The Galpin Society
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The Galpin Society | |
URL: http://www.galpinsociety.org/gxh/gxhta.html
See also the Conference Programme
Conference administration: Edinburgh University Collection of Historic Musical Instruments and The Horniman Museum, 100 London Road, Forest Hill, London SE23 3PQ.
From the end of the nineteenth century, and notwithstanding the
influence of slide trumpeters like the Harpers, following generations of
players used a growing diversity of instruments in orchestral trumpet
work. As well as special instruments for Bach, the cornet made
appearances as a trumpet substitute. As the century went on it was
cornet players (rather than the instrument itself) who came to have a
particular influence on the range of performance practices we might
consider British.
Nevertheless, a lot of the next generation of trumpeters trained
specifically, usually at one of the London colleges, and were orientated
towards orchestral playing; these might be termed 'establishment'
trumpeters. Many came from families of professional musicians. Philip
Jones was a third generation orchestral musician, as was Bob Walton
(playing in Beecham's LPO). One of the strongest formative influences
for them was Ernest Hall (BBC Symphony). There were others who had
switched straight from banding to the orchestras, without much by way of
formal preparation. Harry Mortimer joined the Hallé in 1927; Jack
Mackintosh was invited to the BBC Symphony Orchestra on its formation in
1930; and Harold Jackson went to the Philharmonia.
There arose two strands in the British trumpet tradition. The one
vernacular and, by-and-large, of provincial origin; the other, again as
a generalization, London-based and schooled as the profession's progeny.
These strands are traced through mid-century case studies focusing on
the London Symphony Orchestra (where George Eskdale, Lang and Murphy
played) and the Philharmonia (Philip Jones). A case is made for the
recognition of distinct and separated approaches in the trumpet sections
of British orchestras, blossoming post-war. This was not as clear in
the first decades of the century, nor the last. In framing a sense of
plurality in the British tradition, reference is made to early
connections with French orchestral brass and the later influence of
American playing.
Berlioz promoted the use of the cantabile cornet as a distinctly separate
stylistic entity to the trumpet. His Roméo et Juliette employs an entire
brass section in an extended unison recitative which in itself was to
establish the possibility of a large body of brass players 'singing' in the
guise of a colossus.
For the best part of a century it was operatic works of Auber, Balfe,
Berlioz, Verdi, Weber, Rossini, Spohr, Thomas, Wagner and Gounod that
influenced the stylistic approach to both solo and ensemble playing amongst
bandsman who were born in an era when singing was an everyday activity and
where their approach to performance was as 'word' aware as the composer's
approach to composition was 'word' inspired. Recordings of soloists like
Harry Mortimer and Philip McCann display influences which are more easily
attributed to the voices of a Galli Curci or a Bronskaya than to the violin
of a Kreisler.
Percy Fletcher's Labour & Love written in 1913 is regarded as the first
major work for band but stylistically it springs from the operatic
tradition. Within this short work there are clear examples of vocally
inspired writing: recitatives (both tutti and solo), a lyric soprano tune in
the style of Verdi, a coloratura soprano cadenza and an operatic grand
finale. Keighley, Jenkins, Holst, Ireland, Bliss, Vaughan-Williams, Ball
through Vinter and Gregson up to Wilby all maintain to differing degrees a
sense of this vocal tradition. This paper will explore the importance of
'word awareness' in the performance of the brass band canon and whether
conservatoire training with its leanings towards orchestral style may have
been detrimental to a definitive performance.
Comparison of bore plots of the four oboes by Thomas Stanesby Sr.
which survive in the UK showed their bores to be very similar, and
that the localized expansions were clustered in a small number of key
positions in the bore. While the exact position of these expansions
varied by up to a centimetre or more between different instruments,
their diameters at each location were the same to within 0.5mm. A
single instrument had an additional expansion just distal to the
choke. These findings could be explained if a `basic' bore was
created by a single reamer or series of reamers, and the localised
expansions were then added using the same set of secondary reamers
for all four instruments, but introduced to different depths
according to perceived need.
A set of reamers and a series of instruments were made to test the
feasibility of making instruments in this way, and to evaluate the
effect of secondary reaming on the intonation and sound of the
baroque oboe. Secondary reaming resulted in rather subtle changes in
intonation, but tended to correct errors of tuning inherent in
instruments with the “basic” bore. The most striking effect was to
greatly strengthen their sound. It should be possible to reconstruct
the bores of all four oboes using this single set of reamers, and it
is concluded that Stanesby may well have used one set of reamers for
all four instruments.
This paper uses empirical evidence from the Boosey & Hawkes archive to
trace the development - and eventual decline - of Boosey's flagship
clarinet model. I shall examine the organological features of this
instrument that made it so popular at the outset, and that enabled it to
develop its iconic status. I will explore the idea that many of the
design features applied to this model were in fact a collection of ideas
inspired by the study of foreign - notably German and French -
clarinets. Using data from Boosey production records I will place the
1010 in context with other Boosey clarinet models, and argue why -
though it was not made in much greater numbers than many other models -
it was the 1010 in particular that was so highly regarded.
Drawing on evidence from technical drawings in the Boosey & Hawkes
archive, and anecdotal evidence from musicians, I will suggest that the
1010's conception and initial popularity were responses to a desire in
British orchestral music making for a stronger sense of national
identity. Using data from the company records I will also demonstrate
how changes in national taste towards the end of the century affected
the production of the 1010, and led to its eventual decline.
Fanfare's most distinctive feature was its inclusion of
fanfares in the magazines centerfold. Many of these were composed
especially for Fanfare and were performed in a series of concerts
conducted by Sir Eugene Goossens at Queens Hall in late 1921. Despite
the claim not to be bound by political or geographical limitations, the
Fanfare Movement also declared the intention to enfranchise the British
musician among the other European artists, and the list of composers
whose fanfares were printed in Fanfare shows a decidedly English
dominance: Auric, Bantock, Bax, Bliss, Brian, Bryson, Coppola, de Falla,
Fogg, Goossens, Harrison, Harty, Holbrooke, Malpiero, Milhaud, Poulenc,
Pratella, Prokofiev, Roussel, Satie, Stravinsky, Vaughan Williams,
Wellesz, White, and Williams.
Like most fanfares, the publication of Fanfare magazine was
bold and brief. After only seven issues it was melded into the magazine
Musical Mirror, which in the early 1930s became The Music
Lover. This paper will examine Fanfare's goals and its
observations on music and culture. The focus will be on its fanfares
and their composers, and sound files of representative fanfares will be
presented along with their scores (and new orchestrations, where
needed).
But the saxophone had not, in fact, disappeared from English soil. The
Distin family imported the instrument from Sax's own company from at least
1849, with Rudall & Co taking over as sole agents in 1853. Other agents
around the country were offering the instrument for sale from the 1860s.
Data from the Boosey and Hawkes archive at the Horniman Museum
demonstrates further sales patterns for the latter decades of the century.
Furthermore, the saxophone continued to be found on the English stage.
Several important musicians who went on to become key figures in the
global dissemination of the instrument in the 1850s-1870s were working in
London prior to achieving greater fame elsewhere. The concerts they gave
were widely reported in both London and Paris. The saxophone was utilised
as a novelty instrument in promenade concerts given by Jullien, Mellon and
Riviére, and was also employed by several music hall artists in the latter
part of the century. This was particularly true of the Elliots and
Musical Savonas, an English cycling and multi-instrumental troupe who were
advertising themselves as the Buffet Saxophone Band in the early years of
the twentieth century.
This paper will set out the hidden history of the saxophone in England in
the long nineteenth century, and consider its deployment in a variety of
military, popular and light classical contexts, in order to demonstrate
that while the neophyte musicians of the London conservatoires may not
have known a great deal about the instrument, it was certainly there to be
spotted had they but cared to look.
Several features attest to a date of manufacture close to 1800,
however its wing mounted C# key would be precocious at this time in
England or anywhere in Europe. Is this the earliest bassoon C#, in a
form that directly relates to the modern Heckel design, produced by a
maker of whom we know nothing more than this one instrument?
The adoption of the Bb bass trombone was connected with a number of
broader changes to brass instruments in the UK in the decades following
the Second World War. Orchestras visiting from the USA in the late
1940s had impressed British players with the dynamic range and warm
sound that was possible from wide bore brass instruments. In the 1950s,
most British professional orchestras adopted wide bore brass, and the Bb
bass trombone entered British orchestral life as part of this line-up.
The demise of the G bass trombone is also closely linked to the decline
of wind instrument manufacture in the UK. In the early 1950s, all Bb
bass trombones, like all other wide bore brass instruments in Britain,
were imported. Domestic wind instrument production was under the
effective monopoly of Boosey & Hawkes, although until 1972 the Salvation
Army supplied their own players from a smaller factory in St. Albans.
The surviving production records of both companies have been consulted
to chart the decline of G trombone production, as military and brass
bands moved over to wide bore instruments. The production records of
Boosey & Hawkes are particularly interesting in this respect, because
they show how the company fought back against American imports by
introducing their own wide bore Sovereign range. The first Bb bass
trombone appears in the records in 1957, an instrument based on the
designs of the American models the company was hoping to undercut.
Production of the Bb bass trombone increased as that of the G declined,
until the factory's last G trombone was completed 1978. In the last
years of G bass trombone production, the company turned to making higher
quality instruments in smaller numbers, presaging the status of the G
trombone today as an instrument for collectors and connoisseurs, and
particularly those with an interest in the history of the British brass
sound.
Great Britain and France organised alternatively the first four major
World Exhibitions, rivalling in proposing a most memorable event, to the
glory of their respective industry: London in 1851 and 1862, and Paris
in 1855 and 1867. These occasions, symbolising progress and innovation,
were of crucial importance for the industry in general, and instrument
making made no exception to this phenomenon. They represented an
international showcase for makers avid to display their ability and
their products, looking for official rewards and public acclaim. Their
impact influenced both the British and the French musical scenes, and
they generated numerous reports or reactions by different authors, Fétis
being one of the most assiduous of them.
The views of Fétis concerning the cornet, already outlined in his
Manuel des compositeurs (1837) resurfaced in his Lettres written for the
Revue et Gazette musicale de Paris in 1851, from the London Great
Exhibition, an event that had a significant influence on the English
brass scene, principally through the saxhorns of Adolphe Sax. In 1855,
he was more precise in a detailed report about instrument making, and in
the official report of the Belgian jury. For the return of the
exhibition in London in 1862, his advice became more severe but
perfectly clear-sighted, before he summarised his point of view in his
comments concerning the 1867 Parisian exhibition. During those years,
the position of this “most eminent and enlightened theoretician and
critic of [his] time” - according to Dauverné - about the cornet
evolved from the enthusiasm for the orchestral potentialities of the
instrument to the noticing of a kind of degeneration, and reveal the
appreciation of a brass instrument by a member of musical establishment.
This paper examines and re-interprets existing research on the Distins
in the light of new findings and theories with particular focus on
performance and repertory.
Throughout the nineteenth century the brass band movement developed through
various synergies such as social and cultural change, publishing,
contesting, and most significantly the introduction of valved
instruments and the Distin contribution is considered significant in
many of these aspects. An investigation into the performance style and
repertory of the Distins reveals attitudes and practices, which became
established and accepted as the norm.
Particularly relevant in showing the importance of the Distins are the
reports from an estimated 10,000 performances during their concert tours
around the world, their repertory, their catalogues and descriptions of
early brass instruments and the consequent development of brass bands.
The brass band movement developed rapidly following the adoption of
the Distin franchise of Saxhorns in 1844 and by 1890 there were an
estimated 30,000 bands in existence.
The excellence of the group in performance at home and abroad was
emulated by the brass bands of the day and similarities in repertory
between those of the Distins and contemporary brass bands will be
examined.
On one hand, the activities of the Distins are becoming increasingly
documented as a mounting level of detail is unearthed. On the other
hand the relevance and importance of these activities within the
context of brass band development is obscure and a case for proving a
direct influence and effect will be shown and facts interpreted.
The similarities and connections between the various Distin
activities and the emerging brass band movement will be examined
(such as the Distin Ventil Horn Union and the Distin Grand
Instrumental Union and similar repertory piece such as Robert le
Diable by Meyerbeer).
Three broad agencies contributed to the creation of the British sound
between the late nineteenth century and the last thirty years of the
twentieth century:
The story of the dynamic between these agencies is one of the most
interesting and neglected in recent British music history. This paper
draws on documentary sources, commercial recordings and recorded
interviews with players to explore this story and the legacies it
conveyed to composers and others who were influential in British music.
An examination of London's commercial and trade directories from 1770 to
2008 identifies women advertising annually in specialist manufacturing
and maintenance activities and provides evidence of geographical
congregation, kinship and legacy among men and women working in the
trade. Quantitative data drawn from the directories expose the flux of
female participation in the industry and the gradual retreat of women in
the face of co-efficient competition. Findings from transcripts of
trial proceedings at the Old Bailey (1784 to 1913) and the London
Gazette (1822 to 2008) expose a workforce dealing with legal and fiscal
issues wherein women were found to have been embroiled both personally
and vicariously. Finally, the English census for 1881 reveals the
extent to which wives, daughters, sisters, widows and mothers were
wholly or partly dependent on the industry.
It is argued that the role of women in the history of piano manufacture
and maintenance has been greater than hitherto documented, but that the
extent of their contribution has been rendered increasingly invisible by
the erosion of time and relevance.
Despite endorsments by famous musicians, auxeto- instruments met with
open hostility from the musical fraternity and a mixed response from the
public. The disillusioned inventor abandoned his groundbreaking
project. In any case, mechanical systems of amplification were soon to
be rendered obsolete by the thermionic valve and “Wireless”
technology.
Consigned to a footnote in his biography, neglected by historians and
unexplored by organologists, Parsons's auxeto-instruments remain
important in any discussion about the mechanical amplification of sound
and early attempts to amplify live music. This paper will examine the
auxeto-instruments from two different but complimentary perspectives;
firstly, an organological focus will examine the intentions of the
inventor; instrument design, construction and function. Secondly, the
historical context of these mechanically amplified string instruments
will be discussed; Parsons's air-powered auxeto-violin (patented in
1903) as a response to the earlier diaphragm & horn amplified violin of
Augustus Stroh; previous and contemporary endeavours to increase the
loudness of sound reproduction devices and instruments, including
Fleming's oscillation valve; the introduction of the Auxetophone to
scientific circles through the “conversazione” and through the press;
the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts of 1906 which featured an
auxeto-double bass and the auxeto-cello recitals of Auguste van Biene.
The Auxetophone and it's application to musical instruments represented
a radical shift in the function and reception of recorded sound and
amplified music, making it possible for the first time in history to
successfully play at significantly loud volume in public spaces. It is
the precursor to the Public Address system and electrical ?pick-ups? for
musical instruments which have so transformed modern music-making.
At Rossend Castle, Burntisland, Fife, a painted ceiling (dated to
between 1581 and 1621) depicts a mouth-blown bagpipe with shuttle drone.
(The bagpipe depiction is an informed variant of the woodcut from the
1591 edition of Paradin.) The collection of the National Museum of
Scotland includes an incomplete bagpipe with shuttle drone, dated 1695,
of uncertain provenance. The shuttle drone, the racket, and the
chanters of the phagotum (a bagpipe described in 1539 as an invention or
improvement by Canon Afranio of Ferrara) are among the earliest examples
of a folded-bore woodwind instrument. I will offer a revised
interpretation of the phagotum's provenance. I will also examine
evidence of a folded-bore woodwind at the court of Maximilian I -
possibly a shuttle drone or racket - dating from 1515. This early
evidence will provide a suitable context for interpreting citations of
instruments called fagoth, faghotto, and fagotto, respectively, in
Ferrara and Mantua, 1516-18.
A series of lecture recitals have been given over the past year to audiences varying
greatly in age and musical experience. During the recitals they have been asked to
complete a questionnaire. Short solo items by Thomas Harper Jnr., Orlando Morgan and
Edwin York Bowen, as well as orchestral excerpts from popular works of the day, have been
performed on a reproduction slide trumpet (John Webb), an historic cornet (Boosey &
Co.) and an historic F trumpet (Boosey & Co.), after which the audiences have been asked
to comment on the sound quality of each instrument. The influence of the sound of the
modern instrument has been minimized by its exclusion from the recital, and a starting
reference-sound provided with an historic nineteenth-century natural trumpet.
An analysis of the results of these questionnaires, along with the opportunity to hear
these instruments being played live, will form the basis of this lecture-recital.
The aims of this paper are to investigate the social, economic and
cultural relations between guittar makers, patentees and distributors,
and to present the main facts and figures pertaining to the development
of a guittar culture in late eighteenth-century London. Emphasis will be
placed on the work of the most influential names: Hintz, Preston,
Rauche, Longman & Broderip, and Clauss. Details of production methods,
workshop arrangements, advertising and trade policies, and the role of
the patent system, will also be mentioned. Conclusions will be
supported by the examination of extant guittars from various
collections, and the investigation of archival sources and the relevant
literature.
The native style developed in church, in the pleasure gardens, and in
the theatre, but most of all in private, where the flute, as the
instrument favoured by male domestic amateurs, became an increasingly
significant vehicle during the eighteenth century for exploring and
displaying a national habitus of “taste and judgement”. Taste in
flute-playing thus became a matter of general concern: expressions of
native ideals and performance practices gathered rapidly in
sophistication and confidence throughout the 1780s and 90s, and
eventually became the focus of public debate during a crucially
formative period of British Gemeinschaft between Waterloo and
Victoria's accession.
Regency flute-playing's main distinction was its opposition to
everything French. Whereas the social and artistic establishment
promoted orderly classical values manifested in new composition, the
native ideal favoured the supposedly ancient folk heritage and the
dark, inward sentiment, of the Gothic manner. While continental
artists astonished London with their refined and polished artistry,
the pre-eminent British flutist, the Liverpudlian Charles Nicholson
the younger (1795-1837), charmed and moved his listeners with a
sound of unprecedented power and an execution of idiosyncratic
“expression” upon an instrument of his own characteristic design.
Though criticized as “impure” and “Gothic”, the Nicholsonian taste
was perceived as uniquely British at a time when the distinction
conferred urgent political and moral significance.
If Nicholson's taste made his performances British, his pedagogy
served to institutionalize a British Flute School. Nicholson was the
first to use a standard instrument and consistent methods,
repertoire, and technique that became the traditional tools of
British and Empire flutists. The style remained uniquely British not
just because it was practised by Britons, but because it retained an
ethos of manliness, heroism, and undemonstrative virtuosity - as well
as a sharp contrast with French practice - even after every detail of
its founder's repertoire, performance practice, and instrument had
vanished.
This paper briefly examines the making of both a British flute sound
and a British School of flute-playing, and reflects on the broader
question of how traditions and conventions obtain their power in
“art worlds” in general and in musical life in particular.
The restoration performed by Kerstin Schwarz and Tony Chinnery in 2008,
on the opposite, convincingly led to believe that the Florentine
instrument is still in pristine conditions and did not undergo any
relevant modification through its life, apart from re-quilling of all
the registers in leather. Therefore further study on this instrument
confirmed, enriched, and sometimes offered an alternative proposal for
some of the solutions reached by previous studies.
In particular some parts that were considered later additions or
modifications, mainly because of rough workmanship that contrasted with
the general accuracy of the other parts, were confirmed to be original
and explicable with the fact that Culliford seems to have used, for
these cheaper single manual models, the metalwork that was serially made
for the more common double keyboard ones, modifying and adapting them by
hand to this model.
The paper aims at presenting the peculiarities of this instrument and to
discuss the conclusions reached by analyses of the materials and
comparison of the elements of the three surviving specimens, drawing
some further general conclusions on this kind of action.
Current literature tends to recycle the notion that Nicholson's
'Improved' flutes introduced large fingerholes and embouchure holes
to the London flute market, and that the playing characteristics of
these flutes afforded the powerful tone for which the flautist was
renowned. Surviving Nicholson flutes are far from uniform, however,
and in some respects vary surprisingly little from other successful
contemporary instruments. An attempt is made to decouple Nicholson's
undoubted success as a player from the claims made for his
instruments (not least because he is known to have preferred and
performed on modified versions of earlier flutes) with a view to
presenting Nicholson's flute as a triumph of marketing, rather than a
radical shift in design. Paradoxically some features become more
pronounced in the flutes produced by Prowse after Nicholson's death,
and Nicholson's legacy was clearly valuable enough both for Prowse to
advertise his unique privilege to the production of 'authentic'
Nicholson flutes, and for unscrupulous makers to continue to cash in
on the fashion for his instruments.
Nicholson's collaboration with Clementi and Prowse can be understood
as one of a number of significant challenges to a prior (even more
successful) marketing campaign by the Potter family which led to
their flutes being all but ubiquitous in the London of the late
eighteenth/early nineteenth centuries. That Potter's flutes continued in regular
use through the early 19C is clear from the number of surviving
instruments with 'improvements' and modifications.
Trumpet and cornet: an exploration of ancestry and stylistic affinities in British orchestral brass playing of the twentieth century
Simon Baines
This paper draws upon a series of more than twenty interviews conducted
by the presenter in the 1990s, with some of the leading orchestral brass
players working in London in the second half of the twentieth century
(including Philip Jones, Elgar Howarth, Willie Lang and Maurice Murphy).
Consideration is given to lines of influence and tradition throughout
the century with a focus on the period from the 1930s to the 1970s.
University of LeedsThe road to Masquerade: The influence of the voice on brass band style and repertoire
Peter Bassano
Philip Wilby's compositions for brass band frequently use quotations from
earlier composers. In Masquerade - where Verdi's Falstaff is transformed
from the original opera but where the words of the libretto remain
fundamental to the composition process - harkens back to the stylistic
traditions associated with the foundation of the British Brass Band. In
1849, seven years after Aldolphe Sax opened his Paris workshop, Meyerbeer's
Le prophht featured a band of 22 sax horns and 2 percussion - musique sur le
theatre, en vue du spectateur. It is argued that here is the British Brass
Band making its deb{t on the stage of the Paris Opira. It was opera that was
to shape the repertoire and playing style of the brass band from its
inception up until modern times.
Oboes by Thomas Stanesby Sr.: bores and perturbations
P.J. Berry and L. Jones
The bore of the baroque oboe shows a number of characteristic
features including a tapering reed socket or counter-bore, a choke or
narrowest section, a truncated conical bore, a small outward step
between the top and middle joint, a larger step out between the
middle joint and the bell, a flared bell, and an internal bell lip.
In addition, the bores of most instruments show individual localized
perturbations or expansions. Most present-day makers reproduce the
main part of the bore of each joint including the expansions with a
single composite reamer.
London Metropolitan UniversityMaking what they could sell. Or, if they were so clever, why weren't they rich ?
Robert Bigio
Frustration with the limitations of the old eight-keyed flute in the middle
decades of the nineteenth century is evident from the number of
newly-invented flutes presented to the market. Four important additional
factors made London the ideal place for the promotion of new flutes: first,
the size of the market, in which the flute was such a popular gentleman's
instrument; second, the relative wealth of the gentlemen who played the
flute; third, the ready availability of skilled workers to execute an
inventor's design; and fourth, the comparative absence of restraint of trade
which made it easy for newcomers to enter the market. Many newly-invented
flutes were offered, some by established makers such as Rudall & Rose or
Cornelius Ward, and some by inventors such as Abel Siccama or John Clinton,
who set up new companies and employed others to make their instruments for
them. Inventors stood to become prosperous if they had a good design, some
marketing ability and the capital to employ good workers. Rudall & Rose held
the British rights to the Boehm flute, which has turned out to be perhaps
the most successful woodwind design in history, and they and their successor
firm Rudall Carte also supplied, among other designs, Richard Carte's 1851
and 1867 system flutes, which for a time outsold the Boehm. Ward, Siccama
and Clinton were among those whose instruments did not succeed. This paper
will attempt to explain the successes and the failures, with particular
reference to Rudall Carte, makers who would supply flutes to almost any
design, and whose surviving stock records offer powerful evidence of which
flutes were popular and which were not.
An icon of the English clarinet school: Boosey & Hawkes and the Symphony 1010
Jenny Brand
The Symphony 1010 clarinet, which was manufactured by Boosey & Hawkes,
is often seen as being inextricably linked to a certain kind of sound
favoured by English clarinettists of the mid-twentieth century. It was
championed by high profile professional players such as Frederick
Thurston, Jack Brymer and Gervase de Peyer, and was at the centre of a
whole school of clarinet sound and playing during this time. In spite
of this, the 1010's heyday was fairly short-lived, and changing fashions
in the second half of the century sent it into relative obscurity.
Goldsmiths College, University of LondonFanfare's fanfares: heralding a new era
Raymond David Burkhart
English writer and composer Leigh Henry (1889-1958) began publication in
October 1921 of Fanfare: A Musical Causerie, a magazine designed
to deal with literature, drama, painting, sculpture, and theatre-craft
as matters a knowledge of which forms a necessary complement to musical
culture. Henry wrote articles for each edition, and contributing
writers offered occasional articles and notes on music in London,
Birmingham, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and Belgium. Jean Cocteau
contributed both articles and drawings.
The saxophone in England in the long nineteenth century
Stephen Cottrell
The saxophone was developed by Adolphe Sax in the late 1830s and early
1840s. In the non-Germanic countries of western Europe it achieved
moderate success as an addition to various military wind ensembles from
the mid 1840s onwards, although it was by no means universally adopted.
The instrument appears to have crossed the English Channel no later than
1848. It is found in the instrumentation of certain military ensembles
for a few years after this, but then largely seems to have disappeared
from the public eye. George Bernard Shaw, for example, observed in 1885
that “probably not one student in the Royal Academy or Royal College
of Music could spot a saxophone blindfold”. Notwithstanding the
disassociation between military music making and conservatoire training,
the assertion is striking.
Goldsmiths College, University of LondonA newly-discovered English bassoon
Mathew Dart
In the summer of 2008 an intriguing bassoon turned up on ebay in
England. It was made with a high degree of crafstmanship and
experience but was stamped with a previously unknown maker's name.
English bassoons of eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries from known makers
show a great deal of similarity in turning and keywork; though this
one was clearly of English style it had some unusual keywork and
other unique features.
London Metropolitan UniversityFarewell to the kidshifter: the decline of the G bass trombone in the UK 1950-1980
Gavin Dixon
The narrow bore G bass trombone was a distinctive feature of British
bands and brass sections in the first half of the twentieth century, but
by 1980 it had been almost completely replaced by the wide bore Bb
instrument. This paper tells the story of how the transition came
about, drawing on contemporary documents, instrument production records,
and interviews with players who started their careers on the G trombone.
The Horniman MuseumThe cornet à pistons seen by Fétis through his writings about the World Exhibitions of London and Paris, 1851-1867
Géry Dumoulin
François-Joseph Fétis (1784-1871) was a leading figure in
the French musical world of the nineteenth-century. He held an
influential position in the musical life and his role as a critic, a
music historian, a theoretician, a professor, in one word as a
musicologist, if sometimes controversial, was immense. His deep
interest for the musical instruments has been recognised and suggests
that his views in this domain might be pertinent. This paper will focus
on the cornet à pistons - in vogue on the continent and in Britain -
seen through the writings of Fétis related to the World
Exhibitions of his time.
Musée des instruments de musique (MIM)
BrusselsThe influence of the Distin family on the development of the brass band movement in nineteenth century Britain
Ray Farr
An historical musicological study, considering the effects and
influences of the Distins on the developing brass band movement in the
nineteenth century, drawing on previous research and critical theory of
authors such as Herbert, Myers, Newsome, Jones, Taylor, Russell and
Scott.
University of DurhamThe viol displayed, the iconographer dismayed
Michael Fleming
This paper concerns images of instruments, with a particular focus on
English images of viols. Paintings, prints and other images are
commonly used by organologists who seek evidence to support general
theories, and images are often cited as providing detailed
information about particular features of instruments. But for visual
sources to be used most effectively, aspects of their production must
be known and understood in detail, and the images must be interpreted
systematically and objectively. Both these matters will be addressed
in this paper. In England, print is by far the commonest medium for
images of musical instruments, so particular attention will be paid
to the production and distribution of prints, and the consequent
implications for their use as an organological resource. An ongoing
project to record all English images (before 1800) of viols in a wide
range of media will be described. The current state of the collection
will be presented and examples shown (there will not be sufficient
time to show all the images during the talk, but reproductions of all
the English images of viols that are currently known will be
available for inspection). Individual images will be discussed to
place them in an international context. The use of such images will
be exemplified and the value of such a collection of data will be
explained. The question of whether such images can help to explain
why old English viols had the leading reputation in Europe will be
explored.
British and continental clarinets compared
Heike Fricke
The relation between the conical and the cylindrical part of the bore in
a clarinet differs between clarinets of different regions. For example,
clarinets made in the U.K. at the end of the eighteenth century are almost
cylindrical, whereas clarinets made in France feature a long
non-cylindrical part. This is surprising, because we would expect the
typical French bore to be a feature of the so called Boehm clarinet,
which was invented much later. Where did the preference for the
chalumeau-like bore in England derive from? What was the further
development like? A digression reflecting upon the early repertoire for
chalumeau will show that the chalumeau obviously had much more influence
on the idiom of the clarinet than we would assume.
Berlin“Loud noyses of musicke”: musical representation and the court and civic ensembles of Elizabethan London
Helen Green
Within the medieval walls surrounding Elizabethan London there existed
an urban metropolis that prospered in trade and culture. Of the complex
network of musicians in the city, two instrumental ensembles were of
particular significance: the waits (the official civic musicians under
the employment of the Mayor) and the instrumentalists of the royal
court. As representatives of the Lord Mayor and Queen, these
instrumental ensembles were at the height of their profession,
performing for their patrons and any visitors to the city and thereby
communicating the wealth and splendour of London and England. This paper
will discuss the duties of these musicians who, in accordance with their
roles as musical representatives, met the demands of the civic and court
entertainments of Elizabeth's reign while portraying a positive image of
their patrons to any onlookers. The development of these ensembles
amidst the cultural prosperity of the age will be presented and the
establishment of communities of instrumentalists who were often drawn to
the city from other areas of Europe.
The Open UniversityBrass intersections: performance domains and the British brass identity
Trevor Herbert
Musical recordings provide the clearest evidence of the globalisation of
performance preferences: the progression from difference to sameness in
national performance styles. But until the closing decades of the
twentieth century, differences prevailed and were easily perceptible.
The British sound was one of the most distinctive; not all players
played in the same way, but almost all drew from a pool of shared
features that made them recognisable.
The Open UniversityThe contribution of women to the design, manufacture and maintenance of the piano
Marie Kent
The contribution of women to the design, manufacture and maintenance of
the piano has not been an area commonly considered in documenting the
instrument's history. From the onset of the piano's popularity in
England c 1770 to the present day this study explores the work and
locale of female dealers, decorative artists, factory workers,
French-polishers, fret-cutters, key-makers, manufacturers,
piano-silkers, small work-manufacturers, string-makers, tuners and music
wire-drawers and their numbers and activity compared with male
counterparts in the trade. It challenges the premise that “men make
pianos” and endeavours to quantify the scale, pattern and duration of
women's involvement in the industry.
London Metropolitan UniversityThe Auxeto-Instruments of Charles Algernon Parsons
Aleks Kolkowski and Alison Rabinovici
The quest for louder sound reproduction in the acoustic era (1877 -
c 1925) occupied the minds of the greatest inventors and engineers of
the age. It is no surprise then, that the most successful and powerful
mechanical device to amplify recorded sound - the Auxetophone - was the
product of combined efforts by Horace Short (of Short Brothers' aviation
fame) and Sir Charles Algernon Parsons, inventor of the modern steam
turbine engine. Compressed air was modulated by a valve, simulating the
workings of vocal chords; the blast of sound projected by a giant horn.
When playing gramophone records, this reproducer could be used in the
open air, in a large hall, even compete with an orchestra. Parsons's
use of the valve on acoustic string instruments in the early 1900s
resulted in the auxeto- violin, cello, bass and harp - the very first
externally amplified musical instruments, preceding electronic methods
by decades.
Brunel University and University of MelbourneBritish and continental evidence of the early shuttle-drone bagpipe
Jim Kopp
Instead of long drones, a bagpipe sometimes had a “shuttle drone” or
“racket drone” - a short, multi-drilled cylinder in which the
parallel bore cavities were connected end to end; lateral vents to the
bores were adjustable by sliders or shuttles. The term is often
associated with the French musette of the 17th and eighteenth centuries, but
the shuttle drone was sometimes seen in other bagpipe cultures. An
early depiction of a musette with shuttle drone occurs in a French
emblem book - Claude Paradin's Devises Heroïques (Lyons,
1551). This little-noted woodcut casts a helpful light on archival
evidence of musette-making in Lyons during the 1540s. Among later
editions was The Heroicall Devises of M Claudius Paradin (London,
1591).
The use of the classical guitar in the chamber and orchestral works of Denis ApIvor
Mark Marrington
In the wider context of British music, Denis ApIvor (1916-2004) was
an important member of the small circle of modernist composers that
emerged in London during the mid-1930s, a group which also included
Humphrey Searle and Elisabeth Lutyens. These individuals were among
the very first British composers to explore contemporary
compositional techniques (particularly serialism) in their music
during the early post-war period and effectively laid the foundations
for the more radical experiments of such groups as the Manchester
School during the 1960s. ApIvor's association with the classical
guitar was characterized by a breadth of output found in few British
non-guitarist composers, with the notable exception of Peter Maxwell
Davies. He was keenly concerned with future of the classical guitar
in contemporary music and highly sensitive to the technical
considerations involved in writing for an instrument that was often
overlooked by the serious music establishment. In his championing of
the instrument in his work and his exploration of its compositional
resources ApIvor played a vital role in establishing a contemporary
British repertoire for the instrument which is still only partially
acknowledged. This paper (supported by rarely heard recorded
examples) will explore and evaluate ApIvor's employment of the
classical guitar in the large scale chamber and orchestral works
produced at the height of his Webern-influenced serial period.
Leeds College of MusicWhat is "the british sound" in plucked keyboard instruments ?
Darryl Martin
Any experienced listener is aware that different plucked keyboard traditions
each have their own “sound”, and these listeners are often able to
accurately know the country of origin of a played sample based on its sound.
This is true both of original instruments and reproductions of them. This
tonal similarity can be found in instruments built from the late sixteenth-
to the end of the eighteenth century and, even though no experienced person
will confuse a late instrument for an early one both are still recognised as
British - in other words: the British sound overrides other factors such as
case materials, instrument size and compass, disposition and even shape.
As it is not possible to point to a single obvious cause of the British
plucked keyboard sound this paper will attempt to describe what the sound
actually is, and to explore some of the variables which might be responsible
for it, as well as rule out other features which are found in both the
British and other traditions.
University of EdinburghThe contribution of Herbert Barr to the formation of the twentieth-century British orchestral trumpet sound
Alexander McGrattan
This paper will examine the development of the British orchestral
trumpet sound during the early twentieth century. The main focus will
be on the career of Herbert (“Bertie”) Barr, principal trumpet with
Thomas Beecham's orchestra from 1913 and co-principal of the BBC
Symphony Orchestra from its formation in 1930 until 1950. Herbert
Barr is chiefly remembered as the first player in Britain to perform
the trumpet part of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 at its written
octave throughout (at the 1922 Leeds Festival). However, his legacy
has been eclipsed by that of his contemporaries Ernest Hall and
George Eskdale, trumpeters who epitomised the two contrasting schools
of playing that coexisted in Britain throughout the twentieth
century, deriving, respectively, from the orchestral trumpet style
established by players of the nineteenth-century slide trumpet and
the cornet traditions deriving from brass and military bands. During
the early part of his career Herbert Barr was one of the most sought
after trumpet players in London, and, it will be argued, laid the
foundation for the acceptance of players from the cornet tradition
into the orchestral realm.
Royal Scottish Academy of Music and DramaFrance and Britain: crossroads of brass instrument making
Eugenia Mitroulia
John Henry Distin and his family brass ensemble started touring Europe
in 1837; in the early 1840s they brought back to Britain from France
Adolphe Sax's patented saxhorns and saxotrombas. The Distins became
Sax's sole agents for selling his brasses in Britain. Later, though,
they started making their own instruments and this led their
collaboration with Sax to an end. French brass instrument tradition had
already left its mark on British brass instrument making. This paper
will examine the influence of Sax and other French makers to British
brass instrument making and the interrelations of French and British
nineteenth-century brasswind traditions. Through the close examination
of surviving instruments of the time, as well as patents and other
primary sources it has been noticed that the French influence had been
significant. The study of copyright legislation of the time has shed
some light on the real reasons behind the phenomenon.
University of EdinburghTrumpet vs cornet at the turn of the twentieth century; sound, perception and reaction
Paul Nevins
At the end of the nineteenth century the sound quality of the cornet was considered by
commentators to be inferior to that of the trumpet, particularly the slide trumpet.
Thomas Harper Jnr. states: “the cornet ... [has] ... a looser or less dense, piercing,
brilliant character than ... the trumpet”; and later: “Up to a certain extent trumpet
parts can be played upon the cornet, although with a distinct difference and marked
deterioration of tone” (Harper's School for the Trumpet ... and 100 Progressive
Exercises (London: Rudall, Carte & Co. [1875])). To the ears of a twenty-first century
audience, who have been primarily used to the sound of the modern trumpet throughout
their lives, would these criticisms still hold true?
Birmingham ConservatoireThe workshop accounts of the London harp firm of Erard, 1807-09
Jenny Nex
In three bound volumes held at the Royal College of Music are to be
found the ledgers of the London branch of Erard's harp manufactory.
Sebastian Erard set up his establishment at 18 Great Marlborough Street
in London in 1792, having left his brother managing their original
branch amid the insecurities of Revolutionary Paris. The majority of
the information held within this archive relates to instrument sales and
repairs undertaken between 1798 and 1917. However, in addition there is
a section dating from February 1807 to June 1809 pertaining to the
manufacturing side of the business. These pages offer a tantalising
glimpse into the daily operations of an instrument making firm in
Georgian London. While there are details concerning certain activities,
such as the regular purchase of varnish, sound boards and carved eagles,
there is frustratingly little detail about the workers: a weekly amount
is entered for the “Workmen” but with no indication of individual
wages. Suppliers of strings, screws, wood and packing cases are named,
as are the engraver, the gilder, and even the tax collector. We are
also allowed glimpses into everyday life such as the name of the
housekeeper and her regular expenses, and we know that Erard provided a
“Beanfeast” for his workers on the Saturday closest to Bastille Day
in both 1807 and 1808. This paper looks at the information this
resource offers concerning the network of people and companies involved
in putting together a harp for Erard's, and examines the financial
information which is included in the records. Thus, this archive gives
us a fascinating glimpse, albeit through frosted glass, of the workings
of a musical instrument manufacturer in early industrial London.
Royal College of Music and Goldsmiths College, University of London
LondonBritish horn design in the eighteenth century: an analysis of acoustics and playing technique
Lisa Norman
The revival of interest in historical performance practice has led to
much speculation concerning how early instruments might have been made
and played, and in particular how early ensembles might have sounded.
At the start of the eighteenth century, the hunting horn became
increasingly accepted as an integral member of the orchestra. This
new role led to gradual changes in the design of the instrument and
also in player technique. Horns that have survived from the
eighteenth century show significant variation in layout or 'wrap' and
bore profile, possibly related to geographical trends and the rate at
which different instrument makers adopted new designs. For this
reason, assessing the evolution of the instrument can be problematic,
and in this paper a new method of instrument analysis is described,
based on superposition of the outlines of examples of early horns.
This approach to instrument analysis allows aspects such as
differences in the wrap of the instrument and in the positioning of
the bell and mouthpipe of the horn relative to the corpus, to be
determined easily. Perhaps the most significant and contentious
debate surrounding developments in horn technique from this period
concerns how and in what situation the hand was employed within the
bell of the instrument. The potential effect of this on intonation
and timbre is great, and coupled with the bore profile, the use of the
hand in the bell has a significant effect on the ease with which notes
in the upper register of the instrument can be played. An objective
indicator of these factors can be gained from measurements of the
acoustic impedance of the instrument, and may also offer insight into
its evolution. Correlations between measurements of bore profiles and
details of instrument wrap are assessed in order to provide further
insight into the consistency and evolution of horn manufacture and
design and to compare trends in instrument making in Britain and
mainland Europe.
University of EdinburghGuittar manufacture and marketing in late eighteenth-century London
Panagiotis Poulopoulos
The guittar appeared around the middle of the eighteenth century and quickly
became the most popular plucked stringed instrument in Britain until the
beginning of the nineteenth century. During this time London was the most
important centre of guittar making and distribution, a fact evidenced in
various surviving instruments and historical documents. These sources
illustrate an interesting scene consisting of large-scale manufacturers
and innovators establishing the dominant designs and trends, and of
small-scale outworkers and imitators following the models and styles set
by the leading names. It is quite remarkable that a large number of
London guittar manufacturers seem to have been occupied primarily in
violin or keyboard instrument making, and that many of them were of
non-British origin. Additionally, most of them also composed, taught,
played, and published music for the guittar.
University of EdinburghCharles Nicholson and the making of a British flute sound
Ardal Powell
The foreigners who dominated Britain's concert life from its
beginnings at the Restoration introduced continental ideals and
practices to the middle and upper classes by performing new
compositions in public. Elsewhere a contrasting British taste was
emerging, marked by direct and sentimental expression and a
preference for simple melody, especially of Scotch Airs.
Single-manual English harpsichords with machine stop: the Thomas Culliford harpsichord (London, 1785) of the Conservatory of Music of Florence
Gabriele Rossi Rognoni
The Collection of the Conservatory of Music of Florence includes an
English harpsichord signed by Thomas Culliford and made for Longmann &
Broderip in London in 1785. The instrument is equipped with 2x8', 4',
lute and harp stops, a single manual, venetian swell and machine stop
and is closely related to other two instruments in private collections
(Kenneth Mobbs Collection and Alexander Mackenzie of Ord Collection,
Bristol) made by the same workshop in the same year. The peculiar
action of this machine stop was thoroughly studied and published by the
two collectors in several articles in the Galpin Society Journal.
However both instruments, as evidenced by the authors, were somehow
heavily modified by Arnold Dolmetsch and some of the conclusions had to
be based on hypotheses.
University of FlorenceLecture-Recital proposal
Crispian Steele-Perkins
[ Abstract to follow ]
Ergonomic analysis of a renaissance sackbut
Bill Tuck and Frank Tomes
Iconographic representations of sackbuts during the 17th century in
England are few and far between. Among the currently known examples is
a painting dated 1643 on the case of a chamber organ made by a little
known maker Christianus Smith now in the possession of the John Mander
organ workshops in east London. This sackbut exhibits some unusual
features, which at first sight might be attributed to the unfamiliarity
of the artist with the instrument. Given the care with which other
features - such as costume - are rendered, however, it seems at least
plausible that the representation is accurate. To test this we are
attempting to create a replica, to see if this will indeed work. It is
the intention of this paper to describe and exhibit such an instrument,
to show some of its unique features and to demonstrate its ergonomic
viability (or otherwise). The paper will also address some of the
general issues of design and ergonomics of the renaissance sackbut,
prior to the mid 17th century.
Charles Nicholson and the London flute market in the early nineteenth century
Simon Waters
This speculative paper draws on existing research and new evidence in
order to attempt an evaluation of the claims made by and on behalf of
Charles Nicholson with respect to his 'Improved' model of flute.
Drawing on a variety of sources Nicholson's influence is placed in
the context of competing claims for 'improvement' to the instrument
which characterised a period of increasing demand, and of the
realities of flute manufacture and marketing in London in the last
decades of the eighteenth- and first half of the nineteenth century.
University of East Anglia