...And Transcription

Who doesn't love transcribing?

Well, it can be rewarding, and it can be tedious. It can also be frustrating and conflicting. When you take a piece of music from the instrument it was written for and assign it to a different instrument that might not be as well suited to the music, you are going to run into problems.

In the olden days, transcription had a more noble purpose, that of giving people a chance to hear music they might not otherwise ever hear. Liszt went to the trouble of transcribing Beethoven's symphonies for solo piano not just because he was a Beethoven fanatic (which he surely was, by the way), but so that people in more rural areas that had no access to symphony orchestras would get a chance to hear this great man's music. Sometimes orchestral music was transcribed for two pianos making an expensive symphonic work into an inexpensive salon piece.

Sometimes a literal transcription would be a failure because of something being lost in translation. For example, the 24 Caprices Op. 1 of Paganini were a landmark in technique for the violin,

but transcribed directly to the piano, they lose all the expression and technique that make them remarkable. Stunning leaps on the violin become charmingly simple for a pianist with two hands. Liszt decided to transcribe 5 of them (and one theme from a violin concerto) for the piano and went about it an interesting way. He tried to directly transcribe the difficulties from the violin to the keyboard, making them at first terribly awkward to play. He then modified them and we now have the versions loved by pianists today. Difficult but expressive works for piano, embodying the spirit of the originals while still being separate entities.

Sometimes a piece for one instrument can serve as an inspiration for another. Rather than a direct quotation of the original, it might be a paraphrase of favorite moments of an opera. Liszt wrote many operatic paraphrases and 'reminiscences' which would give you the flavor of the opera, almost like a highlights reel, while being very pianistic in composition.

If you go far enough, then it become inspiration rather than transcription, such as when you have a set of variations on a theme.

Inspiration can go far enough that you don't even use any of the material of the piece but only respond to the very idea. Ravel, when he wrote Scarbo, wanted to surpass the difficulty of Islamey by Balakirev.

Islamey - M. Balakirev

Scarbo - M. Ravel

This is not really transcription, but it embodies the same central idea, being affected by something and writing something in response to it. You can copy it, you can paraphrase it, you can be inspired by it, you can respond to it with something completely different. One way or another, that music is having an effect on you so profound that you have to respond in some tangible way; appreciation isn't enough.

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So the other day I was completing the music planners for future services, as is part of my duties as Assistant Director of Music, and I noticed that in one of the upcoming services, the old German tune Wachet Auf Ruft Uns Die Stimme would go perfectly with the readings that Sunday. Sadly, our assembly has no familiarity with the tune, so it wouldn't do to have it as a hymn without some preparation. As you may or may not know, Bach wrote a cantata (Number 140 to be precise) on the tune from which he transcribed the fourth movement for organ alone. You might recognize it:

The hymn comes in the tenor played by the left hand. We lose some of the expressive harmonies is Bach's transcription because the original was for Continuo, not just a single bass line. We miss the harmonies that would be filled in by the accompanist. Still, it's a good tune. Bach transcribed several movements from cantatas for organ and they are known collectively as the Schubler Chorales. 

For some reason or another, I've become snared by the first movement of the cantata (which I have to admit, I heard for the first time in the movie: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou) and thought it might just make an effective postlude. I searched and could not find any reference to an organ transcription, so started checking the score. After a few minutes I believed I could transcribe it for organ duet. 

A few hours of arranging notes into something possible to play, and it was done. The next few hours were spent trying to find some kind of registration that would be appropriate. Trying to imitate the original strings, reeds, and chorus too much would give the effect of a MIDI orchestra, it was a problem of balance between fidelity to the original and making it organistic.

Eventually I settled on two registrations, one quiet and distinctive, the other loud so as to compete with the chatting crowds after mass. I recorded a quick and dirty run-through and superimposed the videos to see both organ parts at the same time. I feel satisfied that it will serve its purpose of giving music to people that they may never be able to hear live anywhere else, and it is great fun to play. Most everything a transcription should be.