To beat or not to beat

Jean-Loup Gagnon

Name: Jean-Loup Gagnon Main Subject: Harpsichord Research Supervisors: Bert Mooiman, Peter Van Heyghen Title of Research: To beat or not to beat: reflections on musical leadership practices in the 18th century Research Question: What did musical leadership mean in the 18th century? Summary of Results: In the last century, historically informed performance practice has gained more and more popularity within the musical scene. In fact, musicians have being increasingly interested in historical articulation, phrasing, instrumentation, ornamentation, tempi, etc. Surprisingly, historical conducting practices have not been significantly investigated and hardly ever in a practical way. It may be the reason why there is a lack of experimentation in this domain, why even Early Music ensembles are using the modern way of conducting, which is to have an interpretative conductor that stands in front of the group. Would it not also be relevant to know how composers like Mozart, Handel or Bach would have “conducted” their works? Did Mozart conduct his wind serenade “Gran partita” by making gestures like we can see in Forman's movie Amadeus? Can we learn from their practical experience? This research demystifies conducting practices in the 18th century and brings a practical to the subject. Biography: Currently pursuing a Master’s degree in maestro al cembalo at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague, Jean-Loup Gagnon studies improvisation and leadership from the harpsichord with Patrick Ayrton and harpsichord performance with Fabio Bonizzoni. His researches focus on leadership practices in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries and on stylistic streams like the Mannheim School and the Galant Style, which constituted the musical grammar for genius composers such as Mozart.

Jean-Loup Gagnon

Maestro al Cembalo

3040402

March 15th, 2017

Teachers : Patrick Ayrton and Fabio Bonizzoni

Research supervisor(s) : Bert Mooiman and Peter van Heyghen

Circle leader : Kathryn Cok

Paper

Tuesday 11th April 2017, Studio 3, 13:15

Royal Conservatory of the Hague

To beat or not to beat:

Analysis and reflections on musical leadership practices in the 18th century

Jean-Loup Gagnon

A Master Thesis

Presented to the

Royal Conservatory of the Hague

In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements

For the Degree of Master in Music

Under the Supervision of Bert Mooiman and Peter Van Heyghen

The Hague, Netherlands

March 2017

Contents

Acknowledgments (see below)

Full text PDF

Introduction

Sources and translations

Part I : The question of time-beating in the 18th century

Predecessors of time-beating practices
16^th and 17^th century time-beating in theory and in practice
18^th century time-beating
Time-beating practices in France – a problem
Criticisms of Time-beating

Part II : Leading while playing

Birth of a new kind of entertainment in Italy
The dawn of the orchestra as an institution
The Composer/Performer
The tasks of the leader at the keyboard – Mattheson's point of view
Sharing leadership/violin leadership

Part III : Reflections – critical analysis of the historical sources

Conclusion, Bibliography, Iconographies & Appendix

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank his supervisors Bert Mooiman and Peter Van Heyghen for their blind trust. They consistently allowed this paper to be my own work. He would also like to thank Patrick Ayrton and Fabio Bonizzoni for their inspiring teaching and the numerous discussions in regards to historical leadership practices and music in general. A special thank to Maryse Legault, words cannot express how grateful he is to her for her support, patience, motivation and enthusiasm. Last but not the least, he would like to thank his family for supporting him spiritually throughout his Master studies and his life in general.

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