Arpeggione | Projet
Performers have always wanted to understand the very essence of composers' creations. But, of course, nothing is more subjective and difficult than the reading of a score. In the latter half of the 20th century, the period-instrument movement became a dominating force in the music world and, as a consequence, ancient instruments like the viola da gamba, lute, and harpsichord have reappeared in full force as "active instruments." With this instrumental renaissance were brought to light a number of forgotten masterpieces.
Some old compositions that were extremely popular have been arranged for modern instruments and have stayed in the repertoire until today. Good examples are the Bach Gamba Sonatas, played on the cello, or some lute pieces, played on the guitar. The Schubert Sonata for Arpeggione and Fortepiano (D. 821) is another good example of a favorite piece written by a beloved composer that continues to live, thanks to the cello or the viola. The Sonata was composed in November 1824, only one year after the invention of the arpeggione, an instrument created by J.G. Staufer, one of the finest guitar makers of the 19th century (Schubert's own guitar was made by Staufer). Schubert dedicated the composition to the guitarist Vincenz Schuster, who eventually became an arpeggionist and wrote a method published by Diabelli in Paris. Unfortunately, this instrument's life was short, and Schubert turned out to be the only well-known composer to have written for it. (Called a "bowed guitar" or guitar violoncello by its inventor, the six-stringed, fretted instrument was tuned like a guitar but played like a cello.)
Why do I play the arpeggione? As a cellist, I played, of course, the Schubert sonata in a cello arrangement. But between two "Urtext" cello editions of this Sonata, there are nearly 200 differences! I lookedat the original manuscript to try to find my own reading, and I became curious about the arpeggione's sound and the technique of playing it. I was wondering what kind of vibrato was possible with a fretted instrument. I also wanted to know exactly how an accent or a fp sounded on a gut string.
I contacted the Belgian violin maker Benjamen La Brigue, and I asked him what he thought about a project to study the Schubert Sonata on an actual arpeggione. He told me that he was also interested in this instrument, and thus encouraged me. I decided to have an arpeggione built in order to play the Sonata with fortepiano. (The day I mailed a letter to Mr. La Brigue describing my idea in detail, I had gone to Brussels. Waiting at a bus stop, I struck up a conversation with a stranger. When the conversation turned to music, I realized that he was the violin maker La Brigue, and he realized that I was the cellist Deletaille; I considered this event to be an auspicious beginning!)
While La Brigue did his work, I did mine. I came up with a system to learn the arpeggione fingerboard (which is the same as the guitar's), and spent a full night conceiving a piece that includes all position shifts without repetition. I found the total number of notes possible was 144,781, but could not succeed in finding a way to "organize" them and write them on paper. Next day, I gave up and phoned Laurent Beeckmans, a pianist, composer, and mathematician, who came over with a computer technician, and we discussed it over coffee. The task was not easy, and thus the resulting Study for Arpeggione Fingerboard and Three Brains took more than a year to write. It is 700 pages long, and, by my estimation, would last approximately 40 hours if played by a very virtuosic and healthy arpeggionist!
On Christmas Day, 2001, I received the arpeggione that La Brigue had built, and the next month I showed it to Kris Oelbrandt, from whom I had commissioned a piece for arpeggione solo. He had already nearly finished the piece (Monologue), which turned out very well, despite the fact that he wrote it without hearing the instrument. I also showed the instrument to the composer Aldo Platteau as well as to Paul-Baudouin Michel. Later in January, I showed the instrument to Tzu-Ling Sarana Chou. They were the first composers to write music for arpeggione for 175 years!
Other composers have been writing pieces for arpeggione. The repertoire is broader years after years. The complete new repertoire list is posted on this Web Site and is updated every time new pieces are written.
Nicolas Deletaille, April 2005