Archive

Janny van Wering, the most respected Dutch harpsichordist from the 1930s to the 1950s

Graduating in 1934, she was the first professional Dutch harpsichordist who performed with all the early Dutch pioneers and Brüggen and Leonhardt; she worked both as a soloist and continuo player with several orchestras. […]

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. […]

Lady pioneers who popularized early music in Britain, at the beginning of the 20th century.

“There is a fragrant air about the[se] concerts of old music …” (The Times Oct. 1927) They combine scholarship and entertainment, which is a very rare. […]

Ambrose Gauntlett, forgotten gamba player and continuo cellist 

Although Ambrose Gauntlett (1889–1978) was a full-time orchestral principal, he was the most sought-after continuo cellist and gamba player in the UK from around 1930. […]

Remembering David Munrow (1942-76)

The composer, Professor Peter Dickinson, remembers the charismatic early music pioneer and recorder virtuoso David Munrow, for whom he wrote new works. […]

Harpsichordist Huguette Dreyfus and the French Early Music Revival

Huguette Dreyfus at home in the early 1960s, playing her Blanchet. From a private collection, all rights reserved.

Guest blogger:

Sally Gordon-Mark, writer/researcher/translator/teacher, was a student and devoted friend of Huguette.

November 30th would have been Huguette Dreyfus’ 88th birthday, but the effervescent concert artist and beloved teacher, the self-proclaimed “inexhaustible chatterbox,” silently […]

Arnold Dolmetsch, a Bach double harpsichord concerto and the genesis of the early dance revival.

Nellie Chaplin in 1910

By Guest Blogger: Mandy Macdonald

One fine morning in the summer of 1904 a van drew up at our door and from it emerged Arnold Dolmetsch and a harpsichord. He had previously asked me to play in Bach’s Double Concerto in C major with Miss [Kathleen] Salmon […]

The London Consort of Viols, a semi-official BBC team

FLTR: Harry Danks (treble viol), Stanley Wootton (treble viol), Jacqueline Townshend (tenor viol), Desmond Dupré (tenor viol)

The musicologist and Dolmetsch student, Robert Donington (who himself was a member of the group, 1950–1961), once referred to the London Consort of Viols (LCV) as a “semi-official BBC team”, and they certainly might well […]

Jos van Immerseel: The shock of the old

The Belgian early music pioneer explains why period style matters, no matter what period.

by Clive Paget

“For me Stockhausen and Messiaen is early music.” Now there’s a provocative statement, but then Jos van Immerseel has been provoking a response on and off for 40 years now. The Belgian early music pioneer [ … […]

Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Gustav Leonhardt, a musical friendship of more than 60 years

Presentation of the Erasmus Prize, 8 September 1980. F.l.t.r.: Alice Harnoncourt, Marie Leonhardt, Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Gustav Leonhardt. © Marcel Antonisse/ Anefo; Nationaal Archief, archiefinventaris 2.24.01.05, inventarisnummer 931-0044

Speaking in an interview in 2012, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, who died on 5 March 2016, aged 86, said that his closest musical […]