T H E A T L A N T A E A R L Y M U S I C ALLIANCE B r o a d s I d e Volume XIX # 4 April—May 2019 President’s Message Well, not only is it officially Spring, but the weather is starting to act like Spring, and that can only mean one thing ... AEMA Board Member elections! As usual we will have three positions available. Per our Bylaws, we need to have at least one more candidate than the number of positions available, so we need to have at least four people running. If you would like to run for a position (which I encourage you to do), or if you know of someone that would make a good Board Member, please let me know by email at: sig- [email protected]. AEMA MISSION “What is entailed in being a Board Member?” you It is the mission of the might be asking yourself. As a Board Member you Atlanta Early Music Alli- are responsible for voting on grant requests, replying ance to foster enjoyment Upcoming Events and awareness of the to Board Member emails on matters of policy, and historically informed attending as many of the Board Member Meetings as performance of music, Through June 2019 with special emphasis on ————————————————————— possible, of which there are four. General Board music written before 1800. Member responsibilities usually take up no more Its mission will be accom- April 27: Atlanta Schola Cantorum plished through dissemi- performs “Mad About Madrigals, than six to eight hours a year, but our activities are nation and coordination of important for lots of performing groups that rely on information, education Motets, and Part-Songs” at St. Bar- and financial support. tholomew’s Episcopal Church at 8 us for grants, an annual workshop that is attended by p.m. Admission: $20; $15 for seniors about 50 musicians, and a group of members that and St. Bart’s and AEMA members. rely on us to spread the word about Early Music hap- In this issue: Students free. penings in the Metro area. The elections will take place from May 1 through President ’ s Message : p.1 May 12: Lauda Musicam joins the June 15, so if you would like to run, please let us Memories from Mid-Winter choir of St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal know no later than April 20. While being a Board Workshop p. 2 Church to present Messe de Nostre Member is a privilege and a great way to give back Development of the Harp in Dames: Machaut’s Medieval Master- to the Early Music community, it is also a great way Europe p. 3-5 piece at 3 p.m. at St. Bartholomews’. to help shape the direction that the organization takes East of the River p. 6 Free; donations requested. in the future. Vivaldi—Gloria p. 7 Name That Composer p.8 June 30 - July 6: Mountain Collegium Thanks, Composer Birthdays p .9 Early Music and Folk Music Work- Mountain Collegium p. 10 shop, at Western Carolina University, David Lawrence, president Grant Information: p. 11 Cullowhee, N.C. See page 10 for de- Membership Form : p. 12 tails and registration. Atlanta Early Music Alliance D2 B R O A D S I D E, Volume XIX # 4 April—June 2019eb The Atlanta Early Music Memories from Mid-Winter Music Workshop 2019 Alliance (AEMA) The Board On January 18-20 AEMA and the Atlanta Recorder Society (ARS) staged their 16th an- nual Mid-Winter Music Workshop. Lovely music sounded through the halls and classes David Lawrence of McCleskey Middle School in Marietta, hosted by Jody Miller as in many prior years. President You may notice a change in format, since the workshop was extended to Sunday noon, as [email protected] suggested in feedback from past participants. Kurt-Alexander Zeller ARS was in charge of leading the entire group of musicians Friday evening. Barbara Secretary Stark directed music of the Franco-Flemish period, specifically Jacques Arcadelt, [email protected] Heinrich Isaac, Orlando di Lasso, Jacob Obrecht and Josquin des Prez. Then Jorg Voss directed several of his compositions written for early instruments. Oh what pleasure hear- Mickey Gillmor ing the sound of the combined instruments, including seven sizes of recorders, sackbuts, Treasurer cornamuses, cornetti, lyzard, violas da gamba, crumhorns and more! [email protected] Faculty were in charge of Saturday classes. Jack Ashworth and Holly Maurer led Viol classes and both also taught Recorders, as did Jody Miller, Jennifer Streeter and Patricia At large: Thom Culbreth Petersen. Stewart Carter was in charge of Brass and Reeds. Jack Ashford inspired Voices Charles Shapiro and Viols. Holly and Jennifer held an All-Winds session featuring music by Jacob Handl Francisca Vanherle and Tomás Luis de Victoria. Jens K̈̈̈̈ orndorfer Jacob Bitinas On Sunday morning all musi- Jonathan Pilkington cians again played in the great Band Room playing Brenda Lloyd Mass compositions directed Thom Culbreth by Jody Miller, Stewart Jorg Voss Carter and Patricia Petersen. Publications Committee Forty-eight participants came mostly from all Southeastern *** states and as far as Massa- Barbara Stark Web Master chusetts and Bermuda. We [email protected] enjoyed having four emerg- ing Viola da Gamba players Submissions for BROADSIDE… who are taught by Jacob Biti- to nas at Dickerson Middle Brenda Lloyd School in Marietta. They held their own in playing with Closest to camera: Jorg Voss and Martha Armour (front row), [email protected] students Srikar Satluri and Kameel Mayah (back row) us! smile at the camera in the Viol class. Early Music Concerts or Events: Well, we did play mostly “Early” Music, but we also featured music by contemporary AEMA wants to help composers who delight in writing for “Early” instruments, much appreciated by the play- spread the word! ers. If you want to make announcements, contact: Our post-workshop survey indicates that a vast majority like the new format. [email protected] Our organizations, AEMA and ARS, take pride in featuring and underwriting this peren- AEMA nial Mid-Winter Music Workshop. We thank McCleskey Middle School and all who Phone and Voice Mail: worked together towards its continuing success. 404.850.8327 Content Copyright 2019 Atlanta Early Music Alliance By Jorg Voss Photo by Jacob Bitinas April—June 2019 B R O A D S I D E, Volume XIX # 4 Fe 3 Development of the Harp in Europe During the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Early Baroque Periods By Cheryl Slaughter What exactly is a harp? The harp, consisting of a body resonator, support neck and strings which are perpendicular to the body, is classified as a chordophone by Hornbostel and Sachs. The strings are plucked with the fingers and not sounded with a bow. Before the harp appeared in Europe: The history of the harp began, perhaps, with an early hunter noticing how the string on a hunting bow made a sound when it vibrated. By adding a resonator such as a gourd, the sound was amplified. From this observation, an instrument of music developed into what we call a “bow harp” or “arched harp” whose descendents are still played in various cultures of the world. These instruments are classed as “open harps”; that is, they feature a neck, resonator, and string holder but no forepillar or column. Large arched harps are depicted on the walls of Egyptian tombs, such as that of Ramesses III in the Valley of the Kings from around 3000 B.C. Remains of Sumerian arched harps were found in the Royal Cemetery at Ur in Mesopotamia around 2500 B.C. Early medieval lyres, which typi- cally had six strings parallel to the surrounding frame, were in use in Western Europe during the 7th and 8th centuries. What they looked like: https://www.thurau-harps.com/ (Thurau-Harps, medieval lyres, medieval lyres collec- tion) www.lynnelewandowski.com (lynnelewandowski.com, harps, Anglo-Saxon harps) What they sounded like: YouTube: Trossingen Lyre You Tube: Anglo-Saxon Lyre You Tube: Lyre of Ur At some point, seemingly in northern Europe, a forepillar or column was added to the body or resonator and the strings were perpendicular to the body instead of the parallel strings as on a lyre. Now the harp took on a rather triangular form with stronger support for the string tension. Types of harps: Single row of strings (harpa una órdina): These harps were the earliest frame-type or triangular-shaped harp that were in use. They were basically diatonically tuned and had rather loose string tension. Accidental notes could be crudely played by pressing the string with the left hand at the top of the string into the neck as if a fret were there to shorten the string and raise the pitch. The string was plucked by the right hand while the left hand pressed the top of the string into the neck. During the 14th century, harps might be tuned to a hexachord system; e.g., c d e f g a b-flat b-natural. Depicted in medieval religious paintings are “Gothic harps” which have a slender body and a thin soundbox that produced a rather weak sound. An interesting feature of many of these harps is the addition of bray pins, which are L-shaped wooden pins at the bottom of the string above the soundboard. These pins can be adjusted to touch each string lightly, creating a loud, buzzing sound when the string is played. The pins may be moved away from the string for a normal harp sound. The bray pins, when used, create a loud and strident sound and allow the harp to project more volume.