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What is “Tafelmusik?”

Frontispice of the score for “ La Musique de table ” (Tafelmusik), composed and published by Georg Philipp Telemann in 1733.

Literally “table music” from the German, meaning music written for feasts or entertainments, Tafelmusik was the name given to several collections of music published in the 17th and 18th centuries. The most famous is a 3-volume collection by Telemann that included orchestral suites, concertos, and chamber music for winds and strings. Tafelmusik founders Kenneth Solway and Susan Graves decided it was an apt name for Toronto’s new baroque orchestra in 1979, and over the years they have performed all the music in Telemann’s collection. (source)

National & International Styles

The period from 1600–1750 saw an increase in travel within Europe. For musicians, it was a time of increased awareness of national styles in composition, performance, and instrument building. Style was influenced by tradition, social context and function, and language. Some musicians travelled extensively, incorporating elements of different styles into their own music. Handel, for example, was born in Germany, studied in Italy, and finally made his home in England, and his music is a synthesis of all three styles. Bach, on the other hand, spent his entire life in a small area of northern Germany. He nonetheless undertook careful study of music from other regions and countries and was fully aware of the currents of musical taste throughout Europe. Other musicians were content to devote their careers as composers and performers exclusively to the music of their own time and place, deepening their understanding of their native musical language. (Source)

Portrait of JS Bach holding a musical manuscript.

Baroque Instruments

The following information has been selected from Tafelmusik’s Baroque 101 webpage.

Baroque Strings

The basic structure and shape of violin family of string instruments has remained unchanged since the beginning of the 17th century. Among the most prized instruments today, in fact, are instruments built during the baroque era by makers such as Amati and Stradivarius. Most of these instruments have undergone modifications over the centuries, in part to produce a stronger, more penetrating sound suitable for larger halls: the design of the bridge over which the strings are stretched was altered, the bass bar (a reinforcing bar inside the body of the instrument) was enlarged, and the angle of the neck was increased, all leading to more tension on the instrument. The gut strings used on the baroque and classical instruments were eventually replaced with metal strings, or strings wound with metal. Chinrests were added to violins and violas to allow the players to shift easily into higher positions. Cellists traditionally rested the instrument on their calves, but endpins (sticks or rods extending from the bottom of the instrument to the floor) were eventually added.

Baroque string instruments produce a resonant and sweet tone, less direct but rich in overtones and very flexible. Many instruments built in the 17th and 18th centuries have now been restored to their original condition for use by players of period instruments. Other players choose to play on new reproductions.

The Bow

No string instrument is complete without a bow, and the use of a baroque bow affects the sound of a string instrument almost as much as the instrument itself. Baroque and classical bows varied throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, both nationally and in every decade. The sticks were much lighter and shorter than modern bows. The point of balance was nearer to the frog (the end which the player holds), since the head tapered to a point and was therefore lighter. The result was a distinction between the up and down bow strokes, which helped to express essential stylistic features of the music itself: a subtle hierarchy of stress within the phrase, and a natural articulation that Mozart’s father Leopold called “a small, even if barely audible softness at the beginning of each stroke.”

Violin bows (bottom to top): 1. early baroque bow / 2. late baroque bow / 3. classical bow / 4. modern bow

Harpsichord

The harpsichord is a keyboard instrument in which thin metal strings are set into vibration by the plucking action of a small piece of quill, called a plectrum. The plectrum, carved from a primary feather of a large bird (Canada Goose works well!), is fit into a hinged tongue on the end of a “jack,” a small piece of wood roughly the size and shape of a popsicle stick. The jack sits on the end of the key: when the key is depressed the jack is raised and the quill plucks the string. When the key is released, gravity sends the jack back down, and the hinged tongue allows the quill to pass back over the string without re-plucking it. A small square of felt fitted on to the end of the jack stops the vibration of the string.

Harpsichords varied in size and shape from small rectangular or hexagonal instruments with one keyboard, often called “virginals” of “spinets,” to large instruments with two keyboards and 3 or 4 sets of strings, and an overall shape akin to the grand piano. Obvious gradations of loudness and softness are not possible on individual notes of the harpsichord: unlike the piano, it produces the same volume whether the key is pressed lightly or strongly. Contrast can be obtained from one piece to another on large instruments by activating extra sets of strings.

The harpsichord was a mainstay of the baroque orchestra, adding clarity to the bass line and rhythmic energy to the performance. Musically and socially the harpsichord also served the roles later served by piano: a respected solo instrument, it was also the instrument owned by any well-to-do households, and the instrument on which many children received their first musical instruction.

Oboe & Bassoon

The baroque oboe and bassoon were developed in France for use in the court orchestra of Louis XIV. Their sound is created through a double reed: two pieces of cane tied together that vibrate when air passes through (the same effect as the age-old trick of blowing through two blades of grass held between your thumbs). Both have a larger bore and smaller tone holes than their modern counterparts, requiring a considerably larger, more freely vibrating reed. These features give the instruments more flexibility of articulation as well as a softer, less concentrated sound, making them ideal for blending with the string instruments with which they so often play in baroque orchestras.

The Harpsichord pictured above and heard on the program was built by John Phillips in Berkeley, California after a 1707 instrument by Nicolas Dumont.