The basso continuo part I prepared for myself last January, when we performed Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto no.4 (BWV 1049). It was a very nice project (appart from the music itself) because I think it was the first one that arose in the kitchen of our house in Utrecht, while having dinner with my roommates: two recorders and a violin…, I suposse it was going to happen, we were the perfect instrumental set for this piece.
A pity our violinist got worryingly sick for the final performance…, and now he is in Brussels. We should definitely recover this music when he’s back next winter.
This afternoon I open the letter-box and find that sort of annoying note from the Post Office: “we’ve been there with the parcel you’ve been waiting for… but there was nobody at home”… Luckily, in The Netherlands they use to leave them at the neighbors (and by chance we received yesterday another parcel for them!). So finally, no waits, no lines in the Post Office: “the CarlPhilipp” has arrived! [1]
I was kind of afraid with the book because (I must admit it) it was the first time I ordered a second hand one online… But it is in perfect condition: just a pair of pencil lines and looks of having lived in the shelf of a public library. And with a nice ecologic packing, as BetterWorldBooks promised: no plastic anywhere!
We are now in Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788)’s Month. Last Tuesday, Satoko led the usual group-lesson together with Siebe’s presentation. And next 25th we all will play in the voorspeel…
Also, because of CarlPhilipp’s “fault”, we are in the clavichord month. So by now I am re-educating my little fingers with the first of the Probe-Stücke included in the Versuch. Much fun!
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[1] BACH, C.P.E. (1753/1762): Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen, i (Berlin, 1753/R, 2/1787); ii (Berlin, 1762/R, 2/1797). English translation MITCHELL, W.J. (ed.): Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments. New York, 1949.
And I really enjoyed it: it was a short but at the same time varied programme, with students and teachers from the conservatory (exquisite Francesco Corti’s continuo!) and dancers from the Nationale Balletacademie and not so “national” ones like Ricky Barros, which expressiveness during the folias deserved itself being there…
French and Italian music…, and a little “present” from the Spanish Escuela Bolera:
Last Wednesday, Siebe’s students played in our second harpsichord Voorspeelmiddag of this year. The topic this time: Bach’s first book of Das Wohltemperierte Clavier.
I must admit the concert surprised me: I had the feeling of having an extra week to prepare it! But this last month has been quite strange: because of the problem in my forearm I have not been able to play (and have lost three weeks of work and lessons, grrrr)
Nevertheless, I was happy with the experience on Wednesday:
“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.
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.
