| Dear pwillini,
Thanks for your contribution. From my observation of some of my favorite trumpeters, it seems like a lot of "well connected" players (musically, not in a mafioso way!) grew up playing along with hymns in church.
As far as music always being one in the same with the text, I believe that is a fair statement in the examples you've provided. However, when dealing with art songs, I think that differs quite a bit depending on the composer. Sibelius, for instance, wrote in a letter that the music to his songs are influenced by the text, but he tries to rather to depict the "landscape" or the mood of the text and can therefore be separated. Other composers are more text-painters and are inseparable from their texts. Reactions to Mr. Sibelius' statement about music being separated from, but influenced by, the text in his songs?
Mike Blutman |