Gottfried Finger, 'Music for European Courts and Concerts'
- Submitting institution
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Canterbury Christ Church University
- Unit of assessment
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
- Output identifier
- U33.070
- Type
- I - Performance
- Venue(s)
- St Mary the Virgin, Bishopsbourne, Kent. Outhere Music
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month of first performance
- -
- Year of first performance
- 2019
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- Yes
- Double-weighted statement
- This project represents a complex process of research and project management over a two year period (2016-2018), including score reconstruction, arrangement, rehearsal and recording for a total of twelve works (including sonatas, chaconnes and concerti) with a rotating ensemble of 30 musicians on a variety of period instruments. The research process is described further in extensive liner notes (over 2,500 words) including German and French translations.
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- A world-premiere recording for Ramée, of twelve instrumental and vocal pieces by the Moravian-born composer Gottfried Finger (c.1655–1730) for which Rawson undertook archival research as well as being performer and artistic director with his ensemble The Harmonious Scoiety of Tickle-Fiddle Gentlemen. The result of exhaustive archival research in the UK, Austria, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Germany, Rawson prepared all of the scores from seventeenth- and eighteenth-century manuscripts and prints; a project that progressed in tandem with several recent scholarly publications which examined Finger’s previously overlooked contributions to London’s concert life and innovative approaches to scoring and mixing of styles. In contrast to Finger’s previous reputation as mere imitator of Purcell and Bassani, the research that underpins the present project not only revealed his innovative approach to scoring, mixing styles and the incorporation of emerging Venetian traits, but also demonstrated his influence on composers like Purcell. Rawson drew on manuscript sources attributed to Finger, leading to identification of his humorous use of pseudonyms and then attributed an otherwise unknown piece to him ('Concerto del Sigr Italiano'). This attribution placed Finger at the forefront of the use of horns for court music in Berlin—a practice that eventually inspired Bach's Brandenburg Concerto no. 4. In addition, the recording draws attention to previously overlooked links between Finger's practice in London and later works for Continental courts. The recording received a coveted 5/5 from France's Diapason magazine and 10/10 in Australia's Limelight. Gramophone praised 'Robert Rawson… for searching out and organising this rare music’; and the BBC Music Magazine noted how it 'makes an important contribution to our understanding of European music around the turn of the eighteenth century.’
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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