Review: Interpreting Iberian Keyboard Music

Author(s): Bernadette Nelson

Review by: Bernadette Nelson
Source: Early Music, Vol. 23, No. 3, Iberian Discoveries III (Aug., 1995), pp. 507-509
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3138129
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Bernadette Nelson
Interpreting Iberian keyboard
music
Nelly van Ree Bernard, Interpretation ofl6th century
Iberian music on the clavichord
Keyboard Studies, ii
(Buren: Frits Knuf Publishers, 1989)
Historical organ techniques and repertoire: an historical
survey of organ performance practices and repertoire, i:
Spain, 155o-183o, ed. Calvert Johnson
(Boston, MA, ECS Publishing, 1994)
Musici organici, Johannis Cabanilles, 1644-1712
ed. J. Climent, Opera Omnia, vii
(Barcelona: Biblioteca de Catalunya, 1992), Pta 5,260
Enthusiasts of early Iberian keyboard music will already
be aware of quite a substantial bibliography of books and
articles offering insight into performance practice and in-
terpretation. Such studies are based on a fascinating series
of pedagogical treatises and instrumental anthologies pro-
duced in Spain (and Italy) from the mid-16th century on-
wards which discuss in varying amounts of detail fingering
patterns, ornamentation and other essential performing
matters. Some of the contributions in this area have been
by C. Jacobs, J. Rodgers, R. Parkins (articles in The organ
yearbook, xi (1980) and Early music, xi (1983)) and the late
M. A. Ester Sala, whose book (available only in Spanish)
on ornamentation is still probably the most substantial
and historically informative work to date (see Early music,
xi (1983), P.375). Furthermore, the appearance of many of
these early treatises in facsimile editions-e.g. Bermudo's
1555 Declaraci6n (1957) and Santa Maria's 1565 Arte de tafier
fantasia (1972)-has given scholars and performers the op-
portunity to work out their own solutions to the principal
issues involved. Some editors have even provided fully or-
namented keyboard pieces according to their interpreta-
tion of the conventions of the time.
As the title implies, Ree Bernard's study is primarily di-
rected at performance on the clavichord (the modern
equivalent of the Spanish monacordio), an instrument on
which she is evidently an expert, having reconstructed her
own clavichord based on the tuning system described in
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Music reviews
Bermudo's Declaraci6n. The work as a whole, however, is
disappointing. Although it deals (albeit briefly) with the
principal issues relating to keyboard practice in 16th-
century Spain-fingering, ornamentation and glosado
technique, also touching on the rudiments of the nota-
tional systems used, rhythm and metre, and categories of
composition-it is somewhat anecdotal (reading rather
like a personal notebook in unconnected prose) and want-
ing in proper discussion and historical context. The most
useful contributions are her examples and facsimile repro-
ductions from the primary sources, and her tables of orna-
ments and glosado figures taken from Ortiz's Tratado de
glosas (Rome, 1553), Santa Maria's Arte and Antonio de
Cabez6n's Obras de masica (edited and printed by his son
Hernando in 1578). She also includes a useful bibliography
(in which her own works feature prominently).
Not content with the problems of interpreting key-
board music from 16th-century Spain alone, the new series
of Historical Organ Techniques and Repertoire (general
editor, Wayne Leupold), on the other hand, devotes just
one volume to the interpretation of Spanish organ music
from a period of nearly three centuries. The series as a
whole deals with the music of national organ schools from
different periods with a clear pedagogical intent, and it
might, therefore, be fairer to assess its success in that light
alone. None of the other volumes, however, will attempt
to cover quite such a wide time span (two centuries is the
usual maximum), and, viewed in isolation, this has all the
appearances of a work attempting to bite off more than it
can chew.
The volume is divided into two main sections: the first
covers historical matters relating both to the organ as an
instrument and to performance technique; the second
consists of an anthology of some 30 compositions
arranged in order of difficulty. The historical introduction
attempts to cover (in quite a short space) a very wide range
of topics: a history of the development of the organ, its
function (in a liturgical context), keyboard tablature (rele-
vant for the earlier period), compositional forms (includ-
ing a list of dances which would not, however, have nor-
mally been played on a church organ) and registration.
Unfortunately, this section is too full of summaries and
generalizations to be of much use. The best contribution
made by Calvert Johnson is in the next few sections where
he deals in quite some detail with fingering (following the
recommendations of Santa Maria, Venegas de Henestrosa
EARLY MUSIC AUGUST 1995 507
(Libro de cifra nueva, 1557) and Correa de Arauxo (Libro de
tientos, 1626)), ornamentation and rhythmic alteration, as
described by Santa Maria (1565). (He has also contributed
articles on these subjects to The diapason, lxvii (July 1976)
and lxix (January 1978).)
The second half of the volume consists of a series of
keyboard compositions ranging from simple 'duos' by
Antonio de Cabez6n to sonatas by 18th- and 19th-century
composers who include Antonio Soler and Felix Maiximo
L6pez. It is not clear how the editor made his choices, and
the distribution of pieces-with one-third dating from the
16th century-is somewhat uneven: music by Correa de
Arauxo is omitted, and there is only one piece by Caba-
nilles. The first pieces in the anthology include fingering
and possible ornamentation (according to the practices of
the time), while the later ones include registration. This
book does have a place as an introduction to Iberian key-
board music and performance practice; however, given the
impossibility of covering this subject adequately in a single
volume, players would be strongly advised to pursue the
literature and other editions available as listed, for in-
stance, in Calvert Johnson's bibliography.
Relatively little is known about the performance prac-
tice of Iberian organ music dating from the mid-17th cen-
tury onwards. Correa de Arauxo's Libro de tientos (1626)
was really the last book to include comprehensive infor-
mation (arranged, like the 16th-century tutors, in a didac-
tic way)-especially about fingering and the execution of
trills and ornaments, and occasionally about organ regis-
tration. Pablo Nassarre's voluminous theoretical Escuela
masica (Saragossa, 1723-4) fills the gap to some extent; but
with regard in particular to the execution of trills and mor-
dents, the most informative sources are the copies of organ
pieces by Cabanilles, which include many examples of
fully written-out ornamentation.
Since 1927 the Biblioteca de Catalunya in Barcelona
(where a large number of manuscripts of 17th-century
organ music are preserved) has undertaken to publish the
complete organ works of Joan Baptista Cabanilles. The
first four volumes (1927-56) were edited by Higini Angles
and, after a long gap, three more volumes (1986-93) have
been issued and edited by Jose Climent, of which vol. 7 is
the third to appear. Cabanilles was an extraordinarily pro-
lific composer, as the copies made of his music by his
pupils and followers (as far as we know there are no auto-
graph copies) evince, and was probably the greatest and
most highly respected organist in Spain during the late
17th and early 18th centuries. To publish all his organ
music is an enormous undertaking: there are at least 230
508 EARLY MUSIC AUGUST 1995
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large-scale pieces (mostly called tientos), some 75 organ
hymns and over 1,ooo alternatim versets for the psalms
and canticles, and for the Mass.
Vol. 7 comprises tientos 111-30 and a number of versets
which include some for sections (largely unspecified) of
the Mass and for the Salve regina. The tientos include both
partido compositions to be played on two manuals with
contrasting registrations ('clarins' are sometimes marked
for the solo lines) and others for undivided registers
(marked 'lleno' in the sources and 'ple' in Climent's Cata-
lan editions). The inclusion of organ versets by Cabanilles
in the editions prepared by Climent is a welcome addition
to the series (these were omitted in the volumes by An-
gles), and vol. 7 is the first to include versets for the Mass.
(A volume of music by Cabanilles edited by Jose Llorens
Cister6 and Julian Sagasta as vol. 44 in the Monumentos
de la Misica Espafiola series (Barcelona, 1986) also con-
centrates on Cabanilles's verset repertory.) These give a
more balanced view of the composer and his role as
cathedral organist whose duties (for the greater part) in-
cluded playing in alternation with plainchant verses, and
also give the modern-day organist the opportunity to ex-
plore the possibility of including sequences of versets for
these liturgical items in their recital programmes.
The organ books currently being produced by the Bib-
lioteca de Catalunya are extremely well presented and laid
out. They have been completely redesigned since the first
volumes published earlier this century, and are far more
usable in terms of size and layout. (Other volumes include
the works of Cabanilles's pupil Jose Elias, published
1971-86.) Unfortunately, however, all the volumes of
music by Cabanilles subsequent to the first few published
by Angl]es are deficient in introductory matter which
would give information about the sources used and editor-
ial procedure. The opening pages of each volume, headed
in Catalan 'Versi6 musical', merely cite the source (or
sources, where a concordance exists) of each piece, giving
a transcription (usually accurately) of the original title
found in the manuscript(s) and a list of errata (in Catalan)
which employs a sol-fa system. (Anglds's editions were
written in Castilian.) Each of the pieces in the edition itself
is preceded by a brief translation in Catalan of the original
title. Except in the cases where white mensural notation
was used in the sources with pieces in perfect mensuration,
the editor preserves the appearance of the notation (but
reducing the open-score format to the modern two-stave
system), also keeping the C signature for pieces in both 4/4
and 2/2 time, but changing C3 (or 3) to 3/4 without com-
ment. Unfortunately, Climent's editions are not without
their notational errors and omissions, and even errors of
judgement as regards structure: in vol. 6, for instance, Cli-
ment divides the last verset of a group of six for the psalms
and canticles (in the first tone) into two-thus producing
a set of seven. He evidently failed to observe that each of
these versets has a bipartite structure in accordance with
that of the psalm tone itself.
These editions of the organ works of Cabanilles are ex-
tremely desirable, and will greatly increase our knowledge
of the music of a composer about whom surprisingly little
is known. As Climent took over the series after a 30-year
gap, it would have been appropriate for him to have taken
the opportunity of updating any information available
about both the composer and the sources, particularly as
it is getting increasingly difficult to obtain the earlier vol-
umes in this series. The Biblioteca de Catalunya would be
well advised to produce a separate booklet accompanying
this series which includes a revision of Anglks's introduc-
tory matter to the first volumes, a proper description of
the sources and editorial procedure, and a bibliography.
David Skinner
Music from the Peterhouse
Partbooks
Richard Pygott: Missa Veni sancte spiritus, RCM119
(1994), ?10.50
John Mason: Quales sumus 0 miseri, RCM114 (1994),
?6.50
John Mason: 0 rex gloriose, and Anonymous: Vidi aquam
egredientem, RCM1o2 (1994), ?7.00
Robert Jones: Magnificat, RCM128 (1993), ?6.oo
William Alen: Gaude virgo mater Christi, and William
Pashe: Sancta Maria mater Dei, RCM115 (1994), ?7.50
ed. Nick Sandon (Moretonhampstead: Antico Edition)
This latest offering from Antico Edition includes unique
samples of neglected works from late medieval England, all
of which are the products of Nick Sandon's invaluable re-
search into the Peterhouse Partbooks. These manuscripts
have long been recognized as the most important source of
English church polyphony to have survived from the later
years of the reign of Henry VIII. The set originally con-
sisted of five partbooks (treble, mean, contratenor, tenor,
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bass), and, although the tenor book is now lost, as well as a
number of pages at the beginning and end of the treble
book, most works can be reconstructed for performance.
This enormous task has rested largely in the capable hands
of Sandon, who has played a great part in revealing Eng-
land's so-called 'minor' Tudor composers to the general
public for the first time.
All the editions are finely presented, with exceptionally
clear notation and texts, and bound in protective card cov-
ers. Each volume includes a useful general preface to the
Peterhouse Partbooks, a short biography of the composer
and a note on the music, a detailed critical commentary,
and translations of the Latin texts. Original note values are
retained for all editions, and transposition is employed
where considered appropriate.
Richard Pygott is probably the best known composer
from this shadowy collection. He is first documented in
1517 as Master of the Children in Cardinal Wolsey's house-
hold chapel, and by 1530 (after Wolsey's fall) had entered
service in Henry VIII's Royal Household Chapel. Missa
Veni sancte spiritus (SATTB) is the chief surviving example
of Pygott's Latin church music (Peterhouse also contains
his five-voice Salve regina, although the treble and tenor
parts are lacking). The style of this Mass is firmly en-
trenched in the post-Eton Choirbook tradition, mastered
by Nicholas Ludford and Thomas Ashwell in the 151os and
20s. Although Pygott at times lacks the firm sense of har-
monic direction and technical invention associated with
this narrow period in English composition, his Mass ex-
hibits some very pleasant turns and is well worth revitaliz-
ing. (I had the pleasure of singing from Sandon's edition in
a recent recording by Christ Church Cathedral Choir,
Oxford-forthcoming from Nimbus Records.) Much of
the missing tenor part can be reconstituted from the plain-
song cantus firmus, and Sandon provides a very convinc-
ing reconstruction for the remainder of this part. Occa-
sionally Pygott's counterpoint seems unpolished; notable
examples occur in bars 48, 83 and 157 in the Credo, where
the mean creates unconventional dissonances against
the plainsong. Sandon provides a faithful reading from
Peterhouse and it is possible that these inconsistencies
are scribal errors in the mean partbook (not uncommon
in this source), rather than compositional solecisms.
In any event the Mass is very enjoyable to sing and
most choirs will find this work technically within their
grasp. (The Gloria boasts an extended duet between the
treble and contratenor which includes a quirky example of
ornamental dotted rhythms, and the last invocation of the
Agnus Dei is no less than magical.)
EARLY MUSIC AUGUST 1995 509