8/18/2019 The Flute World

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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

8/18/2019 The Flute World

3/3

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