Isabelle's Notebook
Quintet Lore
Neilsen composed his much-loved Quintet, op. 43 in 1921-22, inspired by hearing leading Copenhagen wind players rehearsing the Sinfonia Concertante for winds by Mozart, Neilsen's favorite composer. Nielsen's quintet was premiered privately in Goteberg in April, 1922, and publicly in Copenhagen on October 9. 1922. Schoenberg heard a rehearsal and was moved to write his own in 1924 (op. 26). Soon after the Denmark premiere of the Nielsen, the Copenhagen group was invited to play in Germany and asked their agent in Berlin to find a German work for that program. He did, with the result that the same concert that introduced Nielsen's work to Germany included the world premiere of Hindemith's quintet, Kleine Kammermusik. from IDRS Journal
Motorist Fined for Playing Flute
According to Reuters, a man in Germany was arrested for playing the flute while driving 130 km/hour on a highway. The police spokesperson said he was playing the flute with both hands, and steering with his knees and feet. The best part of this story is his excuse to the police: The 52-year-old from Salzburg in Austria, birthplace of Mozart, told police he was not actually blowing the instrument. He said he was just practicing fingerings. from Reuters
A Vanishing Relative
In a recent issue of the Double Reed Journal, Robert Starner writes of the Pifaneros, Mexican village musicians playing chirimias (folk shawms) and drums in Chuch and folk festivals since the time of the Conquistadores. When Cortez set out to conquer Honduras, he took along five players of chirimias, sackbuts and dulzians. Unfortunately, all but one died of hunger, and the surviving soldiers complained of his playing, preferring maize (corn) to music.
Murals and paintings in churches from the 16th to 18th centuries show festival processions with chiramias and drums. The pifanero tradition has been closely involved in these annual church festivals, which have preserved the instruments and music up to our times.
In the town of Cochucho, Michoacan, a family of performers and one instrument maker may be the end of this colorful tradition. Pifaneros made by Samuel Vicente are 30 cm long, with a pirouette to hold the reed 4.3 cm. With a double reed inserted, the instrument becomes 32.7 cm long. It is made from cherry, madrone or mulberry woods. Preferred reed materials are palm fronds from the tula palm, soaked and folded over a staple from quills of large birds. When quills are scarce, plastic straws are substituted. Finished reeds are stored in water.
Sadly, the tradition is disappearing. In Cochuco, the remaining players are Anastaio Vicente Marcias, age 91 and his sons, Samuel Vicente Marcelo, age 68 and Miguel Vicente Marcelo, age 54.
Starner's article is extensive, with reproductions of murals, historical references, detailed drawings, music and interviews with the players.
It is a fine salute to this colorful disappearing tradition. (the Double Reed, Vol. 31, no. 2, 2008).
(Information from the Double Reed quarterlies is used on the BWS website by permission.)
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