Johann Joachim Quantz1 claimed that “the good effect of a piece of music depends almost as much upon the performer as upon the composer himself.”2 It concerns for instance the choice of the tempo, articulation, dynamics or ornamentation – everything can change music to such an extent that “a piece sung or played by two different people may produce two quite different effects.”3 Musicians studying Early Music are usually educated in various styles of ornamentation, and frequently even in the craft of diminutions. Not seldom there is also a class of historical improvisation included in their academical curriculum. At the end of their institutional studies, they should be equipped with tools, that would enable them to make choices in their performance, which are more on the creative (compositional) side of the artistic process and not only on the side of the transmission (interpretation) of the piece. As a student of Early Music, I was always attracted to this creative approach towards music. In this way, a performer can become a co-creator of the piece of music, a position which some protagonists of Historically Informed Performance call “the performer’s layer” of the piece.4 I find genuinely exciting the idea that every time a musical work is performed, it can be unique, as if created for the unrepeatable moment of here and now.
I remember that one of the first pieces which I performed on the traverso as a complete suite or sonata was Suite no. 3, op. 2 in G major, op. 2 by Jacques-Martin Hotteterre. There is a Courante that is followed by its double, and both Courante and the double are written with both repeats in their two inner parts. When I asked how it was meant to be played, my teacher answered rather ambiguously that I could choose, whether to play first the Courante and then the double or to play the double directly in the repeats of both parts. I found it a little bit confusing and unsatisfying that my teacher could not give me a clear instruction on how to approach the interpretation of the piece. Not that I would find making choices a burden or disadvantage. But would not there be some given way regarding how they performed doubles in the past? In May 2023, I performed a Sarabande (from Fantasies and Preludes, Giedde 1.45) by Johann Joachim Quantz which contained four doubles, each one representing a variation of a different character using different note values. Finally, when I imagined the Partita in B minor for solo violin by Johann Sebastian Bach, where each movement of already a considerable length is followed by its double, I started wondering, how can it be possible that each of those doubles were so different? What is, in fact, the double? Since then, doubles became a major interest and a subject matter of my master research, which is presented in this exposition.
Although it would be undoubtedly valuable, this research does not aim to provide a complete description of the development of doubles, neither to map all the existing doubles surviving in the sources. However, it certainly strives to explore the theoretical background for the more practical purposes. The main objective of this research is to explore ways in which a performer can use the existing evidence of composed doubles as a source of inspiration for creating new original doubles and how these can be incorporated in a performance nowadays. In this exposition, the used sources are divided into three categories, in accordance with the main characteristic of the double/variation included – whether it was composed in an ornamental or a diminutive style or whether the given set of variations indicates a Galant style of making variations. One of the main outcomes of this research is a publication of a series of doubles, created for different existing pieces for flute from the Baroque era. It is based on the model of Jacques-Martin Hotteterre’s L’Art de Preluder. While Hotteterre’s publication is divided into chapters by different keys, L’Art de doubler is divided into three parts (ornamental doubles, diminutive doubles and Galant variations) by the compositional style of the doubles.
One of the further goals of this research is to bring the practice of making doubles into the awareness of other musicians, to inspire and encourage those, who favour the creative approach towards musical compositions, as I do. Last but not least, this research aims to cast a new light on the pieces, belonging to the most often played Baroque repertoire for traverso, and to enrich and broaden the repertoire by less-known or less-played pieces. Playing doubles inside a well-known piece can transform it again into a fresh and new experience – for the performer, as well as for the listener.
Change and variety are indeed core principles of the nature, as they are essential for the music, too. Charles Burney wrote:
To us, it is surprising to realize how interested people were in novelty, in music they had never heard before. Listeners expressed joy and approval when a composer succeeded in some particularly effective statement, much like a rock audience today. […] Then, the interest was in innovation; now, it seems to be conservation.5
Creating doubles, i.e. creating variations means to me to contribute as a performer with a bit of novelty to the music that I perform.
