AHJ, Vol. 5 No. 3, Summer 1976

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SPECIAL MEMBERSHIPS In June, 1970, the Board of Directors established several new types of membership classifications for those who have expressed an interest in contributing more than the regular membership dues as an added financial support to our many projects. The memberships include Life Member ($250), Patron ($ 100), Sponsor ($50), Sustaining Member ($25) and Contributing Member ($15). We wish, at this time, to express our sincere appreciation to the following members: FOUNDING COMMITTEE Marcel Grandjany, Chairman S. Mario DeStefano Mildred Dilling Eileen Malone Lucile Rosenbloom Alberto Salvi Edward Vito Bernard Zighera HONORARY MEMBERS Pierre Boulez Mrs. Serge Koussevitsky A. Z. Propes Miss Alice Tully LIFE MEMBERS Alice Lawson Aber Mrs. Joseph Thomas Ackerman Anne Everingham Adams Mrs. Harry Lacey Armstrong Daniel H. H. Casebeer Ronald J. Clevers Dorothea deBretteville Marcella DeCray Marylee Dozier Peter E. Eagle Laura Erb Catherine Gotthoffer Elizabeth Halliday Patricia John Dorothy Knauss Joseph E. Longstreth Joan Mainzer Gloria H. McDaniel Sylvia Meyer Elaine Peters Dorothy Remsen Ann Mason Stockton C. Stuart Stockton PATRONS Mr. and Mrs. G. Howard Briggs Margaret Rupp Cooper SPONSORS Marilyn Costello Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Kienzle Marjorie Tyre SUSTAINING MEMBERS Mimi Allen Anna Bukay Doris Calkins Ruth Cobb John B. Escosa, Sr. Eleanor Fell J. Scott Grimes Mr. Jack W. Heger Gladys Hubner Ruth Inglefield Mary May Johnson Wand a Crockett Jones Mrs. Robert W. Kapp Lucy Lewis Linrud Harp Company Marie Macquarrie Dr. Marianne McDonald Susann McDonald Mrs. James Mitchell Priscilla Mueller Dean Owens Mrs. Theron Randolph Susana Remeny Roslyn Rensch Phyllis Schlomovitz Christine Stavrache-Anders Mrs. Derek van Osenbruggen Phillip E. Walker CONTRIBUTING MEMBERS Alex Bonnet Rachel Boothroyd Marjorie Call Marjorie Chauvel Michael P. Cole Mary C. Cook Patricia V. Croke Martha M. Dalton Jeune B. Davis Mrs. Donald H. Dewey Ruth Earl Mrs. Hugh Espey Trudy Frank Faust Grace Follet Estelle M. Gerber Patricia Adams Harris Edward C. Herfort Miss Barbara Hiatt Donna Hossack Marjorie L. Kuhns Judy Loman Desmond C. McCarthy Edna McClintock Ester McLaughlin Verlye Mills Helen Nash Jack Nebergall Dorothy Neyman Clint Nieweg Alice Pardee Polly C. Parker Helen Rogers Beverly Neal Rosenstock Mrs. Barbara G. Sharp Mrs. Ruth Siple Louis J. Standish, Jr. Cynthia Adams Tappan Kathryn Thompson Vail Valerie von Pechy Linda Wellbaum Billie Wolfe 20 AMERICAN HARP JOURNAL
In Defense of Transcriptions by Marcel Grandjany This article first appeared in the Spring 1963 edition of Harp News. It appears here by special permission. As musicians, we have much reason to be grateful to musicologists who have helped us to preserve the priceless treasures of the past. Much beautiful music which we enjoy today has been unearthed and published by the tireless research and study of these scholars. However, this very research has produced an attitude, adopted by many critics, that all music must be played exactly as written in the old manuscripts, and only on the instruments for which the music was originally scored. I believe that there are convincing musical answers to the criticism of transcriptions for the harp, and it is my hope that some of the material mentioned in this article will be helpful to harpists in explaining the desirability and, indeed, the necessity of playing transcriptions. 1. The practice of transcribing music from one instrument to another has a long and honorable history. Composers whose taste no critic could question have frequently transcribed their own music and the music of others as well. I think few could deny that Bach's keyboard versions of his Sonatas and Partitas for violin solo are true enrichments of his original thoughts, and this is but one of many possible examples. Certainly Ravel's Tombeau de Couperin, transcribed by the composer from piano to orchestra exists in equal, although contrasting beauty in the two settings. His orchestration of Moussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition is now much better known than the original piano version. It is not a musical question, then, whether to play or not to play transcriptions, but rather a question of exercising good taste and judgment as to what is truly suitable for our instrument. Another important point along these lines has been well expressed by Jean Vallerand, general secretary of the Conservatory of the Province of Quebec, who writes, "The care for instrumental color is a relatively modern matter. For the musicians of the' 17th or 18th centuries, the musical thought could find its interpretation on different instruments. Therefore we find Sonatas for violin or flute or oboe, etc. Pieces for harpsichord or organ." In the 17th and 18th centuries, music was a refined art, intellectual and mathematical, which addressed itself to the mind. Camille Saint-Saens in the introduction to his edition of the "Pieces for Harpsichord" by Rameau tells us: "The music of ancient times gets its whole value from the form. Based on this principle, Handel could write a Concerto for organ or harp, the solo part of SUMMER/<strong>1976</strong> which may be executed without difference by one or the other of these instruments, and likewise by the harpsichord as well. This fact opens up strange horizons on the difference of ideas and judgments which one and the same art may bring about at different times." According to this principle, then, the harp may play everything appropriate to it of this older music. Handel's Concerto in B-flat and the Sonate by C. P. E. Bach, works admitted to be original music for the harp, prove by their writing that there was no particular insistence on instrumental idiom, for it is identical to that used for keyboard instruments of the period in question. The harpist must use care in selecting his publications however, for much of the older music has been edited by pianists who added much which may not be desirable for harp. Many such "additions" could well be omitted in favor of more suitable elaboration for our instrument. C. P. E. Bach tells us that it was customary (before 17 50) for the performer to add his own embellishments and elaborations freely. It is important to remember, also, that the harp with pedals came rather late. Composers of the 17th and 18th centuries would have been hopelessly limited in their music if they composed specifically for harp at that time. I am convinced that if the presentday harp had been perfected in earlier times, we would now have a large repertory written for our instrument by the greatest composers of the past. They did not have our harp but we do have their music! It would indeed be strange to forbid the harp, among the most ancient of instruments, this wonderful music of bygone centuries. ·-2. I should now like to take up the question of the harp's suitability to this music. All too often have its limitations been criticized! We must bear in mind that every instrument, taken by itself, has its limitations. The woodwinds and brass instruments are limited in range and cannot utter two sounds simultaneously. Stringed instruments may produce double or triple-stops, but the composer must exercise great care in their use. Bach's Sonatas for violin or 'cello demand a very great deal from the player. The harp, by contrast, truly belongs to the family of polyphonic instruments of which other members are the harpsichord, organ and piano. Let us now compare briefly the qualities and the limitations of the harp to these keyboard instruments. a. The harp has the advantage of direct, expressive touch, " ... this particular contact of the skin surface with the stretched string," as Enesco writes of Thibaud. b. Even if the harp's legato is much less marked than that of the piano, it is still capable (providing the musician phrases well) of a singing melody, contrasting dynamics and registers, and also of special effects which enable us from time to time to suggest the harpsichord or guitar. These latter two instruments, by the way, cannot begin to vary their particular instrumental color. c. The harp has been reproached for its "perpetual staccato" (but is the harpsichord any different?), 21
Page 2 and 3: The world's leading harpmaker The m
Page 4 and 5: THE AMERICAN HARP JOURNAL The Offic
Page 6 and 7: that in the modern harpsichord, by
Page 8 and 9: 6 ferent editions (as indicated by
Page 10 and 11: Jefferson in a letter to his daught
Page 12 and 13: &nmp~ouu 8'ortrtg llullrttu It stir
Page 14 and 15: 31 Literary and Musical Magazine, P
Page 16 and 17: Orleans, and Pittsburgh. The duplic
Page 18 and 19: eing ordered. I asked him to please
Page 20 and 21: music director of the Kansas City P
Page 24 and 25: the mixture of harmonies, and the l
Page 26 and 27: NEW RECORDINGS Please send all info
Page 28 and 29: for his wife. Further, Tristram was
Page 30 and 31: A NOTE OF APPRECIATION I have been
Page 32 and 33: AMERICAN HARP SOCIETY, INC. THIRTEE
Page 34 and 35: 10:00 AM 10:30 AM 12 :30 PM 1:00 PM
Page 36 and 37: PRIVATE CAR: North-South Interstate
Page 38 and 39: FOOD SERVICE: Cafeteria style at La
Page 40 and 41: HARPWEEK-1976 Phia Berghout announc
Page 42 and 43: 40 compositions for harp by PATRICI
Page 44 and 45: International Harpweek 1975 by Patr
Page 46 and 47: 44 THE CHRISTMAS HARPIST by Marilyn
Page 48 and 49: ursts of sound with isolated fragme
Page 50 and 51: we stopped to see the three stones
Page 52 and 53: Century Club and for the American A
Page 54 and 55: has written a new major work for th
Page 56 and 57: Stephanie Curcio has performed Wond
Page 58 and 59: Schlomovitz's home; and Pamela Stut
Page 60 and 61: form. Carla Wong Gee and Toynette W
Page 62 and 63: The traditional St. Patrick's Day m
Page 64 and 65: UCLAeXtension ANNOUNCES MILDRED DIL
Page 66 and 67: Tape Library. This excellent tape t
Page 68 and 69: Our next meeting will be held Febru
Page 70 and 71: A concert in memory of Marcel Grand
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March 21 in the auditorium of Calva
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SUZANN YOUNG DAVIDS, B.M., Oberlin,
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AHJ, Vol. 5 No. 3, Summer 1976

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