalent in every age? Perhaps Telemann didn't saunter into the local pub and ask the boys to cut his new chart, but the effect and sentiment may well have been the same. Squareness and stodginess are products of dusty minds as is historical blindness and blandness and undue reverence for any composer whose art has survived his presence.⁵³⁷

During a masterclass, he encouraged a performer playing a Stamitz concerto this way.

This isn't music to listen to sitting in rows. I think you ought to be wandering around talking, occasionally listening. It sounds awfully sterile like this somehow. I think you ought to feel the music has charm and enjoy yourself more, and not [feel] that you're examining it with a microscope.

Enjoy it more. Just let yourself do things rather than thinking, "How should I do this?"⁵³⁸

The history of cadenzas is not generally known among flutists.

At the end of a piece of music or a major section of music, early singers and instrumentalists often added a fanciful, somewhat virtuosic flourish. This embellishment was intended to surprise the audience, heighten the intensity of the music, and probably also encourage an outburst of applause.

During the embellishment, the movement of the accompaniment stopped....

Because of their Italian origin and their location at major cadence points, all such cadential embellishments have come to be called "cadenzas," the Italian word for cadences.⁵³⁹

In many instances, flutists use pre-written cadenzas when playing a Baroque or Classical-era concerto. Usually those cadenzas were not written by the composer, and often they were written during the Romantic era or the twentieth century. They vary widely in length from a few measures to cadenzas almost as long as the rest of the movement; the style of the cadenzas may not match the styles of the works. In Baroque and Classical times performers were expected to insert their own cadenza, utilizing themes from the work being performed. The purpose was to give the performers time to display their particular talents--whether pyrotechnics, color variations, or emotive qualities.

The object of the cadenza is simply to surprise the listener unexpectedly once more at the end of the piece, and to leave behind a special impression in his heart.⁵⁴⁰

Lloyd encourages present-day performers to write their own cadenzas. Most modern flutists shudder at the thought of having to be a composer as well as a performer. He informs flutists that their cadenzas need not be as long or as complicated as the ones they see. In fact, he feels that most pre-written cadenzas are too long. In one class he commented:

Mozart's orders--what was current in the day--was, two breaths for cadenzas. No wind player was going to sustain any audience's interest for more than two breaths!⁵⁴¹

We have this terrible feeling as flute players that it's boring, or it's getting boring, so we sort of think, "I'd better get on with it." You must take your time. Stretch it...be elegant. Wait for it. Don't rush. Giving it the timing, the space--it sounds so beautiful. It's timing and placing, all the time. And don't forge the silences.⁵⁴²

The Mozart ones are supposed to be done in two breaths, but as the fashion has gone on...they got so long and so remote from the key that it took a long time to get back. But that [two breaths] was the original rule....There are no existing cadenzas by anybody of those days that I know of. I haven't heard any....On the other hand, having said that, Mozart wrote piano concerto cadenzas but he didn't write violin concerto cadenzas. So I don't know exactly what issued from that. It's a rash assumption to say that wind players could do it [write their own cadenzas] and the others couldn't!⁵⁴³

I don't see why not. Look at the Reinecke Flute and Harp [Mozart's Concerto for Flute and Harp in C Major] cadenzas [i.e., Carl Reinecke's cadenzas written for the third movement of the Mozart Concerto for Flute and Harp in C Major]. We nearly always start at least halfway through--sometimes near the end of it--because it gets too tortured.⁵⁴⁴

Peter Lloyd believes that players now have much more opportunity to bring Baroque and Classical era works to life than before--even on a twentieth-century instrument--because of the scholarship available to any performer and the number and quality of recordings of works available on replicated period instruments.

I think it's an important thing to remember that we now have available so much information on eighteenth-century technique. And I don't think it's fair to just sort of brush it under the carpet and say, "Oh, well, the Baroque people will do that, because they've got Baroque flutes." I think we [all] have to, now, learn a little bit about phrasing, a little bit about the techniques of the time.⁵⁴⁵

I'd also like to say that about early Romantic--some of the pre-Boehm instruments [used in the time of] early Beethoven, and Kuhlau. Maybe we have to re-think a little bit about how they played.⁵⁴⁶