
Prelude #1 – Nov 21, 2020 Papers by: R. Lawson, B. Heise, etc.
These were the presentations and topics of the Prelude #1.
Rex Lawson (London) Facing up to the Metrostyle – The Elusive Authenticity of a Printed Rubato Birgit Heise (Leipzig) An Archival Study of the Estate of Ludwig Hupfeld AG Neal Peres da Costa (Sydney) Performing practices on piano roll recordings of Camille Saint-Saëns Updates on Global Roll Scanning Projects
Topics of this Prelude had been:
Rex Lawson (London)
Facing up to the Metrostyle – The Elusive Authenticity of a Printed Rubato
As the player piano has begun to take its place in the world of twenty-first century musicology, it is important to understand the philosophy that lay behind its invention and development. The Metrostyle, and in particular the Autograph-Metrostyle, are telling pointers towards the thought processes of the musicians and engineers who steered this unique instrument through its formative years in the early 1900s. Rex Lawson seeks to guide the unwary across the player-piano’s red line.
Birgit Heise (Leipzig)
An Archival Study of the Estate of Ludwig Hupfeld AG
The Saxon State Archives in Leipzig houses the extensive estate (20 lfd. metres) of Ludwig Hupfeld AG (No. 20903). These include 448 mostly handwritten documents of composers and pianists, extensive building records, annual reports, personnel records, correspondence, 23 historical sales catalogues, 84 patent specifications and 283 technical drawings and photos of player pianos. Particularly noteworthy are the testimonials by renowned artists such as Edvard Grieg, Max Reger or Eugen d’Albert. These are contracts, expert opinions and receipts in connection with the publication of music rolls. They show among other things that fees and legal conditions of the recordings were finely regulated.
This trove will now be fully documented and described in a doctoral thesis underway at the University of Leipzig. As a first step, a complete list of the Hupfeld artist rolls has been created utilizing the most important roll catalogues from 1906 to 1932.
Neal Peres da Costa (Sydney)
Performing practices on piano roll recordings of Camille Saint-Saëns
Camille Saint-Saëns’ piano rolls will be discussed with respect to their performing practices. Saint-Saëns made nearly two dozen roll recordings for Welte, Hupfeld and Philipps Duca. His interpretative decisions and stylisms will be considered from a performer’s perspective, in practice, through a recording of the Saint-Saëns Piano Quintet in A minor, Op.14 with the Ironwood Ensemble earlier this year.
Global Roll Scanning Projects
Roll scanning has been an important part of the effort towards the preservation, access and study of music rolls. One of the objectives of the Global Piano Roll Meeting has been to share information on the variety of projects currently underway around the globe in the hopes of greater awareness, cooperation and coordination. In this session a selection of projects from around the world will be described in a series of brief presentations. It will be followed by a discussion session allowing for questions.
Sebastian Bausch (Bern Academy of the Arts HKB)
Heike Fricke (Leipzig University)
Nathan Coy & Kumaran Arul (Stanford University)
Peter Phillips (Sydney)
Marc Widuch (Faszination Pianola, Munich)