ResearchWorks: Cello & double bass recitative accompaniment in today’s concert halls

Cello & double bass recitative accompaniment in today’s concert halls

Secco Recitatives. Those sung/spoken moments in cantatas or operas where so much of the action takes place and where only occasional, single bass notes, with or without figures, are written in support of the vocal line. Over the past twenty-five years, much musicological research has investigated the practice of secco recitative accompaniment by cellists in earlier times, but relatively little work has documented the actual performance practice used by professional cellists who accompany secco recitatives today.

This talk presents the results of an online questionnaire sent to 249 professional continuo cellists worldwide during the Spring of 2020. The survey discusses instrumentation and seating positions within the continuo group, chordal and bassline articulation, rehearsal protocol, self-evaluation and critical feedback. Above all, it documents whether the cellist realizes the harmonies and in what circumstances. The research shows that certain cultural and sociological factors influence continuo group dynamics and are highly predictive of a cellist’s accompanimental practice. Awareness of these correlations permits today’s young continuo players to see their own interpretative choices from a different perspective and perhaps alter the performance practices within their professional continuo groups in the future.

Speaker: Hilary Metzger

Hilary Metzger is a cellist who plays on period instruments throughout Europe and in America, specializing in late 18th and 19th century repertoire. As principal cellist with Teatro Nuovo (Will Crutchfield, Jakob Lehmann) and Opera Fuoco (David Stern), she has investigated various forms of harmonic realisation in later secco recitative repertoire. Ms Metzger is on the faculty of the Ecole Nationale de Musique de Villeurbanne and the Pôle Supérieur de Musique et Danse in Poitiers. In 2020, she received a research residency grant from the Orpheus Institute in Ghent Belgium to study recitative accompaniment practice by continuo cellists throughout the world today.

Guildhall School’s ResearchWorks is a programme of events centred around the School’s research activity, bringing together staff, students and guests of international standing. We run regular events throughout the term intended to share the innovative research findings of the School and its guests with students, staff and the public.