Jacques Féréol Mazas (1782 - 1849): String Quartets op. 7

[Double-A]

The metronome figures are a source of doubt every time I do a typeset (and every time I find them in printed music for that matter).  I generally include them if they are in the source as the MIGHT be the composer's (BTW:  The Henle Publishers have a list with Schumann's own markings on their web site [google Schumann Metronome Markings]--those markings that are known--and argue for taking them seriously.  Interestingly these markings are quite different from the markings that are in the Peters edition of the quartets, mostly slower while the Peters markings of the fast movements are almost all insane.  Who is responsible for the Peters markings?).

In this case:  The first movement seems plausible (I had just assumed that the crotchet in the agitato was a printing mishap; somehow the "hole" in the minim got filled with ink?), one may play a bit slower without "killing" the movement though.  The introduction on the other hand must be faster than "quaver = 104" (I'd say at least "crotchet = 60")--the section ought to have been marked cut time.  Otherwise the rhythm at the beginning won't be recognized when it returns in the development section of the agitato. 

I tried hard to find a solution--a plausible or conceivable typo--to the marking for the minuet (such as "something = 127") but no luck.  It should be more than twice as fast as "minim = 27" I think, about "one measure = 50 - 60".  The adagio too is probably more effective a bit faster than marked, "crochet = 56" or so).  I would like to do the last movement not much below dotted "crotchet = 100"; I'd rather simplify the double stop passages a bit to avoid double stop shifts in legato.

[matesic]

I've uploaded my rendition to imslp where it probably won't have cleared yet. It can also be downloaded here:

http://www.mediafire.com/listen/ld2xe46kwbojxx9/Mazas_String_quartet_No1.mp3

I also made a list of the transcription errors I found, listed here:

http://www.mediafire.com/view/tf9237852b83km8/Mazas_String_Quartet_No1_in_E_Minor.docx

It's a nice little piece, rather predictive I think of the general form that most string quartets were to take during the next half-century. Thanks for bringing it to light!

Best

Steve

[Double-A]

Thanks for this!  It sounds great, much better than my playback.
I think it confirms that the last movement ought to be cut; it is quite repetitive.  If I may be allowed a slight criticism:  I hear the middle two movements in my head somewhat faster.  That way the minuet will get a Ländler-style lilt and e.g. the eighths in the second violin in measures 6 and 7 become a pattern rather than sounding out as single notes, which has a somewhat tedious effect (the little accents on the third beat come out beautifully though).  In the adagio I think of the two passages with all the demisemiquavers as "wild inserts", the fast notes not to be taken as melody or ornament to be played out with care and taste, but as (almost) noise.  I admit that I am having a phase where I want to play slow movements generally on the fast side, emphasizing the flow of the music over the tension you can generate by holding back the tempo, so I am biassed on this one.

[Double-A]

I forgot this:

Thanks also for your list of errors.  I'll correct them and re-upload the corrected music.

[matesic]

Not definitive by any means! I'll try speeding up the minuetto by 10% or so and see how it feels (in case you hadn't guessed, I cheated this way in the fast passages of I and IV and finally speeded up the whole recording of IV by 4%; more than 6% and the vibrato starts to sound funny). One thing I think this exercise proves beyond doubt is the fallibility of Mr Maelzel's device in its early years. But then to attempt to quantify time in such a finely graded way was quite a revolutionary thing, probably alien to how most people of the time thought about music.

[Double-A]

I think Maelzel's device (and its electronic successors) has been a problem from day one to today.  Yet it was very quickly adopted by lots of people (Beethoven, Onslow etc.).  And also:  Yet it is a useful instrument for the daily practice session. 
Technically it has to be derived from watch / clock making, where the exact division of time is crucial for function; the underlying physics (pendulum swing frequency) has been known since Galilei.
I still believe that the one M.M. figure that is completely off in this quartet (minuet) is some sort of printing error; I just don't have a good hypothesis as to what error it specifically might be.
But:  In the first movement the sextuplet passages are probably playable for a virtuoso at minim = 96, but probably not with the articulation markings given (or if playable they would sound ridiculous: I would certainly simplify them).  What could that mean?  The tempo might be given too fast (maybe by Mazas, maybe by the publisher, who knows?); the articulation might have been added by the publisher without thinking about the tempo; the passages might have been taken slower than the bulk of the movement (following my violin teacher's advice).  Such questions surround a lot of metronome markings one finds in music from the last two centuries.

[matesic]

Here is the Minuetto again:
http://www.mediafire.com/listen/8oqi9dmikr12rn8/mazas_quartet_m2f.mp3
and the Adagio non troppo:
http://www.mediafire.com/listen/74ghr8vwaez77j6/mazas_quartet_m3f.mp3
both speeded up by 15%. And actually yes, I agree they both go better at this speed! My recording of the adagio definitely tends towards the "molto".

To return to the metronome with a piece of pure speculation, I wonder if it contributed to the increasing flexibility of tempo that characterized the romantic period? Did musicians come to appreciate that tempo could be varied in subtle steps, not necessarily abruptly? One might cite recitative as as an earlier example of flexible tempo, but (depending how it's delivered) that's more like the complete absence of a pulse.

[Double-A]

Yes, this is very good.

Your idea about the metronome is interesting.  It might be that the very fact that it brutally points out how much your tempo varies caused people to plan tempo variation more consciously, in such a way that e.g. Brahms explicitly demanded a somewhat slower tempo for the second subject of mvt. 1 of his a-minor quartet. 
I am not sure people played with stubbornly constant tempi in the pre Maelzel era, though that is the impression we all have nowadays.  And recitatives (only secco count in this context) are unique because language is involved in a major way.  Good secco singing follows the rhythm of the language.

[jonfrohnen]

His two violins concertos along with the La Cloche fantasy have been on my list for quite a while.  The scores are created now we need a violinist that can sing.

[Double-A]

How did you discover those concertos?  The Wikipedia entry on Mazas is extremely thin with only a small selection of works mentioned; the list of works on IMSLP, while evidently incomplete (or at least with many gaps in the sequence of opus numbers) is much more comprehensive, but no mention of concertos either.  I checked the catalogue of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and don't find concertos among the approx. 200 entries (sheet music only) on Mazas Jacques Fereol.  All I find are some "Phantaisies" (or similar titles) with orchestra or more often "piano ou orchestre".

BTW I looked at the "etudes d'artistes".  If they are any indication the violinist you are looking for has to be able to do more than just sing.

[jonfrohnen]

I found them by coincidence when I was collecting the Maurer violin concertos, just happened to notice them in an old card catalog :-)

[Double-A]

Intriguing!  I had been wondering why his list of works did not include any VCs.  I suppose they are manuscripts, so no opus numbers.

[eschiss1]

Hrm? No, a check @BNF reveals that at least one was published by Naderman... see http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb43144880j/PUBLIC.
if lists of his works don't include violin concertos, it's because people haven't done sufficient research.


(Certainly some- too many, but not all...- of the worklists at IMSLP were put together in a great hurry using, on the evidence, computer scraping software, from a very limited number of sources; I have spent a fair amount of time trying to improve them to my slight abilities, but it's frustrating...)

[jonfrohnen]

Yes, concerto #1 Naderman without opus (dedicated to Baillot); concerto #2 Armand op.23 without dedication.

[Double-A]

Very curious about these concertos.  It has been said on this forum that VCs written by violinists are mostly disappointing.  I tend to agree at least for this period.  Rode, Spohr etc. did not write very exciting concertos for themselves.  So the question about Mazas' concertos would be--in light of the surprising quality of the quartets--Do they brake the mold?  I am not too optimistic:  Spohr has some very good quartets while his concertos are boring (even the Gesangsszene after a small number of listenings).