Three Quartets for Harp with accompaniment of Flute, Violin & Bass CFD Hoffmann Edited Mike Parker Although obviously composed for the lighter, more slight tones of period instruments, these quartets can transfer very successfully to modern instruments with a little care in tone and articulation. Some movements will transfer directly to the modern lever harp, and the others could, with a little careful editing, and pre-planning could be made to sit quite comfortably on that instrument. This publication benefits from a comprehensive Forward, including notes on ornamantation by Mike Parker   Buy this music now: £24.00 + p&p

Mike Parker: Profile & Catalogue of works

Foreword

There are 22 entries for the name Hoffman, and 2 for Hofman, in Fétis’ Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Sadly, none of those listed is C.F.D. Hoffmann, so we do not know what the initials stand for, birth and death dates, or even the gender of the composer.

So, what do we know? A collection of three quartets, specified as being for harp, with the accompaniment of a transverse flute, violin, and bass, and designated Opus 1, was published by Haveisen, a music publisher and composer, based in Frankfurt. This gives us several other clues. Flautist, and musicologist, Peter Foster, pointed me to Sterling E. Murray’s The Career of an Eighteenth-century Kapellmeister: The Life and Music of Antonio Rosetti (Harmonie Park Press,1997). This details the career and music of Rosetti, who wrote the Opus 2 6 sonatas for harp with violin accompaniment ad lib, and contains the information that a rival music publisher, André, bought out the Haveisen business in 1787. The reasonable assumption is that the three quartets were written before then.

The handsomely engraved cover, with swags, foliage, and mythological figures has a vignette, depicting a scene with figures in a garden, with an ornate fountain, and a musical ensemble playing off to one side. This gave me immediate suspicions about date, but it was historical dance expert Daniel Gariépy who summed it up…. “1772! Look at the hair!”… and he is quite right… the hair is huge, for both men and women. This doesn’t mean that the work was composed in 1772, but it would seem to indicate that it was not published before then, which gives us a window of 15 years or so in which it was most likely produced.

The designation of ‘opus 1’ also suggests that the composer had produced more works at the time of publication, and was expecting to publish more, which coupled with the general lack or reverence for ‘immediate’ nostalgia suggests that it comes from the earlier part of the period.

The use of French in titling the edition is in keeping with artistic practice of the period, which was still looking to Paris as the centre of the artistic world, although taste for Italian music was growing. Antoino Rosetti, mentioned above, was born Anton Rösler, but changed his name to the Italianate form for artistic reasons.

The instrumentation is quite specific, but still leaves us with a few considerations. The original cover specifies Flute Traversiere, which would be a wooden, probably single keyed, instrument. The violin would be either of the baroque pattern or a transitional instrument, with a lightly-raked neck. Either way, it would be gut strung, the main difference being that a transitional instrument may have an open wound D string, giving it a stronger, clearer tone. The term basso is open to a little more interpretation, and can be applied to a fairly wide range of instruments. The bass viol was still in common use, but the ‘cello was gaining ground, particularly in professional circles. Instructions for other works of the period show that a bassoon is also a possibility, and certainly the limiting of the bass range to a low C would make these last two more likely.

The harp question is a little more complex, as there are four possible types of instrument in regular use. The harp parts have an undemanding range, from two octaves below Middle C, to the E two octaves and a third above, which is of no help in eliminating suspects. The chromatic demands in all three quartets are limited, but do ask for chromatic shifting whilst the hands are fairly busy, making the hook harp unlikely. Works specifically for the hook harp tend to have considerately written-in points for moving a manual hook, and such points are missing in these works. The Doppelharfe, chromatically strung, so easily able to manage the chromatic requirements, and with a more than ample range, was beginning to lose ground in the second half of the eighteenth-century, but cannot be discounted.

The German pedal harp, with five pedals, would be more than capable of playing the harp parts, as would the French pedal harp, with seven pedals, so then it comes down to which of these two was more likely to be available. The existence of the Rosetti sonatas, published by André during this period, indicate that there were sufficient numbers of harpists around to be worth engraving and marketing works specifically aimed at harps, rather than for harp or keyboard, as so often happens at this time, however unsuitable the music might be for one, or other, instrument.

I think we can, however, rule out the Spitzharfe. Although it could manage the range, and chromaticism, it has a much more idiomatic style of writing in works intended for it.

The writing for each instrument is more than competent, but the harmony, and the writing, in places is decidedly ‘quirky’. The ‘cuckoo’ (Minuet Quartet 1) and ‘cow horn’ (Presto Quartet 2) sections have a slightly manic quality, which if enjoyed, and played with good humour have a definite charm. Some of the harmony is questionable, like bar 6 of the Allegro Vivace of Quartet 1, which has a C sharp in the harp right hand, and a C natural in the violin, bar 39, which pairs an E and C sharp in the harp right hand with D in the violin, basso, and harp left hand. A short stretch from bar 153 of the Presto from Quartet 2 has no obvious ‘solution’, like a misplaced clef, or a copyist’s transposition. All changes, where such solutions do seem to be obvious, have been noted, otherwise the score is as it appears in the two known surviving copies. One is housed in the Royal Library of Denmark, which shows no signs of use, and another from the harp music collection of Maria Pryfold née Holsten (1762-1834), which has fingerings, bowings, and occasional corrections inked into each part). It is housed in a family collection owned by her descendants, and to whom I am grateful for access.

Although obviously composed for the lighter, more slight tones of period instruments, these quartets can transfer very successfully to modern instruments with a little care in tone and articulation. Some movements will transfer directly to the modern lever harp, and the others could, with a little careful editing, and pre-planning could be made to sit quite comfortably on that instrument.

Ornamentation

Trills should all begin on the upper auxilliary, but the speed and regularity of the trill should be dictated by melodic phrasing.

The appoggiaturas are all given written values and so should, in accordance with eighteenth-century principles, be given the equivalent value of the written ornament starting on the beat, and the value then deducted from the main note. This is variable, however, and the performers should make them longer or shorter as they feel the music requires. When a single appoggiatura is applied to a chord, the appoggiatura should be played with the other written notes, resolving to the note to which the appoggiatura is applied or, where harmonically required, the appoggiatura played on the beat and the chord reduced by the value of the appoggiatura.

The vertical dashes over some notes almost certainly indicate staccato. In other works of the period, these can indicate an accented articulation, or can be used in conjunction with the more recognizable dots to indicate a heavier, more abrupt staccato than the dot, but here are probably just a general indication.

The inverted mordents should all be played on the beat, taking as little time from the written note as possible, but in some places, an inverted mordent does not seem to sit comfortably, and the symbol should probably be read as an indication do ‘do something’, which may not, necessarily, be an inverted mordent.

Some sections within the harp parts are marked PIZ., which also appears along with PIZZ. In the bowed string parts. Whilst pizzicato makes perfect sense for the violin and ‘cello, the most logical interpretation in the harp writing is for etouffée, but there is often no indication as to where the effect should stop, leaving it to the discretion of the player as where to to stop the effect.

Mike Parker, September 2016

Title:	Three Quartets for Harp with accompaniment of Flute, Violin & Bass
Composer:	CFD Hoffmann
Editor:	Mike Parker
Instrumentation:	Harp, flute, violin and bass (see Foreword above)
Level:	Intermediate Level
Format:	A4 Wire bound score and A4 stapled parts
Weight:	510gm
ISMN:	979-0-57046-212-4
Our Ref:	SM0553
Publisher:	Creighton's Collection
Edition/Year:	January 2017
Origin:	UK (EU)