How to Learn Diminition

It’s my pleasure to introduce my guest today Music Theorist, Performer and Music Historian, Dr. Giorgio Sanguinetti!

Sanguinetti teaches at the University of Rome-Tor Vergata. He gives classes and seminars in many prestigious European and American institutions, such as the Orpheus Institute in Ghent, the university of Leuven (Belgium), the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (Switzerland), the NUI in Maynooth (Ireland), the CUNY Graduate Center (New York), Northwestern University, Indiana University at Bloomington, and the Boston University.

For the winter semester 2012 he taught at the Schulich school of Music at McGill University, Montreal (CA). He was the organizer of 7th European Music Analysis Conference, Rome 2011. He has written several articles and essays on the history of Italian theory from 18th to 20th century, Schenkerian analysis, “analysis and performance, form in 18th century music” ,Opera analysis, and has worked intensively in the rediscovery of the Italian partimento tradition. In 2012 Oxford University Press published his book “The Art of Partimento: History, Theory and Practice”.

Sanguinetti is also a moderator on the fast growing public Facebook Group “The Art of Partimento”.

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2:16 Tell me your musical background 3:08 Why did Partimento die out? 4:51 Was Fenaroli a well known name in Italy in the modern age? 5:59 So even in Italy, Partimento faded away? 7:49 Was the Paris Conservatory influenced by the Naples tradition? 8:27 Why was the Prix de Rome considered a big deal for a winning French musician? 9:05 Can we pinpoint when Partimento got replaced in the 19th century? 11:43 Are there still plenty of archival material and manuscripts left in the Naples conservatory libraries? 13:52 Are there still old masters alive in Italy who practice Partimento or is it extinct? 15:37 Do we know exactly what Naples conservatory students studied over 10 years? 17:48 Talking about free improvisation 19:41 Do we have marked exam papers in these Naples conservatories? 21:10 What was Spontini’s failed exam about? 21:24 How many Naples conservatories were there? 22:09 Were all the Naples conservatories different in their approaches in learning Partimento? 23:59 Did Haydn probably get the pure Neapolitan course of study from Nicola Porpora? 24:56 How was the Bologna tradition of music education different from Naples? 26:49 What was Rameau’s influence on the Neapolitan tradition? 28:47 How is the Rule of the Octave different from modern triadic harmony? 30:55 How rare are authentic realizations of Partimenti and what conclusions should we draw from them? 32:50 How was a student supposed to learn diminutions? 34:58 How is Imitation important in the Partimento tradition? 36:47 How should a child new to learning music learn Partimento from the very beginning? 40:33 Was Beethoven a subscriber to Choron’s compendium of Italian treatises? 42:36 What are some common mistakes when trying to learn Partimento? 43:07 What are the 3 phases of playing Partimento? 45:13 What new things have you discovered since the release of your 2012 book “The Art of Partimento”? 48:10 How do you think people should analyze music? 50:07 Who are some great Italian composers who should be ranked alongside the great German masters like Bach and Mozart? 51:37 Talking about Vincenzo Bellini and Giuseppi Verdi 52:59 If you could reform music education, what would you do? 54:03 Upcoming projects 55:20 Wrapping Up