→Original← Bordogni vocalises?

[The Jackson]

Greetings, all,

Like so many other players out there, I spend a large amount of my practice time in the pages of the first volume of the Rochut "Melodious Etudes" for trombone. Even in my teenage years and relatively short amount of time exposed to and being a member of "the tuba community", I have already seen a fair amount of different opinions and interpretations when it comes to these etudies/studies/vocalises that are sworn to by so many. What I would very much like, just to study, at the very least, are the *original*, and *un-altered* vocalises by Giulio Marco Bordogni, EXACTLY how he wrote them.

I do realize that this could be very naïve thinking, but it's still something that I believe would prove to be very interesting. What I'd like to see in these original vocalises is the eradication of even the slightest hint or invasion of an editor's opinion as to how the vocalises should be played. Now, I say this entirely without the intention to insult any folks who have their own published editions of the vocalises. Again, I'd like this simply for examination and study, at the very least.

I've searched around and found quite a few pages discussing the vocalises, and more than a few editions of them for sale, but I cannot find any collection that does not have another person's name after (or before, even) Bordogni's. Can anyone help shed some light on this?

Mucho gracias,

Jackson

[The Big Ben]

I can't comment directly on your request. However, Encore Publishing and Wesley Jacobs have published a version of The Complete Solfeggi that is supposed to be true to the original. Here's the website:

http://www.bordogni.com" target="_blank

Perhaps they could help you find what you are looking for.

[The Jackson]

Many thanks for the replies!

I think I just will look into the interlibrary loan. Even though I'm still in high school, my dual enrollment program has me as a student at the college and, thus, access to their library. That should at least give me some sort of start. In a few months, I might even be have access to the library at the University of Miami down here, which should be VERY nice.

Again, thanks!

[pgym]

Short of viewing the autographs, this is likely as close as you're going to get: 12 nuovi Vocalizzi per voce di Tenore composti da Marco Bordogni... Lib.o I.°... Milano, F. Lucca. Un fascicolo in-4°contenente soltanto i primi 6 vocalizzi. Pagg. 26 di musica incisa per c. e pf. Pl. n. 6246. S.d.(1847 ca.).

And that assumes that: a) Bordogni did not edit or add other interpretive notes (dynamics, ornaments, tempi, articualtions, etc. to the mss when he prepared them for publication; and b) there are no transcriptional or typographical errors in the published score.

[The Jackson]

Thanks for the link, pgym. Maybe this publication is something I can get a hold of through an interlibrary loan?

[JB]

There are two things I would recommend you look into, and (third) something to be aware of.

[1] First, do a search on Worldcat.

As I gather you are in school and interlibrary loan is available to you, you will find a number of libraries (locations both in the US and in Europe) that house early editions of the various Bordogni vocalise collections. It will take a bit of leg work on your part to deduce what are the same and what are different collections, as the titles varied depending on who the publisher was (and the language of the home country of the publisher). However, with a bit of diligence, it is very possible.

With that information in hand, interlibrary loan can get copies of most of these to you. (It has been done before.)
Here is the link you require to get started.
http://www.worldcat.org/

[2] Check into the work of David Schwartz, and his published materials found at the following link.
http://mysite.verizon.net/~dschwar/descriptions.html


If you order Volume Six of The Bordogni Vocalises with Play Along Accompaniment, transcribed by David Schwartz, there is an accompanying CD-R that includes PDF files with scanned images of Bordogni's own vocal-and-piano score and images of two 1897 G. Schirmer volumes edited by Max Spicker (86 pages).

You may find these scans sufficient for your needs.

Also, if you read through this site, you can create a definitive list of all the Bordogni collections that he created. This will also aid you in your search.

[3] Mention was made of seeing some of the original vocalise books and the keys being half-steps or whole-steps away from the "trombone" edition. It is worth noting that while keys were sometimes altered by Rochut in his three volume edition, there is another factor of which you should be aware: there usually exist both a high voice and low voice version for each vocalise collection. I have copies of both in several cases, and the keys are different between the high and low version, with one or the other usually lining up very well with the well-known trombone editions. It will pay to consult both high and low publicationss if you are hoping to have them match the trombone/Rochut editions.

A list of the original “Bordogni keys” compared to those in the Rochut editions can be found here: http://mysite.verizon.net/~dschwar/keystempos.pdf

Approx 37 of the 120 vocalises have keys altered by Rochut.



Good luck with your quest.

[Allen]

Interesting topic.

Just to make the determination of original keys more complex: Years ago pitch standards varied wildly compared to now. I have seen tunings from A = 392 Hz to A = 456 Hz, and heard of even higher tunings.

Do let us know how your quest is going from time to time.

Cheers,
Allen
[residing this week at the Cosmopolitan Tuba Euphonium Workshop]