Drawings by Jane Johnson A Retrospective and an Appreciation

An Appreciation

Readers of a report on the third Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society conclave, published in The Diapason for February 1983, were treated to four clever caricatures of harpsichordists featured at the Florida event: Edward Parmentier, Ton Koopman, Robert Conant, and Glen Wilson. These drawings by Jane Johnson introduced her work to this journal, for which she became, de facto, a treasured “house” illustrator during the succeeding decades.

Throughout my entire career as a musician I have been drawn to friendships with graphic artists. These associations began a long time ago during my last two high school years when, playing oboe with the All Ohio Boys’ Band at the State Fair in Columbus, during rare times that were free from performing duties I hung around the Arts Barn and thus came to know the fair’s fine arts director, painter Charlotte [Astar] Daniels. So it was not unusual for me to take note of an interesting-looking, white-haired woman sketching away at various concerts during the Tallahassee conclave. I asked to see her work, requested copies of some drawings, submitted them with my article—and thus began a long-lasting continuing association with Jane Johnson and her immediately recognizable art. (Illustrations 1–4: Harpsichordists Parmentier, Koopman, Conant, Wilson.)

SEHKS Conclave Five was held at Sweet Briar College in Virginia. Julane Rodgers wrote our review of this event (published in September 1985) for which Jane provided two illustrations: highly lauded harpsichordist Lisa Crawford and her fellow soloists performing Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto V and organist Fenner Douglass accompanying soprano Penelope Jensen. (Illustrations 5–6: Brandenburg Ensemble, Douglass and Jensen.) 

Jane’s willingness to contribute several illustrations for my 1989 book Harpsichord in America: a 20th-Century Revival saved two elusive subjects from being un-imaged. Both Frances Pelton-Jones and Claude Jean Chiasson were to be seen in faded newspaper prints and sepia magazine photographs, but portraits of suitable clarity for reproduction could not be found. This first experience of asking Jane to create specific drawings led to a number of subsequent requests. The first one for The Diapason resulted in the evocative image that accompanied “Murder and the Harpsichord” (July 1991), which appeared again when “Murder, Part Two” was published in the August 1992 issue. The artist’s keen eye for period detail resulted not only in a historically accurate harpsichord, but also provided our readers with the image of a historically-correct pistol based on an engraving from Diderot’s 18th-century Encyclopedia. (Illustration 7: Murder and the Harpsichord. ) 

The eminent harpsichord maker William Dowd was honored with a 70th birthday tribute in The Diapason for February 1992. In addition to fourteen short essays by Bill’s friends, co-workers, and players of his instruments, this issue included the first publication of a harpsichord solo, William Dowd: His Bleu by composer Glenn Spring and Jane’s drawing William Dowd Posing as Earl “Fatha” Hines, itself a clever reference to one of the harpsichord builder’s several unexpected musical likes. Another of Jane’s Dowd caricatures graced the honoree’s written response to and clarification of the various celebratory offerings, issued exactly one year later in February 1993. (Illustrations 8–9: Dowd as “Fatha” Hines and William Dowd.)

The Diapason drawings continued with a beautifully bewigged Henry Purcell for “Purcell Postscripts” (April 1996); an irreverent J. S. Bach to accompany the master composer’s “Letter from J S B” (July 2000); and a memorial sketch of Igor Kipnis illustrating “Remembering Igor” (April 2002). (Illustrations 10–12: Purcell, Bach, Kipnis.)

Drawing the twentieth-century harpsichordist’s portrait evoked some memories from Jane: “ . . . I first met Igor Kipnis when he played a concert in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (we had a reception for him at our house after the concert). I arranged to have his instrument stored for a few days at the home of a friend (a fine violinist and violist) who had studied at the American Conservatory as I did.” (Jane, born in Illinois, went on to teach piano in that Chicago conservatory’s Robyn Children’s Department from 1941 to 1945, after which she and her engineer husband David moved south, remaining there in a productive retirement as he indulged his hobby of historical instrument building and restoration.)

“Fast Fingers” was Jane’s 1992 response to my request for a caricature of “ye harpsichord editor.” It soon became a logo for my personal note pads, as well as a frequent cover illustration for recital programs. (Illustration 13: Fast Fingers: Larry Palmer.)

All of the illustrations thus far were included in a tribute to Jane Johnson, the prior Diapason retrospective, offered on pages 18–19 in August 2002. The artist was very pleased with the recognition and display of her contributions; we continued to correspond and I continued to request the occasional illustration, projects always graciously accepted by Jane. For the April 2004 journal article on harpsichord music by Rudy Davenport, Jane halved one that had originally included harpsichordist Peter Marshall, both featured at a joint Texas meeting of SEHKS and its sister organization MHKS (the Midwestern Historical Keyboard Society). 

Mozart, depicted in profile at a harpsichord, was the subject in October 2006 as illustration for my article on an alternative ending for the composer’s incomplete Fantasia in D Minor, K. 397. (Illustrations 14: Rudy Davenport and 15: Mozart at the Harpsichord.) 

For the 25th anniversary conclave of SEHKS I was midway through my four-year term as president of the organization. Founder George Lucktenberg and all of the subsequent SEHKS presidents were alive, and I had the brilliant idea of commissioning Jane to create a composite sketch of all of us. Gracious, as always, she took on this daunting task, producing twelve signed and numbered copies, which we distributed in numerical order to founder (number one), past executives, and incumbent (number twelve). This group portrait was published most recently by The Diapason as part of our tribute to the now-deceased Dr. Lucktenberg, in the issue for February 2015.

Other “re-prints” of Jane’s oeuvre include the sketch of William Dowd (as himself), in the January 2009 appreciation of his life and work, and, yet again, her ever-welcome gun-toting harpsichordist reappeared in August 2014 to anchor the heading for “Joys of Rereading,” a listing of still more mysteries that mention one of our favorite revived instruments. 

If this current retrospective has fomented a desire to view even more of Johnson’s drawings, Harpsichord Playing: Then & Now, another of her 1992 works, is to be found on page 120 of Frances Bedford’s Harpsichord and Clavichord Music of the 20th Century. While holding this book in hand, be sure to check Jane Johnson’s own composer entry (for her solo keyboard work Appalachian Excursion).

Jane had an extensive knowledge of Iberian baroque instruments and the literature composed for them. She travelled multiple times to the Clavichord Symposia in Magnano (Italy) where she contributed both scholarly papers and recitals. I, too, was the grateful recipient of information about Portuguese organs, with her citations and suggestions generously forwarded to me as I prepared in 2000 for a concert trip to play and hear the Oldovini instruments in the Alentejo. I still refer to her handwritten notes about things I simply “had to visit and experience”—papers and citations that were additionally valued (and disseminated) during that segment of the biennial organ literature course offered for decades in the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University.

Part of the allure of Tennessee for Mrs. Johnson was the opportunity to study with Judy Glass at Southern College in Collegedale. There, in 1991 Jane gave an all-Iberian concert on the very appropriate meantone organ built by John Brombaugh.

Multi-faceted woman that she was, Jane Louise (Somers) Johnson contributed to the early music community in a widely varied number of ways. She passed away peacefully on May 11, but both art and musical legacies endure. Predeceased by her husband David, she leaves four children, six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. A memorial service is scheduled for Friday, July 8, 2016 at 11 a.m. in St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

This revised and expanded version of a feature article published in The Diapason for August 2002 comprises information from Jane Johnson’s correspondence and deeply appreciated e-mail communications from her son Roger Ward Johnson.

Larry  Palmer is a contributing editor of THE DIAPASON.

Remembering Igor

Igor Kipnis, performer on the harpsichord, clavichord, fortepiano, and the modern piano, prolific and celebrated recording artist, born September 27, 1930 in Berlin; died January 23, 2002, in West Redding, Connecticut.

Bare statistics provide the "bookends." But what of the life? The following pastiche of notes and clippings from my "Igor File" should help to give a partial picture of an engaging musical career, as well as a personality not devoid of humor.

* From unused research notes for my book Harpsichord in America comes this notice, surely the first public one for the future artist who would become such an expert at the public relations  game.

The Musical Courier, 8 November 1930, page 18: IGOR Kipnis Arrives in America. Alexander Kipnis [the great Ukrainian bass singer] had to obtain a special Russian passport to bring his three-week-old son to the U. S. (aboard the SS Europa).

* Kipnis profiles himself as a contributing editor of Stereo Review (February 1977, page 138) and tells how he first discovered the harpsichord:

After detailing his musical ancestry (including maternal grandfather Heniot Levy, head of the piano department of the American Conservatory in Chicago, uncle Hans Heniot, one of the first conductors of the Utah Symphony, and, of course, his father, leading bass of the Metropolitan Opera) Igor described a youthful project: earning enough money to buy Edwin Fischer's piano recording of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, which, to his initial dismay, contained two additional records of the second English Suite played by Wanda Landowska on the harpsichord. But from hearing this "filler" recording came an interest in trying Landowska's strange instrument. This happened during his years at Harvard, where, majoring in social relations, he got the opportunity to put his hands on a harpsichord in Randall Thompson's Handel course.

* My first correspondence with Kipnis:

A letter from Igor, dated March 21, 1971, answered my query about his not including Hugo Distler's Christmas Story in a list of suggested Christmas music recordings for a Stereo Review article, and noted his availability to play a solo harpsichord recital in Dallas for the 1972 national convention of the American Guild of Organists. [Although his manager Albert Kay was able to offer a generous discount from Kipnis' regular fee, it was still a considerable amount since the harpsichordist would have to transport his instrument halfway across the United States. The convention program committee felt that it could not budget that much for a "non-organ" event.]

* A report (by William Bender) on Kipnis' debut with the New York Philharmonic (Time, 13 January 1975):

"To perform [baroque] music the player must have a flawless ability to shape the form, then a knack for making embellishments sound both natural and exciting. Kipnis has both these talents in abundance. Indeed, it is doubtful whether any harpsichordist now performing can match his particular combination of formal restraint, interpretive flair and sheer energy. Certainly that was the case last week as Kipnis made a successful New York Philharmonic debut playing two diverse works under Conductor Pierre Boulez--Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 and Falla's Harpsichord Concerto (1926)."

* Kipnis' curiosity about the early 20th-century harpsichord repertoire lead to occasional letters between us concerning this topic of mutual interest. His 1976 Angel recording of favorite encore pieces (Bach Goes to Town) included Francis Thomé's Rigodon (c. 1893), which still holds a place of honor as the earliest-known solo work of the modern harpsichord revival. Igor generously responded to my search for publication information, enabling me to find my own antiquarian copy of the work.

* In Dallas in the early 1980's for a performance of Francis Poulenc's Concert Champêtre (for which the Symphony rented my 1968 Dowd harpsichord), Igor asked me, at dinner, if I had any idea how to find the score for Duke Ellington's only harpsichord piece. I was able to return his earlier favor by sharing the facsimile of A Single Petal of a Rose (found in Ule Troxler's catalog Antoinette Vischer [Basel, 1976]). Igor had made his own arrangement of Ellington's opus by the time he came back to Texas to play at Austin College in Sherman in September 1985, and enjoyed playing it. Jazz was a favored pastime.

* It took Igor of the eagle eye to observe the surprisingly early date on Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco's English Suite (1909) when he was reviewing Frances Bedford's indispensible catalog Harpsichord and Clavichord Music of the 20th Century, and it was he who followed through on the history of this first solo harpsichord work actually to be composed in the 20th century.

* The same eagle eyes read my "Murder and the Harpsichord" (first installment) in The Diapason (July 1991). Igor sent me another excerpt which included his name in author Joseph Hansen's sixth Dave Brandstetter mystery, Gravedigger. And, in typical Igor fashion, the accompanying note was written on City of Leavenworth (!)-Of-fice of the City Attorney-letterhead, un-doubtedly acquired during a concert visit to Kansas.

*  "A Musician's Hobby Is Behind the Camera" read the title of an article in The New York Times for January 21, 1990. Valerie Cruice detailed the background of the 41 photographs (an accidental number or a Bach tribute?) in Igor's exhibition of his photographs at the Mark Twain Library, Redding, Connecticut. Portraits (many of them of conductors at work), buildings, flora and fauna, abstracts, and "scenics," the photos were taken between 1945 and 1989. A simple program-fold "catalog" of the exhibit (which Igor sent me) includes some charming vignettes of the circumstances under which the pictures were taken. My favorite, accompanying a portrait of Yousuf Karsh and Alexander Kipnis:

"When I recently rediscovered the slightly damaged negative of the photo I had shot at the age of fifteen, I called up the secretary at Karsh's New York office to inquire just for my own information as to the exact date of his session with my father. Several days later, to my great astonishment the photographer himself was on the phone, giving me the information and apparently delighted that such a picture still existed (Karsh, now 81, was 37 at the time of that shooting). My wife and I made a date to have dinner with Karsh and his wife, Estrellita, in New York, and at the Café des Artistes, after having given him a copy of that photograph I summoned enough nerve to ask whether he might consider doing my portrait. ‘Yes, I would be interested,' he replied, ‘but only on the condition that your son, Jeremy, takes a picture of the two of us after I have finished, just as you did when I photographed your father.'"

* Communication from Igor, with an inscription--For your "funny items" file:

Orono, Maine: Noted harpsichord soloist Igor Kipnis will perform with the New Stockholm Chamber Orchestra, conducted by James DePriest . . . The performance features a money-back guarantee. "This is an opportunity for people who might never have attended a classical music event in their lives to try something new with no risk at all," said Joel Katz, executive director of the Maine Center for the Arts. [Bangor Daily News, 1-2 April 1989].

Life, unfortunately, does not imitate art with a "money-back guarantee." It is unlikely that Igor will send any more whimsical communications, unless he is able to find that elusive link which enables him to join the "E-mail from the Hereafter" crowd. But having left a plethora of recorded performances, his music-making will be with us in perpetuity. The many who were introduced to the instrument and its music by this individualistic player have much for which to thank the harpsichord's "Prince Igor."

Larry Palmer is harpsichord editor of THE DIAPASON.

American harpsichord maker William Richmond Dowd and his business partner Frank Hubbard set new directions for the modern harpsichord revival with their gradual return to the historic construction principles of fine harpsichord making. English majors at Harvard University, each apprenticed with a noted 20th-century revivalist: Hubbard worked with Arnold Dolmetsch in England, Dowd with John Challis in Michigan. The two young men reunited in 1949 to set up their harpsichord workshop in Boston.
In 1956 an instrument designed after the work of Pascal Taskin was introduced. The usual modern plectrum material, leather, was used until 1958, after which Delrin, found to have sound-producing qualities similar to quill, was the material of choice. In 1959 Dowd established his own independent shop in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Continuing his study of antique instruments, he brought the designs of his own harpsichords ever closer to historic specifications, eventually disposing with register pedals and the 16-foot stop. Keyboards were built to antique measurements after 1965, and beginning in 1971 sliding keyboards were introduced that allowed a transposition from modern to “old” pitch by moving them laterally.
In 1972 Dowd, in collaboration with Reinhard von Nagel, established a second shop in Paris, maintaining control of this operation until 1983. With the resulting availability on two continents, his harpsichords, highly regarded for their tone, touch, and reliability, were played by many professional harpsichordists. At the time of his retirement and the closing of his American shop, Dowd had produced 529 instruments in the United States and an additional 250 in Paris.
The Diapason celebrated William Dowd’s 70th birthday in its issue of February 1992. The front cover displayed images of four Dowd harpsichords; inside (pages 12–20) were fourteen tributes and reminiscences, plus photographs, Jane Johnson’s caricature of the harpsichord maker posing as jazz great Earl “Fatha” Hines, and a complete musical score of composer Glenn Spring’s William Dowd: His Bleu. The short essays were written by Fenner Douglass, Frederick Hyde, Albert Fuller, David Fuller, Miles Morgan, Robin Anderson, Donald Angle, Sheridan Germann, John Fesperman, William Christie, Dirk Flentrop, Arthur Haas, Tom and Barbara Wolf, and Gustav Leonhardt—a distinguished group of contributors, indeed. I am indebted to Bill’s wife Pegram, who survives him, for the concept of this celebratory issue, as well as for her considerable help in bringing it to publication.
I invite each of our readers to seek out this kaleidoscopic view of William Dowd’s extraordinary contributions to our shared history and to classical music culture both in the United States and in Europe. Such illuminating anecdotes from those who knew him throughout his productive life are especially to be treasured now that many of the writers are no longer with us. Also to be noted is Bill’s response to the various contributions, his chance to “set the record straight” as it were, published one year later in The Diapason for February 1993 (page 11).
Especially endearing was the contribution from the leading harpsichordist of the age, Gustav Leonhardt, whose whimsical offering was an inevitable choice to conclude the words in Dowd’s honor. I place it here as tribute to both the master builder and the master player who so often made Dowd instruments reveal their beauties in indelible performances.

Dowland and Purcell Choosing their Texts with William Dowd in Mind
O how happy’s he, who from bus’ness free
Music for a while
(Yes, a very good while—since 1949)
While bolts and bars my days control[ed]
(The last two letters added by the editor make comment superfluous)

From silent night
(Only since acquiring a telephone answering machine)

If my complaints could passions move
(Deliver them at No. 100 [Tremont Street, address of the Dowd Shop])

Shall I sue?
Here let my life
(Bostonia amata)

Now, o now I needs must part
(Bostonia abandonata)

Shall I strive with words to move?
(Well, it actually was done with a van)

Welcome to all the pleasures
(Of Alexandria’s feast [the Dowds’ retirement address])

Love those beams
(Oh, those joists and summers in the olden workshops)

Thou tunest this world
(Which is mean and needs a lot of tuning)

If music be the food of love
(Eat on)

Fine knacks for ladies
(A man is never too old)

What if I never speed
(Keep your Chevrolet)

Flow my tears
(For good humidification)

Lachrimae
(The same, for another kind of customer)

An old plebeian let me die
(H.P. must have been confusing W.D. with another maker)

O lull me, couch’d in soft repose
(Bless you, but isn’t that a little early?)

Now the curtain has fallen and we say “rest well,” dear friend. Your legacy of nearly 800 instruments assures an honored place in the history of the harpsichord.

[Freely adapted from my entry “Dowd, William (Richmond)” in The Harpsichord and Clavichord—An Encyclopedia (Igor Kipnis, Editor). New York and London: Routledge (an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group), 2007).]

Books about the phenomenon known as the 20th-century harpsichord revival continue to appear. Among recent publications, none is so engrossing as Violet: The Life and Loves of Violet Gordon Woodhouse, written by her great-niece Jessica Douglas-Home (The Harvil Press, 84 Thornhill Road, London N1 1RD; £20). The geneological connection is especially important in this instance, for the author has had full access to unpublished letters and family diaries, enabling her to give full exposure both to the public persona and the unconventional private life of the English harpsichordist and clavichord player.

Mrs. Gordon Gordon Woodhouse (Violet and her husband officially changed their name to become an unhyphenated double one) was placed by author Osbert Sitwell in that company of "human genius who form so rare a race." Critic and composer Kaikhosru Sorabji wrote that Violet's technique and musicianship "are not surpassed by any English-speaking musician whose medium of expression is a keyboard instrument." Various editions of Grove's Dictionary assign her the honor of being the first to record the harpsichord (in July 1920) and the first to play a radio broadcast on the instrument (March 1924).

Drawn to the harpsichord through the influence of Arnold Dolmetsch, she attracted to her musical salon such figures as the artists Picasso and Rodin; the impressario Diaghilev; authors Law-rence of Arabia, Wilfred Owen, Ezra Pound, Bernard Shaw, and the three Sitwells--Osbert, Sacheverall, and Edith; and eminent composers Bartok, Delius (who, in 1919, composed his Dance for her), Vaughan Williams, and Ethel Smyth (one of Violet's passionate admirers).

Passion constituted a large part of Violet's intriguing story!  Although she married Gordon Woodhouse, they agreed that the marriage would remain unconsummated, and Violet's friend Adelina Ganz even accompanied the bridal pair on their honeymoon. Four years into the marriage, Violet's lover Bill Barrington joined the household. Subsequently the ménage à trois became a ménage à cinq when Denis Tollemache and Maxwell Labouchère, in love with Violet, also took up lodgings chez Woodhouse.

In addition to this tangled web of male companionship there was a continuing saga of Violet's female friends Christabel Marshal, Radclyffe Hall (who dedicated a book of Lesbian erotic poetry to Violet), Ethel Smyth, and of Dame Ethel's friends Virginia Woolf and the Princesse de Polignac. Scandal was never far-distant from the Gordon Woodhouses, but the most titilating event of all was the murder of Gordon's two maiden aunts by their longime butler, an event that saved the Woodhouse family fortune for Gordon and allowed him to maintain Violet in the extravagent life to which she had become accustomed.

It was this pampered existence which kept her, for much of her life, away from a professional career and the recording studios. Aristocratic women of means did not play concerts for money! But when she did give concerts, Mrs. Woodhouse appeared not only as a soloist, but also with such leading musicians as Sarasate, Casals, and Lionel Tertis. Receiving glowing reviews which were the envy of many other players, she was the only possible rival to the great Landowska, and to many listeners Woodhouse was the finest harpsichordist of her generation. Jessica Douglas-Home's book presents a fascinating picture of English aristocratic and musical life from late in the Victorian era through the second World War. Well-written and beautifully produced, the book features line drawings at the beginning of each chapter, a bound-in purple bookmark-ribbon, and a generous portfolio of photographs. The author claims April 23, 1871 as Violet's birthdate (not 1872, as in Grove's), and she repeats the claim that Mrs. Woodhouse was the first artist to make harpsichord records.

But she probably wasn't. In Claude Mercier-Ythier's coffee-table extravaganza Les Clavecins (Expodif Éditions, Paris) he cites a 1914 cylinder recording on which French organist and harpsichordist Paul Brunold (1875-1948) played pieces by Couperin and Rameau on the 1732 Antoine Vater harpsichord--obviously an earlier entry for the "first to record" sweepstakes.  Mercier-Ythier's 1996 book (which I found remaindered in an Alsacian flea-market sale) carries a hefty price (750 French francs, or about $150), but it is a volume filled with elegant color plates and photographs of harpsichords and harpsichordists, historic and modern. The French text includes chapters on harpsichord history, the various national schools of harpsichord making, the harpsichord revival and modern instruments, decoration, and the recent trend toward more-or-less exact copies of historic instruments.

While coverage of French matters seems to be reasonably gounded in fact, other 20th-century items are treated with a somewhat cavalier attitude toward accuracy. In just five pages (121-126) I caught the following errors:  Landowska was born in 1879 (not 1877); her housekeeper Elsa Schunicke's name gained an extra syllable (and she was promoted to secretary); Dolmetsch did not work at Chickering's in Boston "from 1902 until 1909" (he was employed there from 1905 until 1911); Hubbard and Dowd started their harpsichord-making together in 1949 (not 1965), and Mercier-Ythier does not seem very certain about which one wrote the book Three Centuries of Harpsichord Making. Falla's puppet opera for the Princesse de Polignac (El Retablo de Maese Pedro) dates from 1923, not 1919; Poulenc composed his Concert Champêtre in 1927-28, not 1929; but why worry, it's only "modern stuff," right? Buy this one for the pictures and refer to my Harpsichord in America: A 20th-Century Revival for details!

I've not yet run across Brunold's "first" harpsichord recording, but for many years I have been a devotee of Violet Gordon Woodhouse's artistry, having searched out her too-few 78-rpm recordings. Now the complete recorded legacy is available on one compact disc: Violet Gordon Woodhouse (Great Virtuosi of the Harpsichord, Volume Three: Pearl GEMM CD 9242). To complete the picture of Mrs. Woodhouse gained from reading the new biography, listen to her supple playing of just about everything on this generous disc, but especially to her remarkable performance of Bach's "Italian" Concerto, made in 1927 (Woodhouse's first electric recordings). Here is music-making that confirms the high opinions of her contemporaries!

The other volumes of this series are also recommended.  Great Virtuosi of the Harpsichord, Volume One: Pearl GEMM CD 9124) contains 75 minutes of playing by Marguerite Delcour (1924), Anna Linde, Simone Plé; Landowska-students Alice Ehlers and Eta Harich-Schneider (disarmingly called "Harry-Schneider" in Mercier's book); Marguerite Roesgen-Champion, Julia Menz, Yella Pessl, Régina Patorni-Casadesus; and the best keyboard player from the Dolmetsch clan, son Rudolph, recorded between 1929 and 1933.

Great Virtuosi of the Harpsichord, Volume Two, features the first recordings by Ralph Kirkpatrick, made for Musicraft between 1926 and 1929.  Bach (Partita 5, Italian Concerto, Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue), Purcell, the Virginalists, Couperin, Rameau, and two Scarlatti Sonatas are all performed on the artist's 1909 Dolmetsch harpsichord, an instrument which had originally belonged to the composer Busoni. The record producer, Teri Noel Towe, comments, "Some listeners confuse Ralph Kirkpatrick's tenacious and unswerving commitment to the composer's intentions with dullness and mistake his exquisite attention to detail and technical accuracy for dryness.  There is a special beauty and unique warmth to Kirkpatrick's sometimes austere but always direct, 'no nonsense' performances; his interpretations are always superbly conceived, often transcendent, and occasionally hypnotic."

Another recent release is A Recital of 20th-Century Harpsichord Music (Music and Arts CD-977), Kirkpatrick's unique recital at the University of California, Berkeley, given on 26 January 1961.  This unedited concert program features coughing, applause, and the world premiere performance of Henry Cowell's Set of Four, with its typical tone clusters and the specific octave trills for the left hand, so proudly pointed out later by Mr. Kirkpatrick in his introduction to the printed score.  I wish I could be more enthusiastic about this disc, but, unfortunately, I find the performances particularly lacking in suppleness and charm, especially in the decidely "non-grazioso" fast bangup of Delius' Dance, and the startling number of misreadings and wrong rhythms in the first movement of Persichetti's [First] Sonata for Harpsichord (at that time the only one there was). Kirkpatrick played only this one movement at his recital, and his reading sent me searching for my copy of the composer's manuscript to see if it really differed so markedly from the later printed version.  It didn't!

Other works chosen for this program included Lou Harrison's Six Sonatas, Ernst Lévy's Fantasie Symphonique, and works by Peter Mieg, Halsey Stevens, Douglas Allanbrook, and David Kraehenbuehl, whose Toccate per Cembalo, together with Mel Powell's exciting Recitative and Toccata Percossa, are the best-played selections.

What possessed the producers to include Igor Kipnis' fine review of Frances Bedford's Harpsichord and Clavichord Music of the 20th Century as a major part of the accompanying booklet defies logic!  There is no information about the music on the disc, but rather a general background of 20th-century composition for harpsichord and some very Kipnis-specific examples of how Bedford's catalog is useful.  With a full program of music unfamiliar to most players and (probably) all listeners, it surely would have been helpful to provide information about the specific composers and works found on this particular compact disc. All-in-all this release has historic and archival value, but it will not do much to garner general appreciation for 20th-century harpsichord music.

Fortunately that is not the case with Into the Millennium (Gasparo GSCD-331), a brilliant offering of attractive modern works, beautifully played by harpsichordist Elaine Funaro.  It was good to hear again the riveting Raga by Penka Kouneva, Dan Locklair's The Breakers Pound (especially its idiomatic and moving Prelude), and Tom Robin Harris' Jubilate Deo, a Ligeti-inspired two-and-one-half minute minimalist romp which truly is "joyful in the Lord."  (For those who follow the score of this work, Funaro chose not to play the composer's published new ending to this piece, preferring the original one!)  Other pieces on this appealing program from the Aliénor Harpsichord Composition Competitions include Edwin McLean's Sonata [I], Nicole Clément's Covalences Multiples, Stephen Yates' Suite, and two non-Aliénor works by Isaac Nagao and Peter B. Klausmeyer.  Two harpsichords (by William Dowd and Joop Klinkhamer) were lovingly recorded in a resonant acoustic (Duke University Chapel). Exemplary notes and a striking cover photo of  a flower-decorated Reinhard von Nagel harpsichord. Brava!

And the video? Landowska, a Documentary by Barbara Attie, Janet Goldwater, and Diane Pontius (AGP Productions, 16 Levering Circle, Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004; 610/664-7316). The great Wanda's life is detailed in a montage of period photographs, films of 20th-century historical events, and interviews with those who knew her well (companion--secretary--student Denise Restout, Polish baritone Doda Conrad, record producer John Pfeiffer), those who heard her play (author William F. Buckley, Jr., French harpsichordist Magdeline Mangin), authors who have written about her (Alice Cash, Larry Palmer), and several other leading figures from the contemporary harpsichord scene (the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Laurence Libin, harpsichord-maker Willard Martin, and star performer Skip Sempé).

Especially vivid are the Restout sequences filmed at the home she shared with the harpsichordist, now the Landowska Center in Lakeville, CT; and the unique anecdotes from Conrad, who first met Landowska in 1912, and Pfeiffer, who recorded her final discs for RCA Victor.  Both of these men have since died.  Conrad's description of Landowska and Restout taking up lodging in a New York hotel best known as a brothel and his reference to Landowska's husband Henri Lew's propensity for visiting such institutions gives a certain added piquancy to the biography.

But, as always, it is Landowska herself who is the star of this feature!  Liberal segments from her only filmed appearance (for NBC Television's Wisdom Series, 1953) document for a new group of listeners and viewers the virtuosity of her music-making, as well as her public persona, a savvy mix of humility and self-awareness.  Responding to Jack Pfeiffer's questions, she recounts highlights of her early career (such as her memorable visit  to Tolstoy to play for him outside Moscow during a Russian winter), her delight in the natural beauty of her Connecticut home and its surroundings, and her love for the music of the past, her love of performing, and her love for her audience.

For all Landowska afficionados, this film is a reminder of her continuing place in our cultural history and in our hearts.  For those who have not yet had the opportunity to experience Landowska's artistry, it should be required viewing. Her role in the 20th-century revival of the harpsichord and early music is so central that every one of her successors owes a debt of gratitude to this pioneering figure.  Besides, her dramatic life-story, played out amidst the upheavals of 20th-century history, is more engrossing than fiction could ever be!

A Silent H

Another H went silent two years ago when Harold (Hal) Haney
(born May 23, 1926) died in Denver, Colorado, on July 30, 2001. Creator of the
International Society of Harpsichord Builders (later The International
Harpsichord Society) and publisher of a quarterly journal, The Harpsichord,
Haney preserved a rich slice of harpsichord revival history that otherwise
might have been lost.

Haney's career was in advertising, but his several avocations
brought him special reknown. In 1970 he became the first chairman of the board
for "Historic Denver, Inc" and continued as a leader in that city's
efforts at historic preservation. The proud owner of a classic Harley, he
enjoyed riding it, and, at his death, he willed it to the Rocky Mountain
Motorcycle Club. With the eight-year run of The Harpsichord (1968-1976) Haney
combined an amateur's enthusiasm and an advertiser's expertise in the
dissemination of information about the expanding harpsichord scene in the
United States.

Toting his trusty tape recorder he trotted off to interview
builders John Challis (spelled Challas in the first issue of the magazine),
William Dowd, Frank Hubbard, Sigurd Sabathil, and David Way. Noted players who
shared reminiscences on tape for his editing included Lady Susi Jeans, Sylvia
Kind, Isolde Ahlgrimm, Fernando Valenti, Igor Kipnis, E. Power Biggs, Sylvia
Marlowe, Malcolm Hamilton, Claude Jean Chiasson, Alice Ehlers, Rosalyn Tureck,
Hilda Jonas, and Denise Restout, recounting her association with Wanda
Landowska.

Hal didn't always get it exactly right. There were, often
enough, strange phonetic renderings of proper names. Several figures of little
import to the musical scene made surprisingly lengthy appearances in the pages
of his magazine, but, all in all, there was an abundance of useful information
to be found in these thirty-two issues of The Harpsichord.

When the Midwestern Historical Keyboard Society presented
Haney with a special citation during its 16th annual meeting (in Boulder, 20
May 2000) he shared wide-ranging memories with the group, noting that there
were further interviews as yet unpublished. These additional biographies
"will appear later in a comprehensive book covering both early and current
performers and builders," he announced. Since Hal did not live to complete
this project, we must remain grateful for the legacy that does exist, while
regretting those ephemeral tapes, unedited and unpublished.

Thanks to Seattle's David Calhoun for reporting Haney's
demise, and for scouting out his elusive birth and death dates.

Christmas in July:

The Alto Wore Tweed (A
Liturgical Mystery) by Mark Schweizer

Here is the answer to all your gift needs: buy a copy of
this slim paperback for every person on your Christmas list. Any 144-page book
that manages to include references to Charles Wood, Charpentier, Mendelssohn,
Hugo Distler, bagpipes, an anthem text in which "Holy Jesus" rhymes
with "moldy cheeses," and "Martin Luther's Diet of Wurms
("the only Diet of Wurms with the International Congress of Church
Musicians Seal of Approval") gets my vote for book of the year.

Combining a Raymond Chandler-style novel-in-progress with an
organist-choirmaster's church-related murder mystery, author Mark Schweizer
(his wildly-varied professional background includes waiting tables, earning
several music degrees, raising hedgehogs and potbellied pigs [as detailed in
"About the Author"]) has written a madcap page-turner that keeps the
reader in suspense as to "whodunit" while frequently causing an
explosion of laughter. It's definitely a bargain at $10 (from St. James Music
Press, P.O. Box 1009, Hopkinsville, KY 42241-1009; <www.sjmp.com&gt;). While
visiting their website, be sure to sample Schweizer's Weasel Cantata (the only
anthem based on the dietary laws of Leviticus)!

Send news items or comments about Harpsichord News to Dr.
Larry Palmer, Division of Music, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX
75229;

<[email protected]>.

Letter to the harpsichord editor

Dear Mr. Palmer,

I don't often comment on articles in The Diapason, that is,
in a positive manner, but I don't know when I have enjoyed any writing as much
as yours on Momo Aldrich ["Momo!" in the August 1997 issue]. I assume
it was because I knew both Mr. And Mrs. Aldrich in the mid-50s. I worked in a music store in Palo Alto and met Mr. Aldrich when he watched me hang a picture of Landowska seated at a Pleyel. Mr. Aldrich asked me if I knew who the
"Lady" was; I said it was Wanda Landowska. He was surprised that I
knew.

At this point in time I knew Mr. Aldrich was on the faculty
at Stanford, but not much more. Shortly after that a friend also on the faculty
at Stanford saw me talking to Mr. Aldrich and later told me who he was, and
that he had studied with Landowska in France. Still later I read an article
about Landowska and it talked about Momo, but it took an organ recital at the
Stanford Chapel for me to meet Mrs. Aldrich, who he introduced to me as Momo.
Then the wheels started to turn.

I rebuilt several harpsichords in the next few years and after I completed the first one, and I might add that I was very proud of it, I asked Mr. Aldrich if he would play it and tell me what was right and what was
wrong.  This he did and he found
very little that was right. He made a list for me to follow and he came a
couple times a week to check on my work. Finally it suited him and he brought
in a student who wanted to buy a harpsichord. She liked it and it was sold.
Later he asked me to call on a friend in Palo Alto with a Neupert harpsichord.
It had all sorts of problems.  Mr.
Aldrich made a few suggestions, but it was Mrs. A. who came up with answers.
She told me that Landowska regularly rubbed a bar of soap on the sides of any
jack that seemed sluggish to her. And that she also trimmed plectra that she
thought were digging too much with a pair of fingernail clippers. I ended up
using both on the Neupert.

I have always felt that I learned much from both of the
Aldrichs, both in working on the harpsichord and in learning to hear it
"sing" as Landowska called it.

Some years later I was working for a company building
automated commercial broadcasting equipment. We were dubbing classical music
from records to tape and inserting tones and so on for it to control the
equipment. We had hired a recording engineer who had done much work in the
eastern part of the States and one day he happened to mention recording
Landowska. I asked him about it as she recorded at home.
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  He said that in one session they
detected an "extraneous" note that didn't sound like anything even a
Pleyel might have made. When they played it back for Landowska, she listened
carefully, and finally shrugged her shoulders and said, "I broke
wind," and walked off.

Anyway, again thanks for bringing back a lot of deeply
seated and very fond memories of two people who left many impressions on me
that still guide my thoughts in my work today . . .

Richard Warburton

Skykomish, WA

English early music losses

Carl Dolmetsch (23 August 1911-11 July 1997)

Carl Frederick Dolmetsch was the second son of early music
pioneer Arnold Dolmetsch.  His
mother, Mabel, a leading writer about early dance, was Arnold's third wife.
After his father's death in 1940 Carl succeeded him as director of the
Haslemere Festival. Carl Dolmetsch was best known as a player of the recorder.
Wartime production of plastics in the Dolmetsch workshop led to his creation,
after World War II, of the Dolmetsch plastic recorder, an instrument used by
millions of school children. Carl Dolmetsch also expanded the modern repertoire
for recorder by commissioning more than fifty new works from composers such as
Lennox Berkeley, Edmund Rubbra, and Jean Françaix.

Ruth Dyson (28 March 1917-16 August 1997)

Professor of Harpsichord and Piano at the Royal College of
Music from 1964, Dyson, of Dorking, had a long association with fellow townsman
Vaughan Williams (who was a patient of her doctor father). As Leith Hill Music
Festival Librarian in the 1930s Dyson had the duty of erasing pencil marks from
orchestral parts, and she particularly treasured the telephone call from
Vaughan Williams in which he queried, "Now, my dear, you haven't
forgotten, have you, that we're meeting on Monday at 10 to rub out the whole of
Creation?"

Dyson recorded the clavichord works of Herbert Howells, the
principal keyboard duets before Mozart, and particularly loved the music of the
English Virginalists and English Baroque composers Purcell, Arne, Chilcot, and
Blow.  Her long association with
the Dolmetsch family is documented on the compact disc, The Dolmetsch Years,
Programme Six (Allegro PCD 1018), although not all of her selections played on
the clavichord are correctly identified. (She plays C. P. E. Bach's Variations
on Les Folies, Howells' Dyson's Delight 
and Hughes' Ballet, and, as track 9, C. P. E. Bach's Fantasia in C
minor  from the 18 Probestücke
of 1753, not Lambert's Fireside [Howells].)

Ruth Dyson died of a heart attack following a particularly
happy week of teaching at the Dolmetsch Summer School.

George Malcolm (28 February 1917-10 October 1997)

Well-known as a harpsichordist of brilliant technique, whose
repertoire included the English Virginalists and the major 18th-century
composers, Malcolm was also Master of Music (1947-59) at Westminster Cathedral,
where his work with the choir of men and boys was highly regarded.
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  He was named CBE in 1965 and, in 1966,
an honorary Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, from which he held degrees in
classics and music.

International Competitions in Bruges

The 12th Harpsichord and 6th Fortepiano Competitions (with a
first prize of 150,000/100,000 Belgian Francs) will be held this summer in
Bruges, Belgium from July 24 through August 1.  The competition, open to players born after December 31,
1965, will be judged by Francoise Lengellé, Wolfgang Brunner, Jesper
Christensen, Johan Huys, Gustav Leonhardt, Davitt Moroney, and Ludger
Rémy.  Information and
application forms (due by April 15), Festival van Vlaanderen-Brugge, C.
Mansionstraat 30, B-8000 Brugge/Belgium. 
Telephone 00.32.50/33 22 83; fax 34 52 04.

Clavichord Symposium in Magnano

The third biennial International Clavichord Symposium (24-28
September) co-chaired by Bernard Brauchli and Christopher Hogwood, was held in
its unique setting of Magnano in northern Italy. Special interest centered on
the pedal clavichord built by John Barnes and Joel Speerstra and expertly
demonstrated by Mr. Speerstra. Another unusual instrument was the
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  copy of a rare octave clavichord after
Praetorius, presented in a program of 15th- and 16th-century music. Many fine
copies of more familiar clavichords, particularly of the 18th century, were
displayed and demonstrated in a series of recitals, illustrated papers, and
discussion sessions.

The reawakening of interest in the clavichord is most
heartening and more than ably promoted by this influential international
conference.

--(Virginia Pleasants, London)

Features and news items for these columns are always
welcome. Address them to Dr. Larry Palmer, Division of Music, Meadows School of
the Arts, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75275. E-mail:
[email protected]