Two weeks ago we had the second group lesson of the harpsichord class: this time devoted to Johann Sebastian Bach’s English Suites (BWV 806-811). And, as accorded at the beginning of the year, the task was for Claude and me!
Because I had a travel to Spain our last possible week of work (arriving the evening before our presentation), we had to plan so in advance that my well-known last minute stress was absent this time (so good!, I must say… and repeat it), and we got time enough to document ourselves, plan and re-plan the work, search for music to listen and analyze not only Bach’s pieces but others in which we found some similarities.
Departing from something so specific as these 6 harpsichord suites with preludes, we focussed in offering our colleagues a broad overview about the suite as genre in Germany before Bach’s time, and a more detailed analysis of the English Suites, including them in the context of all Bach’s suites in general. We have learnt a lot! Beside, working with Claude has been enriching: we have so different ways of working that all the angles could be covered!
You can read our article. Inserted in the text you will find calls for musical examples (both in score and recording) which you can consult in the list attached at the end (page 19 of the file). The examples are to be found in this pdf of the presentation.
In three weeks we will have Pascal Dubreuil with us for a masterclass, and will play in the montly voorspeelmiddag:
11 November 2009 - 16.00
J.S. Bach: English Suites
Clavecimbel Voorspeelmiddag: Studenten van Siebe Henstra
Conservatorium van Utrecht - Gebouw voor Kunsten en Wetenschappen (K3.10) [map]
Titus Crijnen renews his website, and will now include a section on maintenance of harpsichords. All harpsichord players must face this side of our profession, and we all have looked for clues everywhere (the best information coming through practice). So I am personally very happy to have the advice of such a proffesional so close at hand.
It is very nice to see that a maker instills us with this philosophy of “do it yourself” to have the instrument we receive at home like the day it arrived.
The first chapter (on how to fight the consequences of humidity change) is easy, clear, and very practical. Looking forward to read more…
“Do you play different on the harpsichord and the organ?”, asked me Reitze when I came back downstairs from the organ after I played the overture from Siroe. This question could summarize the main topic of the session today in the project around Handel’s keyboard music combining the harpsichord and organ students.
Articulation has been our demon today… Organ players “fighting” with the harpsichord; harpsichord ones “sliding” on the organ… The question: did Handel and his contemporaries find so different the approach to both instruments? How were voiced their harpsichords? Are ours far too soft, influenced by late 18th century French school, and that increases the gap?
In short, around 1700 there was no separation, but just keyboard players (yes, sometimes devoted more to sacred or secular music, of course). But we can say they were the same people sitting on different instruments. We can’t (can’t we?) imagine a completely opposite technique. Is there then, ONE way of playing?
Personally, I am still looking for my “touch” on the organ, and must recognize that the first experience (today was indeed the first attempt of some of my colleagues in the school) was maybe as frustrating as playing the harpsichord for the first time after years of piano playing.
Nowadays the separation exists: we are either harpsichord or organ players, and when we decide to start playing the other instrument, it is never as “natural” as would have been then: now we come from a style and try to adapt it to another one. It’s normal that the question arises… Of course, there are consagrated players that devote themselves to both instruments: we should look there for a practical example (even to ask them, if we get the chance!). But by now it would be very useful to let the instrument sound and “tell” us what works or not…
At the end, we use the same tools: harpsichordists have a wide sampler of articulations in order to “speak”…, and organists legato devices (even overlegato!). It’s just a question of the amount of ingredients we use depending on the instrument. Or don’t we play different in a Giusti than in a Blanchet?
Last Friday Siebe organized us a visit to Rijswijk (mmm, unfortunately now that I don’t live beside anymore), where we were invited to see Frank Venema’s small collection of modern harpsichords. In the main living-room we found:
Société Anonyme Pleyel (Paris, 1939): “Gran Modèle de Concert”, designed in 1912 in cooperation with Wanda Landowska
J.C. Neupert GmbH & Ko KG (Bamberg, 1968): Model “Bach”, designed in 1932
Th.R.C. Goff & J.C. Cobby (London, 1969)
Beside we could see another single keyboard Neupert, a square piano and a copy of a Dulcken (Antwerp, 1745) by G.C. Klop (Garderen, 1978).
I don’t think any of us has thought about ordering such instruments, but it was really interesting to play with the sounds that inspired Poulenc and Falla, and the registration possibilities of the pedals!
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:
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.
