The British Clavichord Society Newsletter
John Collins, Worthing
No. 73, Spring 2019
John Sheeles: Suites of Lessons, Book I (1724), edited by Michael Talbot.
Edition HH 459.SOL. Price £13.50, available from www.editionhh.co.uk
John Sheeles (1695-1765) left anthems, songs and two collections of Suites of Lessons, published by William Smith, an apprentice of John Walsh, in 1724 and c. 1730. The first book contains 27 mainly fairly short pieces grouped by key into seven Suites, in C minor, A, E minor, F, G minor, C and D, comprising three (Nos. 3-5), four (Nos. 1, 6 and 7) or six movements (No. 2), each of which is in the same key. Movements include the main constituents of the earlier suite, but without any sarabrands, and with the addition of some Airs and a Gavotte, as well as pieces with just a tempo indication, and one without any such heading. Except for No. 4, which opens with an Allmand, each Suite begins with a binary-form Prelude (Nos. 1 and 2, which is marked slow and resembles an Allmand) or with a preludial type of movement: a four-bar Ground with 16 statements increasing in velocity opens No. 6, and an Overture in two sections in C and cut C, marked slow and Vivace respectively, opens No. 7.
The opening binary-form movement to No. 5, a Scarlatti-like piece, has been conjecturally marked as allegro by the editor, and the vivace opening movement to No. 3 is a fine loosely fugal movement based on a chromatic subject. An Allmand features in only Nos. 1 and 4, that in No. 1 being written in dotted rhythms throughout, whereas that in No. 4 is written in equal semiquavers. A Corant is found in Nos. 1, 2 and 4, both of the latter marked allegro and written in equal flowing quavers with pseudo-polyphonic writing, as found in those by Loeillet, Mattheson and Handel, whereas that to No. 1 is closer to Purcell, Blow and Croft with its textural and rhythmic shifts. The closing movement in Suites 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7 is an Italianate Jigg in equal quavers (in 6/8, apart from in 8 in Suite No. 2). The left-hand writing is mainly dotted quavers, with a texture varying between single notes and full chords, but the Jigg to No. 5 has a far more active quaver writing.
A Minuet is included as the penultimate movement before the Jigg in Suites 2 (3/8) and 6 (3/4), and a Gavott in cut C opening on the second half of the bar is the third movement in Suite No. 2; since the short second half finishes in the tonic minor the opening section should be repeated, although this is not indicated here. Two binary-form Airs are included, the short closing movement in cut C of Suite No. 3 in two-voice quaver writing and the longer second movement in C of Suite No. 6, with right-hand quavers or crotchet movement against left-hand crotchets. Movements with tempo indications include Allegro in Suite No. 2 - through-composed in a fugal form - and Suite No. 7, a binary-form Italianate C-time movement with right-hand semiquavers against left-hand quavers. A through-composed Andante in 3/4 is inserted as the second and central movement in Suite No. 5, and an Adagio in 3/8 is the penultimate movement of Suite No. 7, the right hand being written mainly in thirds over a bass mainly of crotchet-quaver. Two-voice texture (or three-part writing with left-hand octaves) predominates in most pieces; the Overture which opens Suite No. 7 is an exception, with overholding of notes - sometimes but by no means always notated - filling out the sound.
The printing is clear and well laid-out so that very few pieces have page turns in the middle of a movement. Michael Talbot has provided a brief biography as an introduction, and at the end of each volume he provides information on the editorial methodology and some invaluable comments to elucidate the performance of the ornaments, particularly the possible difference in execution of the signs which are here called beat and mordent; scrutiny of the score will show that the execution of the two signs requires careful deliberation in several places. Interestingly Talbot adheres to the interpretation of the shake after the plain note - i.e. appoggiatura - as requiring the upper note to be restruck rather than tied over in the manner of the tremblement appuyé - as per the interpretations provided in contemporary tables of ornaments, but sometimes questioned in modern editions. The critical commentary in each volume gives full information about the editor's interventions and corrections.
These tuneful and well crafted Suites are a welcome addition to the modern editions of published and manuscript Suites and Lessons still looking to some degree at least to the traditions of Purcell and Blow up to Henry Symonds and Mr Gillier, and are generally not over-difficult, although the left-hand octaves that occur in some movements will require some dexterity to play cleanly in the faster movements, and there are also challenges in playing the considerable number of ornaments, most of which are marked in the right-hand treble line; whether more should be added, especially in inner parts, is left to the performer, but certainly in repeats there is plenty of scope for added graces. These suites offer valuable material for teaching as well as making attractive additions to recitals as an example of the development of the English keyboard suite in the earlier eighteenth-century.We are grateful to John Collins for permission to reproduce this review.
Suites of Lessons book 1