Purfle.Adornment. Embellishment. That "something extra" that makes a thing more beautiful.
In the huge family I came from, music was held in high esteem. We worked hard, studied hard and took music lessons -- flute, in my case. I haven't picked one up in years, but I've never regretted learning to read and appreciate music.
I recently discovered an interesting contribution the French made to the performance of Baroque music -- it's called "French ornamentation." Think of it as musical "purfling." In playing a particular line of music, the performer adds a distinct flourish to certain notes. The flourish isn't needed to carry the melody. It's written into the music simply because it's lovely.
I'm describing this in very general terms, when in fact the terminology of French ornamentation is very broad: appogiatura, trill, mordent, turn, glissando... For an untrained ear, the easiest French ornamentation to hear is the trill -- a rapid vibrating back and forth between two notes.
Would you like to hear an example? "Trumpet Voluntary," a very familiar composition by Baroque composer Jeremiah Clarke. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8jCud-aA3Q&feature=related
My brother John, who played the pipe organ, was the best musician of the family. He was totally blind as a result of cancer of the retina. He died at the age of 36. Hearing this music makes me love and miss him even more.
Excellent example...I didn't know you had musical connections. Aside from Bach, of course, some of the most grand of pipe organ music stems from the composers that played at St. Sulpice and Notre Dame in Paris - Vierne, Fauré, Duruflé, among others... Beautiful stuff!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in high school, I was a member of a choir that sang the Duruflé "Requiem." I ran across the music for it inside the piano bench at my mother's house not long ago!
ReplyDeleteYes, it's a beauty - we've sung it at St. Paul's a time or two... Next time you go to Paris, go to church at St. Sulpice and then stay afterwards; you can go up into the organ loft and see the pipe organ and visit briefly with the organist. Vierne, I believe, played that organ...
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