The Art of Gustav Leonhardt

[Antoine Marchand]

Gustav Leonhardt and The Little Red Harpsichord

by Skip Sempé (1995)

    The key to studying with Gustav Leonhardt was always preparation. What an audience for the solo harpsichord literature, especially for a young performer! It is not my studies with Leonhardt which prepared me for my work, but the preparation it required to perform at my best week after week, and the process of watching the master himself work. Bach, Scarlatti, Frescobaldi, Froberger, Byrd, Gibbons, Sweelinck, Morley, Farnaby, Tomkins, the Couperins, Forqueray, d'Anglebert, Marchand and Duphly all had to be represented, but always with new works - nothing was ever played twice.

     Leonhardt and I met briefly for the first time in 1976, after a concert that was the first I had heard him play. On the all-Bach program, he included his own transcriptions of two of the solo violin Partitas. I was instantly persuaded that he had the answers to many of my questions. I subsequently played for him in a series of masterclasses in the United States in 1979, and was accepted for study in Amsterdam.

     Meanwhile, I continued all my practicing, research into performance practice, reading, delving into the construction of historic harpsichords and other instruments, building a library, visiting instrument collections to play originals harpsichords in the United States and Europe, and wondered what this fascinating musician called Leonhardt would be like as a teacher and as a person. At lunch during the 1979 masterclasses, we talked about French repertoire and French harpsichords, and he produced an already travel weary photograph of his new acquisition – which he referred to as "my little red harpsichord." The fact that he was carrying a photo of a seventeenth century French style harpsichord - in his wallet, to my astonishment - is I think the thing that made us understand that we shared an uncommon love for the harpsichord. In any case, this small gesture on his part is the one that always made me feel at ease with Leonhardt, and considering his outward appearance as the harpsichord's inaccessible gentleman, this small incident was extraordinary.

     I learned a bit more about Leonhardt's history, attempting to determine how he had to work in order to get across his personal message. It was clear that postwar Vienna, where Leonhardt lived in the mid-1950s, was not the place for a rebel: the wrong place at the wrong time. Had Gustav Leonhardt not had, in addition to his talent, a keen interest in the works of Bach, his superb gentlemanly manners and a rather regal bearing, he may have not succeeded. "Old" instruments already had enough place in the music world of that era: the ugly German production harpsichord, incapable of nuance and therefore praised by dry, stiff musicians, energetic critics and idle commentators who would not abide expression; and the factory made recorder, an instrument easy to play and that would keep the "quaint" repertoire of earlier centuries on an amateur level and where it belonged: out of the concert hall.

     The intellectualized thought on musical style and performance, particularly Baroque, which ran rampant in centers such as Vienna, had to be ignored. Baroque repertoire is only faithfully represented when melody, harmony and rhythm are joined by the fourth member of the Baroque musical quadrivium: Rheroric. So, what is Rhetoric? It is the result of melody and harmony being considered together (text, of course, forming a part of melody in vocal music), and combined with rhythmic gestures that are improvisatory in nature. The music then gains clarity and relief, rather than confusion that is engendered by focusing on the similarity of quite different elements of musical expression. Leonhardt was aware of all this, and was without doubt the first musician of his distinction, working on traditional style instruments, to consider these problems of interpretation to musical ends.

     And he found solutions. Leonhardt, with his extraordinary eye for the abundant virtuosity of Baroque visual art, took part of his inspiration from the great seventeenth and eighteenth century craftsman-artists who were not musicians. He began to understand certain concepts of Baroque art that musicologists, critics and commentators could not even begin to approach.

     Amsterdam, where Leonhardt returned to live, did not have a staid atmosphere. He formed the Leonhardt Consort: five strings and harpsichord or organ (unless he played, in his beloved English consort music in six parts, the bass viol). With performances throughout Europe, solo tours of America and recordings in worldwide circulation, a new musical life was beginning for seventeenth and eighteenth century music, not only for the harpsichord but for chamber and orchestral repertoire as well. The 'cellist of the Leonhardt Consort remarked that he wrote to everyone in the group, with repertoire details, rehearsal schedules, train departure times: no secretaries, no sponsorship, just music making on the highest level and the cultivation of an appreciative public.

     For a lesson with Leonhardt, one rings the doorbell at a very imposing and architecturally important canal house in the center of Amsterdam. One is admitted; Leonhardt stands at the end of an infinitely long hallway that leads into the garden part of the house and a large reception room. In this reception room stood three harpsichords: A William Dowd made in Paris after Blanchet, a Martin Skowroneck after Dulcken, and a Skowroneck Flemish virginal. Everything had the order of a patrician house of the eighteenth century.

     I was welcomed. I sat at the harpsichord, while Leonhardt installed himself in a comfortable chair, a little in the shadow, where he was prepared to sit for an hour or an hour and a half, with frequent excursions to the harpsichord. A clock ticked; I remembered the wallet-sized photo of the red harpsichord. Certain that he would rather be entertained than bored, my method was to play exactly as I felt like playing. It seemed to me a waste of his time and mine to attempt an artificial performance of any sort. Leonhardt would be the first to admit that faithfulness to a composer, his style or his score is irrelevant without confidence in one's own individual interpretation. This is in fact what Leonhardt taught me: self confidence. He built this inner confidence in a variety of subtle means (cachant l'art par l'art...); with the wisdom necessary to recognize that, even with a confident musical personality, one must always continue to build in order to play better. What is special about the time he afforded me is that the tradition was passed on by example and demonstration, not by discussion and intellectual exercise. This is the pre-twentieth century manner of teaching a living tradition, and since Leonhardt is the person who revived it, I felt that, for once, I was in the right place at the right time.

     Lessons were only one thing. The master - student involvement in the pre twentieth century manner of teaching also involves daily experiences relative to the craft of art. I even learned to record from Leonhardt. He asked me to turn pages for a recording, and I immediately accepted with great excitement. I had never been to a recording session (I would not record for several years later), and thought that one with Leonhardt would be especially illuminating. The experience was fascinating, as Leonhardt has made over 200 recordings. Leonhardt performs non-stop. I heard many concerts in Holland, on both harpsichord and organ. During this time, the great organ of Amsterdam's Nieuwe Kerk was being restored. It is a particularly stunning thing, as it is the largest Baroque organ in Northern Europe: the four large painted shutters open, the sight is one of the more splendid in the world, and then music comes out. Listening to Leonhardt play this organ many times, I always thought that this grand and great noise of the full instrument must have been the loudest and most splendid sounds of the seventeenth century. Of course, it is one of Leonhardt's talents to get the maximum out of any instrument he is playing, and nothing inspires him quite like a great harpsichord or organ. He was very excited about the restoration and played a series of dedication recitals on the instrument.

     Performing, recording, and even tuning. For a concert in Amsterdam's Oude Kerk, where Sweelinck was organist, Leonhardt once asked me to help him tune the organ. Walking from home, he had a particular route of walking to this church through the streets of the oldest part of Amsterdam, revealing its most beautiful and remarkable architecture, if avoiding some of the more colorful tourist attractions of the Red Light district. As Leonhardt crawled around high in the organ case, tuning the reeds, I gave notes on the keyboards, confirming whether we were right on target or not. And I do remember the cold: Sweelinck' s. Amsterdam's Golden Age would be incomplete without a visit to a tavern, so we stopped to refresh the spirit and to warm ourselves with sherry.

     It was these moments with Leonhardt that were as good as the lessons. If one wants to understand particular composer or style, one gets as close as possible to that composer or that style. If one wants to understand a particular interpreter, it is very much the same. Leonhardt's burning desire to get closer to Purcell, his English contemporaries and language inspired him to encounter Alfred Deller in the 1950s. The result of this fruitful collaboration was a great friendship, with concerts and recordings together. I once asked Leonhardt if he had ever let anyone tell him how to do something. Without any hesitation, he answered, "Only Deller".

     Lessons with Leonhardt generally ended with conversation, avoiding the subject of music, and sometimes accompanied by tea and the presence of Marie Leonhardt. There, for once, we could talk about violins instead of harpsichords! We managed to speak rarely about other musicians, touching sometimes on Landowska and Kirkpatrick but avoiding the current scene. But for Leonhardt, when work is over, it is time to relax and refresh, which is often accomplished in the company of the latest catalogues of the world's great salesrooms, or, on occasion, the current Alfa Romeo brochure.

     After one of my last lessons, I asked Leonhardt to show me the "little red harpsichord" from the wallet sized photo I had seen years before. This referred to a sumptuously decorated red lacquer and chinoiserie harpsichord made by Martin Skowroneck and based on the seventeenth century Parisian maker Vaudry. On the spur of the moment, he went up the stairs, opened the harpsichord and tuned with impressive care. There it stood, superb, tucked away in a corner of a small but opulent room. Knowing my special love for seventeenth century French harpsichord music, Leonhardt played for me on this magical instrument for quite a long time: improvisation, snatches of Louis Couperin, Froberger, d'Anglebert.

     This completely informal performance, free of all worldly cares and totally outside the public domain, unlocked the doors once and for all. It is how Bach played for his sons and pupils, it is how Frescobaldi played for Froberger, it is how Blancrocher played for Louis Couperin. The secret touch, the completely unique and relatively secret method of real virtuosity on the harpsichord, was revealed. It is the greatest gift one could imagine from a fellow harpsichord player. I return frequently to this memory, as Gustav Leonhardt, just yesterday, in the dim rays of late afternoon, played his "little red harpsichord".

[Marc]

Antoine, thanks for this lovely story.

And yes, I've read this before in other articles: Leonhardt's tea was famous!

[milk]

The claviorganum! Now this is an interesting sounding instrument!

[Antoine Marchand]

Antoine, thanks for this lovely story.

You're welcome, Marc.

BTW, sometime ago the member JaapT posted this wonderful video (and wrote a fine review on Leonhardt), but I didn't read any kind of feedback regarding this:

http://www.youtube.com/v/Jp4n17HxutU

The original uploader has announced English subtitles, but they are not still available.

Where could we find a kind Dutchman to translate this video? 

[Antoine Marchand]

Gustav Maria Leonhardt
(May 30, 1928 – January 16, 2012)
A Personal Tribute by Davitt Moroney

http://westfield.org/public/newsletters/Westfield%20Newsletter%2023-1a%20%28Gustav%20Leonhardt%29.pdf

[Opus106]

Gustav Maria Leonhardt
(May 30, 1928 – January 16, 2012)
A Personal Tribute by Davitt Moroney

http://westfield.org/public/newsletters/Westfield%20Newsletter%2023-1a%20%28Gustav%20Leonhardt%29.pdf

Thanks, Antoine.

While we are the on the topic of GL, I think I'll mention this amusing comment, which I came across yesterday in a review at Amazon.com:

The problem I would say is that Leonhardt is not a romantic.

Let's just all be thankful that he wasn't, shall we?

[Antoine Marchand]

While we are the on the topic of GL, I think I'll mention this amusing comment, which I came across yesterday in a review at Amazon.com:

The problem I would say is that Leonhardt is not a romantic.

Obviously, I don't share any word of this "review"; but I would rescue the name of the American harpsichordist Katherine Roberts Perl. Her Duphly is great and also it's great her Bach, particularly the (so far) incomplete recording of the French Suites:

http://magnatune.com/artists/albums/kperl-french/

[Opus106]

Obviously, I don't share any word of this "review"; but I would rescue the name of the American harpsichordist Katherine Roberts Perl. Her Duphly is great and also it's great her Bach, particularly the (so far) incomplete recording of the French Suites:

http://magnatune.com/artists/albums/kperl-french/

Thanks, yet again. Listening to 815 as I type.

[Antoine Marchand]

Listening to 815 as I type.

Excellent! 

[prémont]

Gustav Maria Leonhardt
(May 30, 1928 – January 16, 2012)
A Personal Tribute by Davitt Moroney

http://westfield.org/public/newsletters/Westfield%20Newsletter%2023-1a%20%28Gustav%20Leonhardt%29.pdf

A long and interesting tribute. Thanks for posting the link.

[kishnevi]

If you have the Jubilee Edition on Sony, you will have two one disc s duplicated, Navneeth: the organs in Netherlands and the "Alpenländer" disc (organs in the Alps of Austria, Switzerland and Italy). Anyway, the new set completes the series because the Jubilee Edition only includes one of those Alpenländer discs and they are two.

Two rather short discs, btw.  Just barely over 90 minutes for both Alpenlander CDs combined. 
I'm listening to the second CD now, and listened to the first last night, and I have to say I'm a mite disappointed by some of the instruments: a couple sound like portable organs--which might be appropriate for the earlier tracks, which consist of music dating from the 16th century--and one organ sounds like it had some broken pipes--there's a couple of notes which seem to howl and I have to wonder how/why Leonhardt let that by--it's positively ugly.   Perhaps the recording schedule was to blame:

Premonstratensian Abbey, Wilten, Innsbruck for the first four tracks: 6 April 1971
Cistercian Abbey, Wilhering bei Linz,  for tracks 5-7: 5 April 1971
Cistercian Abbey, Stams, Tyrol for the remaining eight tracks: 6 April 1971

There must have been some rushing around to record two organs in one day, and a third one the day before.  I think the organ in Wilten is the one that howled.  The organ in Stams sounded the best of all, but that may be a function in part of the music played on it,  which dates to the era of Bach.  At least, it gave me enough heart to go on to the next CD in the set, the one devoted to North German organ music.

[Mandryka]

Did Leonhardt like Buxtehude? (He didn't record much.)

[Mandryka]

Nearly all his article on Baroque keyboard playing ("One Should Not Make a Rule") seems to be here on googlebooks

http://tinyurl.com/d44n78b

I wish someone  could find an example -- a youtube or a CD even -- where I can hear clearly the some of the effects he's talking about, techniques to do with how the player plucks the string. 

[prémont]

Did Leonhardt like Buxtehude? (He didn't record much.)

Since Leonhardt was a great exponent of the stylus phantasticus as exemplified by Buxtehude and others, it would indeed be surprising if he didn´t like Buxtehude. And his few Buxtehude recordings are IMO among the best Buxtehude interpretations available, particularly the Prelude in g-minor manualiter on the organ of the Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam.

[prémont]

Nearly all his article on Baroque keyboard playing ("One Should Not Make a Rule") seems to be here on googlebooks

http://tinyurl.com/d44n78b

I wish someone  could find an example -- a youtube or a CD even -- where I can hear clearly the some of the effects he's talking about, techniques to do with how the player plucks the string.

It is in all cases very subtle. Sometimes I think I can hear it and sometimes not. Because Leonhardts very pronounced articulation and agogics may make one believe that he uses more differentiation of dynamics, than he actually can, when he by agogic means stresses a good note. I think that Leonhardts thoughts about dynamic differentiation first and foremost is intended to be present in the performers mind and act as a kind of tool, facilitating the articulation and agogics.

Compare f.i. Leonhardt´s WTC with Walcha´s (second take on DG). Walcha´s uniform organ-touch may make every other performer seem to use a more flexible touch. The fact that Walcha plays period instruments on this recording makes his touch seem even more uniform than on his EMI recording on an Ammer.

[petrarch]

Alpha has a new 5-CD box with his last recordings for the label. I have the separate CDs already, but the additional booklet material in this edition is tempting.



(Amazon currently lists only the mp3 downloads and for some reason the asin tag does not display the cover properly, so here's the link):
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0083EWZLW/?tag=goodmusicguideco

http://outhere-music.com/store-Alpha_815

[Mandryka]

Since Leonhardt was a great exponent of the stylus phantasticus as exemplified by Buxtehude and others, it would indeed be surprising if he didn´t like Buxtehude. And his few Buxtehude recordings are IMO among the best Buxtehude interpretations available, particularly the Prelude in g-minor manualiter on the organ of the Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam.

It's wonderful -- but as far as I know it's the only Buxtehude on record.

[Karl Henning]

Alpha has a new 5-CD box with his last recordings for the label. I have the separate CDs already, but the additional booklet material in this edition is tempting.



(Amazon currently lists only the mp3 downloads and for some reason the asin tag does not display the cover properly, so here's the link):
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0083EWZLW/?tag=goodmusicguideco

http://outhere-music.com/store-Alpha_815

Thanks for the alert!

[Opus106]

Alpha has a new 5-CD box with his last recordings for the label. I have the separate CDs already, but the additional booklet material in this edition is tempting.

(Amazon currently lists only the mp3 downloads and for some reason the asin tag does not display the cover properly, so here's the link):
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0083EWZLW/?tag=goodmusicguideco

http://outhere-music.com/store-Alpha_815

Fellow GMG member Discobole alerted us to this set in his blog a couple of weeks ago. It's available at Amazon France currently. (The Amazon thingy doesn't works for MP3 downloads.)

http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/B007NM8DB6/?tag=goodmusicgu0a-21

[EDIT: Forget Amazon. Out-here offers free worldwide shipping!]

[prémont]

It's wonderful -- but as far as I know it's the only Buxtehude on record.

He also recorded the Prelude in a-minor BuxWV 153. I have it somewhere in a digitalized copy I have made from an LP. I shall try to find it.