Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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A Tribute to
FransVester
by Mia Dreese
The Teacher
Vester was an innovative teacher. He stimulated his students
with creative practicing procedures. He wanted us to
wake up, as he called it. He would say that everybody
was sleeping, and it was his duty to make his students
aware of their musical feelings. Consequently, we were
required to read a lot of books, including even Zen in the
Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel.
Vesters teaching emphasized music-making as the goal
and flute playing as the means. He used to tell us: Compare
music-making with the work of a carpenter: If you want to
build a beautiful bookcase, first learn to form a perfect
plank.
He paid detailed attention to phrasing, direction, tempo,
vibrato, and style. And he also had a remarkable sense of
rhythm. One of his methods for teaching rhythmic feel was
to teach his students to conduct. Although he had never been
a student of Marcel Moyse, he always told me that he had
learned to play Mozart by listening to Moyses recordings of
the Mozart concertos.
He loved one-liners: Dont try, but play. Fingers always
play allegro. Emphasize heavy parts of the measure. Upbeats
are light.
And his slogan is unforgettable: Reckitts blue! In his
youth, his mother used to add special powder to whiten the
wash. The Reckitt Company made this magical powder. For
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Chamber Music
The Danzi Quintet toured the world and gave premieres of
many important woodwind quintets, several of which were
written for the Danzis. As part of the tours, Vester gave workshops that brought foreign students from all over the world to
The Hague.
Whoever hears the remastered recordings of the Quintet
will hear a way of music-making that resembles well-known
string quartets. One can hear that each member of the
group knows exactly what the others are doing. They listen
to each other and know what they want to say with the
music. Nobody is a soloistor, better stated, each is a
soloist, but in the right way.
I doubt if Vester preferred one special musical style. For
him, music-making was made of the same general substance,
although each period had its own language.
Baroque music was one of his specialties. When he was
young, he read the Versuch by Quantz in addition to many
more books about 18th-century music. He regarded these
books as his teachers, because it was from them that he
learned basic performance practice rules. In the beginning of
the 1950s, when he was 30 years old, Vester recorded the Bach
Partita live on the radio, playing on a traverso from his own
collection. Later he always hoped that this recording would be
lost, because over time he grew uncertain about his original
interpretation.
In the 1970s, the Netherlands was, together with Austria
(and its Nikolaus Harnoncourt), a pioneer in the performance
practice of baroque music. Vester formed an ensemble with
the recorder player Frans Brggen, cellist Anner Bijlsma, and
harpsichordist Gustav Leonhardt. They played on period
instruments, including Vester on flute or (again) traverso. At
that time, he was well into his 50s. One of his most deeply
moving recordings is that from 1971 of the Mozart Concertos
on a traverso.
He never urged his students to play on period instruments,
because he believed that the music was more important than
the instrument. He provided his students with traverso fingerings by Hotteterre and Quantz, but his instructions for playing the ancient to the modern flute were the same. His only
requirement was that all of his students had to compile their
own scholarly reference library.
The first movement of the Solo Sonata by C.P.E. Bach was a
work for which Vester had very strong ideas. The changing
feelingsthe passions or affectsin this complicated piece
were of utmost importance. The harmonic progress was
essential, as was rhythm, but the tempo was rather free; he
almost played it like an improvisation.
Vester, left, Koen van Slogteren, Adriaan van Woudenberg, Brian Pollard,
and Pem Godrie.
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Romantic Music
The Catalogs
Vesters Flute Repertoire Catalogue appeared in 1969. In that
precomputer era, he had written all the information on
thousands of small cards, contained in little baskets all over
his house. The catalog has sold more than 80,000 copies and
has been out of print for years.
This was followed by his Flute Music of the 18th Century.
(He compared this work with compulsive peanut munching.) The 18th-century catalog lists as completely as possible all written chamber music and ensemble combinations
that include the flute. It is also invaluable as a reference
book for articles and relevant writings about the most
important flute works. In addition, it notes the library where
the music can be found. The book is an important source of
information for flute players and musicologists.
Vesters enormous collection of historical and modern
scores was cataloged in 2002 and is available in two parts.
A large part of the collection came out of his interest in
18th-century flute literature. Because of his artistic leadership
of the Danzi Quintet, the amount of music for wind quintets
in the collection is immense. In addition, there are pieces
for flute solo, flute with orchestra or piano accompaniment,
chamber music with flute, and homogeneous flute ensembles.
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Selected Works of
and About Frans Vester
Publications by Frans Vester
De Fluit (J.J. Lispet, 1948)
Flute Repertoire Catalogue (Musica Rara, 1967)
Flute Music of the 18th Century (Musica Rara, 1985)
Blazer en vibrato (Wind Player and Vibrato)
(Mens en Melodie, 1961, Het Spectrum, Utrecht, the Netherlands)
Concerning the Flute (Broekmans and Van Poppel, 1984)
Catalogus van de Nederlandse Fluitliteratuur
(with Rien de Reede) (F. Knuf, 1988)
Beter een originele geest dan een origineel instrument
lectures and articles (F. Knuf, 1992)
W.A. MozartOn the performance of the Works for Wind
Instruments (Broekmans and Van Poppel, 1995)
Publications by Others
Catalogue Collection Frans Vester, Part 1: Editions before 1900;
Part 2: Editions after 1900 (MuziekGroep Nederland, 2002.)
Frans Vester, ed., The Flute Library series (F. Knuf, Buren)
J. de Vaucanson: Le Mchanisme du Fluteur Automatique
(Paris, 1738)
An Account of the Mechanism of an Automation or Image
playing on the German Flute (London, 1742, reprint 1979)
C. Delusse. LArt de la Flte traversire (Paris, 1760, reprint 1979)
M. Corrette. Methode pour apprendre aisment jouer de la
flte traversire (Paris, 1735, reprint 1978)
J.G. Tromlitz. Ausfhrlicher und grundlicher Unterricht die
Flte zu spielen (Leipzig, 1791, reprint 1973)
Ueber die Flte mit mehreren Klappen (Leipzig, 1800, reprint
1973.)
A. Hugot and J.G. Wunderlich. Mthode de Flte. (Paris,
1804, reprint 1975)
J.J.H. Ribock et al. Bemerkungen ber die Flte (1782,
reprint 1980)
Editions
Broekmans and Van Poppel (Amsterdam)
M. Blavet, Gigue-en-Rondeau and Rondeau. Flute solo
Concerto in A MinorRecueil des pices, 9 pieces for 1 and
2 flutes (Couperin, Hotteterre, Blavet)
F.A. Hoffmeister. Three duets for two flutes, op. 20
W.A. Mozart. Grand duo pour deux fltes, op. 76
I. Pleyel. Duo deux fltes
B.T. Berbiguier. Trois duos pour deux fltes, op. 61
K. Kummer. Trio for three flutes, op. 58
A. Reicha. Trio for three flutes, op. 26
W.A. Mozart. Don Giovanni for two flutes and cello/bassoon
or flute, violin, violoncello (or flute, oboe, bassoon)
M. Blavet. Troisime livre de sonates pour la flte traversire
avec la basse
V. de Michelis. Notturnino for four flutes, op. 37
Universal (London)
100 Classical Studies for Flute
125 Easy Classical Studies for Flute
50 Classical Studies for Flute
F. Kuhlau. Three Fantasies for Flute Solo op. 38
J.S. Bach. Flute Obbligatos from the Cantatas
W.A. Mozart. Six Sonatas for Flute and Piano, Book I and II
W.A. Mozart. Six Duets for Two Flutes, Book I and II
C. Czerny. Duo Concertante op. 129 for flute and piano
J. Haydn. 12 Pieces for the musical clock for flute and piano
G.P. Telemann, J.F. Kleinknecht, J.G. Mthel. German Baroque
Sonates
F. Couperin, L. de Caix dHervelois, J.M. Leclair. (French
Baroque Pieces)
W.A. Mozart. Five pieces for three flutes
F.X. Gebauer. Quintet no. 2 E-flat Major, for wind quintet
A. Reicha. Two andantes and adagio for flute, cor anglais,
clarinet, horn, and bassoon
J. Haydn. Seven pieces for the musical clock, for flute, oboe,
clarinet, horn, and bassoon (adaptation by Frans Vester)
L. van Beethoven. Adagio and Allegro for the musical clock,
for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon (adaptation by
Frans Vester)
L. Spohr. Concerto in modo duna scena cantante (version for
flute and piano)
Universal (Vienna)
A. Hugot. 25 Grandes Etudes, Op. 13, Book I and II
W.A. Mozart. Rondo in D fr Flte und Orchester, K. Anh.184
Musica Rara (London/Monteux)
F. Lachner. Quintet no. II in E-flat Major (1827) for wind quintet
F. Danzi. Quintet op. 68, no. 3 in D Minor for wind quintet
A. Reicha. Quintet op. 99, no. 2 in F Minor for wind quintet
F. Schubert, W. Matiegka. Notturno, D 96 for flute, guitar,
viola, cello
Mills Music (London)
W.A. Mozart. Andante fr eine Orgelwalze, K. 616, transcribed
for wind quintet by Frans Vester
Fantasie fr eine Orgelwalze, K. 608 transcribed for
wind quintet by Frans Vester.
Recordings
Danzi Quintet speelt Reicha & Onslow, vol 56 (Philips)
(A list of most of the recordings can be found in Concerning
the Flute.)
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Barthold Kuijken and Mia Dreese with Vester at his 60th birthday in 1982.