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Thomas Goff, Four Harpsichords, J.S. Bach and the Royal Festival Hall
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2020
Abstract
During the 1950s and 1960s in London, in the Royal Festival Hall, an unusual series of concerts took place. These concerts stood apart from the usual offerings in London's post-war musical life. What they offered was early music, principally J.S. Bach's concertos for two, three and four keyboards, played not on the piano, as had hitherto been the case, but on the harpsichord. This article documents, for the first time, the facts, and the implications, of the Royal Festival Hall concert series: how it came about; the repertoire; the performers; and the performances. The article concludes that the Royal Festival Hall concerts were notable in the evolution of the early music movement in the UK, deepening its reach to a broader audience and nurturing an awareness of an issue that was increasingly to gain traction in the later decades of the twentieth century: the idea of historical authenticity in the performance of early music.
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References
1 The BBC Proms Archive, which must be taken as the definitive source, lists no performances of any of the six concertos BWV1060–1065 after 1970 (The Proms Archive. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/archive/search/1890s. Accessed on 17 July 2013).
2 The 73 Proms performances of Bach's concertos for one keyboard began with BWV1052 on 17 October 1908 and concluded with BWV1056 on 2 August 1993.
3 In fact 35 years were to elapse before the harpsichord again replaced the pianoforte as the solo keyboard instrument in a Proms concert, in a performance of BWV1056 on 2 August 1993, with Anthony Halstead as soloist.
4 The concept of authenticity, whilst widely embraced by performers and musicologists in the 1960s and 1970s, was subsequently discredited in the musicological debates of the 1980s and 1990s. Differing interpretations of early music treatises, musical perceptions that were inevitably coloured by stylistic changes that had emerged in the centuries following the Baroque period, and twentieth-century performance contexts which differed markedly from earlier ones, combined to discredit the notion of performative authenticity. As a result the term has, in the past two decades, been largely rejected and replaced with less contentious ones, such as ‘historically informed performance practice' – terms which implicitly acknowledge the limitations of historical fidelity, and which also account for the multiplicity of approaches that have emerged.
5 Harry Haskell, The Early Music Revival: A History (London, 1988), 15.
6 Arnold Dolmetsch, cited in Chalmers Burns, ‘The First 20 Years: 1925–45′, Fortieth Haslemere Festival Programme Book (1964), ACGB 50/112/2, Victoria and Albert Museum Archives: 4.
7 Arnold Dolmetsch, The Interpretation of the Music of the XVII and XVIII Centuries, Revealed by Contemporary Evidence (London, 1915).
8 Haskell, The Early Music Revival, 43.
9 Robert Donington, The Interpretation of Early Music (London, 1974). The 1974 revised version followed the first and second editions, published in 1963 and 1965 respectively; clearly there was a demand for the sort of performance guidelines which Donington's book provided.
10 Nicholas Kenyon, ‘Introduction: Some Issues and Questions’, in Authenticity and Early Music, ed. Nicholas Kenyon (Oxford, 1988), 2.
11 Haskell, The Early Music Revival, 54.
12 Harold Rutland, ‘Music Diary’, Radio Times: Journal of the BBC (Midland Edition), 92/1200 (27 September 1946), 17.
13 William Haley, ‘The Third Programme: An Introduction’, Radio Times: Journal of the BBC (Midland Edition), 92/1200 (27 September 1946), 1.
14 Kenyon, ‘Introduction: Some Issues and Questions’, 2.
15 Thomas Goff, Autobiographical Talk, n.d., T2134–2136B&W, British Library.
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid.
18 See ‘Experiments with Bach’, Western Morning News (Plymouth), 22 May 1952, n.pag., Eileen Joyce Collection, Callaway Centre Archive, The University of Western Australia, CAL0005/49–54, 1952–57, File 1952(b); see also L.H.S., ‘Music Review – Bach Harpsichord Concertos at Royal Albert Hall’, Kensington News, 30 May 1952, n.pag., Eileen Joyce Collection, Callaway Centre Archive, The University of Western Australia, CAL0005/49–54, 1952–57, File 1952(a).
19 ‘Harpsichord Concertos by Bach’, The Scotsman, Edinburgh, 22 May 1952, n.pag., Eileen Joyce Collection, Callaway Centre Archive, The University of Western Australia, CAL0005/49–54, 1952–57, File 1952(b).
20 It should also be noted that in 1962 and 1963, Thurston Dart and George Malcolm respectively and the Philomusica of London presented two all-Bach programmes, neither of which included any of Bach's two, three or four harpsichord concertos. Without the thread that had unified the 1952–61 concerts, the 1962 and 1963 RFH concerts fall outside the parameters of this article and therefore are not included in it. The 1967 and 1969 RFH concerts, on the other hand, returned to the earlier raison d'être: the performance of Bach's concertos for two, three and four harpsichords. The latter two concerts, then, fall within the scope of this article and are included.
21 The slow movement is less successful than the fast outer movements, however, because of the rapid decay of the harpsichord sound and the limitations of the instrument in sustaining slow-moving melodies. This is an issue which Bach dealt with in different ways in the harpsichord concertos. In BWV 1060, for example, pizzicato strings provide a harmonic underpinning for the solo instruments – a method that does not fully compensate for the inability of the harpsichord to sustain the dotted crotchets in the melodic line. In BWV 1063, Bach's (more successful) method is to double the Sicilienne melody in the (arco) first violins and RH of all three solo harpsichords, giving the harpsichords solo billing in two episodes that are based on faster moving and more idiomatic semiquavers. Arco strings as melodic reinforcement are also employed in the following concerto, BWV 1064. The issue is dealt with in the last of the concertos, BWV1065, first through block chords in strings and harpsichords, followed by rapid figuration in the solo harpsichords.
22 Of the remaining three concertos, BWV1061 was scored originally for two harpsichords without accompaniment, and as such would not have been familiar to audiences. BWV1063 has been claimed by some scholars to be an arrangement of works by other composers; others believe it to be an original composition by JS Bach. BWV1064 is generally seen to be an adaptation of a concerto scored for three violins.
23 Thurston Dart, ‘The Harpsichord Concerto’, programme notes for Concertos by Bach and Mozart for 3 & 4 Harpsichords, 18 May 1953, Eileen Joyce Collection, Callaway Centre Archive, The University of Western Australia, CAL003/3, File 1952–58(b).
24 Grove Music Online, ‘The Advent of the Piano’, by Robert Winter, accessed on 6 December 2012. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.ezproxy.ecu.edu.au/.
25 Richard Maunder, ‘Mozart at the Keyboard: Mozart's Keyboard Instruments’, Early Music 20, no. 2 (May 1992), 210, 218.
26 Ibid., 216, 218.
27 Thurston Dart, ‘The Harpsichord Concerto’, programme notes for Concertos by Bach and Mozart for 3 & 4 Harpsichords, 18 May 1953.
28 Winter, ‘The Advent of the Piano’.
29 Thurston Dart, ‘The Harpsichord Concerto’, programme notes for Concertos by Bach, Mozart and Vivaldi for 2 & 4 Harpsichords, 24 May 1955, Eileen Joyce Collection, Callaway Centre Archive, The University of Western Australia, CAL003/3, File 1952–58(b).
30 Charles Cudworth, liner notes for Music for Four Harpsichords, Decca Ace of Diamonds SDD 451 (London, 1967).
31 Goff, Autobiographical Talk.
32 Ibid.
33 The programme notes for these concerts, written by Bream, note that the instrument on which he played was made by Thomas Goff (Julian Bream, ‘The Lute’, programme notes for Concertos by Bach and Vivaldi for 3 & 4 Harpsichords, 1 May 1956, Eileen Joyce Collection, Callaway Centre Archive, The University of Western Australia, CAL003/3, File 1952–58[b]).
34 ‘Festival Hall: Harpsichord Concertos’, The Times, 22 May 1957, n.pag., Eileen Joyce Collection, Callaway Centre Archive, The University of Western Australia, CAL0005/49–54, 1952–57, File 1957(b).
35 For a full discussion of Joyce's involvement in the early music movement, see Chapter 5 of Destiny: the Extraordinary Career of Pianist Eileen Joyce (Melbourne: Lyrebird Press, in press).
36 Howard Schott, ‘Malcolm, George (John)’, in Grove Music Online. Available from: Oxford Music Online (Accessed 11 December 2012).
37 ‘Denis Vaughan’, in Nicholas Slonimsky (ed.), Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, 8th ed. (New York, 1992), 1945.
38 Pamela Nash, ‘Obituary: Valda Aveling’, The Guardian, 18 December 2007. Available from http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/dec/18/1 (Accessed on 26 July 2013).
39 ‘Simon Preston’, in Nicholas Slonimsky (ed.), Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, 2nd ed. (New York, 1992), 1443.
40 Thurston Dart, ‘The Orchestra’, programme notes for Concertos by Bach and Vivaldi for 2, 3 & 4 Harpsichords, 21 May 1957, Eileen Joyce Collection, Callaway Centre Archive, The University of Western Australia, CAL003/3, File 1952(b)–58.
41 Peter Watchorn, Isolde Ahlgrimm, Vienna and the Early Music Revival (Aldershot, 2007), 18. On the Continent, Karl Münchinger's Stuttgarter Kammerorkester had been well known for its Bach performances since 1945, and Paul Sacher's Basle Orchestra had made notable recordings of the Brandenburg Concertos in 1950 (Watchorn, 18).
42 Watchorn, Isolde Ahlgrimm, Vienna and the Early Music Revival, 18. The matter of performing pitch standards will be returned to later in the article.
43 Ibid., 19.
44 Goff, Autobiographical Talk.
45 Howard Schott and Martin Elste, ‘Harpsichord: 1900–1940’, in Grove Music Online. Available from: Oxford Music Online (Accessed on 9 August 2013).
46 Goff, Autobiographical Talk.
47 Ibid.
48 Ibid.
49 Fergus Hoey, interview by Victoria Rogers (London, 21 March 2010).
50 Ibid.
51 Howard Schott, ‘Goff, Thomas’, in Grove Music Online. Available from: Oxford Music Online (Accessed on 26 August 2013).
52 Goff also made a number of clavichords. For a discussion of his clavichords see Howard Schott, ‘The Clavichord Revival, 1800–1960’, Early Music 32, no. 4 (November 2004), 599. See also Howard Schott, ‘Review of Thurston Dart's Clavichord Recordings’, Early Music 27, no. 4 (November 1999), 678–9.
53 Julian Bream, cited in Julian Bream and J.M. Thomson, ‘On Playing the Lute’, Early Music 3, no. 4 (October 1975), 348.
54 Bream, cited in Julian Bream and J.M. Thomson, ‘On Playing the Lute’, 348.
55 The amplification was designed by one of Goff's friends, Pat Cousins, to whom Goff referred as ‘a great Cambridge acoustical engineer' who located ‘the best available equipment' for the concert series (Goff, Autobiographical Talk).
56 C.R.C., ‘The Amplifiers’, programme notes for Concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach, 20 May 1952, Eileen Joyce Collection, Callaway Centre Archive, The University of Western Australia, CAL003/3, File 1952(b)–58.
57 Ibid.
58 Ibid.
59 P.B., ‘Concertos Were a Delight’, Star, London, 21 May 1952, n.pag., Eileen Joyce Collection, Callaway Centre Archive, The University of Western Australia, CAL0005/49–54, 1952–57, File 1952 (a).
60 M.C., ‘Harpsichord Concertos’, Daily Telegraph, London, 21 May 1952, n.pag., Eileen Joyce Collection, Callaway Centre Archive, The University of Western Australia, CAL0005/49–54, 1952–57, File 1952 (b).
61 Music for Three, Four and Five Harpsichords: Bach, Vivaldi, Malcolm, EMI Records, CLP1120 (1956) (with Eileen Joyce, Thurston Dart, George Malcolm and Denis Vaughan, and the Pro Arte Orchestra conducted by Boris Ord); and Music for Four Harpsichords, DECCA SDD451 (1967) (with soloists George Malcolm, Valda Aveling, Geoffrey Parsons and Simon Preston, and the English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Raymond Leppard). The 1956 recording has been re-released on an EMI Classics CD compilation, 5099970 440522.
62 ‘Four Harpsichords: Bach and Vivaldi’, The Times, 2 May 1956, n.pag., Eileen Joyce Collection, Callaway Centre Archive, The University of Western Australia, CAL0005/49–54, 1952–57, File 1956 (b).
63 Ibid.
64 S.S., ‘Analytical Notes and First Reviews’, Gramophone XLV, no. 533 (October 1967), 202.
65 See Bruce Haynes's definitive book on the topic, A History of Performing Pitch: The Story of ‘A’ (Lanham, Maryland and Oxford, 2003). Haynes notes that it was not until 1939 that pitch within Western countries was set to A=440cps. The war intervened, however, before the decision could be implemented. The International Standardising Organisation (I.S.O.) therefore reconvened in 1953 and reaffirmed the earlier recommendation of 440, which has remained the official international standard since then (Haynes, A History of Performing Pitch, 361).
66 Johann Sebastian Bach: Concertos for Two and Four Harpsichords, with Eduard Müller, Gustav Leonhardt, Janny van Wering, Annette Uittenbosch and the Leonhardt Consort led by Gustav Leonhardt, Telefunken-Decca SAWT 9424–B (1963).
67 Information on the record sleeve names each of the individual performers; from this it is clear that each string part is played by only one performer. See Otto v. Irmer, liner notes for Johann Sebastian Bach: Concertos for Two and Four Harpsichords, with Eduard Müller, Gustav Leonhardt, Janny van Wering, Annette Uittenbosch and the Leonhardt Consort led by Gustav Leonhardt, Telefunken-Decca SAWT 9424–B, 1963.
68 Of the harpsichords, the first was made by W. Rück, copied from C.A. Gräbner (1782); the second was by M. Skowroneck, copied from J.D. Dulcken (no date); the third was a genuine J. & A. Kirckman (1775); and the fourth instrument was made by J.C. Neupert (1932). The stringed instruments were even more authentically Baroque. The two violins were made respectively by Jakob Stainer (1676) and Klotz (eighteenth century); the violas were made by Giovanni Tonini (seventeenth century) and an anonymous eighteenth-century German maker; the cello was a Guadagnini (1749); and the double bass was a German eighteenth-century instrument (Irmer, liner notes for Johann Sebastian Bach: Concertos for Two and Four Harpsichords).
69 Fergus Hoey, interview by Victoria Rogers.
70 It is notable, too, that the press showed a distinct lack of interest in the 1967 and 1969 concerts. There is no review of either of these concerts in four of the main sources of reviews in London in the 1950s and 1960s: The Times; Musical Opinion; Musical Times; and Music and Musicians.
71 This concert took place on 2 March 1967 in the Royal Albert Hall, with the RPO conducted by Anatole Fistoulari. Joyce's return was short lived and she largely withdrew from the concert platform after the 1969 concert.
72 ‘Thomas Goff of Pont Street: harpsichord builder.’ Available from: http://www.baroquemusic.org/goff.html (Accessed 18 October 2013).
73 Kenyon, ‘Introduction: Some Issues and Questions’, 2.