Suite
Antigua
Ponce, Manuel M.
Suite. Revised by M. Lopez Ramos. Edited by
Carlos Vázquez. New York: Peer,
1967.
Timing: 16'
30"
This Baroque
pastiche, originally entitled Suite Antigua, was
composed under the name of the Italian operatic
composer Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725). The
issues of this edition printed in the 1960s and
1970s were published as a Ponce arrangement of a
Scarlatti harpsichord suite. Although all issues
bear the same year of copyright, issues printed in
the 1980s give Ponce credit as the composer and
make no mention of Scarlatti. Other than this, the
only changes in the later issues are a new cover
design and a note added to the final page stating
that Carlos Vázquez served as editor. It is
likely that Vázquez convinced Peer to credit
this suite to the rightful composer.
The jacket notes of
Segovia and the Guitar (Decca DL 79931) helped
perpetuate the myth of this work's
authorship:
Band 3.
(7:25) Preámbulo and Gavota (Alessandro
Scarlatti)
These two piano pieces of Alessandro Scarlatti
were found, together with two others, in the
Conservatory of Naples some twenty years ago;
they form part of a suite. . . . The
transcriptions are by Andrés
Segovia.
Segovia's claims to
the "transcription" of this suite and Peer's later
publication of this work as a Ponce arrangement
only served to allow opportunists an excuse to
publish numerous arrangements of this work as
alleged Scarlatti works.
Suite Antigua was
written in Paris during 1931. Ponce was fond of the
Baroque suite and, besides the two suites for
guitar solo, wrote an orchestral work, Suite en
estilo antiguo, in the Baroque style during the
early 1930s. Suite Antigua consists of five
movements: Preámbulo, Courante, Sarabande,
Gavotte I and II, and Gigue. An allemande,
typically after the prelude in Baroque suites, is
not included in this work. The Preámbulo is
styled after the French overture while the other
four movements are closely modeled after the binary
dances of the Baroque suite. Like most of Ponce's
pieces in the key of D, this suite requires a
scordatura tuning where the sixth string is lowered
to D.
The most exciting
movement of the suite is the Preámbulo.
Constructed in three sections (A B A'), the opening
is slow, pompous and full of dotted rhythms, the
middle section is quick and fugal, and the final
section is an abbreviated statement of the opening
section. Pungent dissonances are featured
throughout this movement as a result of contrary
motion and through use of the
acciaccatura:
Ex 6. Suite Antigua, Preámbulo, p. 2, m. 5-7
Segovia, not
expecting so much of Ponce's personality in an
intended pastiche, was worried that his
Kreisleresque joke would be discovered:
Tell me
also to whom we are to ascribe the
Preámbulo. I am very much afraid of those
contrary movements in the Maestoso [e.g., m.
5 in the Preámbulo]. If you think
they will pass, leave them; if they are likely
to raise any angry suspicions, modify them . . .
6
The
Preámbulo in the Peer edition differs
noticeably from Segovia's recording of this
movement (Decca DL 79931). For example, altered
rhythms (usually simplified) and minor differences
in the harmony of the A section are heard in the
Segovia recording. The nature of these differences
suggest that the Peer edition may be based on
Ponce's unedited manuscript while the recording
reflects Segovia's editorial changes.
This work is
partially unified through the use of thematic
material from the Preámbulo. For example,
the opening phrase of the Sarabande appears to be
related to the first phrase of the
Preámbulo, and the main motive of the Gigue
bears a likeness to the subject of the
Preámbulo's fugal section:
Ex 7. Suite Antigua, Preámbulo, p. 2, m. 1-2
The use of similar
thematic material to unify dance movements dates
back to the Renaissance pairing dances such as the
Pavane and Tripla. Moreover, a certain amount of
thematic unity may be observed in suites during the
Baroque. Thus, Ponce seems to have observed
historical precedence in his sharing of thematic
materials between dance movements.
Despite some formal
unity, the dances are overshadowed by the
preeminence of the first movement; consequently,
the entire suite is rarely performed today,
although the Preámbulo is often excerpted.
Moreover, the suite suffers from a lack of
stylistic consistency: the various movements wander
between a neoclassic evocation of the
eighteenth-century and Baroque mimicry. For
example, the Courante exemplifies more of a
neoclassical approach to style (i.e., Baroque
elements are freely stylized); in contrast, the
Sarabande is an excellent emulation of the Baroque
style. Would a modern audience mind or even notice
these inconsistencies? Probably not as the
individual movements are beautiful and there are
ample thematic and emotional connections to make
the suite work.
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