Archive

Pioneering Dutch cellist, gamba player, teacher of Gustav Leonhardt and Anner Bylsma

Carel van Leeuwen Boomkamp (1906–2000) was a Dutch early music pioneer who reintroduced the viola da gamba and violoncello piccolo in the 1920s and 1930s. […]

Balkan voices and medieval music in the work of Michael Morrow and Musica Reservata

Musica Reservata, led by Michael Morrow (1929-94), was an influential early music ensemble active in the 1960s and 70s with a repertoire that spanned from medieval to baroque. […]

David Munrow (of the Early Music Consort) and Folk Music

David Munrow (1942-1976) was one of the most widely-known early music ‘personalities’ of the 1960s and 70s. This post describes how his interest in folk music and folk instruments started, and how this influenced his performances of medieval music. […]

The Leonhardt Consort – The second phase 1955 – 1972, Part 2

The Leonhardt Consort, c. 1969, with Gustav Leonhardt playing the gamba

 

For details of the instruments, the players, and their comments about rehearsing with Leonhardt, in the early days of the Consort, see the first post about the second phase.

The concerts

Wim ten Have estimated that the Consort gave around 75 […]

The Leonhardt Consort – The second phase 1955 – 1972, Part 1

FLTR: GL, Marie L, Antionette vd H, Lodewijk d B, Dijk K, Wim t H, with the 1775 Kirkman harpsichord (c. 1959)

 

Although the Leonhardt Consort is perhaps best remembered today for its complete recordings, as a baroque orchestra, of the Bach Cantatas (shared with Concentus Musicus, Wien), it began life as […]

Back-to-back Christmas Bach in Amsterdam

Christmas concert-going in Amsterdam […]

Account of the funeral of “magician” Frans Brüggen, in the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam

Account of the funeral of the recorder player and conductor Frans Brüggen, in the Old Church in Amsterdam, 19 August 2014 […]

The Leonhardt Consort: the early days – with recorder pioneer Kees Otten

The first version of the Leonhardt Consort (est. 1954), with harpsichord, recorders and strings, is very little known, and finding information has been difficult. Yet this short-lived co-operation with the then well-known recorder virtuoso Kees Otten undoubedly helped Leonhardt’s reputation. With rare photos and translated extracts of an interview with Otten, on Leonhardt’s approach and their concerts with Alfred Deller. […]

Kees Otten, Dutch recorder pioneer

Dutch recorder virtuoso Kees Otten (1924–2008), was the teacher of Frans Brüggen and many others, and a musician of great importance for the emancipation of the recorder in Holland, its acceptance as a serious instrument, and the establishment of historically informed performance practice. […]

Diana Poulton, pioneer lutenist & Dowland expert – the biography

An introduction to the fascinating life of Diana Poulton who was an early music pioneer, lutenist, editor, and biographer of John Dowland. Poulton studied with Arnold Dolmetsch, extensively researched early sources herself and taught several generations of lutenists, many of whom have since become internationally famous. […]