Welcome to the British Clavichord Society website
- For forthcoming clavichord events, click here.
- NEW: The BCS website is hosting a new project offering updates to clavichord information in ‘Boalch 3’: for details, click here.
- For information on joining the Society, and our special offer of a free Paul Simmonds CD for new members, click here.
- For details of the BCS Bookshop (open to all), click here.
- If you’re interested in advertising with us, click here.
- For a contents list and index to our Newsletter, click here.
- For details of the International Clavichord Directory, click here.
- For news of the Arnold Dolmetsch centenary celebrations, click here.
- MORE: For more reports, links and clavichord-related information, click here.
The British Clavichord Society encourages the understanding and enjoyment of the clavichord. It promotes recitals, workshops and lectures on the history, construction and repertoire of the instrument. Our Newsletter, published three times a year, offers interesting and informative articles, reviews of recitals, conferences, books and recordings, and news of events in Britain and other European countries. Members also have the option to subscribe through the BCS to the journal Clavichord International, published twice yearly by the Dutch Clavichord Society; and they receive a discount on tickets for our events and a free copy of our International Clavichord Directory. We are preparing a series of publications (including clavichord music and a clavichord tutor) and already have a well-stocked mail-order shop for books, music, CDs and DVDs - this is open to non-members too.
Events and activities
Since its first meetings in 1994, the British Clavichord Society has included a clavichord recital in all its events. Members (and the public) have heard some exceptionally fine music-making, ranging from the earliest centuries of keyboard repertoire through to Mozart, then from Herbert Howells and Bartok to Stephen Dodgson and Gary Carpenter in the twentieth and twenty-first century, played on both modern and historic clavichords. Performers who have already played for the society or are scheduled to do so include many with international reputations: Derek Adlam (the society’s president), Susan Alexander-Max, Steve Barrell, Andrew Benson-Wilson, Bernard Brauchli, John Butt, Carole Cerasi, Terence Charlston, Neil Coleman, John Cranmer, Steven Devine, Andreas Erismann, Sally Fortino, Bruce Glenny, Pierre Goy, Alfred Gross, Siebe Henstra, Jacob Heringman, John Kitchen, Francis Knights, Gustav Leonhardt, Byron Mahoney, Anthony Noble, Julian Perkins, Virginia Pleasants, Timothy Roberts, Micaela Schmitz, Paul Simmonds, Miklos Spanyi, Joel Speerstra, Colin Tilney, Kasia Tomczak-Feltrin, Menno van Delft, Geoffrey Webber and Ilton Wjuniski.Conferences, lecture-recitals, informal workshops and visits to instrument collections and clavichord-makers are another important part of our programme. We have held five highly successful clavichord weekends at the Russell Collection of Early Keyboard Instruments in Edinburgh; and events linking recitals and talks have taken place in Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Haslemere, Lewes, London, Milton Keynes and Oxford.
In line with our aim to share the pleasures of the clavichord more widely, we visit exhibitions and organize educational events to introduce the clavichord to students, young people and other musicians as well as BCS members and the general public.
We plan to expand this programme, and suggestions for events and activities are always welcome. For details of our next event, click here.
BCS Bookshop (open to all)
The BCS Bookshop aims to help you obtain books, CDs and music which may be difficult for other sources to locate or supply. For full details and an up-to-date price list, click here.
Subscriptions, and how to join the Society
| UK and all Europe | Rest of the world | |
|---|---|---|
| Individual membership | £18 (£31) | £24 (£40) |
| Joint membership* | £30 (£43) | £36 (£52) |
| Students and under 18 | £9 (£22) | £14 (£30) |
*Joint membership is for two persons at one address, one mailing.
For more information about how to join the Society, write to David Griffel, BCS Membership Secretary, 75 Redland Road, Bristol, BS6 6AQ, England; or click here for a membership form which you can print out. All payments must be made in pounds sterling. The following are acceptable: cheques drawn on a UK bank account; travellers’ cheques with a face-value in sterling; bankers drafts in sterling; sterling banknotes. Regrettably we cannot accept foreign currency (cheques or cash) or credit-card payments.SPECIAL OFFER: All new members of the Society receive a free copy of Paul Simmonds’ acclaimed CD of German clavichord music (also available to non-members from the BCS Bookshop, price £12 plus post and packing).
Forthcoming clavichord events
17 May 2008, 8pm: Horspath, OxfordshireClavichord and harpsichord recital by Hendrik Bouman
Music by Sweelinck, Couperin, J. S. and W. F. Bach, and Hendrik Bouman, played on instruments made by the performer himself: the fretted clavichord is after the 1787 Hubert in Leipzig.
£5, in aid of Oxfam. Booking essential: please e-mail Hendrik Bouman
15 August 2008
Friends Meeting House, Friends Mews, Sansome Place, Worcester WR1 1UG
11.30am-12.30pm: The English Muse: Micaela Schmitz, harpsichord and clavichord
Music of Byrd, Bull, Bach, Bartok, and Howells (who borrows from Ralph Vaughan Williams and Walton) – The programme shows borrowed styles and ideas in British music.
£6; concessions (full-time students, oap) £5
A Try it! Workshop follows immediately after: £3 for all who want to have a go. Under 16s with a workshop ticket can attend a concert that day.
2-4.30pm: That Inventive Bach: informal keyboard master class with Micaela Schmitz, harpsichord & clavichord.
Limited to 12 players (advance booking recommended), this course will include time with clavichord and harpsichord in two rooms. You need no prior experience with these early keyboard instruments to participate. Micaela will guide players to achieving a good basic tone and an appreciation of what these wonderful instruments can do for our keyboard technique. The focus will be on Bach’s ever-useful Inventions and the Well Tempered Clavier.
£10; concessions £8
These events are part of the Worcester Early Music Weekend, a mini festival within the Worcester Festival. Festival box office: phone 01905 611427. For information on the above events, visit www.earlymusica.permutation.com
September 2008: Finchcocks, Kent
Clavichord Weekend
Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 September, 11am – 6pm
Exhibition of clavichords by contemporary makers: details coming soon (see below)
Sunday 21 September, 8.00pm, £10.00
Clavichord recital by Steven Devine, playing two historic clavichords from the Finchcocks collection, plus some of the instruments displayed over the weekend by their makers. Early booking advised.
Details from Finchcocks, telephone +44 (0)1580 211702, or contact the British Clavichord Society (see below). Finchcocks will be able to offer you advice about nearby accommodation.
Another Finchcocks event to note: on Saturday, 13 September, Finchcocks will be hosting a Dolmetsch Celebration, including a talk by Jeanne Dolmetsch; for information contact Finchcocks, as above.
For information about other events commemorating the 150th anniversary of Arnold Dolmetsch’s birth in 1858, click here.