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The Flute WorldAuthor(s): J. M. ThomsonReviewed work(s):Source: Early Music, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Apr., 1982), pp. 294-295Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3126925 .
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8/18/2019 The Flute World
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and their
ability
to
interpret
a
drawing.
There
will
be
no
formal academic
re-
quirements.
Financial
assistance for
apprentices
n the
formof
grants
should
become available
this
year.
Instruments made
in
the
workshops
will
be available
initially
from the
college,
but
agencies
will
be set
up
in
London and abroadin the future. The
college
will be awareof its
responsibility
to the
trade,
as it
begins
to
take
a
slice
of the market.
In return
it
intends
to
promote
all
aspects
of
early
music
performance
and thus stimulate
public
interest so
as
to
bring
new
people
into
the market.Plans for the future include
an
early
music summer school in
1983
directed
by
James
Tyler,
conferences
and
seminars,
and concerts
(especially
during
the Chichester
Festival).
The school will be housed in
the
magnificent
country
house of
West
Dean,
near Chichester
in
West
Sussex,
which was until
18
years ago
the home
of
EdwardJames. When the
house
was
converted into
a residential
college
great
care was taken to
preserve
its
character and to
retain a
country-
house
atmosphere.
The
original
tabling
for 100 horses
has been
converted
to
provide large,
well-lit,
centrally
heated
workshops
that will
be
open
seven
days
a
week.
The EdwardJames Foundation has
made
it
possible
for residents
to
have a
comfortable,
functional and
spectac-
ularly
beautiful
environment,
yet
the
cost of
training
is
very
moderate and
the cost of full
board
extremely
reas-
onable
by any
student standards.
For
further
information about the musical
instrument
school,
write to:
The
Principal
West Dean
College
West
Dean
Chichester
West Sussex P018 OQZ.
CHRISTOPHER CHALLEN
Early
vocal
practices
In
the
plethora
of conferences
devoted
to
early
music,
there has
been
little
focus on the
early
voice. The
Sym-
posium
on
Early
Vocal Practices held
in
Cleveland,
Ohio,
on 23-5
October
1981
attempted
o fill this
gap.
Though
it
would
clearly
be
impossible
to
cover
the vocal
techniques
of seven
centuries
in two
days,
the
organizers
sought
to
exclude
nothing,
this
being
the
first
gathering solely
on this
subject.
Their
solution was
to offer
two
concerts and
a few well-chosen
papers
on
specific
issues from the whole spectrum,inter-
spersed
with more
wide-ranging
dis-
cussion
including
all
participants.
In 'Renaissance
Singing-A
Diversity
of
Styles',
Ray
Nurse,
of
Vancouver's
Hortulani
Musicae,
discussed the dif-
ferent
styles
co-existing
then as
now
according
to
time,
place
and
occasion.
'It is a
mistake',
he
advised,
'to think
of
singing
as
improved
ince the
Middle
Ages-other
cultures
had
other con-
cepts
of
beauty.'
Julianne
Baird,
of New
York's
Waver-
ley
Consort,
read a
closely
reasoned
paper
on 'The
Use of
Vibrato
n
Singing
-A
Historical
Perspective',
so
concen-
trated it was
impossible
to
take notes
from,
but
which,
we
hope,
will
soon
be
published
in
its
entirety.
She
cautioned
against
misunderstanding
of the terms
'vibrato'
and
'tremolo',
which are
not
used in
historical texts in
the senses
we
understand.
The
problem
of
the
modern
voice
singing early
music was
tackled
by
Quentin Quereau, of the Cleveland
Baroque
Soloists,
himself
a
modern,
trained
singer,
in
'The Use
of the
Trained
Non-Specialist
Voice for
Early
Music'.
His
sympathetic
omprehension
of the difficulties
besetting
those
who,
to earn a
living,
must
sing
Verdi
one
night
and
Monteverdi the
next,
struck
home to
many.
And
n
her
presentation
'The
Knownsand
Unknowns
of
Singing
Medieval
Music',
Barbara
Thornton,
of
Cologne's
Sequentia, emphasized
there
is
no one
correct
way
to
sing
medieval
music.
The two concerts were
superb.
Ju-
lianne
Baird
sang
virtuoso
vocal works
from
the 17th and 18th
centuries,
with
Ray
Nurse
(lute)
and
Doris Ornstein
(harpsichord).
Sequentia
limit
them-
selves
to
music
before
ADI300.
They
gave
a
sophisticated performance
en-
titled 'Minstrels and
Clerics of the
Medieval North'.
Both Julianne
Baird
and
the membersof
Sequentia
are
ex-
amples
of
a
recent
hybrid,
the
scholar-
musician
of technical and artistic
excellence,
and both
concerts
drew
sizeable,
enthusiastic
audiences.
Farmore
questions
were raised
than
answered
by
this
symposium,
but
a
beginning was made to define the
outlines of
early
vocal
practice,
to
co-
ordinate individual researches
and
apply
them to
performance-a
step
long
overdue.
A decision was made
to
plan
an
International
Society
for
Early
Vocal
Practice,
and to start
a
newsletter.
Anyone
interested
should
contact:
Dr Ross
W.
Duffin
Music
Department
Case Western Reserve
University
Cleveland
Ohio
44106
USA.
Tapes
of the
presentations
and
dis-
cussions
may
be
ordered
romhim
fora
reasonable
fee. The
symposium
was
held with the
support
of the
Music
Department,
and it is
hoped
to hold
a
second one next
year.
WILLIAM and PHILIPPA
KIRALY
The flute world
At a
one-day
flute seminar
in
the
Waterloo Room of the
Royal
Festival
Hall on 17 January, Tony Bingham
and Alex Weeks
gave Stephen
Preston
an
admirable
opportunity
to introduce
the
Baroque
flute to an
audience of
non-early
music
specialists.
How
stim-
ulating
the results can be when
early
music is
placed
in
a historical
context
and its
performers' roblemscompared
with those of flautists
concentrating
on the 19th-
and
20th-century
reper-
toires. WilliamBennett
discussed,
for
instance,
the
English
and
French
styles
earlier this
century.
He
intro-
duced concepts of the different flute-
making
traditions
of both
countries,
and
showed how
they
reflected
dif-
ferent artistic
approaches.
These,
as
well as different national
temper-
aments and
traditions,
and the
greater
insularity
f
England, nevitably
brought
about different
styles.
The French
is
exemplified by
Marcel
Moyse,
while
294
EARLYMUSIC
APRIL
1982
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8/18/2019 The Flute World
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the
English,
stemming
from
Charles
Nicholson,
came
down
through
Robert
Murchie and John Amadeo.
(I
once
heard
Amadeo
play 19th-century
ravura
pieces
on his
Radcliffe flute at a
ship's
concert,
his
forceful,
direct tone
being
a survivalof
the
type
of
playing
admired
before the French
approach
took
over.)
Stephen Preston demonstrated the
qualities
of various
Baroque
flutes. He
gave
young performers
a
clear,
practical
introduction to
embellishment and the
subleties of
tonguing,
and
incidentally
opened
up
the
fascinating relationship
between
language
structure
and
artic-
ulation,
linking Baroque
treatises on
these to some
of the
19th
century,
including
Nicholson on
finger
and
chest
vibrato. Albert
Cooper,
whose
backyard
workshop
has
become
a
Mecca for flautists the
world
over,
has
such an
engaging
mannerthat even the
most
technical
discussion was en-
livened with
earthy
observations: Mind
you,
I don't
play
the
flute: I
just
blow
it'.
In his view
silver and9-carat
gold
make
the
best modern
flutes. 'Wood is
not
permanent
somehow'.
There was a
shocked
pause.
'Come
on
now,
who's
going
to
argue
with
me?'
'In the
winter
gold
is
warm o the
lip,'
he
said,
'silver
s
cold.' The
spirit
of
cross-fertilization
received a
final
buoyant
boost when
TimWheater burst upon the proceed-
ings
with
his
Pipe
Dream:
electronic
techniques,
lighting,
voice and
mime,
all in
one.
J. M.
THOMSON
Early
Music
Centre
The
London
Early
Music
Centre,
foun-
ded in
1976
by
Anthony
Rooley,
has
moved
premises
to
the
top
floor of an
Edwardian
warehouse
near
London's
Barbican.
The
premises,
which
consist
of
four
teaching
rooms,
a
library,
two
offices,
and
a
small
rehearsal
hall
capable of accommodatinga chamber
orchestra,
house all
the
activities of the
centre,
including
the
Early
Music
Net-
work. The
new
location is
proving
to be
far
more
convenient
than the
centre's
former
cottages
in
Holland Park.There
is
sufficient
space
for
many evening
classes
to
be held
in
comfort,
and the
proximity
to both
Angel
and
Barbican
tube
stations,
as well as
easy evening
parking,
has lead
to an increase in
the
number
of amateur
students.
This
year
the
Early
Music
Centre
is
presenting
an even
greater
variety
of
courses,
including
seminars for
pro-
fessional 'conventional'
violinists
to
convert
to the
Baroque
nstrument
and
weekend courses on Monteverdi and
Renaissance dance. Full-time
courses
in luteand
singing
and
children's
lasses
are also
offered. Details
from:
Early
Music
Centre
137 Goswell Road
London
EC1V
7ET.
Obituary
The
ollowing
tribute o Robert
Davies,a
well-knownmaker
fkeyboard
nstruments,
who died
uddenly
n
October
981,comes
from
a
fellow
instrumentmaker
and
close
friend,RobertDeegan.
Bob
died after a
sailing trip
from
Gib-
raltar to Port
Hamble.
He
was
55.
Always
a keen
sailor,
he hadat one
time
taught
navigation.
He had
recently
finished his
I
115th
nstrument and in
a
way
had
written
his
own
obituary
in
John
Paul's
recently published
Modem
Harpsichord
Makers. I worked
for
Bob
six
of
the eleven
years
I
knew
him
and
will
never
forget
his
kindness when
I
lived in a small
room
in
Lancaster
building my first harpsichord. From
sailing
and
building
small
dinghies,
his
expertise
and
feeling
for timber
took
Bob into
harpsichord
making
when
he
met Robin
Bagot
of
Levens
Hall,
who
suggested
they
make a
pair
of instru-
ments. Made in
Tom Goffs
style,
they
are
still in
Levens. Robin's
encouraging
enthusiasm
eventually
stimulated Bob
into
beginning
the
business full
time.
He
assembled for
the
organist
Geraint
Jones
the first
Hubbardkit to
be
built
in the
UK,
and it
was
Jones who
largely
set Bob on his feet. Bob broke away
from
the
Goff-inspired
instruments,
and
by
the
time I had
been
with
him
three
years
or
so,
in
1975,
we
were
making
the
usual
range
of
traditionally
based
instruments.
The
world of
early
music
performers
and listeners need
hardly
be
reminded
of
the sound of
Davies
harpsichords:
they speak
for
themselves,
a
testimony
borne out
by
those
who have
returned
for their
second or third
instrument.
Bob's
50th
harpsichord
was
played by
Zuzana Ruizikova in a
concert de-
dicated to him at Levens
Hall on 14
November
and
the
following
day
at
Levens
Parish Church at a service
in
his memory.The loss of RobertDavies
is
deeply
felt
by
all those
who were
part
of his
happy
workshop.
The
death of Elizabeth
Goble on 23
December
1981 brokean old and
valued
link with
the
early
music revival
in
its
early
days.
She wasa
protegee
of
Marco
Pallis, who did
so much for so
many
of
us at that
time,
when
he was a
leading
supporter
and we were
hopeful
pupils
of Arnold Dolmetsch.
Her talent
was
amazing,
and
variously
employed
as
we
all had to be in that
pioneering
estab-
lishment. She seemed
to
prefer
the
gamba,
though
by
naturalbent
I
doubt
if she was
quite
so much
a
string player
as she was a
harpsichordist.
She
in-
herited
from Dolmetsch
a touch
of
rare
and sonorous
quality,
and she
had
a
sense
of line and
phrasing
particularly
memorable
in Bach and
Couperin
and
in the
English
virginalists
as she
re-
cordedthem for Decca
on some
historic
discs.
But there was
something
in
her
personalitywhich kepther backfroma
soloist's
career,
and
eventually
she
made her main
impact
through
the
work
of that
gifted
craftsman,
Robert
Goble,
whom she
married,
inspired,
guided
and sustained
throughout
his
long
career as a
brilliant maker
of
modern
harpsichords,
first in
descent
from Dolmetsch
and later
very
much
in
his own
right.
Her
gamba
playing
con-
tinued
in chamber
music with
that
dedicated
ensemble,
the
English
Con-
sortof
Viols,
whose
importance
during
the lean years between the vintage
Haslemere easons and
thewider
growth
of
subsequent
consorts
ay
in
preserving
and
expanding
a
pioneering
vision.
Her
character
had
always
something
of
the
majestic,
to which she
later added
a
fine
tranquility.
A
splendid
woman
both in her
gifts
and in her
vivid
person.
ROBERT
ONINGTON
EARLY MUSIC
APRIL 1982
295