Who Was John Stafford Smith?
I am anxious to know more about the man behind the Helm MS. After reading his biography from several standard sources (New Grove, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Wikipedia), it appears that he was a musicological pioneer in the eighteenth century. Even more striking for me, as an organist and a church musician, are Smith's connections with the Chapel Royal and Westminster Abbey in London. From all that I have read in those sources, Smith led a life that was characterized by a strong inquisitive nature, which led him to find and collect as much music as possible. New Grove lists quite a few sources in the bibliography to its entry on JSS, so it might be a good first step to investigate those sources and fully exhaust them for new and interesting information.
In an effort to avoid a dry, mundane biography about JSS, I wonder if it would be possible to recreate some sort of timeline about JSS and his creation of the Helm MS. After all, not many of us can resist a good story, and I think that Smith's role as the "first English musicologist" must have an exciting angle we can explore. His discovery of the pieces in the Helm MS and subsequent copying of them would be a great "Eureka!" moment in the chronology of music history, I think.
Another way of illuminating Smith's place in musicological history might be to make a "family tree" of sorts. Who were the other people with whom Smith studied, associated, or worked with during his career? How might they be connected with the pieces in the Helm MS? In my opinion, the larger network we can connect, the better.
I like your idea and agree that we should try to explore different ways and angles in which we can present our findings on Smith. We are definitely finding out that he is influential man in several different ways. I am also interested in Smith as a composer, and would be interested to know if his own music was at all influenced by the composers that he chose to study.
ReplyDeletePatrick, my man! Good call going to the New Grove. Your thoughts propelled me to read the article itself and I definitely think you’ve got the right angle of research going on. Here are some additional thoughts: In the Smith’s bibliography written by Nicholas Temperley, the author writes that Smith’s collection was in the charge of Sir John Hawkins. Temperley also details that Hawkins wrote “General History of the Science and Practice of Music,” (Smith did a lot of work on the musical examples). Perhaps it is worth delving into Hawkins’s book for insight that may aid us in the JSS manuscript. I’d also be curious to know more about the relationship between Smith and Hawkins.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your approuch. Especially, I like to create a family tree. Im not sure but I found another copiest name who is John Cristopher Smith. He was copiest of Hendel. I could not find any connection between JSS and JCS but it is worth to try it. The more interesting thing is that JCS left organ cylinder. It is kind of recording in modern life. So we can sort of trace the performance style at that time. Im wondering if JSS also created a cylinder. Anyway, it is interested to reserch surounding people of JSS.
ReplyDeleteWell done Patrick!
ReplyDeleteI think the family tree of sorts will shed some light on the people who influenced JSS', as well as those who he influenced. I also think the idea of creating a chronology of the life of JSS will be helpful for most of the groups, so we can better examine key dates and locations.
As JSS was an avid collector of music, what was it that led him to do so? Perhaps travels abroad?
How should we divide up the research for this section?
Should we each be in charge of a few of the sources? Then we can compile our findings and create the definitive chronology of the life of JSS, creator of the Helm manuscript.