Voice and Sound

The principles of rhetoric were transferred from vocal music to instrumental music. Song is an extension of speech, while instrumental music is the transfer of song to an instrument (A. Maceina). Pursuit of song-like instrumental expression (“thinking in terms of song”—C. P. E. Bach) is one of the most important forms of musicality. If the externality of the instrument disappears, in this virtuosity the foreign instrument appears as a perfectly developed organ of the artistic soul (G. Hegel). Discovering a love of singing in his teens, the author developed a vocal orientation. Later, in concert halls, in addition to performing on the oboe, he started to sing Lithuanian folk songs, returning to the singing expression engendered in his childhood. Two pairs of recordings of the author’s performances at various times between 1973 and 2019 are referenced: Grave from the Oboe Concerto in C major by F. Dall’Abaco, and the Lithuanian folk song Vai tu, aglala (“O, you little fir tree”); Largo by the Lithuanian composer J. Indra (1918–1968) and the Lithuanian folk song Rūta žalioj (“Green rue”). Brief discussion of various aspects of vocal quality of sound expression and historical examples: messa di voce, portamento, instrumental obligatos of the arias of cantatas of J. S. Bach, and music of W. A. Mozart for clarinet inspired by A. Stadler. German instrumental culture, which moved in the direction of singende Denken, is illustrated by recordings of three works of W. A. Mozart, performed with the author on oboe—String Quartet No. 12 (KV 172)—Adagio, Three German Dances (KV 605), and German Dance (KV 611). As instrumental music has developed, it has deviated from the principles of ars cantandi.