Liszt S Early Career Was Mainly That of a Travelling Piano Virtuoso a Career Which Brought
www.leedsminster.org
The Friends of the Music of Leeds Minster ~ Registered Charity 1055944
present
Dances andDivertimenti
with
Christopher Newton organist
Fridays 9, 16, 23 & 30 September 2016
On Friday 2 September at 12.30
There will be a special lunchtime concert with
KEITH SWALLOW at the piano
All are warmly welcome at Friday Midday Prayers from 12.00 in the Lady Chapel
SOUVENIR PROGRAMME
You are asked to give generously to the Retiring Collection at each Recital –
please complete a Gift Aid Envelope if you are a UK Tax Payer; it helps greatly.
All proceeds are devoted to the tuning and maintenance of the
Minster’s magnificent organ – a task funded on an annual basis by grants from the Friends of the Music of Leeds Minster.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS & THANKS
The Friends of the Music express special thanks to all who generously assist in the presentation of lunchtime organ music in general and this month’s series in particular:
The Recitalist for once again very generously giving his services
David Hawkin for much help with publicity
The Friday “Team” in the Wardens’ Vestry each week offering hospitality and refreshment to our “regulars”
Andrew Carter, A J Carter, Organ Builders
The Organ of Leeds Minster
The first Organ at Leeds Minster was installed in 1714. Major work on the instrument was undertaken by Greenwood Brothers of Leeds in 1815 – and again in 1841, when the organ was moved to the present building in time for the consecration on 2nd September. Additions were provided by Holt, Hill and Schulze in 1859 and the instrument rebuilt by Abbott & Smith of Leeds in 1883 and 1899, by which time it had five manuals and pedals. The major re-construction of the organ by Harrison & Harrison of Durham in 1913 gave us the organ as we now know it. Further work by Harrison took place in 1927 and, importantly, in 1949. Somewhat unusually for a Harrison, the Leeds organ - though speaking unmistakably with a Harrison voice - incorporates recognisable earlier pipework by other famous hands: Hill, Schulze, Abbott & Smith and, after 1965, by Wood, Wordsworth and Stinkens. The Leeds firm of Wood, Wordsworth & Co undertook a major scheme in 1965 when the pipework of the famous Altar Organ was incorporated into the main body of the instrument. Several new stops were added and the console re-furbished. The character of the original pipework was, in general, carefully maintained up to, and during the programme of restoration recently completed. The major Restoration Appeal of 1994 here at the Minster provided funds for a substantial and thorough restoration of the organ, including re-construction of the Blowing Plant, replacement of the console mechanisms, actions and complete cleaning and overhaul; this work was carried out by A J Carter Organ Builders of Wakefield, which firm has had the care of the instrument for many years. The Blowing Plant works were by Allfab Engineering of Methley. The Consultants to the Vicar and Churchwardens were Dr Noel Rawsthorne of Liverpool [Main Adviser], the Organist and Master of the Music [Dr Simon Lindley] and the Ripon Diocesan Organ Adviser [Mr Anthony J Cooke].
· A complete history of the organ is in Parish, Past and Present by Dr Donald Webster [£5]
· Recordings of the Organ, Choir and Organists are also available from the Visitors’ Centre
Special Upcoming at the Minster and elsewhere
Three special events as part of the Flora Leodis Festival
Friday 2 July – Keith Swallow at the piano
12.30 pm
generously sponsored by a Minster Parishioner
Pianoforte courtesy of Besbrode Pianos
Friday 2 September – Simon Lindley at the organ
3.00 [Conversation] and 7.00 pm [Recital]
Saturday 3 September – Choral Festal Evensong
4.00 pm – sung by members of the Minster Choir, and of St Peter’s Singers
past and present – Wesley in E – Bairstow – Blessed City
other music by Melville Cook, Donald Hunt, Simon Lindley &c
Address by The Right Reverend Graeme Knowles CVO
Thursday 8 September – Handel at Holy Trinity
1.00 pm – Dr Simon Lindley at the organ – launch of the 2017 Handel Festival
Sunday 11 September – Heritage Lecture
4.00 pm – Dr Rebecca Wade on Sculpting Walter Farquar Hook , Vicar 1837-59
Portraits from the Leeds Collections – Free admission to all events
Leeds Minster, September 2016
Friday Lunchtime Organ Concerts
each week at 12.30 pm
Dr Christopher Newton plays
Dances and Divertimenti
Friday 9 September
Alfred Hollins A Trumpet Minuet
Christopher Tambling Sarabande in Seven
Louis Vierne Divertissement
Johann Pachelbel Chaconne in F minor
Pietro Yon Minuetto antico e Musetta
Edwin Lemare Concert Polonaise
Friday 16 September
Jean-Baptiste Lully [arr W T Best] Rigaudon
Fredrik Sixten Tango
Sverre Eftestøl Dance to your Daddy
William Russell Larghetto and Polacca
John Gardner Five Dances
Lavolta - Pavin - Jig - Lament - Fling
Friday 23 September
Antonio Soler Minuet - The Emperor's Fanfare
Andrés Laprida Florinda
Robert Cundick Divertimento
Allegro - Sicilienne - Scherzo - Minuet - Finale
Herbert Howells De La Mare’s Pavane [Lambert's Clavichord]
Christopher Steel Dancing Toccata
Friday 30 September
Peter Planyavsky Toccata alla Rumba
Marco Enrico Bossi Divertimento [Giga]
Jehan Alain Deuils [Trois Danses]
Hugh Aston Hornpype
Alfred Hollins Concert Waltz
OCTOBER RECITALS ARE BY DAVID HOULDER
BUXTEHUDE AND THE “B’S”
Programme details will be available from mid-September
PROGRAMME NOTES
Friday 9 September
Alfred Hollins [1865–1942], born in Hull, was blind from birth, but this did not stop him from developing international careers both as a pianist and organist. In a single concert with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, given when he was 19, he played piano concertos by Beethoven, Schumann and Liszt. He was also an immaculate typist and his book A Blind Musician Looks Back provides a lengthy and very readable account of his life. He was a well travelled concert organist and a charismatic performer. Another distinguished organist, W T Best, suggested that he ought to have the epithet ‘Alfred the Great.’ More recently someone suggested that he was the Carlo Curley of his age. This month’s series will open and close with his music, and today we will hear one of his best known works: A Trumpet Minuet.
For the last seventeen years of his life Christopher Tambling [1964–2015] was Director of Music at Downside School, where he was a particularly inspiring teacher: among his pupils was Daniel Justin, former organist of Leeds Cathedral and now Director of Music for the Catholic Diocese of East Anglia. Among Tambling’s numerous compositions for organ is a full scale Symphony, as well many miniatures. Normally a Sarabande is a slow stately dance in triple time, but an attempt to dance to Tambling’s example, with its extra half beat in each bar, is likely to lead to results which are far from stately.
Louis Vierne [1870–1937] was appointed Organist of the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris in May, 1900. Much of his career and existence seem to have been plagued by ill health and poverty. As a way of helping, organ builder Henry Willis arranged for him to give a series of recitals in England, including one at Leeds Parish Church, on 7 January 1924. This lively Divertissement comes from his set of 24 Pieces in Free Style, for organ or harmonium. These pieces are probably best heard singly or in small groups rather than as a complete set, and in this way they remain popular items in recitals.
A Chaconne [or Ciacona] was originally a fiery and rather suggestive dance from Spain. Apparently danced with castanets by a couple or by a woman alone, it soon spread to Italy, where it was considered as disreputable as it had been in Spain. By the 17th century a more subdued, totally respectable version had emerged, with no links to actual dancing. Ciacona in F minor by Johann Pachelbel [1653–1709] is one of this composer’s several surviving examples. It is a set of variations on a simple theme – just the first four notes of a descending scale of F minor. This seems unpromising, but in Pachelbel’s hands it is transformed into some remarkably expressive and varied music. It ends as it began, in a rather sad, wistful mood.
Pietro Yon [1886–1943] was born in the Piedmont region of Italy. After study in Italy and serving the Vatican as an organist he emigrated to America in 1907. Later he became Organist of St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York. Since this was the most prominent Catholic church in the country he was able to wield great influence on Catholic church music. Amongst his many compositions is a set of Twelve Divertimenti for organ. It is a remarkably varied collection of pieces, ranging from his well-known Humoresque to full blown Rhapsodies on Italian and American popular airs. His Minuetto antico e Musetta lies somewhere between these extremes. The central section evokes the sound of a musette, a small, elegant bagpipe.
Edwin Lemare [1865–1934] was a prodigy who obtained a series of increasingly prestigious church positions in England, before moving to the USA. He became a well travelled virtuoso and crossed the Atlantic 55 times, playing thousands of concerts as far afield as Australia and New Zealand. He was a wizard of registration, and his technique was legendary, but this was not the only reason for his enormous audiences (and salary). He understood the need to entertain as well as educate: "To play a program of strictly classical music is as bad as giving a dinner party with a menu consisting only of roast joint, potatoes and Guinness. There must be sufficient contrast in the numbers to suit all tastes and even to give a little relief to the serious musician."
The range of his compositions shows a similar philosophy – everything from ear tickling miniatures to full scale symphonies powerful Concert Polonaise appeared during the height of his international fame [its full, linguistically confused title was Concertstück, written in the form of a Polonaise].
Friday 16 September
Jean Baptiste Lully [1632–1687] was born in Italy, but when he was twenty he moved to the Court of Versailles as a violinist. Powerful ambition and dubious political machinations steadily gave him control of all music at the Court of Louis XIV. The first step in his progress was to become composer of dance music for the King, and this Rigaudon – a sprightly French folk dance – comes from his Collection of Airs for the Band of Louis XIV
Fredrik Sixten [born 1962] is Organist of Härnösand Cathedral, a 4½ hour train journey north of Stockholm. He is also one of Sweden’s leading composers of church music. His Tango is based on a Swedish hymn ‘There is a Road to Heaven’ – but by turning the hymn into a tango he presents this Road in a slightly unexpected light.
The Norwegian composer Sverre Eftestøl [born 1952], born in the most southerly part of that country, has worked as a schoolteacher, church organist and pianist. He has a particular interest in folksong, and has written a number of settings for organ. This lively version of the well-known Northumbrian folksong was written for the confirmation his daughter in 1998. Great fun for the listener - and for the player, provided he doesn’t lose control of the cross rhythms
Larghetto and Polacca by William Russell [1777–1813] come from his Twelve Voluntaries for Organ or Piano Forte, published in 1812. It attracted a healthy list of subscribers, including both Charles and Samuel Wesley, despite the high price of 10/6 (52.5p for those of you who are too young to remember ‘old’ money). It describes him as Organist of The Foundling Hospital and St Anne’s Limehouse, but he seemed equally at home in the theatre, since he also worked at Sadler’s Wells Theatre as pianist and composer. The Voluntary was a favourite form of 18th century English organ composers, but it is unusual to find a Polacca among them. This dance was an Italian version of a Polonaise, but Russell’s example is much more elegant than Lemare’s more impassioned Polonaise, heard in the first recital of this series.
John Gardner [1917–2011] was born in Manchester and is best known for his setting of Tomorrow Shall be my Dancing Day and for turning The Holly and the Ivy into a square dance . These, however, form only a minute proportion of his varied compositions – he reached Opus 249, a bassoon concerto, written when he was 87. His Five Dances were written as a comparative youth of 71. The first dance, Lavolta, is a version of a lively dance from the time of Elizabeth 1. Encyclopaedia Britannica provides an colourful description : “The dance, to music in 3/4 time, was composed of a series of complex hops, steps, leaps, and turns. In order to assist his partner with her high jumps, the man held her close with his left hand above her right hip, his left thigh against her right thigh, and his right hand firm against the stiff busk below her bosom. She in turn held her partner’s back or shoulder with her right hand and kept her dress from flying with her left hand.” Pavin, by contrast, is a slow, stately processional dance Jig is marked “slightly laid back”, and it does seem like a dance that follows a good meal and a few pints of Guinness. Lament is more sedate, with a drone bass, while Fling - a reference to an intricate Highland dance - is as lively as its title suggests.