J.D. Braun, 6 Sonates a 2 bassons/basses, op. 6 (1730) (for MuseScore ver. 1.2)

• Mar 15, 2012 - 00:00

This is the complete edition of Jean-Daniel Braun's 6 Sonates Op. 6 pour 2 bassons ou 2 basses, as printed in Paris 1730 (for a few details on this little-known Franco-German composer, see this short article ).

This MuseScore rendition has been created with ver. 1.2 and it is better played with it, as it uses many custom offtime offsets (for phrasing) AND jumps and repeats, which could not be used together with previous versions. Not all sonatas have been fully phrased, but the idea should be easy to get.

Of the two instrumentations the title suggests, I have preferred the second (using cello), but of course you may change it.

If you like the style, you may want to download also the preface (originally typeset with Scribus and available as PDF), with details on the edition criteria.

Note: for the longish Chacony of Sonata 6, requiring extra page turnings in score format, separate parts are also provided.

Enjoy,

M.

P.S.: The engraving uses extensively the Linux Libertine font, which is freely available at //www.linuxlibertine.org/ .

Attachment Size
Braun_Op6_0.pdf 144.67 KB
Braun_Op6_1.mscz 24.05 KB
Braun_Op6_2.mscz 27.93 KB
Braun_Op6_3.mscz 25.23 KB
Braun_Op6_4.mscz 22.45 KB
Braun_Op6_5.mscz 13.43 KB
Braun_Op6_6.mscz 15 KB
Braun_Op6_6_1.mscz 6.68 KB
Braun_Op6_6_2.mscz 5.28 KB

Comments

• Mar 16, 2012 - 08:34

Thank you Miwarre for contributing these sonatas.
If I open the preface PDF file, one gets a good idea about the visual quality of the engraving.
Opening the MuseScore files on the Computer, of course I will just find the standard Helvetica for the Titles and Times New Roman.
Is there a way to change these fonts to your Linux Libertine one?
Does that font family also provide a music font to display in MuseScore?
Thank you and with kind regards

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• Mar 16, 2012 - 19:31

lasconic is right: Linux Libertine is just a text font, it has no special interaction with MuseScore: simply install it thought your operating system font installation procedure: it will be available (to any proram) and MuseScore will go on using its own symbols and shapes for musical elements.

I chose it as a font which:

1) does not require any particular copyright compliance from the score user (Helvetica and Times New Roman are not public domain: if your operating system carries it, you'r OK, but if it does not, you should buy them!);

2) has a distinctive character without being too fancy.

I had three runners:

1) Accanthis from Arkandis Digital Foundry , which is very carefully crafted, has many bells and whistles (ligatures and swash initials were appealing), but is a little bit too on the fancy side for a text font;
2) GentiumPlus from SIL , which is a neat, crisp font, but seems to me not to stand well at very small pitches and has ascenders a little bit too high (again for a text font);
3) Linux Libertine from Linux Libertine org , which is probably the least characterized of the three but, at least to my eyes, the best deal overall (I also like very much its upper cases).

If anybody has other suggestions (whithin conditions 1) and 2) above), there are welcome.

Thanks,

M.

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• Mar 19, 2012 - 19:27

I installed the Linux Libertine font.
But still MuseScore 1.2 opens the Braun Sonatas with standard Helvetica and Times New Roman.
Do I have to go through the Text Style… settings and change all individual items to Linux Libertine?
What about the non serif font style? Should I change Helvetica to Linux Biolinum, which sits in the same font package?
Or will I find a general setting to import the Linux Libertine Text Style…?
Thank you for help.

Attachment Size
Text Style….png 125.61 KB

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• Mar 21, 2012 - 10:07

Your screen shot shows the Tempo text style: in my scores, this specific style keeps the default (bold) Times New Roman, because it is quite similar to the font frequently used for Tempo indications; so, for this particular item, it is correct that your MuseScore copy uses Times New Roman.

Other styles, namely Title, Subtitle, Composer, InstrumentLong, Copyright, MeasureNumber, PageNumberOdd/Even, DO use Linux Libertine. I re-downloaded the Sonata 5 which appears in your screen shot and unZIPped the .mscz: it contains the proper font indications for all the customized styles (I didn't re-check all the other sonatas, but I assume they are the same), so it should not be necessary to do anything to see the correct fonts, once they have been installed.

In particular, no, it should not be necessary to go through the different text styles and change them: they should ALREADY be set correctly. So, why this is not true in your case?

1) Which operating system do you use?

2) If you start a normal word processor or any other program offering font selection, do you see the Linux Libertine among the fonts available? How is its name spelled exactly?

Thanks,

M.

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• Mar 21, 2012 - 11:03

Miwarre,

thank you for your answer.
I have installed the *.otf version of the Linux Libertine font (on Mac OS 10.6.8).
In a word processor the font shows up as „Linux Libertine O“, probably because of the Open Font version.
Your reuploaded 5th sonate falls back to all standard Times New Roman and Helvetica.
I am using MuseScore 1.2
What I will try next is, to download the True Type version of the Libertine Font *.ttf and see, wether that will change things.
Thank you so far.

Attachment Size
Linux Libertine O.png 21.22 KB

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• Mar 23, 2012 - 00:24

So, this was the source of the problem: the OTF version has a different font name (because of the added final 'O') and the font manager could not find any font with the required name (just "Linux Libertine" without any 'O'). Please note that this is partly a Qt but mostly an operating system matter: MuseScore has little control on the fonts the system eventually chooses.

So, in future postings I will specify "Linux Libertine" TTF version.

Thanks for the time you spent and your commitment in solving this issue!

M.

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• Mar 16, 2012 - 09:13

Bar 15 of the first Allegro in Sonata 1 - should the first note in the second part be G?

The A clashes with the B and wouldn't be the sequence I was expecting from the previous bar.

Shame you didn't implement the marked ornaments in the playback.

But brilliant work nevertheless.

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• Mar 16, 2012 - 09:53

we have to be careful.
We communicate in English, even if it is not our first language.
We might, without realising, insult the other person.
„shame on you“ is - as far as i know - a very strong negative statement, only spoken out in great anger.
So what was probably meant is „it is a pity that we can’t get an idea, how the ornaments would sound“ or „it would be nice, if somebody would take the time to make a version with ornaments been played back“.

This leads me to my actual question: is MuseScore able to play out ornaments?

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• Mar 16, 2012 - 18:56

About ornaments:

1) In general, as ChurchOrganist said, MuseScore 1.x does not play ornaments;

2) In particular, for music up to, say, mid-XVIII c., writing (or anyway realizing) ornaments in full would be, at least in my opinion, more a fault than a feature: ornaments are not short-hand for many quick notes; they are at another level; even when we know their 'meaning' to some extent (which is not always true), they are played as ornaments, mostly non-measured, with a degree of sprezzatura (non-chalance?). Their details depend on the performer, on the moment (and for pieces, like these, which can be played with different instruments, they also depends on the instrument).

3) For this work specifically, Braun uses a generic sign for ornament (the cross), which is entirely left ot the player to realize into notes.

For all these reasons, I'm quite happy that MuseScore does not even allow to open this can of worms! (I probably would not use this feature, even it if existed).

(additional: 4) the original print only contains those signs: any editorial intervention on them would be to my eyes largely injustified.)

@ChurchOrganist: A instead of G. Gasp! You are entirely right! I have proof-read the pieces several times and heard them contless times and I never noticed! Shame on me would be entirely appropriate!

M.

P.S.: About shame: I'm not a native speaker of English. As ChurchOrganist pointed out, his sentence was not offensive at all; but should it have taken a heavier form, I believe I would had not taken any offense: when many persons share a language without being native speakers, speakers should be careful, but listeners should be tolerant (I'm not sure I did use all the correct tenses in the previous sentence; if I didn't, please be tolerant...)

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• Mar 17, 2012 - 07:09

sorry ChurchOrganist
I am not that firm with the suttelties of the English language.
So I totally misunderstood and hope you may apology.

By the way, I myself am not a fan of written out ornaments as they try to fix something that is not fixed.
That is where notation gives the musician even more possibilities than normally.
A written down (or played back) notation can be a nice example but can be easily misunderstood and therefore misinterpreted.
For a lot if musicians certain repertoire may feel like an unknown language, so they will apreciate help (in form of written out ornaments f.e., or accents, articulation, phrasing, cresc. ritardando etc.)
On the other hand, if a musician knows that “language” it will feel very strange - even hindring.

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• Mar 17, 2012 - 11:57

You are right: Baroque or Renaissance music are to some extent esoteric, as lots of things are not written out, but expected. However, I assume (wrongly?) that this is no longer an unchartered field and any formal training in music could / should / would included some guide lines; or at least, that there is somebody (teacher, friend, collegue, ...) to ask to...

For ornaments, it came to my mind that a good compromise could be what they (i.e. the authors of Baroque times themselves) did occasionally: a table of ornaments inserted in the front matters, usually when introducing new sings (as Couperin or Marais did, to quote only the most knwon).

These tables contain descriptions of the signs, sometime in notes, sometime even in words, allowing to (mostly?) grasp the intended musical meaning, but in the pieces the signs were used, keeping the distinction from 'usual' notes. I think tables like these can be found rather easily.

Thanks,

M.

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• Mar 17, 2012 - 13:20

@kb No worries - as you say, English is not your native language, and I was using an idiomatic construction which would be frowned on by a grammar expert.

I certainly teach my students about Baroque interpretation.

I do think though that written out examples can help students wishing to improve their knowledge.

Although what I had in mind here was a hidden stave playing back a written interpretation of the ornament whilst leaving the sign intact.

I'm hoping that the layers feature which is to be implemented in MuseScore 2.0 will be of help here, as it would enable several written out interpretations of an ornament to be available for study (assuming notes as well as text can be included on a layer).

Finally, I understood that the + sign is usually interpreted as a shake, unless it falls at a cadence, in which case it should be played as a cadential trill - very often context is important in the interpretation of an ornament :)

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