Here Comes Treble: An Obsolete Instrument
Musician and writer Isabel Bradley introduces us to the arpeggione, an instrument that was fairly popular for ten years in the 19th Century before falling into disuse.
Recently my friend and accompanist, Susan, and I performed the beautiful Arpeggione Sonata by Franz Schubert for a select audience of family and friends. I introduced the work with an explanation of the title and a poem, to give my audience some understanding of the music we were about to play:
The Arpeggione was a musical instrument, developed in 1823 by the Viennese guitar maker, Johann Georg Staufer. Also known as the bowed guitar, it was a six-stringed, fretted instrument, tuned exactly like a classical guitar and played with a ‘cello bow. Its body shape was similar to that of a guitar, with a smooth case rather than the decorative shaping of violins and ‘cellos.
The instrument was held between the knees like a ‘cello, but with no end-pin to support it on the floor. It was fairly popular for about ten years, then fell into disuse. One example remains in a museum, presumably somewhere in Vienna, though there is a gentleman in Canada who has made one and plays it.
The sonata we are about to play was, as you will have guessed from its title, written for the Arpeggione, in November 1824. Schubert himself transcribed the work for the viola. Over the years, it has also been played on the ‘cello, the clarinet – and to my mind, the best transcription is this one for flute, by the Swiss flautist, Peter-Lucas Graf. The moods of the work move constantly between brooding and joyful. It consists of three movements, the first deeply contemplative, the second short and quietly joyous, which runs straight into the complex rondo of the third, mostly joyous movement. The changing moods of the work seem to echo the emotional ups and downs of Schubert’s life, inspiring the following poem:
A Musician’s Life
Immersed in music: theory, practice,
Performance, study.
Composition – here the true joy lies,
When the soul flies free, telling
The joys of life –
A drink in a pub,
A weekend of fun with friends,
Studying, laughing, not a care in the world…
Hard times when the music just doesn’t flow –
All is right with world, but the music is – stuck;
Such frustration, and yet –
Such joy when it sings forth again
For all the world to hear!
Troubling times – nowhere to live,
No money for food –
And yet that is when the music
Rings most true,
And truly beautiful.
Body and mind tortured
By love unrequited,
By illness, grief and despair –
And yet, the Music grows stronger,
Inspired, glorious,
Carrying the soul,
Soaring,
back to its Maker.
*
Until next time…. ‘here comes Treble!’
© Copyright Reserved
by Isabel Bradley
