Our peripatetic traveler is once more on the road collecting oddities of a musical nature that we stay-at-homes are wont to pursue. No wayfarin' stranger to us is Keith Kvenvolden. In his "Lewis-and-Clarkistic" way, he shares his discoveries as he sets foot in Vermillion, South Dakota... Read on
Did you know that there is a National Music Museum in the United States? It turns out that the National Music Museum (NMM) & Center for Study of the History of Musical Instruments was founded in 1973 on the campus of The University of South Dakota. It is one of the great institutions of its kind in the world. Its collections include more that 14,000 American, European, and non-Western instruments from virtually all cultures and historical periods, and the most inclusive anywhere. The NMM is fully accredited by the American Association of Museums in Washington, D.C., and is recognized as "A Landmark of American Music" by the National Music Council.
There are many highlights in the extensive collection of musical instruments. Examples include the following:
The NMM is the only place in the world where one can find two 18th-century grand pianos with the specific type of action conceived by the piano's inventor, Bartolomeo Cristofori. One of these was built in 1767 by Manuel Antunes of Lisbon, and it is the earliest signed and dated piano by a maker native to Portugal; the other, built by Louis Bas in Villeneuve les Avignon in 1781, is the earliest extant French grand piano.
A group of 500 instruments made in the late-19th/early-20th centuries by the C. G. Conn Company of Elkhart, Indiana, is a resource unparalleled anywhere for historical research about a major American industry and the American band movement.
The NMM's holdings of brass, woodwind, and stringed instruments by 17th- and 18th-century Nürnberg craftsmen, including members of the Haas and Oberlender families, Ernst Busch, Paul Hainlein, and Jacob Denner, is unique outside of Germany.
The NMM's holdings of 17th- and 18th-century Dutch woodwind instruments by such makers as Richard Haka (represented here by a soprano recorder made ca. 1690), Hendrik Richters, Philip Borkens, and Abraham van Aardenberg is unique outside of The Netherlands.
The Witten-Rawlins Collection of early Italian stringed instruments, crafted by Andrea Guarner, Antonio Stradivari, three generations of the Amati family, and others, by far surpasses any in Italy. Included are two of only three 17th-century Cremonese stringed instruments preserved in the world today in unaltered condition, represented by the NMM's spectacular tenor viola by Andrea Guarneri, made in 1664.
Most significantly, the sum of these groups of American, Dutch, German, and Italian instruments (not to mention the many other such important groups in the NMM's collections) is to be found nowhere else in the world. Visit this unique museum if you ever have the opportunity.
Transcribed from the University of South Dakota website (www.usd.edu/smm) by Keith Kvenvolden.
CONDUCTOR'S CORNER
Dear members of the Mid-Peninsula Recorder Orchestra,
Listed below is the music for the next three meetings of the orchestra. Please note that dulcien, bass viola da gamba and contrabass recorders will be needed at all three meetings, great bass recorders on October 21 and October 28 and krummhorns on November 18.
| October 21 | MPRO Rehearsal Machaut: Ballade Isaac: Innsbruck, Ich muss dich lassen Brahms: O Welt, Ich muss dich lassen Bach: Réjouissance Rosenfeld: Mayn Rue Plats Ellis Island Baigelach |
| October 28 | MPRO Rehearsal Machaut: Ballade Isaac: Innsbruck, Ich muss dich lassen Brahms: O Welt, Ich muss dich lassen Bach: Réjouissance Rosenfeld: Mayn Rue Plats Ellis Island Baigelach |
| November 18 | MPRO Rehearsal Boyce: Allegro ma non troppo from the Symphony No. 5 Bach: Réjouissance Handel: Andante from the Oboe Concerto in B Flat Major Praetorius: Passameze |
I look forward to seeing you at these upcoming meetings.
Holiday Concert - Saturday, December 5, 2009, at 2:00 pm.
Dress Rehearsal - Monday, November 30, 2009, at 7:30 pm.
Both events will be held at Grace Lutheran Church, 3149 Waverley Street in Palo Alto.
MPRO has three new members:
Mary Ann is a retired pharmacist living in Mt. View. Four years ago, while traveling in Peru, Mary Ann heard the recorder being played. She loved the sound and decided to learn to play to it.
In the spring of 2008 Dave joined the MPRO. However his job schedule as a technical writer forced him to quit. Now he's retired, and we're happy to have him back! Originally from St. Louis, Dave has lived off and on in the Bay Area since 1967. He began playing the recorder with some classmates while in college.
Fidele, a computer programmer, was born and raised in the Midwest. She's a resident of San Jose, where she has lived for the past 35 years. At age 14 Fidele learned to play the recorder from her father, who was also a recorder player. She has been playing off and on ever since.
If you are you probably don't need a complete paper copy. You can just print page 2, Fred's Conductor's Corner, to put with your music. If you haven't already done so, e-mail or tell Chris Flake that you don't need the paper copy of UpBeat in the future. That way you'll save MPRO money and help the environment, too!
A reminder that your dues for the 2009-2010 season is due: $90.00 for Participating Member, $25.00 for Associate Member. Make your check to MPRO and give to Chris at the October 7 meeting, or mail to Christopher Flake.