Clavichord Symposium
In Magnano, northern Italy, the second International Clavichord Symposium took place September 21-23, 1995. Far from the madding crowd, in a beautiful small 12th-century church, performers, builders, musicologists, and auditors from several countries gathered for three days of rewarding papers, discussions, and performances on a variety of clavichords. 42 presenters provided this program, chaired by Bernard Brauchli and Christopher Hogwood. Plans are already being made for the third symposium in 1997. Interest in the clavichord increases steadily.
--Virginia Pleasants (London)
Among other Americans at the Magnano Symposium were Bruce Glenny (Chicago) who lectured on Herbert Howells and the Clavichord; Jane Johnson (Crab Orchard, TN) who gave a lecture recital of 16th-century Spanish music; John Koster (Vermillion, SD), Joel Speerstra and Beverly Woodward, both of whom gave papers about C.P.E. Bach, and Carol lei Post (Pella, IA). Richard Troeger's (Edmonton, Alberta) paper on the Dolmetsch/Chickering clavichords was read at the conference.
And Speaking of Clavichords . . .
Jeremy Montagu reports in Early Music (February 1995, p. 175) that two Dolmetsch clavichords were sold at the Phillips (London) musical instrument sale of 24 March 1994. One which had belonged to the brilliant player Violet Gordon Woodhouse brought £2,530, while the instrument which Dolmetsch had built for George Bernard Shaw reached £5,060.
In a microfilm of Dolmetsch memorabilia from the Boston Public Library, I just happened to notice an item which gives a bit of perspective on the value of these clavichords! In a clipping from 1949 it was announced that Shaw's clavichord had been sold at auction to "a Londoner" for £110 (at the time, $440). Dolmetsch had sold it to Shaw in the 1920s for £40 ($160).
Publications of Interest
"The Harpsichord Invention of De la Pleigniere" by Thomas McGeary appears in The Organ Yearbook for 1994 (volume XXIV). The invention is a system of registration pedals operating pulleys "to overcome the limitations of the harpsichord." Before Pleyel!
Early Keyboard Journal (Volume 13, 1995) contains Lewis Reece Baratz's discussion and translation of "The Basso Continuo According to Jean Joseph Boutmy" (1770), the only tutor on this subject from a resident of the southern Netherlands. In the same journal C. David Harris' article "Kuhnau's Accentus and its Implications for the Performance of Bach's Keyboard Music" makes some sense of a confusingly-described, oft-appearing ornament used by Bach's immediate predecessor, and amplifies Kuhnau's example with descriptions from Bach contemporaries Thomas Balthasar Janowka and Johann Gottfried Walther.
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