Francis Monkman RIP

[bam]

Some very sad news is that Francis Monkman passed away on 11 May:

https://www.loudersound.com/news/curved-air-and-sky-founder-francis-monkman-has-died-aged-73

He had returned to his classical roots and done much research on the Bach family as well as the organs of south east Germany.  He had the practice slot before me on the wonderful Willis at Stony Stratford.  He was a very fine player - the last time I heard him was just before the lockdown when he was thundering out big Bach on the magnificent plenum - quite a sound!  I last saw him a couple of months ago when he was clearly unwell but very upbeat about making a recovery.  He will be greatly missed. 

[Colin Pykett]

Francis's passing is a great loss.  I feel privileged to have corresponded with him on many subjects, with emphasis on the word 'many'.  His knowledge of Thuringian organs was encyclopaedic, so that he was equally at home explaining why organists were expected to check and remedy the tuning of the reedwork (including that on the pedal organ!) each time they wanted to play, as well as his being fully conversant with the latest digital studio recording techniques.  All this in addition to many subjects inbetween, including having designed his own hardware synth in the 1980s.  His skill as an executant was impeccable, and he visited Thuringia and Saxony frequently to examine the organs, give recitals, and make recordings of them.  He sent me many fully-finished CDs complete with sleeve notes which at first I assumed were available commercially, thus I was surprised that they apparently were not.  I suggested that he might remedy this, though rather got the impression that in retirement he might have become somewhat weary of the effort that would have been involved if he got so closely involved with the commercial interface of the recording industry.  With his crossover background over so many years this would have been perfectly understandable.

I became aware that Francis had perhaps the most sensitive musical ear of anyone I've known, so it was again a privilege that he allowed me into his personal sound world.  One example was his fascination to get to the bottom of the so-called 'Handel' temperament, for which a set of frustratingly vague tuning instructions had been published c. 1780.  We corresponded a lot on this, and he seemed delighted when I sent him a realisation of the temperament which suggested that it might still retain echoes of the much older quarter-comma mean tone tuning.  So much so that he immediately ran off yet another recording of Scarlatti's works played on an appropriately-tuned harpsichord!  Then there was the occasion when he asked for an opinion on the 'hum' that apparently pervaded the rural area where he lived.  He could hear it even with all the windows closed, so I asked if he could record it.  Sure enough there was indeed a very faint (to my ears) tone immersed in the quiet night time background sounds of the breeze, distant fox barks and similar acoustic artefacts that one might expect, though I have to say that if he had not forewarned me, I probably would not have noticed it at all.  However a computer analysis confirmed (as it had to him) that a steady tone was certainly there at 220 Hz, an octave below A440 concert pitch.  I don't think he ever resolved the matter, despite several heroic sorties in the small hours trying to locate the source!

If one multiplies up all this material by the number of others he must have similarly interacted with, I don't think it would be an exaggeration to describe Francis as a polymath, and modest with it.  To say that he was merely 'gifted' would be an understatement.  He will be missed by many.

 

[bam]

Thanks Colin - a fine tribute.  He did release a commercial CD before the lockdown which is still available:

https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/francis-monkman-the-bach-family/?gad=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwvJyjBhApEiwAWz2nLaF7TTojCJdnv3p6QI0KULwdMkcQsBPawnmyTH6ousELJ3vlEkO4xhoCavIQAvD_BwE

 

[DHM]

I was very sorry to hear of Francis' passing. He had been an occasional customer of mine over many years, and shared with me a number of sample-sets that he had recorded himself (for HW) of organs by J.E. Gerhard and family in Thuringia.