beverly jerold butes machine organ

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A Re-Examination of Tempos Assigned to the Earl of Bute's Machine Organ Author(s): Beverly Jerold Source: Early Music, Vol. 30, No. 4 (Nov., 2002), pp. 584-591Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3519214Accessed: 25-03-2015 21:32 UTC

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e* MECHANICAL INSTRUMENTS .

Beverly Jerold

A re-examination of tempos assigned to the Earl of Bute's machine organ

THE closest thing we have to original recordings

of 18th-century music are barrel organs of the period, so they are especially interesting for what they convey about the performance of that time. A barrel organ is so called because of the cylindrical barrel on which the music is encoded by means of pins inserted around its circumference. As the barrel is rotated these pins engage with a system of pivoted metal keys which, in effect, 'play' the organ.1

In a book of 1775 giving instructions for pinning such a barrel organ, Joseph Engramelle includes an engraving he made of a builder's shop (illus.1).2 The worker on the left is pinning the barrel of a small serinette (canary organ) with the help of a dial divided into equal pie-like sections. The worker on the right is doing the same on a much larger barrel. Various tools are on the floor and hanging on the wall. In the right foreground is a harpsichord pro- vided with the same mechanism. A mechanical flautist is seated on a box whose open side reveals the apparatus for his tunes. At the top rear is a barrel organ of substantial size, and the clock by the window has a carillon.

In an article published in this journal in 1983 William Malloch investigated such a barrel organ and drew conclusions about tempo.3 However, these conclusions appear to be seriously flawed, and it is those shortcomings that will be addressed here. His article concerns some 60 barrels said to have been pinned with music for a machine organ installed in a new residence for the 3rd Earl of Bute around 1767. Plans for the organ, however, are thought to have begun in 1762; a design for the case is dated 1763.

Each barrel, 18" in diameter and 4' 6" in length, had a maximum capacity of 12 minutes of music. As Mal- loch observes, the organ and its barrels 'have com- pletely disappeared', but a Catalogue of the music on the various barrels published in 1812 by Alexander Cumming (1735-1814) survives,4 and contains tim-

ings of each composition to the second-'270 indi- vidually timed pieces or sections (255 of which have been identified)'.5 Table I illustrates how Cumming's catalogue organizes each numbered barrel into lists of pieces and their timings.

There are discrepancies between Cumming's text and his catalogue, for the latter includes only 56 of the original 60 barrels, plus eight improved barrels

Table 1 Contents of barrels nos.49 and 5o, as listed in

Cumming's catalogue No. 49.

HANDEL. - Judas Macchabceus min. sec.

Pious Orgies ...................... 3 o Arm, Arm, ye Brave ................ 2 34 Disdainful of Danger ............... 2 o Sound an Alarm, and Chorus ........ 4 17

11 51

No. 5o. HANDEL. - Judas Macchabaeus

min. sec.

O Liberty .......................... 2 25 'Tis Liberty ......................... 1 55 Come Ever Smiling Liberty ........... 2 30 Sing unto God ...................... 2 23

11 43

Beverly Jerold is the author of Jean-Henry D'Anglebert and the seventeenth-century clavecin school (Bloomington, 1986), and is a performer on keyboard instruments

EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER 2002 585


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1 The workshop of a maker of mechanical instruments, as depicted in the frontispiece of Joseph Engramelle, La tonotechnie, ou l'art de noter les cylindres (Paris, 1775) (by permission of the British Library; 1608/5525)

584 EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER 2002



constructed more than 20 years later (according to his text, there were only six of these), making a total of 64 barrels catalogued.

Although Cumming was not involved in con-

structing this organ or its barrels,6 he was responsible for a second, mechanically improved, organ for another residence of the earl. Completed in 1787, it was capable of playing the same barrels as the first; the earl then had 57 of the original barrels moved to this residence. Cumming also added another six (possibly eight) barrels of improved design, which, however, contained popular tunes of the period instead of the concert music found on the original barrels. Thus the latter are the focus of our discussion.

According to Cumming's little book, prepared and published when he was 81, he was using notes that were half a century old. In Malloch's words, sleuthing was necessary to identify some of the

pieces: It requires a good deal of work and even luck to identify some of the instrumental pieces from Cumming's titles, and in some cases only the evidence of context can provide the identification. On barrel 22 no.3, for example, the confusing word 'Sentiment' turns out to be 'Lentement', which pro- vides the key to finding the right 'Sara. 2nd. set Lessons' ... Barrel 3 nos.12-13 come, not from Corelli's '12th Concerto' of op.6, but his lith. The other listing of Corelli's '12th Con- certo', the whole of barrel 5 ... is an error for his 8th, the 'Christmas' Concerto.

Malloch also encountered discrepancies with the

figures: 'Similar problems arise in determining tem-

pos and tempo relationships. On the same barrel I attribute the timing of 20" for no.3 to the faded state of Cumming's notes: the time must be 1' 20".' 7

According to Malloch, John Christopher Smith the younger (1712-95), a composer of opera and oratorio, selected and arranged the music to be

pinned on the barrels. But Arthur W. J. G. Ord- Hume credits the elder Smith (d 1763): 'The con- struction of the organ was superintended by Han- del's amanuensis, John Christopher Smith. John Snetzler, the organ builder, was called in to collabo- rate ... John Langshaw, organist and mechanic, pinned the barrels with music arranged by Smith.'8 Except for quoting a passage from F.-J. Ftis about Langshaw, Ord-Hume does not name his sources, but Snetzler is corroborated by Cumming. Smith, however, is not mentioned in Cumming's book.

Because Malloch does not list any other citation for his material on Smith, it is not known where he obtained statements that are presented as factual; for instance:

Context, for example, reveals Smith's first rule: that there should be no cuts in through-composed pieces. Often only the A section of a da capo or dal segno aria is used (to the pause over the word 'Fine'), but these sections never suffer internal cuts. The inclusion of repeats in other types of piece, particularly instrumental dances, is not consistent, but there are no cuts within sections bearing repeat signs.9

Because no barrels exist to show what music was

actually present, and Handel often revised his work, how do we know which version was used on the barrel? Or that Smith did not simply choose those por- tions that would best fit the time requirements? John Tobin's book documents how frequent and far-

ranging Handel's revisions could be for various performances.'o How can it be deduced that no cuts were made? When Cumming's catalogue contains

only the information seen in table 1, Malloch's statements appear speculative, unless he has a source he did not cite. Without a disclaimer that this information is purely a surmise, it seems inaccurate to include a 'Bar count' in a chart of 'Contents of selected barrels."' He further states: 'Smith's second rule was evidently that there should be no transposi- tions.' Here it is clear that Smith's rule is Malloch's deduction. He presents one further rule from Smith that also has the flavour of a supposition: Smith's third rule was that while each composition should have its own appropriate tempo, there should nevertheless be rhythmic continuity from piece to piece. ... rarely do pieces in exactly the same tempo follow one another, but successive pieces are often closely related in tempo-by moving at almost double or half speed, or by halving a common pulse.

What is the basis for these statements? Beyond a

simple listing of contents, Cumming's book contains no information whatever about the barrels or their preparation. Without the precise number of bars used for each piece, there is no way of positing tempo relationships. Here is another passage where Malloch's statements appear unsupported by fact:

It is clear that continuity of tempo was an important factor in Smith's ordering of the pieces, and one can observe how this criterion helped to clarify the decisions concerning the four movements from organ concertos by Handel that con- tain ad lib. sections ... Smith simply lets the bar count stand




and elides the ad lib. beginnings and endings, which produces a quite natural tempo flow.12

Unless a citation has been omitted in these instances, it appears that suppositions have been presented as fact, which seriously undermines the validity of conclusions for extremely rapid tempos ('The quaver pulse slides from 63 to a smashing 468 [sic] with scarcely a break') and tempo relationships ('There appear to be the very healthy vestiges of a flexible tactus uniting much of the contents of all 54 barrels').13 If Malloch assumed the use of more bars for a particular piece than were actually on the barrel, it would produce the fast tempos he often deduces. On the other hand, the reverse would account for the few instances where a tempo seems slow. The plausible tempos may represent cases where his assumptions more or less coincide with the number of bars actually pinned.

Let us consider Handel's Organ Concerto, op.4 no.5, for which timings exist on barrel no.ig. This same concerto was also pinned onto a barrel for a late 18th-century organ now in the Colt Clavier Col- lection, Bethersden, Kent, possibly built by Henry Holland. The difference is that here a barrel exists and has been reported upon by David Fuller.14 In this organ the barrel is cranked by hand, making tempo variable. However, as Fuller explains, the range of comfortable tempo is relatively narrow: the organ suffers from wind starvation when cranked too slowly and poor speech when cranked too fast. Table 2 shows the metronome figures derived by Fuller and Malloch for the Holland organ (for which a gen- uine barrel is present), as compared with Malloch's deduced figures for the Bute organ (for which no barrel exists).15

Fuller's figures are the more plausible. While the alla siciliana might seem slow, it should be noted that, characteristic of a late 18th-century fashion, it is highly ornamented on this barrel, thus requiring a slow tempo. In all probability, the barrel for the Bute organ contained cuts to achieve reasonable tempos.

Apart from the absence of barrels, there are other difficulties involved with interpreting Cumming's catalogue. Malloch himself cites the problems in identifying some of the pieces. Is it not possible that his identifications might occasionally be inaccurate?

Table 2 Fuller and Malloch's metronome figures for the Holland organ, compared with Malloch's figures for the Bute organ

Holland/ Holland/ Bute/ Unit Fuller Malloch Malloch

Larghetto J c.63 c.94 75 Allegro J c.76 c.131 131 Alla siciliana ) c.84 c.148 135 Jig . c.84 c.14o 137

Because the tempo of the Allegro from Vivaldi's Concerto op.9 no.12 seems too fast, he acknowledges that he may have identified the piece incorrectly.'6 Moreover, can we assume the timings to be com- pletely accurate when they were produced from notes 50 years old by a man of very great age for that period? How acute was his vision? As noted above, Malloch indicates at least one obvious error in the timings. And the discrepancy in the numbers of barrels between Cumming's text and his catalogue, observed above, should give us pause.

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Ex.1 Handel, L'Allegro, il Penseroso, ed il Moderato, 'These delights', bars 17-19

l Irf ,,% I I I I

these delights if thou canst give, these de - lights

A

RIX = V-F AtI

Cumming's catalogue lists some 36 barrels devoted to Handel's music. The reason Malloch stresses Smith's involvement in the project (which has not yet been confirmed by a primary source) is apparently related to his close working relationship with Handel: 'Handel had been dead only three years when the work on them began, and everybody involved in the project, certainly Smith and his patron, carried with them the memory of his live interpretations.' While it is tantalizing to contem- plate finding documentary evidence with a close connection to Handel, the fact nevertheless remains that no conclusions can be drawn without the exis- tence of the barrels. The extreme tempos deduced for some pieces are a clear indication of the inade- quacy of this method. Take, for example, the pace of the semiquavers in the aria 'These delights if thou canst give' from Handel's L'Allegro, ii Penseroso, ed il Moderato (ex.1), measured as J = 155.17

Comparing his deduced tempos with tempos offered by William Crotch (c.18o8-15) for some of the same pieces, Malloch concludes:

Crotch's tempos are all conservative; for Corelli's Concerto op.6 no.7 ... they are close to Smith's, though generally slower; but his tempos for 'How excellent is thy name' [Saul] ... and 'He gave them hailstones' [Israel in Egypt] ... are appallingly slow compared to Smith's. They are characteristic for a man who was evidently looking for 'the sublime' at every turn, and they indicate that the growing solemniza- tion of Handel's entire output ... was already well under way by the beginning of the 19th century. This is why the Bute barrels are so important. ... It would be happy were future performances to reflect the spirit that animated

those responsible for creating the Earl of Bute's machine organ.'8

Crotch's tempos, however, are more tenable than those Malloch deduces. Isn't the sublime, in the sense of touching the human spirit in some way, what music is all about? At least this is implied when early writers-and their numbers are legion-criti- cize performers who are simple technicians, unable to communicate warmth and feeling. An over-fast tempo is guaranteed to produce meachanical execu- tion. Incorrect conclusions have been drawn about performance because we have not always interpreted early sources according to the standards prevailing at the time of writing, but by those of today. For example, 'strict rhythm', which today is almost synony- mous with mechanical playing, meant something entirely different to them.19

Let us imagine ourselves charged by a present-day wealthy patron, for his personal enjoyment, with the task of distributing a large quantity of 20th-century concert music over a total of more than 50 barrels, each of which can accommodate only 12 minutes of music. We would probably cut a little here or there to use the time as advantageously as possible. To attain this end, we might even adopt a tempo some- what faster than a live orchestra would usually play. Malloch does not believe this occurred with the barrels under discussion: 'It does not appear that Smith accelerated tempos in order to squeeze more music onto a barrel. The fact that there remains an unused 2' 56" on barrel no.23 is significant.'20 Since this




Table 3 Chart of tempos for Judas Maccabaeus, Act I, after Epstein

Order Title Medium Barrel/Pc. Metre Tempo Tempo Tempo ratio no. (in words) (metronome)

6 Pious orgies, pious airs [Recit. &] Air 49-1 e Largo e sostenuto J 132

11 Arm in arm Air 49-2 C Allegro ma non troppo J = 132 1:1 (segue to:)

11 We come Chorus 35-1 Allegro = 130 no significant

[12] [Recitative] relationship

13 O liberty, thou [Recit &] Air 50-1 C Largo = 71 choicest treasure

[14] [Recitative] 4:3

15 'Tis liberty, dear Air 50-2 C Larghetto J = 97 liberty, alone

barrel is exceptional in this regard, it is likely that Cumming or the original author of the manuscript notes made an error. Either a piece could be missing or a timing could be incorrect. Even if we had the original barrels, their tempos would still have to be regarded as simply approximations.

In his 1995 book, Shaping time, David Epstein bases part of his thesis for proportional tempo on Malloch's article, using his calculations of Cum-

ming's timings to achieve tempos for Handel's Judas Maccabaeus.21 The portion of Epstein's chart in table 3 includes five of some 17 sections of the oratorio that are included on various barrels,2 together with his tempo-relationship ratios and Malloch's tempo derivations. Of the entire group, most have extraor- dinarily fast tempos, while no.13, on the other hand, is very slow.

In its 12-minute maximum duration, barrel no.49 contains four pieces, the first of which is the Largo e sostenuto 'Pious orgies, pious airs' (ex.2a; no.6 in the chart). Its tempo is calculated as J = 132, a pace that would scarcely permit the singer to enunciate the text, perform the dotted demisemiquavers correctly, or convey the expression for 'Decent sorrow, decent pray'rs will to the Lord ascend and move his pity'. Immediately following on this barrel is no.11 (ex.2b, whose correct title is 'Arm, arm, ye brave'), which is

assigned the same tempo as 'Pious orgies.' Even for this Allegro air, J = 132 is an unnaturally rapid

tempo. Thus both a Largo filled with notes of small value and an Allegro are given the same tempo.

Now compare the tempos of the first two items on barrel no.5o, the first of which (no.13, 'O liberty, thou choicest treasure') is marked 'Largo', and the second (no.15, "Tis liberty, dear liberty, alone') is a slightly faster 'larghetto' (ex.3a, b). Yet Malloch derives a tempo well over twice as fast for the latter: J = 97, as opposed to 4) = 71 for the Largo.23

Judas Maccabaeus was performed almost annually from 1747 to 1759, and Handel frequently revised for changing circumstances. Which version, if any, was adopted for pinning on a barrel? The unlikely tempos assigned to these pieces confirm that something is amiss. Support is therefore lacking for Epstein's conclusion about tempo relationships in this work: Since sequential tempos, scattered throughout the various barrels, are nonetheless in integral ratios, the likeliest expla- nation is that these were the tempos common in London performances of the time. As Handel lived in London during this period and was active in performances of his music, and as Langshaw was a highly respected musician on the London scene, the tempo sense reflected in these barrels would seem to be relevant to Handel's own tempos and their connections via these proportions.24

Without solid evidence confirming the precise number of bars included in the timing for each piece prepared for the Bute organ, there can be no scien- tific basis for conclusions relating to either tempo or ratios for tempo relationships.




Ex.2 Handel, Judas Maccabaeus: (a) 'Pious orgies, pious airs'; (b) 'Arm, arm, ye brave'

(a)

Pi - ous or - gies, pi - ous airs, de - cent sor - row,

(b)

Oboe senza Viol.

Oboe senza Viol.

Arm, arm ye brave! arm, arm ye brave! a




Ex.3 Handel, Judas Maccabaeus: (a) '0 liberty, thou choicest treasure'; (b) "Tis liberty, dear liberty'

(a)

Oh li-ber- ty, thou choic - est trea - sure, seat of vir - tue, source of plea - sure! life, with -

(b) Andante larghetto

,,-4.'rTi fOf-:J'

I '"

p f p

'Tis li ber- ty, dear li- ber-ty a- lone, that gives fresh

- 0 -' " "Z *'- ' i " , '

i For a description of the mechanism, see L. G. Langwill/A. W. J. G. Ord- Hume, 'Barrel organ', New Grove II.

2 Marie Dominique Joseph Engramelle, La tonotechnie, ou l'art de noter les cylindres (Paris, 1775; R/Geneva, 1971), frontispiece.

3 W. Malloch, 'The Earl of Bute's machine organ: a touchstone of taste', Early music, xi (1983), PP.172-83. Malloch's work was inspired by an account of this organ in A. W. J. G. Ord-Hume, Barrel organ (London, 1978), p.88ff.

4 A. Cumming, A sketch of the proper- ties of the machine organ invented, constructed and made by Mr Cumming for the Earl of Bute and a catalogue of the music of the various barrels, numbered from one to sixty-four (London, 1812). This work contains 41 pages of text about the organ, followed by a page listing the composers represented on the barrels and a 32-page (unnum- bered) catalogue of each barrel's contents, in the format of table 1. A synopsis of this work is included in Ord-Hume, Barrel organ.

5 Malloch, 'The Earl of Bute's machine organ', p.172f.

6 According to Cumming, the earl later enlisted his help for mechanical difficulties with the organ. Cumming's plan, however, could not be imple-

mented within the limitations of the organ, and his ideas had to wait until a second organ was built. Malloch conveys the incorrect impression that Cumming was involved with building the first organ.

7 Malloch, 'The Earl of Bute's machine organ', p.173. 8 Ord-Hume, Barrel organ, p.88f.

9 Malloch, 'The Earl of Bute's machine organ', p.173f. 10o J. Tobin, Handel's Messiah: a critical account of the manuscript sources and printed editions (New York, 1969).

11 Malloch, 'The Earl of Bute's machine organ', pp.179-82. 12 Malloch, 'The Earl of Bute's machine organ', p.177.

13 Malloch, 'The Earl of Bute's machine organ', p.174.

14 G. F. Handel, Two ornamented organ concertos, ed. D. Fuller (Hacken- sack, NJ, 1980), pp.vi, xiv.

15 Malloch, 'The Earl of Bute's machine organ', pp.177f., 181. In two movements he has assumed for the Bute organ a different number of repeats than exist in the Holland organ. 16 Malloch, 'The Earl of Bute's machine organ', p.176.

17 Malloch, 'The Earl of Bute's machine organ', pp.176, 183, n.31.

18 Malloch, 'The Earl of Bute's machine organ', p.178. Crotch's tempo for the Saul chorus is J = 73, not 65.

19 This topic is discussed in my Skill level in music performance: the eigh- teenth century (forthcoming); its docu- mentation will indicate that the remaining early sources thought rec- ommend extremely fast tempos have been misinterpreted.

20 Malloch, 'The Earl of Bute's machine organ', p.174.

21 D. Epstein, Shaping time (New York, 1995), p.126ff. According to p.127, his study 'draws upon a photocopy of the Cumming catalogue, together with Malloch's tempo derivations and his catalogue annotations concerning individual pieces (in my possession courtesy of Malloch)'.

22 Omitted is 'Father of heaven', from barrel no.47.

23 A further point concerns question- able metre designations, which would affect timings. For example, no.5o, 'O lovely peace' is in 6/8, not common time. What version of no.19, 'Disdain- ful of danger', has two sections in common and 6/8 time, instead of one section in 3/8? In Cumming's catalogue there is only one timing for this piece.

24 Epstein, Shaping time, p.129.




Article Contentsp. 585p. 584p. 586p. 587p. 588p. 589p. 590p. 591

Issue Table of ContentsEarly Music, Vol. 30, No. 4 (Nov., 2002), pp. 497-656Front Matter [pp. 497-583]EditorialDropping the Pilot: Farewell to Arthur Boyars [pp. 500-501]

The Expressive ClavierSwirling from One Level of the Affects to Another: The Expressive Clavier in Mozart's Time [pp. 502-516+518+520]Beethoven's Erard Piano: Its Influence on His Compositions and on Viennese Fortepiano Building [pp. 522-538]

Images and InstrumentsThe Crozier of William of Wykeham [pp. 540-558+561-562]

Mechanical InstrumentsMichele Todini's "Galleria armonica": Its Hitherto Unknown History [pp. 565-582]A Re-Examination of Tempos Assigned to the Earl of Bute's Machine Organ [pp. 584-591]

Performance in ContextFinding Closure: Performance Issues in the Agnus Dei of Ockeghem's "Missa L'homme arm" [pp. 593-607]

Review ArticleReview: A Gay-Studies Handel [pp. 608-612]

Book ReviewsReview: Spanish Opera [pp. 615-617]Review: Vivaldi's 'Flutes' [pp. 617-618]Review: Chant Studies [p. 619]Review: The Neglected Michel Lambert [pp. 619-620]Review: Early English Religious Drama [pp. 620-621]Review: Choral Foundations [pp. 621-623]Review: A Fardle of Hard Names [pp. 623-624]

Correction: The Awkward Idiom: Hand-Crossing and the European Keyboard Scene around 1730 [p. 624]Music ReviewsReview: The English Trio Sonata? [pp. 627-628]Review: A Baroque Trumpet Manuscript [pp. 628+630]Review: Anglicized Ditties [pp. 631-632]Review: Lassus and Bach: But Not as We Know Them [pp. 634-635]

Recording ReviewsReview: A Celestial Siren and Her Music [pp. 637-639]Review: Postscript [pp. 639+641]Review: Odhecaton after 500 Years [pp. 641-642]Review: Charpentier, Sacred and Secular [pp. 645-646+648-649]

Correction: Cristbal de Morales in Toledo, 1545-6: ToleBC 25 and 'New' Works by Morales, Guerrero, Lobo, Tejeda and Ambiela [p. 649]SaleroomsInstruments [pp. 651-652]

Correction: The John Marsh Journals [p. 652]CorrespondenceDu Fay's Canons [pp. 653-654]

Back Matter [pp. 592-656]

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