The silken ladder

Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868)

Among the most important and demanded orchestral piccolo flute repertoire, there is the extract by Rossini, taken from his overture “The silken ladder” or “La Scala di Seta”. Rossini wasn't the only composer, who utilized the piccolo flute in his works, during that period, but he was the only one, who gave the piccolo flute a new identity within the orchestral nucleus, i.e.:

•  In “tutti” orchestral passages;

•  With another wind instrument (as in this extract, which we are going to analyze);

•  To give new light to certain violin passages and

•  As a soloist instrument

Rossini's works give the piccolo player a new challenge to be versatile in one's playing. At times one has to play in the orchestral pit, therefore in a limited orchestral nucleus and at others on a stage with a huge orchestral setting consisting of up to 100 musicians. These different environments need different quantity and color of sound, thus one has to be flexible and capable to adapt according to the situations and to the players. Personally I think that the most difficult is the former, when one has to play with a few other wind players . In this case the piccolo player needs to have a deep timbre which is limited in its sonority, adding brilliance to the performance and yet not outshining others excessively. In other words, the piccoloist must have dynamic flexibility and be capable to adapt with the intonation. The extract taken from the overture the silken ladder, is to be played together with the oboe. It is to be found in large number 13, on the orchestral score by “Ricordi Publishers”. One must take two different approaches, depending on whether one wants to perform this with the orchestra in full or whether one is simply performing during an audition.

1 st approach, in an orchestral setting :

•  Decide with the oboist and the conductor, the slurring that you intend to add to the original slurring in this extract. These slurs are to be found in bars 1, 8, 9 and 10. Always play with less dynamic than the oboe, in order to be heard as an extension of the oboe's timbre. This will help us to have greater control on the intonation, i.e. from piano to forte.

2 nd approach, in an audition :

•  Since there is no conductor and no oboe player, with whom to discuss and to compromise, one has to play this extract in a soloist manner.

The theme starts with a long upbeat, which falls in C Major, in bar 3. Personally I think that one must play this with a diminuendo because it will make the resolution bar much lighter in texture. At the same time it will allow a small expressive crescendo in bars 3 and 4 to be made. Check your intonation of the C Major chord: it is not always easy to tune the C, the E and the G of the 1 st octave and the C of the 2 nd octave.

Try them also fast, and stop on these notes that appear in bars 3 and 4. Play the first note in bar 8 in a slightly sustained manner, and play the two successive measures with a nice crescendo. In bar 10, one must take great care to produce a beautiful deep and dark sound. Sustain the G sharp in bar 11 and play the 4 notes of the ascending chromatic scale in a diminuendo, in order to return back to the piano of the main theme.

This orchestral extract offers the possibility to discuss about the tonguing, which is made on the piccolo flute. There are infinite ways by which notes can be separated . One can't limit oneself by simply discussing the single, double and triple tonguing. Articulation in music is similar to the pronunciation of the various syllables that make up a word in a natural language. Most often it is to be noted that the double tonguing in the piccolo is too dry, with the notes coming out too short. This happens because one doesn't know how to do it and so one tends to tighten and close the larynx. One way of overcoming this is by studying the first seven measures in this manner:

•  Play these bars various times, with a deep sound. They must be all slurred. Pay attention to open your throat and the internal cavity of the mouth (one must always play in this way);

•  Now try to study them, in a slow manner, with a soft simple staccato, as if caressing the note. One must play this with a deep, centered and relaxed sound;

•  When you feel comfortable with the single tonguing, change and use double tonguing. Of course one must produce the same deep quality of sound, like when playing single staccato or in slurs;

•  Gradually increase in speed and

Finally, try to play all the passage with less dynamic.