“The sound image” of F. Mendelssohn piano (based on Etudes Op. 104 b).
It is known that the specificity of the instrument substantially influences the artistic intentions of musicians. Nazaikinskiy noted that the seman-tic component of the «sound world of music « is directly related to the nature of the musical instrument. Consequently, the composer’s intention depends on the acoustic characteristics of the particular instrument or group of instruments. That is precisely what A. Copland had in mind when he introduced the concept of «so-norous image of the instrument»: «auditory imagination emerging in the mind of the performer or composer; mental picture of the accurate «nature» of sounds that are brought to life by them». The term was caught on and picked up by L. Gakkel who offered a description of «sonourous images of the piano» in the first half of the 20 th century. However, we believe that the «sound image» is a more precise definition which reflects not only the momentary, but the potential. In this regard, we rely on the term «the sound image of the piano» defined by I. Sukhlenko as «a kind of stylistic view of the complex perception of expressive possibilities of a musical instrument: timbre, dynamic, register specifications and related artistic semantic» [7]. The purpose of this article is to identify parameters determining the sound image of the piano, its composer’s fixation and performing embodiment. The ma-terial of the etude is sheet music of F. Mendelssohn Etudes Op. 104 b and perform-ing versions of D. Andi and K. Keane. The objectof investigation is chosen to be piano culture, the subjectis the specificity of «sonourous image of the piano» in the works of F. Mendelssohn. In view of changes of the «sound image of the piano» especially interesting are transition periods when one era appears to replace the other and there is a kind of layering of styles, «sound images» of instruments and the corresponding types of equipment. Thus, the German composer Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy belonged to the camp of academics and was acutely aware of his «pastness». However, the cre-ative thinking of Felix Mendelssohn, the content of his music, and genres in which he created, of course, were generated by the aesthetics of romanticism that was interpreted by the composer very moderately. Despite the rich heritage of the composer, the most striking embodiment of Mendelssohn’s piano thinking is still a «home», chamber style of «Songs without words» that sprout in almost all the other genres. And though, «Songs without Words» are the quintessence of Mendelssohn’s artistic thinking, more illustrative for understanding the basics of his piano interpretation, in our opinion, are the composer’s etudes. For the first time, F. Mendelssohn turned to the genre of etudes at the age of 12, later he created three samples (C Major, A Minor, D Minor) rather difficult for an adult musician. 15 years later F. Mendelssohn turned to the etudes again, when he wrote Three Preludes and three Etudes, embodying them into one opus ¹ 104. It should be noted that by the first half of the 19 th century the following types of etudes had emerged – instructive, characteristic and concert-artistic (according to the classification of N. Terentyeva), although this division is rather arbitrary. The history of op. 104 b is rather interesting. At first the composer wrote etude ¹ 2 in F Major (1834). Etude ¹ 1 in B-flat minor was created two years later, and only in 1838 there came the third etude in A. Thus, the etudes were developed into the opus as they were written. Etudes from op. 104 b combine both classic and romantic features. Transparent texture, allocation of hand function, predominance of fine technique and narrower range – these are the main features of the classical type of technique. However, song thematism, salon character of culture, hidden polyphony, transfer of themes from one hand to hand point to the romantic character. So, let us consider etudes from op. 104 b in more detail. The first etude in B-flat minor is prelude in character, it seems to prepare the listener, adjusts them to the desired tune. The texture is clear, visually reminiscent of C. Czerny and M. Clementi. However, attention is drawn to a significant detail – typical for the romantic tendency to «vocalize» instrumental music, to give it song expression. The second etude in F Major, immerses us in the dominant tonality. The im-age of this etude is similar to the light images of F. Schubert Impromptus. This is evidenced by easy movement with triplets, and blur of the etude facets. Also, attention is paid to the existence of hidden two-voice texture. In general,the etude is the lyrical center of the cycle, as evidenced by its great superiority. The third etude in A Minor is a dramatic climax, which serves as the final of the cycle. Because of the melodic line played by the right hand with syncopes we have a feeling of instability, some uncertainty, anxiousness. We have found a few records of F. Mendelssohn etudes, and have singled out two of them, those which most clearly represent the difference between instrument interpretation. These are records of pianists Constance Keene and Daniel Adni, little-known in our country. F. Mendelssohn etudes performed by K. Keane are a clear example of the classical understanding of the piano. It is expressed in the minimum use of the pedal, application of finger technique, which leads to a clear, sometimes dry sound of the instrument. Israeli pianist Daniel Adni completely has different interpretation of F. Men-delssohn etudes. D. Adni’s performance is full of romantic colors: more free tem-pos, soft touch, full immersion in the key, bold use of pedals and agogical devia-tions, bright and passionate impetuosity. To sum up, we should mention that F. Mendelssohn Etudes op. 104 b are a wonderful example of creativity in transition period. They seemed to embody such directions of musical art as classicism and romanticism, completely opposite in artistic goals and technical decisions. This combination of basic classical piano technique and romantic images gives the performer an opportunity to search for the concept of the piece.