gazman
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Posts posted by gazman
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...except perhaps the Organists and Organ Scholars of King's College, Cambridge.
c.f. http://npor.emma.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch...ec_index=N05194
Eat your words, Herr Gedeckt!
Hmm...But there are other examples of nomenclature which aren't standard in that spec. As I say, 99.9 percent of the time, a Dulcet is a 4' Dulciana!
Ok, find me more than 1 percent of Dulcets listed on NPOR which aren't at 4' pitch, and I'll eat my words!
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A few organists have told me that tracker organs that are built properly are not supposed to feel very heavy even when the manuals are coupled. Is this true? Can the weight of the keys be adjusted on a tracker instrument like the keys on an EP instrument?
If well built and adjusted, they shouldn't be unnecessarily heavy at all. Modern organ builders who specialize in tracker instruments understand much more of the physics involved in building mechanical action than did organ builders a hundred years ago.
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But that is exactly how Bach himself "programmed" them when he printed them as the first and last movements of Clavierübung III. There they are separated by a load of chorale preludes and 4 duets.
Yup, precisely!
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Thanks for all your suggestions, folks!
Having just returned from a week's holiday, I find I need to sort out the programme soon! But I've persuaded a good soprano to do some appropriate material, so will be doing some accompanying as part of the recital which will take away some of the need to provide suitable pieces on the organ....
But you've given me (and others) some excellent ideas for future concerts too. Thank you!
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Here is an example:
http://orgue.free.fr/australie1.html
And another -and rather prestigious- one:
http://npor.emma.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch...ec_index=N03011
But neither of those have a 4' Dulciana on the same division. Had they, they would surely have called the 4' rank Dulcet and the 2' rank Dulcetina to avoid confusion.
There are exceptions to every rule but, 99.9% of the time, a Dulcet will be a 4' Dulciana!
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The 4' Dulciana is, strictly speaking, a "Dulciana Principal" or simply "Dulciana".
The "Dulcet"
is in 2'.
Sorry, Pierre, but that's utter twaddle! Every organist knows that a Dulcet is a 4' Dulciana.
Cf Sumner 1958 p. 287. "Dulcet. An octave dulciana of quiet tone and of 4ft pitch. The stop was a favourite with the English organ-builder Greene, who liked tones of soft and refined intonation."
So, what do you call a 2' Dulciana (not that I can ever recall coming across one). Dulcetina?
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I'm sure that there are many more bright ideas out there on this forum of talented organists and music lovers, esteemed colleagues!
We're not a po-faced bunch with few ideas of how to unashamedly delight our audiences, surely!
Seriously, I'm still looking for good ideas for the concert (I now have an excellent soprano willing to contribute, BTW) and all suggestions will be welcome. Thanks!
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Is that what a church or cathedral is for?
But of course! What else?
However, I find it constantly difficult to persuade the clergy not to keep interrupting organ practise with their insistence on holding silly things like services....
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How does it work, then? Is the DMus generally an honorary degree bestowed to people who have been exceptional in the field?
I see that even schools like Oxford and Cambridge offer PhD programmes.
HonDMus is an honorary degree. DMus usually isn't, but is offered by very few establishments. The RCM and Oxbridge spring to mind, but there are probably others.
Yes, I would think that virtually all universities offer a PhD in music if they have the staff with some expertise in that particular specialism which the candidate hopes to research.
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Yes, I was wondering too.
Mind you, it is the holiday season....
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My experience is that North American universities differ even more widely than our own in terms of the standards required for submissions. For my MA, I had to produce a performing edition of something 18th century, and I chose a smallish oratorio by Boyce. In my preliminary research, it had only been attempted once before in academia, so I sent for this chaps PhD thesis on the work in question. When it arrived, I was stunned. All he had done was just about copy out from a microfilm of one source. No editorial procedure, and none of the other sources (there was another set of part books elsewhere) had been consulted. All this for a PhD, all my hard work just for an MA!
Whilst I'm sure that I will be shot down in flames by those the other side of the pond, this is my understanding too. I am informed that a North American Master's degree is regarded as roughly the equivalent to a first degree in this country, and that an American Doctorate is regarded as roughly the same standard as an MA here.
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Have you ever come across the name "A.L. Peace"? He was organist of St George's Hall, Liverpool at the turn of the century. I only know his first Sonata (D mnor) but the finale (in the tonic major) is really quite a good romp if taken at a good speed. It's highly Victorian, of course, but obscenely so! If it sounds a possibility, let me know and I'll send you a copy.
Martin.
Thank you Martin. It sounds interesting! I'll send you a PM.
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Interesting. I was under the impression that nowadays in most British universities, PhD and not the DMus is the highest degree awarded to musicology students.....
Most English Universities offer a PhD, but not a DMus. Although very few offer DMus in comparison to those who offer PhD, DMus is accepted as the "higher" Doctorate of the two. I wouldn't mind having either!
Or both!
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If we don't, it will simply reinformce their view that noone listens to organ music any more so they don't need to broadcast it...
Good point!
Changing the subject slightly, I frequently listen to Classic FM but can't ever remember hearing anything for the organ other than Widor and BWV565.What, do you mean that there is any other music for the organ????
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...think I know which I would go to
Yup!
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A rather sumptuous piece with a nice, memorable tune, and not too long, is the Adorazione by Oreste Ravanello....
Thank you. I've never come across it, nor the composer, and will look it up!
How about the Ives "Variations on America"?Thanks. That was one of my ideas too! I've looked for my copy, but can't find it. I think now that I lent it to a certain former pupil of mine which, unfortunately, means that it's the other side of the planet now.....
This book contains Noel Rawsthorne's Hornpipe Humoresque and an amusing piece based on the Drunken Sailor by Rosalie Bonighton.Thanks. I've borrowed that book from a friend of mine, and played through all the pieces to see what might be suitable. Hornpipe Humoresque is pretty much a cert!
The Rawsthorne is by far the pick of the bunch, and if memory serves me right, the rest were commissioned/published on the back of the success of the hornpipe (originally in a single copy, later in a very good book of transcritions by Rawsthorne, sadly no longer available). I've played the Organists Country Gardens in a recital (with one or two slight modifications at harmonically weak points, don't have the copy to hand at the moment), it mixes the Grainger with wedding music.Unfortunately, I wasn't terribly taken with "Up she rises" by Bonighton, but it does fit the theme. I thought that "Dance with the saints" was probably the best of the rest after the Rawsthorne. The Pasticcio by Nixon was ok, and suitable if not terribly inspiring, I thought. Much of the music seemed rather contrived, and definitely sub-Rawsthorne's "Hornpipe Humoresque", but maybe I'm missing something.
Thanks for all the suggestions so far.
Any more for any more?
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I am supprised that the St. Anne (BWV552) was split into two like that.
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A DMus is regarded as a "higher" Doctorate.
A PhD could be studied by somebody who has specialized in, say, the history of a certain composer, but might themselves have limited performance skills. It is also possible to gain a PhD in composition.
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However I also believe that a realistic view on one's ability is desirable, if only to appreciate properly how and where one needs to improve.
Indeed, for amateurs and professionals alike.
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I believe the RCO (quite rightly) likes to be made aware of people who falsely claim to have their diplomas. I know of at least one specific case and doubtless there have been many others over the years.
But are they able to do anything about it, though? The person making this claim could always say that it stood for "Fellow of Royston-Vasey College of Origami", or something similar.
The world of music - and especially the world of choirs and organs - has not been, and is not - beyond coming up with institutions and qualifications that are, to say the very least, interesting.Indeed. A while back I came across a very talented organist using a "diploma" I'd never come across. I googled it, and it turned out to be from a tinpot "college". Further googling revealed that there are several such "colleges" out there, all staffed by people I've never heard of with "DMus","PhD" and loads of other "diplomas" of which I've never heard, but with hardly any of the more recognized diplomas. "Dodgy Doctorates" methinks. And, as you observe, they seem to be targeting the world of choirs and organs especially. I wonder why....
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Well, the best of both worlds, surely!
Organ music scattered throughout the usual schedule, AND programmes dedicated to the King of Instruments. Perhaps the BBC will see the light.....
Or is that a herd of porcine creatures I see gliding in front of the moon?
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Well, there is always the possibility of having earned his DMus in another area of specialisation and playing the organ only as an amateur.
Yes.....but you didn't know this fellow! I doubt he'd have known a major third from an Open Diapason!
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Coincidentally, I was discussing an organist with a colleague of mine the other day.
My colleague told me that he recently played for a funeral at a village church where the organist was unable to attend. The organist at that church would probably struggle to reach Grade VI, if that. But, my colleague tells me, he has written on all his scores which were by the console "Property of X Y, FRCO" (where X Y is his name). Wishful thinking, we think!
And, several years ago, we used to have in this area a rather mediocre organist who used to call himself "Dr A B, DMus". When pressed on where he had obtained his DMus, he would always scarper - fast!
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2 & 4 Stop Teaser
in Nuts and bolts
Posted
Thanks for that link! As it says at the opening of that article:-
"According to most sources, the Dulcet is a Dulciana pitched an octave higher than normal [ie at 4' pitch]. It was a favorite of Samuel Green, who introduced it under the name Dulciana Principal, probably between 1780 and 1790. Wedgwood maintains that Dulcet has no fixed meaning, and while its most common usage is as described above, it may be a delicate flute or Dolce. Indeed, Locher considers it synonymous with Dolce. As early as 1910 Dulcet was used by Skinner for a two-rank stop of 8' pitch, presumably a celeste."
I've never come across Osiris before but it seems to be an American website with some organ specs on it. Thanks for pointing me in that direction.