Batendo às portas do novo século: a colaboração entre Jean-Louis Duport e Ludwig van Beethoven no desenvolvimento da escrita para o violoncelo no século XIX

Abstract

This work consists of an analysis of the fundamentals and technical approaches to the cello defined by Jean-Louis Duport (1749-1819) in his Essai sur le doigté du violoncelle et sur la conduite de l'archet (1806), considered the first modern treatise on the cello technique. The legacy of this compendium can be reflected in some of the monumental works of literature of the instrument, which lasts at least until the beginning of the 20th century. Thus, this research seeks elements that demonstrate Duport's influence, not only in the writing of Beethoven's first two Sonatas for piano and cello Op. 5 — which he premiered along with the composer when they were in Berlin, in 1796 — but also highlights the potential of the instrument in the composition of the other Sonatas, written in distinct compositional periods, in a way that clearly portrays Beethoven's three phases. Based on an in-depth knowledge of the aforementioned treatise, we seek a better understanding of the principles of cello performance in this period, as well as how the articulations proposed by Beethoven were interpreted. To this end, we used the first editions of the five Sonatas for piano and cello (Opp. 5, 69 and 102), as well as two urtext editions, Henle Verlag (München, 1971) and Bärenreiter (Kassel, 2004). Likewise, we used works by Walden (2004), probably the most comprehensive research on the 100 years of technical and musical repertoire of the cello, between 1740 and 1840, as well as Kennaway (2014, 2021); the works of Lockwood (1977, 1986, 1992, 1998, 2003, 2005), on the life and work of Beethoven; Lodes (2004), Moskovitz and Todd (2017), Crawford (1995), as well as Yun (2013), who addresses technical and interpretative issues of the five Sonatas. Similarly, Campbell (1999, 2004), and Chen-Merret (2006), who contextualize the life and work of Jean- Louis Duport. In that sense, we turn our attention to Beethoven’s Kafka manuscript notebook, which includes sketches produced between 1786 and 1799, including fragments of the two Sonatas for piano and cello, Op. 5. Two important aspects to consider that indicate the closeness and collaboration between Beethoven and Duport: the folio 57, which contains a brief commentary on its back, “Billet an Duport Morgen Frühe”; and folio 109, which contains a page of fingerings and compositional possibilities for the instrument—not in Beethoven’s handwriting—that was probably written by Jean-Louis Duport. It seems that this unpretentious loose sheet of paper would be so influential for idiomatic writing as well as for the development of cello literature for the next hundred years or more. More specifically, in fragment 4, a simple sequence of six chords, which opened the door to the development of a particular articulation, which we call “textural writing”, as well as all its developments. Starting with the simple sequence of chords on folio 109, written in 1796, and culminating with the premiere and first published edition of Dvořák's monumental Cello Concerto in 1896. More than that, the association of Duport to Beethoven documents the first collaboration between cellist and composer, at the same time that it points to the development of cello writing well beyond the 19th century. Furthermore, this research provides a Portuguese edition of Duport's Essay, to a simple and updated language, including a musical notation revised into modern standards, which allows us to gain an in-depth understanding of this treatise—a relevant compendium for cello teaching and pedagogy, notably due to its appendix containing 21 Studies—, including its revisions, reductions and brief text expansions that appear in subsequent editions and their respective translations.