DOCSLIB.ORG

Theatre of Magic Programme Notes

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Theatre of Magic Programme Notes Theatre of Magic PROGRAMME NOTES The English flocked to the theatres when they were reopened after the Restoration. Old plays by Shakespeare, Beaumont, and Fletcher were reworked and eventually supplemented by works by new playwrights. Music, dance, and spectacle were gradually added to complement the drama. The English had not yet embraced opera as it was understood on the Continent, but the amount of music added to the plays became too significant to ignore, and the English writer Roger North invented the term “semi-opera” to describe these entertainments of “half Musick and half Drama.” The leading parts continued to be spoken by actors, while vocal music was allotted to minor characters, whose contributions were essentially diversions, rarely essential to the action. To this was added instrumental music to accompany dance, set the mood, or accompany scene changes. Our concerts this week open with excerpts from two of these semi-operas, both adaptations of Shakespeare’s magical plays, The Tempest and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Matthew Locke was arguably England’s leading composer at the time of the Restoration in 1660. He became very active in London’s commercial theatres, contributing music for countless plays. He is best known today for the instrumental music he wrote for The Tempest, produced by Thomas Shadwell in 1674. The text of the semi-opera was adapted by Shadwell from an earlier adaptation (1667) of Shakespeare’s original by John Dryden and William Davenant. Shadwell’s version of the play remained popular for some 75 years. Locke’s opening Curtain Tune is particularly striking: it is a musical depiction of the storm that precedes the play, complete with detailed instructions to the performers (including the instruction to play “Violently” at the height of the storm). Locke was but one of a team of composers hired by Shadwell to provide music for The Tempest; indeed, Locke provided none of the vocal music. In our short suite of excerpts we have included one of the contributions of violinist John Banister (Dance of Fantastick Spirits), written originally for the Dryden/Davenant version of the play. Locke’s influence on the younger Henry Purcell in the realm of theatre music is clear, but Purcell did not in fact turn to the theatre until some ten years after Locke’s death. The theatre occupied much of the last five years of Purcell’s life: with William and Mary on the throne and less musical activity at court, and he provided music for numerous plays and at least four semi-operas in the 1690s, among them The Fairy Queen, an anonymous adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Purcell provided a wealth of instrumental and vocal music for the opera, and amongst the most enchanting numbers are those associated with the magical sleep scenes with Titania and Oberon. With the arrival of G.F. Handel in London in 1710 came also the arrival of Italian opera. Experiments in the first decade of the eighteenth century had included a few arrangements of Italian opera, and some experiments with all-sung operas in English, but audience response was lukewarm. Handel was fresh from a three-year-sojourn in Italy where he’d enjoyed great success in the theatres of Florence and Venice. A new opera house, the Queen’s Theatre, had opened in the Haymarket, and its manager, the young dramatist Aaron Hill, drew up the scenario of an opera based loosely on episodes from Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberata and gave it to the theatre poet, Giacomo Rossi, to set in verse for Handel. Handel composed the music for Rinaldo in just two weeks, and hence the first Italian opera composed specifically for London was premiered on Feb. 24, 1711, Handel’s 26th birthday. It caused a sensation: remarkable music sung by celebrity Italian singers, spectacular stage effects (including the release of hundreds of live sparrows on stage during a garden scene!), and splendid costumes. The success of Rinaldo had a decisive influence on Handel’s career. Handel chose to settle permanently in London, and devoted the next 25 years to producing Italian opera in that city. Rinaldo was remounted several times during Handel’s lifetime in both London and abroad, the single most popular of all of his operas in the eighteenth century. The story is set in the first century, with Christian forces led by Goffredo laying siege to the city of Jerusalem, defended by its king, Argante. Goffredo promises his daughter, Almirena, to his knight Rinaldo if they are victorious. Argante, fearful of defeat, calls upon his lover Armida, Queen of Damascus and a powerful sorceress. Armida captures Rinaldo, but finds herself unexpectedly drawn to him: her struggle between love and hatred is familiar to Opera Atelier audiences from Lully’s masterful setting of the story. Our excerpts feature Armida’s arias from the end of Act II. Armida disguises herself as Rinaldo’s beloved Almirena and beguiles him, but when he discovers the ruse he vehemently rejects her. She responds with the tormented “Dunque i lacci” and “Ah! Crudel!”. Armida resumes the disguise in the hopes that she can yet win him over, but it is her lover Argante who appears. It is thus she discovers that he has since fallen in love with Almirena. Furious, Armida closes the act with the vengeance aria “Vo’, far guerra.” The original score of this aria has numerous indications for improvised harpsichord solos. The London publisher later printed the aria with the harpsichord solos written out, advertising that they represented the improvisations as played by Handel himself. You will hear those notated improvisations this week. Handel’s set of twelve Concerti grossi, Opus 6, was published in 1739, at a time when he was turning his attention from the production of opera to that of English oratorio. These oratorios were performed in the theatres, and no performance was considered complete without the addition of a few concertos between the acts. Among those performed were organ concertos, with Handel at the keyboard, and the concerti grossi from Opus 6. The publication of the latter was modelled on that of Corelli, whose Opus 6 concertos had remained extremely popular in England. Like the Corelli model, the Handel concertos are scored for strings only, but manuscript copies of wind parts for several have survived. Certainly the wind players were on stage for the oratorios, and are included in many of the organ concertos. No wind parts survive for Concerto no. 11, but Pavlo Beznosiuk has reconstructed parts based on the surviving models. Ten of the twelve concertos were newly composed for the publication, and all ten were performed at oratorio performances in Lincoln’s Inn Fields in the 1739-40 season. Two of the concertos, including no. 11, were arrangements of popular organ concertos performed the previous season. The original organ model of the Eleventh Concerto survives only in a transcription for solo organ, without orchestra. The genre of the solo concerto, with virtuoso soloist, which dominated the concert stages of Italy, and to some extent of Germany and France, failed to take hold with the native British composers or performers. The leading instrumentalists in eighteenth-century London were almost all foreigners. The German expatriate Handel championed (even created) the organ concerto. Italian violinists wowed audiences with Italian concertos. Giuseppe Tartini did not travel beyond his native Italy, but his influence and reputation was widespread. Many of his concertos were published in Amsterdam (the Concerto in G Major D.71 was published there in 1730), and still others circulated in manuscript copies. It is quite likely that some of his concertos made it to the London stage. Tartini had an unusual upbringing — destined at first for the priesthood, then enrolling in law at Padua University, but devoting his time to becoming a master fencer. He came to music relatively late, taking up positions as an orchestral violinist ostensibly to pay the rent. In 1716 he heard Veracini play in Venice, and was so impressed he decided to take up the instrument more seriously. He went on to become one of Italy’s finest violinists and established a violin school that attracted students from all over Europe. A stroke at age 50 affected his playing, and he devoted much of his energy from that point to theoretical works, including the famous Trattato di musica. His compositions comprise almost exclusively solo sonatas and concertos for the violin. We end the concert where we began, in the theatres of London. William Boyce is best known today as a composer of music for the church, in part because of the three-volume collection of Cathedral Music published 1760–63, a canon of some 200 years English church music. Increasing deafness had led Boyce to shift his attention to the collecting and editing of English music, but in his day Boyce was very active as a composer of countless oratorios and theatrical works: performances of his works were greeted with success at theatres throughout London. In 1760, just prior to the publication of Cathedral Music, he published a collection of Eight Symphonies. This was a retrospective collection of orchestral overtures written for theatre works from the previous two decades. The Seventh Symphony was originally composed in 1740 as the overture to the Pythian Ode “Gentle Lyre, begin the strain.” ©Tafelmusik 2014 .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Lully's Psyche (1671) and Locke's Psyche (1675)
    LULLY'S PSYCHE (1671) AND LOCKE'S PSYCHE (1675) CONTRASTING NATIONAL APPROACHES TO MUSICAL TRAGEDY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ' •• by HELEN LLOY WIESE B.A. (Special) The University of Alberta, 1980 B. Mus., The University of Calgary, 1989 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS • in.. • THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES SCHOOL OF MUSIC We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA October, 1991 © Helen Hoy Wiese, 1991 In presenting this hesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. (Signature) Department of Kos'iC The University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada Date ~7 Ocf I DE-6 (2/68) ABSTRACT The English semi-opera, Psyche (1675), written by Thomas Shadwell, with music by Matthew Locke, was thought at the time of its performance to be a mere copy of Psyche (1671), a French tragedie-ballet by Moli&re, Pierre Corneille, and Philippe Quinault, with music by Jean- Baptiste Lully. This view, accompanied by a certain attitude that the French version was far superior to the English, continued well into the twentieth century.
    [Show full text]
  • Restoration Keyboard Music
    Restoration Keyboard Music This series of concerts is based on my researches into 17th century English keyboard music, especially that of Matthew Locke and his Restoration colleagues, Albertus Bryne and John Roberts. Concert 1. "Melothesia restored". The keyboard music by Matthew Locke and his contemporaries. Given at the David Josefowitz Recital Hall, Royal Academy of Music on Tuesday SEP 30, 2003 Music by Matthew Locke (c.1622-77), Frescobaldi (1583-1643), Chambonnières (c.1602-72), William Gregory (fl 1651-87), Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625), Froberger (1616-67), Albert Bryne (c.1621-c.1670) This programmes sets a selection of Matthew Locke’s remarkable keyboard music within the wider context of seventeenth century keyboard playing. Although Locke confessed little admiration for foreign musical practitioners, he is clearly endebted to European influences. The un-measued prelude style which we find in the Prelude of the final C Major suite, for example, suggest a French influence, perhaps through the lutenists who came to London with the return of Charles II. Locke’s rhythmic notation belies the subtle inflections and nuances of what we might call the international style which he first met as a young man visiting the Netherlands with his future regal employer. One of the greatest keyboard players of his day, Froberger, visited London before 1653 and, not surprisingly, we find his powerful personality behind several pieces in Locke’s pioneering publication, Melothesia. As for other worthy composers of music for the harpsichord and organ, we have Locke's own testimony in his written reply to Thomas Salmon in 1672, where, in addition to Froberger, he mentions Frescobaldi and Chambonnières with the Englishmen John Bull, Orlando Gibbons, Albertus Bryne (his contemporary and organist of Westminster Abbey) and Benjamin Rogers.
    [Show full text]
  • Appendix: Catalogue of Restoration Music Manuscripts Bibliography
    Musical Creativity in Restoration England REBECCA HERISSONE Appendix: Catalogue of Restoration Music Manuscripts Bibliography Secondary Sources Ashbee, Andrew, ‘The Transmission of Consort Music in Some Seventeenth-Century English Manuscripts’, in Andrew Ashbee and Peter Holman (eds.), John Jenkins and his Time: Studies in English Consort Music (Oxford: Clarendon, 1996), 243–70. Ashbee, Andrew, Robert Thompson and Jonathan Wainwright, The Viola da Gamba Society Index of Manuscripts Containing Consort Music, 2 vols. (Aldershot and Burlington: Ashgate, 2001–8). Bailey, Candace, ‘Keyboard Music in the Hands of Edward Lowe and Richard Goodson I: Oxford, Christ Church Mus. 1176 and Mus. 1177’, Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle, 32 (1999), 119–35. ‘New York Public Library Drexel MS 5611: English Keyboard Music of the Early Restoration’, Fontes artis musicae, 47 (2000), 51–67. Seventeenth-Century British Keyboard Sources, Detroit Studies in Music Bibliography, 83 (Warren: Harmonie Park Press, 2003). ‘William Ellis and the Transmission of Continental Keyboard Music in Restoration England’, Journal of Musicological Research, 20 (2001), 211–42. Banks, Chris, ‘British Library Ms. Mus. 1: A Recently Discovered Manuscript of Keyboard Music by Henry Purcell and Giovanni Battista Draghi’, Brio, 32 (1995), 87–93. Baruch, James Charles, ‘Seventeenth-Century English Vocal Music as reflected in British Library Additional Manuscript 11608’, unpublished PhD dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1979). Beechey, Gwilym, ‘A New Source of Seventeenth-Century Keyboard Music’, Music & Letters, 50 (1969), 278–89. Bellingham, Bruce, ‘The Musical Circle of Anthony Wood in Oxford during the Commonwealth and Restoration’, Journal of the Viola da Gamba Society of America, 19 (1982), 6–71.
    [Show full text]
  • Program Notes to Henry Purcell but Now Considered to Be by His Student John Weldon
    1704 once again sported a new score first attributed Program Notes to Henry Purcell but now considered to be by his student John Weldon. In William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night music is called the “food of love,” and indeed music played a Purcell’s own contribution to Shakespearean vital part in his plays. Fanfares heralded music drama is his 1692 semi-opera, The Fairy performances. Sweet ayres and songs filled with Queen. Purcell had already composed an innuendo, sung by servants and clowns, commented impressive body of incidental music for plays by on the actions of their betters. And a merry jig would Shadwell, Dryden, and William Congreve. (This conclude the day’s drama, be it a comedy, tragedy, includes the celebrated “Music for a while” from or romance. In Shakespeare’s “wooden O” the Dryden’s Oedipus.) His one “pure opera” is the musicians’ loft was as essential as the unworthy miraculous miniature, Dido and Aeneas. Yet it is his scaffold on which your imaginary forces worked. semi-operas where Purcell’s most accomplished scores for the theatre are to be found. His Little of the music presented in the Globe during preceding efforts in the genre, Dioclesian and King Shakespeare tenure survives. The doomed Arthur, were enormous successes and the music of Desdemona likely sang this folk melody to the The Fairy Queen exceeds them both in length, “Willow Song” in Othello. “Full fathom five” by complexity, and dramatic scope. It is a very loose Robert Johnson, lutenist to Shakespeare’s King’s adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but Men theatrical troupe, was probably performed in Purcell did not set any of Shakespeare’s text.
    [Show full text]
  • Rev. William Davenant) Three Musical Settings of the Witches’ Scenes in Macbeth Survive
    Folger Shakespeare Library Performing Restoration Shakespeare 1. Manuscripts Macbeth (rev. William Davenant) Three musical settings of the witches’ scenes in Macbeth survive. The first, by Matthew Locke, only survives in fragmentary form (see printed sources below). The second, by John Eccles, dates from ca. 1694. The third setting, by Richard Leveridge, dates from ca. 1702 and was performed well into the 19th century. The Folger holds several important sources for the Macbeth music, as noted below. (Charteris 108) W.a.222-227 and W.b.554-564 Partbooks copied ca. 1800 with later additions. Volumes were used in, and probably compiled for, the Oxford University Music Room concerts. Leveridge’s Macbeth music appears in W.a.222-227 and W.b.554-561. (Charteris 115) W.b.529 Copied in the late eighteenth century. The first section consists of miscellaneous pieces, whereas the second section is devoted to Richard Leveridge’s Macbeth, which includes theatrical cues. (Charteris 117) W.b.531 Manuscript score with John Eccles’s Macbeth music. Copied from Lbl. Add. Ms. 12219 by Thomas Oliphant in the mid-nineteenth century. (Charteris 122) W.b.536 Manuscript score with Richard Leveridge’s Macbeth music. Copied in late eighteenth century. (Charteris 123) W.b.537 Manuscript score with Leveridge’s Macbeth music. Copied in the early eighteenth century with later additions. First owner of the manuscript was almost certainly the Drury Lane Theatre. (Charteris 126) W.b.540 Manuscript score with Leveridge’s Macbeth music. Copied in the mid-eighteenth century. (Charteris 131) W.b.548 Manuscript score with Leveridge’s Macbeth music.
    [Show full text]
  • Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra Sunday / July 18 / 4:00Pm / Venetian Theater
    SUMMER 2 0 2 1 Contents 2 Welcome to Caramoor / Letter from the CEO and Chairman 3 Summer 2021 Calendar 8 Eat, Drink, & Listen! 9 Playing to Caramoor’s Strengths by Kathy Schuman 12 Meet Caramoor’s new CEO, Edward J. Lewis III 14 Introducing in“C”, Trimpin’s new sound art sculpture 17 Updating the Rosen House for the 2021 Season by Roanne Wilcox PROGRAM PAGES 20 Highlights from Our Recent Special Events 22 Become a Member 24 Thank You to Our Donors 32 Thank You to Our Volunteers 33 Caramoor Leadership 34 Caramoor Staff Cover Photo: Gabe Palacio ©2021 Caramoor Center for Music & the Arts General Information 914.232.5035 149 Girdle Ridge Road Box Office 914.232.1252 PO Box 816 caramoor.org Katonah, NY 10536 Program Magazine Staff Caramoor Grounds & Performance Photos Laura Schiller, Publications Editor Gabe Palacio Photography, Katonah, NY Adam Neumann, aanstudio.com, Design gabepalacio.com Tahra Delfin,Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer Brittany Laughlin, Director of Marketing & Communications Roslyn Wertheimer, Marketing Manager Sean Jones, Marketing Coordinator Caramoor / 1 Dear Friends, It is with great joy and excitement that we welcome you back to Caramoor for our Summer 2021 season. We are so grateful that you have chosen to join us for the return of live concerts as we reopen our Venetian Theater and beautiful grounds to the public. We are thrilled to present a full summer of 35 live in-person performances – seven weeks of the ‘official’ season followed by two post-season concert series. This season we are proud to showcase our commitment to adventurous programming, including two Caramoor-commissioned world premieres, three U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • 886447307618.Pdf
    henry Purcell 1659–1695 matthew Locke Orchestral Works 1621–1677 henry purcell henry purcell king arthur, z. 628 the fairy queen, z. 629 1 Act I: Overture 2.06 15 Lilk 0.50 29 Prelude 1.42 2 Act II: Introduction 1.13 16 Curtain Tune 5.35 30 Act I: Hornpipe 1.22 3 Act II: Symphony 0.36 17 Rustick Air 1.15 31 Act I: Rondeau 1.02 4 Act II: How blessed are 18 The Second Act Tune, Minoit 0.45 32 Act I: Entry Dance 1.37 the shepherds 4.58 19 Corant 1.00 33 Act III: Hornpipe 1.00 5 Act III: Prelude 0.49 20 A Martial Jigge 1.41 34 Act III: Dance for the Fairies 1.14 6 Act III: Hornpipe 0.39 21 A Canon 4 in 2 2.28 35 Act V: Prelude 1.09 7 Act V: Symphony I: 36 Act II: Air 2.06 Andante maestoso 1.53 henry purcell 37 Act V: Chaconne 3.01 8 Act V: Symphony II 1.08 dioclesian, z. 627 9 Act V: Fairest Isle 3.27 22 First Musick 2.16 10 Act V: Grand Dance 3.39 23 First Act Tune 0.58 24 Second Act Tune 0.39 matthew locke 25 Two in One upon a Ground. 3.08 the tempest Chaconne for Flutes 11 Introduction 1.03 26 Third Act Tune 0.38 12 Galliard 1.18 27 Soft Music – Butterfly Dance 2.38 13 Gavot 1.12 28 Dance of Bacchanals 1.20 14 Sarabrand 4.23 VOX ORCHESTER LORENZO GHIRLANDA 2 VOX ORCHESTER Jonas Zschenderlein, Judith von der Goltz, Jakob Lehmann, Won-Ki Kim, Lena Rademann violin/Violine I Christian Voß, Alexandre Turmel, Anna Kaiser, Pablo Griggio violin/Violine II Nadi Perez Mayorga, Yoko Tanaka, Hsu-Mo Chien viola Karl Simko, Julia Nilsen-Savage violoncello Luis Miguel Arias Polanco double-bass/Kontrabass Jan Nigges recorder/Blockflöte · Sanghee Lee bassoon/Fagott
    [Show full text]
  • PURCELL COLLECTION Opera, Albion and Albanius, Which Was Set to Music EXTENSIVE LINER NOTES by the Spanish Composer Luis Grabu and Performed in 1685
    PURCELL COLLECTION opera, Albion and Albanius, which was set to music EXTENSIVE LINER NOTES by the Spanish composer Luis Grabu and performed in 1685. Six years later, after the Glorious Revolution had stripped Dryden of the CD1+2 Laureateship, and poverty had forced him once ‘King Arthur’: Purcell’s Music and Dryden’s Play again to write for the public stage, he dusted off John Dryden called King Arthur ‘A dramatick the old play, altered its original political message, opera’, a proud and idiosyncratic subtitle which and sent it to Purcell, whose music he had come to has caused much confusion. It has been said admire, especially the brilliantly successful semi‐ unfairly that this work is neither dramatic nor an opera Dioclesian (1690). opera. To be sure it is not like a real opera, nor could it be easily turned into one. King Arthur is How much revision the play required is unknown, very much a play, a tragi‐comedy which happens to since the original version does not survive, but include some exceptionally fine music. During the Dryden implies major surgery: ‘… not to offend the Restoration, the term ‘opera’ was used to describe present Times, nor a Government which has any stage work with elaborate scenic effects, and hitherto protected me, I have been oblig’d…to did not necessarily mean an all‐sung music drama. alter the first Design, and take away so many The original 1691 production of King Arthur, Beauties from the Writing’. Besides trimming for though it included flying chariots and trap‐door political reasons, he also had to satisfy his new effects, was modest compared to other similar collaborator: ‘the Numbers of Poetry and Vocal works.
    [Show full text]
  • Purcell, Locke, Blow & Gibbons
    b0087_WH booklet template.qxd 17/04/2017 17:13 Page 1 The English Concert Harry Bicket Rosemary Joshua Sarah Connolly Purcell, Locke, Blow & Gibbons b0087_WH booklet template.qxd 17/04/2017 17:13 Page 2 The English Concert Harry Bicket director, harpsichord, organ Rosemary Joshua soprano Sarah Connolly mezzo-soprano Recorded live at Wigmore Hall, London, on 10 March 2015 Matthew Locke (c.1622–1677) Suite from The Tempest (1674), Part 1, Nos. I–V 01 The First Musick: Introduction 00.54 02 The First Musick: Galliard 01.19 03 The First Musick: Gavot 00.46 04 The Second Musick: Saraband 03.31 05 The Second Musick: Lilk 00.46 henry PurceLL (1659–1695) 06 If music be the food of love Z379b 1st setting/1st version (?1691/2) 01.58 07 Draw near, you lovers Z462 (1683) 03.51 08 Oh! the sweet delights of love 01.50 (a duet for the two Wood-Gods) from Dioclesian Z627 (1690) Matthew Locke Suite from The Tempest Part 2, Nos. VI–XI 09 The Second Musick: Curtain Tune 04.18 10 The Second Musick: The First Act Tune ‘Rustick Air’ 01.08 11 The Second Musick: The Second Act Tune ‘Minoit’ 00.43 12 The Second Musick: The Third Act Tune ‘Corant’ 01.00 13 The Second Musick: The Fourth Act Tune ‘A Martial Jigge’ 01.14 14 The Second Musick: The Conclusion ‘A Canon 4 in 2’ 01.48 2 b0087_WH booklet template.qxd 17/04/2017 17:13 Page 3 henry PurceLL 15 Music for a while from Oedipus Z583/2 (?1692) 03.57 16 Oh! fair Cedaria hide those eyes Z402 (?c.1689–92) 04.05 17 My dearest, my fairest from Pausanias, the Betrayer of his Country Z585 (1695–6) 02.07 John BLow (1649–1708)
    [Show full text]
  • S P R I N G 2 0
    Published by the American Recorder Society, Vol. LVI, No. 1 • www.americanrecorder.org spring 2015 Editor’s ______Note ______ ______ ______ ______ Volume LVI, Number 1 Spring 2015 Features hear from members how much they look workshop issue forward to the spring “ ” A Higher Place of Awareness, —hereI it is, covering everything from mak­ A Spirit that Soars . 13 ing a recorder to improving skills in many areas, musical and geographical (page 13) . The annual look at summer workshops, give or take a couple of months To be a better player, you must under­ 4 stand an important basic skill necessary for playing well in a group (or at a workshop): Departments tuning . In recent issues, Gustavo Francisco has kindly shared his expertise with AR Advertiser Index . 40 readers . Put on your thinking caps to learn Compact Disc Reviews . 27 more about the science of tuning (page 9) . Quinta Essentia Quartet, Wayward Sisters, For years, even those of us “inside” Stefan Temmingh the editorial process sometimes have been Education . 9 uncertain about whether a piece relating to Gustavo de Francisco digs into the science of tuning 6 chapters or consorts (or now recorder orch­ estras) belonged in the department pages of Music Reviews . 29 AR or in the ARS Newsletter’s frequent items Music you might aspire to play at workshops, from Ut Orpheus Edizioni, Lost in Time Press, relating to those ensembles . Confused read­ PRB Productions, and by Harold Owen ers may now find clarity, as all ensemble announcements and reports (including AR’s On the Cutting Edge . 24 “Chapters, Consorts & Recorder Orches­ A conversation about the Elody between guest tras”) unite in an expanded ARS Newsletter .
    [Show full text]
  • Thematic Index Music for Viols
    THE VIOLA DA GAMBA SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN THEMATIC INDEX OF MUSIC FOR VIOLS On-Line Edition 2008 Update: July 2021 COMPILED BY GORDON DODD WITH REVISIONS AND ADDITIONS BY ANDREW ASHBEE CONTENTS Introduction 3 Acknowledgements 3 Key 6 Select Bibliography 8 Author Index for Bibliography 29 Sources (Introduction) 33 Early Editions and Facsimiles 35 Publishers and Modern Editions 51 Manuscripts in British Libraries 58 Manuscripts I Libraries outside Britain 70 Index of Composers 82 Revised and New Pages added since 2004 86 file 02 Anon (a) (staff notation) /2: two-part works A-2BC: works for treble/violin, bass viol and organ/continuo /3 three-part works four-part works five-part works six- and seven-part works A-B2: works for two or more bass viols A-BA: works for bastarda A-B1: works for solo bass viol A-B/Bc: works for solo viola da gamba and continuo/bass A-CS: consort songs A-DI: Divisions on a ground file 03: Anon (with introduction); tablature tunings beginning with ‘d’ file 04: Anon; tablature tunings beginning with ‘e’ file 05: Anon; tablature tunings beginning with ‘f’ file 06: Select tables: Hengrave Hall MSS; Le Strange MSS; Playford A (= airs, staff notation); Playford T (= tablature pieces); AB = Playford, Apollo’s Banquet (1st series) Index of Composer Names files A-Z: Alphabetical Index by Composer INTRODUCTION (by Gordon Dodd) Indexing within the Viola da Gamba Society began with the gift by Robert Donington of the card index which he had assembled while writing his thesis on English instrumental music,1 and which was maintained by Nathalie Dolmetsch until, in 1965, the material was entrusted to Gordon Dodd.
    [Show full text]
  • Henry Purcell
    Composers Name ......................................... Bach - Handel - Purcell Sheet 7 Henry Purcell - 1659 - 1695 his early years When Henry Purcell was a little boy, he would have played in the cobble-stone lanes around his home in London with his little brother, Daniel, who was only one year younger than Henry. He grew up to be a composer as well. Some sad things happened during their childhood years. Henry was only about six years old when the Great Plague spread to London. This was a terrible disease that killed about a hundred thousand people in only one year. When Henry was seven years old he lived through the great fire of London as well. It lasted for five days and destroyed most of the city because most of the buildings were made of wood. After that, Henry saw the city being rebuilt, but this time the buildings were made out of brick and stone so they were much safer and better looking. Henry had a fine singing voice. This was not surprising because both his father and uncle Thomas were musicians and Gentlemen of the Royal Chapel, where musicians who played for the king were trained. When he was about nine years old, Henry became one of the Children in the Chapel Royal and was taught to sing properly by a man named Henry Cooke. Mr Cooke used to be a captain in the army and he disciplined the boys in his care and made sure that they practiced as much as they needed to and studied all the subjects that they had to learn.
    [Show full text]