A holistic musicianship

Abstract

This research project explores the holistic approach to musicianship characteristic of virtuoso cellists in the end of 18th and beginning of 19th centuries. By understanding and embodying the inner collaborative processes that happened amongst their performance, compositional, improvisatory, and mentorship “selves”, the goal was to become closer to being a native speaker of their musical language.

Bernhard Romberg, Jean Louis Duport and Anton Kraft were taken as examples of this musicianship, with an intention of becoming acquainted with the specific elements in their artistry that differentiated themselves within a shared musical scene, contributing to the shaping of their individual artistic personalities. In the first chapter of this Written Commentary, I discuss the various individual characteristics embedded in the artistic outputs of the three musicians, based on an analysis of their treatises (in the cases of Duport and Romberg) and an analysis and embodiment process of their compositions, which were mostly written for themselves to play.

The process of embodiment of their respective technical skillset, improvisatory language and performance mindset led to a deeper understanding of the loci communes and the distinctive features in their artistic outputs. These elements were naturally incorporated in my own palette of possibilities, ultimately shaping my own artistry.

Ultimately, the goal of this research project was to develop my artistic personality within their language, by becoming a creator in music and not only an interpreter. This DPerf portfolio, comprised of Artistic Projects, Professional Projects, Written Commentary and Supplementary Studies, was designed to contribute from different angles to the expansion of my own skills as a performer, composer, improvisor and mentor in the musical language shared by the cellists under study.