bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Holst's Music: Some Questions of Style and Performance at the Centenary of his Birth
Authors: Holst Imogen
Published: January 2007

When my father died in 1934 I inherited what was in his music cupboard. There were several manuscript scores of published works, and I was able to give The Planets to the Bodleian Library and the Choral Symphony to the Royal College of Music. The remaining manuscripts were of his unpublished works, and I have given most of them to the British Library, where they can be studied by readers but not reproduced for publication or performance. During his life my father gave away some of his manuscripts to his friends. I have not been able to trace them all, but his two chief amanuenses, Vally Lasker and Nora Day, have presented theirs to the Parry Room Library, Royal College of Music, and those he gave to his friend Edwin Evans are now in the Westminster Central Library.
Some Aspects of the Musical Theory of Vincenzo Galilei and Galileo Galilei
Authors: Walker D. P.
Published: January 2007

In this paper I concentrate on two points which are, I hope, of interest not only to musicologists but also to historians of ideas in other fields. I deal mainly with the works of the two Galileis, but of course mention the views of other musical theorists, in particular of Zarlino, since a large part of Vincenzo Galilei's writings is directed against him. This brings me to the first of my two general points: that polemical writings often present to the historian peculiar difficulties of interpretation, especially when the two adversaries, on the one hand, genuinely hate each other, and, on the other, may in fact agree on the main subject under discussion. This was, I believe, the case in the controversy between Vincenzo Galilei and Zarlino, and the resultant dishonesty and evasion of crucial problems makes very tricky the task of disentangling their true thought.
The Nomenclature of Wagner's Sketches
Authors: Deathridge John
Published: January 2007

It is easy to waste words on problems of definition while avoiding the wider significance of what one is supposed to be defining. In the case of a composer's sketches, an adequate terminology can best serve as a means of identification: to place any further claims upon it, especially in view of our underdeveloped concepts in this field, is to invite confusion where little enough order already exists. Nevertheless, it is worth spending a moment on the question as far as Wagner is concerned, if only because the problem of nomenclature has reached a point where it threatens to confuse a discussion of the sketches themselves—a discussion which in any case is only just beginning. This paper has no claim to finality, but rather attempts to clarify an unfortunate and premature entanglement.
Shrewsbury School, Manuscript VI: A Medieval Part Book?
Authors: Rankin Susan
Published: January 2007

The manuscript Shrewsbury School VI (formerly Mus. iii. 42), an English liturgical book of the early 15th century, includes texts and music for processions, Passions and plays, some of which may have originated in the late 14th century. It has the format and liturgical order of a small service book such as a processional, but contains single mensural melodies rather than the plainsong melodies usually associated with the texts. Previous studies of the manuscript have concentrated on the plays; besides neglecting the rest of the manuscript as a source of further information about the plays, they have ignored the importance of this source as a collection of English liturgical ritual music. Because of the unique nature of the manuscript, many questions arise besides the usual problems of date and provenance, principally because some or all of the music may not have been monophonic as the extant material suggests, but polyphonic.
Fifteenth-Century Evidence for Meantone Temperament
Authors: Lindley Mark
Published: January 2007

In the year 1496 Franchino Gafurio referred to the use of tempered fifths on the organ, but he did not specify the amount of the tempering, and Murray Barbour has concluded that ‘we have no way of knowing what temperament was like’ at that time. I believe, however, that a careful analysis of contemporary theoretical writings, and particularly of the information given by Ramos de Pareja in his Musica Practica of 1482, will show that the kind of tuning in question was almost certainly some form of regular meantone temperament, that is, with the fifths tempered rather more than in equal temperament for the sake of more resonant thirds and sixths.
The Henrician Partbooks at Peterhouse, Cambridge
Authors: Sandon Nick
Published: January 2007

This paper summarises the progress of my work on the Henrician set of musical partbooks belonging to Peterhouse, Cambridge. These books will be best known by their old catalogue numbers as Peterhouse manuscripts 40, 41, 31 and 32; recently, however, they have been reclassified as Peterhouse manuscripts 471–474. Along with all of the Peterhouse music manuscripts they are now kept in Cambridge University Library, where, because of their increasingly fragile condition, they are not normally made available to readers. I should like to record my thanks to the Librarian of Peterhouse for permission to examine and handle the partbooks, and to the College Archivist for allowing me to consult the account rolls, registers and other documents of the college.
Barraqué and the Serial Idea
Authors: Hopkins Bill
Published: January 2007

It was through Schubert and Beethoven that Jean Barraqué came to his vocation as a composer. He himself indicated 1940 as the date when his ‘conversion’ began; he was twelve years old, and his practical experience of playing the piano and the violin as well as daily singing classes at school had done nothing to deflect him from his childhood ambition to enter the priesthood. Then one of his teachers played him records of the ‘Unfinished’ Symphony, and he was immediately fired with an obsessive enthusiasm for music. He refers to three other works which he went on to discover for himself: the Arpeggione Sonata, the Pastoral Symphony and the Missa Solemnis. He had at that time a burning desire to emulate the great masters, and he would copy out major orchestral scores and compose his own imitations of them. At fifteen, he says, his idea of a composer was of someone who wrote the Missa Solemnis. The work was to remain his constant touchstone, just as Schubert was always, for him, ‘that purest of musicians’. No doubt, too, there was something about the nature of the particular works to which he was first drawn that determined the scale on which he later customarily worked. He could not conceivably have composed Bagatelles or Moments Musicaux; these would have seemed to him too self-contained, too ‘finished’. In fact, he was deeply committed to what he called ‘l'inachèvement sans cesse’; if creative thought was a continuum, then no creative act could properly be regarded as ‘finished’.
The Festive Madrigals of Alessandro Striggio
Authors: Butchart David S.
Published: January 2007

Alessandro striggio was the major composer working in Florence between 1560 and 1590. His musical production, as a whole, has not attracted a just degree of attention up to now, but several scholars have described, and, more recently, critically evaluated his role in the main Medici festivities of the period. Striggio's madrigal books, seven in all, together with selections of his work printed in anthologies of the time, represent an important source of music used in a great variety of festive occasions; and although scholars have dipped into this material, it has not yet been examined systematically. What now survives of Striggio's work in this field consists of over thirty compositions, about one-fifth of his total output. As a percentage, this is higher than that of most other contemporary madrigalists. The surviving quantity probably accounts for less than half of Striggio's festive production, if we remember the almost complete loss of sources for the main celebrations.
Polychoral Music: A Venetian Phenomenon?
Authors: Carver Anthony F.
Published: January 2007

It used to be thought that Willaert invented double-choir music, drawing his inspiration from the famous organ galleries in San Marco. That his Salmi spezzati were not unique or even innovatory is now beyond dispute. His predecessors and contemporaries working in other important churches of the Veneto — Albertis in Santa Maria Maggiore, Bergamo, Ruffino and Passetto in Padua Cathedral and the Basilica del Santo, Santacroce in Treviso Cathedral — contributed to a significant regional repertory of double-choir psalms, many of which are more adventurous in their use of the medium than those of Willaert. Ruffino extended the use of double-choir to the ordinary of the mass.
The Formal Repeat
Authors: Dunsby Jonathan
Published: January 2007

The music of many cultures is characterized by lengthy musical repetitions, especially where ceremony, text and dance determine the amount of music needed. In Western Classical music, formal repetition is an especially prominent feature. Considering the number of pieces in the customary concert repertoire which include repeats, even the casual observer may be surprised to see only a dozen column inches devoted to the topic in The New Grove Dictionary of 1980, with only five bibliographical references, all to peripheral sources. The dictionary entry is, however, well focused, with examples to support its general theme that ‘the evolution of the notation, its exact interpretation and the practice of making repeats .. raise certain problems, not all of which have obvious solutions’.
The Finale of Mahler's Fifth Symphony: Long-Range Musical Thought
Authors: Baxendale Carolyn
Published: January 2007

It is clear that all the experience I had gained in writing the first four symphonies completely let me down in this one- for a completely new style demanded a new technique.

Twenty-Five years ago a prominent Mahler enthusiast could describe the finale of Mahler's Fifth Symphony as ‘a windy, uninspired stretch of note-spinning, literally scraping the barrel in search of music’. Few people nowadays would subscribe to this view: indeed the upsurge of interest in the work of other ‘late Romantic’ composers has perhaps served to sharpen our admiration for Mahler's exceptional powers of invention and his no less extraordinary mastery of large-scale form. Yet we are not really any closer to explaining just how such extended works are held together and given shape, particularly in the absence of specific extra-musical concepts such as those of the ‘Wunderhorn’ symphonies.
Another Look at a Composite Office and its History: The Feast ofSusceptio Reliquiarumin Medieval Paris
Authors: Baltzer Rebecca A.
Published: January 2007

The feast celebrated annually on 4 December as the Reception of the Relics is one that was peculiar to Notre Dame of Paris in the later Middle Ages. It commemorated the reception of relics of five saints into the still unfinished Gothic cathedral, including several hairs of the Virgin Mary, three teeth of John the Baptist, an arm of St Andrew the Apostle, some stones from the lapidation of St Stephen the Protomartyr and a large part of the head of St Denis. The event that prompted this feast in Paris took place during the reign of King Philip Augustus, who was on the throne from 1180 to 1223, and it has been the subject of occasional comment, debate and research ever since, with the most recent discussion coming in the excellent article by Craig Wright in the Festschrift for John Ward.
Caccini's Amarilli, mia bella: Some Questions (and a Few Answers)
Authors: Carter Tim
Published: January 2007

Amarilli, mia bella is the best known of the solo madrigals that Giulio Caccini included in his Le nuove musiche of 1602.' The text was by Alessandro Guarini, who no doubt saw in his poem the brevità, acutezza, leggiadria, nobiltà and dolcezza that he claimed were most characteristic of modern madrigal verse. Similarly, the leggiadria and dolcezza of Caccini's setting have marked it out for prominence: Amarilh, mia bella was one of the first of his songs to be disseminated widely through Italy and Europe, and its distinction is reflected in its frequent appearance (often in less than satisfactory editions) in vocal anthologies up to the present day. But the song is far from being a straightforward example of Caccini's style. Indeed, a study of its sources in contemporary manuscripts and prints raises intriguing questions about the supposed innovations of Caccini's music and about the ways in which Florentine monody became known both south and north of the Alps.
Music in Elementary Schools
Authors: Browne Marmaduke E.
Published: January 2007

It may perhaps interest some members of the Musical Association to know how far the Association's special subject of interest is studied and taught in the schools designed for the poorest of the population : and as, owing to circumstances which I shall presently explain, I happen to have it within my power to collect certain statistics which it would not be easy for any one less intimately connected with a number of schools to gather together, I believe that, however imperfect my contribution to the treatment of the subject may be, it will have such value as belongs to a plain statement of facts which admit of no dispute.
Communication on the Ancient Egyptian Scale
Authors: Southgate T. L.
Published: January 2007

Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen,—It may be in your remembrance that, at our last November meeting, I had the honour to read before the members of the Association a paper on “A pair of ancient Egyptian Double-Flutes,” and thanks to the kindness of Mr. Flinders Petrie, the famous Egyptologist, who had discovered them in the coffin of a mummy, I was enabled to show you these musical relics, still playable though three thousand years has passed since the priestess to whom they belonged had played her last song upon them.
Ancient Musical Traditions of the Synagogue
Authors: Cohen Francis L.
Published: January 2007

It has become almost one of the commonplaces of the historian of Music to contrast the absence of men of Jewish race from the list of distinguished musicians of the past, with their remarkable frequency among the more eminent composers and virtuosi of the present. It is not without justice that this contrast is attributed primarily to the results of the humanitarian sentiments which have arrived at so noble an elevation in this century. It was the declination of prejudice against the ancient people, and the gradual removal of the excessive civil and social disabilities under which they so long had laboured, that led to ready application to the most spiritual of the Arts on the part of a people whose quick sensibility and emotional energy had been cultivated during long consecutive centuries of intimacy with, and regard for, every form of literary production. Yet it is remarkable that the Jew, with all his adaptiveness, rose to pre-eminence in music sooner and more readily than in any other art. And if we turn from the composers of Hebrew origin, and concentrate our attention rather on the Israelite executants to be found in every orchestra, and on every concert-platform, we speedily are prompted to ask why the number of Jewish musicians of every grade not merely far exceeds the trifling numerical proportion which their race bears to the rest of the population, but is out of all comparison with the number and the corresponding proportion of Jewish painters, sculptors, architects, or, generally, followers of any art other than music.
The History and Uses of the Sol-Fa Syllables
Authors: McNaught W. G.
Published: January 2007

The object of this paper is to draw attention to a bye-path of musical history. The Sol-fa syllables now play an important part in elementary musical education. It may, therefore, be worth while to give a brief account of their birth and adventures.
From Brain to Keyboard:—New and Complete Practical Solution of all Technical Difficulties
Authors: Smith W. Macdonald
Published: January 2007

“I will use my influence to get you appointed organist to a deaf and dumb asylum.” So said, with quaint humour, a professor to a lady who had been lamenting her technical improficiency and telling of the delights of enjoying fine music by reading it over in an arm chair, where she said she could play it “in her mind” to perfection. And many of us have doubtless dwelt upon the beauties of a favourite movement in like manner, untrammelled by the technical imperfections of our fingers. But unfortunately music in general is not quite such an imaginative and ethereal art as all this, and requires for its interpretation, first and foremost, no doubt, the musical soul and musical brain; but secondly, the delicately regulated contractions of certain muscles to produce the sounds from whatever instrument is being played. In the case of the pianoforte, the deservedly popular instrument of our time, very great attention and study have been given to that part of the mechanism which intervenes between keyboard and string; but it is to the remaining part of the chain—and this chain, as all others, is no stronger than its weakest link—that I wish to draw your attention to-day; trusting that you will in no wise consider me an interloper, or a trespasser upon ground sacred either to the expert pianoforte maker or to the experienced piano teacher, seeing that my task has been simply to enlist, in the cause of music, hidden principles of physiology and anatomy besides those of mechanics, and to apply them to the perfecting of this weak link. That this technique, this link between brain and keyboard—in a word, this perfection of muscular control—is the weak link in the chain, needs, I think, no confirmation—every performer knows it only too well, from the girl of nine who cries over her scales, to the concert-player who laments that the arduous practice he knows not how to avoid is eating the soul out of his playing.
Music During the Queen's Reign
Authors: Cummings W. H.
Published: January 2007

Before speaking of the music of the Queen's reign, it may be well to produce some account of it when our beloved Queen was a girl: and here we can fortunately produce the testimony of a competent authority, Thomas Oliphant, commonly known as Tommy Oliphant, the genial and accomplished secretary of the Madrigal Society. He was born in 1799 and died in 1873, and although an amateur, cultivated music with an ardour and enthusiasm not always found, even amongst professional musicians. He sang bass in the chorus at the great Musical Festival held in Westminster Abbey in June and July, 1834. The Princess Victoria was then fifteen years of age.
The Scope of Programme Music
Authors: Wallace William
Published: January 2007

In discussing Programme Music one may consider it in relation to those principles which apply to the conception and the expression of an art, whether that art be music or painting or sculpture. But as such a survey of æsthetical questions would demand for its consideration a space of time far exceeding that at our disposal at present, it seems more appropriate that we should limit ourselves to the purely musical aspects of the matter. I will content myself with saying in this connection, that while the most advanced school of music of to-day—that which begins where Wagner left off—insists on the paramount importance of a literary idea being the basis of the composition, the most advanced schools of sculpture and painting, those of Rodin and Whistler and Degas, assert that the literary idea is the least matter to be considered in plastic or pictorial art, and that the chief if not the only end is the display of technique. I may point out a very curious inconsistency in this connection—namely, that among musicians I constantly find men who, while proclaiming the supremacy of absolute music, see no beauty in absolute painting and sculpture, and admire the most flagrant instances of a programme in these arts.
Every Staff Its Own Modulator
Authors: Sawyer Frank J.
Published: January 2007

May I start with the announcement that I claim no originality, no copyright whatever in the matter that I hope to place before you. There are, doubtless, several present to whom I shall say nothing that they did not already know. Yet if these remarks aid others less perfectly informed, and show them a most useful adjunct in sight singing teaching, and how it should be used, the end in view will be attained.
Irish Church Composers and the Irish Cathedrals
Authors: Bumpus John S.
Published: January 2007

I have been honoured by an invitation to contribute to your proceedings, by selecting as the subject of a paper, some account of Irish Church musicians and Irish Church music generally—a subject, hitherto, not much worked up by English musical historians between two covers. I am by no means unmindful of the admirable lecture delivered by the late Sir Robert Stewart in the Irish capital in 1863. This, however, was not confined to ecclesiastical music, but embraced Irish art generally. It will be my endeavour, in the course of the remarks I am allowed the privilege of making, to put you in possession of the most trustworthy knowledge of the subject, as far as I have been able to collect and compress it within the limited demand, which such a paper ought to make on your time and patience.
Coronation Music
Authors: Shedlock J. S.
Published: January 2007

The title of my paper refers specially to the Coronation services in Westminster Abbey, but a word or two may be said about the Coronation pageants connected with the passages of three sovereigns through the City of London: Elizabeth, James I., and Charles II. It was on Saturday, January 14, 1558, “about two of the clocke at afternoone,” that Good Queen Bess marched from the Tower to proceed to Westminster. On a scaffold near Fanchurch stood a “noyes of instruments”; and at Gracious Streate (now Gracechurch Street) we also read of “loude noyses of musicke.” A noise, I may remind you, in those days merely meant sound or band. In Shakespeare's “King Henry IV.” we read, “See if thou canst find out Sneak's noise,” i.e., his street-band; and in “Macbeth,” when in the Witches' scene, at the commencement of Act IV., King Duncan's General says, “Why sinks that cauldron ? and what noise is this ?” there is the indication “Hautboys.” And of this very progress of Queen Bess we read how, at the porch of St. Peter's, in Cheapside, or “Cheape “as it was called, “The waites of the Citie gave a pleasant noyse with their instrumentes as the Queene's Majestie did passe by “; also of a “noyse of singing children.”
The Philosophy of our Tempered System
Authors: Goddard Joseph
Published: January 2007

In this paper I do not enter into the details of temperament. I deal with it as a whole—as the science to which belongs that modification of the tonality of intervals, which enters into our system—my object being to point out the principle of its relation to music.
The Two Keys to the Theory and Practice of Harmony
Authors: Niecks
Published: January 2007

There is an appearance of charlatanism in the title of my paper. But do not let this mislead you into imagining that I am a dealer in nostrums. I have another request to make. Disabuse yourselves of the possible suspicion that I have pretensions to absolute originality of ideas on the subject, or a desire to combat the ideas of others. Not controversy with theorists of a different way of thinking, but a simple presentation of my own views and teaching, is the object I am aiming at. If, however, my statements—some of which are not unlikely to startle, shock, and horrify you—instil into you a little scepticism with regard to current notions, I for one shall not regret it, and think you ought not to regret it. For scepticism is a wholesome ingredient of the human mind, in fact, the leaven of thought.
French Music of To-day
Authors: Evans Edwin
Published: January 2007

Until a few years ago London was open to the reproach that, whereas a hearing was readily given to every grade of German music, its acquaintance with French composers was limited to Gounod and Saint-Saëns. Since then much has happened, and every concert-goer has had an opportunity of hearing the works of the more prominent of our French contemporaries.
Key-Relationship in Early Medieval Music
Authors: Frere W. H.
Published: January 2007

Key-relationship is a modern idea, but it has its roots far back in musical history. The first traces of it are to be seen in the days previous to harmony, and under the ancient modal system. This system varied greatly from the modern scale, being at once more rich, and less flexible: yet it admitted some ideas of relationship between different tonalities, and those are analogous in many ways to modern key-relationship. The several modes, constituted as they are each differently one from another, naturally lent themselves to different kinds of modal relationship, some more to one kind and some more to another. Five of these kinds may be distinguished and briefly discussed, as they have an important bearing on the subsequent history of the art of music.
The Formation of a National Musical Library
Authors: Cummings William H.
Published: January 2007

The title of my paper, ‘The Formation of a National Musical Library,’ may be open to some misconception, and I should like therefore to premise that it does not simply mean a library of national music, though that certainly should form a very important and indispensable section of any national library. The subject proposed for consideration is one which must assuredly deeply interest all musicians, amateur and professional, and the theme is capable of so much expansion that I could, without difficulty, engage your attention during the whole of the time allotted for our meeting; but I shall be brief, in the hope that my few remarks may induce some considerable discussion, leading, perhaps, to practical action.
On a Suggested Improvement in Staff Notation
Authors: Hill Arthur
Published: January 2007

If there is anything in this world so perfect as to be beyond improvement, our established notation can scarcely lay claim to such an exalted position, to judge by the many attempts that have been made from time to time to improve or supersede it.
Peter Benoit and the Modern Flemish School
Authors: Verheyden Prosper
Published: January 2007

You may, perhaps, think it over-bold of me to talk to you in your own language, which, in my mouth, will appear without its native richness, strength, and beauty. You will at once realise that you have before you a man who did not want to come and call for your attention a short time ago, but now is willing to suffer the cruel consciousness of being a poor orator, if only he succeeds, though but partially, in his attempt to give you an idea of one of the aspects of beauty in his own beloved country.
Mechanical Piano-Players
Authors: Jonson G. C. Ashton
Published: January 2007

When I was invited by the Association to read a paper on Mechanical Piano-players, my memory carried me back to a lunch party of some twenty people that I attended in New York shortly before I left there some three years ago, at the end of the second lecture season that I had spent in that interesting country. The hotel at which the lunch was given bears a deservedly high reputation for its' cookery, but what was my surprise on glancing at the menu to see that it contained not a list of things to eat, but a series of topics suggested for conversation! After each course our hostess would rap on the table and address some leading question to some particular guest, who was expected to reply briefly, and then that particular topic lasted till the next course. All the people at the lunch were supposed to be qualified to talk interestingly on some particular subject, and the question to which I had to reply was directed to ascertain my opinion as to the value of the Pianola in musical education. I remember that I replied that I considered the “Pianola” as great an aid to the proper appreciation of fine music as was the invention of printing to the wide spreading of knowledge of the great literature of all ages.
A National Music-Drama: The Glastonbury Festival
Authors: Boughton Rutland
Published: January 2007

A nation must cultivate its own peculiar resources and characteristics before it can count in the intercourse of peoples. A nation which depends for existence or benefit upon the production or resources of other nations is bound to run grave risks. During the War we have had reason to regret that we have allowed so much arable land to become pasture. That is a neglect of national development that we begin at last to understand; but it is not so generally recognised that to depend upon other nations for our art is every whit as dangerous to our national welfare. The evil first becomes evident in our inferior æsthetic sensibilities, but it soon affects us in material ways as well; and so it happens to-day that German workmanship in pianofortes, as well as in musical compositions, is generally preferred, even in the Army.
The Tercentenary of Byrd and Weelkes
Authors: Holst Gustav
Published: January 2007

Some people may ask: “Why have centenary celebrations?” My answer must be in the form of a legend of a certain British composer. He was praised by foreigners and called “The Father of Counterpoint.” Most of his MSS. are in Vienna; and about twenty years ago Vienna honoured him and honoured herself by publishing some of them. Here in England, however, his music is absolutely unknown. His name was even confused at one time with that of an early Saint of the Church, who was thus, quite unjustifiably, endowed with miraculous musical powers. Such a thing could only happen in England; and this is sufficient answer to those who decry centenary celebrations. They may be dangerous; but England needs at least one a week. 1923 is a good year to begin; for 1623 saw the death not only of Byrd and Weelkes, but of Rosseter, the Lutenist composer, and the birth of John Playford, the first systematic collector of English folk-dances and their tunes; while in 1523 Merbecke was born, who was the first to write a special plainsong for the (then) new English Prayer Book, and Hugh Aston died, who was called the “Inventor of Instrumental Music in Europe”; but about whom so little is known.
Calvin's First Psalter, 1539
Authors: Terry Richard R.
Published: January 2007

After the very erudite paper on the Genevan Psalter which was read before this Association (in June, 1918) by Dr. Woodward, there is very little ground left for me to cover.

The whole question of metrical psalmody has been so thoroughly ventilated by so many authorities that but for the little book we are to discuss this afternoon, I doubt if I should have had anything fresh to say to you.
The Translation of Operas
Authors: Dent E. J.
Published: January 2007

There are some people who maintain that all translation of vocal music into other languages is barbarous, and that no opera ought ever to be performed except in the language to which it was written. This position is a perfectly logical one, and I can sympathise very cordially with it in theory; I would certainly say that for the detailed study and criticism of any opera a knowledge of it in the original language is indispensable. But for practical purposes translation is a necessity, if opera is to receive any popular encouragement. In France, Germany and Italy, as well as in other countries such as Holland, Sweden, Poland and Hungary, where the native language is not one that is commonly learned by foreigners, opera is regularly performed in the language of the people; it is therefore only commonsense that opera in England should be performed in English, at any rate in those theatres where opera is performed regularly throughout the season. I shall therefore assume that I need waste no more words this afternoon in defending the principle of opera in English. I must however, make it quite clear to you that my paper deals solely with the translation of operas, and that it will not treat at all of the translations of any other kind of vocal music. It is necessary for me to mention this, because the conditions of opera require methods of translation which would often be quite inappropriate, or even utterly inadmissible, in such forms as oratorios and single songs. In these branches of music I have little experience as regards translation, and I do not intend to discuss them at all.
A Short Account of the Clarinet in England During the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
Authors: Rendall F. Geoffrey
Published: January 2007

The present paper is mainly biographical in purpose. It is an attempt, possibly a pioneer attempt, to present in some sort of chronological sequence the story of clarinet playing in these islands. Much of its purpose will be achieved if it serves to rescue from possible oblivion the names and doings of some of the earlier players, and more, if listeners or readers are stimulated to fill up some of the many gaps in the story.
The Musical Condition of Man
Authors: Eggar Katharine E.
Published: January 2007

Perhaps the musical condition of man does not appear to be a matter of immense importance in these distracted days when material conditions have become such a gigantic problem. Yet what a wonderful answer the musical condition—the condition which is music—would, be to the prevailing distresses: it is the condition of peace and harmony, of benevolence and co-operation, of construction and preservation—the very condition which our wounded and hunted world is needing.
The Codex Canonici 213 in the Bodleian Library at Oxford
Authors: van den Borren Charles
Published: January 2007

The year 1898 can be reckoned among the crucial ones in the field of musicology. For in that year a work was published which can be considered as one of the main starting-points for the study of music during the Dufay period; that is to say, the first half of the 15th century. This work is the monumental edition of fifty compositions from the Codex Canonici 213, edited by Sir John Stainer, with the co-operation of his son and daughter and of E. W. B. Nicholson.
The Changing Audience
Authors: Shera F.H.
Published: January 2007

To all concerned with the presentation of music the study of the audience is a matter of obvious moment. To executants and composers who wish to be heard it is vital.
The Dramatic Element in Handel's Oratorios
Authors: Dean Winton
Published: January 2007

Most musicians are aware that the Victorian attitude to Handel included an element of travesty. They are less aware, with comparatively few exceptions, of the sizeable beam in the eye of to-day. The oratorios, which contain Handel's finest work, have suffered most of all, owing to the peculiar convolutions of the British evangelical conscience. A nation that for half a century regarded the story of Saint-Saëns’ Samson and Delilah as too sacred for stage performance is capable of any kind of artistic imbecility; and Handel's oratorios are still suffering from this sort of approach.
Scottish Song, 1500–1700
Authors: Elliott Kenneth
Published: January 2007

There has recently come to light a rich heritage of music that was composed and cherished in Scotland during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries—from the first dawn of the Renaissance under James IV down two hundred years to the Union of the Parliaments under the last Stuart monarch Queen Anne. And here may I, speaking as a Scot, remind you briefly of the state of affairs that obtained north of the border during these two centuries. While the Englishman's view is a historical continuity from the reign of Henry VIII through the age of Elizabeth to James I, the Scot's picture is somewhat different: the Renaissance did not touch Scotland until the reign of James IV, who died in 1513. James was connected with the royal house of England, for he married Margaret Tudor, sister of Henry VIII, in 1504. Indeed it was this link that finally brought about the Union of the Crowns of England and Scotland almost exactly one hundred years later. James V twice brought a French queen to Scotland (in 1537 and in 1538) and his daughter Mary, Queen of Scots, spent thirteen years at the French court—the last of them as Queen of France—before returning to Scotland in 1561. The Reformation arrived late in Scotland (in 1560) and its effects on music there were more profound and far-reaching than elsewhere. Whereas in England composers remained very much as free as they were before, in Scotland the Reformers called the very existence of music into question. Mary's son James VI left Scotland with his court in 1603 to become James I of England. Disunity ensued in his homeland with religious strife and civil war and throughout the seventeenth century civilisation languished. Finally, in 1707, in an effort by our two countries to achieve further unity and prosperity in this island, Scotland lost her nationhood and her parliament. This is a sketch of the background against which the early music of Scotland was composed.
On the Fallacy of the Repetition of Parts in the Classical Form
Authors: Praeger Ferdinand
Published: January 2007

Our time of progress is often specially designated a critical and even hypercritical period. But whilst so much deep thought and true feeling have flowed from the pens of profound thinkers in every direction, it has occurred to no one to attack a barbarous remnant of bygone times in music. The idea might have appalled one less deeply convinced than myself. But one must have courage to enter the lists for what one has well weighed and found to be true. I propose to deal here with no less a matter than the entire abolition of all part-repetition in music—e.g., in symphonies, sonatas, quartets, &c. Can there be anything more inconsistent than these stereotyped repetitions? The artist creates a work from his innermost soul, and places it before us in its entirety so that we might behold the same mirage which enchanted his mind, and follow him with the unabated energy of all our mental faculties. He receives us, as it were, upon his Mephistophelian mantle, and carries us in a trice across giddy heights and rugged rocks, over charming valleys, purling brooks, and roaring torrents. He transports us to the pinnacle of joy, and anon dashes into the abyss of sorrow, thrilling us with the ever-changing kaleidoscope of human emotions. Happy is he whose receptive powers can arouse that sympathy which warms into enthusiasm for the master's vision of the ideal. He approaches nearest to the creating genius.
The Vocalion
Authors: Hamilton Baillie
Published: January 2007

The Hon. Secretary said he was very sorry to report that Mr. Baillie Hamilton was too seriously unwell to be able to appear before them that evening. Up to the last moment he had hoped to come, but was positively forbidden to do so by his medical attendant Mr. Baillie Hamilton had, however, sent a Vocalion, and one of his assistants was present who might give some information. Mr. Higgs thought it would be desirable that the instrument should be heard before any discussion took place.
The Valveless Horn in Modern Performances of Eighteenth-Century Music
Authors: Fitzpatrick Horace
Published: January 2007

In recent years the study of musical instruments and their history has become an accepted feature of modern research, and the performance of earlier music upon the instruments appropriate to its period is now a familiar part of our musical life. Especially during the last decade, the revival of instrumental works from the Renaissance and Baroque periods has stimulated great interest in historically accurate performances; and more recently this concern for using authentic instruments or good modern copies suitable to the music in question has spread to the Classical period as well. Thus in an age when so much attention has been paid to the instruments of the Baroque and Classical orchestra, it is surprising to find that the horn is still very much of an enigma. Even in otherwise authentic performances with eighteenth-century instruments, original or copied, it is still common to hear the modern valve horn in all its chromatic self-assurance.
Sterndale Bennett: The Solo Piano Works
Authors: Bush Geoffrey
Published: January 2007

‘Bennett is a pianist above all things’ wrote Schumann. Of his compositions with opus numbers nineteen are for piano solo, and a twentieth is for piano duet. There are a further seven piano solos without opus number. He also published five concertante works for piano and orchestra, discarded a sixth and postponed publishing a seventh. The three chamber works all employ a piano, and the first of these, the Sestet op. 8, is virtually an eighth piano concerto with string accompaniment.
The Music of Philip Hart (c. 1676–1749)
Authors: Dawes Frank
Published: January 2007

Philip Hart has been hitherto not so much underrated as overlooked. Indeed, if one were to compile an anthology of Hart criticism prior to 1965, when I published what I would now describe as a preliminary survey of the Hart corpus, one would be hard pressed to enlarge upon the one sentence written by Louisa M. Middleton in 1891: ‘As a composer, Hart was no more than respectable’. A few words of Hawkins might find a place, though they are more historical than critical. They refer to Hart's last published composition:

… the Morning Hymn from the fifth book of the Paradise Lost, which latter work he published in March, 1728–9. Mr. Galliard had set this hymn, and published it by subscription in 1728; and it is said that Mr. Hart meant to emulate him by a composition to the same words; but if he did, he failed in the attempt, for Mr. Galliard's hymn is a fine and elegant composition, admired at this day, whereas that of Mr. Hart is forgotten.
The Interpretation of Musica Ficta in English Music c. 1490–c. 1580
Authors: Bray Roger
Published: January 2007

‘The evidence now accumulating indicates that a true picture of English style has long been delayed by incredulous editorial pens.’ ‘Such evidence as we have … tends to the conclusion that accidentals should be added, in cases of difficulty, rather than subtracted.’ These two remarks, both made during the last decade, indicate the increasing concern over the correct performance of musica ficta. Both writers express degrees of dissatisfaction with the evidence available, although it is the interpretation of the evidence that has so far proved inconclusive, the evidence itself having remained largely unchanged for several years. The immediate question is whether the main body of evidence lies in the contemporary theoretical treatises or in the music as preserved in contemporary manuscripts; if it proves to lie in neither, then the problem must be regarded as insoluble. Yet the surviving treatises are written in (reasonably) plain English which must surely defy more refined interpretation than that to which they have already been subjected, and we are therefore left with the music. By carrying out a careful study of musica ficta as demonstrated in the accidentals which appear in the manuscripts of the period, we should be able to arrive at a series of rules which were well known by the contemporary musicians, and which should therefore form the basis for modern performance.
Beethoven as a Choral Composer
Authors: Forbes Elliot
Published: January 2007

Here are the complaints about Beethoven as a choral composer which are so well known, particularly by those of us who have sung in performances of these two giant works. And yet may we thank God for Beethoven's obstinacy! In this century we have slowly come of age: lay audiences accept and cherish these two works, and responsible musicians consider the adequate preparation of the music, so clearly understood by Berlioz over a hundred years ago, as a sacred duty. Sopranos in particular, on whom Beethoven makes by far the greatest demands, have learned a combination of breath control and neutralized vocal sounds to sustain, for example, successive high B flats, so that passages like ‘sedes ad dexteram’ or ‘et vitam venturi’ in the Missa Solemnis are sung without that lessening of ‘volume and energy’ lamented by Berlioz.
Music in the Viennese Popular Theatre of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
Authors: Branscombe Peter
Published: January 2007

When in 1710 or 1711 Joseph Anton Stranitzky's company of German actors took over the recently built Theater nachst dem Karntnertor in Vienna they established a tradition of plays with music that was to last for a century and a half. They were themselves heirs to various traditions—most notably the companies of strolling players (englische Comödianten) that had been popular in German lands from Shakespeare's time, but also assimilating features from the commedia dell'arte and the Parisian théâtres de la foire, and imitating (and frequently parodying) the Italian court opera, as well as developing even further the extensive comic scenes and intermezzi both of the opera and of the Jesuit drama. Music was an important component in the Viennese Jesuit dramas and the theatres de la foire, and collections like the Engelische Comedien und Tragedien … of 1620 and Liebeskampf oder Ander Theil der Engelischen Comoedien und Tragoedien … of 1630, containing the tunes as well as the words of a number of songs, indicate the extent to which music was readily available for ambulant troupes in seventeenth-century Germany. Parallel to the use of music in German plays at this time is the extent and nature of the comic scenes in operas and Jesuit dramas in Vienna. J. B. Adolph's carnival play of 1700, Carnisprivium proscriptum, with music by J. B. Staudt, includes three large-scale musical sequences, a light-hearted German song in praise of the joys of angling, and also a vernacular parody of a Latin lament. During the reign of Amalteo as court poet, and even more during that of Minato (1669–98), comic scenes and dialect interpolations reached such a height that the reforms of Zeno and Metastasio became entirely necessary. One example of Minato's methods must serve for many: in the Minato/Draghi La lira d'Orfeo of 1683 Orpheus is by no means Euridice's only admirer. When he leaves her after a tiff, she is forced to admit: ‘Lassa! Perdendo vo tutti gli Amanti’.
What Does “Explained Variance“ Explain?: Reply
Authors: Achen Christopher H.
Published: January 2007

Two quite different statistical specifications lead to conventional regression computations. Under the first, usually called unconditional regression, the independent variables are assigned a distribution, and the sampling distributions of parameters are computed over it, not just over the variation in the disturbance. Then the multiple squared coefficient of correlation, R2, is a substantively meaningful quantity with a population value. In such cases, it is certainly meaningful to estimate R2 and to use the resulting estimate for the usual descriptive and inferential purposes.

The nature of most social scientific work, however, generates data poorly described by the first specification. The second specification, conditional regression, is usually more helpful, and for that reason, it overwhelmingly predominates in econometric textbooks. Under it, sampling distributions are conditioned on the observed values of the independent variables. Then, R2 is a purely descriptive quantity with little substantive content. It is not a parameter, and it will vary meaninglessly across samples even when the underlying statistical law is unchanged. By contrast, the standard error of estimate (SEE) lacks these difficulties, and is a far better statistic for assessing goodness of fit.

Lewis-Beck and Skalaban are persuasive where unconditional regression is concerned. But their argument encounters serious difficulties in the far more common situation in which conditional regression applies. Their blurring of the distinction between the two situations explains why their seemingly persuasive logic leads them astray.