Cadenzas
Some scores, especially those for orchestral
compositions that date from the 18th or previous centuries, contain
passages that the composer expects a soloist to play, not an orchestral
group. These kinds of solo passages, called cadenzas, feature a performance
by a bravura solo instrumentalist whose performance is meant to contrast
with that of the the full orchestra or with parts of it. The composer
usually intends for cadenza performances to sparkle; he expects the
performer to play them as florid, daring, and brilliant display pieces.
There are two types of cadenza passages—one type is
written or scored by the composer; the other type is required and described
by the composer but not scored by him.
In this second type, the composer specifies and
describes the general nature of the cadenza but leaves it up to the soloist
to supply the rest of what's needed when he performs his solo before an
audience. There is nothing about this second type of cadenza that composers
or performers need to apologize for. Indeed, some of the instrumental
passages supplied by soloists who perform their own cadenzas are so good
they have been recorded and saved for posterity.
Cadenzas come in different flavors. A composer may
write a cadenza passage and specify that his version of the cadenza is
optional; or he may write a cadenza and specify that his version is
mandatory. If a composer specifies that his own cadenza is optional, the
soloist is free to displace the composer's cadenza with his own, with the
composer's blessing. If the composer's version is mandatory, the composer's
version may not be displaced by another version, but at her peril a soloist
may choose to suffer the composer's displeasure and insert a cadenza that
she writes anyway.
Soloists who write their own cadenzas are usually
exceptionally talented (and sometimes egotistic)—they're instrumental
artists with a flare for composition who want to show off both their
performing skills and their ability to compose. But this is not always the
case. Soloists who are not especially ambitious, talented, or egotistic
have been known to borrow another performer's version of a cadenza rather
than write one of their own.
The composer who leaves cadenzas for performers to
write is not normally a lazy or second-rate musician dodging his job; nor
is a soloist who writes a cadenza necessarily a performer who seeks to
outshine a composer.
Then why would composers and instrumentalists be
willing to cooperate so that performers will create musical passages in
cadenzas in this manner? Many reasons apply, depending on circumstances:
- Soloists may accept a composer's
invitation to write a cadenza passage for the same reason that they often
accept an invitation to play them—because they
want to show off their talents.
- Composers may give popular or successful soloists the opportunity to
show off because they respect a soloist's talents.
- The composer may owe the soloist a favor, or vice
versa.
- A famous or successful performer can be a feather
in a composer's hat. A composer may want her to play a new composition to
attract an audience to it, and the invitation is a carrot the performer
can't or won't refuse.
- Sometimes a soloist and composer are friends or
associates.
A soloist who supplies the missing notes may
compose them in advance of a performance and bring them to the performance
to play them. In such cases, she will normally memorize her composition
before she arrives at the performance venue and play it by heart.
At other times a soloist will improvise the notes
omitted by a composer during a performance and on the spur of the moment.
Improvised performances like these can be among the most inspiring and
exciting anyone will ever hear because the performer's heart and soul is in
them.
Sometimes the composer and the performer will be
the same person; the soloist will also be the composer. Composers who are
talented performers sometimes take the option to leave a cadenza blank when
they write a work so that they are in a position to show off their
instrumental skills when it comes time to play their own works. Mozart and
Beethoven provide two noteworthy examples of composer-performers who
improvise their own missing cadenza passages, with Mozart improvising on
several instruments, especially the piano, and Beethoven performing mainly
on the piano.
Jazz
Scores of many jazz compositions contain all the
notes and directions that the composer wants performers to play. But some
jazz compositions do not. In jazz, the missing notes in a score are meant
by a composer or arranger to be improvised by the instrumentalists.
Some jazz compositions contain a complete set of
notes and directions, but the composer expects the performers to improvise
by playing their own notes after they have rendered the notes as set down
by the composer.
Sometimes the improvisations are the job of a
soloist; sometimes they are the job of a group. Solo improvisations are
demanding but they're the work of a single person. Imagine the skill it
takes for several people to make up music as they go along and still
manage to harmonize. Just starting and stopping at the right time is hard
enough.