Oorwegings by die realisering en dokumentering van 'n duet- of duo- orreltranskripsie van Fauré se Requiem (op. 48)

[摘要] English: In 2010 I was invited to take part in a performance of Fauré's Requiem (Op. 48) in which the orchestral parts were transcribed for organ by Pawel (2000). From the outset it was apparent that the transcription would not do justice to the original aesthetic spirit of the work. Organ transcriptions are however indispensable in liturgical or concert performance contexts where a performance of the orchestral score is not possible. The availability of recordings poses significant challenges to such a transcription, as audiences, conductors and choristers are so familiar with the work �?the Requiem is Fauré's most popular and well-known piece. Thus a transcription that fails to take into account the original orchestral tonal palette will result in an unsatisfactory performance. It was for this reason that I decided to transcribe the work myself. Before the process of conceptualising a transcription in a responsible manner, one needs consider the task, and speculate upon the research question of whether Fauré himself would have opposed the very idea of an organ transcription, and also whether perhaps an organ duo or duet transcription would better serve the work. In order to answer this question in an academically justifiable manner, it was necessary to contextualise the existing transcription practise in Fauré's Requiem in more detail. After studying and interpreting relevant literature on the subject, specific contexts pertaining to the work were construed in order to establish a framework and foundation that could support the process of transcription. To this end I focused upon aspects that were illuminated, in a concrete tangible manner, by the context wherein the Requiem gained its origin. These points of departure were, namely, historical, religious-philosophical, and also compositional-philosophical and compositional-pedagogical. This literature study was supplemented by exhaustive study of the scores of editions of Fauré's Requiem. This framework subsequently served as the raison d'etre for the transcription as a responsible re-interpretation of Fauré's musical clothing of the words, as a vehicle of expression of the religious text. The literature study brought to light that transcriptions were an integral part of the nineteenth-century musical milieu, and that Fauré and his contemporaries contributed to this practice without reservation, approving only transcriptions faithful to the original work. It also appeared that Fauré, especially in his liturgical music, readily accommodated diverse accompanimental possibilities, according to the instrumental resources available to him on different occasions. Although Fauré wrote no original organ compositions, he made extensive use of the instrument to accompany voices in his liturgical works. It is on this evidence that I concluded that the composer would not have objected to a responsible organ transcription of his Requiem. Unlike most of his contemporaries, Fauré was singulary disindined towards gargantuan orchestral and theatrical effects, and drawn rather to subtle nuances of colour in order to illustrate the text. Also, his liturgical compositions are noticeably shorn of secular influences. Fauré's personal approach to the Requiem remains true to this premise, and can therefore serve as a model of the Hellenic ideals so dear to him. In order to retain the orchestral colouristic element of the original work and achieve aesthetic satisfaction in a transcription, the medium of the organ duo or duet is rendered essential, as two players are capable of handling more of these colouristic elements. In closing, it should be mentioned that the question of an organ transcription of Fauré's Requiem (Op. 48) has not been investigated in existing literature. As such a transcription should find an indispensible role in performances of the work in smaller liturgical or concert contexts, this may justify the subject worthy of an academic study. Additionally, neither an organ duo nor an organ duet version exists, and so this study addresses that hiatus, and further contributes to the international corpus of the organ transcription repertoire. The scrupulous documentation of the process of transcription, as well as the performance and recording of this version, affords the study academic credibility, as well as verity of professional authenticity.

[发布机构] University of the Free State