Thanks very much for your help, Arthur. Following your lead I have located the music by Kummer at the ISMLP site. I'll pass on the web address to the chap who asked about the music. Hopefully it will match what he has. If not, I hope to get a scan of what he has.
All the best, Stewart. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of A. J. Ness Sent: 13 March 2011 20:03 To: A. J. Ness; Stewart McCoy; Lute Net Subject: [LUTE] MORE Re: Crotchet rests I downloaded the ISMLP copy, Stewart. I have trouble sending *.PDF files, so if you can download it yourself, that would be best. If I send it, I'd have to split it into several files. But will do so if you wish. ----- Original Message ----- From: "A. J. Ness" <[email protected]> To: "Stewart McCoy" <[email protected]>; "Lute Net" <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, March 13, 2011 3:51 PM Subject: [LUTE] Re: Crotchet rests > For some reason I have never been able to remember English terminology for > musical notes. But that's my problem, not yours, Stewart. > > You asked about an undated, anonymous Premier Divertissement--sic > (Divertissement is masculine, > but maybe the publisher misspelled it), most likely the work by Kummer***: > >> In the 18th century a crotchet [quarter-note, hereafter Q] rest >> looked like a mirror image [hereafter mE=Q] of a >> quaver [eighth-note, hereafter E] rest. We don't write them >> like that way any more. When is it the >> modern crotchet rest replaced the old one? > > I don't think the shape of Q and E rests could be used as a reliable > indicator of the date of a given piece of music. The mE=Q rest > originates > in > the earliest mensural notation. Yet, in the Clavier Übung > (1739) engraved by JSB > himself the modern Q rest is clearly used. Also in the 18th (and > earlier?) > century > the > Q rest was sometimes shaped like a lowercase Z. When I played > professionally, often from ancient orchestral parts at > outdoor ballet and opera concerts in San Francisco's Stern Grove, I > encountered printed parts, invariably from France as late as the > 1940s which used the mE=Q rest (e.g., Les Sylphides [1940!!!!] and > Carmen) . You would expect that while in such long use someone would have > taken a > pencil > and marked the mE=Q rests as Q rests. But the parts I read from were > always clean. It's > surprisingly very easy to sight read music that uses E and mE=Q rests. > Literally sight read. Those afternoon concerts had 2 hours of music > prepared > in a single one-hour morning rehearsal. > > ***It's probably Kaspar Kummer, [Trois] Divertissement[s], Op. 92, first > publ. in > Offenbach aM, by André ca. 1872; plate no. 6268. There's a copy in the > ISMLP. > The first divertissement is in C major, Allegretto scherzando. But you > probably have another edition. > > AJN > ============================== > >> This is the message I received: >> >> Hope I'm not being a nuisance but thought you might have a quick answer >> on a rather abstruse point about the dating of crotchet rests. Someone >> here has just given me the printed parts for a 'Premiere Divertissement >> pour flute, violon et guitarre'. There's no title page and no >> composer's name. The donor is the wife of a flute playing retired GP >> who has had to give up his music because of failing mental capacity. He >> remembers the German colleague who gave him the music but he has no >> further recollection of the music or idea who its composer might be. >> The music is, I think, early 19th century but I have failed to identify >> it. (If I sent you a photocopy do you think you (or Philip) could look >> at it to see if you had any ideas ?). The music is not, I further >> suspect, of any great significance but it is pleasant enough. The parts >> are engraved and printed on laid (i.e.hand-made) rag paper - which is >> something of a pointer to an early(ish) date. I have, though, not been >> able to spot any identifying water marks. The crotchet rests are like >> reversed quaver rests (i.e. not the kind that have two curved lines one >> above the other). How far would this be a clue to the date ? When did >> the more modern type of crotchet rest come into normal use ? Please >> don't waste time on this but I wondered whether you knew when the >> change in the normal form of the rest happened and could give a quick >> answer. >> >> >> Can anyone offer any thoughts? >> >> >> Stewart McCoy. >> >> >> >> -- >> >> >> To get on or off this list see list information at >> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > >
