Instruments from the Russell Collection Vol II

Instruments from the Raymond Russell Collection

Volume II

John Kitchen

Instruments from the Raymond Russell Collection

Volume II

John Kitchen

Introduction from the Director

The Raymond Russell Collection has been the most generous of all the gifts of historic musical instruments to the University of Edinburgh, and its riches are represented by four instruments which can be heard here. Shortly after Raymond Russell’s death in 1964, his mother, Mrs Gilbert Russell, presented the University of Edinburgh with nineteen instruments from her son’s collection. The University responded by restoring and extending St Cecilia’s Hall as a museum, a performance space, and as an academic centre for teaching and research related to early keyboard instruments.

The use of period instruments in teaching was not completely new when the Raymond Russell Collection was accepted. One of the instruments included in this portfolio of recordings, the double-manual harpsichord by Robert Falkener, has been in continuous use in the University since the pioneering professorship of John Donaldson (1845-65); it may previously have belonged to General John Reid whose bequest included his instruments as well as the funds which established the Chair of Music in Edinburgh.

A further three instruments which can be heard here are also gifts to the University: the anonymous chamber organ was donated by Mr T.W. Hirst in 1952, the Edinburgh-made piano by Andrew Rochead was presented to the University by Mr James Hodge in 1963,

and the fretted clavichord by Christian Gottlob Hubert was the gift of Mrs Douglas Dixon in 1980.

The University has been greatly helped in its work with historic keyboard instruments by the Friends of St Cecilia’s Hall and the Russell Collection, who have not only contributed to the running of the Collection but have also raised funds for the purchase of instruments, including the enharmonic virginal attributed to Francesco Poggio and the double-manual harpsichord by Jean Goermans (and modified by Pascal Taskin). These purchases were also assisted by the National Fund for Acquisitions, formerly the Local Museums Purchase Fund.

The vision of Raymond Russell and Professor Sidney Newman, who together planned the ‘Department of Early Keyboard Instruments’ at St Cecilia’s Hall, continues to be realised as the study of historic instruments flourishes in the University. The Collection increases in variety and depth as it grows, and the opportunity to hear these recordings on a selection of the instruments is a fulfilment of the desires of those who so generously helped bring these instruments together.

Arnold Myers Director,

Edinburgh University Collection of Historic Musical Instruments

Double-manual harpsichord (4316)

Robert Falkener

London, 1773

G.F. Handel (1685-1759)

Suite in D minor HWV 437 (1733)

1.Prelude [1.11]

2.Allemande [2.37]

3.Courante [1.41]

4.Sarabande (avec doubles) [1.56]

5.Gigue [1.03]

Bentside spinet (4309)

attrib. John Player

London, c. 1705

Henry Purcell (1659-1695)

Five pieces from Musick’s Handmaid (1689)

6.March [0.52]

7.Minuet [0.45]

8.A new Ground [2.10]

9.A new Scotch Tune [1.04]

10.A new Irish Tune [1.19]

Bentside spinet (4313)

John Harrison

London, 1757

Three pieces from Robert Bremner’s The Harpsichord or Spinnet Miscellany (1765)

11.Fy gar rub her o’er with Straw [2.15]

12.The Flowers of the Forrest [1.59]

13.Maggy Lauder [1.56]

Enharmonic virginal (4345)

attrib. Francesco Poggio

Florence, c. 1620

Michelangelo Rossi (1601/2-1656)

14.Toccata settima

(Toccate e corenti d’intavolatura d’organo e cimbalo, 1657) [4.50]

Chamber organ (4327)

anonymous

London?, c. 1680

Thomas Tomkins (1572-1656)

15.A sad Pavan for these distracted times [5.37]

John Blow (1649-1708)

16.Voluntary in C [5.02]

Fretted clavichord (4338)

Christian Gottlob Hubert

Ansbach, 1784

Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (1732-1795)

Five pieces from Musikalische Nebenstunden (1787-88)

17.Marche [2.49]

18.Menuet [2.25]

19.Adagio [1.49]

20.Andante [1.38]

21.Marche [2.00]

Square piano (4325)

Andrew Rochead

Edinburgh, c. 1815

Franz Xaver Mozart (1791-1844)

Deux Polonaises mélancoliques

22.No. 1 in C minor [3.47]

23.No. 2 in A minor [4.01]

Double-manual harpsichord (4329)

JeanGoermans/Pascal Taskin

Paris, 1764/83-84

Armand-Louis Couperin (1727-1789)

24.Les Tendres Sentimens [3.25]

25.L’Affligée [6.23]

26.L’Enjouée [4.19]

Single-manual harpsichord (4314)

Johann Adolph Hass

Hamburg, 1764

Christoph Graupner (1683-1760)

Four movements from Par tita in E major ‘November’ (1722)

27.Praeludium [1.13]

28.Menuet [1.56]

29.Gavotte [1.31]

30.Chaconne [3.45]

Total playing time: [77.22]

Recorded on 13-15 April, 2005 in St Cecilia’s Hall, Niddry Street, Edinburgh

Recorded with 24-Bit stereo technology.

Producer and Engineer: Paul Baxter

24-Bit digital editing: Adam Binks

24-Bit digital mastering: Paul Baxter

Instrument photography: Dr Raymond Parks

© Edinburgh University

Collection of Historical Musical Instruments

Session Photography: Dr Raymond Parks

Design: John Christ

Double-manual harpsichord (4316)

Robert Falkener

London, 1773

G.F. Handel (1685-1759)

Suite in D minor HWV 437 (1733)

1.Prelude

2.Allemande

3.Courante

4.Sarabande (avec doubles)

5.Gigue

Much of Handel’s keyboard music circulated in unauthorised copies and pirated editions. There are various versions of the present suite, which Walsh published in 1733 as part of what is commonly called the Second Set (as distinct from the more celebrated Eight Great Suites of 1720). The movements are modest in scale but lack nothing of Handel’s customary vigour, and are best served by a large eighteenthcentury English harpsichord. The nameplate on this characteristically robust English instrument proclaims that it is the work of the renowned Kirckman, many of whose harpsichords Handel must have played. However, it is clear from internal evidence, and from certain constructional details, that the builder was in fact Robert Falkener, no doubt intent on making money from Kirckman’s prestigious name.

In 1771 Kirckman in fact took legal action against Falkener, although the latter seems to have been undeterred and continued to falsify instruments. Such nefarious tactics notwithstanding (by no means uncommon in the eighteenth century), Falkener was himself a fine builder, as this instrument testifies. The temperament employed for the recording is as described in a pamphlet ‘Instructions for Playing the Harpsichord...to which is added

Exact Rules for Tuning the Harpsichord...’ (1774) by Falkener himself. The pitch is a’=430Hz, that is, slightly below ‘modern’ pitch which is a’=440Hz.

Bentside spinet (4309)

attrib. John Player

London, c. 1705

Henry Purcell (1659-1695)

Five pieces from Musick’s Handmaid (1689)

6.March

7.Minuet

Spinets – such as the small characterful instrument by Player, and the larger plummiersounding example by Harrison (see below) –were usually domestic instruments, and no doubt often used to perform or practise short dance movements, transcriptions of songs and the like. Nevertheless, spinets are instruments of great subtlety and character; their qualities are too often neglected by players attracted by the greater variety and power offered by larger members of the harpsichord family. Many of the short movements in Musick’s Handmaid

are arrangements, the most notable here being A new Ground which is Purcell’s own keyboard transcription of the air ‘Here the deities approve’ from his St Cecilia’s Day ode Welcome to all the pleasures (1683). This instrument has a high pitch of a’=466Hz, one semitone above ‘modern’ concert pitch.

Bentside spinet (4313)

John Harrison

London, 1757

Three pieces from Robert Bremner’s

The Harpsichord or Spinnet Miscellany (1765)

Robert Bremner was a successful Edinburgh music publisher who established his business in 1754. When he moved to London in 1762 he retained his Edinburgh premises under the management of John Brysson. Bremner published much for the amateur player, such as The Harpsichord or Spinnet Miscellany. Its title-page announces it as ‘Being a Gradation of Proper Lessons from the Beginner to the tollerable Performer Chiefly intended to save

Masters the trouble of writing for their Pupils’. Similar to Purcell’s publication above, these pieces are mostly arrangements of songs and dance tunes; many are Scottish, including the three heard here. Despite their avowed purpose, some of them demand a fair degree of virtuosity from the performer. The pitch of Harrison’s spinet is a’=440Hz.

Enharmonic virginal (4345) attrib. Francesco Poggio

Florence, c. 1620

Michelangelo Rossi (1601/2-1656)

Rossi’s toccatas are relatively late examples of their type, and this piece takes certain characteristics of the genre to extremes: abrupt changes of figuration, startling harmonic shifts, intense chromaticism and other eccentricities. The direct, clear sound of the Poggio virginal conveys the music well, and quarter-comma meantone tuning (pitch a’=440Hz) ensures that Rossi’s chromatic writing makes its full, disturbing effect. As can be seen in the accompanying image, this virginal is ‘enharmonic’ with a split-key arrangement;

for most of the compass two of the ‘black’ keys in each octave are split in two halves, providing D /E and G /A . This arrangement offers the player pure thirds B–D as well as E –G; and E–G as well as A –C. The keyboard has also a ‘broken octave’ in the bass, a layout required by the opening left-hand chord of this piece. This chord consists of the notes D-d-f –almost impossible to stretch on a normal keyboard, but rendered easy on the Poggio with its bass broken octave. (What looks like bottom F is in fact bottom D.) Rossi, like his contemporaries, undoubtedly wrote with this arrangement in mind.

11.Fy gar rub her o’er with Straw

12.The Flowers of the Forrest

13.Maggy Lauder

14.Toccata settima (Toccate e corenti d’intavolatura d’organo e cimbalo, 1657)

Notes Chamber organ (4327)

anonymous

London?, c. 1680

Thomas Tomkins (1572-1656)

15.A sad Pavan for these distracted times

John Blow (1649-1708)

16.Voluntary in C

As was the case with many of Tomkins’s keyboard works, the Sad Pavan is precisely dated: in this case, ‘February 14, 1649’. The ‘distracted times’ are of course the weeks, months, and years following the execution of Charles I. This beautiful pavan, with its air of quiet resignation, is the ageing composer’s heartfelt memorial to the late king. Although playable on any keyboard instrument of the period, it lends itself particularly well to performance on the organ. The gentle stopped diapason of this English organ (pitch a’=440) seems most appropriate.

The monarchy was restored in 1660, and John Blow (born in the year in which Tomkins composed the Sad Pavan) was very much a Restoration composer. This period saw the development of many new musical styles. New organs were built, following the destruction of many during the Commonwealth years. Italian influence is heard in Blow’s Voluntary in C ; indeed its first section is based on a toccata by Frescobaldi, and is characterised by the durreze e ligature style. The second section is in a contrasting fugal style. The organ’s 4’ and 2’ registers can be heard in this piece, along with the stopped diapason.

Fretted clavichord (4338)

Christian Gottlob Hubert Ansbach, 1784

Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (1732-1795)

Five pieces from Musikalische Nebenstunden (1787-88)

17.Marche

18.Menuet

19.Adagio

20.Andante

21.Marche

Clavichords were widely valued as practice instruments, and that undoubtedly was the prime purpose of many small instruments such as the Hubert fretted clavichord heard here (pitch a’=440Hz). The great keyboard players of the day, as well as amateurs, honed their skills on clavichords, which, despite their comparatively small sound, offer greater subtlety and nuance than any other keyboard instrument. The Hubert clavichord is an ideal instrument on which to perform the straightforward yet refined music of J.C.F. Bach’s Musikalische Nebenstunden,

of his working life at the court at Bückeburg, and wrote fluently in a wide variety of genres. The simple elegance of these short pieces is beautifully conveyed by the expressive qualities of the clavichord.

Bentside spinet (4313) Harrison

Enharmonic virginal (4345) Poggio

Double manual harpsichord (4316) Falkener Bentside spinet (4309) Player Fretted clavichord (4338) Hubert Instruments are not pictured to scale

Chamber organ (4327) anonymous

Notes

Square piano (4325)

Andrew Rochead

Edinburgh, c. 1815

Franz Xaver Mozart (1791-1844)

Deux Polonaises mélancoliques

Double-manual harpsichord (4329)

JeanGoermans/Pascal Taskin

Paris, 1764/83-84

Armand-Louis Couperin (1727-1789)

24.Les Tendres Sentimens

25.L’Affligée

26.L’Enjouée

Paraded as a child prodigy like his father, Franz Xaver Mozart also shared something of Wolfgang’s extraordinary precociousness. Constanze Mozart went so far as to promote her young son as ‘Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart “fils”‘, and for a time he enjoyed success, both as a performer and a highly-sought-after teacher. His early promise, however, was never fully realised, and he endured many disappointments. Marred by ill-health, his career ended rather desolately as a teacher

in the minor town of Lvov (Lemberg). Something of Xaver’s apparently melancholy nature is reflected in the Quatre Polonaises mélancoliques which date from c.1820. These fine pieces, of which two are heard here, are imbued with an early Romantic spirit akin to Hummel and Weber. The contemporary Rochead piano, again probably a domestic instrument originally, is pitched at a’=415Hz. Its present condition perhaps does not represent it as it sounded when new, but it retains an attractive charm and delicacy.

It is often observed that mid-to-late eighteenthcentury French keyboard music, and the harpsichords and organs on which it was played, exhibits a certain decadence. The instruments sound so voluptuous that they perhaps draw attention to themselves, rather than to the music. The French repertoire of the period after François Couperin’s death in 1733 can be showy, vacuous, thin in invention and characterised by what has been called an ‘amiable inanity’.1 And yet, when this music and a fine French double-manual harpsichord

of the period are brought together, an undeniable magic occurs, as when playing the music of Armand-Louis Couperin (whose father was a cousin of François le grand) on the sumptuous Goermans-Taskin (low pitch a’=406Hz). Armand-Louis’s Pièces de Clavecin (1751) are elegant, richly-decorated, sometimes showy, never profound, but never dull. This instrument’s seductive sonorities (including the peau de buffle heard in L’Affligée) and consummate sophistication serve Armand-Louis’s music with ultimate authenticity, disarming all criticism.

1 One is reminded of Gustav Leonhardt’s memorable phrase of a contemporary composer: ‘Duphly has few truths to tell the world’.

Single-manual harpsichord (4314)

Johann Adolph Hass

Hamburg, 1764

Christoph Graupner (1683-1760)

Four movements from Par tita in E major ‘November’ (1722)

27.Praeludium

28.Menuet

29.Gavotte

30.Chaconne

Graupner’s name is remembered largely because he was second-in-line after Telemann for the post of Kantor which Bach (notoriously referred to by the church authorities of the time as the ‘mediocre’ third choice) eventually secured at the Thomaskirche, Leipzig, in 1723. Graupner spent most of his working life at the Darmstadt court, writing copiously in many genres, including opera, orchestral and chamber works, as well as keyboard music (although not for organ). Some of his solo harpsichord music was published, including the Monatliche Clavir Früchte (1722). This volume consists of twelve substantial suites or partitas, each named after a month of the year (for reference purposes only, rather than implying any descriptive intent). It seems that Graupner did not necessarily intend each suite to be played in its entirety, or indeed in the published order. The four movements selected from ‘November’ illustrate his engagingly individual style: harmonically confident, contrapuntally resourceful, melodically elegant, and texturally fascinating, often revelling in sheer sound. The clarity of the Hass harpsichord serves the music ideally. For this recording the instrument was tuned in a subtle unequal temperament, J.G.Neidhardt’s ‘Circulating Temperament no.1’ (1724) . The low pitch is a’=406Hz.

After completing degrees at Glasgow University, John Kitchen went to Cambridge carrying out research into seventeenth-century French harpsichord music. Whilst there he was organ scholar of Clare College, and studied the organ with Gillian Weir. From 1976 until 1988 he was Lecturer in Music and University Organist at St. Andrews. He is now Senior Lecturer and University Organist at the University of Edinburgh.

For many years John played with the Scottish Early Music Consort as harpsichordist, organist and fortepianist, and is a member of several other ensembles. He gives many solo recitals, both in the UK and overseas. In addition, he is conductor of the Edinburgh University Singers, and organist of Old Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church in Edinburgh. In December 2002 he was appointed Edinburgh City Organist, with promotional and curatorial duties attached to the restored 1913 Norman and Beard organ in the city’s Usher Hall.

He records regularly for the BBC and has made many commercial recordings. These include the complete keyboard output of the late sixteenth-century Scottish composer, William Kinloch, played on two instruments from the Raymond Russell Collection (ASV CDGAU 134). Amongst further recordings for Delphian was the first solo disc recorded on the recently-restored Usher Hall organ (DCD34022). For Priory Records John has recorded the complete solo organ works of Johann Ludwig Krebs (1713-1780) on six discs, and two discs of Victorian organ sonatas. In addition to performance and recording work, John is in constant demand as a lecturer and reviewer.

John Kitchen

© 2005 Dr John Kitchen

2 See William Blood, Well-tempering the clavier: five methods, (Early Music Vol. 7 no. 4, October 1979)

Thanks are due to Dr Darryl Martin, Dr Arnold Myers, Dr Raymond Parks, John Raymond, and the Friends of St Cecilia’s Hall and the Raymond Russell Collection of Keyboard Instruments.

Double-manual harpsichord (4329) Goermans/Taskin

Square piano (4325) Rochead

Single-manual harpsichord (4314) Hass

Session photography: 13-15 April, 2005