As was already explored in the preceding chapter, the term double was used as a synonym for the term variation. Therefore, this chapter uncovers some of the important historical contexts about the philosophy and the aesthetics behind the variation and the development of the term variation itself in comparison to other expressions used to refer to variations. Finally, since the earliest sources providing materials for doubles in the flute repertoire were the collections of airs de cour and airs sérieux from their rich tradition, this chapter also includes an overview of the origins and the development of this genre.
Variations and rhetoric – reasons behind variations
The term variations can apply both to the form of variations and the technique. As a formal type of movement, they have existed since the 16th century, but as a common principle and a technique, they can be found in all the music.1 Sisman underlines their close connection to a fundamental rhetorical principle of repeating a theme with various modifications. Therefore, musical variations and rhetorical variations are closely related and the central ideas behind the musical variations are drawn directly from the art of rhetoric: display, ornament, strengthening a theme by means of figures, and the aesthetic effects and persuasive power of repetition.2 Sisman also points out what Abbé Vogler wrote, that:
“Variations are a type of musical rhetoric, where the given meaning appears in different guises, with the distinction that the boundary lines are much more rigorously determined in music than in oratory."3
The idea of a connection between the musical variations and the art of rhetoric is strengthened also by the existence of the rhetorical models in the structure of the variation form and finally the idea of analysing variations by means of figures. Rhetorical variation models come from the medieval ars predicandi (art of preaching). One of the influential sources that portray variations in rhetorics is De Copia (1512), a treatise by Erasmus on the abundant language (or copiousness). The author develops the necessity of expressing the same thing in different forms by demonstrating numerous variations for the same sentence. Acquiring this skill should enable the speaker to avoid a literal repetition, which would be an intolerable fault.
Rhetorical variations were known already from antiquity and appreciated in so-called display oratory. Cicero highlighted the pleasure that this type of oratory gave in the ornamentation of the sentences and Aristoteles pointed out the effects of amplification of the subject, which according to Quintilian made the subject stronger every time it appeared. “Thus, both display oratory and variation straddle improvised and written forms, and both offer new ways to reclothe the subject."4
The principle of variety itself (varietas) played an important role in the aesthetics of all arts – both in the style of the form and in the performance – as documented already from antiquity, too. Quintilian required that the artistic structure should be “decorous, pleasing and varied” and Aristoteles (in the quote on the title page of this exposition) commented on Euripides, who wrote that:
“Change also is pleasant, since change is in the order of nature; for perpetual sameness creates an excess of the normal condition."5
Development of the terminology used for variations
The Latin expression variatio has roots in the adjective varius, a term associated in ancient writings with colourings of plants and animals. Zarlino used the term in connection to colour in his Istitutioni Harmoniche (1558) when talking about “Chromatico, quasi Colorato, o Variato”.6 In the medieval writings of Tinctoris, Guido of Arezzo, Zarlino and others, the term variatio in relation to mutatio could be found in discussions about octave-related qualities of different voices or hexachordal mutations; varietas and variatio also appeared in discussions of the differentiae or divisiones as various ending-formulas of psalm tones; and finally, the term variatio was used in connection with rhythm, specifically with rhythmically varied subdivisions of a final tone or cadence.7
In the later treatises by Bernhard, Prinz, Praetorius and Vogt, variatio was used as a synonym to diminutio, coloratura or passaggio and all these expressions were understood in both their melodic and rhythmical meanings: as filling of a larger interval with multiple notes, and as subdividing a longer note with notes of shorter value. The Spanish term glosa was used similarly, but also in the context of treatment with dissonances.8
Other expressions were used to refer to variation, as a repeated melody (segment, theme) with alterations: French double, Spanish diferencia, Italian partita, or English division, all of them used in the sense of the varied melody as well as the subdividing of the original note values. There were other terms used in the meaning of change or alteration – German Veränderung, Spanish mudanza and Italian mutanza, the last two being often associated with dance.9 (The use of all these terms as synonyms, only slightly differentiated, is well documented for instance in the work of J. S. Bach.)
From the 16th century on, the idea of variation was understood as an essential tool of any composer or musician in general. During the 17th and 18th centuries, variety (or variation) seemed to become an ultimate goal of all arts (to imitate the beauty of variety in nature), as documented through writings of Heinichen, Mattheson and others: starting from developing elaborate variations of figured-bass realizations (e.g. Niedt’s Handleitung zur variation, Hamburg, 1721), continuing through listing options for variations in fugues, and ending with mastering of florid divisions upon a ground (e.g. Simpson’s The Division-Violist, London, 1659). In the second half of the 18th century, variations on a popular melody (so-called Air variée) became one of the most popular genres. In the later 18th century, variations were established as a musical form and after Koch introduced theme and variations and the official term in his Versuch einer Anleitung zur Composition (Leipzig, 1793), other expressions were subsequently abandoned. The 19th century, with the further development and expansion of the genre, created new subdividing terms, such as formal, character, decorative, contrapuntal or fantasy variation.10
Air de cour and the double
Baron defines air de cour as a “term used by French composers and publishers from 1571 to 1650 to designate many secular, strophic songs sung at court.”11 Although he gives a very specific time range and a location, the genre itself has its predecessors before 1571 and was favoured long after 1650 and its popularity was spread well beyond the borders of France. In France, the importance of the air de cour grew to such a significant extent that it served as a model for their other vocal writing, for their arias, dialogues and even récits of the courtly productions of comedy ballets or tragédie lyrique – in other words, it was a “touchstone against which all French vocal writing was to be judged."12
Before air de cour got clearly separated from other vocal genres such as the court song, vocal airs were labelled under various expressions such as vaudeville, air, chanson, or chansonette. The first time that the term air de cour appeared in the title was in the publication of Livre d’airs de cour miz sur le luth in the year 1571, published by Adrian Le Roy and Robert Ballard, where Le Roy pointed out that these much lighter airs, formerly called voix de ville, much differ from “difficult and arduous” polyphonic chansons.13 Thus, the vaudeville can be understood as the predecessor of the air de cour, only the latter developed into a much more refined genre with a precious language of renown poets, such as Philippe Desportes, Françoise de Malherbe, Saint-Amant, Jacques Davy Du Perron, Honoré d’Urfé and others.
Airs de cour were written in two forms, as ensemble airs in four or five parts or as airs for solo voice and lute (or guitar). After the print of Le Roy in 1571 and until the end of the 16th century, there were almost exclusively ensemble airs, but from the beginning of the 17th century, collections with lute intabulations became more and more popular. The Ballards were among the most prolific and influential publishers – Robert, Pierre, Christophe and later Jean-Baptiste-Christophe. Among the most prolific and important composers of court airs in the early 17th century was Pierre Guédron (ca. 1575–ca. 1620) and among other important composers in the first half of the 17th century were Étienne Moulinié (1599–1676) and Antoine Boesset (1587–1643). The first half of the 17th century, specifically the reign of Louis XIII (1610–1643) could be considered the “golden age” of air de cour since in this period there were the most important and numerous vocal compositions in France, composed to “amuse and satisfy the king, who had received them with love, the highest recompense."14
The second half of the 17th century brought significant changes to the style and form of air de cour: the lute tablatures were much less used and the theorbo became the preferred accompanying instrument instead. With the shift from tablatures towards basso continuo practice, also the term air de cour went slowly into abandonment and was replaced by the term air sérieux in the publications. The most representative composer of the second half of the 17th century was undoubtedly Michel Lambert, as witnessed also through the writings of Lecerf:
“After Le Bailly came Lamber, who in the opinion of all Europe, was the best Master to have appeared for many centuries. His song was so natural, so clear, so graceful that one sensed its charm immediately..."15
Lambert’s work is summarized and gathered in the collection of Airs à une, deux, trois et quatre parties avec la basse continue (Paris, 1689).16 Most of the airs begin with a ritournelle for two violins and continuo and are followed by solo and ensemble settings. Some of his airs are composed as chaconnes (a possible influence of Lully), some are set into sarabands or minuets, and some are organized as dialogues. Later on, a dramatic organization of airs sérieux, with grouped airs, recitatives and ensembles, was much more common and provided a possible link to the early stage of the secular cantata in France.17
Airs de cour had usually a simple structure, short stanzas of four or six lines, often organized by octosyllables or Alexandrines and arranged in variations of binary forms (AB, AAB, AA BB, ABB). They were usually of a simple harmony, clear melody of a limited range (of around one octave), and a free meter.18 The rhythmical organization of the melody provides enough space for desirable and fashionable addition of ornaments. Even in the transcriptions from the ensemble setting to the solo setting, slight modifications of the rhythm to allow the singers to add various ornaments and diminutions can be seen, “to deepen the expressive content but more often to afford the singer a vehicle for display.”19 Many collections, specifically by Moulinié or Boesset and later by Lambert, offer completely written-out ornamented second stanzas, so-called doubles or couplets en diminution.
Since many singers and composers at the French court were also good flute players, there is no wonder that airs de cour and air sérieux remained popular among flutists and appeared in a number of collections for traverso. Among the most important and voluminous from this perspective are Airs et brunettes a deux et trois dessus pour les flutes traversieres tirez des meilleurs autheurs, anciens et modernes, ensembles les airs de Mrs. Lambert, Lully, De Bousset, &c les plus convenables a la flute traversiere seule, ornez d'agremens par Mr. Hotteterre Ie Romain et recueillis par M. ++++ (1721) by Jacques-Martin Hotteterre, Brunettes ancines et modernes appropriées à la flûte traversière avec une basse d'accompagnement ... Premier recueil contenant douze suites qui peuvent aussy se jouer sur la flûte à bec, sur Ie violon, haubois, et autres instruments (1720) by Michel Pignolet de Montéclair, Brunettes ou petits airs à deux dessus, à l'usage de ceux qui veulent apprendre à jouer de la flûte traversière (1725) by Jean Jacques Rippert and Premier recueil de pièces, petits airs, brunettes, menuets, etc.: avec des doubles et variations, accomodé pour les flûtes traversières, violons, pardessus de viole, &c (ca. 1750) by Michel Blavet. All these collections became important sources for study of doubles in the flute repertoire between 1700–1750 for the purpose of this research.
