Early Music America Winter 2014 - (Page 44)

Cracking a Centuries-Old Tradition W hen I went to Cambridge, England, on sabbatical in 2013-14, I never dreamed I would wind up conducting one of the world's great choirs, and possibly changing the way they sing early music. My project for the year was to write a follow-up to Shakespeare's Songbook (Norton, 2004), my study of all the songs sung, quoted, or alluded to in the plays of Shakespeare. The sequel is a broader look at songs in English Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony (and why you should care) (Norton, 2007); one Renaissance comedy, from the on Just Intonation in the Renaissance; one 15th century through the plays of on keyboard temperament; and one on Just Intonation in the 18th century. So, in spite of Shakespeare's contemporaries. the central purpose of my sabbatical, my tunBeing at Clare Hall at the University of Cambridge allowed me easy access to the resources of the superb University Library across the street, a wonderful advantage for my work. But it also allowed me the option to attend choral services, virtually every day if I wanted, at any of the thirty-one Cambridge colleges. Nowadays, colleges post the music for all the services each term in an online "Term List," so I could pick out in advance the repertoire I wanted to hear and take a short walk for an hour of choral bliss on any given evening. While overseas, I was also fortunate to be invited to give talks around Britain. Many of those talks were on historical tuning. In fact, the Faculty of Music at Cambridge asked me to give four talks on various aspects of historical tuning: one on my book, How 44 EMAg Winter 2014 ing work was getting a lot of attention, and I was pleased when Stephen Cleobury at King's College and Andrew Nethsingha at St John's College each asked me to coach their choral scholars (the men from the men and boys choir) in Just Intonation. By coincidence, it happened that both coachings were to occur on the same day, and that became a red-letter day on my calendar-the expected high point of my entire year in Cambridge. Just Intonation [see sidebar] is a subject I've thought a lot about for decades, and much of the theoretical background is in my article, "Just Intonation in Renaissance Theory and Practice," in the journal Music Theory Online (2006). I've worked on Just Intonation with Quire Cleveland and with the Case Western Reserve Early Music Singers, so I know something about the practice as by Ross W. Duffin Above: The chapel of St John's College, Cambridge. Photo by RWD.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Early Music America Winter 2014

The Qualities of a Magician
Wagner’s Mastersingers
Crossing Genres
Cracking a Centuries-Old Tradition
Chicago Snapshot
From the Editor
Contributions
Letters
From the Executive Director
Early to Rise
Mapping the Music
The Art of the Amateur
Recording Reviews
Cartoon Corner
Canto
EMAg Puzzle
EMA Notes
Ad Index
Musings

Early Music America Winter 2014