Soloists may get all the glory, but what about accompanists? Enjoy music and trivia from our show about background singers, pit orchestra players, and understudies. This week's Ether Game was called Back Me Up Here. 

Richard Wagner (1813-1883) Tristan and Isolde: Prelude to Act III In 1876, Wagner’s full operatic vision was realized when he completed his opera house in Bayreuth, the Festspielhaus. This theater is designed specifically to stage Wagner’s operas, and one of its chief characteristics is its gigantic orchestra pit which sits recessed underneath the stage. The Wagnerian pit orchestra is one of the biggest in opera tradition (around 90 players), meant to scale with the epic proportions of the Germanic myths Wagner used as inspiration. Although he wanted the orchestra out of the view of the audience, artistically, Wagner elevated the role of the pit orchestra to be equal with his singers rather than accompany them. There are moments in Wagner operas where the orchestra musically depicts events of the story that we don’t actually see happen on stage. In Tristan and Isolde, the musical leitmotifs of our title characters ocassionally act in counterpoint, representing the romantic    ideal of ethereal, perfect love that is forbidden to Tristan and Isolde on the mortal plane.  

__________________________________________________________________

Muzio Clementi (1752-1832) Six Sonatinas Op. 36. No. 2 Allegretto, Allegretto One of the most distinguishing features of Classical period music is its frequent use of Alberti bass. This is an accompanimental figure, usually built on a broken triad where the lowest tone is played, followed by the highest, then the middle tone, and then then the highest again. The composer Domenico Alberti is the motif’s namesake, and research suggests he was the first composer to use this kind of flowing accompaniment with any frequency. Alberti bass is heard in all classical music genres, but it is ubiquitous with keyboard music in the style galant, where it provides a graceful and charming accompaniment to light and tuneful melodies. Charm is the central affect of Clementi’s influential collection of six progressive piano sonatinas, which have become standards in the pedagogical repertoire

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) Madama Butterfly: Humming Chorus Sometimes words aren’t necessary to convey the deep emotional impact of a moment. That’s the case for the famed “Humming Chorus” from the opera Madama Butterfly. The chorus comes at the end of Act II, as Chio-Chio San (Madame Butterfly) waits patiently for the arrival of Pinkerton, an American naval officer whom she married three years earlier and hasn’t seen since. This moment is special for Chio-Chio San because finally, after three years, she gets to introduce Pinkerton to their son. It’s also special for the chorus, normally relegated to an accompanimental role, here they are the arbiters of one of the most emotional moments in the opera. Puccini indicates the chorus perform Bocca Chiusa, literally “closed mouth,” which is a lovely musical effect, but also symbolic of the words left unsaid between the two characters. Chio-Chio San soon learns that Pinkerton has remarried, and has no intention of seeing her out of his sense of shame. At the end of the opera, Chio-Chio San takes her own life, out of her sense of grief.

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) Trio sonata 'La folia' RV 63 About a minute into the recording we just listened to, the featured violins stepback and we are treated to the serious chops of the cello player, who steps on the gas with a variation of wild semiquavers. For much of this trio sonata, the cello and harpsichord are acting as the basso continuo, an accompanimental arrangement in Baroque chamber music in which the harpsichord realizes an accompaniment from a written bass line and a series of numbers which indicate chord tones, while a cello or bassoon reinforces the lowest voice. Continuo playing is an underappreciated art. It often plays a supporting role in an ensemble, although keyboard and string players who can do it well are highly valued and sought after by early music performers. There are many subtle choices involved in realizing an appropriate accompanment from only a written line and a series of numbers; what can be played to add further interest to the melody line, where are the moments where the bass instruments can shine through?  Continuo players spend years developing excellent communication and listening skills to master this style of back-up

Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957) The Sea Hawk There is a direct link between film music and Wagnerian opera, however it took several decades for film music to become the lush symphonic soundscapes we hear today. In the silent film era, music was first provided by mechanical instruments, highlighting film’s origin as a fairground attraction. Live music later proved to be more suitable, provided by a pianist or organist with continuous improvised accompaniment. It wasn’t until after technological advancements allowinging for music to be recorded directly on the celluloid film strip that precomposed film scores were developed in America during the Golden Age of Hollywood. From the 1930’s to the 50’s, film studios had large music departments which contracted leading composers and arrangers to write music in a grand Romantic style, with Wagnerian-inspired leitmotifs to match the action and characters on screen. The nonprofit organization The European Film Fund supported emigrant composers escaping Nazi persecution, such as Korngold, whose score for The Sea Hawk from 1940 became a hallmark of the era.

Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979) Sonata for Viola and Piano Frescobaldi was hugely influencial to many enduring composers. You can hear echoes of his music in Bach, Purcell and Corelli to name a few of his admirers. By the 18th century, Italian composers had gained a reputation as some of the best crafters of melody in Europe, and Frescobaldi laid the groundwork for that reputation, as can be heard in this aria. Tonight’s show, however, focuses on the accompaniment, and this recording features a curiosity in that department. Alongside the plucked theorbo, there are bowed strings that, to the trained ear, don't match the voicings capable on the viola da gamba. We have been listening to the lirone, a bowed instrument that gained popularity in 17th century Italy and was used almost exclusively to accompany Italian arias and operatic pieces. With its flat  bridge and 16 strings, the instrument is a sight to behold, a viol with a neck and peg box four times too big. The Lironist plays on groups of three or four strings at once, using chord shapes like a guitarist, but with ability to sustain pitches and create dramatic dissonances across a changing bass line. 

Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643) Donna, siam rei di morte [Lady, we deserve to die] What would a show about accompaniment be if we did not include the instrument so often relegated to the accompanimental part in the orchestra? Composer and violist Rebecca Clarke faced difficulties in her career due to a continuing prejudice against female composers in the early 20th century. Yet her music spoke for itself and Clarke achieved fame as a composer with her Viola Sonata of 1919 and Piano Trio of 1923, both of which tied for the Coolidge Prize. Although it was an anonymous competition, some of the prizes’ judges mistakenly identified the Viola Sonata as written by Ravel, while The Daily Telegraph supposed ‘Rebecca Clarke’ to be a pseudonym for Ernest Bloch. In spite of the success of her viola sonata, much of Clarke’s work is still unpublished and remains the property of her estate. The release of three unpublished works in the late 1990’s has us hoping we will hear more of Clarke’s work in the future.

Willie "The Lion" Smith (1893-1973) Finger Buster In the 1910’s a virtuosic style of jazz piano music developed out of ragtime and flourished in Harlem during the 1920’s. Called “Harlem school” or “stride music” after the bass pattern in the left hand, stride takes the syncopated rhythm of ragtime and ups the stakes. Brisk tempo, spontaneous polyrhythms and technically-demanding melodic devices that used the piano’s full range required brilliant and masterful performers, and it’s no coincidence that many of the most notable musicians who played stride were classically trained. James P. Johnson, Fats Waller, and Willie “The Lion” Smith recorded extensive catalogs of stride music, though unfortunately some of the most influential players were never recorded.  

Mary J. Blige (b.1971) Dr. Dre (b. 1965) Family Affair Mary J. Blige’s music career began in 1988 when she was signed to Uptown Records as a background singer. Her debut solo album What’s the 411? had several successful singles, but it wasn’t until her second album My Life went triple platinum in 1994 that she became enshrined as one of the most successful R&B and hip hop singers. Her success continued into the early 2000’s when this single from her fifth studio album No More Drama topped the Billboard Top 100 in 2001. Family Affair was a collaborative effort with Blige’s brother and Dr. Dre, who developed the backing track during a jam session in 2000 with a bass and keyboard. Before adding Blige’s vocals and lyrics, the working title for the instrumental track was called “Fragile.”