The Early Music Legend

Semibrevity is an important blog on the early pioneers of Early Music. See http://www.semibrevity.com/2016/04/nikolaus-harnoncourt-and-gustav-leonhardt-a-musical-friendship-of-more-than-60-years/ Guest Blogger: Peter Dickinson is a composer, writer and pianist and an Emeritus Professor of two universities – Keele and London. See here for more details. ‘My wife and I first met David and Gill Munrow in Cambridge in about 1965. It was summer and we were all in the garden at 54 Bateman Street, the home of Mary Potts, whose late husband was L. J. Potts, the literary critic and English don at Queens’ College. Mary Potts had a very special role in the early music revival which has not been acknowledged [other than in this Semibrevity blog post ]. A mere mention of her more distinguished pupils, who included Christopher Hogwood , Colin Tilney and Peter Williams, is enough to indicate that she ought to be better known now. She knew harpsichordists of international reputation such as ...

Cut and paste version of the Cambridge Music Circle with reference to DM. http://www.diafade.co.uk/cmc/history.html    (original link) D In August 1946, a series of advertisements appeared in the local paper ? the Cambridge Daily News ? asking people interested in classical music to contact one Michael Smith, then serving in the RAF. There was sufficient response for a meeting to be arranged at Overstream House, Victoria Avenue (now Winter Comfort). About 20 people attended and a committee was formed. The name Cambridge Music Circle was chosen and an annual subscription of 15/- (75p) was suggested. This was soon reduced to 10/- (50p), although of course there have been increases since! The first recital was held at Overstream House using a wind-up gramophone playing 78rpm records, and the evening began with Rossini?s overture The Thieving Magpie. In its first 16 years the Circle moved a number of times, often to cheaper accommodation. Meetings were held at the YMCA in Hills Ro...

Scope And Content (RAM, or the Royal Academy of Music) A performance-centred archive, largely comprising files of music that relate to concerts given by the Early Music Consort of London (founded and directed by David Munrow) and to their audio recordings. In addition, the archive contains Munrow's scores and arrangements for television and film productions, as well as some radio scripts. Material relating to Munrow, Instruments of the Middle Ages and Renaissance (1976), and some correspondence, is also included. Biographical History David John Munrow (1942-1976), an early woodwind instrumentalist, with a particular expertise in the baroque recorder, is best remembered as a pioneering exponent of early music. Through his founding of the Early Music Consort of London, which performed a range of music that had remained largely unheard for centuries, Munrow developed a broad audience for music from the medieval period through to the late baroque, played on authe...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation , search Christopher Hogwood CBE Christopher Hogwood in 2012 Born ( 1941-09-10 ) 10 September 1941 (age 72) Nationality English Occupation Conductor, harpsichordist , writer and musicologist Christopher Jarvis Haley Hogwood CBE , MA (Cantab), HonMusD (Cantab) (born 10 September 1941, Nottingham ), is an English conductor, harpsichordist , writer, musicologist and founder of the Academy of Ancient Music . Contents  [ hide ]  1 Biography 2 Editing work 2.1 Brahms "discovery" 3 Books written by Christopher Hogwood 4 References 5 External links Biography [ edit ] Hogwood studied music and classical literature at Pembroke College, Cambridge . He went on to study performance and conducting under Raymond Leppard and Thurston Dart ; and later with Rafael Puyana and Gustav Leonhardt . He also studied in Prague with Zuzana Ruzickova for a year, under a Br...

It is said that Munrow was inspired to take up early music by seeing a crumhorn in a room occupied by Thurston Dart.....However..... David Griffith who has a tribute site to David Munrow revealed on the forum the following.. .....According to correspondence I have received, the crumhorn may have in fact belonged to another Cambridge contemporary, John Moore. Here's what he had to say on the oft-quoted crumhorn on the wall inspiration for Munrow: "I remember David bursting on the Cambridge music scene- I was at Jesus and he straight away threw himself with terrific energy into our musical activities. I believe on one occasion there was a Purcell production with scantily clad nymphs who we intended should be frolicing in the college grounds.The day of the production it rained and the performance had to be moved to the chapel, which caused a mild stir amongst the audience. David and I were asked by Laurence Picken to do an evening for the Asian Music circle (which also int...

Because of his great influence Munrow was mentioned on the website on Pembroke College, Cambridge, and is here reprodouced. The full article can be seen by clicking on the link below the extract. RS One of the most ebullient conductors of the Pembroke Singers was David Munrow (1942-1976), who entered the college as an undergraduate in 1961. With his contemporary Prof. Christopher Hogwood (Pembroke 1960, now an Honorary Fellow and Honorary Professor of Music at Cambridge), he formed the Early Music Consort of London in 1967. His deep insight into the music of mediaeval and renaissance composers, and his virtuosity on many wind instruments, popularised the cause of early music worldwide. http://www.pem.cam.ac.uk/the-college/pembroke-past-and-present/music/