A Garden of Sounds and Flavours: Establishing a synergistic relationship between music and food in live performance settings
(2024)
author(s): Eduardo Gaspar Polo Baader
published in: KC Research Portal
During the past decade, there has been a surge in the literature about crossmodal correspondences, consistent associations our minds establish between stimuli that are perceived through different senses. Correspondences between sound/music and flavour/taste have received particular scholarly attention, which has lead to a variety of practical applications in the form of food and music pairings, mostly examples of so-called ‘sonic seasoning’, a way to use sound to enhance or modify the tasting experience.
This thesis aims to explore the pairing of food and music from an artistic perspective. Its goal is to find tools that would allow to present both music and food as components of coherent live performances in which neither of them is a mere ‘seasoning’ to the other. Through the description and exploration of different ‘mediating elements’ between them (such as crossmodal correspondences, but also structure, ritual, narrative, and others), a wide range of possibilities is presented to whoever wants to match food and music in a truly synergistic manner.
Readers interested in multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, or transdisciplinary artistic practices of any kind might find the outcomes of this research useful for their own work.
Saverio Mercadante and the Neapolitan flute school of the early 19th century. A dramma buffo on the historically informed approach
(2023)
author(s): Enrico Coden
published in: KC Research Portal
Mercadante’s flute works are among the most beloved 19th-century Italian compositions for this instrument. So far, no study has been undertaken to develop a specific historically informed performance practice for them.
In order to do so, I first analysed the Italian flute history in the first half of the 19th century, which revealed a great influence of foreign instruments and methods on local flute makers and players; secondly, I studied the Neapolitan flute school during Mercadante’s lifetime (1795-1870) and discovered which instruments were in use, which methods were kept at the Conservatory Library, and who were the most successful contemporary players. Finally, I focused on Mercadante’s biography and created a detailed catalogue of his flute works, which includes bibliographical indications of manuscripts and editions, musicological details and historical notes (when available). This process revealed that the greatest part of such pieces was composed between 1813 and 1820, that is, while he was studying at the Neapolitan Conservatory.
Once my theoretical investigations were completed, I approached the practical part of my research by following the performance practice instructions of Hugot-Wunderlich’s flute method, whose French original edition is kept in the Conservatory library since Mercadante’s study years. However, an important detail that I discovered at this research stage forced me at once to discard my entire methodological process. This true operatic plot twist - dramatic and yet funny - turned my thesis into a dramma buffo. It forced me to completely rethink my methodology and even what the concept of “historically informed” means to me.
The Limits of Traverso; Exploring the sound possibilities of traverso through contemporary music
(2020)
author(s): Dorota Matejova
published in: KC Research Portal
In ‘early music’ performance today ΄sound΄ does not get as much attention as other expressive devices, even though the sound was an inseparable part of expression in music performance in 18th century.
This research attempts to explore the traverso and its expressive sound possibilities when placed in the field of contemporary music. The tonal capabilities of the traverso will be viewed from the perspectives of both 18th century sources and modern-day ΄early΄ and ΄classical music practice΄. The research considers what have sometimes been seen as the instrument´s “limitations” and "imperfections", asking how they could be positively exploited in contemporary music. At the same time, so-called ‘extended techniques ’for the modern flute are explored on the baroque flute, by a study and performance of two contemporary compositions for traverso solo. At the end, I will be looking at how this untraditional perception of traverso sound could open up our expressive imagination in performance of the traditional 18th century traverso repertoire.
The research hopes to bring some new inspirations for traverso players as well as other ΄early music΄ performers, and to clarify the distinctive role of sound as an expressive device in early instruments. It also hopes to inspire composers to write more contemporary acoustic music using the specific sonority of this instrument. The presentation will be given in the form of performance-lecture.
The place of modern technique in historical performance practice.
(2014)
author(s): Mikaela Oberg
published in: KC Research Portal
Name: Mikaela Oberg
Main Subject: Historical Flutes Research Coaches: Wouter Verschuren
Title of Research: The Place of Modern Methods used to acquire Technique on Period Instruments, within Historically Informed Performance Practice.
Research Question:
How has the way we acquire technique on the flute developed since 1700 and to what extent can the use of instructional methods intended for Boehm system flutes within historically informed performance practice be deemed valid?
Research Process:
The information for my research has come from a collection of over fifty treatises, methods and technical workbooks written between 1700 and 2013. My historical overview was based on a more in-depth analysis of just over thirty of these and I also interviewed twenty-seven historical flute players, of various ages and levels to acquire an understanding of the current approach towards technical development.
Summary of Results:
By examining a large variety of flute instructional methods written across three hundred years I have discovered that there is a continuous relationship in ideologies associated with the development of sound, articulation and finger technique on the flute. This continuity of ideas, combined with the results of my interviews with current student and professional historical flute players has brought me to the conclusion that it is quite valid for historical flute players to include methods intended for Boehm system flutes as part of their practice material.
I have found evidence supporting the fact that eighteenth century flute players included technical exercises as part of a daily practice routine, apart from their repertoire practice. I have also found that the most popular and enduring exercises in use today, many of which us flute players know from our modern flute studies, have their foundations in material found in eighteenth and early nineteenth century method books.
In my power point presentation I will offer various examples from my research material highlighting the development of technical material from 1700 to the present. This will display the links that exist between the old and the new as well as offer several often over-looked suggestions for flute players looking to expand their practice resources.
Italian elements in French music for traverso by J.M.Laclair and M.Blavet
(2014)
author(s): Radka Kubinova
published in: KC Research Portal
Name: Radka Kubínová
Main Subject: Traverso Research Coach: Bart van Oort
Title of Research: Italian elements in French music for traverso by J.M. Leclair and M.Blavet
Research Question: How did the Italian style influence French music for the traverso between 1699-1750 ́?
Research Process:
My research question arises while studying music by Blavet and Leclair and their contemporaries. Their music includes many Italian elements and in my research I would like to reach a deeper understanding of the stylistic mixture. For that I need to uncover the social circumstances and back ground of the life of these two composers. I have studied French contemporary sources, mostly books written by the end of 17th century and beginning of 18th century describing musical life in France and its main musical personage. The big advantage of studying the contemporary sources in their original language is the possibility of getting the whole picture of the period.
Summary of Results:
The end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th century in France was a “golden age” for traverso marked by an intense interaction between French and Italian style. This interaction is reflected in all aspects of music: composition, forms, instruments and interpretation. The Italian style introduced many new features which were hardly accepted by a conservative society represented by aristocracy and absolutist monarch Louis XIV. Another section of the society, modern and open to anything, new was represented by very controversial and powerful person of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans who was the most important musical patron in France at that time.
The best conclusion of the interaction between the two styles is “Les goûts réunïs” by François Couperin. In the preface of the book Couperin explains that the best solution is to take the best elements from each nation and put them together.
Comparisons of Perspective in the Empfindsamer Stil: How the music of Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach represents a microcosm of an emerging cultural initiative
(2014)
author(s): Kristen Huebner
published in: KC Research Portal
Name: Kristen Huebner
Main Subject: Traverso
Research Coaches: Inês de Avena Braga and Jacques Ogg
Title of Research: Comparisons of Perspective in the Empfindsamer Stil: How the music of Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach represents a microcosm of an emerging cultural initiative
Research Question:
What are the musical tools available to musicians which can be used to unlock the complex understanding of the Empfindsamer Stil?
Research Process:
My research process has been the result of years working and performing the 1788 Quartets for Keyboard, Flute and Viola by Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach. Besides a deep musical analysis of these three works, the main body of my research has dealt with the developing style which is commonly associated with this music, that of Empfindsamkeit or Empfindsamer Stil. The English translation equating to “sensitive style” is often associated with the Sturm und Drang, a highly influential literary movement of the 1770s. After reading much of the actual literature of the Sturm und Drang, including Johann Wolfgang Goethe’s Die Leiden des jungen Werthers, I set out to draw a distinction between the terms Empfindsamkeit and Sturm und Drang. Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach’s ersuch ber die ahre rt das lavier u spielen provided the springboard for my musical analysis of the Quartets and a subsequent categorization of three distinct musical characteristics used to describe the music of the Empfindsamkeit.
Summary of Results:
Having its origins in literature, the Sturm und Drang aimed to represent an artistic struggle showing the depths and extremes of the human experience, working most often in contradiction with the mainstream Enlightenment ideology of the time, which was founded and based on man’s ability to reason. Breaking away from this restrictive model, the Sturm und Drang influence crept further into cross-disciplines of poetry, theater and painting, yet striking deepest in the most ambiguous and indefinable of arenas, music. The Quartets of Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach surprised and demanded a more explicit and contemplative attitude in order to perform with any real consciousness or effect. In addition to shifting roles in instrumentation with the keyboard asserting dominance over the supporting flute and viola, I have explored rhythmic manipulation and surprise, in addition to dynamic juxtaposition. Perhaps most taxing for the performer of these Quartets is the abruptness with which one must make changes in mood and character; drastic intervallic leaps, modulation to strange keys and an intentional disruption of the rhythmic pulse all contribute to a sense of impulsiveness, the suggestion of something that cannot be predicted and should be performed with an equal amount of surprise. The presentation will take the form of an informative demonstration combining live musical examples with visual representations of paintings and portraits of key figures in a PowerPoint presentation.
Roman flute players and flute players in Rome in the turn of the Eighteenth Century
(last edited: 2025)
author(s): Anna Gambino
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
This article focuses on flute players that lived in Rome during the first half of the 18th century, such as English flutist Robert Valentine, active in Rome, and Filippo Ruge, Italian flutist active in France.
A historical Overview of Flute Materials
(last edited: 2023)
author(s): Elin Körnich
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
The flute is one of the oldest instruments in the world. Most likely, after humans figured our percussion, they blew across reeds to make sounds. And so the flute was born. They are an instrument shrouded in mystery and ritual, but that is not what this text will be focusing on. Rather I would like to ask the question how we went from making flutes out of the bones of animals, to wood and today to using precious metals such as gold and silver? What makes this material so much better than the wood that had been the standard for hundreds of years, even though it arguably is much more difficult to acquire? In this text I will explore the different materials used throughout history for the European Flutes, and when and why it changed.