“The allegros of the best chamber symphonies contain great and bold ideas, free handling of composition, seeming disorder in the melody and harmony, strongly marked rhythms of different kinds, powerful bass melodies and unisons, concerting middle voices, free imitations, often a theme that is handled in the manner of a fugue, sudden transitions, and digressions from one key to another [...] strong shadings of the forte and piano, and chiefly of the crescendo, which, if it is employed at the same time as a rising and increasingly expressive melody, can be of the greatest effect. Added to this comes the art of connecting all voices in and with one another so that their sounding at the same time allows only one single melody to be heard, which requires no accompaniment, but to which each voice contributes its part. Such an allegro is to the symphony what a Pindaric ode is to poetry.”
J.A.P. Schulz, “Symphonie” in Allgemeine Theorie der schönen Künste, ed. J.G. Sulzer (Leipzig, 1771-74) [1]
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[1] Quoted in CHURGIN, B.: “The Symphony as Described by J.A.P. Schulz (1774): a Commentary and Translation”, Current Musicology, 29 (1980), pp.7-16.
Ok, I already had chances to play in the school this year (and already have played) but the first harpsichord voorspeelmiddag is today! With it, we (students of Siebe Henstra) start our monthly serie of harpsichord concerts.
We open the season with Late French (Crazy) composers such as Duphly, Balbastre, A.L. Couperin, Royer, etc. (others like Rameau, Boismortier or Forqueray were, in Siebe’s words, not decadent enough!)…
If you want to join us, we promise it to be amusing…
Two days ago I published the Spanish version of this entry, while waiting to start preparing dinner… For a second, I considered not to translate it because I could not do it in its moment, but in this case, even a bit late, I think it can be nice (the videos are in English, for instance)…
It’s the first time I see the installation of a harpsichord soundboard. And, by chance, only two days after Siebe showed me pictures from (the now old) Titus’s workshop, in which the structure for fast and precise “glueing” attracted my attention.
The second video is more about my own (and some other harpsichordists) routine. Even trying to have a soft touch, plectra go on breaking sometimes… I wouldn’t mind to have had something like this sometime ago.
Interesting the “off-jack” approach of the pre-voicing…
Maybe some years ago this discovery would have been even more interesting (at least, concerning me as flute player), but I are equally happy with it: a collection of flute music (original editions and manuscripts!) available online. Thanks to the last entry of the blog that Sara Martín (my former flute teacher some time ago) devotes to her student in the Conservatorio de Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz), where she informs them about a site with two-flutes arrangements, and in which useful links I have found this reference:
The Giedde Collection (named after its founder, W.H.R.R. Giedde, amateur flutist and music collector) in the music department fo the Royal Library in Copenhagen is a fairly comprehensive collection, mostly of flute music from the second half of the 18th century.
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Giedde published 12 English Dances for harpsichord (Copenhague, 1788).
(clik in the picture to access the full text)
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Of the 1,230 items in the collection, 665 are printed. The rest are in manuscript, including the anonymous works. Most of the composers represented are German or Italian, many belonging to the Mannheim School or the Neapolitan School. Others represent the so called “gallant style”. With the exception fo the works of A. Corelli and A. Scarlatti which appear to be the oldest specimen of the collection, the acquisitions have been fairly up to date, all more or less within the latter part of the 18th century. They relfect clearly the musical taste of the day, with a variety of composers from all over Europe.
The Danish publishers seem to have concentrated more on the great foerign masters (Haydn, Pergolesi and Sarti) which economically must have had its obvious advantages. Among the foreign prints the Hummel editions, both Berlin and Amsterdam, are by far the most frequent. There are various Hoffmeister (Vienna) prints as well. The French prints are numerous and among these Boyer is the most prevalent name.
