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• 1 media/notenblatt-music-vintage-alt (1).jpg media/Henri Temianka Correspondence; (photographs)_Page_2.jpg 2022-03-14T16:24:54+00:00 Temianka’s Performance Lectures 269 “It stands to reason that spoken program notes, accompanied by illustrations, can be far more informative to the layman than written notes.” — Henri Temianka image_header 11278 2022-05-02T16:22:30+00:00 It's hard for music to be a "way of life" when the general public knows so little about it. For Temianka, this was a major challenge — and one of the reasons he decided to provide in-depth commentaries at his concerts.
  
  Concert programs from as early as 1951 note "comments from the stage by Mr. Temianka." His long-running concert series, aptly titled Let's Talk Music, prominently featured lectures and discussions on topics like music history, music appreciation and performance techniques.
  
  
  

  Life as an Influence on Music

  Temianka often stressed that it was just as important to learn about the composer behind a performance as it was to learn about their music. Many of Temianka's commentaries made sure to include anecdotes about composers and their experiences in everyday life, as everyday people. 
  
  With this approach, Temianka demonstrated that musical compositions were the products of people with distinct personalities and experiences that influenced their work. 
  
  Explaining this concept, Temianka wrote of his commentaries in a 1986 concert program:

  "The verbal introductions to the performance have often served to remind us … of the background and events against which many of these masterpieces were conceived, composed, and performed." — Henri Temianka

  
  
  Similarly, the virtuoso occasionally used his own personal anecdotes as a way to communicate musical ideas or facts in a way that could be more personable than simply stating them outright.
  
  Taken from Temianka's Sunday Evening Concert show on KFAC, a classical radio station, the clip below describes a discussion the virtuoso had with Russian violinists Igor and David Oistrakh before a performance, about using a harpsichord — which usually cannot change the volume at which a key is played.
  
  Regardless of an observer's familiarity with music history or technique, the anecdote lends insight to the logistics of coordinating a concert performance.
  
  Also quite the historian, Temianka was a founding member of the Paganini Quartet, which ran from 1945-1966 and used original 17th and 18th century instruments that were once owned by legendary Italian violinist Niccolò Paganini. It may be no surprise, then, that Temianka regularly infused his lectures with ruminations on musical history.
  
  

  Live Performance Demonstrations

  
  As Temianka once argued in his 1973 book, Facing the Music, live demonstrations of performance techniques had the potential to quickly and clearly communicate complex performance techniques.
  
  
  
  In one passage, Temianka recalls a particular musical performance in which two sets of violins played the same melody just one beat after the other. "When I let the first and second violins take turns playing the theme, the audience was able to understand what went on," he noted.

  Laughs as Lessons

  A sense of humor was another powerful tool Temianka often used to distance his educational commentaries from the idea that studying music is exclusively for "stuffed shirts," the serious elites and academics of the music world.
  
  Jokes and comedic anecdotes populated Temianka's commentaries, but also his publications — it was an entire method of communicating important concepts.
  
  Sometimes, large portions of the audience would stay back after a performance to ask questions and hear more of Temianka's remarks. But audiences weren't the only ones enamored with such commentaries. One program from a 1963 performance praises Temianka's approach to program notes:

  "When someone like Temianka comes along to annotate verbally with human interest, accuracy and excellence, program notes give music a lift." — Herbert Donaldson

  Despite the acclaim from audiences and critics alike, there were still people that did not accept his style of commentary. Debates rang out about how effective Temianka's commentaries could really be.
  
  As the discourse continued, Temianka and his performance lectures became inseparable, quickly becoming a powerful tool for the artist to share his philosophy on music education.

  Discussion Questions:

  Would you enjoy listening to a pre-concert commentary? Why or why not?
  
  How important is it to consider a musician’s personal life when examining their art?