Elgna Dal Cortivo Quarterly Ho. 5? April 1990 FOMRHI Quarterly BULLETIN 59 2 New Aquisitions! Fiske Museum* California 6 Membership List Supplement separate cover COMMUNICATIONS 962- REVIEWS! Handbook of Conducting, by H. Scherchen, trans M. D. 964 Calvocoressi} The Piano* A History, by C. Ehrlich, 2nd ed.l Insect Pests in Museums, by D. Pinnigert J, Montagu 7 965 New Grove DoMIt E.S. no. 15! Q and R entries Et Segerman 10 966 Aulos, Stanesby jr. traverse; Haka descant and treble recorders J. Montagu 11 967 The Aulos baroque flute and descant and treble recorders L, Jones 13 968 The early 16th century Italian short octave D. Wraight 17 969 Viennese fortepiano tuning and maintenance manuals! a checklist T. McGeary 24 970 A contact-free woodwind bore measurement tool B.Schultze 26 971 University of Edinburgh Collection ... progress report 1989 At Meyers 28 972 Instrument course in Prague D, Freeman 29 973 The killing of woodworm- particularly in woodwind instruments M» Freemanova 30 974 Throwing ivory overboard A, Powell 31 975 More on dead elephants C. Folkers 38 976 Geometry, lutherie and the art of historiograghy R. Gug 40 FELLOWSHIP OF MAKERS AND RESEARCHERS OF HISTORICAL INSTRUMENTS Hon, Sec, J. Montagu, c/o Faculty of Music, St, Aldate's, Oxford OXt 1DB, U.K. bull.59, p.2 FELLOWSHIP of MAKERS and RESEARCHERS of HISTORICAL INSTRUMENTS Bulletin 59 **«*. 1990 MISSING QUARTERLIES: Three people have written to me, and others to Barbara, asking why they haven't had their January Quarterly. There are two possible answers. The first, which doesn't apply to any of my three, is that the Post Office sometimes loses one or two. This means that if you've not had your Q after about the middle of the month following the named month, plus postage time depending on where you are and whether you pay for surface or airmail, that may have happened. If you think that this has happened, write and ask for another. The other answer, which only applies to the January Q each year, is that you did not pay your renewal in time, which is what had happened to my three. The system is that Barbara sends me lists of people who have renewed, every week or two from November onwards, as they come into her. I note them and send them on to Eph, who updates his records for mailing. This goes on until the January Q goes out, at which point I change the colour of the mark I make on my master List of Members, which is how I know that all three of mine came in after mid-February. Barbara of course goes on sending me the lists of late payers, and I go on sending them up to Eph, but once he's sent out the main January mailing, he is too busy to send out the dozen or two that come in on each list, and they pile up until he has time to deal with them, or alternatively till he sends the bulk stock of unsent Qs down to Barbara, and then she has to deal with them. In either case because, as I've said before, we all three have our livings to earn, they tend to wait till there's time to deal with them. I do stress, every October, PLEASE get your renewals in before the New Year and preferably NOW. Quite frankly we are all three busy enough that if you can't get the money in within three months (from when you receive the October Q to when Eph sends out the January Q in February), we all three feel that you can wait till we have time to deal with them. This may sound rough and unkind, but there it Is. We do the best we can for you in our spare time; please help us to do so. The alternative is to have a paid, full-time, administrator. What do you suppose that that would do to your subscriptions? LIST OF MEMBERS: The new list comes with this Q. Please use it. Please value it enough that you don't lose it and that you have it with you when you travel. It represents a lot of work and a lot of time. I'm happy to do it because I find it invaluable, but I'm liable to get annoyed (as some people have discovered) when I'm asked for addresses in it by people who forgot to bring their copy with them, because this makes me feel, perhaps wrongly, that they didn't value it. FOUND MEMBER: Danny Hathaway has reappeared; he has moved to England and is living in Guildford. Philip Lord and Gtinter Mark are still missing, presumably for ever now. FURTHER TO: A review herewith: Some of you may have seen an advertisement for the new Aulos plastic flutes. I wrote to them and said that we review books, so why not instruments? And they sent me their Stanesby copy traverso, plus a descant and treble copy of Haka recorders, saying that 'our suggestions and advice will be much appreciated'. They've only just arrived, so whether there'll be more than a quick note from me in this Q, I don't know; if not, there'll be more detail next time. They sent three of each, so anyone who'd like to write a note on them, please get in touch with me. A Comm. herewith on elephants by Ardal: Please note that I wrote my Comm.941, and it could even have appeared, before the CITES meeting that approved the ban. Bull.58, p.5. Woodworm: See a Comm. herewith from Michaela Freemanova, and also a review herewith from me. _-_-. bull.59, p. 3 Format: No comments have been received on whether you prefer columns to full page, so I'll stick to full page, Which is easier to write and quicker to print. QUERY ON A BASSET HORN: Trevor Robinson writes: During my examination of the Grundmann basset horn in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts I discovered a peculiar feature that I've never seen in any other instrument. At the top edge of the highest hole (on the underside and closed by a key) a small piece of thin metal protrudes into the bore. I presume that this is to serve as a kind of dam to prevent condensed moisture from running down and blocking the hole. Has any one seen such a device on other woodwinds? Is it a Grudmann peculiarity? JM adds: I've checked all four of our early basset horns (we don't have a Grund­ mann), and they all have the usual tube in the speaker hole. Maybe Nick Shackleton or anyone else has seen a piece of metal used instead? QUERY ON SMALL HARPSICHORDS: Peter Foster asks whether anyone has experience on making small harpsichords with two eight-foot choirs. He says John Feldberg made a Schools instrument in the '60s which was 55 inches long, and Sperrhake made one 145cm long. He would like to hear from anyone with experience of anything this sort of size, and he'd also like to see a small one by Hugh Craig if anyone within reach of Lichfield has got one. COMPETITION: The Cambridge [Massachusetts] Society for Early Music says that the Erwin Bodky International Competition in 1991 will be dedicated to Mozart, with two sections: keyboards (1st prize S3,000) and chamber music (up to 4 players; 1st prize $4,000). Performers must use original or reproduction period instruments. The finals will be on June 5th _ 6th next year during the Boston Early Music Festival; winners play in a concert on June 8th. Details from the Society, Box 336, Cambridge, MA 02238, USA. COURSES: There are courses in Renaissance song, wind instruments and ensembles, dance, gamba, lute, recorder, and cross flute during the Renaissance Festival at Ekenas Castle in Sweden, 29th July to 5th August. Courses plus a number of concerts cost 2,000 Sw.Kr. and accomodation costs 1,400. Details from Lasted Saterei, S-605 90 Noorkoping, Sweden; phone +461140655. There are courses in Music _ Dance of Four Nations [England, France, Italy _ Germany] c.1600, with the London Early Music Group directed by Jim Tyler, at West Dean College (West Dean, nr. Chichester, W.Sussex P018 0QZ; phone 0243- 63301) from 11th to 17th August from £266 including accomodation (£171 without accomodation but with some meals). They also had a Renaissance cross flute and recorder course, but as it starts next week, it's not much use telling you about it. The Bate Collection has a Gamelan Weekend June 2nd/3rd, working on music for the Wayang, the shadow-puppet play, with Jenny Heaton and Ben _ Djumilla Arps. Cost £20 (£15 for full-time students and Friends of the Bate). Beginners are welcome, as are experienced players. Booking is essential because there is only a set number of seats at a gamelan. A NEW BOOK: Georg Wagner asks me to mention that his Harpsichord and Clavi­ chord Construction Bibliography. 1830-1985 has just been published by Frits Knuf (PO Box 720, NL-4116 ZJ Buren, Netherlands), in German and English, listing 600 titles of books and articles and 92 technical drawings as .well as suppliers of parts. It costs Hfl.58 paper and 79 cloth. Maybe they'll send us a review copy. PERIODICALS: The 1989 American Musical Instrument Society Journal (Vol.XV) has just arrived, with five major articles: Richard Payne on Indian flutes of the Southwest [American Indian]; John Rice on Anton Walter; Alfredo Bernardini on Woodwind makers in Venice 1790-1900; Wilson Barry on Theophilys making organ pipes; and Thomas McGeary on German-Austrian keyboard temperaments and tuning methods from original sources.