Harpsichord News

Summer Workshops, Past and Future

One of the greatest benefits of an academic life is the annual summer break, usually a time for professional renewal as well as for rest and relaxation. For the past decade and a half an anchoring activity has been my involvement with a yearly harpsichord workshop, most of them held at Southern Methodist University's satellite campus near Taos, in the majestic forested mountains of northern New Mexico.

Of course there are other summer offerings devoted to the harpsichord. For this report I have invited two eminent colleagues to join me in describing our summer programs from 2002 and in sharing information about plans for 2003.

Arthur Haas spends his summers involved with a number of festivals and workshops. The earliest among them occurs in California. Sponsored by the San Francisco Early Music Society, baroque solo and chamber music workshops, including the Dominican Ba-roque Workshop, are offered at Do-minican College in San Rafael. Here each day's activities divide into solo master classes in the mornings and chamber music coachings in the afternoons. Last year's faculty included Michael Sand, baroque violin; Marion Verbruggen, recorder; Martha McGaughey, viol; and others. Well balanced between hard work and relaxation, the workshop took place during the last week of June, which is also the time for next summer's course.

Mid-July brings an intense International Baroque Institute at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Solo master classes and chamber music coachings fill the mornings. During the afternoons there are lectures on performance practice topics as well as baroque orchestra rehearsals. Colleagues here last year included co-directors Phoebe Carrai, baroque cello, and Paul Leenhouts, recorder.

In Rochester, New York, the Eastman [School of Music] Continuo Institute met from July 10–15. The full-time, all-day course provides two sections: one for beginners, who concentrate on learning to read the figures, and another for more advanced players, who "romp" through 150 years of continuo repertoire.

Last year was Haas' first year as director of the Baroque Academy at the Amherst Early Music Festival, which, despite its name, meets on the campus of the University of Connecticut in Storrs. This is a huge festival and workshop, of which the Academy is the highest level, meant for burgeoning young professionals and advanced students. Here harpsichord participants spend the day in their own master class, accompany other master classes, participate in chamber music coachings, listen to lectures, and play in the Amherst theater project. All this takes place during the first two weeks in August.

          *                  *                    *

Two separate week-long workshops drew harpsichordists to the School of Music, University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) last July. The first was concerned with the harpsichord music of John Bull and Peter Philips; the second, with the harpsichord sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti.

Taught by Edward Parmentier, Professor of Harpsichord and Director of the UM Early Music Ensemble, these workshops offered sessions in which participants played to receive detailed feedback about their own playing ("small groups"); analysis of the music and performance issues generally, but without discussion of a student's playing ("large groups"); and informal concerts, where the music was played without discussion.

Optional, free-for-all sessions ("open class") in which participants could play and discuss repertoire of their own choosing were offered in the evenings. Emphasis throughout was on the projection of one's own ideas about the music, harpsichord touch and technique, and analysis of various aspects of the compositions.

Topics for July 2003 have not been finalized, but may include aspects of basso continuo playing; music by Louis Couperin, Chambonnières, and D'Anglebert; and variations by J. S. Bach and others.

From July 29 through August 3, the fourteenth summer workshop offered at SMU-in-Taos drew nine participants from seven states and the District of Columbia to study music of "Byrd and the B's." Larry Palmer and Barbara Baird (herself a busy B) were joined by harpsichord maker Ted Robertson, graciously and efficiently filling in for Richard Kingston, whose wife Robin died early in July.

During the two-hour morning repertoire sessions Palmer and Baird coached students in works of Byrd and Bull; Toccatas, Inventions, and selected Preludes and Fugues from the Well-Tempered Clavier II (J. S. Bach); Polonaises (W. F. Bach) and Württemburg Sonata in E minor (C. P. E. Bach); plus several pieces by Balbastre and contemporary works of Bartók, Cathy Berberian, Boris Blacher, Busoni, and Neely Bruce.

Afternoons were filled with individual private lessons, practice, and harpsichord maintenance classes. "Talks at Tea Time," late-afternoon informal sessions, dealt with such subjects as performance anxiety, program building, and, in one afternoon at St. James Episcopal Church in Ranchos de Taos, the chorale preludes for organ of Johannes Brahms.

Monday evening's traditional opening faculty recital was played in the resonant Arts Auditorium on the campus at Fort Burgwin. Using a Willard Martin Saxon double harpsichord, Dr. Baird presented Sonatas by the Bach "boys" and J. S.'s F minor Prelude and Fugue (WTC II); Dr. Palmer programmed the Bach Toccata in E minor, Neely Bruce's Nine Variations on an Original Theme (1961), and works by Busoni and Balbastre. As an encore the two played the second movement of Benda's duet Sonata in E-flat Major.

The closing event of the workshop was the popular informal Saturday noon buffet luncheon at the home of Charles and Susan Mize (Tesuque, near Santa Fe). This annual send-off provides both food and fellowship for departing participants, as they head for the Albuquerque Airport.

Changing the venue to London (England), the 2003 workshop is set for the week of July 28-August 2, at Southlands College. Jane Clark will lead classes on selected Ordres by François Couperin, using her newly-published book about the composer, his times, and his titles. Larry Palmer's sessions will center on Herbert Howells' works for early keyboard, as well as works by J. S. Bach. Planned activities include visits to the Handel House Museum and a private instrument collection, tea with Virginia Pleasants, and a closing party at the nearby home of Jane Clark and Stephen Dodgson.

Larry Palmer is a contributing editor of THE DIAPASON.

Celebrating the Couperin

Jane Clark and Derek Connon: The mirror of human life: Reflections on François Couperin's Pièces de Clavecin. King's Music, 2002.

School of Politesse: François Couperin Pièces de Clavecin (Ordre 1, pieces 1-6; Ordres 6, 13, 19, and 27 complete, played by Jane Clark, harpsichordist). Janiculum compact disc (JAN D206). Book and recording available in the US ($16.99 each, plus postage) from Rhinebeck Records <rhinebeckrecords@compu serve.com>.

Complete Seventeenth-Century French Unmeasured Preludes, played by Nannette G. Lunde, harpsichordist. Sparrow CD 101 (two compact discs issued in 2002) available from Skyline Publications <www.skylinestudio.com&gt;.

Armand-Louis Couperin: Pièces de Clavecin played by Brigitte Haudebourg. Arcobaleno compact disc AAOC-94352 (issued in 1999) <www.kuysleis.com&gt;.

Indispensable! One word characterizes this new book by Jane Clark and Derek Connon.

The largest part of the paperbound volume (pages 47-109) consists of a catalogue of movements making up the four books of François Couperin's Pièces de clavecin. From ordre to magnificent ordre, Jane Clark shares the most recent discoveries about the composer's often-elusive titles. In her introductory essay "Aspects of the social and cultural background" Clark writes of Couperin's connections to the Bourbon-Condé family, in particular to the music-loving Mlle de Charlolais (later the Duchesse Du Maine), facilitator, at the châteaux of Châtenay and Sceaux, of aristocratic theatrical entertainments, many of which have direct bearing on Couperin's music.

"Aspects of the literary scene" is Derek Connon's compendium concerning the increasingly-conservative French court during Couperin's time, the transvestite Abbé de Choisy, satiric offerings by the imported Italian theatrical troupes and their contrast to the style of the French Theatre, vaudeville, songwriters, the Fair theatres, and the Calotins. Both Clark and Connon note that Couperin had wide-ranging, non-highbrow literary tastes, and a particular interest in uniting Italian and French influences in his music.

In her choice of repertoire for the book's separate-but-complementary compact disc, Jane Clark "attempts to illustrate Couperin's theatrical sense" as it developed through the successive volumes of his Pièces de clavecin. In this traversal she succeeds elegantly, abetted by the properly-French timbres of her Feldberg Whale harpsichord after Jean Goujon.

Nannette G. Lunde's two-disc set comprising all the known 17th-century French unmeasured preludes for harpsichord is also a distinguished addition to the harpsichord discography. Beginning with sixteen "white-note" preludes of Louis Couperin, she continues with the multiple pieces in this style by Nicolas Lebègue, Elisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre, Jean Henry d'Anglebert, Louis-Nicolas Clérambault, Gaspard Le Roux, and unique examples from the pens of Marchand, Rameau, Siret, and Michel (?) Forqueray. Twenty-nine anonymous preludes from widely-dispersed manuscripts complete this comprehensive project.

Lunde plays with style, conviction, and, above all, musicality in this often problem-plagued repertoire. Her solutions for organizing the improvisatory works are sensible, her artistry subtle, and the sounds from her 1988 Willard Martin harpsichord (after a Blanchet instrument of 1720), appropriate. Tuning in 1/4-comma meantone temperament and her choice of a low "French opera" pitch (A=392) allow these works to sound both pungent and dark-hued.

A suggestion to listeners: approach these discs as you would a large selection of appetizers from a gourmet menu! Too many at one time could lead to aural distress. The preludes were intended to preface dance movements or to test tunings. Use them as introductions to other, more rhythmically-structured works; savor the preludes one or two at a time, thus avoiding an oversdose.

Harpsichordist Brigitte Haudebourg achieved a first prize at the Paris Conservatoire in 1963 (studying with Marcelle Delacour and Robert Veyron-Lacroix). Since then she has pursued a successful career as soloist, continues as artistic director of an international summer festival of baroque art and music in Tarentaise, and has recorded at least fifty compact discs! She gives annual master classes at American universities in Laramie and Houston.

Haudebourg's playing of the (nearly) complete harpsichord works of Armand-Louis Couperin gives much pleasure. (The only solo works omitted from this disc are four pieces comprising "Les Nations"—a somewhat tongue-in-cheek glorification of French music in which the composer saved the best representation for his own country, following less-flattering musical evocations of the English, Italians, and Germans.)

Gems in this collection include the virtuosic Les Cacqueteuses (fowl humor), l'Arlequine (a piece that stands up well in comparison to the work of the same name by Armand-Louis' predecessor François), and the wrenching l'Affligée (with its particularly poignant harmonies in the pathetic key of B-flat minor).

An "edition" by Haudebourg of these pieces for the French publisher Zurfluh consists of the original 1751 publication in facsimile, with slightly more than a page of commentary (in French) containing biographical information plus a few sentences about some of the people referred to in the titles. This same information, complete with English translation, may be found in the notes to the compact disc.

The harpsichord music of Armand-Louis Couperin presents a particularly felicitous choice for playing from facsimile, since most of the pieces utilize the familiar treble and bass clefs of present-day usage. Only three works detour into the alto (C) clef for a few measures (Allemande, Arlequine, and Affligée). For many years I have played from a facsimile issued in Basel, Switzerland by Mark Meadow (under the imprint Musica Musica). Like the readily available and clear facsimile edition published by Broude Brothers Limited in their Performers' Facsimile series (PF41; $17.50), Meadow based his reprint on an original in the Library of Congress, uniquely identifiable by the Couperin signature scrawled at the lower right of the first page of La Victoire, the opening piece in the volume.

To learn more about Mme Victoire, to whom A-L Couperin dedicated his Pièces de clavecin, consult the indispensable book by Clark and Connon! Thus we come full circle in this celebration of France's major musical dynasty.

Send news items or comments about Harpsichord News to Dr. Larry Palmer, Division of Music, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75275        ([email protected]).

Vermillion, South Dakota

Larry Palmer is a contributing editor for The Diapason.

In an historic first for the United States, three regional
early keyboard societies (Southeastern, Midwestern, and Western) met for a
joint conference ("Four Centuries of Great Keyboard Instruments: What
They Tell Us") at the National Music Museum, Vermillion, South Dakota,
May 16-19. Gratifying as it was to participate in this possible first
step toward a national organization, the main attraction of the Vermillion
gathering was the Museum and its superb collection of historic musical
instruments.

150 registrants overfilled the concert venue named for
Museum founder Arne Larson, and the group often spilled from the tearoom into
hallways for breakfast and coffee breaks. Still, the capable and welcoming
staff were able to overcame most difficulties and make all feel
welcome--sometimes rather warmly so! From an elegant buffet reception at
the home of University of South Dakota President Jim Abbott to the closing
party at program co-chair John Koster's rural retreat, physical hungers
and thirsts of the crowd were well served. All other meals, included in the
modest registration fee, were taken together in the University's Coyote
Student Center. Communal dining, a feature of previous gatherings in
Vermillion, was an appreciated convenience in this small Midwestern college
town.

A recital capped each jam-packed day. Two of these proved to
be especially fortuitous partnerships between artist and instrument. Closing
the conference, Andrew Willis played his aptly-chosen program on an
early-19th-century Viennese piano by Anton Martin Thÿm. For the first half
he chose works by Moscheles, Field, Hummel, and the rarely-performed Sonata
in E minor, opus 70 of Carl Maria von
Weber. Following intermission Willis gave transcendent performances of
Schubert's Moments Musicaux
(the fifth, in F minor, will never sound right again without the piano's
Turkish percussion effects) and Beethoven's E Major Sonata
style='font-style:normal'>, opus 109, perhaps the musical highpoint of the
conference. Among several visiting European artists, Miklós
Spányi stood out for his effortless musicality and consistently
interesting playing in a program of sonatas by Johann Eckard, C. P. E. Bach,
and Joseph Haydn, performed on the colorful Spath & Schmahl 1784
Tangentenflügel (using the correct spelling of Spath, without its
ubiquitous umlaut, as discussed by Michael Latcham in an illuminating lecture
on this instrument and its maker).

A concert by Tilman Skowroneck (earnest performances of
works by Louis and François Couperin and Rameau) introduced the resonant
1785 Jacques Germain harpsichord. Luisa Morales gave straightforward readings
of Iberian sonatas, allowing only two of them to be heard on the wiry and
virile José Calisto Portuguese harpsichord of 1780, and playing far too
many more on a beefy 1798 Joseph Kirckman double harpsichord, utilizing the
kaleidoscopic possibilities for registrations available on this instrument.
Morales was joined by Spanish folk dancer Cristóbal Salvador for her two
concluding Scarlatti sonatas, after which Salvador led a post-concert dance
class for those brave enough to participate.

The conference schedule listed an additional (and
overwhelming) 32 lectures or short performances! This attendee, for one, found
it impossible to attend all of them, especially those given late in the afternoons.
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> 

Some memorable programs included: 

* A deeply moving clavichord recital of Bach preludes
and fugues, played by wounded warrior Harvey Hinshaw, who had tripped while
loading his instrument late at night for the trip to Vermillion. Fortunately
neither Harvey nor his fine Lyndon Taylor clavichord sustained permanent
damage, although each showed bruises from the unfortunate altercation.

* Carol lei Breckenridge's Mozart played on two
clavichords from the Museum's collection: a 1770 Swedish instrument and
an 1804 Johann Paul Kraemer & Sons, built in Göttingen.

Three consecutive Sunday afternoon programs dealt with
repertoire from the now-historic 20th century, as well as some new works of the
fledgling 21st:

* Larry Palmer spoke about Herbert Howells' Lambert's
Clavichord, the first published clavichord music of the revival period.
Recorded examples played on clavichord, harpsichord, and piano served as
illustrations. Inferior sound equipment forced an impromptu performance of the
first clavichord example on the Wolf harpsichord.

* Attractively garbed in gold happy coat,
Berkeley-based Sheli Nan presented some of her own harpsichord compositions,
complete with video camera to record her every gesture.

* Calvert Johnson, with understated virtuosity, presented
a superb concert of harpsichord music by Japanese women composers Makiko
Asaoka, Karen Tanaka, and Asako Hirabayashi (now there is a focused
specialization!) on the Museum's 1994 Thomas & Barbara Wolf
harpsichord, an instrument tonally modeled on the Germain instrument, but
tastefully decorated in sober black and red with gold bands, rather than the
18th-century instrument's unfortunate color scheme of raspberry pink and
ultramarine, with a gratuitous 20th-century "French bordello" lid
painting

The original Germain, an exceptionally fine-sounding
instrument, was the most utilized harpsichord of the conference. It was heard
in programs played by Elaine Thornburgh, Paul Boehnke, Nancy Metzger, Nanette
Lunde, and Jillon Stoppels Dupree, who proved to be a passionate advocate for
the far too little-known music of Belgian composer Joseph-Hector Fiocco.

A smaller gem, the Museum's recently-acquired Johann
Heinrich Silbermann spinet (Strasbourg, 1785) was heard in performances by Paul
Boehnke and Asako Hirabayashi.

The "home team" of faculty members from the
University of South Dakota made major contributions:

* Piano professor (and program co-chair) Susanne Skyrm
played appropriate music on the soft, clavichord-like piano by Manuel
Antunes  (Lisbon, 1767) as well as
a much-appreciated traversal ("from the sublime to the ridiculous,"
she noted) of music by Beethoven (three Bagatelles
style='font-style:normal'>), Vorisek, and Herz. This program concluded with the
bellicose Siege of Tripoli: An Historical Naval Sonata
style='font-style:normal'> by Benjamin Carr, for which Professor Skyrm employed
all the "Drums, Bells, and Whistles" available on the Thÿm
piano. Her partner in hilarity was handkerchief-waving narrator, Dr. Matthew
Hardon.

* Organ professor Larry Schou demonstrated the fine
six-stop organ by Christian Dieffenbach (Pennsylvania, 1808) as well as the
1786 Josef Loosser house organ from the Toggenburg Valley of Switzerland.

Virtuoso lectures included:

* Peggy Baird's slide presentation showing
keyboards in a wide variety of paintings ("Music for the Eye and Art for
the Ear"), delivered with her usual irrepressible wit.

* Ed Kottick's informative and entertaining
"Tales of the Master Builders," amusing vignettes from his
just-published book A History of the Harpsichord (Indiana University Press).
Hermann [Pohl] the Hapless, indeed!

* Sandra Soderlund's well-organized, informative
talk on Muzio Clementi, enriched by musical examples played on a square piano
by John Broadwood, London, circa 1829.

San Francisco's Laurette Goldberg invented some
Goldberg Variants on harpsichord history in an amazing after-dinner ramble
following a memorable vegetable, chicken, or beef Wellington banquet on Monday
evening.

Throughout the meeting several instrument makers displayed
examples of their work. Among these a French double harpsichord by Knight
Vernon featured a splendidly light action; Paul Irvin's 1992 unfretted
clavichord produced a generous volume of sound; and Owen Daly's
Vaudry-copy harpsichord delighted these ears and fingers, as did finely crafted
instruments by Robert Hicks and Douglas Maple.

During her first visit to the United States in the early
1960s, harpsichordist Isolde Ahlgrimm was especially amused by the ubiquitous
pink flamingo representations she saw in many suburban front yards. It was with
a sense of recurring cultural history that my eyes were captivated by the colorful
pink bird statue displayed at the Museum's visitors' desk, visible
through the windows of the Larson Concert Hall. Closer inspection showed it to
be a hand drum, dubbed the "Flabonga," a gift to Museum Director
André Larson.

Because of unavoidable travel difficulties, papers by David
Chung (Hong Kong) and Eva Badura-Skoda (Vienna) were read by Museum staffers.

So what did these examples from four centuries of great
keyboard instruments have to teach us? For this listener they reinforced, once
again, that most music sounds better, and far more interesting, when played on
period instruments tuned in appropriate temperaments. They underscored how vast
the variety of historic keyboards is. They showed how comparatively
monochromatic a tonal range the contemporary piano presents, and how
impoverished it is by its paucity of coloristic devices such as modulators,
bassoon stops, bare wood (or variously-covered) hammers, and Janissary
percussion.

Keyboards from Vermillion's National Music Museum
(formerly known as The Shrine to Music) demonstrated that informed restoration
and constant care permits them to function as superb instruments for music.
Curator John Koster announced early in the proceedings that keeping 1588
strings in tune for the weekend would be a major task! He managed it with grace
and skill, as he did his many other responsibilities during the conference.

It was encouraging to note a number of other visitors to the
Museum during our time there. Many of them were young students, a group
distinctly, and disturbingly, not well represented on the rosters of our
keyboard societies. I would urge each reader to plan a visit to this
outstanding American museum, and, if possible, to make this collection of early
keyboard instruments known to a student. A virtual visit to these holdings is
available through the Museum's website: <www.usd.edu/smm&gt;.

Larry Palmer is harpsichord editor of The Diapason.

Repertoire

[* indicates an available recording]

*Lagrimas [Tears] (1992), solo harpsichord

Noce Oscura [Dark Night] (1993), solo harpsichord

Enchanted Journey (1993), solo harpsichord

*Soliloquy VI of St. Teresa of Avila (1994), soprano, harpsichord

At Play with Giles Farnaby (1995), two harpsichords

*Sonata for Oboe and Harpsichord (1996)

*Songs of the Bride (1996), soprano, oboe, harpsichord

*Seven Innocent Dances (1996), solo harpsichord

*Chaconne: A Remembrance of Louis Couperin (1997), solo harpsichord

Four Dark Dances (1998), solo harpsichord

Millennium Preludes (1999), solo harpsichord

The Agony and Ecstasy of Writing for Harpsichord

"Rudy, WHERE are those seven harpsichord dances you promised?"

"Oh, they're all finished . . ."

"Well, why haven't I seen them?"

"They aren't written down yet--just completed in my head."

"Don't you suppose that if you want someone to play them, you should commit them to paper?"

This exchange between us took place on an October morning in 1996 as Rudy Davenport drove me to the airport. The night before I had played a recital for his Corpus Christi parish, St. Pius X Catholic Community, during which the first public hearing of his Songs of the Bride had moved the audience to tears.

The dances referred to had been promised several years previously for the graduate harpsichord recital of one of my students at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Although the work had not been delivered, the thought of them had, nonetheless, continued to intrigue me. A month later they arrived in the mail. My nagging had finally paid off.

Seven Innocent Dances, premiered the following April at House of Hope Presbyterian Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, remain among the composer's most perfectly conceived works for the harpsichord. Scarcely anything needed to be changed or adjusted for texture. Miniature etudes, concealing their didactic purpose extremely well, they never fail to charm listeners with their brevity, suitability to the instrument, and easy-to-enjoy melodies. Each short movement has a title that begins "With," prompting the reflection that this is authentic "With it" music!

* Number one, D Major, "With Casualness," begins as a study in holding arpeggiated chords, but quickly shows its lack of predictability by having the first note of each group released from the sixth measure on. The effect is that of a limp!

* Number two, E minor, "With Resolve," contrasts an accompanied melody with a chordal accompaniment.

* Number three, G Major, "With Playfulness," is a study in shifting meters. In the second half of the piece the dry, lute-like sounds of the buff stop are featured.

* Number four, A minor, "With Excitement," is a study in hand-crossings and the arpeggiation of chords at different speeds.

* Number five, B minor, "With Fire," is a single page in perpetual motion, reminiscent of a Chopin etude.

* Number six, F Major, "With Pomposity," is a tango as well as a study in quick repeated notes.

* Number seven, C Major, "With Steadiness," is another study in holding and releasing notes. Its effect is similar to that of Bach's C Major Prelude in the first book of his Well-Tempered Clavier.

These Dances are dedicated to Tom Goodwin, a Catholic priest whose Willard Martin harpsichord was Rudy's introduction to the instrument. Father Tom first suggested to Rudy that he write something for harpsichord, particularly since I was known to be interested in playing new music. In 1992 Fr. Goodwin had invited me to give a Lenten recital at his church in Port Aransas. Following that concert he introduced me to Rudy, who showed me his work for harpsichord, Lagrimas. A set of variations in the style of the English virginalists, the work has seven parts (a liturgical reference). Inspiration for the piece had come from the writings of St. Teresa of Avila, the Spanish mystic whose works first attracted the composer to the Catholic faith.

Although it was successful as music, the work was a disaster as a work for harpsichord. Like so many 20th-century pieces, it was a piano composition in disguise, requiring a damper pedal to allow harmonic coherence in its widely spaced arpeggiations. I made some small suggestions for improvement to the work and left south Texas with little memory either of the work or of its composer.

But Rudy did make substantive changes, and, since he had enrolled for my summer workshop near Taos, I promised him that if he would continue to accept suggestions about the piece and write out a fair copy, I would play it on my faculty recital that summer at Fort Burgwin--which I did. The piece was well-received by the audience, and Rudy's career as a composer for harpsichord was launched. Over years he continued to think about better harpsichord textures for Lagrimas, eventually settling on solutions more apt than his original version had been.

Rudy's second harpsichord work, Noce Oscura, was dedicated to harpsichord maker Richard Kingston, who was builder-in-residence for our New Mexico workshop. This short six-page piece reflected the composer's exposure to the unmeasured preludes of Louis Couperin, alternating specifically notated spread chords with more rhythmically incisive sections.

A growing sophistication in Davenport's harpsichord writing was evident in his next effort: Enchanted Journey, Suite for Harpsichord, an autobiographical work in seven movements (Prelude: Long Ago and Far Away; March: The Journey Begins; Scherzo: The Jester as Companion; Waltz: Mountains and Valleys; Recitative: Mist; Interlude: Reminiscence; Finale: Journey's End).

Each of Rudy's ensemble pieces was created for specific performers and a scheduled program. The first of these "commissions" was Painful Longing for God, a cantata based on the sixth soliloquy of St. Teresa. Soprano Patti Spain had been engaged to sing baroque works with harpsichord. We programmed a lot of Purcell and some Handel, but I wanted a new work to add another aural dimension to the program. Rudy responded with one movement: a recitative unified by a haunting recurrent motive for the harpsichord. I found this appropriate, but suggested immediately that the work needed to be extended. He agreed, and speedily wrote two additional movements. The ending of this work never seemed quite right, a problem not finally resolved until we were engaged in recording it! We had experimented over the years with at least three possible solutions, but finally settled on the simplest of them all: an unaccompanied vocal line. Interestingly enough, Davenport's Soliloquy has a remarkable affinity to Purcell's masterful dramatic cantata The Blessed Virgin's Expostulation, a composition Rudy heard for the first time at the same recital in which we first performed his own composition!

It took a lot of convincing to get Rudy to agree to compose a work for oboe and harpsichord. He had never heard a first-rate oboist and he was adamant that a clarinet would be a more suitable musical partner. It was not until we were standing in the checkout lane of an all-night grocery store in Corpus Christi discussing the pros and cons of the two instruments that a checker's comment "Write it for oboe. I used to play one!" helped convince him. A witty, classically proportioned Sonata for Oboe and Harpsichord resulted. First performed in the fall of 1996 on my house concert series, Limited Editions, it was an instant hit. In three movements, the work is reminiscent of Poulenc and Mozart in the first; poignantly nostalgic for the Appalachian surroundings of the composer's childhood home in Hayesville, North Carolina in the second; and playfully humorous in the third.

This first experience of writing for the oboe led directly to the composition of Songs of the Bride. Here soprano, oboe, and harpsichord unite to create hauntingly longing sounds for the exquisite images of King Solomon's sensuous love poetry. I was immediately attracted to this powerful work, but found its intensity almost overwhelming. An instrumental interlude seemed necessary to give a little respite. The composer agreed, providing a "pastoral interlude," with ostinati and clever use of quintuple meter. It was just what the song-cycle needed.

Chaconne: A Remembrance of Louis Couperin (1997) pays homage to one of the greatest of classic French composers for harpsichord. Using a recurring grand couplet with intervening material in the style of the 17th-century master, Davenport wrote a noble and appealing work, totally idiomatic to the instrument. In it he paid tribute to the first compact disc recording I had made on my Vaudry-copy instrument by Yves Beaupré, as well as to Rudy's own instrument, a gloriously resonant single manual harpsichord in the French style by Richard Kingston.

Four works from this bountiful catalog were heard in the first "retrospective" concert of Davenport's harpsichord compositions during the 1998 joint meeting of the Southeastern and Midwestern Historic Keyboard Societies. The uniquely communicative soprano Patti Spain and brilliant young oboist Stewart Williams joined me for a program comprising the Chaconne, Soliloquy, Innocent Dances, and Songs of the Bride. Audience response ranged from purely positive to ecstatic: here was music of our time that was also timeless, emotionally involving, and something people enjoyed hearing.

Dark Dances in Ancient Style mirrored a troubled period in the composer's personal life. Comprising an Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, and Gigue, Rudy thought of them as possible candidates for choreography, writing that he "could just see the costumes--shroud-like, subdued colors . . . two or four couples. Modern dance, not classical ballet, but incorporating the feeling and steps of the baroque dances, French in style." In two autumn performances I prefaced these pieces with an E minor Toccata by the 17th-century German Matthias Weckmann. There seemed to be no undue clashing of styles or centuries.

Approaching the end of the twentieth century, Rudy was filled with excitement over a large project: composing a Well-Tempered Clavier for the new age! I have seen ten of a projected twenty-four Millennium Preludes, and performed only three of them--the last of my Davenport premieres: a graceful C minor Toccatina; the madcap G Major Texas Wildflowers (As Seen on the Roadside from a Speeding Car); and a Chopinesque, E-flat minor Buddha Smiles in the Rain. Lovely pieces, all.

Recordings

The Davenport concert in Dallas led, eventually, to a recording, completed in 1999. The same artists who had been responsible for first performances of all these pieces spent three hot June days and evenings committing their interpretations to disc. The venue was Caruth Auditorium at Southern Methodist University. Difficulties were many: extraneous noises from outside the hall (for instance the raucous sounds of a jazz combo at a reception in the lobby, scheduled, unbeknownst to us, for one of the evenings of our sessions); several major changes of musical text requested on the spot by the composer (including an entirely new, lower key for the last movement of Songs of the Bride); and, subsequently, a bitter disagreement over production details (my insistence that the cover be an expressionistic, attention-demanding reproduction of the painting Lagrimas by Colorado-based artist friend Doug Pedersen marked the initial trouble, followed by Rudy's second thoughts about certain recorded balances). The result was that the composer withdrew copyright permission for the release of the just-delivered discs and instructed me, through his lawyer, not to perform any of his music in the future.

Now, after years of negotiations accomplished with the help of several mutual friends, all difficulties have been resolved, and the disc Music of Rudy Davenport (Limited Editions Recording 9904) comprising the Sonata for Oboe, Chaconne, Seven Innocent Dances, Soliloquy, Lagrimas, and Songs of the Bride, is available at last.

A second, more recent recording of Seven Innocent Dances is included on the Centaur compact disc (CRC 2651) Dances with Harpsichords, played by Elaine Funaro. (This disc features delightful terpsichorean-inspired works by Herbert Howells, Kent Holliday, Dimitri Cervo, Stephen Dodgson, Timothy Tikker, Timothy Brown, Francis Thomé, Sondra Cark, Sally Mosher and Stephen Yates, in addition to the Davenport Dances).

Scores

All requests for scores should be directed to the composer, who may be contacted through his website <www.RudyDavenport.com&gt;, where his telephone phone number is listed as 512/416-1802.         

Thanks to Jane Johnson for permission to reproduce her 1998 drawing of Rudy Davenport.

Three-score and ten:

Celebrating Richard Kingston

Born June 6, 1947, Richard Kingston reaches his Biblical milestone of 70 years this month. Now he is widely celebrated as one of America’s most distinguished harpsichord makers, but when Richard and I both arrived in Dallas in 1970, the world was younger, and the harpsichord still quite exotic and unfamiliar to many musically inclined listeners. The circumstances of our meeting seem quite humorous in retrospect: Southern Methodist University’s music department secretary left a note in my campus mail box: “Some nut wants to talk to you about a harpsichord.” And yes, the “nut” turned out to be Richard. To celebrate Richard’s multi-faceted life and his many contributions to the visibility and viability of the historic harpsichord during our nearly 50 years of collaboration and friendship, I have solicited some comments from several of our mutual colleagues.

• Jan Worden Lackey was my first Master of Music in harpsichord performance student at Southern Methodist University. Of those bygone years, she writes:

There was much new in the music world in Dallas in the 1970s and much of it revolved around the harpsichord. A young professor had come to SMU to lead its new degree program. Soon after his arrival a young man who, at that time had completed only one instrument, opened a professional harpsichord-building shop. The faculty member was Larry Palmer; the builder, Richard Kingston. We three, together with some others, founded and served on the board of directors of the Dallas Harpsichord Society.

The city was ready for historic keyboards and early music. There was a lot of publicity for our events. The Dallas Morning News printed concert notices, reviews, and feature articles, as did other local publications, for there was considerable interest in these concerts, lectures, instruction possibilities, and instruments.

It soon became apparent that Richard Kingston was an excellent and talented builder of harpsichords who both knew the instrument’s history, and possessed the requisite technical skills and ears to produce beautiful-sounding instruments. As a frequent visitor to his shop I found him friendly, an interesting conversationalist, and one who was ever delighted to show his latest work.

A lasting memory is of an evening spent playing one of Richard’s early instruments: I had been asked to be the solo harpsichordist for the opening of an exhibition at the Dallas Museum of Fine Art. Richard moved and tuned one of his magnificent French double harpsichords for the occasion. Memorable was the enjoyment of being surrounded by beautiful art, music, and the instrument—all together producing something that, individually, would not have made such an impact.

After Richard closed his shop and moved away from Dallas I had no contact with him. A few years ago my husband and I were invited to dinner at the home of a Santa Fe colleague. Included at our table were Dr. Palmer and Richard, who was still the same delightful and interesting person, happily sharing conversation and stories.

After a decade of successful harpsichord building in Dallas, Richard followed some sage advice from George Lucktenberg, founder of the Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society, who suggested that North Carolina had much to offer a harpsichord maker: namely its tradition of fine furniture making. Thus it was that Kingston’s 100th instrument, begun in Dallas, was completed in Marshall, North Carolina. Continuing his investigations into what should comprise a composite “eclectic northern European double harpsichord,” Richard developed a prototype during his first two years in the Carolinas. Important new clients, new craftspeople, and the soundboard painter Pam Gladding became his colleagues. At the apex of his sales, he produced 19 instruments in 1987, 14 in 1989—the final “big years,” as he noted in his shop history notes.

A beloved friend and colleague encountered at many meetings of the Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society (SEHKS) was the late musical and graphic artist Jane Johnson, whose clever drawing celebrating the birth of Richard’s first son combines two of his major achievements of the 1980s: starting a family and continuing to produce instruments of technical brilliance and physical beauty. Jane’s witty announcement card is typical of her warm heart and steady hand.

During Richard’s first decade in the eastern United States I had very little contact with him. However, that changed considerably during the 1990s with our increasing number of collaborations during SMU’s summer harpsichord workshops at Fort Burgwin, the university’s idyllic property near Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico. Richard taught classes in maintenance and tuning and “well-tuned” his elegant instruments. The rustic annual gatherings were succeeded by meetings in Denver and Santa Fe during the first decade of the 21st century. 

• Another of my outstanding harpsichord students from the early years at SMU, Barbara Baird joined us as a workshop faculty member for many of the summer offerings. She writes of her Kingston memories: 

I first met Richard in 1974 when I moved to Fort Worth to teach harpsichord at Texas Christian University. Through the years he and I found ourselves working together in Taos and Denver at SMU summer harpsichord events. I have long admired Richard’s gifts as a builder, his easy-going manner with students and harpsichord enthusiasts, and his willingness to make harpsichords travel. He would load a half dozen instruments worth tens of thousands of dollars into the back of his van and drive across the Southwest to make these harpsichord programs possible. Fearless? Foolish? No: Delightful!

November 1991 found Kingston at Clayton State University (Morrow, Georgia), where their six-day Spivey International Harpsichord Festival included a harpsichord builders’ competition. Twelve American makers each brought an example of their craft. After careful examination, the five-person jury unanimously awarded the Spivey Prize to Richard Kingston. Indeed, the jury chair, the German master craftsman Martin Skowroneck, told his cohorts that Richard’s instrument was so similar to something he himself might have made that Kingston and he must be soul mates! Since I was present to play the opening solo recital and chair a symposium of the builders, I was especially proud of my younger colleague’s great honor, and nearly overcome with emotion, when, for his acceptance of the award, he requested my presence beside him on stage. We had both come a very long way in 21 years!

The Georgia reunion led directly to the acquisition of my own Kingston harpsichord in 1994. A stellar example of Richard’s Franco-Flemish doubles, its keyboards utilize an octave span of 6¼ inches rather than the usual 6½—a small, but vital difference when attempting to negotiate some of the wide stretches found in many of the contemporary pieces that I have championed throughout my career.

A very special example of Kingston’s craft is his “Millennium” Harpsichord, Opus 300, built to celebrate things both old and new for the new century! The instrument received an extensive dedication recital debut on November 3, 2002, in the Washington, D.C., home of Charles and Susan Mize. Basically the well-loved Franco-Flemish Kingston double, this harpsichord is visually striking in its black-matte finish, supported on three stainless-steel pylons. An optional computer screen is also available as an augmentation of the usual music desk, thus allowing digitally scanned scores to be read by scrolling through them by utilizing a foot pedal.

Honored to be the first of a cadre of harpsichordists to “open” the musical feast, I chose a program that began with John Bull’s Coranto Kingston and ended with a commissioned work from composer Glenn Spring, Suite 3-D. This work for two to play at one harpsichord celebrates the hometowns of the composer (Denver) and the players (Dallas for me and D.C. [at that time] for Dr. Mize, who joined me for this first performance).

In the audience was one of Richard’s major mentors, the celebrated Boston harpsichord maker William Dowd. Following consecutive programs by Virginia Pleasants and Brigitte Haudebourg, Dowd’s shop foreman Don Angle brought down the house with his extraordinary keyboard skills in signature pieces by Scott Joplin, John Phillip Sousa, and, of course, the remarkable Angle himself.

When the Mizes moved to New Mexico a few years later, Opus 300 travelled with them. By then it had acquired a stunning lid painting in colorful abstract style by artist June Zinn Hobby. According to the harpsichord’s owners, my compact disc Hommages (recorded in 2007) is the only commercially available recording of this uniquely beautiful instrument.

• A brilliant harpsichordist and recording artist, Elaine Funaro lives in Durham, North Carolina, where her husband Randall Love teaches piano at Duke University. She describes her friendship with Kingston as follows:

Upon graduating from Oberlin College in 1974 I did what many harpsichordists did at the time: I went to Boston. There I started working for the harpsichord historian and decorator Sheridan Germann. For the most part we painted the soundboards of instruments from the shop of William Dowd, at the time the most famous American builder. Sheridan would travel around the country and to Paris [where Dowd had opened a second shop] to decorate soundboards. I recall her returning from a trip to Texas full of praise for the work of a new, young builder, Richard Kingston. That was the first time I heard his name.

Throughout the next decade his instruments, robust and musical, appeared at conferences and concerts. I did not need another instrument since I already had a Dowd, but our paths crossed more often when my husband and I returned from studies in Holland to settle in North Carolina. In 2009 Richard visited me and said that he had the parts for one last instrument and that he would like that instrument to be mine. As I was quite involved in performing contemporary music [as the Director of the Aliénor Competitions] we both wanted to create an instrument that reflected a completely modern aesthetic. Thus Richard’s Opus 333 was conceived. Currently Richard drops by quite often to regulate both the Dowd and his own instruments. We are very fortunate to have him so close by.

From the many archival papers that Kingston has entrusted to me for safekeeping and historical research, I share the following heartfelt words from this month’s honoree himself:

I have had a fascinating life and rewarding career. Often, upon reflection, it seems all that was ever required of me was to get dressed and show up each day. Considering the folk that took time with me, mentored me, gave me direction, I could not be any way other than successful in undertaking a career in harpsichord making.

I was on fire for the subject from the beginning, and that has never ceased. I did not plan it as a lifelong endeavor; I simply went from one harpsichord to the next, each intended to be the best work I could do, each as exciting to me as the very first.

The thrill of getting to the moment when I could begin voicing each instrument, to be reassured by those first sounds, was the same for me from the first to the last!

The sun is happy when it shines, a pen is happy when it writes, and I am happy when I am working on a harpsichord. I would do it all again.

As the fortunate owner of Richard’s harpsichord, the magnificent “Big Blue,” I share his happiness every time I play this triple-transposing instrument with its incredible resonance, even in the uppermost range of a treble that extends to top G.

One of the most memorable of the 101 Limited Editions Dallas house concerts presented during 33 years was the third one in season 28. On Sunday, February 19, 2012, Richard Kingston joined pianist Linton Powell and me as the narrator for a live performance of Said the Piano to the Harpsichord, which he had encountered as a favorite 45-rpm music disc during early childhood. The skit tells a dramatic story, illustrated with musical examples, during which sarcastic rivalry between the two keyboard instruments ends in collaboration, as demonstrated by composer Douglas Moore’s brief but charming Variations on The Old Gray Mare: the very recording that first introduced young Richard to the sounds of the harpsichord, thus beginning his lifelong love affair with the instrument.

It has been a fantastic journey, dear Maestro. Welcome to the “Three-Score-and-Ten” Club! Now, shall we both aim for “Four-Score” status?

Mark Stevenson

British harpsichord maker Mark Stevenson died of cancer on July 4, 2000, aged 56. Born in Cambridge in 1943, Stevenson studied art history at St. John's College. By age 30 he was working full-time as a builder of harpsichords. More than 200 of his finely-crafted, historically-inspired instruments are in use in many countries throughout the world.

Bruges 2001

The 38th Early Music Festival in Bruges, Belgium, will include the 13th playing of its well-known harpsichord competition, 1–8 August 2001, as well as a separate competition for fortepianists, 5–8 August. Both events are open to players born after 31 December 1968.  Members of the international jury include Borbala Dobozy, Jesper Christensen, Gustav Leonhardt, Davitt Moroney, Ludger Rèmy, Christophe Rousset, and chairman Johan Huys.

Harpsichord competition repertoire for the first round consists of François Couperin: Prelude 5 from L'Art de toucher le clavecin; J. S. Bach: Sinfonia 12 in A, BWV 798; and Domenico Scarlatti: Sonata in C, K 421 (L 252). Those advancing to the semi-final round will play G. Salvatore: Toccata Prima; Byrd: Fantasia number 46 in D minor; Chambonnières: Pavane L'Entretien des Dieux; J.S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in B minor, WTC II (BWV 893); and Scarlatti: Sonata in B-flat, K 57 (L 38). Pieces by Rameau (Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, and Les Trois Mains from Nouvelles Suites, 1728) and the Bach Concerto in A, BWV 1055 are on the docket for the final event of the competition.

For application forms or further information, contact the Festival Office, Collaert Mansionstraat 30, B-8000 Brugge; telephone 0032 50/33 22 83; <http://www.musica-antiqua.com&gt;;  email:<[email protected]>.

Bärenreiter Urtexts of Bach Harpsichord Concerti now available

In light of the competition requirements above, it is well to note that the Neue Bach Ausgabe edition of Bach's complete Keyboard Concerti (NBA VII/4) is now available as separate, individual concerti from Bärenreiter-Verlag of Kassel. These scores reflect the scholarship and care expected from the new Bach edition, and the reductions of the string parts for a second keyboard avoid unwanted doublings and inappropriate slurs or other markings. Clean and easy on the eyes, these will doubtless become the editions of choice for most players who learn these concerti. (The Concerto in A, BWV 1055, is BA 5227, priced at DM 24, with string parts also available at DM 6.50 each.)

Recent Issues of Early Music

Early Music for May 2000 contains Andreas Beurmann's rebuttal letter concerning insinuations that his early Iberian harpsichords are not authentic. In the issue for August, Edward Corp's brilliant reconstruction of Couperin's probable early biography is to be found in "François Couperin and the Stuart Court at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 1691–1712: A New Interpretation."

Bach's Last Cantata

French author Philippe Delelis has written a suspense-filled novel (completely fictitious) concerning the missing cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach. Set in modern-day Paris, the book is replete with references to musical craft and number symbolism, especially that found in The Musical Offering, as well as a goodly number of murders. There are clever connections, as well, to the lives and music of Mozart, Mahler, and Webern. I emphasize (as does the author) that the work is pure fiction, but it is a fascinating read, and an absorbing postscript for this Bach-celebratory year. The recent English translation (by Sue Rose) of Delelis's La Dernière Cantate is available from The Toby Press, London (tobypress.com). ISBN 1 902881 31 1 (Paperback).

News items and features for these columns are welcome. Address them to Dr. Larry Palmer, Division of Music, Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75275. Email: <[email protected]>.