Translated from Latin, “invention” (inventio) means invention, discovery. The Invention, in C major, comes in two versions. Its original version was recorded in the Notebook of W. F. Bach (1720); there it is Praeambulum 1. The second version is recorded in the final autograph of 1723. This later version differs in that all the third sixteenth notes are filled with passing sounds, which turns the double sixteenth notes into triplet notes. The peculiarity of this version is that it does not exist on its own, but is, as it were, a modernization of the first version, which was recorded in the autograph of 1723 from the very beginning.

Invention C-dur two-part piece. To master two-voices perfectly means to receive the key to any type of Bach polyphony. The half-beat theme of an invention in C major will not reveal anything to the student until he learns that the theme, in Bach's era, played a completely different role, pursued completely different goals, than in works of later musical styles. The focus of attention of composers of the 17th-18th centuries was not so much on the euphony and beauty of the theme, but on its development in the play, the richness of its transformations, the variety of polyphonic and contrapuntal development techniques, that is, those “events” that happen to it throughout the entire work.

Let's look at the structure of invention in C major. Invention consists of two main elements - motive and counterpoint. F. Busoni named motive, theme and explained that it runs in the first two measures alternately in both voices four times.

The essential points of the structure of the intervention are the implementation motive or parts thereof in circulation and in increase. So, in measures 3-4 in the upper voice motive is carried out in circulation, and in the lower voice the initial - scale-like - move motive enlarged. In measures 19-20 there is another innovation: a scale-like move motive carried out in the lower voice simultaneously in circulation and increase.

Three-part invention: 1st movement: bars 1-7 1/8

Part II: measures 7 2/16 – 15 1/16

Part III: measures 15 2/16 - 22

Part 1: the upper voice dominates, all thematic material is carried out in it, and the motive sounds both in direct movement and in circulation; in the lower voice the motive is carried out only in direct movement, but its initial link - a gamma-shaped segment of four sounds - is developed in magnification.

The dynamic plan of the invention is very simple: after the cadences, performed energetically and sonorously (vol. 6-7, 14-15), a change in dynamics occurs - a sudden transition to piano followed by an increase in sonority based on motives. The last sequence (t. 19), as noted, coincides with the greatest dynamic rise to the final cadence:

Part I: etc.: forte

l. R.: piano

Part II: pr.r.: piano

l. R.: forte

Part III: both hands: forte

Articulation

Clear articulation! They wrote about this most important principle of performance in the 18th century. famous theorists Bach's time - Schulz, Quantz, Matteson, Turk and others. In early music articulation and rhythm were the most important means expressiveness.

The author's articulation instructions are completely absent. Two contrasting musical ideas - motive and counterpoint - will be best revealed with the help of the same contrasting articulation: motive - legato, counterpoint - pop legato.

Fingering

Let's move on to a very significant point in the performance of Bach's polyphony - fingering Pedagogical practice shows that the vast majority of students have a thoughtless attitude towards fingering. Meanwhile, without meaningful fingering it is often impossible to convey the meaning of Bach's piece. The correct solution to the issue is suggested by the performing tradition of Bach's era, when articulation was the main means of expression. The fingering of that time was subordinated to this task, aimed at identifying the convexity and distinctness of motivic formations.

Keyboardists used mainly three middle fingers, which had approximately the same length and strength, which ensured the achievement of sound and rhythmic evenness - the most important rule early music. Bach's introduction of the first finger did not affect the principle of placing fingers - long through short (4,3,4,3, etc.). The sliding of a finger from a black key to a white one was also preserved, and “silent” finger substitution was also widely used.

Busoni was the first to revive the fingering principles of Bach's era as most consistent with identifying the motivic structure and clear pronunciation of motives.

Pace

Comparing the invention with other works by Bach that have the same characteristics allows us to more reasonably resolve the issue of its tempo. It is known that the vast majority of Bach's keyboard works are written in meter 4/4 with a predominance of movement in sixteenth notes. This invention belongs to their number (there are seven out of fifteen in the cycle of inventions). Once you mentally picture these pieces, it will immediately become clear that they all require moderate speed and belong to the category of pieces whose tempo is best defined by the term moderato, which, in turn, corresponds to the number 80 for a quarter on the metronome scale. This is the speed of a calm flow of sixteenths, in which each quarter coincides with the pulse of a healthy person.

Working on the invention.

In the very first lessons, the teacher must trace, together with the student, the development of the theme, all its transformations in each voice. Such an analysis will convince us that the entire intervention represents a living dialogue between “interlocutors.” This can be presented to a student in this way: the theme in Bach’s polyphonic work plays approximately the same role as the main character in a drama, where all sorts of adventures happen to him that change his behavior. It is important to understand and feel the artistic meaning of these transformations.

Even in this half-stroke topic, consisting of two short motives, lays down the internal contradiction, which is so characteristic of all Bach’s themes: the gradual, calm movement of the first motive conceals the energy of an upward movement (by a fourth), which further manifests itself in the strong-willed, active aspiration of the second motive, which ends the theme with an energetic move up a fifth. The direction of intonation also helps to find the right dynamic embodiment: the theme must be “sung” mezzo-forte, as Busoni recommends, with a deep sound, but light and decisive. Not only the intervallic, but also the rhythmic side of the theme deserves close attention. The sixteenths of which it is composed also indicate its active, lively and distinct character.

In the same lesson, the student masters the topic behind the instrument, achieving melodiousness and impeccable evenness - sound and rhythmic. The main method of working on the topic remains in force here: it must be taught at a slow pace, and each motive, or rather, each submotive, separately, in order to feel and meaningfully convey the full depth of its intonation expressiveness. Here it is appropriate to recall that it is useful to learn a topic in different keys and registers, starting with those through which it passes in the invention, an octave or two higher, left and right

Counteraddition often referred to as a theme, arbitrarily expanding it to a whole bar. It is really so organically fused with the theme here that it seems to grow out of it, as if holding back the active rise of the theme with calm response intonations. Alternating different methods of working on a topic maintains interest in it.

In subsequent lessons, a certain time should be allocated for an exercise in which the student first performs only the theme (in both voices), and the teacher performs the antithesis, then vice versa. Along the way, let’s pay attention to the question-and-answer relationship between the first and second presentation of thematic material in soprano (vol. 1-2). To better understand this point, the student plays the first bar in class, the teacher plays the second, and vice versa.

Any exercise, if it does not pursue semantic and artistic goals, can easily turn into meaningless and mechanical play. In this exercise, at two pianos, it is necessary to direct the student’s attention to the intonation of the theme and counterposition.

The more rapid and persistent “questioning” intonations of the theme are actively directed towards the last sound (salt); it must be emphasized dynamically - “sung” more deeply and significantly. The calm movement of eighth notes in counter-addition is performed with “response”, slightly softened intonations, therefore the last sound here is played more quietly, as if “on an exhalation”.

Having worked well on the topic and counterposition, you can move on to carefully working on melodic line of each voice. Long before they are combined, the piece is performed in two voices in an ensemble with a teacher - first in sections and, finally, in its entirety. Memorizing each voice by heart is absolutely necessary, because... work on polyphony, first of all, work on a single-voice melodic line, saturated with its own special inner life and all kinds of details.

IN first part, after the first appearance, the theme sounds a fifth higher, and the bass, like an echo, repeats it twice in octave imitation (vol. 1-2). This is where its transformation begins in the first two-voice descending sequence (vol. 3-5): the upper voice leads topic in circulation(that is, in the opposite movement), and in the descending sequence in the bass the initial motive is taken as the basis topics in zoom(when the duration of each sound is doubled). Both melodies of this first two-voice sequence, modulating, lead to a cadence in the dominant key, which ends the first part of the invention. Attracts a lot of attention important point of this sequence, where the reference sound in the lower voice (line 4) falls on the weak beat (before). As is often the case with Bach, the thematic emphasis is associated with the longest sound; prevailing over the metrical one, it is the culmination of the motive not only in height and greater duration, but also in the very logic of internal development. Hence the need to extract a deeper, melodious sound.

Let us make sure that the student does not, by inertia, place an accent in the upper voice at this point, where his reference sound is in the next measure and coincides with the metrical accent.

Comparing second part investment from the first, it is easy to detect it compositional features: the lower voice now becomes the leader, and the upper one “echoes”. Both voices form a living, expressive “dialogue” - in the form of two ascending sequences - either on the theme in direct motion (vol. 7-8), or in circulation (vol. 9-10). Steadily striving upward in their development, both of them finally come to a peculiar repetition of the first two-voice sequence from the first part (vol. 3-4). The resemblance is amazing! The student must try to find the difference between them himself. It turns out that the voices here simply “exchanged” melodies. This interesting polyphonic technique is called double octave counterpoint . Bach very often uses this type of complex counterpoint in his works.

Bypassing the dialogue that opens third section plays, where the leading role again passes to the upper “interlocutor”, let us draw the student’s attention directly to the last sequence (vol. 19-20). It is curious because of its peculiar similarity to the first: both voices present the same melodies, but in inversion. Consequently, the descending movement of sixteenth notes on the theme in S inversion (in the first sequence) here becomes ascending (on the theme in direct movement). The direction of the bass voice also changes accordingly, in which the first motive of the theme in increase (in direct motion) now sounds in circulation.

Thus, in this last sequence the student gets a clear idea of reversible counterpoint , and most importantly, perceives its expressive meaning. The sequence’s upward ascent confidently and actively leads to the climax of the invention (t. 20), where three eighth notes are the only time in the entire piece that are highlighted by the previously unused pop 1egato touch.

Apparently, there is no need to introduce the student to all types of counterpoint, but it is necessary to know the two types mentioned above (double octave counterpoint and reversible counterpoint). The more he learns about the different sides and properties of the polyphonic style, the more actively his consciousness will turn on, and the more significant the inner meaning of working on Bach’s keyboard works will become apparent.

It is necessary to introduce the student to various ways of notation intermotivic caesura. It can be indicated by a pause or, depending on the editor's choice in each particular case, by one or two vertical lines, the end of a line, a comma in place of the caesura, or a staccato (dot) above the note preceding the caesura. In the following example, the dots above the notes (staccato) do not indicate the need for abrupt pronunciation of these sounds, but only remind the student of the end of the next motive on this sound and warn against undesirably linking it with the next one.

In the C-dur intervention, students have to master first of all intermotivic articulation, without which a stylistically correct performance of Bach’s sequences is impossible. The main thing is to convey the relief convexity of the motifs, their distinct pronunciation and their separation from each other. Desired result is achieved if you expressively learn each motive separately, and then play everything at a very slow tempo, using the following technique: the first sound of each motive is “sung” a little more deeply and significantly, and the last one is slightly softened by prematurely removing the finger from the key. Sometimes, fingering helps to clearly identify motives (start each motive with the first finger). This is especially recommended in the last sequence (t. 19-20) and even more so in the sequence for the left hand, where the motivic structure is more difficult to identify (t. 11-12).

Other ways to work on polyphony include:

• 
  performance of different voices with different strokes (legato and non legato or staccato);
• 
  performance of all voices piano, transparent;
• 
  performance without one voice (imagine this voice

internally, or sing).

• 
  play one voice f, espressivo, and the other - pp, then dynamics

votes are changing.

These methods lead to clarity of auditory perception of polyphony, without which the performance loses its main quality - clarity of voice.

To understand a polyphonic work and the meaningfulness of the work, the student must from the very beginning imagine its form, tonality and harmonic plan. A more vivid identification of form is facilitated by knowledge of the unique dynamics in polyphony, especially Bach's, which consists in the fact that the very spirit of music is not characterized by its overly crushed, wavy, dynamics, application. Bach's polyphony is most characterized by architectural dynamics, in which changes in large structures are accompanied by new dynamic lighting.
With. 1

Among the numerous polyphonic creations there are fifteen two-voice pieces, which the composer called inventions, and the same number of three-voice pieces, called symphonies. Why he gave these plays the titles they did remains a mystery. The word “invention” itself can be translated as “invention” or even “fiction”. This term was introduced in the 16th century by Clément Janequin, denoting a chanson written in complex form. Sometimes pieces containing some kind of performance tricks were called this way (for example, John Dowland titled a piece for two performers on one lute this way), but in general it can be said that the term “invention” was used very rarely and is now known mainly thanks to Bach.

Many of Bach's inventions and symphonies appeared in the Notebook, which the father began compiling for his son in 1720, but there the inventions are called "preambles" (i.e., preludes), and the symphonies are called "fantasies." In 1723, the composer compiled a collection in which he groups inventions and symphonies in pairs. The title page indicates that the composer intended to publish the collection, but this did not happen. In the inscription on it, the author indicates the purpose of the plays: to learn “to play cleanly not only with two voices, but also... to perform well the three required voices.” This testifies to the pedagogical orientation of Bach's inventions and symphonies, which the author intended not only for his own children, but also for a wide range of people who want to improve their art of clavier playing. The composer specifies the achievement of a “singing manner of playing” as the main task - and this was especially difficult to achieve on the harpsichord with its quickly fading sound (much more difficult than on the piano). As pedagogical material, inventions and symphonies were conceived as a kind of “approach” to fugues. On them, students had to develop finger freedom and prepare to perform more complex polyphonic textures.

Inventions and fantasies can be considered as special genres, but not forms - in form they are either canons or fugues, but they have some features. For example, in many inventions (C major, D major, G minor) and symphonies (B minor, C minor) imitation is used with the response not in a fifth, as is usually the case in Bach’s fugues, but in an octave. Another feature that distinguishes Bach's symphonies and inventions from fugues is the way the theme is initially presented: in a fugue, when it first appears, it is carried out monophonically, but here it is often accompanied by an episodic contrasting melody.

Johann Sebastian Bach is a great German composer of the 17th century (1685-1750). Born in 1685 in the small German town of Eisenach.

I.S. Bach left behind a rich legacy of his creative work. Having not received recognition during his lifetime, his work still lives on and is increasingly attracting the interest of both researchers of his work and musicians of various ranks.

Study of easy keyboard works by I.S. Bach is an integral part of the student pianist's work. It would not be an exaggeration to say that pieces from Anna Magdalena Bach's Notebook, small preludes and fugues, inventions and symphonies - all these works are familiar to most schoolchildren additional education, i.e. learning to play the piano.

Pedagogical focus keyboard works corresponded, obviously, to the very way of musical life of Bach’s time. Home music playing and music teaching occupied a more significant place in this era.

“The main thing is to acquire a melodic manner of playing and at the same time a taste for composition. Dobroso famous leader a place in which an amateur m keyboard ra^- especially those eager to learn, to show a clear way of how to play cleanly not only with two voices, but with further improvement of the correct and well perform the three required voices” - in these words of I.S. Bach encouraged the publication of the Inventions.

It is believed that the names of the “invention” by I.S. Bach borrowed from a little-known Italian composer Bonporti, who published pieces for violin under that title in 1713.

Two-voice plays by I.S. Bach originally called preludes and three-voices fantasies. In one of the copies, after the prelude there was a fantasy in tonality of the same name; then the two-voice plays were separated from the three-voice ones. In the autograph after the 15th two-voice convention in Latin it is written: “Then now follow 15 symphonies with three obligatory voices.” Up to the present day, “symphonies” (harmony of voices) have come to be called inventions. Let me remind you that the meaning of this word is a fictional “image”.

I.S. Bach invented, or rather improved, a special method of polyphonic composition, where technique is the determining factor

rearrangements of motivic formations, with equality of voices forming the play, but this is not a fugue or fuguetta, but a free mood. The simplest short-term motivic formations, gamma-shaped triads, clearly show what can be extracted from such primary elements. From the point of view of formal novelty, two-voice inventions are of greater interest. One of the main means of melodic development in polyphony is imitation. Translated from Latin language"imitation" means "to imitate."

Move lesson:

As we know, all inventions are irreplaceable materials in music education; they are a true school of polyphony.

Teacher >: Play an invention.

Teacher: How is the innovation structured?

Student: This is a 3-part form:

An exposition where the topic is presented.

Development.

Reprise.

Teacher: Please play the theme.

Student: plays the theme.

Teacher: Describe the topic.

Student: The theme sounds lively, decisive and at the same time melodious. Teacher: Even in a half-bar theme consisting of two short

internal contradiction, which is so characteristic of Bach's themes: the calm forward movement of its first

At the same time, the motive contains the energy of an upward movement (up a fifth), which is further manifested in the strong-willed, active aspiration of the second motive, which ends the theme with an energetic move up a fifth; the theme must be “sung with a deep, but light and decisive sound. Not only the intervallic, but also the rhythmic side of the theme deserves attention. The sixteenths of which it is composed also indicate its active, lively and distinct character.

Student: Plays the theme alternately at a moderate tempo, achieving a deep and equal sound.

Teacher: The counterposition is organically connected with the theme, which seems to grow out of it, restraining its active rise with calm, responsive intonations. The topic begins with a weak beat; it is very important to ensure that the student hears and does not push out the beginning of the topic.

The invention is a live dialogue between “interlocutors”. The interlude consists of sequences: the upper voice leads the theme into

inversion (i.e., a mirror image in the opposite movement), and in the bass the initial motif of the theme in magnification is taken as the basis.

This sequence, undergoing modulation, leads to a cadence in the dominant key, with which the first section of the Invention ends.

It is necessary to pay attention to the reference sound “do” in the lower voice, which falls on a weak quarter beat.

In the second part of the invention, the lower voice now becomes the leader, and the upper voice echoes. Both voices form a lively expressive dialogue - in the form of two ascending sequences - either on the theme in direct movement, or in circulation (complex counterpoint).

Section III - the leading role again passes to the top “interlocutor”. Without meaningful fingering it is often impossible to convey the meaning of Bach's works.

The versatility of the keyboard creativity of I.S. Bach allows us to consider his works as one of the first examples of his own piano art.

As Rimsky-Koraskov aptly notes, “counterpoint was the poetic language” of Bach. All works of I.S. are permeated with polyphony. Bach. For the most part, Bach's keyboard works were written for pedagogical purposes and can be considered as a kind of progressive school of teaching polyphony from initial stage to the highest. This unique school, thanks to the artistic content of its images and polyphonic mastery, is of enormous value and is one of the important and obligatory sections of the pedagogical repertoire in the field of polyphony.

The easiest pieces are contained in the Notebooks of Anna Magdalena Bach (one dated 1722, the other 1725). Both notebooks were compiled by Bach for his second wife, Anna Magdalena.

“Little Preludes and Fugues” are more significant in content and developed polyphonically. These works were written by Bach in different time. Only later, and not by him himself, were they combined into a collection containing 18 small preludes (section 1 - 12, section 2 - 6 plus several more small fugues).

The second stage of Bach's school of polyphony, 15 two-voice and 15 three-voice inventions are called symphonies by the author. The interventions were created for pedagogical purposes. Many of them were initially contained in the “Note Book,” written by the composer for his son, Wilhelm Friedemann. Subsequently, in 1723, Bach selected 15 two-voice and the same three-voice works from the keyboard works of the invention type and combined them into one collection. The word invention was used in those days in the sense of invention, discovery, which corresponds to its literal Latin meaning.

The title of Bach's collection, the author used the name of the invention in a similar sense.

The author's preface to the inventions, dated 1723, reads: “A genuine guide in which clavier lovers and especially those thirsty for learning are offered a clear way of how they can not only learn to play two voices, but also, with further progress, communicate correctly and beautifully not only with three obligate (obligatory voices), and at the same time not only get acquainted with good inventions, but also develop them decently, and most importantly, achieve a melodious manner in the game and at the same time gain a strong predisposition to composition.”

Lesson topic: “Work on three-voice Inventions by I.S. Bach."

Purpose of the lesson: “To introduce students to the three-voice “Inventions” by I.S. Bach."

Tasks:

Teach students to read and perform three voices one at a time and at the same time.

Develop harmonic hearing skills.

Develop melodious sound production skills

To develop the skills of sound relationships of a three-voice piece.

When performing and analyzing the three-voice invention e-to11 I.S. Bach, it is necessary to identify the characteristic features of the inventionTeacher. Play an invention.

Teacher. How are investments built?

Student : This is the tripartite form:

An exposition where a theme is presented and carried out alternately in three voices

Development

Reprise

Teacher : Please play the theme.

Student: plays a two-bar themeTeacher. Describe the topic.

Student. The first presentation of the theme is lyrical in nature, with a two-bar structure.

Teacher. Another characteristic feature of the presentation of the theme is that it begins with a weak beat, moves to “g”, sings, and goes down a descending line. The theme is written in a register away from the lower voice and is easy to listen to and sounds enlightened. In the melodic pattern of the counterposition there are the same calm rhythmic intonations, reminiscent of a reversed pattern of the theme.

Further, bars 3-4, the theme, appearing in the dominant key, immediately makes its demands on its performance identification. As in similar polyphonic structures, the theme, passing in the middle voice and in a close register combination with the upper one, is more difficult to listen to and perform.

Teacher: Play the themeStudent: Playing

Teacher. Now show me how to work to achieve a clear presentation of the topic:

A way to play the theme with the lower voice.

Play the theme with the top voice, playing the theme legato, top voice staccato.

With such polishing of the technique of polyphonic two-voices, a natural tactile sensation of different dynamic and timbral levels of “pronunciation” of voices is developed.

Teacher. Let us turn to another episode of two-voices in the right hand part (bars 8-10), on which attention should be focused no less than on the presentation of thematic material. What is meant here is the development of the ability to sense in the fading endings of drawn out, long durations the beauty of the sounds of the harmonic vertical fused with them. In the bottom episode, when the quarter note “A” of the upper voice transitions into a deliberately accentuated half “G”, the student should hear a “floating” second sound, the upper sound of which “G” is heard before it merges into the interval of a diminished fifth with its further resolution to a third.

Similar harmonic connections of two rhythmically heterogeneous voices in the part of one hand are often observed in the cadences of inventions that complete sections of forms. In this invention this is noticeable in bars 12-13,23-25.

It is much more difficult to master the art of voice leading in the middle section of the invention, which consists of two parts almost equal in length. In the first of them (bars 17-24), the melodic pattern of the counterposition, continuously counterpointing with the voices surrounding it, represents an inverted figure of the beginning of the theme, but stated in a decrease (sixteenth notes). Its sequential repetition is combined with an improvisational and melodious performance of the theme (bars 14-17).

The most complex part is heard by voice leading in the developed second half of this part (bars 18-24). First, the student should here feel the differences in the sound coloring of the upper voice with the middle one, working on their “ensemble” connection when performed with both hands. At the same time, the upper voice is performed more melodiously, while the middle voice is performed in a more melodious manner and in a “talking” manner. Here, in addition to revealing the figurative-timbral colors, when performing an already full three-part voice, a new sound task arises - to deeply intonate the figures of the eighth notes of the lower voice (reminiscent of the rhythmic pattern of the theme) and clearly emphasize the off-beat quarter notes that alternately enter in two voices (upper and middle). notes. To develop differentiated sound proficiency in voice leading throughout this episode, it is useful to use techniques of pairwise playing of different voices with deliberate exaggeration of the sound expressiveness of one of them. And when playing holistically in three voices it is useful,

using a slow tempo, deliberately emphasize dynamic levels and articulatory strokes that do not coincide in the voices.

The second half of the middle part of the invention is polyphonically assimilated by the student without any particular difficulty. In the initial six-bar, the theme is taught three times. First - in a new modal lighting (D major), and then - in the dominant key. In the melodically meandering pattern of counterposition, the student needs to hear either the initial or reverse turns taken from the theme.

Work on polyphonic literature is one of the most difficult areas of education and training of students. The study of polyphonic music not only activates one of the most important aspects of the education of musical tissue - its versatility, but also successfully influences the overall musical development of the student.

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Municipal budgetary educational institution

additional education

“City Palace of Children's (Youth) Creativity named after. N.K. Krupskaya"

Methodological report

"Problems and difficulties

execution

Completed by: teacher of MHS "VITA"

Pluzhnikova A.P.

Novokuznetsk

2016

PLAN

INTRODUCTION........................................................ ........................................................ .........3

PACE................................................. ........................................................ ...................5

TIMBRE................................................. ........................................................ .................6

ARTICULATION................................................. ........................................................ .6

DYNAMICS................................................. ........................................................ .......8

STYLE................................................. ........................................................ .................9

FORM................................................. ........................................................ ..............12

FINGERING................................................. ................................................12

WORK ON THE WORK............................................................ ...................12

LITERATURE................................................. ........................................................ ..17

INTRODUCTION

The lengthy title of the title page clearly demonstrates the purpose Bach pursued in his inventions. latest edition cycle: “A conscientious guide, in which clavier lovers, especially those eager to learn, are shown a clear way to play cleanly not only with two voices, but also, with further improvement, to correctly and well perform the three required voices, learning at the same time not only good inventions, but and proper development, the main thing is to achieve a melodious manner of playing and at the same time acquire a taste for composition!”

To develop a melodious playing style, to teach polyphony and to instill a penchant for composition - this is why “Inventions and Symphonies” were written. However, the first of the tasks formulated by the composer himself was not always adequately taken into account by piano pedagogy. Here is what F. Busoni wrote, for example, almost 80 years ago: “A detailed examination of the usual system practiced everywhere music training led me to the conviction that Bach's inventions in most cases are intended only to serve as dry piano-technical material for beginners, and that on the part of gentlemen piano teachers little and rarely is done to awaken in students understanding the deep meaning of these Bach creations."

Work on polyphonic literature is one of the most difficult areas of education and training of students. The study of polyphonic music not only activates one of the most important aspects of the education of musical tissue - its versatility, but also successfully influences the overall musical development of the student. After all, the student comes into contact with elements of polyphony in many works of a homophonic-harmonic nature.

Study of easy keyboard works by I.S. Bach composes
an integral part of students' work music schools. The pedagogical orientation of the keyboard works of Bach's time obviously corresponded to the very way of musical life. In that era, playing music at home and teaching music occupied a more significant place than concert activities. Among other things, 15 two-voice interventions are dedicated to pedagogical goals.

When working on Bach's keyboard work, we remember that the manuscripts are almost completely devoid of performance instructions. In dynamics, Bach indicates only f and p, very rarely pp. The tempo designation in Bach's texts is equally limited: accelerando, piu mosso, ritenute, etc. Those easy keyboard works that make up the main repertoire of a schoolchild are completely devoid of any indications.

It should be remembered that if there are performance instructions in the text, then they do not belong to Bach, but were introduced into the text by the editor. The most common editions of the inventions of F. Busoni, C. Czerny, A. Goldenweiser. Goldenweiser set himself the task, first of all, to provide a verified author’s text based on the original source. This was important because Czerny's edition contained a number of inaccuracies. In the notes, Goldenweiser writes the fingerings and gives a breakdown of the decorations. The nature of the performance is indicated only in general terms, therefore, when working with a student, there is a need for additions regarding dynamics and phrasing.

Czerny's edition must be recognized as imperfect in many respects. In addition to the inaccuracies of the text, Czerny often shallows the dynamics. The abundance of dynamic instructions gives an excessive wave-like phrasing; almost invariably at the end of the works he puts p and dim.

Busoni's edition is much more detailed and thorough than Czerny's edition. Not limiting himself to indicating shades and fingerings, Busoni reveals the nature of the work and its form with verbal explanations in footnotes. But he omits Bach's notation of melismas and writes out the decoration with notes directly in the text. This deprives the student of the opportunity to become familiar with the principles of decoding. You have to follow the prescribed method of execution. Meanwhile, it is precisely the area of ​​melismas that allows for especially great freedom, and one interpretation, even by a major specialist, is not the only possible or best. Despite some disadvantages, Busoni's edition is most convenient for studying at school.

However, Busoni himself emphasized that his editors are only one of possible options. In the preface to the second edition of the Inventions, he wrote: “I would caution students against following my “interpretation” too literally. The moment and the individual have their own rights. My interpretation can serve as a good guiding thread, which one who knows another good path does not need to adhere to.”

PACE

It is considered natural that, when performing an invention, a student plays at a calm pace. This pace is most appropriate for students in grades 2-4. At this pace it is more convenient to listen and understand the play.

Bach intended the inventions not for concerts, but for teaching. And the real rate of innovation should be considered the rate that this moment most useful for the student, that is, the tempo at which a given piece is best performed by the student.

The importance of a restrained pace is evident at all stages of work. It happens that a student who plays a piece quickly cannot play slowly. This is contrary to training requirements. Games are not allowed fast pace, unless it sounds at a slow tempo.

A restrained tempo during analysis is required by the desire to fulfill all beats of the rhythm and to comprehend the melody. The student should be taught to understand every passage and ornament. You should sing the melody mentally, and sometimes out loud, perhaps with an instrument.

With a variety of tempos, the teacher and each student should strive to determine their own tempo, their own character, but within the limits of the accepted style of performing Bach’s works. It must be borne in mind that Bach's adagio should not be too extended, it should contain some movement. And the allegro should not have the great swiftness that is sometimes given to this tempo.

In Bach's rhythm it is desirable, and even necessary, to use rubato. But, as always, rubato is the hardest thing to talk about. Two types of agogic deviations can be recommended:

a) "baroque"

b) “classic”.

The first is a technique specific to Baroque (but it was also used by Mozart, as he wrote to his father in one of his letters), in which all voices, except the “melodic” one, move in a strict pulse. At the same time, the melodic voice (almost “arbitrarily”, almost “improvisationally”) shifts slightly in time in relation to the “evenly” moving texture. Subtle mastery of this specific technique of “non-simultaneity” is highly desirable when playing baroque music.

The second, conventionally “classical” type is associated with the agogics of the pulse itself. The rules can be formulated as follows:

1. in principle, strong beats gravitate towards agogic micro-extension,

2. decelerations in cadences are carried out due to control over the small, axial level of the pulse. In the most common cases: if the movement in the cadence is in quarters, you need to slow down the internal “silent” pulse of eighths, if in eighths, the pulse of sixteenths.

TIMBRE

First of all, you need to find a specific color for each piece. It is wrong for all Bach's works to be performed in the same palette. Various works require different colors. This distinction is sometimes useful to make by comparison.

ARTICULATION

The question that most often arises in school practice is, what exactly is the main articulatory style when performing Bach’s clavier works? This means an alternative between two manners - the manners of playing connected and playing dissected.

It is obvious that both of these opinions are incorrect in their one-sidedness. It is pointless to decide whether a student should be taught to play forte or piano, whether he should be taught to play allegro or adagio. It is clear that performance requires mastery of full-voiced, easy playing, fast playing, and calm playing. But it is also pointless to decide the question: what is characteristic of Bach - legato or non legato.

Clear feeling instrumental nature inventions plays a very important role in determining one or another performance interpretation. On the clavichord it is possible to convey any subtle dynamic shades, and their gradualness depended entirely on the will of the performer. The harpsichord has a sharp, brilliant, piercing, but abrupt sound. The gradation of sonority is achieved by changing keyboards and “manuals”: ​​some for extracting f, the other – p.

However, it is important not to forget that it is not blind imitation of the harpsichord or clavichord that dictates the use of these instruments, but only the search for the most precise definition character of the pieces, correct articulation and dynamics. In slow, melodious “clavichord” inventions, the legato is continuous and deeply coherent, but in distinct, fast “harpsichord” pieces it is not continuous, finger-like, preserving the harpsichord’s separation of sounds.

Clear articulation is the most important principle performance XVIII century. I would like to draw attention to this again and again, because, unfortunately, many students have no idea that in ancient music articulation and rhythm were the most important means of expression. For student pianists, articulation seems to be a stumbling block - as noted by I.A. Braudo, piano pedagogy here lags far behind classroom teaching bowed instruments, where strokes constitute the most important section of learning.

It is best to begin studying articulation by studying two-voice works in which each voice is assigned its own strokes. The lower voice, for example, moves in eighth notes, which are performed in non-legato, the upper voice in legato. Studying such contrasting strokes is an essential technique for working on articulation.

The principle of “increased articulation” is the most general principle in the approach to the problems of pronouncing Bach’s fabric on the piano. What is clear on the harpsichord, thanks to the “pinch”, and on the organ, thanks to the clear discrete switching of the air supply mechanism, on the piano tends to “smear”. There is a principle for pianists: the more detailed the articulatory work of the fingers, the better. Another thing is that you need to avoid “shaded” music. In general, most often, the point is not in the stroke, but in the articulation of the motivic fabric.

In Bach's works it is important to get the caesuras right. The student should explain the concept of intermotivic articulation, which is still unknown to him, which is used to separate one motive from another using caesura. The skills of correctly dividing a melody were given great importance in Bach's era, as evidenced by famous musicians of that time. Here is what Couperin wrote, for example, in the preface to a collection of his plays (1722): “Here you will find a new sign that distinguishes the end of a melody or harmonic phrases and makes it clear that it is necessary to separate the end of the previous melody before moving on to the next one. This is done almost unnoticeably. However, without hearing this small pause, people of refined taste will feel that something is missing in the performance. In a word, this is the difference between those who read without stopping, and those who observe periods and commas.”

The most obvious type of caesura is a pause indicated in the text. In most cases, the ability to independently establish semantic caesuras is required, which the teacher must instill in the student. It is necessary to teach the student to ensure that he does not lift his hand from the keyboard after the end of the previous motive, but can calmly move it to the beginning of the next one.

It is also important that the so-called weak ones, i.e. The even moments of the pulse should be felt as no less, and often more tense, supporting than the odd and calmer strong beats. Emphasis, “support” of the weak beats of the pulse, in the absence of emphasis on the strong beats in the Baroque, is a characteristic feature of the Baroque organization of musical rhythm. It can very vaguely resemble jazz pulsation, but here it is extremely important to maintain moderation.

Students, as a rule, make the grave mistake of playing the last note before the caesura when removing the hand staccato, formally, without listening to how it sounds. This mistake can be prevented by drawing the student’s attention to the fact that in such cases, especially short durations require listening and melodious performance, after which only a transition to the next motive is possible. The pace should be very slow at first.

Because the we're talking about about the execution of motives, the student should be taught to distinguish between the main types of motives.

Exist:

1. Iambic motives, which go from weak to strong tenses and are often called beats;

2. The motives are trochaic, starting on the strong beat and ending on the weak beat.

Iambicity and rhythm is the predominant way of organizing baroque fabric. Off-beat motifs are presented in various forms.

Choricity, having a high sign load, is much less common. The main form of motivic flow is the so-called “double-beat motive”.

Any passage, scale movement, or arpeggio movement with must be pronounced as a sequence of double-beat or off-beat motifs.

For the performing implementation of such structures, it is necessary to master two types of accentuation: the “foundation” accent (the so-called metric accent) and the “non-fixation” accent (the so-called non-metric accent). The first sound of the off-beat motif is always accentuated in a specific way. Moreover, this accent should be felt as unstable, as an impulse-accent that tends to an accent coinciding with a stable or relatively stable beat. It is especially important to master accentuation in double-beat motifs. Motifs of this type are performed so that the initial accent-impulse tends to the final supporting one, through an intermediate supporting one. In such a structure, conflicting accents are important.

The articulation of off-beat motifs must be carried out at all rhythmic levels of the motivic fabric, from motifs set out in wholes or halves, to micro-motives in the fabric of thirty-second or sixty-four. Bach's linear fabric in each voice is a “flow of beats.”

It is also necessary to introduce the student to various ways of indicating an intermotivic caesura, namely: two lines, the end of a league, or a staccato sign on the note before the caesura. This point in Bach's works is never staccato, but is performed tenuto.

The desired result is achieved if you expressively learn each motive separately, and then play everything at a very slow tempo, using the following technique: the first sound of each motive is “sung” a little more deeply and significantly, and the last one is slightly softened by prematurely removing the finger from the key. Sometimes fingering helps to clearly identify motives (for example, each motive begins with the second finger). This is especially recommended in the lower voice, where the motivic structure is more difficult to identify.

DYNAMICS

A lot of effort in classes with beginners will be required to overcome the formal attitude of students towards dynamics, or more precisely, towards dynamic “shades”. The student should feel any change in the strength of sound as a natural necessity arising from the development of a musical phrase, its internal logic: increased dynamics associated with the aspiration of the melody towards the culminating sound of the phrase, weakening of sonority towards the end of it, as in colloquial speech, etc. Under no circumstances should students be offered the task so often practiced by teachers - “learn shades,” that is, designations of dynamics. The student, perhaps, should not even hear the word “shades,” since it will support in his mind the false idea of ​​​​the possibility of “attaching” dynamics to a previously learned musical text. The most common mistake in execution is exaggerated, contrived shades or their complete absence. As a result, the works sound motley or monotonous.

Dynamics means form groups that perform various functions:

• the general dynamic line of the work, the so-called instrumental;
• the dynamic line of the phrase, the so-called melodic line.

Melodic shades are more detailed in their structure, because correspond to all movements of the melody. They are very small.

The shades that play the role of instrumental ones are easy to identify in the musical text, but the melodic ones are more difficult, sometimes impossible. These are the ones we should talk about at the instrument in class. If, when creating instrumentation, one should achieve clear differences in the strength of sonority, recognize and practice them, then in melodic shades the goal is the opposite - to carry them out so that they are perceived not as a difference in the strength of sonority, but as a difference in the expressiveness of intonations.

STYLE

The fate of Bach's works turned out to be unusual. Not appreciated during his lifetime and completely forgotten after his death, their author was recognized as a brilliant composer after a while. But the awakening of interest in his work occurred already in dramatically changed cultural and historical conditions, during the period of rapid development of piano music and the dominance of the romantic style in it. It is no coincidence that the composer's works were interpreted at this time from positions completely alien to his art. The modernization of Bach's work in the manner of romantic music of the 19th century has become an almost legal phenomenon. A new attitude towards Bach’s work, marked by the desire to free it from foreign impurities and convey its true appearance, developed only at the end of the 19th century.

It is possible - somewhat tentatively - to outline three different methods of interpreting early music, and in particular the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. All three are partly due to recognition: the listener of our time has largely lost the direct sense of polyphony.

1. The first of these three methods can be defined as museum restoration. The performers of this plan are of the opinion that it is necessary to direct their efforts to the most accurate recreation of the author's performance.

Are being restored vintage instruments, descriptions of witnesses who heard the author’s playing are carefully studied. Following the composer’s direct instructions and indirect information, they are trying with all their might to unravel the mystery of sounds that have long since faded into oblivion. The author is credited with a certain style of performance and they try to bring their interpretation closer to it.

2. There is another approach to the interpretation of Bach's polyphony. The performer can say to himself: our pianism and our taste, brought up on the basis of the music of the romantics, are so far from the style of Bach's music that the slightest penetration of modern character and feeling inevitably destroys the severity and majestic restraint of Bach's works. Therefore, the modern pianist, with his personal temperament, with his craving for romantic expression, must completely step aside.

The performer's task is only to ensure that an authentic Bach recording sounds flawlessly. All processing and transcription are unnecessary. The slightest tempo or dynamic deviations are inappropriate. Each piece must be performed accurately, clearly, perfectly evenly, with the greatest dispassion. Let Bach's polyphony speak for itself, which is probably the closest thing to the author's performance.

One may not agree with such argumentation, but it is necessary to recognize the right to its existence. S. Feinberg called this approach ornamental.

Finally, a third method is also possible. In the two centuries since Bach's death, many events and many changes have occurred in the world of music. If a modern violin is almost no different from a Stradivarius violin, a modern piano in terms of sound power, expressiveness, width of the keyboard, and most importantly, in the beauty of sound and timbre spectrum, far exceeds the capabilities of a harpsichord.

So what right do we have to refuse the expression and sonic power available to us when performing music that still deeply and directly moves the hearts of listeners? Many arguments can be made to justify a full-life approach to Bach's work. This music has not become a thing of the past, it has not drowned in it. She lives in our time, with us and for us.

How close we are now to reading Bach’s keyboard music in its true form is a question that can hardly be answered with complete certainty. It is obvious that even now in this area there is whole line controversial, unresolved problems. However, something else is also obvious: the enormous achievements in the study of Bach’s polyphony are so significant for understanding the patterns of the composer’s musical language that ignoring these results in performance and pedagogy today would look like an excuse for inertia and subjectivism.

Unfortunately, there is a noticeable gap between the research literature on Bach's work and the practice of teaching it. Valuable theoretical observations and generalizations remain untapped. Often the study of Bach's plays is carried out according to outdated, obviously poor-quality editions and is reduced mainly to a formal study of voice control. Hence the corresponding attitude towards Bach’s works, characteristic of many students, as if it were not great art, but a boring “forced assortment”. As a result, instead of deeply meaningful, exciting music, we often hear dry, businesslike playing of polyphonic structures with the obligatory, annoyingly pedantic “emphasis of the theme”, with lifeless, mechanically “made” voice leading. This is often the result of schooling.

In a book of simple instructions on piano playing by one of the greatest pianists of the early 20th century, Joseph Hoffmann (1876–1957), a student of Moritz Moszkowski and Anton Rubinstein, there is an interesting statement about what “stylish” performance is. “By stylish performance of a piece of music we mean such a performance in which the method of expression is absolutely consistent with its content.” And developing the idea further, Hoffman explains that “this correct way of expression should be sought and found for each play separately, even if we are talking about a number of plays written by the same composer. We must first strive to identify the individual characteristics of a given piece rather than the composer in general. If you managed to play one work of a composer with style, then it in no way follows that you will be able to perform just as well any other work belonging to his pen. Although the general style of writing may be the same in all his works, the different plays will nevertheless differ markedly from each other."

The widespread opinion among teachers about the fruitfulness of a direct, emotional, intuitive perception of Bach’s music can be considered quite reasonable, but under one condition: if it is supplemented by the requirement of strict adherence to all the stylistic principles of Bach’s music.

Subject to a smooth and gradual increase in knowledge and polyphonic skills, students can achieve a certain level of polyphonic maturity. The performance of the composer's plays according to the urtext can be considered the ultimate goal of initiating the student into the mysteries of Bach's music. The ability to read from the pure text of a work the performance instructions that existed in Bach’s era presupposes the ability to accurately comprehend the genre and form of the piece, its motivic structure. In order for students to be able to play “Bach in Bach’s style,” they need to follow the same path, not forgetting that the main, guiding thread is awareness of the motivic structure of the works.

FORM

One of the first tasks is for the student to understand the form of the work and the melodic material contained in it. In his edition of Bach's inventions, preludes and fugues, Busoni uses double bar lines to indicate the edges of parts of the form and even its individual episodes. This helps the student to quickly recognize points of similarity and difference in melodic material presented at different distances within the work.

FINGERING

Pedagogical practice shows that the vast majority of students have a thoughtless attitude to this issue. However, without meaningful fingering it is often impossible to convey the meaning of a Bach piece. Right choice fingers is a very important condition for competent, expressive performance; the wrong one can interfere no less than dynamics, phrasing, and articulation that are alien to the composer’s style.

It is wrong to base the fingering of Bach's pieces only on pianistic convenience, as Czerny did in his editions. His fingering often connects the melody where dissection is required. The right decision The question is suggested by the performing tradition of Bach's era, when articulation was the main means of expression. The fingering of that time was subordinated to this task, aimed at identifying the convexity and distinctness of motivic formations. The keyboard players used mainly three middle fingers, which had approximately the same length and strength, which ensured the achievement of sound and rhythmic evenness - the most important principle of ancient music. The more important role of the 1st finger in Bach did not cancel the principle of shifting fingers - long through short. The sliding of the finger from the line of the key to the white one was also preserved, and “silent” substitution of fingers was also widely used.

WORK ON THE WORK

When starting the analysis, the student must understand for himself the figurative and intonational nature of the topic. The chosen expressive interpretation of the theme leaves its mark on the genre definition of the interpretation of the entire work. That is why it is so necessary to carefully grasp all the sound subtleties of the theme’s performance, starting from its first performance. In terms of imagery, the themes are distinguished by different genre-characteristic features (lyricism, marching, scherzo, danceability, etc.).

When performing polyphony, should one highlight the imitations that Bach’s works are rich in? Should themes be identified in all cases? In order to make a theme audible, it is not necessary to play it louder, but to play it with a different color or contrasting touch from other voices. This method is especially often applied to the bass voice. An easily performed bass is often perceived more clearly than the upper voices, so you should try not to clearly highlight it. If the upper voice is recognized as the main one and some sonority is given to it, the imitating turns of the lower voice will be clear even with a lighter sound.

By carelessly emphasizing imitations, the very existence of voices is called into question. It seems that the imitated motive is carried out wandering, from time to time throughout the keyboard, sounds on its own and disrupts the feeling of polyphony.

It is impossible to find a single rule for the performance of Bach's works. Often there are far-fetched rules and decisions. Each performer needs to look for his own answer in each individual case, using his knowledge.

When moving to more complex images of polyphony, the number of instructions from the teacher should decrease. An increase in the teacher’s instructions is negative, as it shows that the student is not sufficiently prepared on simpler samples. It is better to give specific instructions in simple cases than very shaky ones in complex ones. You cannot study Fugues and Symphonies if you have not previously thoroughly studied the Inventions and Little Preludes.

The student, of course, knows that polyphonic pieces have not one, but several independent melodic lines. However, as a rule, he has no idea of ​​how exactly pre-classical melodics differs from the melodic styles of music of all subsequent times, on which he was brought up. Meanwhile, according to the fair remark of E. Kurt, “of all the distortions to which it [Bach’s art] is subjected, the most harmful is the imposition on it of the features of classical and song-like melody that are more accessible to us.”

Ignorance of the distinctive properties of Bach's melody immediately leads to a false attitude. The student will be disappointed that he will not find in a given piece either emotional brightness, or the beauty of the melody, or the sonic charm that caresses the ear. The half-beat theme of the C major Invention will not reveal anything to the student until he learns that the theme in Bach's era played a completely different role and pursued different goals than in works of later musical styles. The focus of attention of composers of the 17th–18th centuries was not so much on the euphony and beauty of the theme, but on its development in the play, the richness of its transformations, the tonal and contrapuntal development techniques used by the author, that is, those “events” that happen to it throughout the entire composition.

Works of the ancient polyphonic style are built on the disclosure of one artistic image, on multiple repetitions of the theme - that core, the development of which determines the form of the play. That is why these themes require from the performer, first of all, the work of thought, which should be aimed at comprehending both the rhythmic and intervallic melodic structure, which is extremely important for understanding their essence. By analyzing a topic and tracing its multiple transformations, the student solves a kind of intellectual problem. The active work of thought will certainly cause a corresponding influx of emotions - this is the inevitable consequence of any, even the most elementary creative effort.

In the very first lessons, the teacher should trace with the student the development of the topic, all its transformations in each voice; such an analysis will convince that the entire intervention is a living dialogue of “interlocutors”. This can be presented to the student as follows: the theme in a polyphonic work by Bach plays approximately the same role as the main character in a drama, where all sorts of adventures happen to him that change his behavior. It is important to understand and feel the artistic meaning of these transformations.

When starting to analyze the theme of the invention, the student independently (or with the help of a teacher) determines its boundaries and character - lively, decisive or melodious. He studies its intervallic and rhythmic sides. In the same lesson, the student masters the topic behind the instrument, achieving melodiousness and impeccable evenness - sound and rhythmic. The main method of working on the theme remains in force here: it must be taught at a slow pace, with each motive of the theme separately, in order to feel and meaningfully convey the full depth of its intonation expressiveness. By the way, speaking, this is how not only themes are worked out, but also all Bach’s melodic lines. It is precisely “intonation dramaturgy” that students often pass by, depriving the theme of its dynamic upward striving, towards the last sound (sol). As a result, it either breaks off or fuses with its counteraddition. By the way, the editors (Cherny, Goldenweiser) are also guilty of the last mistake, as they force them to connect with their fingering what should be separated. As a rule, there are no phrasing leagues in such publications.

The counterposition was mentioned because it is often related to the theme, arbitrarily expanding it to a whole bar. True, it is really so organically fused with the theme here that it seems to grow out of it, restraining its active rise with calm, reciprocal intonations.

Alternating different methods of working on a topic maintains interest in it. It is appropriate to recall here that it is useful to learn a theme in different keys and registers (left and right hand), starting with those through which it passes in the Invention in C major, then an octave or two higher.

In subsequent lessons, a certain time should be allocated for an exercise in which the student first performs only the theme (in both voices), and the teacher performs the counter-addition, then vice versa.

Several educational schemes for studying inventions.

The following schemes are generally accepted:

4. The entire piece is performed in 4 hands with doubling of the lower or upper voice (enrichment of the student’s auditory experience). Such doublings are by no means a distortion of the work. In introducing, we act completely in the spirit of the techniques of playing the harpsichord and organ, which, as is known, have octave registers.

Any exercise, if it does not pursue artistic goals, can easily turn into meaningless and mechanical play. In this exercise - at two pianos - it is necessary to direct the student’s attention to the intonation of the theme and counterposition. The more rapid and persistent “questioning” intonations of the theme are actively directed towards the last sound (sol); it must be emphasized dynamically – “sung” more deeply and significantly. The calm movement of eighth notes in counter-addition is performed with reciprocal, slightly softened intonations, therefore the last sound here is taken more quietly.

To implement “hidden two-voice”, from the point of view of M. Arkadyev, it is necessary to do exactly the opposite of what is usually recommended and done. In hidden two-voices (usually in the fabric of thirty-second, sixteenth, or eighth notes, when one sound is repeated at the same pitch), the wrong notes are emphasized that fall on strong time, they are already audible, but, on the contrary, weak times, that is, the initial tones of hidden off-beat motives. The voice that stands still is played with accentuation (“accent-unstable”), which in some cases even resembles a syncopated sound, which naturally reproduces the sound of an empty string (this texture is a consequence of this kind of string technique).

Any note written and sounded as a half, a half with a dot, a whole, and so on must be audible and be able to live and change throughout its entire duration. To achieve this, the performer's ear is specially concentrated on elements of this kind, and other voices are performed so as to be “in the shadow” and thereby contribute to the uncompromising sound of long notes.

Having worked well on the theme and contrast, you can move on to carefully working on the melodic line of each voice. Long before they are combined, the piece is performed in two voices in an ensemble with a teacher - first in sections and, finally, in its entirety. Memorizing each voice by heart is absolutely necessary, because working on polyphony is, first of all, working on a single-voice melodic line, saturated with its own special inner life and all kinds of details. You need to think about it all, get used to it, feel everything, and only then begin to unite the voices.

It is necessary to achieve polyphony of sound spaces, that is, the feeling that voices do not live in one closed space, but each voice lives in its own. The overall sound space of the voices thus turns out to be multidimensional. It is clear that the dynamics of voices in a polyphonic work must be contrasting, as well as articulation. But to achieve not just “polyphonic”, but precisely “stereophonic” “multi-spatial” effect, there are two main methods or techniques:

1) extremely contrasting dynamics;

2) extremely contrasting articulation.

During the process of unfolding the fabric, the combination of voices should form a “stereophonic” effect, which maximizes the audibility of polyphony. With “stereophonic” extremely contrasting performance (say, two-voice) when one voice is pronounced rich and plastic f plus legato, and the other – pp and non legato, or staccato. The audibility of both voices, and not only the one being performed f , increases. This is the nature of our hearing. It is necessary to draw the student's attention to the dynamic emphasis of long notes, while neighboring voices are, as it were, “inside”, “in the shadow” of the dynamics of the long note. This also creates a “stereophonic” effect.

At the final stage of work, it is necessary to continue finishing the details of the voice acting, but the main task during this period is finding the right ensemble, the sound of voices and more subtle artistic finishing.

Pay special attention to developing themes and changing their expressive meaning. Only under this condition will the performance of polyphony become meaningful and reminiscent of a fascinating narrative.

LITERATURE

1. Hoffman, J. Piano playing. Answers to questions about piano playing: - Philadelphia, Classics XXI, 2002
2. Arkadyev, M. “Anti-Mugellini” or the principles of a pianist’s work with Bach’s keyboard urtexts
3. Braudo, I. Articulation (on the pronunciation of the melody): Leningrad, State Musical Publishing House, 1961.
4. Radchenko, A.A. Forming in the student an idea of ​​some stylistic features of the performance of keyboard polyphonic music in the era of J.S. Bach
5. Zaseeva, V.Yu. Development of polyphonic thinking, hearing and stylistic hearing and stylistic taste in students using the example of the clavier works of I.S. Bach

Intonation and stylistic features of J. S. Bach’s inventions using the example of analysis of two-voice invention No. 13.

1. Introductory part:

1. The main goal of studying a polyphonic work.
2. Analysis and advantages of the edition of Ferruccio Busoni “Inventions” by I.S. Bach.
3. Stages of image-representation formation.
4. Ways to work on two-voices for the development of polyphonic hearing.

1. Work and analysis of two-voice invention No. 13.
2. Conclusions, discussions.

1. Studying and working on polyphonic music is one of the most difficult areas of education and training for students already with junior classes Children's Art School and successfully influences overall musical development. Meaningfulness and melodiousness are the key to the artistic performance of Bach's music. And this skill is developed from the first lessons: the student’s maximum attention to the quality of the piano sound, even if he is given an exercise, scale or etude.

The student should feel any change in the strength of sound as a natural necessity arising from the development of the muses. phrases: increasing dynamics towards the culminating sound of a phrase, weakening sonority towards its end, as in colloquial speech. From the first steps, the student’s attention is focused on a melody, which he first sings expressively, and then learns to also “sing” expressively on the piano.

Instill a meaningful attitude towards legato means, first of all, to teach how to listen to extension (that is, to hear the sound at the moment the finger presses the key, and after that to hear the continuation of the sound “flowing from under the finger”). The expressive and melodious performance of single-voice melodic songs is subsequently transferred to the combination of two of the same melodies in light polyphonic pieces. It is important that from the very beginning of work, when the student plays with each hand separately, he hears not only the combination of two voices in the ensemble, but also their different colors. Based on the material of canons, fuguettes, and inventions, often built on the basis of folk songs, children perceive with natural spontaneity the elementary structure of imitative two-voices. The difficulty of mastering imitative polyphony is explained by the whole nature of this music, the voices of which are independent, often equal in their musical and semantic meaning, musical structures are less clearly divided, and the melodic movement of the voices is characterized by continuous fluidity.

the main objective studying a polyphonic work is the development of the student’s musical thinking. Polyphonic thinking is the ability to hear in one’s mind the parallel sound of two or more voices; this is an indicator of the musician’s skill.

2. Editorial analysis Ferruccio Busoni“Inventions” by I.S. Bach

In contrast to the edition of Bach's inventions by composer K. Czerny (1840), F. Busoni's edition (1891) is much closer to the performing style of the 17th - 18th centuries.

The etude-mechanical stamp, characteristic of K. Czerny’s edition, is visible in

Exaggeratedly fast tempo notations;

Abuse of continuous legato;

Preoccupation with frequent slowdowns of tempo, artistically unjustified;

The absence of all the richness of phrasing;

Lack of dynamic contrasts and abuse of moving shades< >inside phrases.

Ferruccio Busoni. Priority of this talented musician is that, along with F. Mendelssohn, he rediscovered (after a long period of oblivion) ​​the genius of I.S. Bach. Both romantic composers did everything to make the name “BACH” shine as an unfading star on the musical horizon of “all times and peoples.” F. Busoni owns a number of transcriptions of Bach’s works: chorale preludes, organ preludes and fugues, toccatas.

The editions of “15 two-voice inventions” and “15 three-voice inventions”, as well as “The Well-Tempered Clavier”, according to Busoni’s plan, were to form a “Higher School of Piano Playing”. This is a colossal work and only such a versatile musician, teacher, art critic and scientist as F. Busoni could do it.

In what advantage of the editors of Busoni's Inventions?

1. He supplied the collection of “Inventions” executive instructions: phrasing, dynamics, fingering, deciphered decorations.

2. He gave extensive notes on the analysis of the form, not as a diagram, but as an aid to the performer in independently searching for proportions and thematic connections. By studying Busoniev's version, the performer receives a lesson in composition and form-building, which corresponds to the wishes of I.S. himself. Bach. In his preface to the inventions, the composer writes: “The true manual... offers a clear way not only to learn to play in two voices, not only to get acquainted with good inventions, but also to master them decently.” develop, and most importantly - to achieve a melodious manner in the game.” From these words of his it is clearly clear that for I.S. Bach's basis of polyphony is melody, i.e. vocal beginning, cantilena. but at the same time various types speech recitation. This is confirmed by his works for choir, solo vocal compositions, musical texture which are completely permeated with polyphonic “patterns”.

In Busoniev's edition phrasing: leagues, dots, accents, pauses, grouping of durations - everything is aimed at expressively “singing” the melody, revealing figurative and emotional content interventions.

The main intention of these notes is to establish a performing style characteristic of the great master’s music, a courageous style, alien to pretentiousness.

Fingering Busoni's instructions are varied: he gives several fingering options. His notes are aimed at reviving what was widespread in the 17th century. technique of shifting fingers (for example, from 5th to 4th; from 4th to 3rd, etc.)

Along with Busoniev's analysis of form, or rather, before embarking on analytical methods of studying invention, the performer (student, teacher) needs to penetrate into the artistic and figurative structure of the composition.

1. Formation of image-representation When working on a polyphonic work, it includes several stages.

Stage 1- determination of the artistic form of the work: the nature of the sound, sound production techniques. (At this stage, the main burden falls on the teacher: game, demonstration, verbal analysis).

Stage 2- work on voices (includes intonation and articulation techniques). After the student can perform the theme in an organized manner, the question-and-answer relationship between the leader and the companion should be introduced into his understanding. Then move on to two-voice playing and get acquainted with counter-addition. Now the student can watch how the first voice to enter, having completed the topic, moves from its execution to the presentation of the counterposition. It is in the organization of the connection of two different melodies that the main technical difficulty of performance is rooted. It is very useful to play in an ensemble with a teacher, first in sections, then as a whole.

Stage 3- connection of voices (attention to vertical hearing with the timbre uniqueness of voices). Memorizing each voice is mandatory, since work on polyphony is, first of all, work on a single-voice melodic line, saturated with its own special inner life. You need to think about it all, get used to it, feel everything, and only then begin to unite the voices.

Stage 4- creation of a complete musical work. No matter how confidently a student plays with both hands, careful work on each voice should not stop for a single day. 4 . Ways to work on two-voice for development

polyphonic hearing:

6. The student plays both voices with a restrained sound - mp, but listens very carefully to one of the voices, guiding him with his inner hearing. An experienced teacher will always hear which voice the student leads with his inner ear. It’s good if there are two students in the class who play the same invention and can sing it in two voices.

Two-part invention No. 13a- moll Busoni interprets this lyrical-philosophical invention as two-part, with each part in turn divided into two sections. However, he also admits the possibility of considering it tripartite.

Stage 1- in this invention more than in others, a harmonic basis emerges. Movement along the tones of the chords is clearly audible. Harmony is made up of 4.8 sounds. Hence the chanting of broad melodic turns. To give the sound melodiousness and softness, you should play as if caressing, stroking the keys. The invention has 4 sentences - parts. The first modulates in C-dur, in the second - after sequential deviations, modulation in e-moll. The third movement is based on diminished chords, and the fourth movement begins with an A minor return.

Stage 2- The touches are traditional. "8" - non legato, "16" - legato. Pay special attention to the dismemberment of phrases where the theme begins on the second “16” after “16” (l. p. 2 bar). After the sound “la”, the beginning of the topic must be separated.

Stage 3 - We are working on vertical matching of voices, At the same time, pay very close attention to the bound notes. These sounds are a must mentally stretch to the next downbeat and only after hearing how the sustained sound matches the sound of another voice can you play further.

Stage 4 - the transition presupposes fluent command of the text by heart. Without this, it is impossible to work on a sound performance. The tempo is determined based on the continuity of the sentence, and the dynamics will appear when the parts are combined. So, the 2nd part will sound brighter than the 1st, and in the 3rd (diminished chords) there will be some hidden sound, the 4th part is the culmination of the entire invention. Musical image Topics carries a charge of vivacity, a bright attitude through the elastic quarto-fifth, offensive move of the beginning Topics.

This mood, feeling is supported by dynamics mf and a clear quadruple meter. The feeling of continuous movement, fluidity supports movement from the weak beat and aspiration to the top (up to the 2nd octave). In one “breath” it sounds smoothly and directed upwards. subject in a 4-fold presentation. Except on legato I can't imagine her. "You need to listen topic in end-to-end development at the first acquaintance - performance, in order to generally “draw her portrait”, to know her character in development (registers, dynamics, articulation).

Counteraddition- this is an independent melody, an independent image. Subjectanti-addition requires close study, because This is the most changing element of the invention. It is purely emotional opposition that creates the image of playfulness, scherzo, thanks to wide, sharp leaps in the octave range (staccato touch). When studying anti-addition with students, you need to monitor the evenness, the execution of a not very sharp staccato, (close to pOrtamento) and do not allow the brush to become loose. It is useful to perform the P. technique at a slow pace at first. non legato with good support mf. Then, in the process of studying the invention, come to a tempo allegro already by staccato finger without losing support in the keyboard.

From the 3rd bar the initial presentation Topics and the counter-addition ends. Development begins Topics using various techniques, it is modified: it sounds in address, abbreviation, “encrypted” in arpeggiated sequences, alternately in a “female”, then in a “male” voice. Technologically achieve smooth vocal performance such Topics difficult, especially in the lower voice (left hand technique always leaves much to be desired), fingering It makes high-quality execution with the left hand even more difficult, since Busoni builds it on the ancient technique of “shifting” the fingers; close proximity of inconveniently combined 1 - 4; 5 - 2 fingers.

Our task, like a clavier player of the 17th - 18th centuries: “...to clearly highlight each phrase, each sound, while monitoring the smoothness of the performance.” Smoothness of performance, evenness, sound fullness of voice guidance, melodic horizontality are the most important aesthetic tasks of the performer. After all, the evenness of sound is an auditory illusion. And it is achieved through painstaking work of the auditory, pianistic, and technological apparatus, initially at a working pace, then gradually approaching the original, (allegro).

Here are the techniques I try to even out the sound:

1. First of all, I myself periodically perform as topic, and parts of the intervention so that students develop a sound and auditory pattern.
2. Purely technologically, I suggest trying to assemble the melodic line into intervals with simultaneous or sequential performance; then into a chord; you can use “singing” of the vertices of the phrase. Do all this at a slow, deep, rich pace legato; control the weight of the arm from the shoulder; direction of movement of the brush from 1 p. to 5 in right hand(and from 5 to 1, respectively, in the left hand). To a more agile pace, gradually reduce the weight of the hand so that the hand does not “get stuck” in the keyboard and is calm (not shaking). All this painstaking work is carried out with fine auditory control, and then, regardless of the natural specificity of the fingers, the strength of the left and right hands, regardless of the inconvenience of fingering, the vocal performance will level out and will be equally saturated with a melodious sound. This work is purposefully carried out with topic throughout the work at different dynamics.
3. While carefully working on the clear pronunciation of each individual sound, one must constantly remember that it is only a letter, a syllable of a large phrase; those. hear the phrase behind the sound. In this phrase (theme), the clear pronunciation of each sixteenth note should not obscure the unit of movement of the phrase as a half-beat due to the tendency of the movement at a fast tempo to the upper “B, C”, their more intense singing.

Along with the problem of sound evenness Topics, opposition, no less acute is the problem of figurative and emotional comprehension of phrases, their internal culminations, and the dynamic development of a duet of voices. This is simultaneously working on architectonics invention and the dynamic development of its motives, phrases and constructions.

The phrase is formed using living natural breathing (as in singing). The pianist's apparatus must also “breathe.” Here it is important to take into account all pauses, beats, endings of phrasing lines, accents - all signs of articulation.

It is appropriate to recall Meyerhold’s words that the faster the text, the clearer the “transitions - partitions” from one motive to another should be. In the invention A-moll such rapid episodes in which “transitions - partitions” in measures No. 11, 12,13 are important.

In the bass (t. 11, 12, 13), the dynamic peak of each phrase occurs on the lowest sound. Counteraddition in these episodes reaches a melodic peak, emphasized accent. Sounding simultaneously (duet) subject And anti-addition— come to their peaks and culminating points at different times. This work takes place throughout (from measures 3 to 12). In these measures, there may be a miss (“dirt”) at wide intervals of counter-addition, at the moment when the student’s attention is occupied by the topic.

Technological techniques for “preventing” misses are as follows: it is useful to assemble the counterposition into a chord, into intervals, feeling the good support and “spring” of the hand in them. It’s also good to learn the counterposition in the right hand “blindly”: then more attention can be switched to playing the theme in the bass line; in addition, the student will stop “shaking” his head, trying to visually control the upper and lower register at the same time.

It is necessary to pay attention to accents (from t. No. 5). This emphasis must be felt as overcoming a wide interval and climbing to its peak. But at first the student puts on a formal accent and it sounds unexpectedly rude and harsh. When bringing together two voices with climax points at different times, you should not overuse the indicated Busoni creshendo and accent. It is important to carry out everything with a deep, full sound without “screams” and “failures”.

General dynamic plan of investment a -moll:

1. Exposure - smooth dynamic sound on mf, the climax is smoothed out.
2. Development - rich gradation of shades from Piano To Forteand fromForteTosubito Piano. The climax is very vivid; it is further emphasized by the 4-bar episode subitoRiano.

Movable shades (creshendo) are interpreted by me as a feeling of the internal emotional development of the phrase. This is a combination of expressive, but at the same time strict style of execution. Busoni's interpretation of the dynamics is as follows: the end of 3-4 measures - the development of counter-addition in them takes place in moving shades, with an accentuated peak, syncopations. This creates a feeling of wavy shades.

But we know that moving shades are not typical for Bach’s era and, trying to maintain Busoni’s dynamics, the student switches all his attention and emotions to increasing the sound and emphasis in opposition in the upper voice. As a result, the evenness of voice production suffers. Topics in the bass.

As a rule, the student begins to increase the sound immediately, too roughly and as a result subject forced to “shout out” the roughly executed counter-addition. The performance becomes noisy, chaotic, forcing the sound.

To avoid this, all episodes similar to measures from the 5th, etc. I teach with my students this way:

First of all, let's understand that subject it immediately starts from the top and our task is to give a dense, full sound from the first sound, which fades away towards the bottom sound.

Having achieved clear understanding and presentation Topics, natural aspiration of its sound, it is possible to redistribute the student’s attention to the counterposition and achieve evenness of its presentation from the lower steps to the top on creshendo.

This way you can achieve constant auditory control over two voices with climaxes (peaks) developing at different times. But in polyphony this is the most important task - to find the peak of each voice and bring the voice to it with an evenly increasing sound with natural ease.

Conclusion

The teacher will use any methods for developing the ability to hear polyphony in increasing difficulty throughout the work on the invention. The question of the dosage of knowledge and skills presented by the teacher requires a sensitive understanding of the student’s musical and intellectual capabilities and pedagogical flexibility. However, this applies not only to work on polyphony, but to all of our difficult but beloved pedagogical work. Introduction to the world of polyphonic music, the pinnacle of which is the work of I. Bach, is an indispensable condition for the harmonious development of a musician of any specialty, including a pianist. How close we are now to reading the keyboard music of J. Bach in its true form can hardly be answered with complete certainty.

The nature of Bach's keyboard works is such that without the active participation of the intellect, their expressive performance is impossible. They can become an indispensable material for the development of musical thinking, for nurturing the student’s initiative and independence, and the key to understanding other musical styles.

To convey to your students an interested, inquisitive attitude towards the work of a brilliant composer and to reveal to them the artistic charm of his music is the honorable duty of a teacher. But achieving this goal is unthinkable without a solid mastery of the fundamentals of the theory of polyphony, without knowledge of the patterns and properties of Bach’s musical language, as well as performing traditions his era.