YCMI Newsletter 2009

Number 32

v Forty-second Annual Concert Series

TS · YALE · U EN M

· INSTR CAL U SI U

of the Yale University Collection of Musical Instruments

ION · OF · M CT LE

N EW S L ETT E R

ITY · C OL ERS IV N

Fall 2009

he has served on the faculties of California State University, Long Beach, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

The acclaimed British ensemble Florilegium will be represented by flutv The ensemble Sarasa was formed in response to a concert played ist Ashley Solomon and harpsichordist Terence Charlston in the opening by its founder, Timothy Merton, in the Sing Sing Correctional Facility concert on this season’s annual series of concerts at the Collection on in 1997, at the urging of a friend who was a prison volunteer. An inSunday, 18 October. Entitled “Father, Son, and Godfather,” their promate who heard that first concert remarked, “When art is well executed, gram will feature music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel it projects a message that transcends Bach, and Georg Philipp Telemann. language, culture, and even aesthetic The ensemble took the name “Florilegium” boundaries.” Sarasa took these words to from the term used by German composer heart and since then has been bringing Georg Muffat (1653-1704) in his treatise live music to those who have little access on the Art of String Playing (1695). to it. In addition to its public concerts, For nearly two decades since its estabthe ensemble plays in adult and adoleslishment in 1991, Florilegium has been cent correctional facilities, homes for the one of Britain’s leading period instrument elderly, mental hospitals, and institutions ensembles. Tours have taken the group for the disabled. Sarasa also does residenthroughout the world to leading series and cies in grade schools, using drawing and festivals. Last season their performances inwriting to bring children to a meaningful cluded Bach’s Musical Offering in London’s understanding of classical music.

Wigmore Hall, Nottingham and SouthThe name “Sarasa” is derived from ampton; Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos a combination of Saraswathi, the Hinand Orchestral Suites in France; and du goddess of art and culture, and the works by Handel and Purcell in numerous poetic sanscrit word rasa denoting the concerts at home. Florilegium’s extensive essence of sound. Director and cellist discography has included many award-winTimothy Merton will be joined by vioning discs. Telemann’s Paris Quartets, Vol. linists Elizabeth Blumenstock, Christina 2, was awarded the group’s fourth Editor’s Day-Martinson, Amy Weiss, violist Jenny Choice from Gramophone Magazine and Stirling, and harpsichordist Charles won the Classical Internet Award from Sherman to perform a program centered Classicstoday.com. In September 2007 around Vivaldi’s Four Seasons interspersed Bach Cantatas and Sinfonias with the with works by Telemann.

Dutch soprano Johannette Zomer was released; this received a 2008 Edison Award, Representing the British ensemble Florilegium, flutist Ashley Solomon vHarpsichordist Linda Skernick will and harpsichordist Terence Charlston will open this season’s series of con- perform an all-Bach program on FebruDutch music’s most prestigious prize. ary 28. She received her Master’s degree v Virtuoso guitarist and lutenist John certs at the Collection on October 18. from the Juilliard School, where she studied under Albert Fuller and Schneiderman will return to perform at the Collection on November 15.

Fernando Valenti, harpsichord, and Theodore Lettvin, piano.

Entitled “Souvenirs from Moscow, Paris, and Vienna,” his program will inMs. Skernick has toured with Alexander Schneider’s Brandenburg clude works by Glinka, Lvov, Morkov, Alexandroff, Sarenko, Zimmerman, Ensemble and has performed with Gerard Schwarz’s Mostly Mozart FesGiuliani, Coste, and Mertz played on Russian and Spanish guitars. tival, as well as the Seacliff Chamber Players’ Long Island Bach Festival.

Based in California, Mr. Schneiderman began his career as a banjo, She was a member of New York’s “Tafelmusik” Ensemble and the New guitar, bass, and fiddle player. The young Schneiderman was a familiar York Baroque Consort. She presented a New England tour of violin and face on the stages of bluegrass and folk festivals throughout California. harpsichord recitals with Philip Setzer (of the Emerson String Quartet), He continues his interest in early American music performing traditional and has presented recitals with her father, violist Abraham Skernick, Appalachian fiddle tunes in a “clawhammer” style on the five-string banjo. and flutist Michael Parloff (principal flute, Metropolitan Opera).

Mr. Schneiderman studied with British guitar pedagogue and author A featured soloist with the Connecticut Early Music Festival, and Frederick Noad, and continued his studies at the Schola Cantorum in John Solum’s Hanoverian Ensemble, Ms. Skernick has performed with Basel, Switzerland, with the great modern pioneer of the baroque lute, Orchestra New England, The New Haven Symphony, and the Eastern Eugen Dombois. John Schneiderman is a member of the chamber enConnecticut Symphony Orchestra. Many of her performances have been sembles Galanterie, and The Czar’s Guitars, and has performed with broadcast by National Public Radio. She has appeared live on WQXR’s the Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles “The Listening Room” (New York City) and WGBH’s “Morning Pro Philharmonic, Seattle Baroque, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, ChanMusica.” Ms. Skernick has been a member of the music faculty at Conticleer, Musica Pacifica and the American Bach Soloists. His extensive necticut College since 1979 and is on the faculty of the Thames Valley discography, much of it rarely or never before recorded, includes cds on Music School, New London, CT. During the 2008-09 season she perthe AudioQuest, Dorian, and Centaur labels. formed an all-Bach recital at Connecticut College, Wesleyan University, Mr. Schneiderman is currently on the faculties of the University of and the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory.

California, Irvine; Irvine Valley College; and Orange Coast College, and

vFrom the Director’s Desk

v Formed in 1973 by five Juilliard graduates, The Aulos Ensemble

photograph: courtesy of Nancy Trowbridge

remains one of the nation’s oldest and most distinguished groups deDuring the last year, I have undergone an intense education, learning not voted to the performance of music in its historical context. Consisting of only about the wonderful treasures of the Collection but also about its Christopher Krueger, flute; Marc Schachman, oboe; Linda Quan, violin; distinguished history. I extend my deepest appreciation to Susan ThompMyron Lutzke, violoncello; and Arthur Haas, harpsichord, the ensemble son and Nicholas Renouf, who have patiently provided me with most of this has remained at the forefront of a movement that was to capture the guidance. I have also learned much from esteemed individuals associimagination of the American listening public. In 1978 with the release ated with the Collection, including Frank Rutkowski, Rod Regier, Anof their recording, “Masterpieces of the High drew Dipper, Yves Feder, and Robert Mealy.

Baroque,” Aulos’ reputation for exhilarating

As I write this, I am in The Netherlands performances informed with scholarly insight playing concerts, but I have also had the opwas firmly established. portunity to meet some interesting people and Among the stars of the “early music” visit instrument collections while here–includmovement that have appeared with the Ening the Berlin Musical Instrument Museum semble are harpsichordists Trevor Pinnock and the Gemeente Museum in Den Haag. and Albert Fuller, violinists Jaap Schroeder I am aware that all the knowledge I have and Stanley Ritchie, cellist Anner Bylsma, gained is but a modest sliver of an overview of oboist Michel Piguet, and vocalists Jan de the Yale Collection, but every piece of inforGaetani, Bethany Beardslee, Charles Bressler, mation only further underlines its worth and Julianne Baird, and Dawn Upshaw. the importance of preparing for its future.

Now in its fourth decade, Aulos continues I am grateful that Dean Blocker has asked me to explore new projects and develop outlets for to continue in this position for the next couple its music-making. The 2006-07 season saw its of years so that I may see the first fruits of some first presentation of Handel’s masque Acis and A 19th-century American melodeon by Connecticut maker A. J. projects we have undertaken.

Pratt is one of two instruments presented to the Collection by Galatea, performed in a version approximat There are articles in this newsletter (heroMr. Thomas Trowbridge III (Yale College, Class of 1964). ing the size of the composer’s vision for the ically assembled and written by Nicholas in the work—5 singers and 8 instrumentalists without a conductor; it was a huge midst of intensive renovation work in the basement!) about the various hit with presenters, audiences and critics. Where appropriate, Aulos has initiatives undertaken for the Collection, but I would like to draw your created residencies in which the group and its guests teach and coach attention to several of them. young professionals and then join them in these performances. And Along with ongoing maintenance and restoration of the instruments, 15 years after the release of their Christmas CD from the Metropolitan we have embarked on an assessment of the entire Collection. Andrew Museum, the Ensemble and Julianne Baird collaborated on “In Dulci Dipper’s work on the strings began last December; he will return in SepJubilo.” This CD was released in the fall of 2006 to critical acclaim and is tember to complete the assessment and evaluation. After this will come the beginning of a new series of recordings in an affiliation with Centaur the assessment of the keyboards; some work has already been done in Records. Aulos will conclude the series on April 11. that area by Frank Rutkowski and Rodney Regier.

Now in progress and to be completed early in September is the renovavAcquisitions tion of the basement storage area under the direction of architect Joseph Two instruments were accessioned by the Collection this season—a 19thChadwick. We are also hoping to brighten the upstairs environment with a century melodeon and a jazz-age banjo. Both are the gift of Thomas R. new coat of paint so that it looks its best during the busy season to follow.

Trowbridge III, Class of 1964, from whose summer home in Sharon they Several initiatives to enhance the presence of the Collection within were transferred to the Collection in July. the School of Music and other constituents at Yale are in progress. We The melodeon bears the label: A. J. Pratt / Ansonia, CT. “Meloare working with Robert Mealy to support his Early Music program in the deon” was the common trade name usually applied to the horizontal, Yale School of Music, most immediately by acquiring replica instruments rectangular cased version of the “American organ,” an adaptation of the (that is, instruments made by modern makers after Baroque and Classical European reed organ in which air was sucked by exhaustion through free models.) Also, we are pleased to announce a new series, “Master Classes reeds instead of blown through the reeds with pressure. This suction at the Collection,” which will include classes connected with each of the system, developed in the 1830’s by Jeremiah Cahart of Poughkeepsie, concerts on the Collection Series, and others as well. We are also planyielded a sound that was softer and more pleasing than that produced ning for two concerts by Robert Mealy’s Ensemble at the Collection, one by the pressure system. Cahart moved to Buffalo, took out a patent each semester, dates to be announced. for his melodeon, and sold his patent rights to several other Buffalo I believe we are charting a promising and productive transition course makers in 1846. In the following decades there was a proliferation of for the Collection. At the same time, I am ever mindful of a cautionary reed-organ making throughout the northeastern US. Far less expensive remark that Andrew Dipper made to me: “Change is always potentially to produce than the contemporary piano, the simpler five-octave melodangerous for a museum.” Perhaps the most important thing I have deons sold at a fraction of the cost, thus enabling families of modest learned thus far is what a delicate sense of balance the Collection remeans to afford a keyboard instrument, which was a hallmark of the quires of its stewards—balance between preservation and access, between genteel home. In grander homes the easily portable melodeon allowed enhancing the use and study of the Collection now and responsibly premusic to be taken to any room in the house or even outdoors. serving it for the future. This surely is our worthy mission.

The banjo was made by the important Boston firm of Vega. This I hope you will take advantage of the various new public offerings company, which subsumed the older business of A. J. Fairbanks, also at the Collection. I look forward to seeing you at concerts and master made guitars and mandolins, but is best known for its banjos. The exclasses, and perhaps when you pay a visit to the museum. Finally, I welTrowbridge instrument is an example of the famed “Whyte Laydie” tenor come any comments or questions you might have for me. banjo, so called because its rim and neck are made of maple lacking the

Sincerely yours, dark stain usually applied to these largest parts of the instrument. This banjo four strings and 19 frets. From the serial number stamped inside its rim, the banjo can be determined to have been made in 1930. These antique Vega banjos are still highly prized as players’ instruments today.

William Purvis, Interim Director

vRenovation of Basement Storage Area

It is now nearly half a century since the Collection was rescued in 1960 from an inhospitable perch in the dome of Woolsey Hall and brought to its present home at 15 Hillhouse Avenue. At first, the instruments were “camping out” in what had been an abandoned fraternity building. In the following four decades the larger rooms on the first floor and the former ballroom on the second floor one by one were transformed into galleries for the proper display of the instruments. The storage facilities, however, remained an inadequate agglomeration of improvised shelving, racks, and used file cabinets.

Inspired by the University’s Collections Security Upgrade Project, the Collection staff consulted with their colleagues in other museums on campus during past seasons about improving the storage facilities at 15 Hillhouse Avenue. Over the summer, the basement storage area in the collection has undergone a comprehensive renovation. All instruments and storage modules were removed from the basement in June. In August the Office of Construction and Renovation Facilities engaged a contractor to conduct a thorough cleaning of the basement, the sealing of the floor and painting of the walls to minimize dust. Improvements were then made to the air distribution aspect of the climate control system and to the lighting. A new system of steel storage modules for keyboard instruments was purchased and assembled. In early September the firm of Delta Designs, Ltd., of Topeka, Kansas, will install state-of-the art steel storage cases for medium and smaller-sized instruments, cases similar to ones already in use in the Art Gallery and Peabody Museum.

The resulting upgrades to the storage area are a very important enhancement to the conservation and educational programs of the museum.

Not only will the instruments be in a safer, more secure environment, but they will also be more readily accessible for study and evaluation.

vConsultant Conservators appointed

Interim Director William Purvis is pleased to announce that last spring, two master craftsmen, each highly regarded throughout the world in their respective métiers, have accepted appointments as consultant Conservators to the Collection.

Andrew Dipper is known the world over as a skilled restorer, historian, writer and sculptor. After studying sculpture and violinmaking in London and Cremona, he founded Andrew Dipper Restorations in London in 1975. He relocated to Minneapolis in 1990 where he joined the firm of Claire Givens Violins, Inc., Andrew Dipper appointed as Conservator of string instruments as Vice President.

Owing to his comprehensive knowledge of historical practice in string instrument making, Mr. Dipper has been much sought after as a restorer and consultant. Examples of his restoration and conservation work can be found in many of the world’s foremost public and private musical instrument collections, including: the Metropolitan Museumof Art, New York; the Federal Musical Instrument Museum, Berlin; the National Music Museum, South Dakota; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Mr. Dipper is a sought-after lecturer and has taught violinmaking and restoration in Cremona and London. He has also published important texts on various aspects of stringed instruments which include a translation of the violinmaking notes of Count Cozio de Salabue, the first This Newsletter is published annually by the YALE UNIVERSITY COLLECTION OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 15 Hillhouse Avenue, P.O. Box 208278 New Haven, CT 06520-8278 Telephone (203) 432-0822; FAX (203) 432-8342 e-mail: musinst@pantheon.yale.edu On the Internet: www.yale.edu/musicalinstruments

Public Visiting Hours: Sept.-June, Tues—Fri., 1-4 pm; Sun., 1-5 pm Closed during University Recesses and during July and August.

collector of instruments by Stradivari and Guarneri, and a book on the theory of violin geometry and f-shaped sound-hole construction. In addition, he edited the translation of The Secrets of Stradivari by S. Sacconi from Italian to English. He is currently working on a translation of La Chelonomié, ou, Le Parfait Luthier, compiled by the Abbé Sibire from the workshop notes of François Lupot.

Rodney Regier, of Freeport, Maine, will serve as consultant Conservator of pianos. He holds a B.S. in civil engineering from MIT, and has worked for instrument makers William Dowd in Cambridge, Mass., and AdlamBurnett Ltd., in England. Mr. Regier has completed three extensive restorations of pianos in the Yale Collection and delivered a new fortepiano of his own make to the Yale School of Music last season. He has contributed significantly to the scholarship in the history of the early piano, and his instruments based on late 18th- and early 19th-century models are used by eminent pianists around the world and by instituRodney Regier appointed tions including the University of CaliforConservator of pianos nia, Harvard University, Indiana University, Peabody Conservatory, the Sibelius Academy (Helsinki), Stanford University, and many others.

vLecture on Stradivari

Master luthier Andrew Dipper will present a lecture entitled, “What makes a Stradivari?—The Mysteries of a great Violin Maker” at the museum at 15 Hillhouse Avenue, on Thursday, September 17, at 5:30 pm.

Mr. Dipper is a scholar and connoisseur of the work of the Cremonese makers, Stradivari in particular. He is also a highly engaging raconteur.

His talk should prove to be of interest to the greater Yale community.

Seats are limited; a telephone or e-mail reservation is advisable.

vHarpsichord lent for Art Gallery Exhibition This past summer, one of the Collection’s most lavishly decorated harpsichords, a two-manual instrument

by Pascal Taskin, Paris, 1770, was lent to the Yale Art Gallery for an exhibit entitled Time Will Tell: Ethics and Choices in Conservation.

Organized by Ian McClure, the Gallery’s Chief Conservator; Laurence Kanter, Curator of Early European Art; and Lisa Brody, Associate Curator of Ancient Art; with assistance rendered by Susan Thompson, Curator of Musical Instruments, the exhibit offered new insight into the art and sci- The harpsichord by Pascal Taskin was feaence of object care, revealing that tured in an exhibition at the Yale Art Gallery there are no simple answers to that ran from May 22 to September 6. the questions that regularly challenge conservators and curators in their work. Only “time will tell” how successful their solutions really are.

vSeries of Master Classes The positive response to several master classes presented in the Collection last season has led to the planning of an expanded schedule of such presentations to be offered this season by musicians performing on the Collection’s concert series as well as other guest artists Qualified students engaged in all aspects of the University’s music curricula, graduate and undergraduate, will be invited to participate in these classes, which will be open to the public free of charge. Associates Members of the Collection are especially encouraged to attend these classes, and they will be notified in advance by e-mail. The date, time and location of each class also will be posted on the Collection’s website and in the Weekly Bulletin.

photograph: Susan E.Thompson

MEMBERSHIP & TICKETS

Yale School of Music students (left to right) Patrick Hines, Donna Yoo, and Tianxia Wu experiment with lip-vibrated instruments during a brass seminar at the museum.

As in previous seasons, memberships and orders for series subscription tickets should be returned to the Collection in the enclosed envelope.

The membership will be processed and the tickets sent out in the mail.

Single tickets should be ordered directly from the School of Music Concert Office (by telephone at: 203-432-4158; online at: www. yale.edu/music). Associates are reminded that they are entitled to a substantial discount on the price of tickets: regular price $20 each, Asso-

ciate’s price $15; special Associate’s series ticket for five concerts $50. (As noted on the membership form, the IRS requires that the amount of the contribution that is tax-deductible must be reduced by the amount of the discount taken on ticket prices.) Associates are also given preference as to seating for a series subscription. Seats held in previous years will be reserved for the holder until Sept. 30. New subscription requests will be filled in order of receipt. For further information, please call (203) 432-0825.

YALE UNIVERSITY COLLECTION OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS ASSOCIATE MEMBERS: 2008-2009 HONORARY LIFE MEMBER Mr. Elias N. Kulukundis Mr. George P. O’Leary Mr. Andrew Petryn Mr. Hans H. Schambach Mr. Timothy A. Steinert STEINERT FELLOW Yves A. Feder and Linda Skernick SKINNER FELLOW Mr. Christopher Reuning BENEFACTOR Ms. Victoria Keator DePalma Mr. and Mrs. Elias N. Kulukundis Mr. Thomas G. MacCracken PATRON Stephen and Judith August Dr. and Mrs. Emile L. Boulpaep Ms. Ute Brinkmann Mr. and Mrs. Robert W. Lyons George and Reba O’Leary Mr. David G. Powrie Ms. Elizabeth C. Yen SPONSOR Mr. A. Chace Anderson Mr. and Mrs. Robert P. Anderson, Jr. Dr. James K. and Peggy F. Baird

SPONSOR (continued) Mr. Ronald Bell Ann Bliss Ms. Claudine Britton Robert and Serena Blocker Prof. Ki and Juliet Chon Robert G. and Grace A. Clark Ms. Constance Clement Ms. Phoebe Coleman Dr. Philip J. Conforti Mr. and Mrs. R. Raleigh D’Adamo Mr. John N. Ellyson Dr. and Mrs. Gilbert H. Glaser Prof. Joseph F. Hoffman Mr. Paul Jacobs Prof. Boyd M. Jones II Yuliya Kaspler & Eschrat Rahimi-Laridjani Ms. Elizabeth Keitel Samuel H. Kress Foundation Barbara and Carleton Loucks Peggy and Ramsay MacMullen Elizabeth D. C. Meyer Mrs. Frances L. Miller Prof. Craig A. Monson Peter and Kathryn Patrikis Mr. Andrew Petryn Prof. Leon Plantinga Gary and Diane Ransom Mr. Hans H. Schambach Anne Scheffler Barbara A. Shailor and Harry W. Blair

SPONSOR (continued) Ms. Judith H. Shaw Marlowe and Elise Sigal Kerala and Richard Snyder Shepard and Marlene Stone Mr. and Mr. Richard Warren Ms. Mary Weigand Mrs. Avril Winks FAMILY John and Rebecca Arkenberg Mr. and Mrs. Donald Baerman Francis Braunlich and Elizabeth Neuse Anne and Guido Calabresi Dr. & Mrs. Gerhard H. Giebisch Prof. Francesco Iachello Ruth Lambert and Rochelle Lambert Dr. and Mrs. Jerry Lasser Mr. Walter L. Maguire Rodney J. Regier and Shirley Matthews Lynda E. Rosenfeld and Richard M. Weiss Daniel and Susan Rosner Prof.. Koichi Shinohara Drs. Lorraine Siggins & Braxton McKee Ms Kathleen Moretto Spencer Dr. J. W. Streett and Family Drs. Kurt and Judit Stenn John and Dorothy Sutton Mrs. Belle Skinner Kilborne Taylor Earl and Constance Young Dr. Hugh H. Young

REGULAR Mr Kenneth E. Allen Mr. F. Vining Bigelow Mrs. Sally B. Brown Mr. John H. Burkhalter III Walter Cahn & Brenda Danet Ms. Adela W. Collins Mr. Reed A. Corbo Edith H. Evangeliste Grace A. Feldman Allen and Madeleine Forte Ms. Joyce V. Goldberg Dr. Mary Dalton Greer Ellsworth Hood Susan Rees Jones Mr. Philip Kass Mr. Bruce Larkin Dr. Cornelia Leavitt-Scudder Ms. Jeane Lind Prof. George H. Lucktenberg Prof. Susan Marchant Dr. E. Anthony Petrelli Elizabeth Scheffler Ms. Barbara E. Smith Ms. Erica Warnock Mrs. Carolyn Westerfield Ms. Sarah Jessica Whitson Dr. Hugh H. Young STUDENT Mr. Jason Stockman

The Yale University Collection of Musical Instruments, one of the oldest collections of it kind in the United States, was established in 1900, when New Haven Symphony co-founder Morris Steinert presented the core of his extensive private collection to the University. One of four museums on campus, the Collection preserves, documents, exhibits, and interprets musical instruments as works of art and artifacts of music history. Its holdings of nearly 1000 instruments—including a collection of keyboard instruments unsurpassed in the world—are particularly strong in the area of European art music between 1550 and 1950. Housed in an 1894 Romanesque revival building designed by William H. Allen, the Collection has presented an annual series of concerts since 1967 and contributes in many other ways to the Yale curriculum and to the cultural life of the University and to the larger community.