From: bchivers@smiley.mitre.org (Brent Chivers)
Subject: Re: Harmonia -- Washington, DC's Early-Music Newsletter
Summary: April 1992 articles
Organization: The MaiTai Corp, McLean, VA
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 04:46:07 GMT


	H   A   R   M   O   N   I   A

April 1992 edition of HARMONIA Early Music Newsletter for Washington, DC.
For individual use only.  No portion of this may be incorporated into
another publication without express written permission of HARMONIA's editor.
Thank you.

We welcome reader response and hope you will help us shape this
publication to fit your needs and interests.  Anyone with a special
interest, commentary, or expertise please contact the editor:
Patricia Cutts-O'Brien, 736 13th Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003
(202/543-1941 or 202/546-1320).

This newsletter is published monthly September - June.  The deadline
for material for the following month is the 15th of the current month.
There is no subscription fee.  Though we will make every attempt
to maintain accuracy, we cannot be responsible for errors beyond
correcting them in the following issue if timely and/or necessary.


Women's Voices

This article, contributed by Sharon Guertin Shafer, DMA, Professor
of Music and Chairwoman of the Music Department at Trinity College,
Washington, DC, was first presented as a short talk on women in early
music.  Dr. Shafer is also an accomplished soprano who has given
concerts and recitals both in the U.S. and abroad.

	"As we have listened for centuries to the voices of men and
	the theories of development that their experience informs, so
	we have come more recently to notice not only the silence of
	women but the difficulty in hearing what they say when they
	speak." (1)   This statement, found in Carol Gilligan's book,
	In a Different Voice, about psychological theory and women's
	development comes to mind as I look at a kyrie by Hildegard
	of Bingen (1098-1179).  Drawing on various sources of the
	history of music, one finds the same silence regarding the
	voices of women musicians/composers.   As an example, in
	Women Making Music, Anne Bagnall Yardley's quote from Donald
	Jay Grout's definition of Gregorian Chant:  . . ."a
	single-line melody sung to Latin words by unaccompanied men's
	voices" (2) points up the generally accepted perspective.
	She then goes on to cite a line from Chaucer's The Canterbury
	Tales:  "Ful weel she soong the service dyvyne" that belies
	the fact that only men had voices in music.  As the kyri
	Though, her life in the convent from the age of eight was
	centered on the musical expression of prayer (3), Hildegard's
	extensive body of music is the product of visionary
	experiences which she began to have at the age of 42.  That
	we know about this music at all is in itself remarkable.  In
	the realm of secular music, the role of women as composers
	presents a world of almost complete silence during the same
	period.  Some of the reasons for this silence apply to male
	composers as well.  Since secular music was improvised to a
	great extent and the roles of performer/poet/composer were
	often combined, there was no need, and for a long time no
	means, to notate the music.  The amount of surviving secular
	music from the middle ages, however, points to a significant
	discrepancy between the number of male and female composers.
	While nearly 300 songs by 40 troubadours have survived, only
	one trobairitz song remains with both text and music. (4)
	That song is by Beatritz, Comtesse of Dia:  "A chantar m'er
	Along with compositions of sacred music, we can also see the
	beginnings of the secular art song developing in women's
	writing from the middle ages rather than the commonly
	accepted 18th or 19th century.  Women, in many classes and
	cultures, have practiced an obscured but long tradition of
	sacred and secular song writing even though they have not
	always been favored with acknowledgment.  In a book called
	Silences, Tillie Olsen speaks of twentieth-century literary
	works when she says:  "Compared to the countless centuries of
	the silence of women, compared to the century preceding ours
	- first in which women wrote in any noticeable numbers - ours
	has been a favorable one. "(5)  We move beyond the silences
	by continuing the research and performance of music by women.
	Borrowing the opening words of Bianca Maria Medas' solo motet
	(1691) Cari Musici "Non tacete" ("I'll not be silent")!**
	
	(1)  In a Different Voice, Carol Gilligan, Harvard
	University Press, 1982, Cambridge, MA, p. 173.
	(2)  Women Making Music, edit. by Jane Bowers and Judith
	Tick, University of Illinois Press, Urbana, Ill., p. 15.
	(3) "An Interview with the Sybil of the Rhine:  Hildegard von
	Bingen (1098-1179) by Barbara L. Grant in Heresies #10, p. 6.
	(4) "Jongleresses and Trobairitz:  Secular Musicians in
	Medieval France" by Maria V. Coldwell in Women Making Music,
	p. 48 and p. 61, n. 57. [2600 poems by 450 troubadours, 23
	surviving poems by trobairitz.]
	(5) Silences, Tillie Olsen, Delacorte Press, New York, 1978.

* Disibodenberg and Rupertsberg, Germany, can be visited today.  All
that remains of the site at Rupertsberg is a locked church with a
plaque connoting the association with Hildegard von Bingen.  However,
directly across the Rhine is Eibingen, built under Hildegard's
direction.  She is entombed there in the altar in a sarcophagus bearing
depictions of four saints.  Her portrait, in mosaic tiles resides on
the wall above the altar. One can also see mosaics modeled by an
artist, at her direction, after descriptions of her visions.

**  The Ars Femina Ensemble, P.O. Box 7692, Louisville, Kentucky
40257-0692 have used Non tacete as the title for their second CD
which includes Cari Musici.  Their first CD, Music by Women Before
1800, includes work by Hildegard von Bingen.


Song of the Nightingale
Commentary and observations by Graham Atkinson on the performance
Saturday, March 13th, by Le Rossignol, a local group directed by
Joseph "Skip" Morin.

	Le Rossignol, French for the nightingale, is very appropriate
	for this group with its beautiful, light, high sounds.  The
	group consists of two instrumentalists and three singers.
	The instrumentalists (Suzanne Gross and Joseph Morin) played
	Gothic harp, vielles, and organetto in the vibrato-less style
	of the Middle Ages.  The instruments were gut-stringed, and
	so had a much quieter and more delicate sound than modern
	plucked and bowed instruments.  As a result they did not
	overpower the singers.

	The singers, Cynthia Lapp, soprano, Stephen Gleason,
	countertenor, and Robert Reynolds, tenor performed admirably.
	The presence of a countertenor was particularly interesting
	since this covers a range of the male voice that is seldom
	heard in this country.  The voices of the singers were very
	well suited to this delicate music.

	The program was a mixture of courtly songs from France and
	Italy from the 14th and 15th centuries.  It was a pleasant
	mix of instrumentals and accompanied vocal performances and
	a good mix of selections from different compositional styles.
	The program notes, which included translations of the songs,
	were extensive, interesting, and informative.

	The program began with Baude Cordier's "Tout par compas" (early
	15th century) performed by the entire group.  Accompanied by the
	two vielles, the tenor provided wordless accompaniment to the
	singing of the soprano and the countertenor.  Another piece of
	particular interest was the instrumental "Ghaetta" (c. 1400),
	played on two vielles, which had fast and intricate ornamentation
	and a bagpipe-like sound resulting from the use of drones.
	The second instrumental introduced the organetto, a miniature
	organ played with the right hand while the left hand operated
	the bellows which power it.

	The interest and enthusiasm of the audience was maintained
	over the 16 pieces in the program by the masterly choice
	of songs and dance tunes.  The easy flow of changing
	combinations of voices and instruments within the ensemble
	brought an added dimension of variety to charm the ear.
	An excellent concert, both enjoyable and informative,
	providing insight into Medieval performance practices and
	introducing us to the adventuresomeness of the compositional
	styles of the period.  To make a pun on an alternative
	meaning of rossignol (skeleton key), it opened a door into
	a world of music that is new and unfamiliar to many of us.


The Fairfax Book
Information provided by John Guillory, director of Musica Antiqua.

	The Fairfax Book, dating from around 1505, is a musical
	manuscript which was for some time in the possession of the
	family of the Lords Fairfax, and which includes some music
	by Robert Fairfax, Doctor of Music, as well as music by
	other English composers of the time (e.g. Cornysh, Turges,
	Newark).  This music is among the most highly esteemed
	court music from the time of Henry VII and Henry VIII.

	The performers hope to include portions of two masses
	by Robert Fayrfax, in addition to courtly songs from the
	Fairfax Book; one mass, from the composer's doctoral
	dissertation (Cambridge, 1504), is very rarely represented
	in performance because of its formidable difficulty.

	The Fairfax Book which resided in the possession of the
	Fairfax family until 1618 when it passed into a succession
	of different hands.  It was owned in the 1700's by Ralph
	Thoresby and then by a John White of Newgate Street, London.
	The Fairfax Book was later known to Charles Burney who
	transcribed some of it.  In 1779, Stafford Smith published
	a book of English songs that included material from the
	self-same Fairfax Book.  Finally it came to rest in that
	venerable warehouse of many treasures, the British Museum.
	The Library of Congress and the University of Maryland,
	among other major music libraries, have modern edition
	transcriptions that also include facsimile pages of the
	Fairfax Book.

	Musica Antiqua has been performing in the Washington
	area since 1974.  The group, known for its interesting
	programming, specializes in presenting music from before
	1650 that is relatively little-known but deserves wider
	appreciation.  The group consists of 4 to 6 specialists
	in the playing of period instruments and 4 to 8 vocalists
	specializing in the vocal styles and languages of the
	times.  Musica Antiqua has one of the larger collections
	of performing replicas of medieval and Renaissance musical
	instruments.  Over the years the group has performed in
	numerous concerts at colleges and concerts throughout the
	area including Washington Cathedral, the Kennedy Center,
	Strathmore Hall, Mt. Vernon College, and on WETA-TV.


Pleasures and Perils of Live Recording

This short article on live recording was written by sound engineers
Micah Solomon and Harris Dillon of Oasis Recording, Inc.  Oasis can
be reached at 301/588-4133 or Box 7256, Silver Spring, MD 20907.

	Over the past six years, throughout the Washington,
	Baltimore, and Annapolis area, we have recorded live and
	in the studio traditional and early music performances.
	We have had some exciting and even amusing challenges to
	face as recording engineers especially when we've been
	removed from the controlled sonic spaces of the studio.

	Many of the performance venues we have encountered were
	clearly not designed with soundproofing.  The perils of
	live recording include not only the audience coughs and
	sneezes (mics can be focused to minimize these aural
	intrusions) but there's still the possibility of stray
	bird sounds, aircraft noise, and street traffic filtering
	through even after closing windows and doors.  If you are
	lucky, bird sounds may appear during an appropriate passage,
	avian textual and musical references not being uncommon.
	However, references to 727's and metrobusses are not as
	easy to find in pre-baroque music.

	In addition to soundproofing issues, any musician who has
	performed in a variety of locations can attest to the
	enormous range of acoustic environments they represent.
	Some buildings feature cavernous-sounding reverberation;
	others have practically no reverberation at all and then
	there's all the gradations in between.  Furthermore, the
	level of reverberation can change as the audience arrives -
	people and their garments being good absorbers of sound.

	Microphones can be placed to reduce the apparent acoustic
	"liveness" of a building and achieve a clearer, more precise
	recording without the "blurred" sound of overlapping echoes
	sometimes produced in large enclosed spaces.  Alternatively,
	mic placement can help emphasize the acoustic atmosphere of
	a larger building when it would enhance the mood of a piece
	(e.g. such as medieval or Renaissance liturgical pieces
	which were conceived for large spaces).  In other words,
	you begin with what you have and make the best use of it.

	Pre-emptive measures can solve some other difficulties of
	on-location recording.  Whirring ventilation fans and
	buzzing light dimmers can provide a distinctly twentieth
	century obligato to early music recordings to say nothing of
	the headaches they provide for sound engineers.  It almost
	goes without saying, the person with access to the dimmer
	and ventilation controls is more than likely not to be found
	at prime concert times - evenings and weekends.  Searching
	for keys to electrical control panels and deciphering
	unmarked switch boxes seems to come with the territory of
	on-site recording.

	Producing a good live recording is as much art as science
	while trusting to luck to keep natural disasters and 727's
	diverted.  Audio engineering textbooks contain various
	principles governing the selection and placement of
	microphones and tape recorders.  It can become very
	technical.  The success of a recording, however, ultimately
	depends on the good ears and aesthetic judgement of the
	recording engineer.  Each unique combination of instruments,
	voices, and acoustic environment demands individual
	creative solutions to the problems posed.

	In spite of all the obstacles, a well conceived on-location
	recording has enormous rewards.  It is often the best way to
	capture a group's particular character - amid the natural
	flow and energy of a live performance - something which can
	be hard to replicate in the studio environment because an
	audience can energize performers like nothing else.
	Recordings, however, can also be accomplished in the studio,
	of course, or on-site without an audience to take advantage
	of the unique acoustic qualities of a specific site. A
	professional recording serves as a valuable archival
	document as well as a useful promotional tool if you are
	hoping to enhance your visibility.  Digital audio tapes are
	the preferred format for NPR/WETA broadcast on programs such
	as "Performance Today."  A digital master can be used to
	produce a commercial cassette or CD for concert/retail
	sales.  Income from cassettes can defray the costs of their
	production which actually are surprisingly reasonable.


Summer Camp!

That's right, even if it's barely spring - time to think of summer
camp because the space registration for EARLY MUSIC WEEK at Pinewoods
(July 18-25) has an April 7 deadline for first choice.  The Pinewoods
Camp, in operation for most of this century, is located near Plymouth,
Massachusetts. It is run by the Country Dance and Song Society.  Every
one of their camp weeks sounds like outrageous fun - English Dance Week,
Folk Music Week, Family Week, to name a few.  Now - more about Early
Music Week for those who are beginning or experienced dancers,
instrumentalists, or singers.  The theme this year is "Crossing Over"
which celebrates the variety and richness of cultural exchange.
The staff is impressive and, in many cases, familiar to Washington
audiences.  Scott Reiss and Tina Chancey of Washington's own Hesperus
will be there as will Mary Anne Ballard of the Baltimore Consort.
The Waverly Consort's Ros Morley and Tom Zajac, Alex Blachly of
Philadelphia's Pomerium Musices, and Dorothy Olsson of the Manne


San Antonio Early Music Festival - April 27 to May 3, 1992

	I was alerted to this delicious series of concerts and
	events by Mr. Andreas te Boekhorst, Counselor for Press
	and Cultural Affairs at the Embassy of the Netherlands in
	Washington, DC.  The Ministry of Culture of The Netherlands
	is one of the founders of this festival.

	As so much is in this quincentennial year, the focus of
	the festival is on New Spain and the musical cross currents
	of the time.  The lecture schedule includes: "Mexican &
	Peruvian Music", "Use of Instruments in the Music of New
	Spain", "16th Century Spanish Music for the Vihuela", and
	"Spanish Colonial Theatrical Staging."  The Minneapolis-
	based Baroque opera ensemble, Ex Machina will perform a
	Baroque Peruvian dramatic piece written in Cuzco, Peru
	circa 1749.  The festival program will also draw on music
	and material from the San Antonio archive. "These rhythmically
	intricate pieces illustrate the influence of Black and Native
	cultures on late Renaissance and Baroque music in Spanish and
	Colonial America." Benjamin Bagby of Cologne-based Sequentia
	will perform parts from "Beowulf" with the accompaniment of a
	six-stringed lyre.  The Boston Camerata will give a performance
	of music from the 12th to the 18th century which highlights
	the cultural exchange between Christians and Jews in countries aro


Singers Wanted

Soprano looking for alto, tenor, and bass to sing madrigals for paid
engagement in August (a wedding of note).  Contact HARMONIA office:
202/543-1941.


Dawn Culbertson reviews recent recordings featured on "Exploring Early Music"
Buxtehude:  Alto Cantatas & Sonatas (McGill 750031-2)
Buxtehude is generally known today as a composer of organ music,
which really isn't fair, since he composed some beautiful cantatas
and chamber music as well.  Here, countertenor Allan Fast more than
does justice to four sacred cantatas, interspersed with several
beautifully performed string sonatas.

The Lost Spindle (LiveOak and Company, Titanic 178)
This disc, is a most unusual concoction - a loosely constructed
story told entirely through various vocal works from Renaissance
Spain.  Not only is it remarkable that the group could put
together a work in this way (imagine all the music they must
have gone through!), but it all makes perfect sense, and is
performed excellently, with verve and expression.


Opportunity Knocks Twice!

If you've missed Millennium of Music because you couldn't stay awake,
couldn't tape it, or didn't even know about it -- here's your chance
to hear some of these splendid programs at a civilized hour in the
company of other early music fans.  Harmonia has arranged with WETA
to replay selected programs from the past year if there is sufficient
interest.  Is there -- sufficient interest?  I thought we could try
two at a time.  The first duo might possibly be "Women Composers in
Early Music" (July 1991) with "Anonymous 4/Pilgrimage" (March 1992).
The second pair, "Spanish Mystical Music" (Sept. 1991) and "Voyage to
the New World" (Oct. 1991).  No date or place has been chosen though a
Sunday afternoon has been suggested.  All suggestions and recommendations
are welcome. Depending on response, we will look for an appropriate
setting.  Anyone have tapes of programs before July 1991 that they would
be willing to share with a group?  Please call Patricia Cutts-O'Brien
at 202/543-1941 or 546-1320.

THE END  April 1992 edition of HARMONIA Early Music Newsletter
for Washington, DC.  For individual use only.  No portion of
this may be incorporated into another publication without
express written permission of HARMONIA's editor.  Thank you.
______________________________________________________________________________

My apologies for any typos and glitches from the file
conversion (Mac to Unix, for the net).  I can't find my
printed copy anywhere to correct some things I did notice. 8-(

Anyway, tell me what you think.  Am I flooding the net?
You can't wait for next month's issue?  Want me to pass
a message back to the editor, Patricia?  Just write....
______________________________________________________________________

Brent Chivers		The MITRE Corporation	703-883-6734  Office
1815 Westwind Way	7525 Colshire Drive	703-883-7200  STC Lab
McLean, VA 22102	McLean, VA 22102	703-883-7865  SWEC Lab
703-442-0184		bchivers@mitre.org
-- 
______________________________________________________________________

Brent Chivers		McLean, VA		bchivers@mitre.org