Spanish RenaissanceThe 1613 Print of Juan Esquivel Barahona by Robert J. SnowReview by: Iain FenlonThe Musical Times, Vol. 120, No. 1641, Baroque Music Issue (Nov., 1979), pp. 917+919Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/960774 .

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Instruments The World of Baroque and Classical Musical

Instruments by Jeremy Montagu. David & Charles, ?8.95

The subject matter in Jeremy Montagu's handsome new addition to instrument history books is organ- ized by chronological periods-the early Baroque, the high Baroque and the Classical era. This was an unfortunate choice. First, one must read about a particular instrument in three different places, which gives little sense of historical continuity and neces- sitates much repetition. Secondly, and worse, one must read three simplistic introductions to the general state of music during each period. To a scholar, the following statement by Montagu describing the Classical era is grandiose speculation; to the layman, it is downright misleading:

The same spirit of unease, of dissatisfaction with the status quo and the settled order of things that eventually led to the French and American Revolutions, led composers to question whether music need still be constructed as it always had been, and this was perhaps combined with the feeling that after J. S. Bach there was little further that anyone could go in the baroque style, for among the leaders of the new wave in music were his sons and pupils. When Montagu focusses upon actual description

of individual instruments, he has much accurate and valuable information to impart. His 15 colour and 101 black-and-white plates are particularly well chosen and helpful, and they usually appear in close proximity to the pertinent text. Readers looking for consistent, in-depth coverage of individual instru- ments will however be disappointed. Montagu approaches each instrument with a different em- phasis: horns and harpsichords receive technical descriptions of mechanics and construction, while lutes and recorders receive a more historical and sociological treatment.

Montagu's historical approach is consistently weakened by distressing omissions. Little attention is given to national musical predilections, and there are only sporadic descriptions of the repertory associated with given instruments. Sometimes even established contemporary terminology for an instrument is not put forth; for example, the term vielle musette should have been included in a discussion of the hurdy-gurdy. Montagu is also sparing in his mention of specific composers. Dis- cussing the glass harmonica, he states that there were a 'number of eminent composers who wrote for it' but he only lists one, Mozart.

For the most part, the strongest presentations are the ones on brass and percussion instruments. These are also the most technical and the least speculative. It is curious however that in a discussion of the Classical horn no mention is made of the important changes in mouthpiece shape. The sections on bowed string instruments include numerous personal interjections and often reflect a marked indifference to recent (and not so recent) scholarship. More thorough and less disjointed accounts of lyra viols, five-string cellos, pardessus viols, violones and double basses may be found in other books.

Writing a book that is intended to provide a

broad historical background for a close-up view of individual Baroque and Classical instruments is not an easy task, and Montagu shows great sensitivity and insight into many crucial present-day questions about 17th- and 18th-century performing practices. He would, however, do better in the future-he plans a follow-up book on 19th-century instruments -to keep his less well substantiated general opinions to himself, and to find an editor who could meta- morphose his leaden prose style into something more enjoyable. LAURA J. CARROLL

Florentine chronology A Chronology of Music in the Florentine Theater

1590-1750: Operas, Prologues, Finales, Inter- mezzos and Plays with Incidental Music by Robert Lamar Weaver and Norma Wright Weaver (Detroit Studies in Music Bibliography, 38). Information Coordinators, $19

The detailed chronology that forms the bulk of this elegantly produced volume occupies some 250 pages and lists over 700 works. A typical entry gives full title-page details, information about text and music, names of roles (and singers) if known, and ampli- fying comments. There are also a number of illus- trations, and comprehensive indexes of title, librettists, composers etc, as well as an extensive bibliography. The prefatory matter is devoted in the main to two useful, though rather gracelessly written, essays, the larger of them a chronological history of theatres and academies, the other a study in patronage centring on the activities of Prince Ferdinando de' Medici in the late 17th century and early 18th.

The volume is clearly the product of years of pains- taking industry and is undeniably a valuable research tool. It is in the nature of such a work that further research will reveal both errors and new information. Even so, some imperfections could surely have been avoided by more attentive proof- reading and checking: for instance-to take the period with which I am most familiar, the early 17th century-some of the music (16223, 16241) attributed to Marco da Gagliano is by his brother Giovanni Battista, and rather heavy weather is made of the meaning of the word 'compagnia'.

NIGEL FORTUNE

Spanish Renaissance The 1613 Print of Juan Esquivel Barahona by

Robert J. Snow (Detroit Monographs in Musi- cology, 7). Information Coordinators, $11

Music printing was introduced into the Iberian peninsular relatively late, and even by the end of the 17th century there was only a handful of printers active there; until then, the old tradition of circula- tion in manuscript remained the principal method of music dissemination. Not only that, the turbulent history of Spain itself, and particularly the dis- turbances of the 1930s, have caused widespread destruction of sources. In these circumstances

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Robert Snow's discovery in 1973 of a near-perfect copy of Esquivel's 1613 volume of masses and other liturgical settings was an event of some significance. The great 19th-century historian and composer Felipe Pedrell knew of the existence of a copy through a friend but apparently never saw the book, and with his own death and that of his informant the publication 'disappeared'.

Snow has now used his discovery as the focal point of a compact monograph. In addition to describing the unique copy he found at Ronda, near Malaga, he also presents a useful r6sum6 of Es- quivel's career. The dedicatory letter of the 1613 print, an extract from Vegas's transcription of the 1569 capitular acts of the Cathedral of Ciudad Rodrigo referring to Esquivel, and bibliographical notes on Esquivel's two other known publications of 1608 are given in appendices. But the centre of the book is occupied by a brief discussion of the contents of the 1613 book keyed to music examples. Although Esquivel included psalms, hymns, settings of the Magnificat, Marian antiphons and other forms, his book is principally devoted to Mass Ordinaries. Usefully, the music examples include a decent number of complete pieces including two movements from the Missa 'Tu es Petrus' and a good selection of the shorter movements from other masses. From these it is clear that Esquivel was a writer of considerable melodic ability and contra- puntal skill, though the conflict between traditional techniques and the demands of textual representa- tion is not always happily resolved. As Snow re- marks, the 1613 print doubles the quantity of Esquivel's surviving music; this thorough and attractively presented account provides welcome illumination of one of the murkier corners of the Spanish Renaissance. IAIN FENLON

English balladry A Ballad History of England from 1588 to the

Present Day by Roy Palmer. Batsford, ?6.50 This attractively produced volume falls into the general category of coffee-table book, and while it will be of little value either to the serious student of English history or of musicology, the work does offer a good read for anyone with a casual interest in these topics. Mr Palmer's thesis is made clear by the quotation from John Masefield which opens the work: 'The people of this island have never cared much for the headlines of the press:... they have cared a good deal for what will look well in a ballad'. Supplying an average of one ballad for approximately every five years, the author has illustrated the history of England with brief glimpses towards Scotland and Wales from 1588 to modern times. The 80 ballads selected are contemporary with the events they depict, including the Armada (1588), the downfall of Charing Cross (1647), the Great Fire (1666), the Hubble Bubble (1720), Richard Turpin (1739), Culloden (1746), the Bloomer girls (c1851), the Tichborne case (1874), Plimsoll (1875), the suffragettes (1906), the Blitz (1940), the Great Train Robbery (1963). Each song

is accompanied by the author's historical commen- tary, quotations from contemporary writers, and contemporary paintings or photographs.

The work lacks any discussion of the ballad as song and as music although Palmer has gone to the trouble of including the notation for some 50 of the tunes, drawing on various published sources (parti- cularly Claude Simpson: The British Broadside Ballad and its Music, 1966, and W. Chappell: Popular Music of the Olden Time, 1859). A few 20th-century collectors are represented, notably Vaughan Williams, Sharp and A. L. Lloyd. But the book falls short, as do many publications on bal- ladry, by emphasizing text over tune. The apparent simplicity of Palmer's musical notations-the bare melody without text underlay, variant forms, any indication of ornamentation etc-is perhaps mis- leading to the naive reader. The volume includes an index of titles, tunes and first lines, a general index, bibliography and list of sources. Considering that it contains over 80 black-and-white illustrations, it is not overpriced. HELEN MYERS

Acting and singing On Singing Onstage by David Craig. Schirmer/

Collier Macmillan, ?9.70 (?5.25 paperback) Though intended primarily for actors who are required to sing, David Craig's book is full of sensible advice from which any professional-or amateur-singer could certainly benefit. The chapter on phrasing is particularly illuminating, while the don't's and do's in the section on audition- ing contain many useful hints and ideas. One para- graph, on 'What do I do with my hands ?', which should be copied, framed and hung in every opera singer's dressing room, deserves quotation; 'Indicat- ing, or acting both the words and on the words, may be a crime the actor eschews as a primary sin, but it is one he commits with little or no conscience when he sings. This crime is more grievous in singing than in acting [my italics]. Indicated singing is apparent to everyone exposed to it, for it unveils the singer who does not know what to do with himself.' Certain opera producers might well frame that passage too. ELIZABETH FORBES

BOOKS RECEIVED

George Thalben-Ball by Jonathan Rennert. 175pp. David & Charles, ?5.95

The English Folksinger by Sam Richards and Tish Stubbs. 224pp. Collins, ?3.25

The Bolshoi by Boris A. Pokrovsky and Yuri N. Grigorovich. 238pp. Batsford, ?20

A Memoir of Bayreuth 1876 by Peter Cook. 75pp. Peter Cook, ?9.90 A Basis for Music Education by Keith Swanwick. 124pp. NFER,

?4.75 The Operas of Benjamin Britten edited by David Herbert. 382pp.

Hamish Hamilton, ?30 Richard Wagner's Music Dramas by Carl Dahlhaus (translated

by Mary Whittall). 161pp. Cambridge, ?7.50 Dvorak by John Clapham. 238pp. David & Charles, ?7.50 Les Instruments de Musique Egyptiens au Musde du Louvre by

Christiane Ziegler. 133pp. Editions de la R6union des Mus6es Nationaux, F180

Pitch in Western Music since 1500: a Re-examination by Arthur MNndal (off-print from Acta Musicologica 1978). 93pp. Bairenreiter, ?2.64

Beecham Stories compiled by Harold Atkins and Archie Newman (reprint of the 1978 Robson edition). 96pp. Futura, 80p

Building a Library: a Listener's Guide to Record Collecting edited by John Lade. 157pp. Oxford, ?E2.50

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