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Harpsichord News

February 8, 2003
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A Bach makes news

 

All Charges Dropped Against Singer Who Threatened Murder

 

My eyes were drawn to a news item from the Associated Press: "charges against heavy-metal singer Sebastian Bach will be dismissed if he avoids trouble for a year. The former lead singer for Skid Row, whose given name is Sebastian Bierk, was charged with terroristic threats and drug possession when apprehended during a bar fracas." (Reported in the Santa Fe New Mexican for July 27).

Bierk's brush with the law recalls an event in the life of "our" Sebastian Bach (as reported by various biographers, most recently Christoph Wolff, in Bach: The Learned Musician (pages 83-84): young JSB appeared before the Arnstadt Consistory on August 4, 1705, to complain about abusive treatment from a certain bassoonist named Geyersbach, with whom the composer had an altercation and street brawl. Bach's cousin Barbara Catharina witnessed the event, and her eyewitness testimony helped clear Bach of responsibility for initiating the incident, but the governing body suggested that perhaps he should have refrained from calling Geyersbach "a greenhorn bassoonist!"

 

Publications

 

Entrancing Muse: A Documented Biography of Francis Poulenc

 

Carl B. Schmidt's 2001 biography of the French composer is both complete and felicitously written. A chronological life story and details about Poulenc's works fill fourteen chapters. Extensive appendices include an explanatory "dramatis personae;" a complete listing of Poulenc's concerts, tours, and broadcasts; his recordings; and a "work-in-progress" list of drawings and portraits of the 20th-century master. (Pendragon Press: Lives in Music Series, number three; ISBN 1-57647-026-1).

The author's retelling of events surrounding the creation of Concert Champêtre for Harpsichord and Orchestra is comprehensive. To flesh out the words, two photos of the composer with Wanda Landowska (from the legacy of Momo Aldrich) are included. There is, however, a misprint in the dating of the photos. Momo's notation on the back of the pictures reads "Eté [19]28"--the season and year of mutual work on the piece (not the published 1918, at which time the composer had not yet met the pioneering harpsichordist).

Contemporary Music Review: volume 19 part 4; The Contemporary Harpsichord: A New Revival

Contemporary Music Review: volume 20 part 1; The Contemporary Harpsichord: New Perspectives

Two extensive and important paper- bound volumes published by Harwood Academic Publishers, edited by Jane Chapman, these books offer much information on the last century's development of the "modern" harpsichord. "A New Revival" comprises writings about compositions recorded on an accompanying compact disc (not sent with my copy). Among the articles are Annelie de Man's "Contemporary Music in the Netherlands;" "Points of Departure: An Interview with Simon Emmerson" (Jane Chapman); "Thoughts Before and After a Sonata"  (George Mowat-Brown and Helena Brown); "Déploration--In Memoriam Morton Feldman" (Brian Cherney, and in conversation with vivienne spiteri [sic]); "One Man's Noise Is Another Man's Music: The Demise of Pitch in Kevin Malone's Noise Reduction" (Pamela Nash); "Karyl Goeyvaerts' Litanie V for Harpsichord and Tape or Several Harpsichords" (Christine Wauters, Mark Delaere and Jef Lysens); and "Instrumentum Magnum" (Caroline Wilkins). Two gaffes noted in Chapman's introduction: "Challice" for "Challis" [p. 3]; and Howard Schott's name listed as "Henry" in her end notes [p. 6].

"New Perspectives" focuses more on the instrument's recent history: articles include "Harpsichord--a Mother of Necessity?" (Jukka Tiensuu); "Major 20th Century Composers and the Harpsichord" (Frances Bedford); "L'Interprète--La Memoire du Compositeur [The Performer--the Essence of the Composer]" (Elisabeth Chojnacka); "The Electroacoustic Harpsichord" (Simon Emmerson); "Notes Inégales in Contemporary Music" (Jane Chapman); "Ligeti's Harpsichord" (Ove Nordwall); "Brian Ferneyhough's Etudes ranscendantales" (Roger Redgate) together with an interview (Jane Chapman); "A Discussion of Overture to Orpheus with the composer Louis Andriessen" (Pamela Nash); "Lavender and New Lace: Sylvia Marlowe and the 20th-Century Harpsichord Repertoire" (Larry Palmer); and "The Harpsichord Works of Iannis Xenakis" (Ian Pace).

 

Early Keyboard Journal

 

Published under the editorship of Carol Henry Bates, this joint venture of the three early keyboard societies (Southeastern, Midwestern, and Western), Volume 19 (2001) is a veritable feast of valuable information for harpsichordists. Included are extensive articles by John R. Watson ("Instrument Restoration and the Scholarship Imperative"); David Chung ("Keyboard Arrangements and the Development of the Overture in French Harpsichord Music, 1670-1730"); the first part of an exhaustive catalog by R. Dean Anderson ("Extant Harpsichords Built or Rebuilt in France During the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries--An Overview and Annotated List"); and Cynthia Adams Hoover's report on the extremely successful exhibition PIANO 300 at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., together with brief descriptions of its European counterparts in Leipzig, Nuremberg, Berlin, and Prague.

 

Another musical B

 

Franz Benda (1709-1786), Bohemian composer at the court of Frederick the Great, composed a duet Sonata in E-Flat, opus 6, for Madame la Contesse de Hueseler. This pleasant work in two movements (Allegro Vivo; Presto Scherzando) for keyboard, four-hands has been edited by Norman D. Rodger, from an undated print in the Library of Congress. The few errata in the original have been corrected with care by the editor. If played on the harpsichord, several thick passages may need to be thinned a bit (such as repeated thirds low in the bass at measure 4 of the second movement, or the string of successive octaves beginning in measure 20), but, in general, the work sounds well for our instrument, and is a pleasant, charming addition to the repertoire. The score is available from Good Pennyworth Press, P. O. Box 1004, Oak Park, IL 60304 (312/491-0465).

 

Moonspender joins murders with pluck

 

Thanks to reader Michael Loris, we list some musical references in Jonathan Gash's eleventh Lovejoy murder mystery, Moonspender (Penguin Books, 1988). The story includes mention of a Tallis madrigal, the Tantum Ergo, Purcell, Franz Listz [sic], organ, positiv, harmonium, Bach, Boehm flute, and, most welcome of all, harpsichord, which first appears on page 17: ". . .though I like her because she's bonny and plays the harpsichord for Les Moran's music shop in the High Street."

The big moment occurs on page 157: "Not many two-manual harpsichords play during working hours, so the music led me to Dorothy, my favorite witch . . . 'John Dowland?' I guessed. . . 'A pavan from his Lachrymae, Lovejoy. . .' Her instrument was a kit assembly, based on an early seventeenth century Flemish maker called Ruckers.  New, it costs half the price of a new car."

Keep those harpsichord and organ references coming our way, please.

Features and news items are welcome for these columns. Please address them to Dr. Larry Palmer, Division of Music, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75275;<[email protected]>.

 

More than the notes

 

"Beyond Notation" was the well-chosen title for a conference presented at the University of Michigan, September 26-29, 2002. Sponsored by The Westfield Center and the University, the focus was on Mozart--ornaments, improvisation, cadenzas, Eingänge [introductory flourishes and "lead-ins" to the written harmonies] as essential, even compulsory, additions in the composer's keyboard music.

Robert Levin, Malcolm Bilson, Seth Carlin, Penelope Crawford, Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra, and Andrew Willis were the presenters. Through their lively and informative talks, as well as their expert playing, ideas for further study were encouraged. Small master classes and participation by the auditors, a welcome feature, afforded an opportunity to put these ideas into immediate practice.

May this conference be the first of many investigations "Beyond the Notes."

--Virginia Pleasants

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