Draft:David Ponsford
British organist, harpsichordist and musicologist (born 1948)
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David Ponsford MA (Cantab), PhD (Wales), FRCO, ARCM is a British organist, harpsichordist, conductor and musicologist. He is Professor of Organ at the Royal Academy of Music in London and is an acknowledged authority on keyboard music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, particularly French Baroque organ repertory. He is the author of French Organ Music in the Reign of Louis XIV (Cambridge University Press, 2011) and has recorded a series of more than eight volumes of French Baroque organ music for Nimbus Records on historic French instruments.
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David Ponsford | |
|---|---|
| Born | Wales |
| Alma mater | Emmanuel College, Cambridge (MA); Cardiff University (PhD) |
| Occupations | Organist; harpsichordist; conductor; musicologist |
| Employer | Royal Academy of Music |
| Known for | French Organ Music in the Reign of Louis XIV (Cambridge University Press, 2011); series of recordings of French Baroque organ music for Nimbus Records |
| Awards | Fellow of the Royal College of Organists (FRCO) |
Life and education
Ponsford was educated at Queen's College, Taunton, from 1961 to 1967, where the Director of Music Sidney Lawton first inspired him as a pianist, organist and trombonist.[1] He was elected Greenwood Exhibitioner in Music at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he served as Organ Scholar and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists.[2] He graduated in 1971 with an MA (Cantab).
He subsequently studied organ with Peter Hurford, Lionel Rogg and Piet Kee, and harpsichord with Kenneth Gilbert and Gustav Leonhardt.[2] He is Welsh by birth and lives in Gloucestershire.[3]
His PhD dissertation, 'Genre and Notes inégales in the Livres d'orgue of François Couperin and Nicolas de Grigny', was completed at Cardiff University in 1999, supervised by the international Bach scholar Professor Peter Williams.[4][5]
Career
After graduating from Cambridge, Ponsford was appointed Assistant Organist at Wells Cathedral.[2] He subsequently became conductor of Cheltenham Bach Choir, and was invited to conduct a series of annual Bach Passions in mid-Wales.[4]
In the early 1980s he became a freelance organist, harpsichordist and conductor, performing with orchestras and soloists including Yehudi Menuhin and Nigel Kennedy.[1] He has taught organ and harpsichord at Bristol University, Bath Spa University, the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, and Wells Cathedral School.[2]
For 17 years Ponsford was Associate Lecturer at Cardiff University, where he directed courses in Performance Practice and Notation and Editing, conducted the University Chamber Orchestra and the University Choir, and supervised MA and PhD students.[2][4]
Since 2004 he has presented a series of courses on Baroque music at Madingley Hall, University of Cambridge, and regularly teaches on courses run by the Royal College of Organists.[2] He is also an examiner for the ABRSM, having undertaken more than 20 extended examining tours in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.[1]
In September 2021 he was appointed Professor of Organ at the Royal Academy of Music, London.[2] He is also a trustee of the Sidney Lawton Trust at Queen's College, Taunton, which provides financial support to musical pupils at the school.[1]
He has performed as an organ and harpsichord continuo player with many period instrument ensembles and chamber orchestras. As a concerto soloist he has performed Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, and has appeared with Ex Cathedra at festivals in Belgium, France and Finland, at the BBC Proms, and on recordings for ASV and Hyperion.[4] He has given recitals at King's College, Cambridge, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral and the London Oratory, and performed harpsichord recitals at the Purcell Room, London.[4]
He has been Publications Officer for the British Institute of Organ Studies, and co-founded (with Anne Page) the Cambridge Academy of Organ Studies.[4]
Publications
Books
- Ponsford, David (2011). French Organ Music in the Reign of Louis XIV. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-88770-0.
- A genre-based study of French organ music from the reign of Louis XIV. Ponsford analyses the repertory of published livres d'orgue and manuscript collections chronologically, tracing Italian and French influences on composers including Louis Couperin, Nivers, Lebègue, Raison, Boyvin, François Couperin, de Grigny, Clérambault and Louis Marchand. The book addresses performance practices including notes inégales, fingering and ornamentation, and examines the influence of French organ composers on J. S. Bach. A paperback edition was published in 2016. Reviewed in Early Music, the Organ Yearbook and the Journal of the British Institute of Organ Studies.
- Ponsford, David (2023). France 1665–1690. Historical Organ Techniques and Repertoire, vol. 14. Colfax, NC: Leupold Editions. p. 146.
Book chapters
- 'Baroque Organ Music', in The Oxford Handbook of the Baroque, ed. John D. Lyons (Oxford University Press, 2019), pp. 312–333.
- 'Some examples of transformative imitation in late seventeenth-century French organ music', in Perspectives on Early Keyboard Music and Revival in the Twentieth Century, ed. Rachelle Taylor and Hank Knox, Ashgate Historical Keyboard Series (London and New York: Routledge, 2018), pp. 123–134.
- 'Instrumental performance in the seventeenth century', in The Cambridge History of Musical Performance, ed. Colin Lawson and Robin Stowell (Cambridge University Press, 2012), pp. 421–447.
- 'A Question of Genre: Charpentier's Messe pour plusieurs instruments au lieu des orgues (H513)', in New Perspectives on Marc-Antoine Charpentier, ed. Shirley Thompson (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2009), pp. 105–131.
- 21 articles in The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Historic Performance in Music, ed. Colin Lawson and Robin Stowell (Cambridge University Press, 2018).
Journal articles
- 'The Organs of Gottfried Silbermann', Choir & Organ (March, May, July 1997).
- 'Unwriting the Unwritable', The Musical Times, 138 (April 1997), pp. 24–26.
- 'Inégalité and Récits: Genre Studies in Seventeenth-Century French Organ Music', The Organ Yearbook, 28 (1998/1999), pp. 61–77.
- 'J. S. Bach and the Nature of French Influence', The Organ Yearbook, 29 (2000), pp. 59–74.
- 'Buxtehude defined', Choir & Organ (March/April 2000).
- 'Towards a reappraisal of François Couperin's organ masses', Journal of the British Institute of Organ Studies, 27 (2003), pp. 40–57.
- 'Charpentier's Messe pour plusieurs instruments au lieu des orgues (H 513)', The Organ Yearbook, 33 (2004), pp. 63–72.
- 'Touching the Past', International Piano 51 (May/June 2007), pp. 20–23.
- 'Spirit of the Age' [Buxtehude tercentenary], Choir & Organ 15/3 (May/June 2007), pp. 29–31.
- 'François Couperin's Pièces d'orgue consistantes en deux Messes (1690)', Journal of the Royal College of Organists, vol. 13 (2019), pp. 83–92.
- 'Nicolas de Grigny: Premier livre d'orgue', Choir & Organ 28/1 (January 2020), pp. 20–23.
Editions
- Nicolas Lebègue, Pièces de clavecin et d'orgue, vol. 2: Pièces d'orgue (Lyrebird Music LBMP-062, 2025).
- J. S. Bach, Organ Trio Sonatas (BWV 525–530), arranged for two harpsichords (Nimbus Music Publishing, NMP 1094–1099, 2020).
- Nicolas de Grigny, Premier livre d'orgue (Bologna: Ut Orpheus, 2019).
- Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Mystery (Rosary) Sonatas, 3 vols. (Bologna: Ut Orpheus Edizioni, 2007).
- Preface to J. S. Bach, 48 Preludes and Fugues (Stowmarket: Kevin Mayhew, 2003).
PhD dissertation
- 'Genre and Notes inégales in the Livres d'orgue of François Couperin and Nicolas de Grigny' (Cardiff University, 1999).
Discography
Organ
- French Organ Music from the Golden Age (Nimbus Records)
- Vol. 1: François Couperin and Pierre Du Mage (NI 6213, 2013)
- Vol. 2: Nivers and Lebègue (NI 6225)
- Vol. 3: André Raison and Louis Couperin (NI 6268, 2014)
- Vol. 4: François Couperin Masses (NI 6292)
- Vol. 5: Nicolas de Grigny, Premier livre d'orgue (NI 6342, 2 CDs)
- Vol. 6: Jacques Boyvin, Suites from the Premier and Second livres d'orgue (NI 6358 & 6359)
- Vol. 7: Louis Marchand and Jean-Adam Guilain, Pièces d'orgue (NI 6390, 2019)
- Vol. 8: Gaspard Corrette and Jean-François Dandrieu (NI 6438, 2024)[6]
- J. S. Bach, Clavierübung Part 3 (Guild)
Harpsichord
- J. S. Bach, The Six Partitas BWV 825–830 (Heritage HTGCD 147/48, 2 CDs, 2023)
- J. S. Bach, The Six Trio Sonatas BWV 525–530, arranged for two harpsichords, with David Hill (Nimbus NI 5403)
- Parthenia (1612) (Riverrun)
- J. S. Bach, complete violin sonatas, with Jacqueline Ross (ASV)
- Handel, complete recorder sonatas, with Alan Davis (Guild)
- Early seventeenth-century English songs and keyboard music, with Simon Ponsford (countertenor) (Nimbus)
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