Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2002. Vol. 8. Eger Journal of American Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 28)
Studies - Péter Egri: (Per)chance: Joyce and Cage
ordinated: the time signatures (4/4) are clearly written out at the fronts of all three staves. The singer has already started with a beautiful motif. She has sung her two unaccompanied bars. The pianist is required to enter in bar 3. If he does not, he is sure to lose his contact with the singer and may even lose his contract with his employer. An accompanist cannot run that risk. Somewhat tense, he will keep his mind on the job at hand, he will use his two silent bars for preparing to start in the third at the right moment, all the more so since after his entry he will have to play three quick quintuplets and one triplet. The first notes of the first and second quintuplets are accented, but that of the third one is not. Rendering the triplet, both the first and the third notes must be accented. The pianist must not get it wrong. So he makes his entry dead on time, playing a bass A with his left hand and four treble A-s with his right hand. The first quintuplet is over. The effect is disastrous. The A-s are out of tune with the B of the voice. To make things worse, this happens when the tender lyricism of "silentsailing night " is set, and continues to occur all the way through the song at the most unexpected and inappropriate places. In bar 4 the bass C of the left hand is out of tune with the B of the voice petting the name of "Iso bei" The simultaneous A played by the right hand in the treble register also sounds false. In bar 28 the bass G played by the left hand is a discordant note to accompany the A of the voice at the end of the passionate address to "sister Isobel" The same is true of the bass G starting a quintuplet and accompanying a soft and tied A of the voice celebrating "Isa Veuve La Belle" to mention only a few examples. Chaos incarnate. The concert has proved a total failure. This is the end. The disconcerted pianist may at this point turn to the beginning once again. A Viconian move. To his surprise, he will find that while the voice part is introduced by a treble clef, no clefs guide the two staves of the piano. There is no treble clef for the right hand and no bass clef for the left one. Is the note in the first (bottom) space of the third stave something different from a bass A? Is the note in the second space something other than a bass C? Is the note in the third space not a bass E? Does the note in the fourth space not denote a bass G? Perchance. What are they then? 75
