Presenting contemporary works as historical is a long tradition in the music
biz--
See Charles Cudworth, "Ye Olde Spuriosity Shoppe, or Put in the Anhang" in
Notes 12 (1954-55).
The program notes to a recent Naxos recording of Ponce's solo guitar music
recounts this episode. Segovia was merely trying to keep up with the other
international virtuosi of the day (Landowska, among others ), who were
unearthing and performing old, obscure masterpieces--sometimes actual
historical pieces, sometimes new compositions. I'm not entirely sure Segovia
every acknowledged the hoax while Ponce was still alive.
jeff
----- Original Message -----
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Arthur Ness" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Paul Pleijsier"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: "Lute Net" <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Friday, September 26, 2008 12:47 PM
Subject: [LUTE] Re: Respighi
Arthur,
I'm curious about the "lutenist who may not be
named" as well. Trustworthy as this fellow probably
is, there have been bigger hoaxes before so we have to
remain sceptical until the lutenist's name comes out
or there is some verifiable publication. The
Segovia/Ponce frauds for example didn't happen so long
ago as to be unthinkable today.
For those who might not know, Andres Segovia and
Manuel Ponce conspired to pass off Ponce's original
guitar compositions as the work of past masters.
These included "transciptions" of piano pieces (sic)
by Allesandro Scarlatti, a Suite in A minor by Weiss,
and the Sonata Classica by Sor - all entirely the work
of Ponce. While today it seems incredible that anyone
could be fooled for a minute (Ponce was a mediocre
composer at best) these sham works were recorded and
published in the 1950's under the baroque composers'
names.
Since these pieces were vouched for by such giants
in the field, they got passed around and accepted as
part of the repertoire. For years, Segovia and Ponce
fooled audiences, critics and musicologists. John
Williams' Wigmore Hall debut included the "Scarlatti"
and "Weiss" pieces. Heitor Villa-Lobos tried to argue
that the "Weiss" was so good that it must in fact be
by J.S. Bach(!). When the master guitarist and
respected composer were finally discovered, they
claimed it had all been just a little joke. Ha-ha.
I believe that all of these pieces are still in
print under Ponce's name.
Chris
--- Arthur Ness <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Pleijsier" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Arthur Ness" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: "Lute Net" <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Friday, September 26, 2008 3:19 AM
Subject: Re: [LUTE] Re: Respighi
| As a total outsider in this matter, I just wonder
why the Italian
| "living and breathing" "master lutenist" is
unnamed as of yet.
| Paul Pleijsier
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Dear Paul,
I was told the name of the lutenist by several
persons at the Francesco
conference in 1997, but I did not recognize the name
and subsequently
forgot who it is. And I've never considered it so
important that I'd seek
out the name from my colleagues in Italy, or from
Thomas Schall. The way
the name was mentioned casually, the lutenist was a
"household name" to
those participating in the discussions. It was ten
years ago.
I never expected it would be so controversial. And
the
controversy is due solely to ugly comments by
Matanya Ophee and now
Eugene <what's his name?>. They are demanding
information to which they
are
not necessarily entitled. and seem to think they
will get the
information by suggesting that we are liars, and by
using other unkind
epithets ("looth
fairies"), and by characterizing the lutenist as a
"phantom." But I don't
have the information they seek, and under the
circumstances, wouldn't tell
them even if I knew.
The re-discovery of the manuscript was hot news at
the conference. And
several different persons told me about it. Sort of,
breathlessly
uttered, "Did _you_ hear . . ." And I did have an
extended discussion
about the discovery with at least one leading
Italian lute scholar,
who thought he was on the track of the person who
purchased the manuscript
shortly after
Chilesotti's death in 1916. He named a famous
Italian
composer/musicologist (but not
Respighi) who resided in northern Italy, not far
from Chilesotti.
Possibly it may be his family who still owns the
manuscript. But that's
just a guess, particularly because the manuscript
seems never to have
appeared on the auction or
antiquarian markets, which are closely monitored by
some of us.
In 1997, noone told me the identity of the owner of
the manuscript (it is
possible noone knew)--information I surely would
have tucked away for
future reference in my 37-column article
on the sources of lute music in the New Grove
Dictionary of Music and
Musicians. It was well-known that my revisions for
the next edition were
then in progress. That is probably the reason why so
many people told me
about the
manuscript. When a new manuscript is discovered, I
usually hear about
it within a very short while.
Two persons on this list have given me additional
information privately
about the Chilesotti manuscripts (plural). The
present owner of the Codice
Lauten-Buch manuscript may have been known to a
"mentor" of one reader
here, but the mentor is now deceased.
The important matter is that Dinko Fabris (a leading
Italian lute
scholar, and an expert on the biography and works of
Chilesotti) was able
to determine that the manuscript was not destroyed
in a fire.
=====AJN (Boston, Mass.)=====
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