Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society Conclave

Martha Novak Clinkscale is the author of Makers of the Piano: 1700-1860, 2 vols. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993 and 1999). She is Adjunct Professor of Fortepiano at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

Beautiful weather and a warm welcome greeted the nearly 100 registrants for the Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society's conclave, held March 11-13 at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Those interested in the early piano found a wealth of historical pianos in the G. Norman and Ruth G. Eddy Collection, and the University also boasts the Franz and Willemina de Hen Collection of Musical Instruments.  Many of these treasures were attractively, if compactly, displayed, in the lobby of the Music Building.

Brenda Neece, curator of the entire Duke musical instrument collection, opened the proceedings with a description and short history. Edwin Good then described his adventures in preparing the first checklist of the Eddy Collection. He pointed out that, besides the thirteen Eddy pianos (eleven of which are now at Duke), collector Norman Eddy owned a number of other instruments, including several horns, a tuba and an ophicleide. Among the Eddy acquisitions displayed are an upright grand piano by William Stodart (ca. 1810-18), a small Broadwood square "playing-card piano," and a splendid square by Alpheus Babcock. To illustrate the beautiful, singing tone of the Babcock, Ted played the two-movement Haydn Sonata in D major (Hob. XVI:51). Following Good's presentation, Maria Rose described and demonstrated the "singing tone" of the early French Romantic piano with works by Hérold and Boëly--electrifying discoveries--on a Clementi grand (ca. 1805-10). Although written in 1816, the Hérold sonata already shows the rhapsodic melody and rippling virtuosic style of French opera arias of the 1820s. These fluid and expressive pieces are dramatic, yet sensitive, and immediately suggest that they and pieces like them had a powerful effect on the young Chopin. Maria explained the similarities between the Clementi's English action and the mécanisme à étrier (repetition action) of the 1808 Érard grand piano. Indeed, Sandra Soderlund, in her presentation on pianist-composer Ignaz Moscheles, stated that even he preferred Clementi's pianos to those of  Érard for their "more subtle mechanism," although Moscheles later admitted his admiration for the Érard 1822 double escapement action.

To close this first session Gail Olszewski played a program of piano music by late 18th- and early 19th-century English women composers. She proved that these works possess irresistible charm and vivacity, especially noted in the Sophia Corri Dussek (1775-1847) sonata movement and two movements from a sonata by Cecilia Maria Barthélémon (ca. 1770-after 1840).

Friday afternoon's events took place at the inner-city home of instrument collector Steve Barrell. The host himself introduced the instruments with amusing accounts of his start as a collector of instruments and early keyboard music. Playing several of his antique clavichords, Steve demonstrated their differences as well as the sweetness of their tone. His presentation was followed by a vigorous and technically impressive program of fortepiano music by Haydn, C. P. E. Bach, and Mozart played by Kristian Bezuidenhout on a 1794 Dulcken instrument. Bezuidenhout's ornamentation of the repeated sections was imaginative and engaging, and sometimes even whimsical.

For the Friday evening concert, John Pruett, classical violin; Brent Wissick, classical cello; and Randall Love, fortepiano, gave an all-Beethoven program: a sonata for piano solo and duo sonatas with violin and cello, ending with a spirited performance of the "Ghost" Trio. Love played a replica by Thomas and Barbara Wolf of a six-octave Nannette Streicher piano from 1815.

Saturday morning's session began with Margaret Hood's introduction of her own handsome replica of the six-and-a-half-octave Nannette Streicher grand at Yale. Interestingly, Margaret pointed out that in all pianos that she has seen containing both bassoon stops and moderators, the bassoon stop is coupled to the moderator; this phenomenon convinces her that it may have been the norm to use them together. The Eddy Clementi was brought into play again by Karyl Louwenaar and her colleague, violinist Karen Clarke, in stunning performances of two sonatas by Clementi, the G major, op. 2, no. 3, with "the accompaniment of a violin or flute," and the solo piano sonata in G minor, op. 14, no. 2.

Andrew Willis was next with a tour de force presentation of the Chopin G-flat Impromptu (op. 51, 1842), which he played--with the help of computer editing and merging--on six different mid-19th-century Pleyel grands from European collections. An ultimate surprise was the inclusion of Andrew's own recently acquired instrument: the Willis-Greensboro Pleyel (1848).

Harpsichords and organs also were a spectacular part of this conclave. Duke University Organist Robert Parkins opened the conference on Thursday evening with a thrilling program of Frescobaldi, Bruna, Cabanilles, Guilain, and Bach works played on the Italianate meantone Brombaugh organ (1997) in a small side chapel and the monumental, soaring Flentrop organ (1976) in the nave of the Gothic-style Duke Chapel.

Before an elegant Saturday lunch in the University Faculty Commons, David Chung's glowing recital of works by Froberger, Weckmann, Reincken, and Böhm in the stylus phantasticus rang out on a splendid William Dowd Mietke harpsichord in the same small side chapel that houses the Brombaugh organ.

Saturday afternoon offerings included Joseph Butler's paper entitled "Grigny, Bach, and Walther: Revision of the Premier Livre d'Orgue." Bonnie Choi followed with a smattering of virtuoso 20th-century harpsichord works by Ligeti, Hakim, Penn, and the outrageous and hilarious Bird-Boogie (1973) by Franspeter Goebels. Larry Palmer, never to be outdone, gave a lecture-recital comprising some of his many "Sins of Commission," including Neely Bruce's Nine Variations on an Original Theme (1961); Glenn Spring's Images after Wallace Stevens (2003), in which he was joined by violinist Kathleen Spring; two movements from Serenade 15 (1987) by Persichetti; and Gerald Near's Triptych (1982). This program included brief recorded excerpts from works by Rudy Shackelford, Ross Lee Finney, and Rudy Davenport. The entire afternoon served as a stimulating warm-up for the Aliénor Competition finalists' concert that evening.

Five prize-winning solo harpsichord works had been selected by judges Joyce Lindorff, Keith Paulson-Thorp, and Max Yount as finalists in this year's competition. Three additional monetary awards were to be bestowed by vote of the audience. The program began with two exceptionally attractive and engaging suites, Idée Prix Fixe by Kari Henrik Juusela of Stetson University and Trifles by Glenn Spring of Denver. These were followed by multi-movement works by Stefan Thomas and Stephen Francis Yates, the Bulgarian Dance and Fantasy by Paul Whetstone, and the Sonatina No. 2 by Asako Hirabayashi, whom the audience selected as the top winner (several men in the audience were overheard to admit voting for her startling attire).

In a Chamber Music category, new to this competition, second prize went to Robert Greenlee's intriguing and inventive Sonata Rondo, while Andriy Zymenko's over-extended and occasionally whimsical Happy Spider was awarded third place. Jukka Tiensuu's interminable--and boring--Lots was inexplicably given first prize. This piece expanded minimalism to the maximum and diminished this listener's patience to sub-zero. One sympathized with the players.

In addition to composers and presenters, the event planners deserve accolades, especially for the magnificent Saturday meals. The luncheon banquet tempted eye as well as palate, and the final reception, a triumphant buffet, was prepared by sixteen-year-old Eric Love, son of Elaine Funaro and Randall Love. Eric already enjoys a wide local reputation as a master chef; for the celebratory reception he shopped, cooked, baked, and served--all to great acclaim.

Congratulations go to program co-chairs Elaine Funaro and Randall Love, and their local arrangements committee members for one of the best SEHKS conclaves ever.

Larry Palmer, Harpsichord Contributing Editor of The Diapason, is the current President of the Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society.

Musical research came to vibrant life in a Friday evening interactive program presented by the Southeastern and Midwestern Historical Keyboard Societies at Stetson University’s Elizabeth Hall. Michigan instrument maker David Sutherland (Ann Arbor) introduced his just-completed fortepiano based on a design by Giovanni Ferrini, an associate and successor to piano inventor Cristofori of Florence. Small details from the Dresden pianos of Gottfried Silbermann indicate an acquaintance with Ferrini’s Florentine piano. Sutherland proposes that instruments of this particular style may have provided the pianos that ultimately gained the approval of J. S. Bach: thus, the genesis of the idea for including early piano in the group of keyboard instruments suitable for Bach’s ensemble music.

Enid Sutherland played the opening of Bach’s Sonata in G for viola da gamba and obbligato keyboard instrument, partnered successively by three possible period instruments: a large Germanic harpsichord after Gräbner (built by John Phillips, played by Wayne Foster); a lautenwerk (by Willard Martin, played by Charlotte Mattax); and the Sutherland-Ferrini piano (played by Gregory Crowell). With each the music worked in subtly differing ways. The harpsichord was loudest; the lautenwerk offered a complementary gut-strung sonority; the piano provided increased possibilities for dynamic gradation. Each was suitable and viable. No absolute favorite emerged, but an intriguing possibility was illustrated and, perhaps, provided some explanation for the many parallel triads and thick repeated chords found in the written-out keyboard parts of certain slow movements in Bach’s accompanied instrumental sonatas.

Another opportunity to hear how effective the early piano could be in solo works of Bach came on Saturday afternoon when the ever-illuminating pianist Andrew Willis (Greensboro, NC) played a mesmerizing program comprising Prelude and Fugue in F (WTC II), Partita in A minor, and the first Contrapunctus from The Art of Fugue. Reminding listeners just how different a modern Steinway piano is from its ancestors, the following program, presented by Marcellene Hawk-Mayhall (Youngstown, OH), featured compositions based on the B-A-C-H motive [B=B-flat, H=B-natural in German musical notation]. Beginning where Willis had ended, Mayhall played the unfinished Contrapunctus 14 from The Art of Fugue on the fortepiano, continuing on the modern piano with unfamiliar works by Rimsky-Korsakov, Roussel, Casella, Poulenc, Malipiero, Honegger, and Liszt (the composer’s piano version of his Prelude and Fugue on BACH).

The same Liszt work, in its more familiar organ version, served as brilliant conclusion to the meeting’s opening concert, played by Stetson University organist Boyd Jones. Opening with works by Buxtehude and Hindemith (the BACH-related Sonate II), Jones offered Bach’s ornamented chorale prelude Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr and the “Dorian” Toccata and Fugue--all selected to limn both the theme of the conference and to showcase Stetson’s historic von Beckerath pipe organ, one of the first large new mechanical-action instruments in America, installed in 1961 on the initiative of [now] emeritus professor of organ Paul Jenkins, and recently spruced up with a handsome new case designed by architect Charles Nazarian, as well as a refurbished action and new console.

A wide range of paper topics kept the interest level high during well-paced daily sessions. Joyce Lindorff (Philadelphia, PA) reported on her recent discoveries of baroque keyboard instruments and music in China during the 17th and 18th centuries, concluding with the reading of a just-translated Vatican Archive letter from missionary/composer Theodorico Pedrini (died 1746)! Ed Kottick (Iowa City, IA) outlined the current state of knowledge about Bach’s harpsichords (“none”) but detailed 18th-century German instruments possibly familiar to the great composer. Two perfectly-timed discussions of possible Bach organ registrations engaged Gregory Crowell (Grand Rapids, MI): “Crazy for France: French Influences on Bach”; and Elaine Dykstra (Austin, TX): “The Range of Possible Organ Registrations in Bach”--each lecturer urging further investigation into the registrational practices of Bach’s contemporaries as a route to a richer palette of tonal possibilities. Sarah Martin (Atlanta, GA) gave an overview of Bach’s number symbolism in his Clavierübung, Part III.

Lee Lovallo (Sacramento, CA) surveyed a broad swath of Sicily’s history in documenting several surviving organs there. David Chung (Hong Kong) gave a thorough comparison of two versions of Bach’s Toccata in D Major, BWV 912, and played the later version stunningly. Midway on Saturday afternoon Larry Palmer (Dallas, TX) spoke on the deeply felt Bach-related art works created by Miami artist Elena Presser. Interspersed among these verbal and visual presentations were short programs of music. Elaine Funaro (Durham, NC) showcased “20th-Century Inventions for Harpsichord” (by composers Stephen Yates, Ruth Schonthal, Miklos Maros, Alexei Haieff, Virgil Thomson, and Béla Bartók). Judith Conrad (Abington, MA) led the group through multiple treatments of the Phrygian cadence in her clavichord recital “What should we, poor sinners, do?”--works by Scheidt, Pachelbel and Bach’s Partite BWV 770 on the eponymous chorale. Dana Ragsdale (Hattiesburg, MS) was joined by baroque violinist Stephen Redfield in a brilliant program of concerted works by Biber, Muffat, and Schmelzer, plus an alternative reading of Bach’s Sonata in G, BWV 1019, in which the solo harpsichord Corrente from Partita VI replaced the unique solo movement usually heard in this often-revised sonata.

Young Israeli-born Michael Tsalka (Philadelphia, PA) played three of Bach’s concerto transcriptions from original works of Telemann and Vivaldi in an engaging early-morning harpsichord program. Charlotte Mattax demonstrated Bach’s affection for the lautenwerk by programming his Prelude, Fugue and Allegro, BWV 998, Suite in E minor, BWV 996, and concluded with her thrilling traversal of the masterful Sonata in D minor, BWV 964. SEHKS founding president George Lucktenberg (Waleska, GA) demonstrated just how effectively a triangular spinet and Bach’s Little Preludes might serve as basic teaching tools for young players. Max Yount (Beloit, WI) beguiled the group with his expressive playing of music by three Bs: Bach and Böhm on the Beckerath organ.

In addition to the instruments already mentioned, harpsichords by Richard Kingston, Douglas Maple, and Robert Greenberg (brought to the meeting by Carl Fudge) were available for playing and viewing by the 80 attendees.

Stetson alumnus S. Wayne Foster, playing with rhythmic drive and musical verve, gave the closing recital on Saturday evening. Continuing the theme of varying keyboards in his program, Foster began with two organ works by Buxtehude (assisted by Boyd Jones playing the pedal lines on the extended-range manual) using the magnificent nine-foot Phillips harpsichord, on loan for the conference from Foster’s church, First (Scots) Presbyterian, in Charleston, SC. For the remainder of the well-crafted program he played Bach: two organ works, Concerto in A minor (after Vivaldi) and Prelude and Fugue in B minor, BWV 544 on the harpsichord; and the (harpsichord) Toccata in D minor, BWV 913 on the organ, offering, in this lengthy work, sufficient color changes to make palatable the hyperbolic sequential writing favored by the young composer. Fine readings of the (organ) Concerto in D minor, BWV 596, and the (harpsichord) Ouverture in the French Style, BWV 831 on their composer-stipulated instruments completed the evening’s elegant music making.

Stetson University provided gracious staff assistance, beautiful, venerable venues for lectures and concerts, and rooms, both accessible and pleasant, for dining and receptions. Given that this conference was organized from scratch in less than a year’s time it was a remarkably cohesive and successful one. The meeting occurred earlier than usual because the following week was “Bike Week,” a huge rally of thousands of Harley-Davidson riders who take over the entire area surrounding Florida’s Daytona Beach. SEHKS and MHKS programs included several extra-musical sounds on Saturday as engines were revved up for the weekend! Harpsichordist/author Frances Bedford quipped that the conference should have been called “The Two-Wheel Inventions!” Not a bad idea, but the broader Bach theme allowed recent scholarship to be shared, friendships and professional relationships to be buttressed once again, the business of the societies to be accomplished, and, most importantly, great music to be experienced and enjoyed together.

For further information on the Ferrini piano, see David Sutherland’s “Silbermann, Bach, and the Florentine Piano” in the most recent volume (21) of Early Keyboard Journal, published by SEHKS and MHKS [available from Oliver Finney, Journal Business Manager, 1704 E. 975 Road, Lawrence, KS 66049-9157; [email protected]]. 

Joyce Lindorff’s article “Missionaries, Keyboards and Musical Exchange in the Ming and Qing Courts” was published in Early Music XXXII/3, August 2004, pp. 403-414.

July 24–August 7, 2004

Karyl Louwenaar Lueck holds degrees in piano from Wheaton College, Illinois (BM), the University of Illinois (MM), and the East- man School of Music (DMA); she also holds a certificate in harpsichord from the Musikhochschule in Cologne, Germany. In 1972 she joined the faculty of the Florida State University School of Music, where she teaches piano, harpsichord, fortepiano and continuo, and serves as Keyboard Area Coordinator. In addition to regular performances with Baroque Southeast, the Tallahassee Bach Parley and FSU colleagues, she performs on occasion with other period soloists and groups.

We have printed reports on most of the Bruges harpsichord competitions since I wrote an article about the second triennial event for The Diapason of October 1968. That year there were 34 competitors; the jury included Isolde Ahlgrimm and Gustav Leonhardt; and, continuing a standard set at the first competition, no first prize was awarded in the solo harpsichord category.

For the October 1971 issue of the magazine, Bruges made the front page with news that American Scott Ross had become the first harpsichordist to achieve a first prize. The fourth competition, in 1974, again made the first page of our October issue, but this time, alas, none of the 33 competitors equaled Ross' high achievement.

And so it continued. For the following ten competitions we have had various reporters: Dale Carr wrote of the 1977 one, in which the highest award was a third prize, while the competitors numbered 52. In 1980, Bruce Gustafson counted 74 competing harpsichordists, but not until 1983 would Karyl Louwenaar be able to describe the excitement of another top prize winner as Christophe Rousset won his first place in solo playing, to become the second person crowned by the jury in this exacting event. It was also the year that the undersubscribed continuo competition was replaced by a fortepiano contest.

This month we are delighted to have Dr. Louwenaar Lueck's report on the fourteenth playing of the Bruges events. A distinguished contributor to the world of early keyboard, she is a professor at Florida State University, and has served as president of the Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society and chair of its Jurow Harpsichord Competition. When I learned that she planned to go to Bruges this past summer, I invited her to submit her impressions to The Diapason. After her initial response of "Phooey, I wanted to enjoy myself," this article shows that she was able to find enjoyment in her writing as well as in her visit to Belgium.

--Larry Palmer

The fair city of Brugge held its 41st Early Music Festival July 24-August 7, featuring triennial competitions for harpsichord (the fourteenth held since 1965) and pianoforte (the eighth since 1983). Given this year's very large field of ninety harpsichordists, the first-round playing lasted a full 3-1/2 days, at the close of which the jury chose nineteen semi-finalists, four of which later advanced into the final round. The pianoforte competition's four finalists were chosen directly from the thirty-nine preliminary round players, as no semi-final round had been planned.

For only the fifth time in the long history of the harpsichord competition the jury declared a First Prize winner: 19-year-old Benjamin Alard from France, who captivated the audience with his confident, well-shaped reading of the Ricercare à 3 from the Musikalisches Opfer, and an exhilarating performance of Bach's Concerto in D minor with Paul Dombrecht's ensemble "Il Fondamento." Alard's victory was sweetened further when he received the audience prize as well. The judges (Blandine Rannou, Ketil Haugsand, Johan Huys [president], Gustav Leonhardt, Davitt Moroney and Ludger Rémy) awarded second prize to Maria Uspenskaya from Russia, who made Bruges competition history by being chosen as a finalist also for the pianoforte competition and winning a co-equal third prize there. Co-equal third prizes in harpsichord were awarded to American Adam Pearl (a student of Webb Wiggins and "Promising Non-Finalist" award winner in the 2002 Jurow Competition) and to Mikhail Yarzhembovskiy from Russia.

Pianoforte competition judges Wolfgang Brunner, Johan Huys (president), Linda Nicholson, Alexei Lubimov, Ludger Rémy and Bart van Oort awarded no first prize this year. Second prize winner was Keiko Shichijo (Japan); third prize winner, co-equal with Maria Uspenskaya, was Irina Zahharenkova (Estonia); and winner of both fourth and audience prizes was Nicoleta Ion (Romania). In addition to these major prizes, honorable mentions were awarded to eight fortepianists and fifteen harpsichordists; among the latter was Joseph Gascho, another student of Webb Wiggins and winner of the 2002 Jurow Competition. The total value of all prizes awarded in both competitions was 24,900 euros (approximately $31,000).

While the annual competitions provide large blocks of daytime programming for the Flanders Festival, they are set within the rich context of many other events, including an array of midday and evening concerts, a large and impressive exhibition, and some smaller lectures, presentations and demonstrations.  Event venues range from the Provinciaal Hof on the main square (competitions) to the nearby Hallen Belfort (exhibition), to beautiful historic churches such as the Sint-Annakerk (concerts and recitals) and the modern Concertgebouw (midday recitals in the chamber music hall, evening concerts in the large hall).

Some of the musical highlights for this listener were Gustav Leonhardt's splendid performance of works by Buxtehude, Ritter, Pachelbel, L. Couperin, J. S. Bach and Forqueray, played on a one-day-old harpsichord by J. G. Karman (The Netherlands); Alexei Lubimov playing Glinka, Dussek and Schubert on a four-day-old early Graf copy by Paul McNulty; Davitt Moroney's revealing performance of works by William Byrd; the stunning Baroque trumpet playing in I Barocchisti's performance of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2; the uniquely beautiful music of Swedish composer Johan Helmich Roman [1694-1758] performed by the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra; and Ensemble Arte-Musica Milano's very fine performances of Domenico Scarlatti harpsichord sonatas, mandolin concerti, and cantatas for soprano and strings.

Denzil Wraight's discussion of "Cristofori's gravicembalo che fa il piano e il forte" was most illuminating, especially as enhanced by Aline Zylberjach's fine Scarlatti playing on Wraight's own Cristofori piano "copy" with its brass strings and cypress soundboard.

Finally, the exhibition was almost overwhelming with its 60+ exhibitors displaying dozens of old and new keyboard instruments as well as scores and facsimiles, books, CDs, tools and supplies. In one corner a caterer served lunch, snacks and beverages--a friendly and welcome touch.

While local citizens and tourists reveled in the warm sun and lack of rain, this visitor, for one, had hoped for cooler weather. Some of the venues became quite uncomfortable by late afternoon; but at least outdoors the evenings were always pleasantly cool. Two real heroes of the festival were Edmund Handy and Andrew Wooderson, official tuners for the competitions and concerts, who did amazingly fine work under sometimes challenging conditions. Also deserving of special mention and thanks are the many builders who provided harpsichords and pianos for the competitions and other events; unfortunately they were seldom identified by name.

Kudos go also to competitions coordinator Stefan Dewitte and his very fine staff, all of whom worked hard and long hours, always remaining friendly and helpful.  Finally, the esteemed--and now retiring--director of the Flanders Festival, Robrecht Dewitte (Stefan's father), was specially honored at the competition award ceremony for his long and distinguished service.  Although it may be difficult to imagine this event without Mr. and Mrs. Dewitte, the festival surely has a very bright future because of their outstanding leadership. Long live the Festival van Vlaanderen Brugge!

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]).

Remembering George Lucktenberg (1930–2014)

Artist Walt Kuhn’s serious but jaunty painting of a horse jockey graced a color postcard from George Lucktenberg, received in Dallas on October 26. Morose information overflowed the small space for writing on the reverse side of the card: sad news of the suicide of a mutual friend. George continued with several lines about his own deteriorating health: “MY news isn’t quite THAT bad, but I AM in less-good shape than before . . .” Later the same day, while I sat at my computer trying to formulate some comforting words as a response, an e-mail arrived from harpsichord maker Richard Kingston with the shocking report of George’s massive heart attack and death that very day. 

A person who contributed a great deal to the growth of an American harpsichord culture in our time, Dr. Lucktenberg was indeed a man of many talents. We first met during my Virginia years (1963–70) when he and his violinist wife Jerrie Cadek Lucktenberg stopped the charmingly labelled “Harpsi-cart” in Norfolk during one of their many tours as a violin-harpsichord duo. George “looked me up” since we both owned German instruments from the Passau factory of Kurt Sperrhake. In 1969 George returned alone to marvel at my new William Dowd harpsichord, which he told me was his first experience with an instrument constructed in a historically accurate style. George soon joined the swelling ranks of advocates for these ear-opening instruments. 

After my move to Texas, there was another memorable encounter with George during the second harpsichord weekend organized by Bruce Gustafson and Arthur Lawrence at St. Mary’s College in Indiana (1979). A walk together back to the motel after an evening program gave opportunity for George to float the idea of organizing an early keyboard society. I, being inherently shy of organizations as time-consuming distractions from writing and practicing, suggested that perhaps the American Guild of Organists was already enough, and we interested players should try to include more harpsichord information within the context of programs presented by that august body.

Obviously not sharing my reluctance, George returned to Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina (where he served on the faculty from 1960 until 1990), and within a few years he became the founding president of a new group: the Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society (1980). An offshoot of this organization was the founding of Aliénor: a privately funded interest group promoting the creation of contemporary repertoire for the harpsichord. It probably comes as no surprise that George was its first executive director. Happily, if not surprisingly, both groups have flourished —sometimes together, sometimes separately. Currently both are included in the recently formed Historical Keyboard Society of North America, whose fourth annual conclave will take place May 21–24, 2015, in Montreal, and is scheduled to include the most recent iteration of Aliénor’s harpsichord-composition competition as the culminating event of the meeting.

Following retirement from Converse, George and his instruments moved to Georgia, where he taught in Atlanta and served as artist-in-residence at Reinhardt College in Waleska. There he was genial host to the annual meeting of his own offspring organization, SEHKS, a meeting made memorable by the incredible artistry of the jazz-harpsichordist Don Angle. Incidentally, George was very proud of the double meaning that occurred in his society’s acronym. At Reinhardt, Dr. Lucktenberg remained musically active, presenting his final public concert on February 17, 2013, in the college’s Falany Performing Arts Center.

There was so much more to George’s legacy than successful organizing and artistic performing, not the least of which included his 52 summers of teaching eager young students at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. Among his printed contributions are volumes of early music, editions of contemporary works, and, as a result of his many trips across the Atlantic Ocean to visit historic instruments, a 1997 Indiana University Press book, Early Keyboard Instruments in European Museums, co-authored with University of Iowa musicologist and harpsichord builder Ed Kottick. From the preface to this volume:

. . . The more I found out about historical keyboard instruments, the more I wanted to know. A delightful discovery was the extent to which a similar passion existed in kindred spirits; a thirst for firsthand knowledge and a professorial compulsion to share it with others led to the Lucktenberg Historical Keyboard Tours of Europe. On all but my earliest ventures I have been ably abetted and seconded by my esteemed colleague Edward Kottick, whose amiable presence and broad knowledge soon made him indispensable to the endeavor.

My own copy of this useful book came to me from the personal library of another departed friend, the noted scholar of early keyboards Dr. Martha Clinkscale. When I retrieved the volume from my overstocked bookshelves, I found, inside its cover, a gracious note from George to Martha, thanking her for her helpful reading of the original manuscript. Included as well were Martha’s penciled jottings of possible corrections and some linguistic suggestions. Many years ago, another treasured colleague, Dr. Betty Louise Lumby, assured me that each departed friend leaves us a gift if only we are acute enough to realize what it is! I hope that George and Martha will let me know what they have discovered about even more resonant keyboard instruments in the hereafter (thereby joining J. S. Bach and Claude-Bénigne Balbastre in correspondence with your Harpsichord Editor, who will, of course, share any such communications with our esteemed readers). But for now, I remain content with their substantial earthly contributions and keep in memory the warmth of their friendship. 

Comments and news items are welcome. Please send them 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;.