Extemporaneous Bass Line Reduction in Historical Double Bass Playing
Open Access
- Author:
- Nachtergaele, Shanti
- Graduate Program:
- Music Theory and History
- Degree:
- Master of Arts
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- April 11, 2017
- Committee Members:
- Mark C. Ferraguto, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Eric J. McKee, Committee Member
Marica S. Tacconi, Committee Member - Keywords:
- double bass
contrabass
bass line reduction
historical performance practice
eighteenth century
nineteenth century
simplified bass lines - Abstract:
- This thesis explores the practice of double bass reduction, or the derivation of simplified contrabass lines from shared bass parts, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Baroque contrabassists often reduced the bass line ad libitum, but composers eventually took over this responsibility themselves by writing separate double bass parts. Chapter 1 traces the evolution of double bass reduction, including how the performance practice relates to compositional and notational conventions; that is, how shared basso continuo parts necessitated the practice, and how the gradual increase in notational specificity and development of principles of orchestration led to its decline. Chapter 2 compares different methods of reduction and classifies examples in terms of function, rhythmic profile, and pitch content, as well as drawing on less explicit sources to supplement eighteenth-century evidence of the extemporaneous performance convention. Chapter 3 is a case study of double bass reductions in Beethoven’s works, including those Beethoven introduced himself in divisi cello and double bass parts, as well as those suggested by double bassists in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. By investigating the practice across a wide geographic and temporal span, I aim to elucidate how and when historical double bassists reduced their parts, and to promote a more widespread implementation of the practice in modern historically informed performances.