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 It is with some trepidation, but not a little excitement, that I take over the reins of the Early Music Institute from Professor Michael McCraw, who simultaneously becomes Chair of the department, replacing Wendy Gillespie who has served in that capacity for many years.
Professor McCraw’s achievements as Director have been many and varied. The EMI now has a Classical Orchestra with period instruments. This is an addition to the long-standing work of the Baroque Orchestra, directed by Stanley Ritchie, which becomes Classical Orchestra for half of each year.
The main mission of the Early Music Institute is nothing less than to help all Jacobs School of Music students rediscover old music and make it new again. How do we go about achieving this mission? The ways are many and varied. I will mention a few of them below.
As well as educating our early music performance majors, we offer courses that are available to, and sometimes specifically aimed at, players of “modern” instruments. The EMI faculty offers introductory courses that include literature, performance practice and “hands on” experience in their various fields of expertise.
Professor McCraw has emphasized that “it is important all students in the Jacobs School of Music have the opportunity to experience this (Historically Informed Performance) approach”. Following recent faculty appointments in various departments of the Jacobs School of Music, the EMI plans to cement more inter-departmental links through various specific projects. For now it may be noted that this year, with the cooperation of the Choral Department, there will be performances of Bach’s Hohe Messe in h-moll(BWV 232), Schütz’s Weihnachtshistorie (SWV 435) and Monteverdi’s Vespro della beata Vergine (1610). Such large-scale works can only take place in a historically informed way with cooperation between the EMI’s students and faculty and those in the “modern” instrument and voice departments. I shall be attempting to foster such cooperation in future wherever possible.
For its part, the EMI continues to offer courses on special topics such as solo string literature of Bach, Baroque orchestral repertoire for woodwinds, and chamber music of the baroque and classical periods, to players of modern instruments. Our courses in performance practice of the Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical eras attract both early music majors and “modern” instrumentalists/vocalists.
Visitors to the Jacobs School of Music sponsored by the Early Music Institute in the 2009-10 academic year include Catherine Turocy, Director and co-founder of The New York Baroque Dance Company, in January 2010, the Canadian baroque ensemble I Furiosi in February, baroque flutist Bart Kuijken, also in February, and the fortepianist Susan Alexander-Max in April.
The Early Music Institute oversees two series published by Indiana University Press: Publications of the Early Music Institute and Music: Scholarship and Performance. Jeffery Kite-Powell’s A Performer’s Guide to Renaissance Music, which includes a chapter on bowed string instruments by Wendy Gillespie, was recently re-released. Future publications, already contracted, are: Music Education in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, edited by Susan Forscher Weiss, Russell Murray, and Cynthia Cyrus; Instruments and Idiom in Mozart's Keyboard Concertos,by Kathryn Libin; A Performer's Guide to Seventeenth-Century Music, byJeffrey Kite-Powell; A Guide to Playing the Baroque Guitar, by James Tyler; A Practical Guide to Historic Temperaments on Lutes, Guitars, and Viols, by David Dolata. Several other manuscripts are currently under consideration for the series.
Focus, the recording label of the EMI, recently released a second recording of music for hurdy-gurdy The Baroque Hurdy-Gurdy, played by IU Professor Robert Green. Also recently released is EMI horn teacher Richard Seraphinoff’s Cornucopia II, featuring German classical music for horn and strings. The ensemble on this recording includes IU alumnus Cynthia Roberts, violin (student of Stanley Ritchie and Josef Gingold); Rachel Evans, violin and viola; David Miller, viola; and Allen Whear, cello. All are prominent performers in the period-instrument field.
Scheduled for release soon is a CD of Telemann wind sonatas and chamber music performed by Eva Legêne, Washington McClain, EMI alumnus Corey Jameson, and Michael McCraw.
Our part-time faculty continue to offer instruction in cornetto/early trumpet with Kiri Tollaksen, early clarinet with Eric Hoeprich, baroque cello with Christine Kyprianides and early trombone with Linda Pearse, in addition to oboe with Washington McClain and flute with Barbara Kallaur.
The mission of the Early Music Institute is nothing less than to help our students rediscover old music and make it new again. Our means may sometimes differ, but the truth is we share this mission with our colleagues in the world of classical music at large. Only if we succeed will we continue, and deserve, to generate new audiences, which in turn is the only way we will be able to continue our work of rediscovery. I am optimistic that we are up to the task!
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