Chedeville出身音樂家庭，並和法國當時另一個音樂家庭Hotteterre有親戚關係。他的叔公Louis Hotteterre，極有可能是他的啟蒙老師。於1720年左右，他進入了巴黎歌劇樂團，擔任風笛以及雙簧管樂手。於1725年，他取得了Jean Hotteterre在Les Grands Hautbois(皇家雙簧管樂隊)的未來職位繼承權，並在1732年Jean Hotteterre過逝後，正式成為樂隊的一員。
1729年開始，Chedeville開始出版他自己的音樂。大部份的音樂都以他專長的musette為主。上述的「偽造Vivaldi作品」事件，則是於1737年發生的。出版商於1749年坦承Chedeville才是真正的作曲家。1750年左右，他成為巴黎貴族圈裡最搶手的musette老師。法國大革命前，巴黎的上流社會對musette以及hurdy-gurdy(手搖風琴)有種獨特的偏好，尤其是那些女性貴族。這段日子，因為擔任了Victoire公主的musette老師而取得了「法國女士的風笛老師」的亮麗頭銜。
下面這張是去年九月參觀巴黎的音樂博物館時所拍下來的musette。傳統的風笛(bagpipe)，是早在中古世紀就已存在的樂器。到了十七世紀的法國，經幾百年來的改善，多了不需用嘴巴吹氣的風箱(bellow)設計。這也成功地解決了女人吹傳統風笛時的不雅姿勢。Musette的特殊音色，容易使人聯想起鄉村的田園生活，除了是上述女性貴族的最愛，musette一字也成為一種法國舞曲，晚期作曲家如韓德爾和巴哈在他們的作品裡都有運用到。
musette 風笛
下面這張為同博物館拍的hurdy-gurdy。雖然發聲原理和musette完全不同，但音色和musette相近。當時法國巴洛克音樂裡，二者是可以任意互換的。這個傳統的民間樂器，也是在十七世紀才出現於法國宮廷裡，打入「上流樂器」的圈子。如同musette，hurdy-gurdy這個樂器主要風行於法國，不過法國大革命之後就迅速沒落，轉型成為地區性的樂器。
hurdy-gurdy 手搖風琴
這張標題為Les Deffis, ou L'étude amusante(「挑戰或有趣的練習」)的作品九的曲子，同樣是寫給musette或是hurdy-gurdy的作品集。裡頭有三十首小品的character piece，各有生動的標題。這些character piece的曲風，自然以法國巴洛克時的舞曲為主，不然就是運用rondeau形式。Chedeville將每一首都獻給他之前教過的貴族學生。他似乎有考慮到每一位學生的程度，因為有些曲子間的長短與困難度的差異還頗大的。不管怎樣，這些音樂說穿了，就是提供給當時貴族休閒時自我娛樂用的輕音樂。也因為這樣，Chedeville在世人眼中，沒有被視爲「認真」的作曲家。
這張Hungaroton的CD上的音樂家，都是匈牙利的古樂音樂家，之前是完全沒有聽過的。他們選擇在hurdy-gurdy上而並非用 musette彈奏這些曲子。彈hurdy-gurdy的Robert Mandel，似乎是當今表演hurdy-gurdy最厲害的大師之一。 不過CD上每一首，並沒有都用hurdy-gurdy演奏的，而是有用長笛，直笛，或是小提琴的不同組合輪留取代，製造出不同的音色和效果。這樣的安排想起來是很合 理的，因為整張下來若是都用hurdy-gurdy的話，聽的人很有可能會吃不消。如認真數一下，裡面只有五，六首是安排給hurdy-gurdy表演的。
Ensemble Le Berger Fortune的這種安排，無疑讓音樂變得更豐富和生動。伴奏樂器裡，除了lute和巴洛克吉他，在某些特殊主題的曲子，還加入了一些打擊樂器(鼓或三角鐵)。Chedeville這些character piece，沒有其他大師為大鍵琴或是古中提琴寫的曲子如此精緻，但多了點輕鬆和幽默。而Ensemble Le Berger Fortune的處理，讓這些原就已曲雅俗共賞的小品集，更增添花樣，可營造出沈思的寧靜，也可做出熱鬧的喧嘩。
Nicolas Chédeville is today best notoriously known for trying to pass off some of his own works as Vivaldi's false op.13 Il pastor fido (The faithful shepherd), in an attempt to boost the musette's popularity (as if no one would suspect anything odd). He was born into a musical family, which was related to the famous instrument-making Hotteterre family. His great uncle Louis Hotteterre was his godfather and probably his first music instructor. In the 1720s, he joined the Paris Opera orchestra, as an oboe and musette player. In 1725 he obtained the reversion of Jean Hottetere's post at the Les Grands Hautbois (the royal oboe band), and in 1732 after Jean's death, officially became its member.
In 1729, he started to publish his own works, mainly written for the musette. The "Vivaldi incident" took place in 1737, and the publisher's notarized statement was finally disclosed in 1749 stating that Chedeville was the actual composer to these works. Despite this, Chedeville found himself to be the most sought-after musette instructor in the 1750s. The musette and hurdy-gurdy, with their distinct "rustic" sound, evoked the country side and was especially popular with the aristocratic ladies. Probably because he also taught Princess Victoire, Chedeville was given the title maître de musette de Mesdames de France.
Chedeville briefly flirted with the idea of writing more "traditional and serious" works for the violin/oboe in his op.7 publication. However, that didn't last very long, as he found much more success in writing for the musette/hurdy-gurdy. The pieces on this recording, which is his op.9, titled Les Deffis, ou L'étude amusante (Challenges or interesting exercises), return to his old winning formula. The set contains 30 character pieces, written in the unmistakably French Baroque idiom, either being a particular dance or the French rondeau. Each piece is dedicated to a specific student of his, and Nicolas must have considered the ability of his pupils. Some of the pieces are short and simple, while others are longer and more difficult to play, having even "double stops". Regardless, Chedeville's works are in nature written for the wealthy aristocratic amateur musicians, to be played for their own entertainment. It's probably because of this that Chedeville was never really taken as "serious" composer.
Ensemble Le Berger Fortune is a Hungarian period ensemble, and none of the names sound familiar on here. They've chosen to play these pieces on the hurdy-gurdy instead of the musette, played by Robert Mandel. However, they have also elected not to play every piece on the hurdy-gurdy, as that would probably be a little too much to bear. They make interesting arrangements, where the hurdy-gurdy part is also taken up by the violin, flute, and recorder in various combinations between and during the pieces. This immediately adds a whole palette of timbres. In fact, out of the 30 pieces, only 5 or 6 actually employ the hurdy-gurdy.
The continuo is rich with the lute/Baroque guitar in addition to the harpsichord and cello/gamba. There's no organ, which is a wise choice not to bog down the mood. For more festive pieces, Ensemble Le Berger Fortune even adds some percussion (drum, triangle, and tambourine). Chedeville's character pieces for the musette may not be as exquisite and refined as the harpsichord and viola gamba pieces by the greater masters (Couperin, Rameau, Forquerary), but they have a greater sense of lightness and humor. Ensemble Le Berger Fortune treatment gives variety and provide pleasure that these miniatures are designed to do.
Hurdy-gurdy這種樂器實在是很有巧思，
ReplyDelete能夠以單人雙手的力量，創造出類風琴的聲音，
但卻不是以鍵盤型式，而是以按絃的方法彈奏，
剛接觸這種樂器彈奏的音樂時，相當為此驚訝，
會有「原來世界上還有這樣的樂器」的驚呼，
或許也是一種少見多怪吧！ :p
不過，就如格主所說，
真的是整張hurdy-gurdy的CD聽下來，
可是很累人的哩！
這應該也是其音色所導致的吧。