BWV 6

[jochanaan]

Tomorrow night I'm scheduled to play English horn with the Musica Sacra Chamber Orchestra of Denver in this Bach cantata.  The English horn (originally oboe da caccia) part is very beautiful and challenging!  It's not often I get an English horn part that seriously challenges my technical abilities. (Except for your Studies, Karl! )

[bhodges]

Congrats!  And wishing you well for a great experience.  Listening to the English horn is a beautiful thing...

--Bruce

[Marc]

Wish you good luck!

BWV 6 is a wonderful cantata! Always been one of my favourites .... together with many others.

[karlhenning]

. . . It's not often I get an English horn part that seriously challenges my technical abilities. (Except for your Studies, Karl! )

Thanks for the mention, jochanaan!  Sorry to have made my piece a nuisance, though . . . .

[toledobass]

Listening to the English horn is a beautiful thing...

--Bruce

When it's a beautiful thing

Have fun, I know some of those oboe parts and english horn parts are totally out there....wishing you a great performance.

Allan

[SonicMan46]

Good luck!     Love the English Horn (Cor anglais, I believe, also) - any 'brief' thoughts about playing this instrument vs. another, such as the oboe?  Dave 

[karlhenning]

Or Corno inglese . . . .

[secondwind]

I'll get out my recording and listen to it today.  Not quite the same as getting to Denver for the performance, but the best possible under the circumstances.  How about a "post-game" report tomorrow?

[Marc]

Or Corno inglese . . . .

In fact, the right word, in the old days, used to be Corps anglé = curved body (literally). It's been corrupted to Cor anglais, which means 'English horn'.
From the moment the 'body' was no longer 'curved', Wagner introduced the word Altoboe.

This corruption makes me think of café au lait, which is pronounced by many non-French speakers as café olé.
As a result of that, in many Dutch restaurants it's presented this way on the menu card.

OLÉ!!!

[jochanaan]

It went amazingly well, considering I had one of THOSE days where everything just seemed to take longer and be more complex than I had anticipated.  It started when I went to a food bank earlier in the day (income from my musical career doesn't yet allow me ANY extras!) and had to wait several unanticipated hours in the sun, getting a bad sunburn on my head and arms! Then the bus I was on to get back home got held up in traffic, leaving me only an hour to fix some of the food I had just brought home for supper before I had to leave for the church we were playing in--and then getting to the convert venue, I discovered I had left my music at home!  So a quick run back to grab the music; it was only lucky that the Bach wasn't the FIRST thing on the program!

But somehow, even though I had to play that aria virtually cold, it went beautifully.  I got lots of compliments on my playing and tone!

Thanks for the mention, jochanaan!  Sorry to have made my piece a nuisance, though . . . .

I wouldn't call it a nuisance--just a challenge.

Good luck!     Love the English Horn (Cor anglais, I believe, also) - any 'brief' thoughts about playing this instrument vs. another, such as the oboe?  Dave 

In terms of instrumental technique, it's nearly identical to the oboe, though because of the larger reed dimensions the air moves a little faster and doesn't stay in your lungs quite as long.  Although I have only had my English horn for about five years now, I'm just about as good on it as on the oboe, the instrument I've studied most.  The hard part has been learning to make reeds for EH...

I'd actually just as soon call it an alto oboe, but, in Rev Tevye's word, "Tradition!"

[karlhenning]

It went amazingly well . . . .

Bravo!

I wouldn't call it a nuisance--just a challenge.

The composer is most grateful!

[secondwind]

It went amazingly well, considering I had one of THOSE days
But somehow, even though I had to play that aria virtually cold, it went beautifully. 

Congratulations!  I admire your ability to turn in a great performance on "one of those days". . . just one of the frustrations you listed would have put me in a tizzy, and my performance would have suffered badly.  And thanks for the reality check on the day to day life of a performer.  Sometimes those of us who took a 90 degree turn away from that kind of dedication and preparation decades ago tend to have romanticized notions of how great it would be. . . It is good to remember the many kinds of sacrifices that sometimes have to accompany commitment to your art.

[Marc]

Good to hear that in the end, after a 'folle journée, everything went all right!
Congrats!

[jochanaan]

Congratulations!  I admire your ability to turn in a great performance on "one of those days". . . just one of the frustrations you listed would have put me in a tizzy, and my performance would have suffered badly.  And thanks for the reality check on the day to day life of a performer.  Sometimes those of us who took a 90 degree turn away from that kind of dedication and preparation decades ago tend to have romanticized notions of how great it would be. . . It is good to remember the many kinds of sacrifices that sometimes have to accompany commitment to your art.

Thank you.

BTW, what IS that instrument in your avatar photo?  It looks like a contrabass oboe...

[Guido]

Congratulations on your success. Could you share what in particular you think is so challenging about the part?

[secondwind]

Thank you.

BTW, what IS that instrument in your avatar photo?  It looks like a contrabass oboe...

It's a basset horn--sort of an alto-range member of the clarinet family.  The modern ones (and yes, I have one) look like alto clarinets, with a curved-up bell at the bottom.  But at one time, they were made like this, with an angle bend to bring the bottom joint within reach of someone with normal length arms, and a big bulb on the bottom--for resonance, I guess.  They are sort of like the dinosaurs of the music kingdom.  That they are still made/played at all is thanks to a couple of pieces by Mozart and Mendelssohn.  Thanks for asking!

[karlhenning]

. . . and a big bulb on the bottom--for resonance, I guess.

And two if by sea.

[jochanaan]

Congratulations on your success. Could you share what in particular you think is so challenging about the part?

Lots of notes and very few rests, plus a dozen or so trills on 32nd notes!  (Demisemiquavers for you guys across the pond.)  Plus listening for when you have to play softer because the alto soloist is singing and you can't cover her.  And as usual for double reeds, you can't hide, so every note has got to be in place, and the phrases nicely shaped; the technical aspects are difficult enough, but you've gotta make it musical too! It's just a challenging part--but when done right it's really beautiful. 0:)

[secondwind]

And two if by sea.

I'm a bit of a dim bulb (pun intended).  Yes, I remembered the poem, "midnight ride of Paul Revere", Longfellow, etc., but I couldn't for the life of me figure out why you were quoting it.  Then, at last, the light bulb came on. . . or maybe both of them.  In the future, though, any time I see a pair of basset horns, I'll be thinking "aha! by land!"  And any time I see a solitary basset horn, I'll think "by sea"!  And I'll remember how slow I can be to connect the dots.  So, thanks for that, Karl!