Joseph Payne (musician) on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Joseph Payne (6 July 1937 – 14 January 2008) was a British/
Swiss German
Swiss German (Standard German: , gsw, Schwiizerdütsch, Schwyzerdütsch, Schwiizertüütsch, Schwizertitsch Mundart,Because of the many different dialects, and because there is no defined orthography for any of them, many different spelling ...
harpsichord
A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...
ist,
clavichord
The clavichord is a stringed rectangular keyboard instrument that was used largely in the Late Middle Ages, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras.
Historically, it was mostly used as a practice instrument and as an aid to compositi ...
ist, organist and
musicologist
Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...
, whose worldwide reputation was based on his performances of music of all periods, though best known for his pioneering recordings of early keyboard music accompanied by his meticulously informative liner notes.
He was born in the
Chahar province of
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
in 1937,
[Liner notes to ''A Comprehensive Selection from the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book'', Vox VBX-72/SVBX-572 (3LP) gives the incorrect date of 1941.] the son of a British father, Joseph (c.1909–1955), and a Swiss-German mother, Wilhelmina ("Mina", 1908–1993), who were licensed preachers and
missionaries
A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...
to
Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...
. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
he and his family were imprisoned in a Japanese internment camp in Shanghai.
The family subsequently moved to England and then to Switzerland, where Payne received his primary musical education.
where, while studying at the Collège de
Vevey
Vevey (; frp, Vevê; german: label=former German, Vivis) is a town in Switzerland in the canton of Vaud, on the north shore of Lake Geneva, near Lausanne. The German name Vivis is no longer commonly used.
It was the seat of the district of ...
,
Payne exhibited an aptitude for languages and an interest in the music of
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
and started receiving musical education.
Payne's family moved again, this time to
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
, where his father became the pastor of Faith Assembly of God in
Hartford
Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...
.
However, Rev. Payne's health had been compromised by the tortures of the internment camp, from which he never fully recovered. He served the Hartford church from 1951 till a fatal heart attack on 12 November 1955, at age 46. (His death was a blow to the church, which under his leadership doubled in size.) Meanwhile, his son Joseph studied at
Trinity College Trinity College may refer to:
Australia
* Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales
* Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
and
Hartt College of Music
The Hartt School is the comprehensive performing arts conservatory of the University of Hartford located in West Hartford, Connecticut, United States, that offers degree programs in music, dance, and theatre. Founded in 1920 by Julius Hartt and ...
; his teachers included
Raymond Hanson, Noretta Conci, Clarence Watters, Josef Marx, Luigi Silva and
Fernando Valenti; he was the last, youngest pupil of
Wanda Landowska
Wanda Aleksandra Landowska (5 July 1879 – 16 August 1959) was a Polish harpsichordist and pianist whose performances, teaching, writings and especially her many recordings played a large role in reviving the popularity of the harpsichord in ...
.
[Liner notes to ''Early English Organ Music, Volume 1'', Naxos 8.550718, 1993, supplemented from "A Celebration of the life of Joseph Payne", 2008] While at Hartt, he met cellist Phoebe Joyce, who became his wife in 1966.
The young couple settled in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
. Payne served for many years as lecturer at
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...
and He lectured at
Northeastern University
Northeastern University (NU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston. Established in 1898, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus as well as satellite campuses in ...
and at the Boston Architectural Center. He toured extensively throughout North America and then in Europe, where his first appearances were under the aegis of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
. For many years he was organist and music director for
Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Boston
Emmanuel Episcopal Church, a historic church at 15 Newbury Street in Boston, Massachusetts, was founded in 1860 as part of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts.
History
Designed by architect Alexander Rice Esty and constructed in 1861, it was t ...
; under his direction,
WGBH offered the first live broadcast in North America of a Christmastime
Festival of Lessons and Carols. His most personal and signal honour was the invitation to play at the reinaugration of the restored Wenzelkirche organ at Naumburg, the only large organ designed by Bach. Though his performance debut featured contemporary music, and though he gave the first performances of works by
Norman Dello Joio
Norman Dello Joio (January 24, 1913July 24, 2008) was an American composer active for over half a century. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1957.
Life
Dello Joio was born Nicodemo DeGioio in New York City to Italian immigrants. He began his music ...
,
Elliott Carter
Elliott Cook Carter Jr. (December 11, 1908 – November 5, 2012) was an American modernist composer. One of the most respected composers of the second half of the 20th century, he combined elements of European modernism and American "ultra- ...
,
Charles Wuorinen
Charles Peter Wuorinen (; June 9, 1938 – March 11, 2020) was an American composer of contemporary classical music based in New York City. He performed his works and other 20th-century music as pianist and conductor.
He composed more than ...
,
Arnold Franchetti
Arnold Franchetti (1911–1993) was a composer born in Lucca, Italy who later emigrated to the United States.
Early life
As a boy, Franchetti studied composition and piano with his father, Baron Alberto Franchetti (1860–1942). Baron Franche ...
and other prominent contemporaries and was the accompanist of
Joan Sutherland
Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, (7 November 1926 – 10 October 2010) was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano known for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s.
She possessed ...
on her first American tour, he was most widely known as a harpsichord recitalist who specialised in the work of Baroque composers, some of them little known. (Notable performances included a 1973 appearance in the
Peabody Mason Concert
Benefactor
The name Peabody Mason comes from Miss Fanny Peabody Mason, who until her death in 1948 was an active patron of music both in the United States and abroad. Her musical interests were piano, singing and chamber music.
Concert series ...
series in Boston.) He started a recording career with the
Haydn Society
Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led ...
and from the 1960s onwards he made over a hundred solo recordings, recording for Vox, Turnabout, Decca and Musical Heritage labels: in 1964 his was the first recording of selections from the
Fitzwilliam Virginal Book
The ''Fitzwilliam Virginal Book'' is a primary source of keyboard music from the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean periods in England, i.e., the late Renaissance and very early Baroque. It takes its name from Viscount Fitzwilliam who beque ...
a contemporaneous anthology of Elizabethan works for keyboard. His ''Spaced-out Bach'' (RCA Victor Red Seal) explored the quadraphonic technology and enjoyed a
cross-over
Crossover may refer to:
Entertainment
Albums and songs
* ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album)
* ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987
* ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album)
* ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album)
* ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...
success. A 1995 music review in ''The Boston Globe'' began "Organist Joseph Payne has probably recorded more music than most people have heard." Across Europe he sought to record on historically appropriate organs, applying his impeccable attention to stylistic detail. His concertising extended to radio– notably his PBS series ''The Bach Connection'' for the Bach tercentenary– and television, for which he composed and performed music for PBS' ''Classic Theater'', ''
Nova
A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramati ...
'' and ''Revolutionary Women''.
In the early 1980s Payne accepted an invitation from the Episcopal Parish of All Saints,
Ashmont, Massachusetts
Ashmont is a section of the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston. It includes the subsections of Ashmont Hill, Peabody Square, and Ashmont-Adams. Located near the Milton/Boston border, major streets include Ashmont Street, Gallivan Blvd., and Dorch ...
, and the family moved to
Dorchester. For nine years Payne worked as organist
[His skill at improvising at the keyboard and his vision and tireless effort inspired the parish to install a new C. B. Fisk organ, op. 103. ("A Celebration...", 2008).] and directed the church's choirs, including the Choir of Men and Boys. There he made a mark as a musical evangelist among the young, and the Men and Boys at All Saints performed in many venues, including radio and television; and was featured in national magazines.
After several years, Payne left the Ashmont church and concentrated on his recording career. In early 2000s this was cut short by a stroke, which left Payne unable to play to his own exacting standard. He turned his attention to photography, and in late 2006 the family moved to
Mount Vernon, Maine
Mount Vernon is a town in Kennebec County, Maine, Kennebec County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,721 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Mount Vernon is included in the Augusta, Maine, Augusta, Maine micropolitan New Englan ...
. On 14 January 2008 Payne died of a heart attack. He was survived by wife and his son Christopher Payne, photographer.
Payne's discography contains nearly 100 items, most being recordings of early keyboard music. This includes the complete organ works of
Johann Pachelbel
Johann Pachelbel (baptised – buried 9 March 1706; also Bachelbel) was a German composer, organist, and teacher who brought the south German organ schools to their peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secularity, secular music, and h ...
, the complete keyboard works of
John Blow
John Blow (baptised 23 February 1649 – 1 October 1708) was an English composer and organist of the Baroque music, Baroque period. Appointed organist of Westminster Abbey in late 1668,[John Bull
John Bull is a national personification of the United Kingdom in general and England in particular, especially in political cartoons and similar graphic works. He is usually depicted as a stout, middle-aged, country-dwelling, jolly and matter- ...]
,
Gottlieb Muffat
Gottlieb Muffat (25 April 1690 – 9 December 1770), son of Georg Muffat, served as ''Hofscholar'' under Johann Fux in Vienna from 1711 and was appointed to the position of third court organist at the ''Hofkapelle'' in 1717. He acquired addit ...
and
Johan Helmich Roman. In addition to the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book he also recorded extensive selections from other important early music manuscripts, such as the
Buxheimer Orgelbuch, the
Andreas Bach Buch, the
Dublin Virginal Manuscript
The Dublin Virginal Manuscript is an important anthology of keyboard music kept in the library of Trinity College Dublin, where it has been since the 17th century under the present shelf-list TCD Ms D.3.29.
History
The Manuscript was probably pur ...
, and the chorales in the
Neumeister Collection
The Neumeister Collection is a compilation of 82 chorale preludes found in a manuscript copy produced by Johann Gottfried Neumeister (1757–1840). When the manuscript was rediscovered at Yale University in the 1980s it appeared to contain 31 previ ...
, of which he made the world-premiere recording, ''J.S. Bach Choral Preludes'' (Harmonia Mundi}
recorded and released prior to the recording by
Werner Jacob). Record labels with which Payne worked included Bis, Naxos, Harmonia Mundi, Hänssler Classics and others.
Payne worked for radio, producing several syndicated series such as ''The Bach Connection''.
His son, Christopher, is a photographer working from New York City.
Partial discography
*
Albero Albero is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include:
* Maria Pilar Izquierdo Albero (1906–1945), Spanish nun
* Vicente Albero (born 1944), Spanish politician and economist
* Albero I of Louvain (1070–1128), Roman Cat ...
: Harpsichord Sonatas (Bis)
*
Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
: Chorale Preludes (Neumeister Chorales) (Harmonia Mundi)
* Bach: ''French Suites'' (Bis)
* Bach: ''Goldberg Variations'' (Bis)
* Bach: ''Klavierbüchlein for Wilhelm Friedemann Bach'' (Hanssler Classics)
*
Bull
A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions,
includin ...
: Pavans and Galliards (Bis)
*
Couperin (François): ''Pièces de Clavecin'' (Bis)
*
Dieupart: ''Six Suitees de Clavesin'' (Centaur)
*
Duphly: ''Pièces de Clavecin'' (Centaur)
*
Muffat (Gottlieb): ''Componimenti Musicali per il cembalo'' (Centaur)
*
Pachelbel
Johann Pachelbel (baptised – buried 9 March 1706; also Bachelbel) was a German composer, organist, and teacher who brought the south German organ schools to their peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secular music, and his contribu ...
: The Complete Organ Works (Centaur)
* Pachelbel: Keyboard Suites (Bis)
*
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
: 12 Suites for Harpsichord (Bis)
*
Scarlatti: ''Essercizi per gravicembalo'' (Bis)
*
Stanford
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...
: Organ Sonatas, Opp. 151–153 (Marco Polo)
*
Telemann
Georg Philipp Telemann (; – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hilde ...
: Fantasies (Centaur)
* VA: Andreas Bach manuscript (Koch Discover Int'l)
* VA: Dublin Virginal Manuscript (Koch Discover Int'l)
* VA: Early English Organ Music (Naxos, 2 volumes)
* VA: Early French Organ Music (Naxos, 2 volumes)
* VA: German Organ Music (Naxos, 2 volumes)
* VA: ''Das Buxheimer Orgelbuch'' (Naxos, 3 volumes)
* VA: ''
The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book'' (Vox (Classical))
* VA: ''The Queenes Command'', music by English virginalists
* VA: ''Vox Organalis: Gothic Keyboard Music'' (Koch Discover Int'l)
External links
Artist page at Naxos siteObituary in Boston Globe
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Payne, Joseph
1941 births
2008 deaths
British harpsichordists
British performers of early music
University of Hartford Hartt School alumni
Trinity College (Connecticut) alumni
20th-century classical musicians
20th-century British musicians
People from Mount Vernon, Maine
Harmonia Mundi artists
Centaur Records artists
Naxos Records artists
Lausanne Conservatory alumni