Performing Ornaments in English Harpsichord Music. Part II
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu15.2022.101Abstract
This article continues a series of publications on problems pertaining to performing ornaments on keyboard musical instruments in England of the 17th–18th centuries according to historical documents of that time. The authors consider the history of the publication of the ornamentation table with thirteen embellishments compiled by Charles Coleman and published in the treatises The Division-Violist by Christopher Simpson (1659) and A Brief Introduction to the Skill of Musick by John Playford (1660). Among other matters, various aspects in the Rules of Graces worded by Henry Purcell (A Choice Collection of Lessons for the Harpsichord or Spinnet, 1696) are discussed. In particular, in the table published by Simpson, special attention is paid to a comprehensive review of the realization of such ornaments as “[The] Backfall shaked” and “[The] Shaked Beat”. In “Rules of Graces” contained in Purcell’s A Choice Collection, the authors turned to the ornaments called “[The] beat” and “a plain note & shake”, as well as to the following well-known instruction formulated by the famous musician: “observe that you allway’s shake from the note above and beat from ye note or half note below, according to the key you play in <…>”. In the course of the research, numerous errors and inaccuracies were discovered and noted in the scientific and reference-encyclopedic literature of the 20th century concerning the interpretation of ornaments in England in the second half of the 17th century and in the content of English musical treatises of that time.
Keywords:
English baroque harpsichord ornamentation, performance practice, Charles Coleman, Christopher Simpson, John Playford, Henry Purcell
Downloads
References
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Articles of "Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Arts" are open access distributed under the terms of the License Agreement with Saint Petersburg State University, which permits to the authors unrestricted distribution and self-archiving free of charge.