THE FIRST FLEET PIANO A Musician’s View Volume One THE FIRST FLEET PIANO A Musician’s View Volume One GEOFFREY LANCASTER Published by ANU Press The Australian National University Acton ACT 2601, Australia Email: [email protected] This title is also available online at http://press.anu.edu.au National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Creator: Lancaster, Geoffrey, 1954-, author. Title: The first fleet piano : a musician’s view. Volume 1 / Geoffrey Richard Lancaster. ISBN: 9781922144645 (paperback) 9781922144652 (ebook) Subjects: Piano--Australia--History. Music, Influence of--Australia--History. Music--Social aspects--Australia. Music, Influence of. Dewey Number: 786.20994 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Cover based on an original design by Gosia Wlodarczak. Cover design by Nic Welbourn. Layout by ANU Press. Printed by Griffin Press. This edition © 2015 ANU Press. Contents List of Plates . xv Foreword . xxvii Acknowledgments . xxix Descriptive Conventions . xxxv The Term ‘Piano’ . xxxv Note Names . xxxviii Textual Conventions . xxxviii Online References . xxxviii Introduction . 1 Discovery . 1 Investigation . 11 Chapter 1 . 17 The First Piano to be Brought to Australia . 22 The Piano in London . 23 The First Pianos in London . 23 Samuel Crisp’s Piano, Made by Father Wood . 27 Fulke Greville Purchases Samuel Crisp’s Piano . 29 Rutgerus Plenius Copies Fulke Greville’s Piano . 31 William Mason’s Piano, Made by Friedrich Neubauer(?) . 33 Georg Friedrich Händel Plays a Piano . 36 Johann Christoph Zumpe . 43 Zumpe’s ‘Small Piano-Forte’ . 43 What or Who Inspired Zumpe to Invent His ‘Small Piano-Forte’? . 43 Krämer’s Tafelklavier . 43 The Pantalon . 45 Herman Vietor . 47 Zumpe’s Genius . 48 No Escapement . 49 Mutations . 49 Zumpe’s House . 51 Johann Christian Bach’s Support . 56 The Bach-Abel Concert Series . 58 Gabriel Buntebart . 62 Frederick and Christian Schoene . 62 Zumpe’s Pianos are an Inspiration . 63 Zumpe’s Pianos in England and Abroad . 66 The Professional Class: Piano music and hedonism . 66 Zumpe’s ‘Small Piano-Forte’ Copied Abroad . 71 The Cost of Zumpe’s Pianos . 72 The Popularity of the ‘English’ Piano in Paris . 73 Un Inventaire sous La Terreur . 75 The First Pianos in America . 85 The Triumph of the Piano in London . 89 Chapter 2 . 91 Surgeon George Worgan’s Square Piano (Frederick Beck, London, 1780/86?) . 91 Frederick Beck . 92 Frederick Beck: A time line . 110 Beck’s House . 111 Beck and Square Piano Production . 115 George Worgan’s Piano (Frederick Beck, London, 1780/86?) 117 Date . 117 Serial Number: Frederick Beck’s estimated output— What five serial numbers suggest . 124 Serial Number: George Worgan’s square piano . 129 A Unique Stand . 130 The Advantages of Beck’s Unique Folding Stand . 153 Trestle Stand . 153 French Frame . 154 Campaign Furniture . 155 Extant Pianos by Frederick Beck . 157 The Stands of Extant Beck Instruments . 163 Storage Box . 176 Mahogany Veneer . 178 Beck’s Inlay . 180 Frederick Beck and Christopher Fuhrlohg . 185 Dampers . 192 Beck’s Absorption of Zumpe’s Ideas . 193 Chapter 3 . 195 George Bouchier Worgan: The owner of the first piano to be brought to Australia . 195 The Life of a Surgeon . 198 What Did George Worgan Look Like? . 204 George Worgan’s Father, Dr John Worgan . 209 George Worgan’s Father, Dr John Worgan, the Harpsichordist . 220 George Worgan’s Father, Dr John Worgan, the Organist . 222 George Worgan’s Father, Dr John Worgan, the Teacher . 229 George Worgan’s Father, Dr John Worgan, the Composer . 232 The ‘Ancient’ Style . 233 The ‘Scientific’ Style . 237 Compositional Output . 239 Keyboard Music . 246 Chapter 4 . 251 Surgeon George Worgan Purchases a Square Piano . 251 When Did George Worgan Purchase His Piano? . 251 If the Instrument Dates from 1780 . 252 If the Instrument Dates from 1786 . 253 How Much Did George Worgan’s Piano Cost? . 253 When was George Worgan’s Piano First Brought on Board the Sirius? . 260 Why Did George Worgan Purchase a Piano to Bring with Him to Botany Bay? . 260 The Sirius . 263 The Berwick . 263 After Refurbishment . 266 The Wreck of the Sirius . 267 Housing George Worgan’s Piano on the Sirius . 269 The Great Cabin . 269 The Ward Room . 270 George Worgan’s Square Piano Heard in the Ward Room of the Sirius . 270 Chapter 5 . 273 The First Fleet Departs from England . 273 George Worgan’s Piano Heard on the Sirius as a Solo Instrument . 275 Liebhaber and Kenner . 278 Music for the Liebhaber . 280 The Battle of Prague . 282 Music for the Kenner . 287 George Worgan Plays Music Written by English and/or London-Based Non-English Composers . 290 George Worgan Plays Music Written by Continental Composers . 293 Music Publishing in Late Eighteenth-Century London . 297 George Worgan’s Piano Heard on the Sirius as an Accompanying Instrument . 301 Canons . 302 Catches and Glees . 302 Accompanied Glees . 308 Playing with the Lid Closed . 310 Tuning George Worgan’s Square Piano: A keyboard all at C . 317 Fixing the Basic Pitch . 319 Dividing the Octave into its 12 Constituent Notes . 322 The ‘Common Established Temperament’ (‘Well Temperament’) . 323 Maintaining George Worgan’s Square Piano . 325 String Breakage . 325 Re-Leathering Hammerheads . 328 Chapter 6 . 333 George Worgan Plays His Piano in Rio de Janeiro . 333 What Feelings were Engendered by George Worgan’s Recital? . 342 The Effect of the Weather on George Worgan’s Square Piano: Weather during the First Fleet’s voyage . 347 Portsmouth to Tenerife . 348 Tenerife to Rio de Janeiro . 348 Rio de Janeiro to Cape Town . 350 Cape Town to Botany Bay: Ferocious storms, violent extremes . 351 Van Diemen’s Land . 356 The South Coast of New South Wales . 356 A Recalcitrant Goat . 357 Botany Bay . 357 Port Jackson . 359 The Voyage of George Worgan’s Piano: Particulars . 359 Chapter 7 . 361 George Worgan’s Piano Arrives at Sydney Cove . 361 Jean-Françoise de Galaup, Comte de La Pérouse . 364 Increasing Disillusionment with Captain Cook . 368 Spanish Imperial Designs . 370 Where was George Worgan’s Piano First Housed? . 371 The Hunter/Bradley Map, 1 March 1788 . 371 The Hospital and the Barracks . 373 Francis Fowkes’ Drawing, 16 April 1788 . 374 The Dawes/Medland/Hunter Map, July 1788 . 376 Newton Fowell’s Letter, 12 July 1788 . 376 Reverend Johnson’s Letter, 15 November 1788 . 377 George Worgan’s Piano Remains on the Sirius . 379 George Worgan’s Piano is Taken Ashore . 380 The Sirius Circumnavigates the World . 380 The Wedgwood Medallion . 383 George Worgan Puts His Piano on Land . 385 Was George Worgan’s Piano Placed in Governor Phillip’s House? . 387 The King’s Birthday Celebrations, 4 June 1789 . 387 George Farquhar’s The Recruiting Officer . 389 Incidental Music for The Recruiting Officer . 392 The Effect of the Weather on George Worgan’s Square Piano: Weather at Sydney Cove . 397 1788 . 401 1789 . 403 1790 . 403 Summer 1790–91 . 404 1791 . 405 1792 . 406 The Drought Breaks . 406 1796 . 407 Protective Measures for Pianos . 407 Chapter 8 . 413 Some of the Music Heard during the Fledgling Colony’s First Two Years . 413 The Official Reading of Governor Phillip’s Commission, 7 February 1788 . 413 ‘The Rogue’s March’, 9 February 1788 . 415 The King’s Birthday Celebration, 4 June 1788 . 417 Repertoire Played at Social Functions . 417 The Quadrille in Sydney . 418 Mr Girard . 421 ‘National’ Airs . 424 A Dinner Party, 1 January 1789 . 428 The Kinds of Music Predominantly Played at Social Occasions in the Colony . 429 The ‘Subscribers’ Ball’, 20 October 1810 . 429 The Ball Held at ‘Bellmont’ . 430 ‘The Band’ . 430 Lieutenant-Governor Erskine’s Concert, September 1818 . 432 The Queen’s Birthday Ball, 23 January 1819 . 433 ‘The Band’ at St Mary’s Cathedral in 1825 . 434 Chapter 9 . 437 Women and the Piano . 437 Learning the Piano . 442 1) Private Lessons Given at Home throughout Childhood . 442 2) Intermittent Periods of Intensive Application . 448 3) Being Perceived as an ‘Accomplished’ Player . 452 4) A Protracted Decline . 452 Performances Given by Women Virtuosi . 454 Chapter 10 . 461 George Worgan and the Macarthurs . 461 Elizabeth Macarthur . 461 John Macarthur . 462 The Macarthurs Sail to Sydney Cove with the Second Fleet . ..