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Dear Alex, Classical music is indeed sparsely represented on this year's conference program, but I will do a centennial tribute to sopranos Astrid Várnay and Birgit Nilsson that I hope you will be able to attend. Ciao, DDR On Fri, Apr 27, 2018 at 7:09 PM, Alex McGehee <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > A very interesting thread. Would be nice if such material, sources, and > demonstrations made it to an ARSC conference. I noticed only Bluegrass, > Disco, Rap, and the discovery that Baltimore is referred to as “Charm City” > in a quick scan of the program for our annual event. Despite many years > spent in the DC area, Baltimore’s nickname was a discovery. Sort of an > oxymoron from my experiences outside the tourist areas. > > “Wellington’s Victory” is a great reminder of the old Mercury recording > with Antal Dorati and the LSO. I bought it for the “1812” on the other > side. The one with the “authentic” cannons and bells. Being something of a > Tchaikovsky nut in my youth, the recording allowed me a first experience of > a thoroughly mediocre work by Beethoven. Of course there are others and had > I not already placed all the “great composers” on such an exalted altar, I > would have realized that LvB had subpar days just like everyone else. > > Haydn’s pieces for Flötenuhr—the word is best translated as mechanical > organ—are a minor, but interesting group in the larger body of his work. > The still on-going, first complete edition of Haydn’s work considers 17 of > these pieces to be genuine. Fifteen others, included in the relevant JHW > volume, are published in an appendix, but cannot be sourced to Haydn. The > editorial work which resulted in these divisions was done by Sonja Gerlach > and George Hill in the early 1980s. Gerlach is near irreproachable in her > scholarly work on Haydn. > > The princes Esterházy—particularly Nicholas II—were huge fans of > mechanical organs, and they most certainly featured their “personal” > composer’s works. A few of these devices have survived and they have > revealed some significant information to researchers regarding other Haydn > works, which we would not have known except for these wound up mechanicals. > Given their cost, they must have been the audiophile status equipment of > their day. Haydn was intimately involved in the transcription of his music > for them. He worked together with a very talented builder— Catholic priest, > Father Primitivus Niemecz, also on the Esterházy payroll. Haydn’s autograph > manuscript for the music in one of these organs requires 32 tones over a > three octave range. Unfortunately, because mainsprings wear out and get > replaced, we cannot rely on the devices for unquestioned authority in > matters of tempo. Given the pre-metronome times, that would have been good > information to have. > > If your eyes have not completely glazed over by this point, I would > strongly recommend tracking down Arthur Ord-Hume’s, Joseph Haydn and the > Mechanical Organ. The text is in English and the book features absolutely > terrific photographs of three of the clocks—still in playable condition, > inside and out diagrams of how they were constructed, and facsimiles of a > few surviving Haydn manuscripts for the works. I checked Abebooks.com < > http://abebooks.com/> (like half the bookselling world, now owned by > Amazon) and found it still available for under $20. > > Incidentally, the first known public hearing of any of Haydn’s Flötenuhr > music took place on June 14, 1926 as part of a Vienna radio broadcast. > > Salud, > Alex McGehee > > > On Apr 25, 2018, at 7:40 PM, Paul Jackson <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > > > The Stanford Piano Roll project may be able to help with this. > > http://library.stanford.edu/blogs/stanford-libraries-blog/ > 2015/11/piano-roll-scanner-project-prsp > > > > *Trescott Research - Paul T. Jackson * > > > > 2503 Natalie Lane, Steilacoom, WA 98388 > > > > http://www.trescottresearch.com <http://www.trescottresearch.com/> > > > > Support Authors: > > > > http://www.plateauareawriters.org <http://www.plateauareawriters.org/> > > > > Support Musicians > > > > http://www.gatewayconcertband.org <http://www.gatewayconcertband.org/> > > > > On 4/25/2018 2:13 PM, Frank Forman wrote: > >> Does anyone have a piano roll listing? Schnabel punched 051n2 (Rondo in > G) > >> on Ampico 60613, in 1922, making it the first, since Kempff's disc > recording, P.66040 mx1721as, 1722� as, came in 1924. > -- 1006 Langer Way Delray Beach, FL 33483 561.265.2976