TS · YALE · U EN M
ION · OF · M CT LE
N EW S L ETT E R
ITY · C OL ERS IV N
Number 36
Fall 2013
v Forty-sixth Annual Concert Series
· INSTR CAL U SI U
of the Yale University Collection of Musical Instruments
Terence Charlston’s studies in Oxford and London led to an early career We are proud to present an especially impressive international roster of in church music. As a harpsichord and organ soloist, he has toured exspecialists in the performance of music in a historical context for the 46th tensively in Europe, as well as in Japan, the USA and South America. He annual series of concerts at the Collection. This season the second floor was a member of London Baroque between 1995 and 2007. Highlights gallery of the Collection will lend its ideal acoustics to the performances among his over 50 recordings include Matthew Locke’s complete organ of musical repertory ranging from the 13th to the 19th century. and harpsichord music, Carlo Ignazio Monza’s Pièces modernes pour le vEllen Hargis, soprano, and lutenist Paul O’Dette will open the clavecin, William Byrd’s My Ladye Nevell’s Booke, and the world premiere reseries on October 6 with a procording of music from a recently gram entitled “Wait, I’m Singdiscovered keyboard manuscript ing Now,” featuring music from of Antoine Selosse. the early Italian Baroque includv On 26 January, Juilliard ing works by Barbara Strozzi, Baroque will make its New Alessandro Scarlatti, Antonio Haven debut at the Collection. Cesti, and others. Gonzalo Ruiz, oboe; Robert One of America’s premier Mealy, violin; Dominic Teresi, early music singers, Ellen Harbassoon; and Jeffrey Grossman, gis has worked with leading harpsichord, will perform a period music conductors, inprogram of music by J. S. Bach, cluding Andrew Parrott, Gustav Handel, C.P.E. Bach, Zelenka, Leonhardt, Monica Huggett, and Telemann. and Paul Hillier. Her recording Established in 2009, Juilliard of the leading role in Lully’s Baroque brings together some Thésée was nominated for a of the world’s most respected Grammy Award for Best Opera period-instrument specialists. Recording in 2008, and she is The core members are virtuoso featured on many solo discs in- The Boston-based vocal and instrumental ensemble Tapestry, will conclude this season’s series performers associated with cluding two with Paul O’Dette. at the Collection with their award winning program, “Song of Songs: Come into my Garden.” many major international early Ellen Hargis teaches voice at Case Western Reserve University and is Artmusic ensembles. Juilliard Baroque performs in a number of guises and ist-in-Residence with the Newberry Consort at the University of Chicago. has a wide-ranging repertoire, from intimate chamber music requiring Best known for his recitals and recordings of solo lute music, Paul only several performers to large-scale works that require orchestral forces. O’Dette also regularly performs in ensemble with such artists as Jordi SavThe Smithsonian Chamber Players will return to the Collection vall, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, William Christie, Nicholas McGegan, and on March 2. Violinist Vera Beths will join ’cellist Kenneth Slowik and Tafelmusik. He is a leading exponent of Baroque opera, conducting at pianist Pedja Muzijevich in a performance of 19th-century chamber muTanglewood, the Utrecht Early Music Festival and Sweden’s Drottningsic by Beethoven, Schubert and Mendelssohn. holm Court Theater. Many of his over 100 recordings have been nomi Dutch violinist Vera Beths studied at the Amsterdam Conservatory nated for the Gramophone’s “Record of Year.” He has served as Director and in New York under Ivan Galamian. The ensemble Archibudelli, which of Early Music at the Eastman School of Music since 1976 and is Artistic she founded with Anner Bylsma and Jürgen Kußmaul, regularly uses inDirector of the Boston Early Music Festival. struments with gut strings in performances of 18th- and 19-century music vThe British ensemble Florilegium, ensemble in residence at the that have been recorded on award-winning CD’s, often in collaboration Royal College of Music since 2008, will be represented by flutist Ashley with the Smithsonian Chamber Players. Solomon and harpsichordist Terence Charlston when they return to the Pianist Pedja Muzijevic has performed throughout the world as a soloCollection on November 3. Their program, “At the Court of Frederick ist in recital and with major orchestras, including the Milwaukee Symthe Great,” celebrates last year’s tercentenary of the birth of the musicphony, the Residentie Orkest in The Hague, the Dresden Philharmonic, loving King of Prussia who lived from 1712 to 1786. Included are works the Shinsei Nihon Orchestra in Tokyo, and the Boston Pops. His Carnby the monarch’s flute teacher, Johann Joachim Quantz, and his court egie Hall debut in Mozart’s Concerto K. 503 with the Oberlin Symphony harpsichordist, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. was recorded live and has been released on the Oberlin Music label. Director and flutist Ashley Solomon received first-class honours at ’Cellist and conductor Kenneth Slowik is artistic director of the the Royal Academy of Music in London. Success in major competitions Chamber Music Program at the National Museum of American History. helped him launch a worldwide career as a soloist. Solomon’s extensive He is a founding member of the Axelrod and Smithson String Quartets, discography with Florilegium also includes numerous solo discs, among and the Castle Trio. Recently, he has devoted increasing amounts of time them a recording of the complete Bach flute sonatas, which was selected to conducting oratorio, opera, and the orchestral repertoire. Many of his as one of the Gramophone’s favorite CDs for 2001. He was awarded the over fifty recordings featuring repertory by composers from Monteverdi 2008 Hans Roth Prize by the Bolivian government in recognition of the to Arnold Schoenberg have been international prize winners. A member assistance he has provided to the country’s natives through the presentaof the University of Maryland faculty, Kenneth Slowik is also artistic director of the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute. tion of Bolivian baroque music on the international stage.
vThe series will conclude with the Collection debut of the Tapestry Ensemble on April 13. This Boston-based vocal and instrumental ensemble combines medieval repertory and contemporary compositions in bold, conceptual programming. Their four recordings with Telarc International have been best-sellers and their two discs on the German MDG label have each received awards. Comprised of Cristi Catt, soprano; Laurie Monahan, mezzo-soprano; Daniela Tosic, mezzo-soprano; Diana Brewer, soprano, vielle and sackbut; Christa Patton, vielle and medieval harp; and Takaaki Masuko, percussion, the group will perform a concert entitled “Song of Songs: Come into my Garden.” The program weaves together ancient Hebrew, medieval Latin, Arabic, and modern English settings. This one-of-a-kind concert offers interpretations, both sensual and spiritual, of a 3,000-year-old text, which has been variously classified as an erotic love song, and as Judaeo-Christian allegory.
v Museum Interns
of over 100 keyboard instruments by European and American Makers. A new lighting system enhances visual appreciation of the clavichords, harpsichords, and pianos on display, and its LED lamps not only conserve energy but also eliminate the ultraviolet rays that are deleterious to many materials. New labels with descriptions give extensive information on the instruments themselves, their makers, and their historical context. A ground-breaking feature of the exhibit is a long-planned audio tour that significantly enhances visitors’ encounters with objects intended to be heard as well as seen. Using either their own smart phones or i-pods furnished on request by a museum attendant, visitors can listen to spoken descriptions of each instrument. They can choose to follow an ordered sequence to get a historical overview, or select individual examples. Most importantly, the sixteen instruments that are maintained in playing condition can be heard in examples of music recorded live during concerts that have been performed at the Collection. You may access the audio tour remotely online at: musical.instruments.squarespace. com/music-at-hand
The following article was submitted by Ian Petruzzi, lead member of the team of three interns who worked at the Colv From the Director lection during the 2012-13 academic year. I hope you will join us as we enter As I leave my internship at the an engaging and eventful season at Collection, I would like to share a the Collection. We are enthusiastic few words on my experience here about the upcoming concert series, and what it has meant to me. As a including special free performances master’s student at the Yale School of our Ensemble in Residence, the of Music, I first visited 15 Hillhouse Yale Baroque Ensemble. I am parto hear my teacher, Director Wilticularly excited about the visit of liam Purvis, play on the annual connewly renovated permanent exhibit of keyboard instruments features an electronic the Smithsonian Chamber Players. cert series. Before long, I had been The audio tour which may also be accessed remotely online. For most of their program of muworking here for two years, during sic by Beethoven, Schubert and Mendelssohn, they will use a fortepiano what happened to be an important transitional time for the Collection, regularly used by YSM students that was made by Rodney Regier based in full of exciting changes, from the monumental storage renovation to the part on the extraordinary Bösendorfer grand in the Collection. One of beautifully rejuvenated keyboard gallery and audio tour. I assisted in the more fragile pianos in the collection, the Bösendorfer still has many of preparing the 2011 exhibit “Whirring Lathes, Dulcet Tones,” opening my its original action parts. On the advice of Mr. Regier, the museum’s coneyes to the meticulous, detailed world of museum displays and painstakservator of pianos, we are carefully limiting the use of this piano. For this ingly constructed exhibits. The popular new audio tour in the keyboard concert Pedja Muzijevic will perform a couple of pieces of Schubert on the gallery presents a rich trove of information and history; the first-class anBösendorfer so that the audience may compare an original with a replica. nual concert series continues to inspire and entertain sold-out audiences Some of our current initiatives are less apparent to the casual visiboth here, and at home via live hd video streaming. Finally, as I write tor, such as the move of our off-campus storage to West Campus and this, a new website is being built, with a ‘virtual museum’ featuring over the database and website development described below. The new Yale 100 images of objects from the Collection. It will be exciting to see what School of Music website is now up and running, and the Collection’ new the next years will bring for the Collection as initiatives undertaken to site will be online very soon. It will be coordinated with the YSM site, broaden its scope and engage with the community continue to evolve. In but whereas the YSM website is primarily about people and events, the the meantime, my co-interns and I will be leaving New Haven to start our Collection site will focus on its treasured objects. The keyboard audio own careers: Colin Meinecke to San Antonio, Texas, as the new assistant tour described above will be incorporated into the website as a first step orchestra director of the Alamo Heights Independent School District; toward a more interactive presence of the museum online. Wai Lau back to her home town of Hong Kong to join the Hong Kong I look forward to seeing you at the Collection this year, at concerts, Philharmonic; and myself to Cleveland, Ohio, to reconnect with the freemaster classes, or anytime you are visiting. lance and orchestral scene I left three years ago. Though I will no longer be around to see it, I am quite sure that this spectacular museum, truly a - - William Purvis, Director remarkable resource within the university, will continue to make tremendous progress in positioning itself in its role as a prominent educational This Newsletter is published annually by the and cultural force within New Haven. YALE UNIVERSITY For the coming year we welcome two new interns: Jane Mitchell, violist, COLLECTION OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS and Kelly Hill, mezzo-soprano. We look forward to working with them and 15 Hillhouse Avenue, P.O. Box 208278 hope that they will find their term at the Collection a valuable experience. New Haven, CT 06520-8278
v New Keyboard Exhibit with Audio Tour
This past December, the newly renovated permanent exhibit of keyboard instruments opened in the Collection’s second floor gallery. Entitled “Music at Hand: Keyboard Instruments from Four Centuries,” the exhibit presents 27 highlights from the museum’s world-renowned holdings
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 August.
ed by Prof. Robert Mealy, the YBE is a postgraduate trio sonata ensemble v Replica Instruments In January, Richard Seraphinoff, a highly respected natural horn maker, consisting of two violins, ’cello, and keyboard. This season the group will horn player, and Professor at Indiana University, delivered two replica Ba- also include an oboe. The members of the group participate in an intenroque horns based on an early 18-century original by Nürnberger maker sive one-year program of study, immersing themselves in the chamber and solo repertoire from 1600 to 1785. The program is J. W. Haas. One of these designed to help modern players develop fluency in instruments already has historical styles and techniques. Through coaching been played masterfully and individual lessons, the participants learn to read in performances of the early notation, acquire a familiarity with primary “Quoniam” from Bach’s source material and treatises, and learn to improvise Mass in B Minor by our in various styles. departing intern Ian Petruzzi on tour of the East v Acquisitions Heading the list of accessions this season is the Coast and Japan with Maanonymous gift of a square piano made by the Masaaki Suzuki conducting thushek Piano Manufacturing Company of New the Schola Cantorum and Haven, ca. 1865-1870. The instrument is notable the Juilliard415 Baroque as the museum’s first piano of New Haven make. Ensemble. Mr. SeraphiFrederick Mathushek (1814-1891) was one of the noff also presented masmost inventive piano makers of his generation, terclassses and undertook an assessment of the brass Curator Susan Thompson demonstrates the la-ba, a Chinese ceremonial trumpet, a period during which the design of the modern holdings of the Collection. to New Haven public school students participating in the Yale School of Music’s piano was consolidated. His pianos were prized in their day for their sound and durability. This piano In the spring, the Col- Morse Academy program. lection purchased a vihuela by English maker David Rubio. The word is an example of Mathushek’s innovative “Colibri” model, a square that “vihuela” is a Spanish cognate for the Italian “viola” and in its broadest was reduced in size without sacrifice of range or tone. We are delighted to application denotes a short lute with flat top and back and waisted ribs. accession the piano since the Mathushek Company was the preeminent It could be either bowed (vihuela de arco, the Spanish viol) or plucked piano-making firm in the New Haven area during the later 19th century with the hand (vihuela de mano). The latter was a six- or seven-course and had an association with Morris Steinert, who established this museum when he presented the core instrument widely used in 15th and 16th-century Spain and Porof his collection to Yale in 1900. tugal alongside the humbler four-course guitar. Spanish player/ Last season Ralph P. D’Mello composers from the High Renaissance have left an extensive (Mus.M, ‘62) presented to the repertory of music for the vihuela in tablature. Students in the Collection 17 clarinets by 18thSchool of Music’s guitar program will now have the opportunity and 19th-century European and to explore that music on an appropriate instrument. American makers. This year he v Conservation and Restoration donated 30 military miniatures that he hand-painted himself. The behind-the-scenes work of our conservators continues to In memory of his mentor, Prof. be a vital activity of the museum. For musical instruments the Keith Wilson, who died in June, work is especially crucial, since in many cases it is intended to Mr. D’Mello also gave an unusumake the instrument playable to high artistic standards. This al clarinet in E-flat by G. Walch, presents a challenge to director, curators and conservators alike Berchtesgaden, dating from the as they work together to maintain a balance between preservalate 18th or early 19th century. tion of the historical object and artistic functionality. A balalaika was bequeathed Work is nearly complete on the Florentine spinetta by Franby the late Helen S. Chernik of cesco Poggio, dated 1620. Its delicate mechanism was adjusted Wallingford, CT, who passed by keyboard conservator Frank Rutkowski, who requilled the away in October of 2012. The instrument and reinforced its stand. This past season Frank instrument was made in 1929 by also completed an extensive overhaul of the mechanism of the her father Semeon Antif Chernik two-manual harpsichord built by New York maker John Challis (1892-1983), a machinist who in 1982. Donated to the Collection by Dr. William Frayer in emigrated from Russia in 1913. 2011, the instrument will be maintained at modern pitch to use in performances in ensemble with modern instruments and to v Morse Academy perform 20th-century solo repertory for the harpsichord. We are pleased to announce the publication by string con- The 19th-century square piano by New Haven maker The Morse Summer Music servator Andrew Dipper of a handsomely produced monograph Frederick Mathushek currently stands in the Director’s Academy is the summer extenon the restoration of a quinton by 18th-century French luthier office in front of the museum’s founder, Morris Steinert, sion of the highly successful Music in the Schools Initiative. Nicolas Chappuy (Paris, ca. 1770) that was given by Mr. Andrew who was associated briefly with Mathushek. Petryn in 2010. Through copious photography with explanatory captions, These programs provide intensive immersion of YSM students and alumthe reader experiences the painstaking consolidation and refurbishing of ni in the music programs of New Haven public schools, with a primary Chappuy’s work that has brought this example of the “last gasp” of the viol goal of music training, but a higher goal of transforming lives of inner city school children. Each summer since its inception, the Morse Acadtradition in France to life again in playing condition. emy has visited the Collection. It was remarkable this summer to witness vYale Baroque Ensemble how the program has grown, how curious, attentive, and enthusiastic Now in its fifth year as ensemble in residence at the Collection, the Yale Ba- the students have become, and also how much they have been learning. roque Ensemble, will perform two free concerts in the Collection this sea- Curator Nicholas Renouf asked one of his four tour groups of 20 each, son: Tuesday, October 8, and Thursday, March 6, both at 5:30 pm. Direct- “Can anyone tell me the three categories of stringed keyboard instru-
ments?” A boy of about 10 raised his hand and answered without hesitation, “clavichords, harpsichords and pianos.” It is inspiring to see these students embracing the historical richness of the Collection, and we look forward to more visits from this enthusiastic young audience.
v Database and Website
Two closely-linked ongoing projects have occupied Collection staff in recent months: the expansion of the museum’s database and the dissemination of its content on the Yale School of Music’s new website. During the past school year, the three post-graduate interns devoted many hours to the digitization and entry of photographs, measurements, descriptions, correspondence, and archival material of all sorts into the database where all records regarding the holdings, activities, and archives of the museum will now be maintained electronically. The database allows instant access by the staff to all this information, thus greatly facilitating research, collection management, and curatorial response to scholarly inquiries. Linking this information selectively to the Yale School of Music’s new website will help to bring a wealth of information on the rich holdings of the Collection to a worldwide public. Associates and friends on our email list will receive notice when the museum’s new website goes online.
v YCMI West Campus Facility
It’s an old adage in museum parlance that if a collection ceases to grow, it dies. From its inception, Yale’s musical instrument collection grew slowly owing to the high standard set by the quality of Morris Steinert’s
initial gift to the University in 1900 and reinforced by the superb quality of the Belle Skinner Collection, which came to Yale six decades later. In the final four decades of the last century, the Collection’s holdings tripled in number, which resulted in serious overcrowding of the museum’s 15 Hillhouse facility. Seventy instruments from the museum’s cramped basement storage area were moved into rented space in Beacon Falls in the fall of 2002. Removing these objects—many of them large keyboard instruments—allowed for the transformation of the basement into a proper storage facility for the remaining objects kept there. This summer the instruments at Beacon Falls were transferred to their new home in the Collection’s “annex” at the Collection Studies Center (CSC) on Yale’s “West Campus.” New state-of-the-art museum shelving will be delivered at the end of September. The resulting facility will allow easy access to all of the stored objects for purposes of study, digitization, and conservation, and will also provide much needed space for research and examination by students and visiting scholars, as well as areas for photography and intra-museum conservation projects. It is anticipated that in the future the CSC may be able to offer shared facilities for such needs as radiography, MRI and CT technology, pest control, etc., all of which likely will remain out of reach for the university’s smaller collections and archives individually. More immediately, the staff of the Collection, related faculty, and students may look forward to an opportunity for interaction and collaboration with colleagues from the other members of the Yale museum community afforded by our presence in this “village of the mind.”
YALE UNIVERSITY COLLECTION OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS ASSOCIATE MEMBERS: 2012-2013 HONORARY LIFE MEMBER Mr. Yves Albert Feder Mr. Elias N. Kulukundis Mr. George P. O’Leary Mr. Andrew Petryn Mr. Hans H. Schambach Mr. Timothy A. Steinert Mr. Lawrence S. Wilkinson SKINNER FELLOW Yves A. Feder and Linda Skernick SKINNER FELLOW Ms. Victoria Keator DePalma Mr. David G. Powrie BENEFACTOR Mr. Elias N. Kulukundis Mr. Thomas G. MacCracken PATRON Dr. and Mrs. Emile L. Boulpaep Ms. Ute Brinkmann Ms, Claudine Britton Edward and Susan Greenberg Dr. and Mrs. Robert W. Lyons George and Reba O’Leary Mr. Christopher Reuning Mr. Duane Wilder
SPONSOR Mr. and Mrs. Robert P. Anderson, Jr. Dr. Thomas Anderson Dr. James K. and Peggy F. Baird Mr. Ronald Bell Mrs. Ann Bliss Robert and Serena Blocker Anne and Guido Calabresi Prof. Ki and Juliet Chon Mrs. Grace A. Clark Ms. Constance Clement Mrs. Phoebe Coleman Philip and Teri Conforti Mr. and Mrs. R. Raleigh D’Adamo Peter and Constance Dickinson The Rev. Richard Fabian Dr. Mary Jewett Greer Joseph F. Hoffman and Eleanor Cirkowitz Mrs. Susan Howard Prof. Francesco Iachello Ms. Alexandra Isles Prof. Boyd M. Jones Mr. Philip Kass Ms. Elizabeth Keitel Mr. Richard Kingston Bruce Larkin and Donna Jarlenski Carleton and Barbara Loucks Elizabeth D. C. Meyer Prof. Craig A. Monson
SPONSOR (continued) Ms. Kathleen Moretto Spencer Peter and Kathryn Patrikis Prof. Leon Plantinga Mrs. Jean Purvis Prof. and Mrs. William Purvis Rodney Regier and Shirley Matthews Mr. Hans H. Schambach Marlowe and Elise Sigal Kerala and Richard Snyder Mr. John R. Stieper, III Shepard and Marlene Stone Mrs. Avril Winks Earl and Constance Young Dr. Hugh H. Young FAMILY John and Rebecca Arkenberg Mr. and Mrs. Donald Baerman Francis Braunlich and Elizabeth Neuse Maria and Charles Coldwell Ms. Adela W. Collins Drs. Elizabeth A. Howe & L. M. Passano Mr. Jeffrey Kahn Bruce Larkin sand Donna Jarlenski Dr. E. Anthony Petrelli Lynda E. Rosenfeld and Richard M. Weiss Daniel and Susan Rosner Prof. Koichi Shinohara
FAMILY (continued) Pat and Damon Smith Dr. J. W. Streett and Family John and Dorothy Sutton Hannah and Herbert Winer REGULAR Mr. F. Vining Bigelow Mrs. Ann Bliss Mrs. Sally B. Brown Mr. John H. Burkhalter III Walter Cahn & Brenda Danet Edith H. Evangeliste Grace A. Feldman Dr. and Mrs. Gerhard H. Giebisch Dr. Lee Goebel Ms. Joyce V. Goldberg Mr. Ellsworth Hood Susan Rees Jones Mr. Kerry Keane Prof. George H. Lucktenberg Prof. Susan Marchant Ms. Suzanne Niedzielska Ms. Barbara E. Smith Ms. Sally A. Taylor Mrs. Belle Skinner Kilborne Taylor Mr. Robert Webster Ms. Sarah Jessica Whitson
The Yale University Collection of Musical Instruments, one of the oldest institutions 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 music curriculum and to the cultural life of the University and to the larger community.