Home and Hearth
Sitting at a ‘square piano’ at a soirée for family and friends, or just to while away an evening, what was played in the early nineteenth century Australian home? We have more than a clue from Sydney Living Museums – sonatas for various instruments, catchy tunes and sentimental songs, (some familiar, some not), and many a vigorous dance.
Sit with us on a summer evening for works by Haydn and Pleyel, lieder by Schubert and some popular songs (with some present-day improvisations) in a setting reminiscent of days gone by.
Danielle Grant (soprano), Tara Hashambhoy (violin), Diana Weston (piano)
Saturday June 11 at 2.30pm
St Jude’s Church, Bendooley St, Bowral
Saturday June 18 at 4 pm
Mosman Art Gallery, Art Gallery Way, Mosman
Sunday June 19 at 3 pm
Wesley Music Centre, 1 National Circuit, Forrest, Canberra
Friday November 11 at 7 pm
Margaretta Cottage, 18A Cook St, Glebe
For the 33rd Annual Glebe Music Festival
Danielle Grant (soprano), Tara Hashambhoy (violin), Diana Weston (piano)
Photo by Peter Hislop, Wesley Music Centre. Tara Hashambhoy, Diana Weston, Danielle Grant
Program and Notes
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Lied der Anne Lyle
Gesang der Norna
Ignace Pleyel (1757-1831)
Sonata in A major for piano forte and violin
Schubert
Nachtviolen
An die Nachtigall
Im Abendrot
Du bist die Ruh
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Sonata in C minor for piano
Schubert
An die Laute
Das Mädchen
Lachen und Weinen
From Sydney Living Museums’ Haidee B. Harris’ volume
A Curious Collection of Scots Tunes with Variations for the Violin and a Bass for the Violoncello or Harpsichord by ‘A Lady’
Up in the morning early
From Sydney Living Museums’ Haidee B. Harris’ volume and with a new obbligato part for violin by Ann Carr-Boyd
Anon: ‘MacGregor Aruoro’ for voice, piano forte and violin
Anon: ‘Ca’ the Ewes to the Knows’
Mr. Hook: ‘In a Vale Far Remov’d’
Schubert
An die Musik
Danielle Grant soprano
Tara Hashambhoy violin
Diana Weston piano
Our association with Sydney Living Museums over the past few years has meant many new and wonderful discoveries. Their collection continues to throw up surprises – music that’s been forgotten but deserves to be reawakened, traditional music that’s remained anchored in the past, as well as well-known names that speak of the musical skills and knowledge of the early inhabitants of New South Wales. The collections, and by assumption the proponents, were almost exclusively women.
Hand in glove with the investigations at the SLM Library, has been the discovery of the nature of the instruments that went with the music ie. the domestic piano – known as the ‘square’ piano for its rectangular shape. Understandably popular with the new-comers to Australia for their transportability, affordability and size, they were also nice pieces of furniture which, when closed, worked just fine as a place to put your hat. With so many imported (they came at the rate of 10/ship) there are quite a few, restored and unrestored, still existing in historic homes, museums and in private homes. But it’s the nature of the thing that is most interesting. They have their own voices, different to a harpsichord, and different from a modern piano. Limited in some ways (volume, speed of note repetition, difficulty with tuning) they yet can tell us much about how the music that came with them, can be interpreted.
With this in mind, we present music that would have been played on a square piano, some by old friends like Schubert and Haydn, some from historical sources, others vaguely familiar like Pleyel known only to a few.
Diana Weston, June 2021 (written by candle light, due to a blackout)