For its Spring 2006 event, the Center for the Study of Free-Reed Instruments at The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, will mount a concert titled ‘VIVA REGONDI’.
Among the performers: concertinists Douglas Rogers, Wim Wakker, and Allan Atlas, together with guitarist Alexander Dunn, mezzo-soprano Julia Grella O’Connell, and pianist Jin-Ok Lee. As for the repertory, one thing seems fairly certain at this point: the concert will conclude with Regondi’s arrangement of melodies from Verdi’s La Traviata arranged for two trebles, baritone, and piano. This is likely the first live concert devoted entirely to Regondi’s music since he was laid to rest in 1872. The precise date, time, and venue:
Friday, 17 March 2006, 7:30 P.M., Elebash Recital Hall, CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue (Fifth Avenue and 34th Street), New York. We will try to organize workshops for the following day. For further information: http://web.gc.cuny.edu/freereed (scroll down to ‘Announcements’ in the left-hand margin).
We might note the founding of a new scholarly society (and a very friendly one at that: the North American British Music Studies Association, which is devoted to fostering research on and performances of-as well as generally publicizing-the rich tradition of British music of all styles and periods. Information about NABMSA (yes, that ‘BM’ is tough) can be found at http:// www.nabsma.org. Needless to say, new members are always welcome!
On Friday, 18 June 2005, the Horniman Museum, London, went public with its digitized, online version of the twelve extant nineteenth-century Wheatstone ledgers/day books. Digitized by Robert Gaskins in truly spectacular fashion, the ledgers consist of nine sales ledgers, which are housed in the Wayne Archive (named after Neil Wayne) and list day-to-day sales of instruments from 1835 through 23 May 1870 (with names of buyers, serial numbers of instruments, and, as of 1 January 1851, prices paid), two salary books, one for 1845-1846, the other for 1848-1849, and one production book that dates and describes instruments with serial numbers 18061 (March 1866) – 21353 (22 December 1891) as they came off the ‘assembly line’. One can view the ledgers at http://www.horniman.info .
To understate things: with the ledgers now just a click-of-the-mouse away, the Horniman Museum and Robert Gaskins have provided an invaluable impetus to historical research on the concertina. Hats and thumb-straps off to both of them.