Reconciling Music and Text: A Conductor's Critical Examination of Conventional Approaches to Articulation in Early Choral Music

Abstract

Choral music affords conductors the opportunity to interpret both music and text. While this marriage of words and music is the very essence of the choral art, it occasionally presents conductors with conflicting artistic cues. One of the most problematic, yet least frequently addressed, considerations is that of articulation. Within the realm of language, the term “articulation” is often associated with elocution, or speaking clearly, whereas musicians define articulation as the manner in which a note is attacked, sustained, and released. The focus of this paper will be to examine the interplay of text and music in determining articulation in early choral works. Rather than dogmatically privileging text or notation as the guide to articulation, I examine how both have occupied dominant roles at various times throughout the Renaissance and Baroque eras. In the latter half of this paper, I present an approach to making interpretive decisions regarding articulation in early choral music. I also discuss how insightful score study and editorial markings can aid performers in elucidating the relationship between text and music, providing practical examples of my own annotated scores. I also briefly address rehearsal techniques and conducting practices that may prove beneficial in achieving the desired articulation from an ensemble. Finally, using a small selection of works from the post-baroque choral repertoire, I demonstrate how the conducting and performance principles established in this paper can be applied more broadly to choral works from any style period.