LEWIS GRANOM: HIS SIGNIFICANCE FOR THE FLUTE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY HELEN CROWN Student number: 0835930 Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of PhD, School of Music, Cardiff University May 2013 Copyright © 2013 Helen Crown, all rights reserved iv ABSTRACT An article in the London Daily Advertiser, April 6 1752 makes reference to ‘Mr. Granom, whose expression in composition can only be equalled by his fire as a performer’. This quotation testifies to the extremely high regard in which the flute player Lewis Granom was held as both composer and performer, as well as implying that he was known to the music-loving public. This contrasts markedly with the lack of mention in modern musical literature. Only Hugh Arthur Scott, in his article ‘London Concerts from 1700 to 1750’, Musical Quarterly, 24/2 (1938), 194– 209 (p. 204), provides a hint of Granom’s standing in musical circles: ‘A star which rose about the same time [1719], and shone for many years afterwards, was Lewis Granom, the famous flautist, who gave a long series of concerts at Hickford’s in 1729’. This suggests that Granom should be better known, both for his compositions and for his contribution to flute pedagogy. His treatise, Plain and Easy Instructions for Playing on the German Flute (London: T. Bennett, 1766), was the first dedicated to the flute by a named English author. This thesis remedies this notable historical oversight with an examination of his life, his pedagogical work (particularly his treatise) and an analysis of his flute sonatas together with their relevant performance practice in the light of the various international influences found therein. It restores Lewis Granom to his rightful place as a significant composer and performer in the context of mid eighteenth-century English music. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis is the result of my love of music for the baroque flute and my curiosity about what was being performed in England in the eighteenth century. I could not have undertaken this study without the Research Studentship awarded to me by the School of Music, Cardiff University, for which I am exceedingly grateful. My thanks are due to Charity Dove and all the staff at the Music library, to the staff at the British Library, Cambridge University Library and the Bodleian Library, Oxford. I am especially grateful to my supervisor, Dr David Ponsford. He has given liberally of his time, generously of his expertise, and has been hugely supportive at every stage of the process. Of my many friends and colleagues I must particularly mention Dr Maurice Byrne for his interest in this project and who generously made his notebooks and other material available to me. Dr Nancy Hadden supplied some material not available in this country, Diane Winkleby cast her professional eye over the script, although any remaining errors are entirely my own, and Patricia Cox’s curiosity about Lewis Granom’s family encouraged me to construct his family tree. A huge thank you is also due to my family. Hannah’s computer skills have been invaluable and Ian has done everything possible to provide all necessary support. It has been very much appreciated. vi CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS AND NOTES viii PREFACE xi FAMILY TREE xvi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION The Development of the Flute and its Introduction into England 1 CHAPTER 2: LEWIS GRANOM Biography 8 The Performer 18 The Teacher 27 The Composer 30 CHAPTER 3: EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLISH INSTRUMENTAL TUTORS An Overview 40 Flute Tutors Published in England up to 1765 44 Flute Tutors Published in Europe 52 CHAPTER 4: PLAIN AND EASY INSTRUCTIONS FOR PLAYING ON THE GERMAN FLUTE The Contents 57 Evaluation 103 CHAPTER 5: THE SOLO SONATA IN ENGLAND Solo Sonatas in England 110 Aspects of English Flute Sonatas 112 vii Performance Practice related to Dance 120 Aspects of Performance Practice related to Granom 128 Assessment 135 CHAPTER 6: GRANOM’S SONATAS The Abstract Movements 138 The Dance Movements 164 CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION 207 APPENDIX: FLUTE SONATAS PUBLISHED IN ENGLAND UP TO 1770 211 BIBLIOGRAPHY 223 viii ABBREVIATONS AND NOTES EM Early Music GSJ Galpin Society Journal ML Music & Letters MMR Monthly Musical Record MR Music Review MQ Musical Quarterly MT Musical Times New Grove (2001) New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians ed. Stanley Sadie, 2nd edn (London: Macmillan, 2001), 29 vols PPR Performance Practice Review PRMA Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association RMA Royal Musical Association TNA: PRO The National Archives: Public Record Office. (The National Archives now incorporates the Public Record Office and documents are referenced in this thesis in accordance with TNA stipulations). References to Granom’s treatise are to the fourth edition (London: T. Bennett, 1772) unless otherwise stated. All translations are my own. Unavailable publication data are indicated by n.p. (no place), n.n. (no name) and n.d. (no date). ix The journal kept by John Grano between May 1728 and September 1729 - ‘A Journal of My Life while in the Marshalsea Southwark’, Oxford, Bodleian Library, Rawlinson D34 – is referenced here in three different ways. 1) Following the initial reference in full, the journal is subsequently given as Grano, followed by the date(s). 2) Following each quotation from the journal a reference is provided to the published edition edited by John Ginger, Handel’s Trumpeter: The Diary of John Grano (New York: Pendragon Press, 1998). This is given as, Diary and followed by the relevant page number(s). 3) Ginger’s editorial comments in his edition of the journal are referenced accordingly. With regard to dates in the journal, the New Year began on 25 March, so dates from 1 January until 24 March are dated as 1728/9. In the first chapter of this thesis only, John Grano and his brother Lewis Granom are referred to by their first names in order to avoid confusion. In subsequent chapters, Lewis Granom is referred to by his surname. Library Sigla are as listed in RISM – see Bibliothekssigel: Gesamtverzeichnis (München: G. Henle Verlag; Kassel; London: Bärenreiter Verlag, 1999). In quotations from primary sources the original spelling, capitalisation and punctuation have been retained with all their inconsistencies. x The cost of living and earnings are clarified in relative terms by the findings of Roy Porter, English Society in the 18th century, rev. ed (London: Penguin, 1991), p. xv, and Liza Picard, Dr. Johnson’s London: life in London 1740–1770, 2nd edn (London: Phoenix Press, 2001), pp. 293– 8. Potter observes that prices were generally stable for much of the century, and a full loaf of bread would have cost about 4d. To support a family, the breadwinner would have need to earn in the region of about £30–£40. Members of the petty bourgeoisie generally enjoyed incomes of between £50 and £100 a year, whereas about £300 [a year] was the least that would have kept a gentleman in any style. Porter also notes that a new two-up and two-down brick cottage would have cost about £150. Picard observes that 1d would have bought enough gin to get drunk on, 6d. would have bought meat, drink and bread for a journeyman tailor’s dinner,1s. would have bought a meal in a steakhouse of beef, beer and bread, 9s. was the weekly wage of an unskilled labourer, and £6–£8 was the annual wage of a housemaid. The following pitch standard is used: c1 c2 c3 xi PREFACE The authority of figures such as Johann Joachim Quantz and Jacques Hotteterre-le-Romain in connection with modern scholarship in general and flute performance in particular is without question. Hotteterre’s Principes de la flûte traversière, ou flûte d’Allemagne (Paris: C. Ballard, 1707), the first treatise for the one-keyed flute to appear in any country, is the primary source for information about flute technique and performance practice in France in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Quantz’s Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen (Berlin: J. F. Voss, 1752) is a monumental work; about a third is devoted exclusively to the flute while the remainder provides a comprehensive guide to all aspects of musical performance in Germany (particularly Dresden and Berlin) from about 1725 to 1755. The flute music of both Hotteterre and Quantz and some of their more famous countrymen has been the subject of much research, and for this their respective treatises have been invaluable but, as Ardal Powell has pointed out, there has been very little investigation of the work of their less well-known contemporaries.1 Flute music published in England (with the exception of that of Handel), and particularly that composed by flute players resident in England, is a case in point. The flute became the most popular woodwind instrument in England in the eighteenth century, as evidenced by the many anonymous tutors and solo sonatas published for it.2 Initially the flute was brought from France by players who disseminated their techniques and performance practice first hand to their pupils in London. Hence, the first flute treatise to appear in England was an anonymous translation of Hotteterre’s Principes (1707), published as The Rudiments or Principles of the German Flute (London: Walsh and Hare, 1729), which formed the basis of the 1 Ardal Powell, The Flute (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2002), p. 299. 2 See Table 3.1, p. 40; Table 3.3 pp. 49–51; Table 2.3, pp. 104–8 and the Appendix. xii many anonymous treatises that followed. The first English flute treatise Plain and Easy Instructions for Playing on the German-Flute (London: T. Bennett, 1766), was written by Lewis Granom (c.1700–c.