march 2004 Published by the American Recorder Society, Vol. XLV, No. 2 XLV, Vol. American Recorder Society, by the Published ©2004 Yamaha Corporation of America www.yamaha.com thoughtful choiceforteachersthatcare. Playful withseriousqualityYamaha isknownfor, Yamaha Recordersarethe effortless controlandanaccuracyofintonationthatprovidesarich,fullsound. range.Theyoffertheidealamountofairresistancefor are easytoplayinevery Yamaha 20SeriesRecordersarespeciallydesignedforbeginningstudentsand Pink colorsaddthatextrafunforstudentsbeginningtheirmusiceducation. students aresuretoenjoy. SourAppleGreen,CottonCandyBlueandBubbleGum The world’s mostdependableandchosenrecordersarealsotheplayfulthat Order your recorder discs through the ARS CD Club!
The ARS CD Club makes hard-to-find or limited release CDs by ARS members available to ARS members at the special price listed (non-members slightly higher), postage and handling included. An updated listing of all available CDs may be found at the ARS web site:
NEW LISTINGS ____ENSEMBLE PIACERE 2002 Ensemble Piacere, Irmtraut Freiberg, Eva Maria Kaukel, ____ARCHIPELAGO Alison Melville, recorder & tra- recorders. Sparkling performances of works from verso. Sonatas & concerti by Hotteterre, Stanley, the Renaissance to the 20th century by Frescobaldi, Bach, Boismortier and others. $17 ARS/$20 others. Ortiz, Telemann, Fux, Keil and many others. ____MUSIC FOR A WINTER’S EVE, Bringing ____REFLEC- Ensemble Piacere. $17 ARS/$20 others. Light to the Darkness Eileen Hadidian, recorder & TIONS–Music to ____FOLIAS FESTIVAS Belladonna Baroque Quartet. Baroque flute. Traditional, Renaissance and Soothe and Uplift the Spirit Eileen Hadidian, flutes Cléa Galhano, recorders.16-17th-century music by Medieval songs to celebrate midwinter and the & recorder. Celtic, traditional, Renaissance, Medi- Falconieri, de Tafalla, Merula, others. Dorian. changing of the seasons. $17 ARS/$20 others. eval melodies. Healing Muses. $17 ARS/$20 others. $17 ARS/$20 others. ____SOLO, DOUBLE & TRIPLE CONCERTOS OF ____ SACRED & SECULAR CANTATAS OF J. S. ____FRUIT OF A DIFFERENT VINE Alison Melville, BACH & TELEMANN Carolina Baroque, Dale BACH. Carolina Baroque. Dale Higbee, recorders. Natalie Michaud & Colin Savage, recorders; A. Hall, Higbee, recorders. 2-CD set, recorded live. Live performances of three cantatas, BWV 82a, piano. Works by Hindemith, Berkeley, Leigh, $24 ARS/$28 others. BWV 202, BWV 209. $17 ARS/$20 others. Staeps. 1994 ARS Professional Recording Grant ____THE GREAT MR. HANDEL Carolina Baroque, ____A. SCARLATTI: CONCERTI DI CAMERA Judith CD. S.R.I. $17 ARS/$20 others. Dale Higbee, recorders. Sacred and secular music Linsenberg, recorders; Musica Pacifica. Seven sona- ____THE GREAT EMU WAR Batalla Famossa, a by Handel. Live recording. $17 ARS/$20 others. tas, various instrumentations. $17 ARS/$20 others. young ensemble, with first CD of Australian recorder ____SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW John music. Orpheus Music. $17 ARS/$20 others. Tyson, recorders, with Renaissonics. Baroque & ____HANDEL: THE ITALIAN YEARS Elissa IN STOCK (Partial listing) contemporary music. Titanic. $17 ARS/$20 others. Berardi, recorder & Baroque flute; Philomel ____THE AGE OF JOSQUIN: THE GRAND TOUR ____SONGS IN THE GROUND Cléa Galhano, Baroque Orchestra. Handel, Nel dolce dell’oblio & Highland Park Recorder Society & Chamber recorder, Vivian Montgomery, harpsichord. Songs Tra le fiamme, two important pieces for obbligato Orchestra, Robert W. Butts, conductor. based on grounds by Pandolfi, Belanzanni, Vitali, recorder & soprano; Telemann, Trio in F; Vivaldi, RWB Productions. $17 ARS/$20 others. Bach, others. 10,000 Lakes. $17 ARS/$20 others. All’ombra di sospetto. Dorian. $17 ARS/$20 others. ____AIRES AND DUETS FOR TWO FLUTES AND SUZUKI RECORDER SCHOOL (Four vols.) ____IMAGINE II David Young, recorders. More con- BASS Vicki Boeckman & Dorte Lester Nauta, recorder; Recordings to accompany the Suzuki® Recorder temporary interpretations of classic songs from the Mogens Rasmussen, gamba; Viggo Mangor, archlute School method books, with Marion Verbruggen, 1970s by Neil Young, Jim Croce, Carole King, and & chamber organ. Trio sonatas by Handel, Telemann, recorders. $17 ARS/$20 others, for each single CD, or Moody Blues. Universe Music. $17 ARS/$20 others. Braun, Merula, Rossi. Primavera. $17 ARS/$20 others. $33 ARS/$40 others for any two Suzuki® CDs: ____IN NOVA CANTICA Eileen Hadidian, flute & ____ ARIAS, DUETS & BALLET MUSIC FROM ____Vols. 1 & 2 for Soprano or ____Vols. 1 & 2 for Alto recorder. Traditional carols, chansons and festive HANDEL OPERAS Carolina Baroque. Dale dances from the 13th-17th centuries. Healing (Vols. 1 & 2: folk & children’s songs, Baroque dances) Higbee, recorders. Live recording of a variety of Muses. $17 ARS/$20 others. ____Vols. 3 & 4 for Soprano: Handel, de la Guerre, others excerpts from operas of Handel, including Alcina ____JOURNEY Wood’N’Flutes, Vicki Boeckman, ____Vols. 3 & 4 for Alto: Handel, J.S. Bach, Purcell, others and Giulio Cesare in Egitto. $17 ARS/$20 others. Gertie Johnsson & Pia Brinch Jensen, recorders. ____TELEMANN ALLA POLACCA REBEL, with ____ BACH & HANDEL: BAROQUE MASTERS Works by Dufay, Machaut, Henry VIII, Mogens Matthias Maute, recorders & traverso, play concerti Carolina Baroque. Dale Higbee, recorders. Excerpts Pederson, W.W. Van Nieuwkerk & Maute—seven and suites by G.P. Telemann. . $17 ARS/$20 others. from several of the masters' operas and cantatas, centuries. Kadanza Classics. $17 ARS/$20 others. ____TELEMANN: CHAMBER CANTATAS AND TRIO recorded in 2002 concert. $17 ARS/$20 others. ____LANDSCAPES David Bellugi, recorders; Ali SONATAS Judith Linsenberg, recorders; Musica ____BACH ARIAS, DUETS AND CHAMBER Tajbakhsh & Chris Hayward, percussion. “Virtual” Pacifica. Five cantatas of Harmonischer Gottes- MUSIC Carolina Baroque, Dale Higbee, recorders. recorder orchestra created by Bellugi. Three centuries dienst, two trio sonatas from Sonatas Corellisantes. Recorded live in 2003, this CD features Bach can- of ethnic music by Encina, Brouwer, Ortiz, Bartok. 2003 Chamber Music America/ WQXR Record tatas and other works, including Cantata BWV 140, Frame. $17 ARS/$20 others. Award. Dorian. $17 ARS/$20 others. Wachet auf. $17 ARS/$20 others. ____LES AMIS DU BAROQUE Paul Nauta, recorder ____TRIO ATLANTICA Lisette Kielson, recorders; ____ BACH: MUSIC TO CHALLENGE THE & Baroque flute; Koen Dieltiens, recorder. Music by Julie Elhard, gamba, Paul Boehnke, harpsichord. INTELLECT AND TOUCH THE HEART Carolina Bassani, Corelli, Vivaldi, etc. Highlight Intl. $17 Works by Bach, Telemann, Montéclair, Leclair. Trio Baroque, Dale Higbee, recorders. Cantata No. 21, ARS/$20 others. Atlantica. $17 ARS/$20 others. Part One; Cantata No. 182. $17 ARS/$20 others. ____MANCINI: CONCERTI DI CAMERA Judith ____20TH CENTURY MUSIC FOR RECORDER & ____BLOCKFLOETENENSEMBLE WIEN Linsenberg, recorders; Musica Pacifica. Seven PIANO Anita Randolfi, recorders. Music composed Irmtraut Freiberg, Karin Heinisch, Susanne Jurdak, Mancini sonatas, plus works of Durante, D. Scarlatti. by Jacob, Bartok, Leigh and others for recorder and Eva Maria Kaukal & Prisca Loeffler, recorders. “Highly recommended” citation, 2000 Vivaldi Prize, piano. $17 ARS/$20 others. Ensemble works by Demantius, Monteverdi, Morley, Giorgio Cini Foundation. Dorian. $17 ARS/$20 others. ____ VIVALDI: LA NOTTE Concerti per strumenti Mozart, Schermann, Kaeser, W. W. van Nieuwkerk, ____MIDNIGHT SUN Alison Melville & Colin Savage, diversi. Judith Linsenberg, recorder; Musica Pacif- Pachelbel, Reichard. $17 ARS/$20 others. recorders; Ensemble Polaris members playing flute, ica. Award-winning CD, featuring five Vivaldi con- ____CHARLESTON PRO MUSICA ON TOUR clarinet, guitar, ‘cello, hurdy-gurdy, percussion. New certi, two sonatas. Dorian. $17 ARS/$20 others. Marsha Evans, Lewis Fitch & others, recorders, arrangements of traditional music of Norway, Finland, gemshorns, guitar and voice. Medieval and Please indicate above the CDs you wish to order, Estonia, Sweden, Scotland. Classic CD Disc of the Renaissance music with consort and singers. and print clearly the following: Month, August 2000. Dorian. $17 ARS/$20 others. Millennium Music/ Charleston SC. $17 ARS/$20 others. ____MY THING IS MY OWN: BAWDY MUSIC OF Name ______CONCERTI DI NAPOLI Rebel: Matthias Maute, THOMAS D’URFEY Tina Chancey, Grant Herreid & Daytime phone: (_____) ______recorders; and REBEL. Sonatas by Mancini, Roberto Scott Reiss, recorders & other early instruments; Valentini, A. Scarlatti. Dorian. $17 ARS/$20 others. Address: ______Rosa Lamoreaux, soprano. Improvisations on tunes ____DREAMS INSIDE THE AIR TUNNEL City/State/Zip: ______of love, sex & seduction in 18th-century England. Zana Clarke, recorder & composer. “Drawing on the Koch Int’l. $17 ARS/$20 others. Check enclosed for music of the didjeridu & shakuhachi...beautiful & ____PRIEST ON THE RUN _____ single CDs x $___ = $______hypnotic...”—American Recorder. Orpheus Music. Piers Adams, recorders. Concerti composed by the _____ 2-CD sets x $____ = $______TOTAL $_____ $17 ARS/$20 others. ensemble’s namesake, flame-haired Antonio Vivaldi. Please charge the above amount to my MasterCard or Upbeat. $17 ARS/$20 others. Visa:#______Exp. Date: ______RECORDER JAZZ Warren Kime, recorder. Cardholder’s signature: ______Original jazz charts with a great groove. Mail to: ARS,Box 631, Littleton CO 80160-0631, USA. $17 ARS/$20 others. You may fax or call in your credit card order to 303-347-1181.
EDITOR’S ______NOTE ______Volume XLV, Number 2 March 2004
I always enjoy catching up with people in FEATURES person; it’s much more satisfying than Renaissance Recorder Players ...... 8 trading e-mailed messages and digital Who they were, where they played, what they played, photos—and even better when we can and what kinds of lives they led, share musical moments. I had last been in by David Lasocki Seattle, WA, a few years ago, representing 2004 Summer Recorder Workshops ...... 25 the ARS at an American Orff-Schulwerk 26 The annual roundup of summer workshop offerings Association conference during which the Seattle Recorder Society also met. It was nice to again be able to attend an SRS DEPARTMENTS meeting, even though they had to shift Advertiser Index ...... 48 their “February” date to January 30 to co- Book Reviews ...... 46 incide with the ARS Board meeting there. Last time I was there, I met Wini Jaeger, Chapters & Consorts ...... 40 Honorary Vice President of the ARS and 41 Classified ...... 44 long-time companion to our Honorary President, Erich Katz. I wondered whether Music Reviews...... 32 our paths might cross this time. She found On the Cutting Edge...... 42 me before I could spot her, and, after greet- President’s Message ...... 3 ings, we sat down to get out our recorders. I asked whether I might share her mu- Q&A ...... 44 sic stand. Glancing at it, I noticed on it a Response ...... 24 small piece of tape: “Katz.” I wondered 42 Tidings ...... 4 how many musical events it had witnessed over the years. I wished that I weren’t jet- Dutch Recorder Orchestra Praetorius plans conference, lagged from a delayed flight, followed by a ON THE COVER: Boulder Early Music Shop moves half-day of meetings, so that I might have Illustration added nicer notes to its musical memory. by Katie Schmidt Feder, illustrator Ruth Harvey must have mountains of and owner/designer of Chloe's Crown— memories as she retires and hands over the handcrafted bridal tiaras Boulder Early Music Shop to new own-
ALABAMA ILLINOIS Long Island: Margaret H. Brown Birmingham: Ken Kirby Chicago: Kim Katulka (708-484-4578) (516-765-1867) (205-822-6252) Chicago-West Suburban: New York City: Michael Zumoff ARIZONA Christopher Culp (630-690-7304) (212-662-2946) AMERICAN Phoenix: Linda Rising (602-997-6464) LOUISIANA Rochester: Frank Amato (716-225-6808) Tucson: Scott Mason (520-721-0846) Baton Rouge: John Waite RECORDER Rockland: Lorraine Schiller (225-925-0502) ARKANSAS (845-429-8340) New Orleans: Chris Alderman SOCIETY Aeolus Konsort: Don Wold Westchester: Carol B. Leibman (501-666-2787) (504-862-0969) INC. (914-241-3381) Bella Vista: Barbara McCoy MARYLAND Honorary President (479-855-6477) NORTH CAROLINA ERICH KATZ (1900-1973) Northern Maryland: Dawn Culbertson CALIFORNIA (410-235-2354) Triangle: Cindy Osborne Honorary Vice President (919-851-1080) Central Coast: MASSACHUSETTS WINIFRED JAEGER Margery Seid (805-474-8538) Boston: Laura Conrad (617-661-8097) OHIO Statement of Purpose East Bay: Kathy Cochran Recorders/Early Music Metro-West Greater Cleveland: Edith Yerger The mission of the American Recorder Society is (510-483-8675) Boston: Sheila Beardslee (440-826-0716) to promote the recorder and its music by Monterey Bay: Sandy Ferguson (831-462-0286) (978-263-9926) Toledo: Marilyn Perlmutter developing resources and standards to help North Coast: Kathleen Kinkela-Love Worcester Hills: Madeline Browning (419-531-6259) people of all ages and ability levels to play and (707-822-8835) (508-842-5490) OREGON study the recorder, presenting the instrument Orange County: Doris Leffingwell MICHIGAN Oregon Coast: Corlu Collier to new constituencies, encouraging increased (949-494-9675) career opportunities for professional recorder Sacramento: Robert Foster Ann Arbor: David Goings (541-265-5910) (734-663-6247) performers and teachers, and enabling and (916-391-7520) or PENNSYLVANIA Kalamazoo: Wade Lawrence supporting recorder playing as a shared Elsa Morrison (916-929-6001) Philadelphia: Dody Magaziner San Diego County: Richard Chang (269-353-9885) social experience. Besides this journal, (215-886-2241) or (760-726-8699) Metropolitan Detroit: ARS publishes a newsletter, a personal study Joanne Ford (215-844-8054) San Francisco: Florence Kress Claudia Novitzsky (248-548-5668) program, a directory, and special musical Pittsburgh: Helen Thornton (415-731-9709) Northwinds Recorder Society: editions. Society members gather and play South Bay: Joanna Woodrow Janet Smith (231-347-1056) (412-781-6321) together at chapter meetings, weekend and (408-266-3993) Western Michigan: Marilyn Idsinga RHODE ISLAND summer workshops, and many ARS-sponsored Southern California: Lynne Snead (231-894-8415) Rhode Island: David Bojar events throughout the year. In 2000, the (661-254-7922) (401-944-3395) Society entered its seventh decade of MINNESOTA COLORADO service to its constituents. Twin Cities: Dave Bucklin TENNESSEE Boulder: Rose Marie Terada (612-824-7724) Board of Directors (303-666-4307) Greater Knoxville: Ann Stierli MISSOURI (865-637-6179) Alan Karass, President Colorado Springs: Jeanne LeClercq St. Louis: Norm Stoecker Nashville: Janet Epstein Carolyn Peskin, Vice President; (719-473-0714) Denver: Anne Chetham-Strode (636-532-3255) (615-297-2546) Chair, Scholarship; Co-Chair, Education (303-422-6677) NEVADA TEXAS Marilyn Perlmutter, Secretary Fort Collins: Roselyn Dailey Sierra Early Music Society: Ann Stickney, Treasurer; Chair, Finance (970-282-1097) Austin: Susan Page (512-467-7520) John Nelson, Asst. Secretary Karlene Dickey (775-832-9124) Dallas: Bill Patterson (214-696-4892) CONNECTICUT Kathy Sherrick, Asst. Treasurer; NEW HAMPSHIRE Rio Grande: Joyce Henry Chair, Fund-raising Connecticut: Dorothy Vining (505-522-4178) (203-267-6513) Monadnock: Barbara George Rebecca Arkenberg, Chair, Publications Eastern Connecticut: Joyce Goldberg (802-257-1467) VERMONT Letitia Berlin (860-442-8490) Upper Valley: Barbara Prescott Upper Valley: Barbara Prescott Frances Blaker, Chair, (603-643-6442) (603-643-6442) Special Events/Professional Outreach DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA NEW JERSEY Richard Carbone Washington: Myrl Powell VIRGINIA Bergen County: Mary Comins Kathryn Cochran, Chair, Chapters & Consorts (301-587-4799) or Northern Virginia: Jane Takeuchi Udelson (201-489-5695) Edward Friedler (703-425-1324) Sheila M. Fernekes, Co-Chair, Education (703-369-3022) Highland Park: Sue Roessel, Chair, Membership WASHINGTON DELAWARE Donna Messer (732-828-7421) Navesink: Lori Goldschmidt Moss Bay: Louise Hotaling Brandywine: Roger Matsumoto (732-922-2750) (206-723-3811) (302-731-1430) Staff Princeton: Janice Arrowsmith Seattle: Belinda Frazier Brock Erickson, Executive Director FLORIDA (609-883-9874) (206-522-7342) Erin Spletzer, Administrative Asst. Gainesville: Russell D. Moore Somerset Hills: Keith Bernstein WISCONSIN P. O. Box 631 (352-378-0567) (908-722-6572) Littleton, CO 80160-0631 U.S.A. Miami: Zulema Garraffo Milwaukee: Diane Kuntzelman (305-374-1879) NEW MEXICO 303-347-1120 (414-654-6685) Sarasota: Valerie Sizemore Albuquerque: Lois Ario Southern Wisconsin: Faxes & membership questions: (941-484-9589) (505-881-1303) Margaret Asquith (608-233-4441) 303-347-1181 or GEORGIA Rio Grande: Joyce Henry
6 American Recorder PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE ______The Secret Lives of Recorder Players
ince March is Play-the-Recorder their way to the instrument after years of planned, but they SMonth, many recorder-related events singing or playing clarinet, flute, piano or were always delicious. are scheduled everywhere: concerts, accordion. Many of us have, or have had, Music can be a workshops, playing sessions at local book- day jobs, including: elementary/middle/ very powerful way to stores ...you name it, it’ll be going on. high school teacher, engineer, receptionist, bring people together. During whatever local event is being held speech pathologist, doctor, lawyer—and Many of us have been in your community, I invite you to talk to yes, I used to work for 1-800-Flowers. drawn to the recorder one of your fellow recorder players—not because it is a social just the usual pleasantries, but really try to Recorder players instrument. Playing in learn something new about them. These an ensemble is very rewarding. You might may be people with whom you’ve been are extremely be pleasantly surprised when you start to playing quartets for 15 years, or complete interesting people. talk to your trio-mates about the other strangers. In any event, I’m sure you’ll be parts of their lives. You might not only pleasantly surprised. The reason I bring Last, many recorder players are excep- have an interesting conversation.. it might this up is because I’ve been able to confirm tional cooks. We all eagerly awaited board also make playing with them even more a hunch I’ve had for a while: recorder play- meetings when I served on the board of my enjoyable. ers are extremely interesting people. local chapter. Our meetings were held at a Wishing you a musical spring, When you interact with your fellow board member’s home, accompanied by a Alan Karass, ARS President recorder players to organize a concert, to potluck supper. They were not very well
March 2004 7 TIDINGS ______Marion Verbruggen in performance, ______celebrating an anniversary, and planning a recorder orchestra conference Appearances by Marion Verbruggen Amsterdam-born recorder artist extraordi- d’over schooner Maeght” from Der Fluyten (English Nightingale), rendered astonish- naire Marion Verbruggen completely Lust-hof. Though “Daphne” is very famil- ingly imitative of a florid bird song that in- captivated an appreciative audience at her iar to most recorder players, “Malle creased in virtuosity and bird-like charac- performance on the “Music Before 1800” Symen” is less so, although it also appears ter with each variation—a remarkable series in New York City, NY, on January 11. in the Lust-hof. Both pieces have extensive conclusion to a brilliant performance. The focused energy that pours out of this variations, many requiring virtuosity of a In addition to presenting a concert amazing performer, coupled with a superb high order. through “Music Before 1800,” Verbruggen and seemingly effortless technique—plus France was represented by the Marin generously offered another program at the a spot-on sense of period “affect” of the Marais version of the popular Spanish Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender music—made for an unforgettable per- Folia from his Deuxième livre de Pièces de Community Center in New York City on formance of her program, A Grand Tour viols of 1701, here performed with amaz- January 13. The event, enthusiastically re- through Europe. ing finger/tongue coordination and blaz- ceived by an audience of recorder affi- Verbruggen opened her musical tour in ingly fast fingers. cianados, as well as members of the Cen- Italy with “Chominciamento di gioia,” ter, was a kick-off for a new initiative of the an anonymous 14th-century Tuscan New York Recorder Guild. Classes in istanpitta. What a joy it was! This work Verbruggen made a strong soprano or alto recorder will be offered at has, to Western ears, a rather Middle East- case for the recorder for the Center by Susan Iadone, program ern sound and requires a high degree of adviser for the Guild. With the support of energy and virtuosity. With “Ricercata both Bach works, John DeLucia, music director of the Quarta” from the Ricercate, Passagi et revealing a great NYRG, the Guild hopes to establish other Cadentie of 16th-/early-17th-century locations in New York City, to extend the Venetian composer Giovanni Bassano, sensitivity to the style joy of playing the recorder to more diverse Verbruggen effortlessly met the technical and a deep commitment groups of participants in the city. challenges of his diminutions. to the essential spirit Nancy M. Tooney Next stop on her European tour was mid-17th century Holland. Verbruggen of- of his music. EDITOR’S NOTE: As members read this is- fered Jacob van Noordt’s “Malle Symen” sue, Marion Verbruggen is touring several from the collection ‘t Uitnement Kabinet, From Germany, Verbruggen gave us U.S. cities with the Netherlands Bach and Jacob van Eyck’s “Doen Daphne Telemann, C.P.E. Bach and J.S. Bach. The Society in the Baroque ensemble’s North Telemann Fantasie 4 was notable in the American debut. The tour program, enti- Martha Bixler (left) chats with Marion ease of performance and transparent char- tled Bach and his Leipzig Inheritance: Music Verbruggen (right) following the “Music acter of the rapidly moving lines. Ver- of J.S. Bach, Buxtehude, Kuhnau & Schelle, Before 1800” performance (photo by bruggen’s delivery of C.P.E. Bach’s Sonata examines instrumental and vocal music in Rebecca Arkenberg) in C Minor reminded us that “allegro” was 17th- and 18th-century Germany, and fea- still a marking of “cheerfulness” rather tures Verbruggen’s lively interpretation of than speed per se in C. P. E.’s era. Nonethe- Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 4. less, both allegro movements were fast- paced, flawlessly delivered, and exciting to the ear. Following intermission, Verbruggen closed with J.S. Bach’s Partita in A minor for Flute, BWV 1013 and his Suite No. 5, BWV 1011 from the six suites for unac- companied violoncello. Verbruggen made a strong case for the recorder for both Bach works, revealing a great sensitivity to the style and a deep commitment to the es- sential spirit of his music. Deborah Booth (left) and Marion Verbruggen’s choice of encore was the Verbruggen stop to pose for a familiar Van Eyck “Engels Nachtengaeltje” photo taken by Rebecca Arkenberg
8 American Recorder Bits & Pieces
Eight CDs of performances by Carolina recorderist Nina Stern to low-income stu- Baroque of music from Bach cantatas are dents from the Bronx and Harlem areas of included on the remarkable Bach New York City, NY. At Cantatas web site, with bios of the singers Ella Baker School, an alternative public and of Dale Higbee, music director and school opened in 1996 on the East Side of recorders,
The Future of Conference and Exhibition June 10-12, 2004 Early Music in Berkeley, California
America • Dozens of sessions and workshops • Early Music Exhibition • Concurrent events by ARS and other instrument societies • Early Music on the Fringe Festival • EMA awards reception
Watch for a brochure in the mail. Check our website for updated information: www.earlymusic.org
March 2004 9 Dutch Recorder Orchestra Praetorius Celebrates its Fortieth Anniversary, Plans Conference As the Dutch Recorder Orchestra Praetorius prepares to cele- perfectly with Praetorius’ desire to produce a large, theatrical brate its 40th anniversary, their cry is, “Long live Praetorius!” Al- production. Praetorius will be joined by dancers, singers and though it is over 400 years since the organist, composer and storytellers to portray Strayhorn’s dramatic life, details of which scholar Michael Praetorius died in 1621, the orchestra still lives are not well-known outside the world of jazz, as well as his music under his name, regularly performing innovative programs. and that of his contemporaries during the Roaring Twenties. The celebration will take the form of the premiere of an excit- In its program entitled March & Swing, which premiered in ing new musical composition and the organization of an interna- the summer of 2003, Praetorius successfully performed this kind tional congress where recorder orchestras from all over the world of music for the first time, playing arrangements of music by Irv- will be able to meet and exchange ideas. ing Berlin, John Philip Sousa and George Gershwin—some used Piet Kunst was a recorder teacher at the music school in Lei- as a result of contacts made during the orchestra’s visit to the U.S. den, The Netherlands, when he founded the Dutch Recorder Or- In addition to the influence of Piet and Norbert Kunst, chestra Praetorius in 1963. At that time, he thought it very im- initiatives of others have influenced the development of the portant that eight of his most advanced students be given the op- Praetorius—including Richard Geisler in the U.S, whose survey portunity to develop their ensemble skills. “It is nice to play a solo of all recorder orchestras in the world produced the following sonata,” he said, “but the essence of making music is to play to- criteria: multiple players per voice, public performances, profes- gether.” Within two years, the double quartet he had founded sional leadership and regular rehearsals. Praetorius meets these grew to a group of 16 recorder players and was a great success. criteria, as do about 25 similar groups in the world. There is much For Piet, playing together was most important. The group per- demand for exchange of experiences and repertoire. formed more frequently, made recordings and won the first prize Praetorius is in contact with other orchestras in Germany and at each of the first three Dutch-German Recorder Days. Praeto- England, with whom exchange visits take place regularly. A major rius established its reputation and, when Piet passed away in milestone was achieved when ARS member Amanda Pond organ- 1996, his son Norbert took over the leadership and has expand- ized a tour of the U.S. and Canada. Between October 18 and No- ed Praetorius’ reputation around the world. vember 2, 2002, Praetorius visited Wash- Since its formation, Praetorius has Set to take place from ington, D.C., Boston, Montréal and New played modern instruments, placing high- York City, performing six concerts. est demands on the low recorders. As the October 14-17..., It is time-consuming to maintain and orchestra grew, it became more apparent ICRO will be devoted nurture worldwide contacts with other that a solution was needed for tuning prob- to the theory and practice recorder orchestras: every orchestra has its lems. Every recorder has its own unique in- own schedule, and it is not easy to find a tonation, and it is difficult for 25 different of the recorder, with a venue where European, American and instruments to be in tune. To address this major emphasis on Japanese orchestras can meet. It is hoped problem, about two years ago, the orchestra that an ideal forum for international ex- purchased a set of recorders made by one recorder orchestras. change between recorder orchestras will be recorder maker—an investment made pos- the International Congress and Work- sible by grants plus contributions from the members themselves. shop on the Recorder Orchestra (ICRO) that is being organ- The Dutch Recorder Orchestra Praetorius differs from many ized by Praetorius. Set to take place from October 14-17 in The other recorder orchestras; this is evident in both the instrumen- Netherlands. ICRO will be devoted to the theory and practice of tation used and in the arrangements played. Unlike most the recorder, with a major emphasis on recorder orchestras. recorder orchestras, instead of high instrumentation or an SATB The theme of ICRO will be “Improvisations on the recorder in choir, low instruments are used as much as possible. Norbert different musical styles.” Lectures will be given by specialists Kunst comments: “The sonorous sound of a low recorder or- from all over the world, participants will be expected to take an chestra fascinates me. The specific sound comes close to the active role in the many workshops offered and will experience a sound of an organ and is the basis of my arrangements. I use the great deal of high-level playing. There will be concerts by profes- higher recorders as an organ register. For example, I use soprano sionals, such as The Royal Winds Music, conducted by Paul recorders to mimic the sound of trumpets. For a clarinet or a Leenhouts, and the premiere of Praetorius’ new musical based on horn-like sound I choose low instruments in octaves and treble the life of Billy Strayhorn. In the evenings, jazz recorder special- recorders usually play violin parts. The bassoon part is often a ists Nadja Schubert and Evelyn Nallen will present jazz concerts. combination of bass and contra bass recorders.” Much work remains to be done in organizing ICRO, which is Norbert translates the meaning of the music into arrange- the result of a natural progression: from Praetorius’ early days as ments that can be played on the recorder. As Norbert says, “Mak- a small orchestra, to its tour of North America, to ICRO, an inter- ing an arrangement is … not just transcribing the music.” national congress where recorder players from all over the world During Praetorius’s 35th anniversary celebrations, theatrical will have the opportunity to meet and exchange ideas. elements were added to its programming; art, dance and poetry It is hoped that ICRO will become the foundation of many play an important role in its recent program The Four Elements. initiatives in the future. More information can be found at Praetorius has come to enjoy this type of programming and now
10 American Recorder Changes in Store for BEMS After 26 years in the Boulder area of Col- Pleasures” (a group including orado, the Boulder Early Music Shop David Barton and Susan Valley Bar- will leap over the Continental Divide— ton) played at their wedding. Carol relocating to Ouray, CO, under new pro- elaborated, “A couple of years later prietors. BEMS founder Ruth Harvey re- we saw them at Scarborough Faire, tired as of March 1, turning over the shop a Renaissance faire near Dallas. to Kim Shrier and Carol Deihl. David encouraged us to come to Ruth became the Dallas Recorder Society meet- interested in ear- ing, even though we hardly knew ly music when, which end of the recorder to blow Kim Shrier (left) and Carol Deihl, with only a few of as a child in the into!” Experienced DRS players their assorted early instruments early 1950s, she helped them become more profi- heard a live con- cient on recorder. Several years ago they time (as active customers), we could buy it cert by the Trapp took Susan’s beginning viol class at a Texas all in one fell swoop,” Kim quipped. family. She later Toot workshop. They now play mainly vi- Living in the mountains has been a went to college ols and recorders, but their taste also runs goal for Kim and Carol since they toured Ruth Harvey in New York, ma- to other early instruments. They play mu- Colorado on their honeymoon, 20 years joring in Euro- sic with friends a couple of times each ago this month. Like Ruth, they plan to pean history—but also took music cours- week, in the Dallas Consort of Viols and take the shop’s wares to workshops. They es and taught herself to play the recorder. with members of DRS. also plan to build a house (probably in Ruth moved to Boulder in 1965, earn- Since Kim and Carol became acquaint- summer 2005) and hold small work- ing a master’s degree in social work at the ed with Ruth at Texas Toot workshops, and shops. They will continue their web host- University of Colorado—and taking a then designed the shop’s web site, they are ing business, Tinker Internet Services, recorder class. She enrolled in CU music “familiar with the business, although we
March 2004 11 Conrad Paumann In the Middle Ages and early Renaissance, instruments were often classified into enaissance haut (or loud) and bas (or soft), depending upon their volume. The recorder, being a soft instrument, although not yet explicit- ecorder Players ly called a flauto dolce or flûte douce, R belonged in the bas category. The most famous bas player in the by David Lasocki hat do you know about the recorder 15th century was a blind man: Conrad Win the Renaissance? You have proba- Paumann (c.1410–1473), also recognized bly heard of the major treatises that deal as the most distinguished German com- with the instrument: Virdung, Agricola, poser of his age, hard as that may be for us Ganassi, Jambe de Fer, and later Praeto- to appreciate since most of his composi- rius. You may also know that there were tions have been lost. In 1447, he was ap- several types of recorder in the Renais- pointed to the post of portative organ sance, all different from Baroque player in the civic organ/lute duo in his na- recorders. And from Anthony Rowland- tive Nuremberg. A poem written the same Jones’s fine articles in American Recorder, year by Hans Rosenplüt immediately rec- you may also be familiar with some of our ognized Paumann as “a master above all instrument’s symbolism and associations masters” (ein Meyster ob allen Meystern). during this period. Only three years later, to the dismay of But until relatively recently, none of us the Nuremberg authorities, he was lured have known much about the musicians away, to the Court of Duke Albrecht III of who played the recorder during the Re- Bavaria-Munich, where he remained for naissance: who they were, where they the rest of his life. played, what they played, and what kinds Evidently, Paumann played the organ of lives they led. Twenty years ago, I wrote or lute by himself, or sometimes joined in my doctoral dissertation on recorder play- with the Court lute duo. When he visited ers in England in the Renaissance and Augsburg in 1455 and 1457, he was Baroque periods, later turning some of noted as a “master” lutenist. Tinctoris that material into a book on the Bassano (De inventione et usu musicae, 1487) family and my share of a biographical dic- believed him to have been one of the orig- tionary of English Court musicians. inators of playing the lute polyphonically, Last summer, I was asked to give a lec- and Virdung (1511) ascribed to him the ture on “Tracing the Lives of Players and invention of German lute tablature. He Makers” at an international symposium was in demand throughout Bavaria as an on the Renaissance flute and recorder organist, organ teacher, and evaluator of consort in Utrecht, sponsored by STIMU, organs. On his many travels later in life, he the Dutch early-music foundation. astonished kings and dukes with his pow- Preparing for this lecture gave me the in- ers of improvisation, being showered with centive to expand my research beyond gifts and offers of employment. England to cover the European continent Paumann was buried outside the and even part of Latin America. Church of Our Lady in Munich, where an The lecture, an expanded version of epitaph, now inside the church, shows which should be published later this year him playing the portative organ and sur- in the proceedings of the symposium, was rounded by a lute and what we may as- framed around a series of general ques- sume are his other main instruments: tions about the lives of players. In the harp, fiddle, and recorder (see Figure 1). David Lasocki, a music librarian present article, I have a different empha- Yet two accounts of him indicate that he at Indiana University, writes about sis: to share with you my findings about also played some loud instruments. One woodwind instruments, their history, the life and work of some interesting indi- chronicler described him as being able to repertory, and performance practices. vidual Renaissance recorder players, giv- play “on organ, lute, [other] plucked For help with the present article, ing more space to those to whom little at- string instruments, fiddle, recorder, pipe, he is especially grateful to tention has been paid before. I will discuss and trombone, and on all musical instru- Albert Jan Becking, Joanna Biermann, only professionals, saving the equally fas- ments.” And a report of him on tour in Liane Ehlich, Wendy Gillespie, cinating subject of amateurs for another Mantua in 1470 marveled that this blind Giulio Ongaro, Massimo Ossi, day. Throughout, I try to consider the man, who “played every instrument ... if Keith Polk, Anne Smith, wider implications of recorder players for he heard a verse or a song ... knew how to Nikolaj Tarasov, Dina Titan, our understanding of the instrument’s play it [by ear] either on the organ, or the and Erich Tremmel. Renaissance history. bagpipe, or on plucked string instru- ments, or on the harp, or on the shawm.”
12 American Recorder FIGURE 1 Conrad Paumann’s epitaph (1473) tus for this gift of instruments from Bur- gundy to Ferrara was Copetrippe’s desire “to introduce to the Court of Ferrara an ensemble of instruments similar to that which he had directed several years earlier in the service of Philip the Good.” In 1443, the Burgundian Court paid the instrument maker Jean Chapuis for “4 ivory recorders, one decorated with gold and jewels and the others plain.” An undated inventory from the Court seems to describe three of the four ivory recorders in more detail: “Item, three leather cases, covered with gold, in all of them ivory recorders, both large and small; one of the large recorders is orna- mented with gold on the mouthpiece, and lower down decorated with two gold rings and strewn with little emeralds, garnets, and rubies, and nothing is lacking.” As Marix shrewdly remarked, “At the court no minstrel was paid as a recorder player, but no doubt the virtuosi of the shawm and bombard knew also how to use it on occasion—for example, Verdelet, the so-called ‘minstrel of the king of min- strels,’ whose reputation was great. According to Martin le Franc [c.1440], ‘… never have we encountered on douçaine or flaiolet anyone who played them like the late Verdelet used to do.’” The word flaiolet would not have meant the flageolet as found in the late 16th cen- tury (with four fingerholes and two thumbholes) but rather have indicated some other kind of duct flute, such as the recorder. The Burgundian Court had five wind players in 1443: Hennequin Janson, trompette des ménestrels; and Jehan Van The records are silent about how Pau- out with leather cases and with chests, Artinghem, Jehan Caresme, Pierre mann used the recorder. Did he play it which Monseigneur ... has had taken and Claisonne le Brun, and Thibaut de Stras- solo, like the 17th-century blind musician bought from him to send to the Marquise bourg, minstrels. The simplest inference is Jacob van Eyck? Did he join in a trio with of Ferrara.” What were these instruments that the four minstrels, and perhaps the lute and fiddle, as depicted in some 15th- and what might have occasioned the gift? slide trumpeter too, played the recorders century paintings? Or did he and his bas The “minstrel instruments” are likely that had been bought from Chapuis. colleagues form a recorder consort, as we to have been a set of shawms, the most What more do we know about the in- are about to see in other places? Perhaps common instruments played by minstrels comparable Verdelet? Marix provided further research will bring us closer to the everywhere during this period. Douchaine, biographical details of two players, father answer. more frequently spelled douçaine, seems and son, with this nickname: Jehan Bois- to have been a cylindrical reed instrument, ard called Verdelet, “former king of min- 15th-Century Bruges an early, capless crumhorn. strels,” and his son, “minstrel of the king Surprisingly, the recorder seems to have The unqualified word fleuste seems to of minstrels.” She suggested that the son been found more often in the hands of have indicated recorder from the end of received his title because he was appren- haut musicians who worked at courts or the 14th century (as far back, in fact, as we ticed to Jehan Facien, the “king of min- for cities and towns, even at the beginning can be sure of the instrument’s existence). strels” at that time. The older Verdelet, of the 15th century. In 1426, Duke Philip Hennequin Copetrippe, who had and later Facien, were “kings” because the Good of Burgundy paid the instru- played the trumpet and the trompette des they had some kind of authority over all ment-maker Loys Willay, “living in ménestrels (slide trumpet) at the Burgundy the minstrels in those territories, includ- Bruges,” a large sum of money “due to him Court, moved on to the Court of Ferrara ing Burgundy, that recognized the King of for four large instruments de menestrelz, around 1422. Jeanne Marix, writing in France as overlord. Both the Verdelets four douchaines, and four fleustes, all fitted 1939, suggested plausibly that the impe- were among the five minstrels that King
March 2004 13 Charles VII of France offered in payment of ers,” who probably constituted a standard a Gillis, said to be of Busegnies in Hene- his debts to Ferdinand of Aragon in 1426. haut band of treble shawm, two tenor gauwe (now the village of Busignies-sur- By 1436, the younger Verdelet— shawms (bombards), and one trombone. Roc in the French-speaking province of probably the one known to Martin le In the fiscal year 1482–83, the band ex- Hainault). France—seems to have been in the service panded to five players, probably by adding Anthuenis became a citizen of Bruges of the duke of Bourbon when he fell ill at a second trombonist, and their names are in 1475. (It is curious that this was neces- the Peace of Arras, then died soon after- given in the records: Willemaert, Anthue- sary, since his father was already a citizen.) wards. No doubt this pattern of players be- nis Pavillon, Jan van der Schuere, Anthue- He is said in the citizenship record to be ing sent around to different masters nis van der Beke and Jan Fauset. That same from “Vaulx, land of Gyyse in France” spread the cause of recorder-playing from year, Pavillon was sent to Antwerp “to find (probably Vaulx en Velin, in Normandy), country to country. a trumpet,” the city bought five trumpets so perhaps he had served an apprentice- If the evidence for minstrels playing the for the band, and Willemaert was paid for ship elsewhere, or had at least moved away recorder in the early 15th century is indi- teaching a boy “to master the art of the from Bruges after training with his father. rect, for the later part of the century it is di- trumpet.” Doubling was a cheap way for In 1479, Anthuenis was paid for travel- rect and also more plentiful. In the same the city to have a shawm/trombone band ing to “Namur, Maastricht, Cologne, and city of Bruges that produced Willay, the and a trumpet band. That at least four of elsewhere” to search for a replacement for earliest recorder maker known to us by these minstrels also played the recorder his father, who had just died. This record name, Duke Charles the Bold of Burgundy had already been confirmed the year be- shows he had become one of the city min- was married to Margaret of York in 1468. fore, 1481–82, when the city bought “a set strels himself. In 1496–97, he was joined Reinhard Strohm, in his book Music in of recorders” for their use. But as we have by Lieffaert Pavillon, presumably his son, Late Medieval Bruges, has written of this seen, at least one member was already who had replaced Anthuenis van der Beke. occasion that “The minstrels and court dealing in recorders, so presumably he Anthuenis Pavillon is last mentioned in singers of the town worked side by side and probably others had used their own the city’s records in 1510. with the court minstrels and those of the instruments with the band. Adriaen Willemaert likewise came English delegation.” from a minstrel family. In 1459, his father Yet we know from the researches of What do we know of the Nycaise (Nicasius) and his uncle Pierre Marix and Barbara Haggh that the number were among the five minstrels of the count of minstrels at the Burgundian Court had Bruges minstrels at this of Saint-Pol who were given a payment for dwindled towards the end of the reign of playing before the duke of Burgundy in Philip the Good (d. 1467), to the point time? Fortunately, more 1459. Nycaise died around 1466, when that in 1468 only one was left, a man Gillis Pavillon was appointed tutor of his named Jacques de Rectre, player of the than about those of any minor children in Bruges. Perhaps not co- slide trumpet, and even he had previously incidentally, Adriaen became a citizen of been listed as a field trumpeter. This sug- other 15th-century city. Bruges the same year, when he was de- gests that the bulk of the instrumental scribed as coming from “Arcane in Hene- music at the wedding was played by the In 1485–86, on the city’s behalf, Pavil- gouwen” (Arc-Ainières in Hainault, be- Bruges city minstrels. lon and Willemaert began teaching the tween Tornai and Kortrijk), and presum- A series of suppers was held every day recorder in their own homes to four ably received his appointment in the city for ten days, at which music was per- “youngsters.” When Willemaert died only minstrels. formed by musicians disguised as animals. about a year later, Pavillon continued Another Willemaert, Hanin, was At one supper there appeared “four wolves teaching two of the boys for at least two among the minstrels of the count of having recorders in their paws, and the more years. This arrangement is puzzling, Estampes who received a New Year’s gift in said wolves started to play a chanson.” As since only recorders are mentioned. A nor- Brussels in 1461. Jehan Willemaert, per- Isabelle Cazeaux has noted: “The wolves’ mal apprenticeship would have also in- haps Adriaen’s brother, joined the min- feat anticipates Attaingnant’s Vingt et sept cluded shawms and trombones, perhaps strels of the duke of Burgundy in 1470, fol- chansons musicales a quatre (1533), also trumpets. Since the boys were housed lowed by Lussart Pavillon, perhaps An- playable on flutes [and recorders], by in the minstrels’ homes, the most likely ex- thuenis’s brother, in 1473. (They stayed at more than half a century, and shows that planation is that they had full apprentice- the court until at least 1475, after which although scribes did not specifically say ships and the term “recorders” was being the records peter out.) An Adrian so, 15th-century motets and chansons used as shorthand for “wind instru- “Wilmorth” or “Willeme”—clearly Wille- were already ‘convenables tant a la voix ments.” Still, recorders do seem to have maert—turns up at the English Court in comme aux instruments’ [suitable both for been especially important in Bruges, as 1503 as an apprentice of a Flemish wind the voice and for instruments].” confirmed by a reference to the city min- player named Guilliam van der Bergh What do we know of the Bruges min- strels as “players of recorders and (who, as we shall see below, played the strels at this time? Fortunately, more than shawms,” rather than the standard recorder). about those of any other 15th-century city. shawms and trombones, when they visit- The Bruges minstrels generally played Highly relevant to this topic, in 1470 Adri- ed the court of Margaret of Austria in outside or facing the outdoors. They took aen Willemaert sold some fleutes to a Flo- 1522–23. part in two important annual processions: rentine banker or merchant named Gero- Anthuenis Pavillon belonged to a fami- first, that to celebrate the relic of the Holy lamo Strozzi, resident in Bruges. Wille- ly of minstrels. He was the son of Gillis Blood on the feast of the Invention of the maert was a member of the city’s band of Pavillon, who served in Bruges between Cross (May 3). This feast coincided with four scalmeyers—literally “shawm play- 1456 and 1479 and was himself the son of the beginning of the secular May Fair, the
14 American Recorder Detail from the chest of Benvenuto Cellini’s bust of Cosimo I de' Medici (in the Bargello Museum, Florence, Italy city’s most important event, which attract- Ave regina celorum on three other occa- ed merchants and visitors from all around, sions over the following two years. With including abroad. their theme of the Virgin Mary, both Second, they played for the procession motets would have been highly appropri- on St. Donatian’s Day (October 14), to ate for the Salve concerts. Strohm writes that in 1504 he was one of the 11 Floren- celebrate the patron saint of the city, when that the minstrels’ concerts in St. Donat- tine citizens chosen as a jury to decide on five or six tubicinantes (trumpeters) are ian’s “were held in honor of the Virgin, the placement of Michelangelo’s David. noted as walking in front of the saint’s and one has to assume that the minstrels He apparently gave up a career as an artist relics. The city minstrels are also reported played sacred works ... especially the and engineer in order to marry and take as playing on different occasions in the Salve regina and other Marian pieces, or steady employment—with the city pifferi. market square as well as in front of the sections from masses that were suitable for Benvenuto says that in addition to town hall and from its windows, belfry, or instrumental performance.” He goes on to recorder and shawm (and presumably cor- estrade (especially built for them). suggest that the celebrated Jacob Obrecht, nett), his father played violi. None of these locations would pre- who became master of the choirboys of St. The members of the Florentine pifferi sumably have been suitable for recorders. Donatian’s in 1485, composed for these specialized in playing not a certain type of But we know that the Bruges minstrels al- concerts, including such surviving secular instrument but parts of a certain range. so played indoors. They joined in dances works as T’Andernaken, “a cantus firmus When Giovanni was appointed, he played at the Burgundian court: “open” balls in setting of the well-known tune, which ap- the soprano part. After being dismissed for the palace, when townswomen were invit- pears in the tenor in very long notes, while political reasons in 1491 and reappointed ed to participate, and balls in the reception the other two voices spin an elaborate four years later, he was given the contra room of the new town hall, which had a counterpoint around it” (see Example 1, alto and contra basso parts, but received balcony expressly for minstrels. They which would work on alto, tenor and bass only benefits, not a salary. played for banquets during the May Fair at recorders). which prominent visitors were enter- Giovanni himself knew tained. For the citizens, they also did a cer- Giovanni and Benvenuto Cellini tain amount of freelance work, such as The celebrated sculptor and goldsmith enough about art that in weddings. The extent of the resulting extra Benvenuto Cellini (1500–1571) was also a income is implied by a vote of the city recorder player. His father, Giovanni, was a 1504 he was one of the council during the war years of 1480 and wind player and a member of the Floren- 1481 to give the musicians an additional tine town band, the pifferi. Benvenuto 11 Florentine citizens sum of money because they had “little or wrote in his famous autobiography that nothing to do because of the sober times Giovanni taught him to play the recorder, chosen as a jury to decide that now rule.” cornett, and shawm, to sing, and to com- Beginning in 1481, the city instituted pose. Furthermore, that as an apprentice Salve or lof (“praise”) concerts in honor of before the age of 12 he was already per- on the placement of the Virgin Mary in St. Donatian’s church forming with the pifferi on cornett and every day of the year, performed by the recorder—still so short that he had to play Michelangelo’s David. succentor and choirboys with the organ. while seated on the shoulders of a servant. Two years later, in May 1483, just after the Then his father sent him to Bologna for In 1497, he was given a full place again, city bought the official set of recorders for six months to study the shawm daily with and now played soprano and contra basso the minstrels, the city paid them to per- master Antonio Capistraro, a member of parts. He was charged with illegally buying form instrumental music after the singing the Concerto Palatino. While there he the place from another member, but the during the Salve concerts on the three earned money playing alongside Ercole Al- charges were later dropped. “free” market days. These concerts were bergato del Piffero, a well-known actor, At the age of 63, Giovanni retired, the one of the initiatives of the city to entertain string player, stage designer and composer. official reason being that he was consid- the populace and visitors during the mar- On his return to Florence, Benvenuto ered too old for the daily obligations of the ket. Although the church had given per- continued to perform with the brothers job. Benvenuto claims that his father was mission for the “trumpeters” to play in Pierino and Girolamo da Volterra (who actually pensioned off because he was un- these concerts, we may assume that the both became members of the pifferi before willing to go to Rome to serve Cardinal minstrels also used this resonant indoor long). So he had reached a high profes- Giovanni de’ Medici, who had just be- setting to show off their recorders to good sional standard at an early age. come Pope Leo X. In 1527, Giovanni died effect. Giovanni di Andrea di Cristofano Celli- of the plague. As to the repertory employed, in ni (1451–1527), to give him his full name, We owe many of these juicy details to 1484–85 Nicasius de Brauwere, master of served in the pifferi between 1480 and Benvenuto’s fame as an artist. If he had re- the choirboys at St. Savior’s church in 1514. Several times he is mentioned as mained a player, we would probably know Bruges, was paid for writing a set of motets maestro, apparently signifying leader of the less about him than we now know about for the use of the “minstrels of this city.” group. His grandfather was named Cristo- his father. In any case, it seems to have The payment record gives no more details fano; his father, Andrea, was a bricklayer. been Giovanni’s perhaps enforced retire- of these particular motets, but the min- Interest in the arts and building was high ment that lost Benvenuto the right to suc- strels are noted as performing the Salve in the family. Giovanni’s brother Bar- ceed his father in the pifferi, giving him regina and Ave regina celorum at the town tolomeo (“Baccio”) became an architect. added incentive to pursue the art of gold- hall during a celebration in 1488, and the Giovanni himself knew enough about art smithing rather than music.
March 2004 15 Example 1. Tandernaken by Jacob Obrecht, from Harmonice musices odhecaton (Venice: Petrucci, 1501), ff. 75–76 (clefs: C2, C4, F4)
7
13
20
26
32
38
A MIDI playback of this piece and an enlarged version more suitable for ensemble playing are available in Recorder On-Line at
51
58
65
73
78
Hans Nagel: While in Mechelen, between 1515 and Between 1515 and 1517, London and the Low Countries 1517, Nagel and the famous music copy- The origins of our next player, Hans Nagel ist Petrus Alamire served as spies for Hen- Nagel and the famous (d. 1531–32), are uncertain, as Nagel was ry VIII of England, helping to gather infor- a common name in the Low Countries. He mation about Richard de la Pole, exiled may have been German: one of the two pretender to the English throne. The king music copyist sons of another Hans Nagel who served in was rightly concerned that Pole would at- the civic ensemble of Leipzig between tack England, especially when in March Petrus Alamire 1479 and 1483. 1516 he apparently obtained from Francis The first record that clearly relates to I of France a promise of support for his ti- our Hans dates from 1501, when he was tle. Therefore the English Court tried to served as spies for among the “sackbuts” of Henry VII of keep track of Pole’s movements. England when the king made a state visit Nagel had apparently had some earlier Henry VIII of England. to Philip the Fair, duke of Burgundy, in dealings with Pole that were considered Brussels. Unfortunately, the English ac- treasonable in England, and he now asked counts during the preceding years do not for and was granted an amnesty. Despite give the names of all the members of this that, Henry VIII was unsuccessful in his ensemble, so we do not know exactly attempt to entice Nagel back to England as when Nagel arrived in London. The “sack- a court musician (but did succeed with buts” of the English Court in fact played some of his trombone-playing colleagues, either shawm or trombone, and one of including Van Winckel). Eventually, the them, a Fleming called Guilliam van der surviving diplomatic correspondence con- Burgh, was paid for providing “new tains a claim by an informant that Alamire recorders,” presumably for himself and and Nagel were spies for Pole, or in other his colleagues, in 1501. words double agents, and the Court Nagel left England in 1504 and joined dropped them soon after that. the retinue of Philip the Fair. Curiously, At some point after 1518–19 that can- this move soon brought him back to Eng- not be established because of missing land, when Philip’s fleet was battered in a records, Nagel moved to Antwerp and storm on its way to Spain in 1506 and took joined the stadsspeellieden (civic ensem- refuge in an English harbor. Philip then ble) there. He did become a citizen of made a state visit of no fewer than three Antwerp in 1528–29 and is listed in the months to the English Court, and his min- first preserved accounts of the civic musi- strels were rewarded by Henry VII. cians in 1530. Philip did go on to Spain later that year, By the time the city made an inventory taking control of the kingdom of Castille, of its instruments in October 1532, Nagel but lived less than a month to enjoy it. had died. The extent of these instruments, Nagel may perhaps have stayed on for a divided among three of the musicians, is while in the service of the widowed queen, remarkable: Peeter Baninck had “a case although that would surely have been un- with twelve new recorders ... a case of comfortable, as her mental instability new large crumhorns, eleven altogether, earned her the nickname “Mad Joan.” and ... a soprano and a tenor shawm.” By 1508–09, Nagel had moved back to Tielman Susato (see below) had “another the Low Countries, where he was paid in case with eight crumhorns ... another Mechelen as piper vander stad (city wind case with nine recorders ... also, two player) for “certain services done for the trombones and a field trumpet ... and ... a city.” He appears on the pay records of the tenor pipe [shawm?].” Jan de Brasser had civic ensemble through 1518–19, always “a trombone that Jan [i.e., Hans] Nagel being distinguished from his colleagues had and ... a case with seven recorders; by the title “master,” which may mean he Hans Nagel had eight but one was lost at was the leader. In 1510–11, the city paid his home: a tenor [crossed out] a soprano.” him for acquiring a case of recorders, This inventory confirms that Nagel played doubtless for the ensemble’s use. the trombone and that, as in London and Nagel may actually have been doing Mechelen, he and his colleagues played a double duty, for he was paid in 1509, on consort of recorders. command of Margaret of Austria, for serv- Other cases and sets of recorders are ing daily in the court chapel of the minor mentioned in inventories and purchases Archduke Charles of Burgundy, located in in the Low Countries and Italy before Mechelen. (He and another trombonist, 1532. And twice a number of recorders is Jan Van Winckel, played along with the specified without saying whether they singers in the polyphonic offices and constituted a set: six recorders, Mechelen, masses.) 1508–09; eight recorders, Nuremberg,
18 American Recorder 1512. The Antwerp inventory, however, is through several editions: two chanson se- Pylken and his colleague Gommaer van the first time that numbers of instruments ries, two motet series, a mass series, a Oisterwyck, “fugitives,” were sentenced are explicitly associated with sets—and Dutch-texted series, and one dance vol- in their absence for taking part in the they are surprisingly large numbers (eight, ume (the famous Danserye). Calvinist uprising. They were banished nine, and twelve). Since there were only His house/store was situated in a prime from the city and their goods seized. four or five musicians in the Antwerp en- business location, near the city’s Bourse Pylken was already in England, where two semble, they must have drawn on these (exchange). The house from which Susato years later he was appointed to the Lon- large sets, as needed, to create variety of conducted his business from 1551 don Waits in a specially created seventh sizes and numbers in consorts. onwards was called, not the recorder place. Not long before, the city had bought Although the method books of the first but the Cromhorn—perhaps a more a “whole set of recorders” and six cornetts half of the 16th century report only the al- eye-catching instrument for a sign. The for its Waits, to add to their shawms, trom- to, tenor, and basset sizes of recorder, we location was a new development, north bones, and viols. Pylken clearly was a gift- know from documents and surviving in- of the city, called the New Town, in which ed musician, because on his departure 10 struments that larger sizes were made. For he was also an investor. years later was given an unprecedented example, in 1535, Wolff Gans (see below) During the 1550s he became increas- “free gift” of money. Oisterwyck, too, went bought for the Brussels court a recorder ingly involved in business activities, in- to London, where in 1570 he became a “the height of a man, for the contrabass cluding jewel trading and land specula- member of the Court flute and cornett part.” tion in the recently drained polders of consort. North Holland. In 1561, he left Antwerp Tielman Susato to become “commission bailiff and sher- Sylvestro Ganassi As to what repertoire would have been iff” of the dikes in Alkmaar. Surprisingly little has been published played on these sets of recorders, one an- After participating in a failed diplomat- about the life of Sylvestro di Ganassi dal swer comes from another city player men- ic mission for Sweden in 1565–66, in Fontego, one of the most famous names in tioned in the Antwerp inventory of 1532: which he destroyed some letters that he the history of the recorder. His date of Tielman Susato. Born in Soest in the re- feared would fall into the hands of the birth is given in reference books with con- gion of Cologne (thus the last name he country’s enemy, Denmark, Susato was fidence as 1492, presumably based on his adopted), Susato arrived in Antwerp at brought before the High Court of Sweden, statement in his second treatise for the about the age of 14 around 1529 and then released. The last known documents viol, Lettione seconda pur della prattica di worked as a music calligrapher at Onze- about him, from 1569 and 1570, find him sonare il violone d’arco da tasti (1543), that Lieve-Vrouw (the Church of Our Lady). still in Sweden working as a German scribe “of the 51 years I have encountered, I have Two years later, he joined the Antwerp and as a mediator in a property dispute. had the time to study for at most five civic ensemble. Its players performed dai- years.” Fifty-one certainly sounds more ly: at the city hall, in the Church of Our like an accurate number than, say, 50 Lady, and for processions and state occa- Pylken and his colleague would have been, but even so we can only sions. They were also often employed by say that he was born in 1491 or 92. the Confraternity of Onze-Lieve-Vrouw- Gommaer van Under the name “Silvestri Antonij” he Hof to play for mass and on feast days. The was hired as a piffero of the Doge of Venice city made payments to Susato for playing Oisterwyck, “fugitives,” in June 1517 to replace one Melchiorre, the trumpet (1531) and for two trumpets, deceased, who had played the contra alto a tenor and a bass, “bought for the city were sentenced in their part in the ensemble. (As in Florence, the musicians for the procession and to play Venetian ensemble specialized in part- in the church with singers on high feast absence for taking part in ranges.) Ganassi was said to be living at days” (1542). that time “close to the government grana- Susato remained in the ensemble until the Calvinist uprising. ry near the Rialto” (ad fonticum Farine in 1549, when he and three other members Rivoalto ad tria capita). This storehouse were dismissed, apparently for religious (fontego in Italian) gave rise to his appella- insubordination during the entry into Susato indicated that many of the vocal tion “dal Fontego”—and in turn, of Antwerp of Emperor Charles V and his pieces he published could also be played course, to the name of his famous recorder zealously Catholic son, Philip of Spain. on “all” instruments. The title page of the treatise, Opera intitulata Fontegara [Work Clearly, Susato was sympathetic to the collection from which Example 2 is taken, entitled “Fontegara”] (Venice, 1535). The growing Calvinist movement. Later docu- Vingt et six chansons, says merely that its Antonio appended to his name in the hir- ments still describe him as a “musician” parts are “suitable both for the voice as al- ing record no doubt refers to his father. (speelman), suggesting that he was now so favorable to play on various instru- About his origins, Ganassi wrote in the performing freelance. ments” (convenable tant a la uoix comme introduction to his first treatise for the Meanwhile, in 1542, Susato had begun aussi propices a iouer de diuers Instru- viol, Regola rubertina: Regola che insegna an illustrious second career as the first mu- ments). This example, in which the second sonar de viola darcho tastada (Venice, sic publisher in the Low Countries, initial- part is derived from the first by canon at 1542): “In ancient histories, we find the ly in collaboration with two other men, the lower octave, would work on soprano philosopher giving thanks to God for three but already under his own printing privi- recorder, three tenors, and bass. things: first, that he was a Greek not a bar- lege the following year. Between 1543 and A postscript: one of the other Antwerp barian; second, that he was a rational be- 1561, he published no fewer than 55 musicians dismissed in 1549, Segher ing and not an irrational one; and third, “music books,” many of which went Pylken, was soon reinstated. But in 1568, that he was a man and not a woman. I, too,
March 2004 19 Example 2. “Je my levay par ung matin” by Jean Descaudain, from Vingt et six chansons musicales & nouuelles a cincq (Antwerp: Thielman Susato, [1543]); superius, contratenor, tenor, bassus, all f. vv (clefs: C1, C4, C4, F4)
6
12
A MIDI playback of this piece and an enlarged version more suitable for ensemble playing are available in Recorder On-Line at
23
30
36
42
48
thank God for three things: first, that I am There is one other relevant record placabile) effect of the semitone. The ma- of Bergamasque ancestry; second, I was about the family: a lawyer called “Antonius jority of the treatise is taken up with a se- born in the city of Venice; third, I am a de Ganassis a fontico,” perhaps Sylve- ries of tables of the divisions or passaggi Christian and not a pagan. I will tell you stro’s son, is mentioned in a Venetian doc- that may be applied to a melodic line. the reason why: this Lombard ancestry en- ument of 1549. For what audience did Ganassi write dowed me with ability; the greatness of the Ganassi’s Fontegara is at once the most this treatise? In his introduction to Regola Venetian homeland made me studious; revealing and the most frustrating of all rubertina he wrote: “I have taken to heart, and faith made me work for things useful recorder treatises, tantalizing us with hints as I already did with my other work enti- to body and soul.” (The title of this trea- of an astonishingly well-developed style of tled Fontegara, which taught how to play tise, like that of Fontegara, is a pun: the playing. (Please note that I have made my the recorder and to make diminutions, to work is dedicated to Ruberto Strozzi, a own translations of all of Ganassi’s words, set out some of my observations on music Florentine nobleman and patron of the rather than relying on standard published for the viol, that is, on the practical early madrigal, whom Ganassi claims as translations, which bear only an approxi- method of playing music on the viol, in or- his former student.) mate relationship to the original text.) The der that the talent given to me by God be We know little about Ganassi’s later author declares that the aim of the instru- passed on to my neighbor, and smooth the life. Francesco Sansovino’s Diagolo di tutte mentalist is to learn from and imitate the way for those who take delight in this art.” le cose notabili che sono in Venetia [Dialog human voice, using the breath, articula- Furthermore, “it happens that in the pres- on all the notable things in Venice] (1560) tion, and fingering. He then describes the ent day many take delight in the instru- singles out “Sylvestro dal Fontego” as one means we can use to achieve fine playing: mental music of viols, so I have decided to of the musicians “of excellence” in the city. good breath control, alternative finger- make my work bear fruit in the love toward He is presumably the “Sylvestro dal Cor- ings, a variety of articulations (three basic my neighbor, and I know that it has been netto” (of the cornett) who rented a volta kinds of syllable, te che, te re, and le re), and useful to me to learn at the right time and (storeroom or warehouse) in Venice in extensive use of trills and divisions. Un- place, the same being also true for our 1566 for an annual rent of 17 ducati. The fortunately, he gives no examples of musi- neighbor.” On the title page of Lettione sec- date of his death is unknown. cal contexts in which these techniques onda, he wrote that the treatise was “a use- Ganassi’s treatises reveal a few more were used, and we cannot hear the “capa- ful work for those who take delight in personal details about him. In Lettione sec- ble and expert” (suficiente & perito) 16th- learning how to play” (opera utilissima a onda he wrote to his readers, touchingly: century singer he holds up as a model. chi se diletta de imparare sonare). A manu- “even though the shape of my body is script appendix to Fontegara, consisting of abundant in flesh, it does not mean that 175 diminutions on a single cadence, was because of this abundance I will be forced From all this evidence, prepared by Ganassi for “a Florentine gen- to keep my eyes closed throughout my dis- it is clear that Ganassi tleman” and copied for a nobleman called cussion.” On the title page he describes only Domenico. himself as “desirous in [presumably a stu- had amateur musicians From all this evidence, it is clear that dent of] the visual arts.” He engraved and Ganassi had amateur musicians in mind printed all his treatises himself. in mind for all for all three treatises. Professionals We do know something about Ganas- learned through apprenticeship with a si’s relatives. A family of wind musicians three treatises. master, in one-on-one instruction, pre- who belonged to the Concerto Palatino in sumably using whatever teaching materi- Bologna were Ganassis. The first, Zaccaria According to Ganassi, playing “with als the master could provide. If Ganassi da Venezia, trombonist (who served artifice”—or, in other words, artistically— had been targeting professional wind play- 1513–28), may have been Sylvestro’s has three essential interdependent ele- ers for Fontegara, he would doubtless have brother. (If this is true, then their father is ments. The first is imitatione (imitation, written about the cornett or the shawm, likely to have been a wind musician, too.) specifically of the voice), achieved by the bread-and-butter instruments of wind There is an explicit connection be- means of dynamics in service of the piece’s bands, rather than the recorder. tween Zaccaria and the Bassano family: mood. The second is while he temporarily served the Pope in pronteza (readiness), 1519–21, he was replaced by Alvise Bas- achieved by varying the sano, the eldest son of Jeronimo, the pa- breath pressure. The third triarch of the family (himself a member of is galanteria (elegance or the pifferi del Doge and therefore surely grace), achieved by the acquainted with Sylvestro). Zaccaria had use of ornaments, two sons: Giovannino de Zaccaria (served “derived fundamentally 1544–52) and Vincentio da Zaccaria from the trilling of the fin- (served 1531–81), who was the perma- gers on the holes of the nent replacement for his father and is ex- recorder.” He mentions plicitly called “Vincentij Ganassi” in one trills varying in interval record. Vincentio’s son, Alphonso (served from the “lively and 1561–1610), was generally known as expansive” (vivace e augu- Ganassi. A further Ganassi, Alessandro, mentata) expression of the probably a member of the next generation, third down to the “sweet served 1622–48. or soothing” (suave over
March 2004 23 The Bassano of the people and the lord priors” at all the and the sentence was even increased be- Family: required times and on all the occasions de- cause he refused to turn himself in. From Venice cided upon by those ruling bodies. Clear- In 1565, Nodi was said to be using a to London ly, recorders were important to the city au- room in the Palace for a “school.” By 1574, In the London thorities, because they are mentioned first he was living in a house where he had “his branch of the Bas- and in any case alongside the primary in- own studio or school where he usually sanos we find an struments of wind bands. The case of teaches his pupils.” One of his pupils was apparently unique recorders is still mentioned in the records Domenico Fei, son of Maestro Bartolomeo instance of players at this time, once being said to be “in the Fei, a Sienese barber. Bartolomeo left Nodi being allowed to hands of maestro Niccolò, piffaro.” the sum of 50 scudi in 1576, “in recogni- specialize in the The man in question had the long full tion of the many kindnesses shown to recorder. In 1531, name Niccolò di Maestro Cristoforo Pif- Domenico” when Nodi “taught him musi- Henry VIII attract- fero. Having served since 1510, he was ex- cal theory and to play instruments.” ed four Venetian wind players to his “sack- cused from playing at night and permitted (Domenico had begun serving in the pifferi but” ensemble: Alvise, Anthony, Jasper, to have another musician substitute for as a supernumerary the previous year, was and John “de Jeronimo.” These were none him. The palace inventory of 1573 now hired on half salary in 1578, and resigned other than four of the sons of Jeronimo gives the specific number of recorders: “a in 1591 when his request for a salary in- Bassano, whom we have already encoun- case of six flauti dritti” (the first use of this crease was denied.) Nodi’s successor’s tered in Venice. They stayed in England term for the instrument that I have en- successor as leader of the pifferi, Alberto di only a few years, then returned home. countered in any Italian records). Francesco Gregori, was ordered to open a In 1539–40, the king—who played the school in 1603, “above all because of the recorder himself—attracted them back to great necessity of renewing and maintain- England permanently, along with their The wind band of Siena ing a school of music in the Palace, as was younger brother Baptista, this time not as is first recorded the custom in the past, and of promoting shawm and trombone players but as a as having recorders young players from it.” consort of recorder players. This consort, Nodi retired on fully salary in 1601 and expanded to six members in 1550, lasted in 1547. died the following year. His heirs returned intact until the amalgamation of the three to the palace “two cases of recorders, one Court wind consorts into one group in For our purposes, the most important black and the other yellowish; a case of 1630—no less than 90 years. Its later member of the Sienna pifferi was Simone flutes; (and) another case of six sordini members included second- and third- di Domenico Nodi—that is, Simone Nodi, (sorduns?),” all of which had been issued generation Bassanos (Arthur, Anthony II, son of Domenico—who was appointed in to him for the use of the pifferi. Augustine, Edward, Henry, Jeronimo II, 1546, only one year before the first official Lodovico), other foreigners (William mention of recorders in the records. He The Gans Family Daman and two members of the Lanier had apparently already been serving as a The Ganses present a fascinating case of family, Alphonso and Clement), and from supernumerary, as five months earlier his wind players involved with the recorder at 1593 onwards some native wind players meal allowance had been increased. As several levels. Wolff Gans joined the (Robert Baker I and II, John Hussey, with many of the pifferi, the trials and Stadtpfeifer (city band) of Augsburg in William Noake). tribulations of his life are recorded in some 1526 and stayed there for eight years. At The musicians were on call daily in one detail. In 1564, he was hauled before the that point he took some kind of leave of of the five “standing houses” of the city authorities to explain why he had dis- absence, perhaps engineered through the monarch on the River Thames—Westmin- obeyed orders to play the cornett alone imperial household, to work for Queen ster, Greenwich, Richmond, Hampton while his colleagues were absent on one Mary of Hungary, who did not in fact live Court, and Windsor—apparently to play occasion; he must have had a good excuse, in Hungary but was the regent of The for dances and dinners. Doubtless the because he was absolved of the charge. In Netherlands and based in Brussels. In consort used instruments made by the 1555, he was ordered to share the gifts and 1535, Gans was one of three “shawm play- Bassanos, who were among the prominent gratuities that he had received from ers” paid “for having come from Germany woodwind makers of the age. (For details, visitors on behalf of the ensemble, and to the service of the Queen.” see my book on the Bassano family, or my apparently some extra income for He also received a payment “for sever- August 1984 article for American Recorder freelance work outside the Palace. al instruments of music made in Augsburg on the Court recorder consort.) Ten years later in 1565, Nodi and a col- and delivered to the Queen; among oth- league, Adriano Mangoni, were among the ers, three recorders, including one the Simone Nodi five pifferi who were successfully sued by a height of a man, for the contrabass part; The wind band of Siena is first recorded as Palace trumpeter and his son for not shar- one for the tenor; and one for the superius; having recorders in 1547: “a case of black ing gratuities. In 1570, Nodi in turn sued another large and one medium recorder; recorders, in the hands of the pifferi.” the leader of the pifferi, Ascanio Marri, for also eight flutes ....” Clearly, Gans was Revised statutes for the pifferi drawn up in the same reason. Nodi himself was elected helping to build up the collection of 1556 state that they would now number leader in 1575. In 1580, he was ordered to woodwinds at the disposal of Queen five musicians who, with their “recorders, be imprisoned for violating the city’s regu- Mary’s band, which then consisted of two trombones, and cornetts” were to be “in lations on taking outside employment, cornettists, three shawm players, and a constant readiness to play for the captain trombonist.
24 American Recorder We do not know of any woodwind nett, but must accept and be responsible teamed up with Melchior Neusidler makers in Augsburg in the 16th century, for another part.” (1521–90), the celebrated composer and so Gans is much more likely to have What the Ganses did not know was lutenist, who had moved to Augsburg a bought the instruments in or around that that the city had already made a deal with few years earlier. Under Neusidler’s lead- city. There are surviving great bass Prenner, who had been playing in the tow- ership they formed a group to play stille recorders from this period made by Hans er of St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna for Musica—apparently chamber music Rauch in Schrattenbach and probably Sig- five years, to swap places with Perger. In involving lute with some soft instruments, mund Schnitzer I in Nuremberg; both December that year, Wolfgang wrote a such as strings, flutes, or recorders— cities are reasonably close to Augsburg. complaint that the city magistrate had de- for prominent citizens. (Sigmund was praised, in a book pub- nied his request for a salary for the autumn The city’s response to the dispute, in lished in Nuremberg in 1547, especially quarter, noting that on his return from January 1556, was to summon all the for his large sizes of woodwind instru- Italy he had served for five months without Stadtpfeifer, admonish them to keep the ments, including recorders.) In 1536, salary and he had now used up the money peace, and make them take an oath to “not Gans was described not only as shawmist that his father gave him during his Italian do anything offensive to each other or but also “archer of the Queen’s corps.” stay. Since Wolfgang in fact never appears against the law.” Incidentally, one of Pren- In 1538, however, Gans returned to the on the payroll, he must not have been ner’s complaints, that the Ganses some- Augsburg Stadtpfeifer and stayed there for hired permanently. times showed up “without books,” the rest of his life, the last payment being Wolfgang therefore had no post, and demonstrates that it was now consid- made to him in 1557. An inventory of the the Gans family were put in a difficult fi- ered standard for wind musicians to band’s instruments in 1540 included a nancial situation. The solution they play from music, whereas in the 15th cen- case of five recorders (two discant, two adopted emerges from an infamous dis- tury they had almost always played from tenor, one bass) and a case of four flutes pute between Wolff and his colleagues in memory. (three tenor, one bass), both “lost” from the Stadtpfeifer three years later, in 1555— Both of Wolff’s sons did eventually the city’s dance house, presumably stolen. in which, among other things, Wolff move on from Augsburg to the same We may be suspicious that Gans had sold claimed that Prenner tried to hit Wolfgang place, the Court of Baden-Württemberg the instruments to Queen Mary, but the on the head with a large shawm (and in Stuttgart. Sebastian was hired first, in numbers and sizes of instruments do not Prenner counterclaimed that he merely 1566, and the Court immediately bought match. The members of the band are gestured with the instrument). him a trombone “of an especially good named in the inventory as Gans (who had Amid all the angry posturing on both kind and thoroughly useful for the music a treble shawm, a bass shawm with one sides, several interesting facts emerge. of the Court ensemble.” He sur- key, and a case of six crumhorns), Jorg Wolff claims he “not only taught the oth- vived a long illness in 1570. Prenner (a tenor shawm), and Hanns Trex- ers [his colleagues] ... but also established Wolfgang followed him to el (five schreyerpfeiffen), along with Le- the music under the Stadtpfeifer.” (The the Court in 1573. By 1575, upolt Turmer (who is said to have had a word music here may refer to some special they had achieved such a trombone at St. Peter’s Tower, the city’s configuration of instruments or parts, as reputation that a local poet, watchtower; perhaps he also used the in- the band had been established since the Nicodemus Frischlin, in a poem about the strument to play with his colleagues when 14th century.) first marriage of Duke Ludwig, devoted a he was not needed at the tower). Once stanza to them: again, we can see the range of wind instru- Wolff Gansen ich hie nennen muß ments a city could provide for its band. We Wolff claimed that Weil er ist so ein Musicus may suppose that the musicians owned Mit sein Bruder zu dieser frist recorders and flutes, since the city had not Prenner tried to hit Fast der berhümbst Instrumentist replaced the lost ones. Auff Pfeiffen, Zincken so gerad Wolff Gans wrote of his sons, Sebastian Wolfgang on the head Den weitesten beruff jetz hat and Wolfgang, that they “were educated in Und sunst auff manchem Instrument music from their early youth, and learned with a large shawm... Wie der weist, der Wolff Gansen kent. diligently, and moreover they have been in [I must name Wolfgang Gans here / be- other countries with [music] masters; Because of some previous quarreling, cause he is such a fine musician. / With his much was spent on them, so they—thank the city lords had ordered in 1554 that all brother at this time / almost the most God ... have learned and understood the Stadtpfeifer “live together peacefully famous instrumentalist. / On pipes and more than other Stadtpfeifer.” Around and like good colleagues.” For several straight cornetts / he has a widespread 1550, one of them, apparently Wolfgang, years, the band had been rehearsing to- reputation / as well as on many another in- had been sent “to Ferrara for two whole gether three times a week. Wolff decided strument. / That’s what everybody knows years at my own expense.” When Wolf- to stop playing with the Stadtpfeifer and who knows Wolfgang Gans.] gang returned in February 1552, Wolff ap- sent a substitute: he says, an outside trom- Ironically, Neusidler applied unsuc- plied for him to have the place in the band bone player; Prenner says, “only his ap- cessfully for a post in Stuttgart the follow- just vacated by Wolff Perger. Noting in prentice and inexperienced in playing,” so ing year. The Gans brothers were highly passing that Wolfgang was also an organist they had to hire someone better. paid (especially Wolfgang, who also re- and composer, Wolff asked the city to hire Then Wolff formed his own band with ceived a large clothing allowance). They him “because my colleagues and I well his sons to do freelance work. Not to be were consulted about hiring decisions and need a good cornettist, as in my sickness I outdone, his colleagues Prenner, Hans allowed to select instrumentalists without am no longer capable of playing the cor- Trexel, and his son of the same name, asking the Kapellmeister.
March 2004 25 In 1572, Sebastian took two “singing Stuttgart, which had the largest instru- adept in and able to play stringed instru- boys” from the court chapel as appren- ment collection of any European court or ments, flutes and other woodwind instru- tices, whom “he should teach and instruct city, one of the players still had so many in- ments nowadays common, also shawms, on instruments.” Over the next 14 years, struments of his own. trombones, crumhorns.” he took five more apprentices for periods Wolfgang Gans was also paid for pro- The leader of a company of musicians, set between two and six years. These peri- viding a number of instruments for the Giovanni Pietro Rizeffo, in seeking em- ods are short in comparison with those Court between 1574 and 1589: a case of ployment from the duke of Parma in 1546, elsewhere (e.g., in London, a minimum of flutes and dulcians, a virginals, a cornett, a claimed that all six musicians in his com- seven years), and that may have led to quart trombone, and a case of six flutes. As pany could play the trumpet, trombone, trouble. Christoph Frey, who had been ap- a composer, he received payments for pro- shawm, cornett, cornemuse, recorder, prenticed to Sebastian for six years but re- viding a number of pieces for the Court— flute, and violin; were all excellent at im- leased after only 2-1/4 years, became a a four-part mass, unspecified composi- provising from a vocal part; and could sing Court Heerpauker (timpani player). One of tions, two songs (one four-part, one eight- excellently too, having quite good voices. Frey’s own apprentices, Ulrich Beck, then part), and another song—as well as An interesting case is Jonas Depensee had to petition the Court to be allowed to psalms for the local monastery. from Stralsund in Estonia, who wrote to learn “other instruments such as cornetts, In 1578, he was sent to Augsburg to see the town of Reval in 1587 that he was able trombones, and the like,” presumably be- “whether the Fugger instruments were for to play “trombones, cornetts, dulcians, cause Frey was not competent to teach sale.” This was presumably the famous crumhorns, flutes, recorders, treble, him. collection of Raimund Fugger, which was tenor, and bass shawms, and violins, in In 1574, Sebastian was sent to pur- in fact taken over by Fugger’s brother correct musical style, [for pieces] in four or chase instruments for the Stuttgart Court Ulrich the following year. five parts.” In a 1607 letter, Depensee in Munich, Augsburg, and Ulm, and the Only two apprentices of Wolfgang’s are claimed that his son Andreas, who had ap- following year he brought violin strings mentioned in the records, one of them his prenticed with him, was “first, a good from Ulm. In 1576, he was paid for having own son, also named Wolfgang (1579), trumpeter, second, a good cornett player, bought a case “containing 31 flutes and whom he was “to teach and intimately in- third, plays a good discant part on the vio- pipes of all kinds” and for getting “several struct on instruments” for five years; after lin, blows a good flute, dulcian, quart, al- part-books” bound. being freed, this son asked for permission to, and tenor trombones: in sum, wellnigh Six years later, he went with the Court to move to Rome but instead was hired as perfect on all kinds of instruments.” De- woodwind maker Samuel Baisch to Court organist. By 1589, Wolfgang was pensee also lists “the instruments that I Wiesensteig, so that they could learn “the described as “old and not capable much finishing of Kolonen and the cutting of longer, therefore to be released and other their mouthpieces (reeds?)” from the possibilities to be thought of” for the Recorders were pfeiffenmacher Christof Frey (not to be Court band. The following year he was confused with Gans’s apprentice). The paid for no fewer than eight settings of the standard equipment sources relating to these Kolonen or Kolon- Magnificat, perhaps his own, which he nen in Stuttgart do not make absolutely had “engrossed” (or written fair copies of), for the 16th-century clear whether the instruments were sor- so he did have some capability left. He duns, a type of double-reed instrument in died on August 28, 1598. column form (as suggested by their high The wind players at the Stuttgart Court town musician. price and the word “mouthpieces”), or were expected to be proficient on a wide columnar recorders. In 1584, Sebastian variety of instruments. A record for Hans can now make over to him and, praise had a goldsmith coat three cornetts with Eckhardt’s apprenticeship to Georg Straal, God, he can all use: trombones and cor- tin, then gild them and fit them with boss- “trumpeter and instrumentalist” at the netts, among them a good quart trom- es; the cost of this little operation brought Court (1592), mentions that he was bone; second, a consort of dulcians; third, him a sharp order not to do anything in fu- taught “members of the violin family, a consort of large and small shawms; ture without permission. cornetts, recorders, flutes, viols, trom- fourth, a consort of large [?] cornetts; fifth, Sebastian died in December 1586. His bones, crumhorns, small bagpipes, and a consort of crumhorns; sixth, a consort of widow, Susanna, sold to the Court a large trumpets.” flutes; seventh, a consort of recorders; collection of instruments that he had pre- eighth, a consort of violins; so that he can sumably played: two trumpets, three Jonas Depensee change between eight kinds of instru- curved bass cornetts, six straight cornetts, The 16th century produced some other ments and use five and six or eight voices.” “a case of seven recorders and a flute, all striking cases of multi-instrumentalism. What all such lists confirm is that made by the Netherlands pfeifenmacher” In 1540, three musicians from Nurem- recorders were standard equipment for (the Court woodwind maker Melchior Bil- berg—Wolf Hofmann, Hans Thalmann, the 16th-century town musician, and that ligkheim), a case of eight brown and eight and Symon Grebmaier—applied unsuc- our instrument was a first-class citizen. It yellow flutes, a case of four boxwood flutes cessfully to join the town band of Rothen- is beginning to look as if the recorder was made in Antwerp (three tenors and a burg ob der Tauber, claiming they could more vital to the musical life of an era in bass), a case of three flutes (a two-part play “trombones, cornetts, flutes, schrey- the Renaissance than at any time since—if tenor and two two-part basses), a case of erpfeifen, pipe and tabor, crumhorns, not a Golden Age, at least it was a Silver four brown flutes (the two larger ones shawms, recorders, stringed instruments, one, worthy of further exploration made in two parts), and a case of two bent organ, lutes.” In the same year, a success- through its players. bass flutes. It is astonishing that in ful applicant described himself as: “being
26 American Recorder Main Sources and notes by Jean-Philippe Navarre. sous le règne de Philippe le Bon (for reference and further reading) Sprimont, Belgium: Mardaga, 2002. (1420–1467). Strasbourg: Heitz, 1939. Ashbee, Andrew, and David Lasocki with Golly-Becker, Dagmar. Die Stuttgarter McGee, Timothy. “Giovanni Cellini, Peter Holman and Fiona Kisby. A Hofkapelle unter Herzog Ludwig III. Piffero of Florence.” Historic Brass Biographical Dictionary of English Court (1554–1593). Stuttgart & Weimar: Society Journal 12 (2000): 210–25. Musicians 1485–1714, 2 vols. Aldershot Verlag J. B. Metzler, 1999. Polk, Keith. German Instrumental Music & Brookfield, VT: Ashgate, 1998. Griscom, Richard, and David Lasocki. of the Late Middle Ages: Players, Patrons, Cazeaux, Isabelle. French Music in the The Recorder: A Research and Informa- and Performance Practice. Cambridge & Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries. tion Guide, 2nd ed. New York: Rout- New York: Cambridge University Press, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1975. ledge, 2003. A comprehensive survey 1992. D’Accone, Frank A. The Civic Muse: Music of writings about the recorder ______. “The Recorder and Recorder and Musicians in Siena during the Middle through 2001. Consorts in the Fifteenth Century.” In Ages and the Renaissance. Chicago: Haggh, Barbara Helen. “The Status of the Musique de joie: Proceedings of the Inter- University of Chicago Press, 1997. This Musician at the Burgundian–Habsburg national Symposium on the Renaissance book has more then 100 pages on the Courts, 1467–1506.” M.M. thesis, Flute and Recorder Consort, Utrecht city’s wind musicians in the 15th and University of Illinois, 1980. 2003, ed. David Lasocki. Utrecht: 16th centuries. Lasocki, David. “Inventories and Pur- STIMU, forthcoming. Forney, Kristine F. “New Documents on chases of Flutes, Recorders, Flageolets, ______, ed. Tielman Susato and the the Life of Tielman Susato, Sixteenth- and Tabor Pipes, 1388–1800.” Music of his Time: Print Culture, Compo- Century Music Printer and Musician.”
Just as you wouldn’t use saxophones to play Medieval music, there are appropriate percussion instruments to use for added color in early music, especially in music for dancing. Monroe suggests how to choose instruments and provides ideas for playing them, caring for them, and using them creatively on your own. Order this information booklet and others in the series:
ARS Information Booklets: Recorder Care, by Scott Paterson American Recorder Music, by Constance Primus Music for Mixed Ensembles, by Jennifer W. Lehmann Improve Your Consort Skills, by Susan (Prior) Carduelis Playing Music for the Dance, by Louise Austin The Burgundian Court and Its Music, coordinated by Judith Whaley Adding Percussion to Medieval and Renaissance Music, by Peggy Monroe Members: 1-$10, 2-$20, 3-$25, 4-$30, 5-$35, 6-$40, 7-$45 Non-members: 1-$15, 2-$30, 3-$40, 4-$50, 5-$60, 6-$70, 7-$80 Postage and handling: $2 for 1-2 booklets; $5 for 3-4; $6 for 5-7
AMERICAN RECORDER SOCIETY BOX 631, LITTLETON, CO 80160 • 303-347-1120
March 2004 27 RESPONSE ______Department of Amplification
The Memento Mori that wouldn’t die (Jacob van Eyck’s Der Fluyten Lust-hof, top of the page of music is Blÿschap van my The cover of the November 2003 AR Utrecht, 1991, pp. 116-120). ex, “Joy is leaving me” (translated by showed a “Vanitas” painting by the Dutch The measures from Arkenberg’s tran- Michiel Plomp, a curator at the Metropol- artist Herman Henstenburgh. In the Janu- scription do parallel the measures 1-33, itan Museum of Art). I transcribed the mu- ary 2004 issue, Rebecca Arkenberg tried 15-163, 25 and 30 of Van Eyck’s variation sic as below, with the page turn indicated to identify the melody that appears on the work (theme with ornamented reprises). by a dark line. There are still some ques- painting. I’m afraid her detective work The very first measure in Henstenburgh’s tionable notes. may have taken a wrong turn. painting follows Starter’s model, but the Is this meant to be an actual tune? As soon as I saw her transcription (Jan- second gives exactly the same ornament as Many art historians may argue that it is uary AR, p. 6 ), it was obvious to me that Van Eyck’s version of the theme. not. Henstenburgh was best known for his the depicted piece is not the air “Farewell On first sight, it seems unnecessary to naturalistic depictions of flowers and in- dear love” by Robert Jones, known in the relate the painting’s music and the sects. It is obvious that he has devoted 17th-century Dutch Republic as “O slaep, recorder. Both are usual “Vanitas” sym- much care and skill to the colorful garland o zoete slaep” (“O sleep, o sweet sleep”). bols. It is interesting, though, that the mu- that adorns the skull—it dominates the Henstenburgh took a different English sic piece is in D minor, whereas the tune composition and draws attention to its tune that was much more appropriate in a was usually in G minor ( in Starter and rich colors and exuberant detail. He did “Vanitas” context, a melody that appeared Van Eyck). When Henstenburgh became not take such pains with the music and the in Jacob van Eyck’s Der Fluyten Lust-hof as active as a painter, the new Baroque recorder—pale, almost ghostly images, well. It is “Blydschap van myn vliedt” recorder in F was already known in The set to the side, as are the hourglass and “Joy flees from me”) [see New Vellekoop Netherlands. The painting may show a candle. These are supporting characters, Edition of the Lust-hof, # 114]. version that was transposed a fifth up- belonging to the symbolic world, and the Through these words, the tune was in- wards to make it fit an alto recorder. notes on the page do not have to represent troduced in The Netherlands by Jan The key of D minor also appears in anything further than music in general. Starter. It was a lament on the untimely “Blydschap” from the early 18th-century On the other hand, there is precedence death (Vanitas!) of a young lady whose ini- Amsterdam collection Boerenlietjes en for finding identifiable music in “Vanitas” tials were “M.V.B.” Starter, an Englishman Contredansen (Volume X, # 225). Accord- paintings, with the choice of composition by birth, published it in his Friesche Lust- ing to Van Baak Griffioen, this is “a differ- relating to the theme of the painting— hof, a songbook from 1621 (see music ex- ent melody.” It is a corrupted version of and Holland in the 17th and 18th cen- ample). Apart from the notes, he also gave the same tune, however. turies was a good place to find amateur a tune indication: “Twas a youthful Thiemo Wind musicians, especially recorder players, knight, wch loved a galjant lady.” For more who would have appreciated a little musi- background, see Ruth van Baak Griffioen’s In January I had a chance to examine this cal “joke,” a popular tune as a subtlety for book on the melodies used by Van Eyck painting more closely. The writing at the the musically curious. Thanks to Thiemo Wind’s research, we have a positive identification. Now it is Jan Starter, Friesche Lust-hof (Amsterdam, 1621), p. 40, facsimile. Responses from our readers are welcomed and may be tempting to imagine Henstenburgh hum- sent to American Recorder, ming or whistling this popular song as he 7770 South High St., uses a tiny brush to copy out the first few Centennial, CO 80122. measures, a visual form of “Name That Letters may be edited for length and consistency. Tune.” Centuries later, recorder players can still get the message. Transcription after further examination Rebecca Arkenberg of the Henstenburgh Vanitas Still Life More on “The Recorder in the Nineteenth Century” I am indebted to Darcy Kuronen [Response, November 2003 AR] for enlight- ening me on the technical difference continued on page 48
28 American Recorder TEXAS TOOT, SUMMER EDITION (ARS) SAN FRANCISCO EARLY MUSIC SOCIETY Concordia University, Austin, TX BAROQUE WORKSHOP (ARS) May 31-June 5 Dominican University, San Rafael, CA 2004 Director: Daniel Johnson June 20-June 26 Held on the compact, air-conditioned, Director: Phebe Craig centrally located campus at Concordia, Music of the German Baroque. Master- the Texas Toot Summer 2004 focuses on classes, concerto evening, coached ensem- Summer the music of France and England. Cours- bles, daily continuo sessions, student pro- es of study for recorder include beginning duction of Telemann opera The Patient and intermediate classes and ensembles Socrates. (Tom Zajac, Sara Funkhouser, Dale Taylor, Featuring recorder faculty Frances Blaker Recorder Jan Jackson, Frank Shirley) and advanced and Marion Verbruggen. Other faculty: classes/masterclasses (Frances Blaker, Phebe Craig, harpsichord; Sand Dalton, Tom Zajac, Sara Funkhouser). Classes oboe; Anna Carol Dudley, voice; Angene are offered for reeds and brass such as Feves, dance; Paul Flight, voice; Kathleen Workshops krumhorn, bagpipe, sackbut (Tom Zajac, Kraft, flute; Jennifer Lane, voice; Michael Sara Funkhouser, Dale Taylor), viola da Sand, violin; Mary Springfels, viol; Marc gamba (Martha Bishop, James Brown), Vanscheeuwijk, ’cello. violin (Laurie Young Stevens), harp and Contact: Phebe Craig, SFEMS, PO Box lute (Becky Baxter, Bruce Brogdon), voice 10151, Berkeley, CA 94709; 510-540- (Daniel Johnson), and more. Some pri- 7415;
March 2004 29 Photo of Port Townsend, WA, by William Stickney CANTO ANTIGUO EARLY MUSIC (evening); 310-574-6719 (fax); AND RECORDER WORKSHOP
30 American Recorder SUZUKI METHOD RECORDER, FLUTE EARLY MUSIC WEEK AT AND VIOLIN INSTITUTE (ARS) PINEWOODS CAMP (ARS) Ames, IA Pinewoods Camp, Plymouth, MA July 11-17 (Recorder Unit 2,3, or 4 July 17-24 Teacher Training) Director: Gene Murrow July 12-13 (Workshop, Every Child Gene Murrow, past President of the Can! An Introduction to the American Recorder Society, leads Early Suzuki Method) Music Week at Pinewoods this year. A July 12-17, 18-23 (Students) feature of the week will be an exploration July 13-23 (Recorder Unit 1 Teacher of thematically related gems of the early Training) music repertoire from all eras and lo- July 17-18 (Workshop, Suzuki Recorder cales. There will be a wide array of grad- in the Schools) ed morning technique classes with out- July 18-24 (Practicum Unit for Suzuki standing faculty, including recorder Recorder Teachers) teachers Judith Linsenberg, Tricia Directors: Irmi Miller, Patrick O’Malley Photo of Sitka Center for van Oers, Sheila Beardslee, Chris Rua The Suzuki Method Recorder Institutes Arts and Ecology, Lincoln, and Joan Kimball. are designed for children, adult stu- OR, by William Stickney Attendees will also have the opportunity dents, and teachers, using the Suzuki to play in instrumental ensembles and School Recorder curriculum, which has refer to the SAA web site for teacher perform, learn Renaissance dance, take been recorded by Marion Verbruggen, trainee audition requirements and voice class or sing in a chorus, and take Arthur Haas and Mary Springfels. procedures. Registration is due March beginner level classes in viol, harp, bag- Recorder, Flute, and Violin student op- 15; housing and meals registration is pipe and more. This is just a taste of what portunities include master classes, group due April 30. After that late fees will is in store; please check the Country playing, technique, ensembles, theory apply, and parts of the institute may be Dance and Song Society web site for and note reading, eurhythmics: music canceled. developing details. and movement, jazz and improvisation, Contact: Irmi Miller, 4033 Ross Rd., Contact: Steve Howe, Country Dance and music for puppet plays, history of pieces Ames, IA 50014-3832, 515-292-6118, Song Society, PO Box 338, Haydenville, and composers of the Suzuki repertoire,
BAROQUE Music and Dance: June 20–26, 2004. Featuring recorder faculty Frances Blaker and Marion Verbruggen. Music of the German Baroque. Masterclasses, concerto evening, coached ensembles, baroque dance, faculty and student concerts. Info: Phebe Craig 510-508-2248; [email protected]
MEDIEVAL RENAISSANCE: July 11–17, 2004. Featuring recorder faculty Louise Carslake and Hanneke van Proosdij; reed and brass faculty Wim Becu, Bruce Dickey, Herb Myers, Dan Stillman. Classes for advanced and intermediate players as well as classes in early strings, lute, and voice. Collegium, consort classes, Gabrieli and Schütz project and more. Info: Hanneke van Proosdij 510-236-9808; [email protected]
MUSIC DISCOVERY: August 2–6, 2004 A Renaissance day camp for youth ages 7-15. Instruction in recorder, harpsichord, singing, dance, music theory. Explore music through improvisation, ensemble playing, listening and movement games. Also includes puppet building and Renaissance cooking. Faculty: Tish Berlin, Amy Brodo, Katherine Heater. Info: Katherine Heater 408-279-1694; [email protected]
For more information, visit our website: www.sfems.org
March 2004 31 INDIANA UNIVERSITY MIDEAST WORKSHOP (ARS) RECORDER ACADEMY LaRoche College, Pittsburgh, PA Amherst Early Indiana University, Bloomington, IN July 18-24 July 17-31 Director: Marilyn Carlson Music Festival Director: Rob Turner Italian Styles & Innovations in the Sixteenth at a gorgeous new location! Contact: Helena Walsh, Coordinator of Century. 60-65 students of all ability Bennington College Precollege and Special Programs, levels, adults only. Instruction for recorder Sycamore Hall 244, 1033 E. Third Street, (all levels except novice), viol, harp, flute, Bennington, VT Bloomington, IN 47405; 812-855-6025; capped reeds. You may enroll for recorder, July 11-18 and July 18-25, 2004 812-855-4936 (fax); viol, flute as your primary instrument;
Scholarship money is available for advanced players to study with Pete Rose in the Virtuoso Recorder Program. Audition tape must include a 20th century work. Other scholarships and work-study aid available for all; please inquire!
Marilyn Boenau, Director 47 Prentiss St. Watertown,MA 02472 tel 617-744-1324 fax 617-744-1327 [email protected] www.amherstearlymusic.org
32 American Recorder faculty. The seminar features eight full LONG ISLAND RECORDER FESTIVAL Focuses on arts of the Renaissance and days of master classes, ensembles, SUMMER WORKSHOP (ARS) includes instrumental instruction on orchestra sessions, coaching, recorder or harpsichord, dance, singing, concerts and lectures. Hofstra University, Hempstead, music theory and notation, puppet Long Island, NY Contact: Sarah Hornbeck, One Follen building and performance. The week August 1-7 Street, Cambridge, MA 02138; 617-876- ends with a performance for the students’ Director: Stan Davis 0956 x611 (day); 617-492-6723 (fax); families and a Renaissance feast. Contact: Stan Davis, 116 Scudder Place,
March 2004 33 VANCOUVER EARLY MUSIC FOUNDED 1915 FESTIVAL (ARS) Vancouver, BC, Canada August 2-7 Director: Deborah Jackson Located on the beautiful campus of the University of British Co- International lumbia in Vancouver, a one-week immersion for those who play Baroque Early Music for the sheer love of it—choose from courses designed Institute at to improve playing and singing abilities, courses for playing mu- Longy sic with others and some courses to expand early music skills such July 23 – as: Improvisation; Ornamenting Alison Melville (pictured above in a photo August 1, 2004 Renaissance dance music and Mixed by Deborah Jackson), Ray Nurse, Jonathan Consort (playing and singing the music Quick, Norah Rendell, Valerie Weeks and ARTE DE TAÑER of Orlando di Lasso). The first class of Nathan Wilkes. FANTASIA the day is Rhythmic Warm-up and the Contact: Deborah Jackson, Early Music day finishes with a chance to play in a Vancouver, 1254 W. 7th Ave., Vancouver, A performance seminar Renaissance “Big Band” in the evening. on the development of BC V6H 1B6, Canada; 604-732-1610 The week-long workshop finishes with a (day); 604-732-1602 (fax); ornamentation and student concert on the morning of Satur-
COST: Includes tuition, room (single occupancy unless otherwise noted), meals, plus other fees. MUSICAL ACTIVITIES: F=faculty concert, S=student concert, L=lecture, SP=special production, P=organized informal playing, O=other E=estimated, T=tuition only, D=double occupancy, W=one week RECREATION: D=dancing, F=field trip, G=gym, S=swimming, T=tennis, W=waterfront/beach, O=other # FACULTY/RECORDER FACULTY: Number of faculty and recorder faculty within that number OTHERS WELCOME: S=non-playing spouses/friends, C=children # STUDENTS: Average over last two years DIRECT TRANSPORTATION: S=shuttle from airport, B=bus, C=cab, L=limo, PU=pick up, P=free parking, O=other NO. Of DAYS: Includes arrival and departure days TERMINALS: A=air, B=bus, T=train (number indicates miles from workshop to terminal) CLASS LEVELS: B=beginner, LI=low intermediate, HI=high intermediate, A=advanced, V=very advanced ROOMS: S=singles, D=doubles, C=cabins *Graduate dorms or local hotels/motels SPECIAL CLASSES: C=one-on-a-part consorts, MR=mixed Renaissance ensembles, MB=mixed Baroque ensemble, 20=20th century music, BATHS: S=shared, SP=semi-private, P=private INFORMATION SUPPLIED EN=early notation, M=master class, RO=recorder orchestra, P=private lessons available, T=technique, RP=recorder pedagogy, O=other FOOD: C=college style, F=family style, G=gourmet, V=vegetarian BY WORKSHOP DIRECTORS NON-RECORDER CLASSES: C=choral, W=other winds, P=percussion, K=keyboard, V=viols, PS=plucked strings, D=dance, T=theory, I=instrument building, O=other HANDICAP ACCESS: H=housing, C=classrooms, D=dining MUSIC REVIEWS ______Etudes originally written for flageolet, motets by Giovanni Bassano, ______and an Orpheus Music compendium
MOTET: “O DOCTOR OPTIME” BY editions that performers and teachers on-a-part on recorders worked well, but GIOVANNI BASSANO, ED. RICHARD CHAR- might wish for: a brief biography of the I’m also eager to try them with a large TERIS. 6 voices or voices & instruments. composer, sources, editorial procedures, group of recorders, viols, and voices. PRB Productions Baroque Music Series fully texted parts with English transla- O doctor optime (“O best of teachers”) No. 29 (
36 American Recorder Nativitas tua (“Your birth”) is in seven parts plus an original “basso per l’organo” ARS Membership Enrollment and Renewal part, which was published separately from Please enroll/renew me as a member of the Society. I’m looking forward to: the concerto in the same year (1599). The ✰ American Recorder, ARS Newsletter, and the ARS Members’ Directory editor has not added figures to this part. ✰ Members’ Library musical editions The text pertains to the Feast of the Na- ✰ Eligibility for the ARS Education Program examinations tivity of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Sep- ✰ Discounts to some recorder workshops and on ARS publications tember 8. This piece has more polychoral ✰ Mailings from suppliers of materials, music, instruments. (ARS list is made sections than the other two pieces re- available only to purveyors of goods and services for recorder players.) viewed here, with the top three voices in ✰ Information on all aspects of playing the recorder one chorus and the lower four in the oth- er. There are four meter changes, making it U.S./Canadian membership: ❏ one year $40; ❏ one year sustaining $70; ❏ two years $75 more difficult, but again the editor has giv- en suggestions for the relationship of the Foreign membership: ❏ one year $50; ❏ two years $95 note values and cues in the parts. Nativitas U.S./Canadian Student* membership: ❏ one year $20; ❏ two years $40 tua would make a grand finale to a chapter Foreign Student* membership: ❏ one year $25; ❏ two years $50 meeting or workshop featuring these three *Enclose proof of full-time enrollment. works by Giovanni Bassano. Workshop membership: ❏ one year $60; Business membership: ❏ one year $120 Constance M. Primus ❏ Address and/or phone information has changed in past year. ❏ Do not list my name in Directory. RÉCRÉATIONS & ÉTUDES FÜR All dues paid in U.S. funds by check on U.S. bank, or by international money order. ALTBLOCKFLÖTE, BY NARCISSE BOUS- Family members residing at the same address may share a membership. However, QUET, ED. NIKOLAJ TARASOV. Friedrich the student rate is not applicable to a shared family membership. For an additional Hofmeister Musikverlag FH 2805 listing in the ARS Directory under different surnames at the same address, add $5. (
March 2004 37 MUSIC REVIEWS ARS PUBLICATIONS (cont.) Erich Katz Contemporary Music Series Members Non-Members Suzanne M. Angevine, A Short Tale for two basses (Level II) (2 scores) $ 5 $ 8 Peter Ballinger, Double Quartet for Recorders (Level II-III) (score & parts) $10 $18 Anthony Burgess, Sonatina for Alto Recorder and Piano (Level II) (2 scores) $7 $12 Cecil Effinger, Dialogue and Dance (SATB) (Level II-III) (score & parts) $10 $18 Lee Gannon, Sonatine for three altos (Level III) (score & parts) $14 $26 barrel that is set on top of the whistle’s (score, parts & demo cassette) $23 $43 Erich Katz, Suite of Jewish Folk Tunes (S S/A8 A/T) (Level II) (three scores) $10 $18 head. The whole mouthpiece works as a Vaclav Nelhybel, Six Short Pieces for Three Recorders, (AA/TT) (Level II) wind chamber, or a sponge chamber— edited by Alan Drake (3 scores) $8 $14 there is always a tiny sponge inside. The Stanley W. Osborn, Kyrie and Vocalise for soprano voice and recorders (SATB) (Level II) (2 scores & 4 recorder parts) $ 8 $14 air goes through the sponge and then en- Frederic Palmer, Entrevista (SATB) (Level II) (2 scores & 4 recorder parts) $ 8 $14 ters the whistle. The sponge keeps the Sally Price, Dorian Mood (SATB) (Level II) (score & parts) $10 $18 Jeffrey Quick, Picnic Music (SATB) (Level II) (score & parts) $ 5 $ 8 moisture away from the whistle. As with a recorder’s voicing, the sponge and whistle Musical Editions from the Members’ Library: ARS members: 1 copy, $3 2 copies, $4.50 3, $6 4, $7.50 5, $10 6, $11.50 need to be adjusted for optimum perform- Non-members (editions over 2 years old): 1 copy, $5 2 copies, $8.50, 3,$12 4,$15 5, $19.50 6, $23 ance. The air encounters more resistance The ARS is happy to provide photocopied enlargements of any Members’ Library edition at the same prices. Please specify “Members’ Library Enlargement.” * = Editions not yet available to non-members. than in a recorder, and thus makes it easi- er to form a more Romantic tone quality. Bruckner’s Ave Maria (arr. Jennifer W. Lehmann) Serie for Two Alto Recorders (Frederic Palmer) Canon for Four Bass Recorders (David P. Ruhl) Slow Dance with Doubles (Colin Sterne) This system was the standard on all fla- Dancers (Richard Eastman) *Sonata da Chiesa (Ann McKinley) geolets during the 19th century. With this Different Quips (Stephan Chandler) Three Bantam Ballads (Ann McKinley) Elegy for Recorder Quartet (Carolyn Peskin) Three Cleveland Scenes (Carolyn Peskin) arrangement, one would think that the at- Elizabethan Delights Tracings in the Snow tacks would lose some of their punch, but *Gloria in Excelsis (Robert Cowper) in Central Park (Robert W. Butts) they don’t. The flageolet is a very fast-play- *Imitations (Laurie G. Alberts) Trios for Recorders (George T. Bachmann) Los Pastores (arr. Virginia N. Ebinger) Triptych (Peter A. Ramsey) ing instrument—but, on the other hand, New Rounds on Old Rhymes (Erich Katz) Two Bach Trios (arr. William Long) because of its bore, it is also very stable in Other Quips (Stephan Chandler) Two Brahms Lieder (arr. Thomas E. Van Dahm) Poinciana Rag (Laurie G. Alberts) *Variations on “Drmeš” (Martha Bishop) tone quality. These may be the reasons Santa Barbara Suite (Erich Katz) Vintage Burgundy that the flageolet superseded the recorder Sentimental Songs (arr. David Goldstein) during that time. (The above is para- ARS Information Booklets: phrased from information about flageolets ARS members: 1 booklet, $13 2 booklets, $23 3, $28 4, $35 5, $41 6, $47 7, $52 received from Nikolaj Tarasov via e-mail.) Non-members: 1 booklet, $18 2 booklets, $33 3, $44 4, $55 5, $66 6, $76 7, $86 I included the description of the Adding Percussion to Medieval and Renaissance Music (Peggy Monroe) American Recorder Music (Constance Primus) French Boehm-Flageolet in this review be- The Burgundian Court and Its Music (Judith Whaley, coord.) cause it is easy to see that the pieces in this Improve Your Consort Skills (Susan Carduelis) book were, in fact, written for a fast-play- Music for Mixed Ensembles (Jennifer W. Lehmann) Playing Music for the Dance (Louise Austin) ing, easily responsive, high-pitched instru- Recorder Care (Scott Paterson) ment. The six Récréations are quick-paced, Education Publications charming, sometimes very Classical, The ARS Personal Study Program in Thirteen Stages to Help You Improve Your Playing (1996). sometimes very Romantic, sometimes hu- First copy free to ARS Members (mailed to current members in 1996 & new members as they join); morous. They are more in the mode of sa- replacement copies for members or non-members, $3. Guidebook to the ARS Personal Study Program (1996). Material formerly published in the Study lon music, easygoing and imaginative. I Guide and Study Guide Handbook, plus additional resources. Members, $11; non-members, $20. feel that they do become progressively ARS Music Lists (2002 with 2003 Supplement). Graded list of solos, ensembles, and method books. more difficult. Numbers 5 and 6 are the Members $9; non-members, $15. Package deal available only to ARS members: Guidebook and Music Lists/Supplement ordered together, $16. most challenging but are very appealing Junior Recorder Society Leader’s Resource Notebook. ARS members, $20; non-members, $40 and definitely worth the practice! (updates at reduced rates after initial purchase). Special rate for previous purchasers of JRS Class In general, the Études are more difficult Program, $15. Dues for each JRS student member sponsored by an ARS member, $5 ($4 each for groups of 10 of more). JRS student members receive activities plus “Merlin” badges and stickers. that the Récréations. The first etude, in B Other Publications major, emphasizes arpeggios. In phrases that might be too difficult, such as those Chapter Handbook. A resource on chapter operations for current chapter leaders or those considering forming an ARS chapter. ARS members, $10; non-members, $20 (updates free after initial purchase). that use the high F , the editor gives an al- One free copy sent to each ARS chapter with 10 members or more. ternative melody in smaller notes above Recorder Power, educational video from the ARS and recorder virtuoso John Tyson. An exciting resource about teaching recorder to young students. ARS members may borrow a copy for one month by sending a the staff. The second etude emphasizes refundable $10 deposit to the ARS office along with the address to which the tape should be shipped. dotted rhythms and provides an opportu- Discography of the Recorder, Vol. I (1989). Compiled by Scott Paterson and David Lasocki. nity to practice various tonguings. Discography of the Recorder, Vol. II (1990-1994). Compiled by Scott Paterson. inégale Either single volume: ARS members $23; non-members, $28. The third etude, in D major and Both Discography volumes together: ARS members only, $40. marked “Moderato,” features long runs of American Recorder: Cumulative Index for Vols. I-XXXX. ARS members, $20; non-members, $32. Index Supplement, Vol. XXXIV-XXXX. ARS members, $8; non-members, $14. sixteenth notes, some conjunct and some All prices are in U.S. dollars and include U.S. postage and handling. For Canadian or foreign surface postage, please disjunct. The fourth etude features triplets add an additional $1 per item; for Canadian or foreign air mail, please add an additional $3 per item. When ordering and trills—a challenging piece! It is also a five or more items to be shipped anywhere at the same time, ARS Members may deduct an extra $2 on top of the clever piece: a musical phrase appears first discounted members' price. Please make checks payable to the ARS. VISA/MasterCard also accepted. with triplets, then with trills in place of the American Recorder Society triplets. Some of the trills will send players P.O. Box 631, Littleton, CO 80160-0631, U.S.A. N 303-347-1120 scrambling for trill-fingering charts.
38 American Recorder The fifth etude is a lilting melody that Not all of these pieces are equally strikes me as more of a Récréation than an successful (a freely written “Intermezzo,” etude as there is nothing particularly diffi- for example, seems to lose direction as it cult about it until near the end where there proceeds), but on the whole this will be are three instances of high F within two a rewarding and stimulating collection, measures. However, once again, the editor for young players especially—and has supplied an alternative idea for these particularly welcome for its inclusion of two measures. bass and guitar. The final etude, an “Allegretto” in B major, flows along with scales and arpeg- SONATINA 2, BY ANDREW BAKER. gios and a bit of chromaticism. It is not es- Hawthorns Music CO 14 (Magnamusic), pecially difficult, except that the final note 2002. A/fl, hc/pf, Sc 12 pp, pt 7 pp. is a fifth ledger-line B , a note that my $13.50. recorders have not often played! WINTER GARDENS, BY ANDREW BAKER. After learning these etudes, students Hawthorns Music CO 12 (Magnamusic), might want to progress to Bousquet’s 2002. A/ob, hc/pf, Sc 12 pp, pt 4 pp. well-known publication: 36 Etudes and $13.50. Caprices published by Moeck (M2117). These two newly published pieces by All the pieces in this book are exactly Andrew Baker show a composer whose id- two pages long with no page turns. They iom is essentially traditional in manner, would make great sight-reading material but with a good ear for the effective use of for advanced students and great study ma- dissonance. He is also quite adept at pro- terial for upper intermediate students. ducing intriguing textures, especially by The publication is attractive and sturdy. using the keyboard to full advantage. Sue Groskreutz Both works are written in JOLLY JOKER, BY VIKTOR FORTIN. Doblinger 04 490
March 2004 39 MUSIC REVIEWS (cont.)
KEEPING IT SIMPLE, BY CHRIS JUDAH- ting all the attention. A fingering chart The 8 ½ x 11 inch spiral-bound format LAUDER. Sweet Pipes SP2385, 2002. S A showing both soprano and alto fingerings is easy to read with ample space for writing (or S A A) w/perc. Sc 23 pp. $8.95. occupies the spread of the final two pages notes or reminders to students. About This collection of nine short songs is of the book. 75% of the rounds have lyrics printed in scored for soprano and one or two alto With this publication, Sweet Pipes has the score, and there is an index listing recorders with unpitched percussion. given a boost to young recorder players them. Other indices are by composer, Each song is printed in full-score form, and their teachers. My students enjoyed source (country) , and key. and on the facing page is the student the review copy so much that I am order- I have many reservations in recom- score, separating the recorder and percus- ing several of these books to use with my mending this publication for use with be- sion parts. Permission is given to photo- fifth-graders as a part of our introductory ginning students, the worst problem being copy the student pages, and each of these recorder ensemble. the ranges. The varied keys and time sig- has a space for the student’s name. natures could be managed if the book I wasn’t sure exactly why there is a stu- THE SOPRANO RECORDER were used with a small group in a coached dent score page and a full score page. The PLAYER’S BOOK OF ROUNDS, situation. I would not recommend this full score is easy to read, even for kids. The ED. DEBORAH GREENBLATT. Greenblatt book for use in a large group, nor would it only difference is that the percussion parts and Seay (
40 American Recorder fifths are the most common melodic inter- Wurlitzer electric organ. The most difficult vals in the first movement, with the sev- aspect of this piece is its rhythms. They are enth added in the second movement. The very tricky to read, but flow naturally once introduction of thirds as a common inter- they become familiar. val in the final movement is probably what Most intriguing among these composi- gives it the exercise-like quality I men- tions is Pages from a Book by Beverley Lea, tioned above, for it enables the composer a truly sui generis work. In general terms, it to delve into the most common-practice can be described as playful, Romantic, and patterns. amazingly unpredictable. Each of its four movements establishes a different mood: If Goccia di Pioggia is the first, “Combattimento” (Battle), alter- nates between agitated and calm sections; serious business, then the second, “Etereo” (Ethereal), is distant and remote; the third, “Giocondamente” Zana is pure fun. (Joyful), is happy and sweetly flowing; the brief final movement recaps each of these Rodney Waterman, the composer of moods. Zana (named after recorderist and Or- As unique as the piece is, it is not com- pheus Music proprietor Zana Clarke), is pletely rootless. In fact, Lea has absorbed an Australian recorder player who is en- many influences, but she reflects them in amored of Brazilian popular music. If Goc- very personal ways. This is not an avant- cia di Pioggia is serious business, then garde work—its language is moderately Zana is pure fun. Waterman uses mild spe- neo-tonal, and it is not hard technically. cial effects to create a parody of a samba. The difficulties, particularly for amateurs, Most hilarious is his use of a wide vibrato lie mainly in the areas of interpretation created by waving the cupped right hand and use of color fingerings for dynamics. over the window (familiar to most All three editions are excellent. Zana recorder players through Hans-Martin offers two scores: one for Ganassi alto in g' Linde’s Music for a Bird and/or the final (preferred), the other for standard alto in section of Ryohei Hirose’s Meditation) to f'. All three pieces are worth looking into. imitate the sound of an old, out of tune Pete Rose
March 2004 41 Note: editions reviewed in the boxes on these easy pieces for alto recorder and piano or harpsichord.” For a two pages are available from Orpheus Music, composer best-known for his microtonal writing, these might
42 American Recorder most of the time they function in either heterophony (playing ON THE FOREST FLOOR, BY LANCE ECCLES. OMP 064, 2001. somewhat different versions of the same basic material at the AA. Sc 8 pp. Abt. $10 + P&H. same time) or simultaneity (playing unrelated material), the lat- SPANGLED SONATA, BY LANCE ECCLES. OMP 078, 2002. AA. ter with a minimum of control guidelines. Sc 7 pp. Abt. $10 + P&H. The edition is nicely printed. If the two recorder players read Lance Eccles is a senior lecturer in Chinese at Macquarie Uni- from one score, there will be no problems with page turns. versity in Australia. He is also a member of the Sydney Society of These pieces can be played by good amateurs, but a teacher Recorder Players and the Reluctant Consort since 1982. It is for who is familiar with the techniques and notations of modern these two groups that Eccles composes his music. recorder music will be an absolute necessity. For me, these two sets of duets were an introduction to a com- poser with a unique and fascinating sound. Forest Floor is the eas- HOT SILK, BY BENJAMIN THORN. OMP 081, No pub. date ier of the two sets and is appropriate for moderately able players. listed. A & hc, Sc 11 pp., pt 4 pp. Abt. $11.50 + P&H. Sonata is more suited to advanced players, but both share com- Benjamin Thorn possesses an extremely unique personality. mon elements, and neither requires extended techniques. Whether he is employing a language based on the I, IV and V On the Forest Floor is a set of five duets, each of which aurally chords in the key of C or one of pure noise, his personality is depicts items that might be found during a walk in the (Aus- always identifiable. It is very much evident in Hot Silk, a light- tralian) woods. Individual pieces have titles like: “Grasshop- hearted three-movement work for alto recorder and harpsichord. pers,” “Wombat’s Breakfast,” and (my favorite) “Antechinuses.” The first, marked “Presto,” is in 7/8 time and has a strong feel- Having titles in mind while playing the pieces allows performers ing of dynamism. Movement two, marked “Gently,” is in a mod- and audience to visualize the different images. “Lichens,” for ex- erate 5/8 and is one of Thorn’s most lyrical statements. The third ample, evokes a slow walk through underbrush, and grasshop- movement, marked “Vigorously,” is in 6/8 and features hemiola pers flit capriciously around in the mind’s eye. Prior to playing rhythms. In all three, Thorn vacillates between tonality and poly- these pieces I had never heard of the antechinus, one of Aus- tonality and modulates in unexpected ways. The edition is ex- tralia’s many marsupials. The music created an image in my head cellent. This is a very good piece, suited to the advanced amateur. that turned out to be startlingly accurate, once I had the oppor- tunity to learn more of this unusual and amusing creature: testa- MISERY SURROUNDS ME, BY BENJAMIN THORN. OMP 072, ment to Eccles’ ability to create visual imagery through music. no pub. date listed. B, Sc 2 pp. Abt. $8.50 + P&H. He also uses imagery in his Spangled Sonata, though here the FORESTRY IN NEW ENGLAND and THE WATERS OF images are not of the everyday world, but rather fanciful pictures BABYLON, BY BENJAMIN THORN. OMP 055, copyright by the of reflected or refracted light: “Shower of Amethysts,” “Crystal composer 2001. B, Sc 4 pp. Abt. $10 + P&H. Towers” and “Shattered Moonlight.” Given the abstract nature of Benjamin Thorn’s early bass recorder works, The Voice of the the titles, it would not be surprising to discover that the pieces Crocodile and Pipistrelli Gialli, established him as an Australian are more abstract. Nevertheless the titles and music provide a enfant terrible and may even have secured his place in the mod- firm ground for creating your own mental image of, say, a show- ern history of the recorder. These recent bass recorder composi- er of amethysts (whatever that may be). tions by Thorn are of a much lighter character. Musically the most remarkable features of these two sets are Misery Surrounds Me, subtitled “instrumental versions of a the harmonic structure of the pieces and the rhythms used in 15th-century popular song arranged for bass recorder,” is based them. Eccles favors dissonance throughout the pieces. The har- on a song called “Elend, du hast umfangen mich.” It is essentially monies are liberally peppered with seconds, sixths, sevenths, a division piece in which Thorn employs a simple tonal language and often diminished seconds or augmented sevenths (E against with a modern tongue-in-cheek sensibility. It is not easy to paro- E , F against G). The pieces, though, never sound abrasive or jar- dy something that is formulaic and predictable, but Thorn man- ring, and they don’t fluctuate between consonance and disso- ages it well with great subtlety. nance. Rather they are, at times, awash with a fullness of tone Forestry in New England is also a parody. This is least evident similar to that of an accordion or mouth organ. This quality is in the free recitativo-like opening movement. The second move- more prevalent in Sonata, where fragmented harmonies help cre- ment, in a fast 7/8 meter, has a dynamism reminiscent of Thorn’s ate the effect of scattered light. Eccles uses syncopated rhythms earlier work. It is most humorous in its raucous use of multi- in both Sonata and Forest Floor, often setting two voices against phonics as a distorting device. In the third movement, Thorn em- one another, but the rhythms in Sonata are more complex. Its ploys silly, old-fashioned melodic clichés from the ragtime era, time signatures are generally mutable, changing every bar or two; which he makes even more comical by having the player sing those in Forest Floor are consistent within each movement. them into the recorder whenever they appear. I would like to point out that the Orpheus Music web site has The Waters of Babylon, included in the edition with Forestry, new features that take some guess work out of purchasing new expresses parody by combining simple melodic phrases that compositions. Most of their publications are now listed on the would generally be idiomatic to folk songs, with an ongoing web site, along with short sound clips of the music and a scanned through-compositional form. Also a bit unusual is the frequent image of each first page. While still not the same as browsing shifting between Dorian and Locrian modalities, which strikes through sheet music in a store, the features give a clearer idea of the ear as a kind of wrong-note version of the melodic minor. the music than words alone can and take away a bit of the gam- The editions are excellent and contain no bad page turns. Am- ble involved in shopping over the Internet. ple instructions for the second movement of Forestry (the only Geoffrey Allen holds degrees in Medieval art and literature. He is place where special effects are required) are supplied. Upper in- an amateur recorder player and edits the Toronto (ON) Early Music termediate players could handle these pieces. Players Organization newsletter. By day he teaches in Toronto’s Pete Rose public school system, where he also coaches recorder ensembles.
March 2004 43 CHAPTERS
______& CONSORTS ______Shooting an AROW into the past, concerts, ______driving the winter cold away in Atlanta
For the first time in many years, the Atlanta Recorder Society co-sponsored a Recorder and Viol Workshop with AEMA, the Atlanta Early Music Alliance. Titled “Drive the Cold Winter Away,” the workshop held January 23-24 at a Photo by Phil Robbins lake-side music Pilgrimage to the Past Northern California audiences may jour- ney into the past as the American Recorder Orchestra of the West (AROW) embarks on a “Medieval Pilgrimage,” with concerts March 27 through May 2. Perfor- mance locations include Berkeley (CA), Oakland (CA), Davis (CA) and Nevada City (NV). Visit
44 American Recorder The Connecticut Recorder Orchestra, conducted by Ken Andresen (bowing at front of stage, below), gave a November performance in West Simsbury. On the program were works of W. A. Mozart, Denis Bloodworth, Clement Woodcock, Claude le Jeune, J.S. Bach, Irving Caesar/Vincent Youmans, G.P. Telemann, J.P. Sweelinck, Orlando di Lasso, Lyndon Hilling, and Henry Creamer/Turner Layton. (Photo by Rebecca Arkenberg)
"Holiday Treat" Symphony Concert included Silver Winds Consort The Carson City (NV) Sym- phony presented the 20th annual "Holiday Treat" con- cert in December, featuring the Symphony, Carson Chamber Singers, and Sil- Kung ver Winds Consort. The Moeck program included music Aesthé from many countries and in Yamaha many styles, from Baroque to contemporary, with the Mollenhauer traditional finale, a Christmas Singalong, including all performing groups plus the Recorders audience. The Symphony, conducted by David Bugli, played music by Johann Strauss Jr., Leroy Anderson, Archangelo Corelli, and others. The Silver Winds played Competitive Prices varied selections from a Bach fugue to Tchaikovsky's "Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy." Sent on approval Ray Germany, who took this Personalized photo at the Service & Advice November 2003 Renaissance Faire in Las Cruces, NM, Bill Lazar calls it "Let's have Lazar’s Early Music fun at the Faire." [email protected] Pictured are (408) 737-8228 (l to r): John Dart, www.bill-lazar.com Susi Edwards, Joyce Henry, and Ferne Allen.
March 2004 45 ON THE CUTTING EDGE ______Well-grounded music for recorder and harpsichord
lthough there is ample evidence that lems of balance, particularly when the Second, and perhaps more significant Athe recorder can hold its own in many recorder is in its lowest register. These for this column, is the duo’s enthusiasm different instrumental settings, I find the problems occur far less frequently with for new music. So often a new piece is instrumental duo of recorder with a harpsichord, guitar, lute or harp (although commissioned, premiered, and then al- plucked string instrument—such as lute, the modern concert harp can sustain its lowed to gather dust on the musical shelf. guitar, harp or harpsichord—to be partic- sound for quite a long time, and is less ac- Real commitment to new music should in- ularly satisfying. Decades ago I took inspi- commodating to the recorder than the clude giving as many performances as pos- ration from the recordings by Hans-Martin Irish Harp or various early harps). sible as well as making recordings. When Linde, with Konrad Ragossnig on lute and performers have lived with a piece long guitar, when I was preparing for my initial This is one of the enough to really take the music “under public performances. The easy elegance their skin,” the new music has a reason- and perfect sonic balance of the Linde- able chance of finding an audience. Like Ragossnig recordings motivated me to best-sounding all contemporary art (indeed, art of all pe- seek similar plucked string accompani- riods), new music works best when pre- ments. The musical gods smiled upon me recordings of recorder sented under the best conditions possible. when guitarist/lutenist Francis Perry made The Galhano-Montgomery Duo has my acquaintance in the early 1980s. We and harpsichord supplied these conditions for two delight- have performed together ever since. ful new works on the CD. Both pieces were The relatively rapid decay of tones pro- I have ever heard. written for the Duo and have figured in duced on plucked strings is a decided ad- their concert programs of recent years. vantage for the recorder player. The long An inspiring and awesomely entertain- John Morrison’s Twisted Little Ground sustain on the modern piano, or the con- ing recorder-plucked string duo consists (1999) is the more “avant-garde” of the stant sustain of the organ, can create prob- of recorderist Cléa Galhano and harpsi- two, full of energy and highly effective use chordist Vivian Montgomery. They of both instruments. It is a compact work, have performed together since 1985, just a little over four minutes, that fairly when they met at the New England begs to be played over and over. I love it! Conservatory. Their many perform- The composer has employed such devices ances include concert tours of the as mis-tuned strings on the harpsichord Midwest, the Northeast, and Brazil. and a melodic “ground” based on the tune Their recordings are available “Mary Had a Little Lamb” along with a through the ARS CD Club (see the rel- “twisted” version of the tune. Cléa and Vi- evant page in this issue), and I want to vian sound like they are having the time of focus on one of their finest produc- their lives playing this brilliant little piece. tions: the CD entitled Songs in the Quite a bit longer at a little over 15 Ground: Variations and Other Renew- minutes, Rigadoons was composed by able Notions for Recorder and Harpsi- David Evan Thomas in 1997. It is a suite of chord. five movements: “Fancie,” “Furlana,” “Le First off, let me say that this is one Tambourin,” “Balanco” and “Finale.” The of the best-sounding recordings of harmonic and rhythmic language here is recorder and harpsichord I have ever more familiar than in John Morrison’s heard. Vivian plays a Franco-Flemish piece, but composer Thomas has supplied two-manual harpsichord built by such an abundance of invention and sheer Gerald Self. Cléa plays a soprano by compositional high spirits that the listen- Tom Prescott, a sopranino by er’s interest never flags. Once again, the Friedrich von Huene, and various al- authentically convincing performance by tos by von Huene, Adrian Brown and the Duo sweeps all before it. Fred Morgan. Peter Northnagel was I hope both these pieces have already recording engineer and producer for entered the professional recorder reperto- the disc, which was recorded in ry. These two American composers have Hauge Lutheran Church in Decorah, made an important contribution to per- IA, in April 2000. The sound is vivid formers and audiences alike. and true-to-life, perfectly balanced on The CD is produced and distributed by every track. The Schubert Club of Saint Paul, MN,
46 American Recorder
March 2004 47 ______Q & A ______Muting recorders to play more quietly, ______finding large instruments for young players
uestion: I am a senior citizen who has discussion of those instruments, see the travel with their recorders and even prac- Qbeen playing recorders for about five article in the June 1991 AR by Matt Mar- tice in hotels or motels without disturbing years. I have been playing soprano and vuglio and Tony Marvuglio, “Wired for those staying in adjacent rooms. alto regularly and also have a tenor. The prob- Sound.”) Unfortunately, those instru- If you feel that practicing the soprano is lem is that I now live in a trailer camp in Flori- ments have been discontinued, and no too loud, I would suggest playing your da six months out of the year and am electronic recorders are currently being tenor instead, since a tenor has a consider- surrounded by other trailers. Is there any way produced. ably less penetrating sound. If the stretch of muting my recorders so that my practicing If you are willing to learn a new finger- required for your tenor is too great for your won’t disturb my neighbors? If no acoustical ing system, your best bet would be the hands, you can send it to Lee Collins of means of muting is possible, are there any Yamaha WX5 wind controller (mentioned Collins & Williams Historic Woodwinds, electronic recorders on the market that can be in Tim Broege’s On the Cutting Edge col-
Courtly Music Unlimited Honeysuckle Music 800-2-RICHIE (800 274-2443) Recorders & accessories ... www.courtlymusic.com
Music for recorders & viols "Everything for the recorder enthusiast, or those who Jean Allison Olson would like to be." 1604 Portland Ave. St. Paul, MN 55104 Fine wood and plastic recorders, sheet 651.644.8545 music, method books, play-along CDs, [email protected] accessories, workshops.
48 American Recorder Some of them might even want to take les- sons from you. Then you could form a res- "AROQUE #HAMBER -USIC 0LAY !LONG #$S ident recorder ensemble in the trailer WITH -USIC AND 0ERFORMANCE 'UIDES FOR 2ECORDER 0LAYERS camp. How about it? (OURS OF PLAYING 0RE($ISC#ONTINUO ENJOYMENT WITH EARLY %ARLY )NTERMEDIATE uestion: Middle school and upper MUSIC SPECIALISTS (ANDEL ,ULLY 0URCELL #ORELLI elementary students with whom I have Q h3ELDOM WILL ANY OF US GET TO BE CONSORT MUSIC MORE worked have often been drawn to play- ACCOMPANIED BY SUCH lNE PLAYERSv ing the tenor and/or bass recorder when giv- 4HE $ISC#ONTINUO hx"EST OF ALL THEY PICK THE MOST )NTERMEDIATE en the opportunity. They have had occasion %8#%,,%.4 MUSICv 4ELEMANN -ARAIS (ANDEL to listen to or perform with low consorts, i.e., &RESCOBALDI EVEN MORE tenors playing soprano parts and basses $ISC#ONTINUO )) playing alto parts, etc., but that can only be !DVANCED )NTERMEDIATE done when there are professional or "ACH 0HILIDOR -ANCINI (ANDEL advanced musicians who have a great bass CANTATA EVEN STILL MORE and/or contra bass to play the lower parts. / We would love to acquire a great bass 4O ORDER POSTPAID SEND CHECKS FOR PER ITEM PLUS H = CHARGES FOR lRST ITEM EACH ADDITIONAL (or even a contra bass) but with our limited ITEM TO @6IAROE=: GECORDS &LORIO 3TREET /AKLAND #! OR CALL school budget could not possibly afford 6ISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWWKATASTROPHEMUSICCOM wooden ones. Can anyone tell me whether there are any plastic great basses or contra basses on the market?—Kim Wardwell, Darrington, WA Beatin’ Path Publications nswer: I referred your question to a Anumber of recorder makers and deal- Music That Works! ers, all of whom gave me essentially the same answer. The manufacture of plastic Robert Amchin great basses and contra basses is not feasi- Alto Antics ensembles for beginning alto recorder with percussion accompaniment ble because of the high cost of producing Recorder Frolics for beginning C-pipes (Play-along CD available) the mold (millions of dollars) and low de- Moods and Modes for intermediate classroom ensembles: includes play-along CD mand for such instruments (only a few Brent M. Holl and Michael R. Nichols thousand sales expected per year). To re- The Beatin' Path Consort Collection for beginning and intermediate ensemble cover the initial cost of production, these Michael R. Nichols plastic instruments would have to be as Christian Harmony Sacred Harp (Shaped Note) music arranged for SATB consort expensive as wooden ones and would, therefore, not be worth producing. See our online catalogue of Church, A few years ago, I heard the superb 302 East College Street choir, Orff and recorder music at: Bridgewater VA22812 www.beatinpathpublications.com McCleskey Middle School Recorder 540-478-4833 Ensemble perform at the Boston Early or visit your favorite music dealer Music Festival. One of the young students played a great bass recorder, which the di- rector, Jody Miller, said had been donated to the school by a senior citizen who was no longer able to play it. You might also be able to obtain a donated great bass or even a contra bass by advertising in the AR Classifieds or, more likely, by subscribing to a recorder discussion group on the Internet,
Send questions to Carolyn Peskin, Q&A Editor, 3559 Strathavon Road, Shaker Heights, OH 44120;
March 2004 49 BOOK REVIEWS ______Music and the Venetian confraternities
HONORING GOD AND THE CITY: gical observances, rites for members who members to some of the most famous MUSIC AT THE VENETIAN CONFRA- had died, and, on special occasions, pro- names of Venetian music, including Gio- TERNITIES, 1260-1807. BY JONATHAN cessions through the city. vanni Gabrieli and Claudio Monteverdi. GLIXON. Oxford University Press, 2003. For most of the period under discus- 392 pp. Hardcover, $65. ISBN sion, there were six major confraternities The benefits of belonging 0195134893. in Venice, along with hundreds of smaller Johnathan Glixon has spent more than groups—many of which were open only to a confraternity 25 years researching the role of music in to members of a particular profession, included the opportunity the Venetian confraternities. Although including one especially for musicians. to exercise and strengthen these groups played a relatively small part The benefits of belonging to a confraterni- in the broad sweep of music history, the ty included the opportunity to exercise one’s piety, to be in the detail he has been able to piece together and strengthen one’s piety, to be in the company of like-minded about their activities and their use of mu- company of like-minded people, and to re- sic gives an intimate glimpse into the day ceive their prayers—and sometimes finan- people, and to receive to day life of working musicians and their cial assistance—in times of trouble. their prayers—and employers through several centuries. Music in the confraternities’ activities sometimes financial The confraternities were organizations generally took the form of plainchant, or- that encouraged people to band together gan playing, and, for special occasions, full assistance—in times for mutual spiritual benefit. Their activi- concerted music. The musicians taking of trouble. ties were varied but usually included litur- part ranged from untutored confraternity Glixon has sifted through literally thousands of documents to piece together the story of the confraternities. While much of the information he has gleaned is strictly factual in nature—such as the number of singers present at a particular ceremony, or the amount paid on a partic- ular occasion for organ repairs—the docu- ments also frequently reveal a more human side of the confraternities’ activi- ties. There are many complaints about ab- senteeism on the part of musicians, as well as pleas on their part for salary increases or the granting of pensions for long-serving musical employees. Glixon’s central con- clusion from examining this mass of evi- dence is that a high quality of musical per- formance served as a crucial mark of hon- or for the confraternities and, by extension, for the city of Venice as a whole. While researchers will find the book— including its extensive appendices, notes, and bibliography—to be a mine of de- tailed information, the casual reader will probably find the mass of facts and figures to be heavy going. However, those wishing a fuller picture of the musical life of one of the most important cultural centres of Europe will find much enlightenment in these pages. Scott Paterson
50 American Recorder Friedrich von Huene, the well-known recorder maker, was awarded the 2003 Curt-Sachs-Award of the American Musical Instruments Society (AMIS)
ROTTENBURGH REACHING THE LEVEL OF MASTERCLASS
Design: Friedrich von Huene These recorders, built after the instruments made by Jean-Hyacinth-Joseph Rottenburgh are true allrounders who remain reliable and easy to play even after extensive use.
Instruments from left to right: sopranino: ebony, soprano: palisander, alto: pearwood stained, tenor: castello-boxwood, bass: natural maple. Also available in olive and rosewood.
For more information on our recorders please order our catalogues RECORDERS RECORDERS
FOR CHILDREN, BEGINNERS, STUDENTS FOR ADVANCED, AND ADVANCED MOECK MUSIKINSTRUMENTE + VERLAG AND PROFESSIONAL RECORDERS PLAYERS PLAYERS Postfach 3131 • D-29231 Celle Lückenweg 4 • D-29227 Celle Tel.: +49-5141-8853-0 • Fax: +49-5141-8853-42 E-Mail: [email protected] www.moeck-music.de RESPONSE (cont.) CONSIDER ADVERTISING IN ______CLASSIFIED ______Full page ...... $540 2/3 page ...... $400 between a windcap and a sponge cham- 1/2 page ...... $330 ber, and confirming that the cap on the 1/3 page ...... $255 1/4 page ...... $200 Goulding tenor in the Victoria and Albert Where the haves 1/6 page ...... $155 Museum is indeed a sponge chamber. and have-nots 1/8 page ...... $115 My brief mention of the flageolet is not 1/12 page...... $ 85 1 column inch ...... $ 50 intended to denigrate the importance of of the recorder world the instrument or its popularity! My study Prices include web site/e-mail link directly from can find each other your ad in AR On-line (www.recorderonline.org). lies essentially in the history of the recorder, albeit with brief reference to Circulation: Includes the membership of the American Recorder Society, libraries, and both the flageolet and the csakan. music organizations. Finally: does anyone on the western A CHEERFULL NOYSE. Selling recorders, other instru- ments, sheet music and accessories for early music. Be Published five times a year: January, March, May, side of the Atlantic possess any hard evi- September, November. dence for the use of duct flutes (be they sure to read “Playing The Recorder Only Seems Easy” online, each month. Customer service is our Reservation Deadlines: December 1, February 1, flageolets or recorders) in the marching middle name. www.acheerfullnoyse.com, April 1, August 1, October 1. bands of the Civil War period—or is this [email protected]. Rates good through November 2004. Please inquire idea merely a myth which has received a THE AMERICAN RECORDER TEACHERS' about discounts on multiple-issue contracts, inserts, modicum of historical embroidery? or other special requests. Extra charges for ASSOCIATION (ARTA) invites you to view our web typesetting, layout, halftones, and size alterations. Douglas MacMillan site at
52 American Recorder