Richard McGregor interviews John Maxwell Geddes Josh Dickson launches Karen McAulay s Our Ancient National Airs

Transcription

1 Musica Scotica, Saturday 27 April 2013 PROGRAMME AND ABSTRACTS REGISTRATION SIMULTANEOUS SESSIONS A & B SESSION A Emily Lyle Sally Garden John Purser SESSION B Burns as Collector and Composer: The Case of Morag, with sung illustrations by Lucy MacRae 'Blossom by blossom the spring begins' : the songs of Ronald Center ( ) The Philosopher s Opera Richard McGregor From caprice to concerto: Sally Beamish s composition technique of the 1990s Meghan McAvoy COFFEE/TEA SIMULTANEOUS SESSIONS C & D SESSION C Andrew Wooley Karen McAulay SESSION D Richard Witts LUNCH Fiona Mackenzie Lassies, Lamentin and the Land o the Leal Brian McNeill s Lyrics and the Cultural Narrative Critical Narrative The Latin correspondence of John Clerk of Penicuik and Hugh Du Bois: further light on Clerk's relationship with Italian music and musicians Echoes of Ossian, Martial Airs and Elegiac Lays: Scottish Musical History in the Age of the Enlightenment Professor Tovey s Concerts, the Reid Symphony Orchestra and the BBC. A Bird Blown Off Course the Canna Archives Richard McGregor interviews John Maxwell Geddes Josh Dickson launches Karen McAulay s Our Ancient National Airs 1

2 SIMULTANEOUS SESSIONS E & F SESSION E Karen Marshalsay Harp tablature: the Robert ap Huw manuscript Ronnie Gibson SESSION F Elizabeth Ford Graham Hair TEA/COFFEE Tullochgorum: A Case Study in the Transmission of Scottish Fiddle Music A Revised History of the Flute in Eighteenth-Century Scotland The "Ecstasy and Enlightenment" project and the "Emancipation of Consonance" SESSION G Josh Dickson James Beaton Further Evidence of the Pibroch Echo Beat s Basis in Gaelic Song Noting the Tradition, an oral history project run by the National Piping Centre and supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. ABSTRACTS Emily Lyle Burns as Collector and Composer: The Case of Morag, with sung illustrations by Lucy MacRae The detailed study of many individual songs that Burns collected can prove illuminating, but the case of Morag is of exceptional interest in a number of ways. For one thing, the Gaelic song sung to the tune Morag which is given as the air for three songs composed by Burns has not previously been identified in the scholarly literature. This is probably because the title alone without further definition could apply to more than one song, but the further definition required is given by the unique stanza form which identifies one specific Gaelic text. Furthermore, through Burns s Highland journal and associated correspondence, we know the name of the singer (Miss Rose) and the place and date of Burns s hearing of the song. Burns was in a special position in relation to Gaelic song, regarding it as part of the national heritage but unable to understand the words, although their general import could be explained to him. The words and tune were written out for Burns eventually by the singer (showing her high level of cultural awareness and skill) but this was only after his return from his Highland tour, during which he had already composed Castle Gordon to this tune, so demonstrating that he was carrying the tune or at the very least its stanza pattern in his head. Later he composed The Young Highland Rover and O, wat ye wha that lo es me to this tune, achieving in his last composition a successful love song like his Gaelic source. Sally Garden 2

3 'Blossom by blossom the spring begins' : the songs of Ronald Center ( ) The 10 extant art songs and 26 Scots song arrangements of Aberdeen-born composer, Ronald Center, fall into three phases of work written over a 20 year period. But what do these phases reveal of Center s development as a composer of song? Do we glimpse in the final phase a turning from reliance on Romantic models towards the language of Modernism - a summer of stylistic maturity? And if not, why not? John Purser The Philosopher s Opera In 1757, John McLaurin wrote a short ballad opera satirising David Hume s philosophy and Hume s support for the Reverend John Hume s play The Douglas. McLaurin was the nephew of the famous mathematician, Colin McLaurin. This paper will examine the significance of this jeu d esprit and McLaurin s choice of traditional melodies and their placing in the work Richard McGregor From caprice to concerto: Sally Beamish s composition technique of the 1990s At Musica Scotica 2011 Sally Beamish responded to a question on her compositional processes with a revealing statement about the development of her compositional technique: [Knussen] showed me a very simple system of generating - why I like it is because it comes from a melody - you think of a melody, and you generate harmonies from it by making a sort of grid I used that for years and some of these pieces like Capriccio. Every single note I can justify by going back to the grid And, as time went on I became more confident and was able to let go of my systems and think more creatively So, I became much freer in the way I wrote the turning point was a trip to California in 1999 I think it was when I was aware of the real communication between players and audiences, [and] I simplified everything right down. Much has been written in praise of Beamish s musical language focusing on her directness of expression an ear for instrumental colour. Yet, despite this almost universal approval of her work, there exists no serious analytical study of her musical language. In her programme note for Capriccio for bassoon and piano written in 1988 Beamish refers to the work s new compositional techniques which she recognized as being the language that I have now established as my own. The Lone Seafarer, for solo violin, written in , is closely based on the Anglo-Saxon poem with the same title, and was written not long before that pivotal visit to California. Its significance lies in the fact that it generated two more works, a piano trio with speaker [2000] and the second viola concerto [2001], which Beamish has described as one of her most characteristic works. The present paper is intended to begin the process of attempting to make the discussion of Beamish s work more objective and analytical through examining the developments in expression that are evident between Capriccio and The Lone Seafarer. Meghan McAvoy (University of Stirling) Lassies, Lamentin and the Land o the Leal Brian McNeill s Lyrics and the Cultural Narrative Critical Narrative This interdisciplinary paper locates Brian McNeill s songwriting work within the critical narrative of cultural nationalism currently popular in Scottish. Examples of this narrative include Liam MacIlvanney s assertion that [b]y the time the Parliament arrived [in 1999], a revival in fiction had 3

4 long been underway... Without waiting for the politicians, Scottish novelists had written themselves out of despair. Cairns Craig considers this period one of the most productive and creative decades in Scotland this century as though the energy that had failed to be harnessed by the politicians flowed into other channels. This paper investigates in how far these literary-centred hypotheses apply to Scottish songwriting. Is parliamentary devolution and state independence always necessarily at the forefront of Scotland s cultural politics? How do independence-supporting songwriters portray Scotland in their work during the inter-referenda period? This paper examines the radical politics of McNeill s lyrics, tracing his relationship to a wider tradition of Scots song through readings of The Yew Tree, Strong Women Rule Us All With Their Tears and No Gods and Precious Few Heroes a song that announces its connection to Scottish literary writing through its reference to Hamish Henderson s elegy. Detailing the influence of Henderson and McNeill s collaborations with fellow songwriter Dick Gaughan, and the often oppositional relationship of McNeill s songs to previous well-known songs in the Scottish tradition, it argues that McNeill s politics are often antagonistic to particular narrow conceptions of nationalism and nostalgic views of Scotland s past. The progressive politics of these songs take social justice, class warfare and a refusal to lament Scotland s past as their primary subjects, radicalizing the independence narrative and bringing the marginalized aspects of Scotland s past and present to the forefront. Dr Andrew Woolley (University of Edinburgh) The Latin correspondence of John Clerk of Penicuik and Hugh Du Bois: further light on Clerk's relationship with Italian music and musicians This paper considers the musical letters written to and from John Clerk, partly dating from the period of his residence in Rome from September 1698 to December 1699, drawing attention to several that have been overlooked, written from his Dutch friend Hugh (or Hugo) du Bois. Clerk's correspondence complements the picture of his activities as a significant Scottish amateur musician and composer, and his description of Corelli (from whom he recalled having received '3 lessons a week' during his Roman period), which are known widely from his published memoirs. The most comprehensive consideration of the musical letters to date is in Kenneth Elliot's edition of Clerk's cantatas for Musica Scotica. Elliot discussed the majority of the Latin letters from Clerk's correspondents in Leiden, notably those of the polymath Lotharius Zumbach, the composer Jakob Kremberg, and of Dr Herman Boerhaave, who supplied the text of Clerk's cantata Leo Scotiae Irritatus. In addition, Elliot referred in detail to one from Du Bois, a relatively obscure figure who maintained his correspondence with Clerk over a number of years, and seems to have been on near-equal terms with him with respect to age and educational status. This letter (in National Records of Scotland, GD18/4539), which has undergone conservation work in 2013, is preserved together with four others from Du Bois, which were apparently unknown to Elliot. It can be considered alongside two further short letters from Du Bois found among the main body of the correspondence (in GD18/5202), in addition to autograph file copies of two of Clerk's replies (in GD18/4537A). Considered as a group, these letters -- referring to the pre-published circulation of Corelli's Op. 5 violin sonatas, the music of Pasquini, Bassani and Torelli, Carl Rosier and Kremberg -- shed valuable light on the northern European fascination for Italian music and musicians, which had reached a full bloom around Karen McAulay (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) Echoes of Ossian, Martial Airs and Elegiac Lays: Scottish Musical History in the Age of the Enlightenment. 4

5 The genealogy of Scottish musical histories can be traced back a couple of centuries to the Scottish Enlightenment, and it has become customary to refer to this lineage at the start of any authoritative survey. In this context, William Tytler s A Dissertation on the Scottish Musick [sic], first published anonymously in Arnot s The History of Edinburgh (1779), stands as the grandfather of them all, since James Beattie s slightly earlier Essays: on Poetry and Music, as they affect the Mind (1776) is more a work on aesthetics than a history of Scottish music per se. Although Tytler s Dissertation first appeared anonymously, his name did appear on subsequent iterations in various publications, and the work was subsequently cited by several key figures. However, it is less generally known that one of Tytler s contemporaries produced his Proposals for publishing by subscription A General History of Scottish Music, in As it happens, John Callander never published his history, but it is nonetheless interesting to compare and contrast what Callander and Tytler considered important, taking into account their musical background. Furthermore, the time is certainly ripe for a reassessment of Tytler s Dissertation, since we have become prone to mention his name in passing without paying much heed to what the essay actually contained. Only in this way can we begin to understand what was important to those Enlightenment antiquarians with an interest in their national music. Richard Witts (Edgehill University) Professor Tovey s Concerts, the Reid Symphony Orchestra and the BBC. In 1916 Donald Francis Tovey ( ), Reid Professor of Music at Edinburgh University, founded the New Reid Concerts and subsequently the Reid Symphony Orchestra ( ). He organised and conducted most of the 167 concerts given by the orchestra in its annual series, which from 1919 were held in the newly-built Usher Hall. For these events Tovey wrote many of the programme notes that found their way in to the six volumes of Essays in Musical Analysis (1935-9). In order to defray the cost of the orchestra he also organised from 1922 a separate series of mainly chamber music in the same hall titled Professor Tovey s Sunday Concerts. Some of these were relayed by the BBC, both nationally on its regional programme, and to the remainder of the British Isles on its National service. This paper aims to contextualise Tovey s entrepreneurial efforts during a transitional phase of economics between private patronage and public subsidy. Comparisons are made with developments in London such as the Beecham Symphony Orchestra ( ) and the Courtauld-Sargent concerts ( ), although Tovey s Reid project led a longer life than either. Two connected issues in Edinburgh concerned the Reid s rivalry with the Scottish Orchestra and the presence in the Reid orchestra of women and amateur players. The paper examines why the death of Tovey in 1940 apparently led to the death, too, of his symphony orchestra. Dr. Richard Witts is Reader in Music & Sound at Edge Hill University. Author of Artist Unknown a history of the Arts Council (Little, Brown 1999), Nico the Life & Lies of an Icon (Virgin Books 1993) and The Velvet Underground (Equinox 2009), he has contributed a number of articles for music journals and chapters to academic books such as The Cambridge Companion to Recorded Music (Cambridge University Press 2010), Kraftwerk- Music Non-Stop (Continuum 2011) and Mark E. Smith & The Fall Art, Music & Politics (Ashgate 2010). As a music lecturer at the University of Edinburgh he created the short catalogue of the Donald Francis Tovey Archive. He broadcast a series on the music appreciation movement for BBC Radio 3 s The Essay in Fiona McKenzie A Bird Blown Off Course 5

6 2013 will see the pilot showcase of a new production by the National Theatre of Scotland, profiling the wonderful legacy left to the world by a tiny bird of a Pittsburgh woman who went to school in Helensburgh and who was a classically trained musician. Why did Margaret Fay Shaw end up on the tiny Hebridean island of Canna and how important is the legacy she has left us today, in the shape of the Canna Archives? The priceless archives of Canna House have been, until the last year, largely hidden from human inspection and awareness of the material contained within is still relatively confined to the songs and notes published in Folksongs & Folklore of South Uist. Shaw s photographs, collections of other native folklores and unseen and exciting colour film footage of island life in the 1940 s and 50 s, have yet to see the wider light of day.. This paper will give a glimpse of this rich treasure trove of material about to be made available to musicians, academics and students in the years to come. It will also describe the exciting potential of this new musical and dramatic production by the NTS which will be piloted at the Blas Festival in September 2013 before going on for national and international development in 2014, the 10 th anniversary of Shaw s death. Karen Marshalsay Informed by Historical Sources and Practices: Modern Harp Performance The oldest extant harp manuscript was compiled in 1613 by Robert ap Huw, a Welsh harper using a distinctive form of tablature. Symbols are used above the note letters to indicate how they should be played, with a key to these fingering gestures given on page thirty-five. Interpreted by various players and academics, with an increasing interest in the manuscript in the past twenty years, this stopped style of harp playing is now being used by some players for clean and effective performance of traditional music on the modern, levered, gut-strung, clarsach, as well as its more immediately obvious relevance to wire and bray harps. In all other traditional instruments, including solo voice, a grace note is no longer heard once the main melody note begins. On the harp however, the grace note is still heard as the string resonance continues, and while this can lead to desired harmonic effects, it gives a different sound and changes the nature of traditional ornamentation. The stopped style developed by using the gestures from the Robert ap Huw manuscript cuts the grace note off cleanly and effectively, and is particularly useful in ornamenting traditional tunes, especially pipe tunes. Clarsach playing is a broken tradition in Scotland, and when the instrument was revived in the early twentieth century many classical techniques were used and taught. This current exploration of how knowledge of historical sources and practices can be used in performance on the modern instrument is an exciting development within an evolving modern tradition. Ronnie Gibson (University of Aberdeen) Tullochgorum: A Case Study in the Transmission of Scottish Fiddle Music The recorded history of the Scottish dance tune, Tullochgorum, can be traced back to 1734 and its first appearance in music notation in the Duke of Perth MS. Of unknown authorship, the tune is believed to have originated on the bagpipes on account of it being in the mixolydian mode, but it is now considered to be among the core repertoire of Scottish fiddle music. It was first published in print in 1757 by music publisher, Robert Bremner, and since that time has been included in at least thirty-eight other printed collections. Examples of the tune also exist in audio recordings, the earliest of which is a performance by James Scott Skinner from It is exceptional that there should be so many examples of an individual tune, but, as will be explained, the tune itself was made exceptional when lyrics were written to it by Episcopal minister, the Reverend John Skinner. This paper will attempt to gauge whether or not differing notated examples of the tune, 6

7 Tullochgorum, can be interpreted as an index of changing performing practices through both space and time by identifying and interpreting similarities and differences between them. In addition, the symbiotic relationship between music notation and performance will be examined by considering audio examples. Elizabeth Ford (University of Glasgow) A Revised History of the Flute in Eighteenth-Century Scotland In his 1792 article On the Fashionable Entertainments and Amusements in Edinburgh in the Last Century, William Tytler wrote that the German flute was not known in Scotland prior to 1725, having been introduced to the country in that year by Sir Gilbert Elliott of Minto, who had studied the instrument in France. Musicologists have accepted and repeated Tytler s version of history ever since with little evidence of its veracity, but documents have come to light showing that the German flute was known, played, and studied in Scotland well before The German flute was one of the most popular instrument in the eighteenth century and is generally thought to have been played primarily by gentlemen amateur musicians. The flute was difficult to play well and was on the cutting edge of fashion and technology, requiring an income and leisure time to devote to the practice required in order to play even the simplest of tunes. An abundance of evidence from the papers of eighteenth-century Scottish gentlemen contradicts long-held notions regarding the history of the flute in Scotland, especially the date when the instrument was first known. This paper will examine the new evidence for the history of the flute in eighteenth-century Scotland, focusing on the records and musical activities of fourteen gentlemen amateur musicians. Graham Hair (Department of Contemporary Arts, Manchester Metropolitan University) The "Ecstasy and Enlightenment" project and the "Emancipation of Consonance" William Hastie ( ) was Professor of Divinity in the University of Glasgow from 1895 to "Ecstasy and Enlightenment" is a project based at Glasgow University, the Royal College of Music, Yale University, and the Berklee School of Music in Boston, which includes some settings of his texts. Hastie was an expert on Hegel and other German philosophers of his century, but, unusually for a Calvinist theologian, he also made English versions of ghazals from Jalalludin Rumi ( ), the great Persian mystical poet and Islamic theologian. Hastie s translations are not directly from Rumi s Persian, but via the German versions of Friedrich Rückert (known to musicians as the poet of Mahler s Rückertlieder). One of the reasons for Hastie s book ("Festival of Spring") was dissatisfaction with what he saw as the inadequate portrayal of Islamic spirituality in one of the most popular, celebrated and influential volumes of the late Victorian era: the translation (1859) by Edward Fitzgerald ( ) of the Rubiyat (quatrains) of Omar Khayyam ( ), which underwent many editions in Hastie s lifetime. As the title implies, "Ecstasy and Enlightenment" explores and describes some practical compositional workings-out of the relationship between the traditions of sacred music, the values of the Enlightenment, the ethics and aesthetics of the postmodern, and recent developments (mostly in North America since the 1990s) in so-called "neo-riemannian" concepts of harmony. 7

8 The paper focusses especially on "the emancipation of consonance" and new relationships between consonance and the chromatic scale: a tradition descended from what has recently come to be called the "Second Practice" of the 19th century: summarised by Yale music theorist Richard Cohn, in a recent (2012) book, as Audacious Euphony". Josh Dickson (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) Further Evidence of the Pibroch Echo Beat s Basis in Gaelic Song This presentation makes a brief foray into pibroch performance style s basis in Gaelic song, founded on the work of Allan MacDonald in the early 1990s. The work focuses specifically on a fragment of 19 th century Ossianic verse known as Bruadal Dhierdre ( Deirdre s Dream ) fossilized in the orally-transmitted song tradition of Barra, whose scansion and rubato phrasing suggest clues to the early performance style of pibroch s echo beat motif. Through performance recordings and reference to a range of comparable and contextual examples, I conjecture firstly how the melody would have sounded as a pibroch ùrlar, or theme, and secondly how the ùrlar could have evolved over time into a pibroch of the modern idiom. James Beaton (National Piping Centre) Noting the Tradition, an oral history project run by the National Piping Centre and supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund This paper will describe the Noting the Tradition, an oral history project run by the National Piping Centre and supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. The paper will also describe some of the themes emerging from the interviews undertaken. These include the importance of organisations such as the Boys Brigade and the Boys Scouts in teaching piping in the Centre Belt of Scotland, and how this contrasts with the approach in more rural Highland parts of Scotland. The paper will also focus on the evidence for a strong oral tradition surviving in the light music of the Highland bagpipe well into the 20th century, this coming from statements made by various interviewees about well known figures within the tradition who had what are described as different or unusual settings of tunes. Finally the paper will describe how this project may be developed in the future in terms of providing pointers to how the interviews gathered by the project can provide fruitful bases for further more focused research on specific subjects within the sphere of the culture and music of the Highland bagpipe. 8