Pilgrimage to Perpignan

Mask of Jacques-François Gallay (1795–1864) by Jean-Pierre Dantan (1800–1869). Collection of Musée Carnavalet, Paris.

One of the things I love about my job is the travelling that is involved. The opportunity to perform in venues around the world, with musicians from different places. Often, sadly, we get to see only a little of the places we visit and you end up only "experiencing" the airport, the hotel room and the concert hall and little in-between. The opposite extreme is when we're fortunate enough to have a residency somewhere, normally this will be for an opera production which calls for the orchestra to be in one place for several days of rehearsals followed by the performances.

I've just returned today from a two week project with one of my most favourite groups - ensemble Pygmalion. We've been performing a new version of Telemann's Brockes Passion. You can get a taste of this amazing project here with this video from one of our concerts for the Krakow Misteria Paschalia Festival. Absolutely awesome music - the horns only had about five numbers so we got to sit and listen to our inspirational colleagues performing night after night. A real pleasure. The final concert from the Paris Philharmonie has been recorded by France Musique for broadcast on the 30th of May, 2017 and you can read the programme for this performance here.

This project started with several days of rehearsals in the outskirts of Paris then concerts in Douai, Compiègne, Perpignan, Bordeaux,  La Rochelle, Krakow and Paris. When I was initially asked for this project one name, that of Perpignan, jumped out. I've been really wanting to visit Perpignan for several years now for the simple reason that it was birthplace of one of my big heroes, Jacques-François Gallay. And, due to a quirk of scheduling, we had two free days before the Perpignan concert - the ensemble was planning to send me back to London, or I could stay in Paris? But, no, I was heading straight to Perpignan!

"Gallay (Jacques-François)" from François-Joseph Fétis Biographie Universelle... (Bruxelles: Meline, Cans et Compagnie, 1837, Vol. 4, p.248–49).

There were several reasons I wanted to visit. Partially because wanted to see if I could find out more about Gallay's youth, early career and the music scene there in the late 18th/early 19th century. There are various aspects of his life prior to his move to Paris that I've wanted to learn more about, such as what kept him there for so long? Gallay only moved to Paris to study in 1820. As he was twenty-four years old he was technically too old to enrol and special dispensation was needed for him to start his studies. 

A lot of information we have about Gallay's life pre-Paris comes from François-Joseph Fétis (1784–1871), and his Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique (Bruxelles: Meline, Cans et Compagnie, Vol. 4, p.248–49). Fétis, not always the most reliable of sources, says that Gallay had stayed in Perpignan due to his "attachment" to his father but also paints a very active music scene in Perpignan with Gallay founding a music society in 1818 and making a spectacular debut in 1810 performing the notorious horn solo from the Act II, Scene II aria "Ô toi dont ma memoir" from François Devienne's (1759–1803) opera Les Visitandines (1792).

François Devienne Les Visitandines (Paris: chez Cousineau père et fils, 1792), collection Bibliothèque nationale de France.

I knew that, as I was going to be in Perpignan over the weekend there was little chance of getting into any archives that might divulge more about Gallay's youth. Perhaps there is, hidden away, a newspaper report about him jumping in when the principal horn of the theatre was too ill to perform the solo in Les Visitandines...? For the time being I had to be happy with visiting the theatre in which this performance took place:

Théâtre Municipal Perpignan

I was also entranced by this description in François-Fortuné Guyot de Fère's (1791–18??) Statistique des beaux-arts en France (Paris: M. Guyot de Fère, 1834, p.295) which described the inhabitants of the region as being similar to Italians in their natural disposition towards music.

F. Guyot de Fère Statistique des beaux-arts en France (Paris: M. Guyot de Fère, 1833/4)

As I mentioned above, I knew the archives would be shut but I was so very sad that the Musée d'art Hyacinthe Rigaud, which houses the wonderful portrait of Gallay below, is closed for renovations until the 24th of June 2017. I'm going to have to come back...

"Jacques-François Gallay" by Nicolas Eustache Maurin (c. 1845?). Collection of the Musée d'art Hyacinthe Rigaud.

Part of the reason I'm interested in this portrait is that I suspect it was made some time after the 24th of July, 1845 when Gallay became a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur (thank you to Christine Minjollet of the Musée national de la Légion d'honneur et des Ordres de chevalerie

 who was able to help me find this date).  The little red dash on Gallay's lapel is the giveaway here. I would love to get up close to this portrait and see if I can find out more about the horn and the music over Gallay's shoulder. 

Nicholas-Eustace Maurin (1799–1850) and his brother Antoine Maurin (1793–1860) were also born in Perpignan and both brothers made portraits of Gallay including this one held in the Bibliothèque national de France. The Maurin brothers and Gallay must have been childhood friends given their similar ages (with Antoine born in 1793, Gallay born in 1795 and Nicholas-Eustace born in 1799) and their friendships seem to have continued with all three living in Paris and with the artists portraying Gallay in later life.

"Jacques-François Gallay (1825) by Antoine Maurin. Collection of the Bibliothèque nationale de France

"Jacques-François Gallay" (1846?) by Nicholas-Eustace Maurin. Collection of the Universitätsbibliothek Frankfurt.

The date of 1846 is a suggestion based on a listing of a three-quarter (i.e. half - there's an excellent NPG article here about these terms) bust portrait of Gallay in the Bibliographie de la France of that year.  

Bibliographie de la France (Paris: chez Pillet, Ainé, 1846, p.257)

Another thing I wished to see but didn't have the time to investigate more is this c.1850 portrait by Antoine Ferréol Jean Baptiste Guiraud (1800–1879) of Gallay. Again, next time....

"Jacques-François Gallay" by Antoine Guiraud (c.1850). Collection of the Institut du Grenat.

What I did manage to do was have a wonderful time hanging out with today's horn players in Perpignan and I was spoilt indeed! I met up with John Lepoultier, professor at the Conservatoire de Perpignan et principal horn of the Orchestre Perpignan-Méditerranée. John is a very knowledgable horn player and has done research specially into the history of the trompe de chase. You can hear him playing a rousing Gavotte by J.J.Mouret here: 

Followed by something a bit softer!

John and I met up and he took me to meet local musician (of many instruments) François Picard. François is the proud owner of a fantastic collection of original horns and we spent a very enjoyable morning trying out various instruments as well as listening to some incredible old recordings he owns.

And then afterwards John took me for a wonderful lunch in the picturesque seaside town of Collioure and then drove me around the area so I could see the more beautiful countryside. 

It was a wonderful few days getting to know a little bit more about Gallay's birthplace - next time I hope to return for longer!

Juggling horn player

Ursula Hill Lauppe (1922-1999) from www.historicjugglingprops.com

When I was a kid, learning the horn and playing in the school ensembles, one of the things I liked was that, in comparison to my friends learning woodwind and string instruments, the horn was REALLY easy to unpack and put away. Open the case, get it out, stick a mouthpiece in it and go. No rosin to deal with, bows to tighten, swabs to pull through etc. etc. etc. Even when I was a bit older and got an instrument with a detachable screw bell it seemed rather easy.


Maybe too easy?


The average Mozart opera requires arm loads of crooks and, to be perfectly frank, it is a faff dealing with them at times. Partially the fear of forgetting an essential one (which can, on occasion, be a total disaster), or not concentrating and putting the wrong one in (luckily, that's rare).

Recently I've been chatting with Robert Percival of Boxwood & Brass about how speedily we can change crooks. Robert seems to be making it his goal in life to arrange as much classical/early romantic repertoire for harmoniemusik ensemble and has come up with some fabulous arrangements and some interesting (yet idiomatic) challenges for us.

This conversation coincided with me performing Mozart's Don Giovanni which has a classic example of, if you'd pardon the pun, "too many crooks". 

One of the first things I asked when I was engaged to do this project was whether or not there was going to be a stage band. In the final scenes of both acts Mozart uses a stage band in addition to the orchestra in the pit. Today it is quite common for the stage band music to be performed by the orchestral players and, on modern instruments, this poses no problems. But, because the stage band horn parts are in different keys to the orchestral horn parts this becomes very tricky which, as I'll explain later, may be the point. But to start off, here are the challenges we have in these passages, and some tips to shave off a few milliseconds with the necessary crook changes.

* * * * * * * * *

Challenge No. 1: The music 

What's the problem then with these two Finales? The challenge comes down to the very fast crook changes. Some of them are caused by us having to incorporate the stage band parts into the orchestral parts but some are there whether or not you have a stage band.

(Don Giovanni, Gardiner, Holland Festival 1994 - tune in around 1:15:16 for the stage band in Act I)

The first set of challenges are in the Act I Finale. Here Mozart gives the orchestral horn players 4 bars and 2 beats rest in a 3/4 Andante to change from C basso to F. Whilst it all depends on the tempo, you have to be quite speedy here:

Don Giovanni manuscript: Act I Finale, bars 83–92.

Don Giovanni manuscript: Act I Finale, bars 93–99.

Then the fun and games with the stage band start. I particularly find this corner challenging.

Don Giovanni manuscript: Act I Finale, bars 246–252.

Don Giovanni manuscript: Act I Finale, bars 253–257.

Here we have two bars and three beats (in an Adagio, cut common time) to change from the F horn stage band parts to the E flat horn orchestral parts. What makes this section more tricky is that the music changes significantly at this point and becomes more sparsely orchestrated. This means that any "clanking" from the horns in the pit as we change crook is very audible.

Act II also often requires a stage band. In the Act II Finale Mozart's score doesn't indicate this as clearly as he does in Act I, where he writes the stage band parts in brackets but from the point of view of the plot it makes sense to incorporate a stage band if possible. The music is scored for a harmonieband of two oboes, two clarinets, two horns and two bassoons who provide "Tafelmusik" for Don Giovanni and Leporello. 

(Don Giovanni, Furtwängler, Salzburg 1954 - tune in around 2:33:01 for the stage band in Act II).

In this section Mozart uses a number of well known tunes from Vincente Martín y Soler's Una Cosa Rara (1786), Giuseppe Sarti's Fra i due litigants il terse gode (1782) and Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro (1786). These are melodies that would have been well known to the audience and gives the opportunity for various "insider" jokes (for more on this see Nicholas J. Chong "Music for the Last Supper: The Dramatic Significance of Mozart's Musical Quotations in the Tafelmusik of Don Giovanni" Current Musicology, No. 92, Spring 2011, p.7–52).

And we have to do them fast! We start off in D which is fine as we're already in that key but then we have five bars and four quavers in a 6/8 Allegretto to get from horn in D to horn in F. 

Don Giovanni manuscript: Act II Finale, bars 108–117 

Don Giovanni manuscript: Act II Finale, bars 118–127 

Then we have two beats, three bars and a pause in a 3/4 Allegretto to get from horn in F to horn in B flat alto.

Don Giovanni manuscript: Act II Finale, bars 154–163.

Is part of the "joke" at this point the horn players racing about for the crooks? Nicholas J. Chong's article (mentioned above) highlights the many ways Mozart cleverly uses the references of the music he appropriates, as well as the double meanings of Don Giovanni and Leporello's comments - e.g. "Ah che piatto saporito!" ("Ah, what a tasty dish!") being a pun on the name of the soprano who sang the role of Donna Anna - Teresa Saporiti. We joke about crook changes today, is this what Mozart is doing?

"Tasty" Teresa Saporiti (1763–1869). Portrait by Ferdinando Fambrini (1791).

Of course, tempo has a hand in the viability of this section. It is possible for the music to flow in such a way that it makes our lives easier but if there is no accommodation for us here are some more challenges and ways round them:

* * * * * * * * * 

Challenge No. 2: The sheet music 

This might seem simplistic but it's an easy one to fix.

Above is the music that was provided to us in the recent production. Nice Bärenreiter parts. Shouldn't be too controversial. But, in Act I at least, the orchestral horn parts and the stage band horns parts are separate. So you have to jump from one to another. To my mind this is just adding one more thing than can possibly go wrong. So instead...

I bring with me my old copy of the Lucks Music Library edition which has both parts all in the same score. A few penciled in changes to make it closer to the Barenreiter edition that everyone else has and that will help me avoid messing up any thing whilst jumping from one part to the other.

You can see how quickly you have to shift from one part to the other here in the manuscript.

Don Giovanni manuscript: Act I Finale, bars 134–145

Here we have 1 beat rest between jumping from the orchestral part to the stage band part.

Don Giovanni manuscript: Act I Finale, bars 146–156.

And then we jump back immediately between the stage band part and the orchestral part.

* * * * * * * * 

Challenge No. 3: The equipment

Changing a crook at speed needs to be a bit like a racing car pit stop. But, sadly, you don't have the benefit of a team of skilled professionals running around after you in order to make it work.

Here are somethings that I find help:

Crook hooks - can be bought for a ridiculous amount of money from some unmentioned horn shops. Or go on google, search for something like "Metal/Hangers/Clip/Scarf" and bulk buy about 30 of them (as you will loose them one by one).

Basically these are designed to hang boots or scarves in fancy walk in wardrobes. Instead of attaching some form of clothing to the clip bit and hooking it onto a rail, you use the clip to hook on to the music stand and swivel the hook around so that you can put your crook on it. Watch out for weak music stands, or too many crooks as they can come clattering down (expensive error). Also some colleagues get tubing from aquarium supply shops to fit over the metal hook to soften the sound of putting the crook on the hook (life is a little too short for that IMHO).

I tend to try and give the impression of being in control but "lining up" the crooks - so the next one is normally the one on the far right and the hook on the far left is empty to receive the one I've just used.

Crook hooks just mean that the crooks are easily within reach, so you don't loose vital milliseconds putting the crooks on the floor.

Multiple mouthpieces - A very simple solution this one, I have mouthpieces already in the crooks ready to go, note the plumbers tape and little metal adaptors...

... these are helpful as the last thing I want (and this has happened to me) is to do a quick crook change only to send a mouthpiece flying across the pit.

A crook in hand - again, this saves a small amount of time - it's really easy to play and have the next crook ready in your left hand:

It takes a little bit of getting used to but it does help as does:

Sitting down - if you are sitting down when you change the crook it means the body of the instrument can rest on your lap. In simplistic terms it means you're less likely to drop it and you can be a bit speedier. Hence me vetoing some requests for the winds to stand ("special effect!") for this point.

If anyone has any other tips as to how to make crook changes super speedy (other than "use valves" ;-) ) feel free to comment below.

NB The manuscript of Mozart's Don Giovanni is housed at the Bibliothèque National de France who have kindly uploaded it to IMSLP here.