Vita

Harpsichordist Thérèse de Goede specializes in basso continuo and historical performance practice. She has been teaching since 1994 at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam (formerly the Sweelinck Conservatorium) and has been a guest lecturer at the Universität der Künste Berlin since 2007. She frequently contributes to symposia and conferences in Europe and North America and is regularly invited to give seminars and masterclasses at international music academies and universities, such as the Akademia Muzyczna (in Krakow as well in Katowice (Poland), Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien (Austria), Royal Conservatoire (The Hague, The Netherlands),  Hochschule für Musik (Freiburg, Germany), Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid (Spain), or Liszt Academy of Music (Budapest, Hungary).

Thérèse de Goede studied at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Anneke Uittenbosch, Gustav Leonhardt, and Ton Koopman and received her Soloist Diploma in 1976.  She performed with renowned Early Music soloists, such as Marion Verbruggen, Marten Root, Viola de Hoog, Phoebe Carrai, Maarten Koningsberger, Manfred Kraemer, and Jed Wentz. She worked with various ensembles and orchestras, and played continuo in several opera productions. In 2015, guided by Peter Holman, she completed her doctoral thesis: “Del sonare sopra ‘l basso”: The Theory and Practice of Basso Continuo Accompaniment in the Seventeenth Century.

Her research concerns the theory and playing styles of 17th-century basso continuo and, more currently, on 18th-century thoroughbass practices of the Galant style. It covers the development from modal to tonal harmony, in particular with regard to the realization of unfigured basses and the differences in harmonic language and characteristic national/regional styles. A specific point of interest is the improvisation of diminutions and ornaments in different style idioms both in continuo realization and in the performance of vocal and instrumental solo parts.

From 2005 to 2013, Thérèse de Goede was head of the Early Music department of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. During that period she co-developed and expanded the curriculum for the Early Music Department with additional courses: Gesture, Rhetoric, Historical Treatises, History of Early Music in the 20th Century (Jed Wentz), Improvisation (Miklos Spanyi), Sources and Resources (Andrea Friggi), Baroque Dance (Rachel Farr), and Baroque singing (Maarten Koningsberger and Xenia Meijer). She initiated and designed Basso continuo Specialization as a Bachelor/Master study (the Conservatorium van Amsterdam was the first institute in the world to offer this program) and designed a special course on historical harmony, improvisation, and ornamentation for singers. In 2006 she initiated The Early Music Summer School of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. This annual event attracts students from all over the world.

Papers presented at conferences

1998 Utrecht (The Netherlands). Holland Festival Early Music, International Basso Continuo Symposium. Paper: From Dissonance to Tone Cluster: Expression in Seventeenth-Century Basso Continuo Playing

2004 Herne (Germany). Conference Alte Musiktage. Paper: A Comparison of Basso continuo Performance Practice on the Harpsichord in France and Italy in the Eighteenth Century

2006 Utrecht (The Netherlands). Holland Festival Early Music. International Symposium “Passaggio in Italia”. Paper: Accompanying “Le nuove musiche”

2006 Almería (Spain). Fimte Conference “Domenico Scarlatti in Spain: the Neapolitan Connection”. Paper: The Development of the Acciaccatura from Girolamo Kapsberger to Domenico Scarlatti

2007 Groningen (The Netherlands). The 9th International Conference of the Dutch-Flemish Society for Music Theory, “Improvisation: Analytical, Theoretical, and Critical Approaches”. Paper: “Si suona un poco”: On the relation between Improvisation and Thoroughbass on Keyboard instruments

2008 Leeds (UK). 13th Biennial International Conference on Baroque Music. Paper: The Accompaniment of the Arias by Barbara Strozzi

2008 London Kings college (UK). Conference “Tonality in Perspective”. Paper: The Rule of the Octave and its relation to Basso Continuo in Pre-Tonal and Tonal music

2009 Amsterdam (The Netherlands). IAML/IMS Joint Conference and Symposium “Notation and Sound”. Paper: Thoroughbass Figures and their Interpretation

2009 Durham (UK). International Conference on Music and Emotion. Paper: Musical Rhetoric and Performance Practice in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo

2010 Almeria (Spain). International Symposium “Diego Fernández” Paper: Cabezón and Musica Ficta: The Application of Accidentals in the Works of Sntonio de Cabezón

2010 Oxford University (UK). RMA Study Day. Paper: Re-examining the Transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque

2011 Edinburgh (UK). International Conference on Historical Keyboard Music. Paper: Solo Keyboard Repertoire as a Source for Continuo Realization

2012 Southampton (UK). The 15th Biennial Baroque Music Conference. Paper: ‘National’ Style of Seventeenth-century Continuo Playing:  Some aspects of Performance Practice.

2012 Utrecht (The Netherlands). Holland Festival Early Music, Symposium: ““Much of What We Do is Pure Hypothesis”: Gustav Leonhardt and his Early Music”. Paper: Playing the Keyboard works of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck: Some Notes on Analysis and Performance Practice

2013  Columbus, Ohio (USA). The Society for Seventeenth-Century Music Annual Conference. Paper: Written-out Accompaniments of the Earliest Florentine Monodies: For Dilletantes or Experts?

2013 Edinburgh (UK). International Conference on Historical Keyboard Music. Paper: Italian Influences on the Performance of German, French, and English Basso Continuo

2014 Salzburg (Austria). The 16th Biennial International Conference on Baroque Music.  Paper: The accompaniment of Bacilly’s Air ‘Vous ne pouvez Iris’, Or How to Enhance the Continuo Accompaniment of an Air by Our Choice of Harmony and Ornament

2014 Utrecht (The Netherlands). Holland Festival Early Music, International STIMU-Symposium “Curriculum Matters”. Paper: An integrated approach to historical theory and performance practice: harmony and its relation to affect, dynamics, tempo and ornamentation in the 17th and 18th centuries

2015 Montreal (Canada). International Conference on Historical Keyboard Music. Paper: Continuo Playing in the Galant Style

2015 Utrecht (The Netherlands). Holland Festival Early Music. Paper: What makes English Music Sound so English?

2016 Canterbury (UK). 17th Biennial International Conference on Baroque Music. Paper: Spicy Continuo Accompaniment in Seventeenth-Century English Music

2017 Mantua (Italy). Conference “The making of a Genius: Claudio Monteverdi from Cremina to Mantua. Paper: Musical Rhetoric and Other means of Emotional Expression in Monteverdi’s Orfeo

2017 Amsterdam (The Netherlands). International Conference “Nicola Porpora and Frederick, Prince of Wales: Italian Ways in Music, Art and Poetry in 18th-Century Britain. Paper: The Basso Continuo Realization of Porpora’s Cantatas for Solo Voice and BC

2018 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (MI). International Conference on Historical Keyboard Music. “Professionals and Amateurs: The Spirit of Kenner und Liebhaber”. Paper:“The poor scollars are tormented with fifths, sixths, and thirds sharp, and not one in 100 ever learne to know the sound of the one from the other.”: Continuo Teaching in the Long Seventeenth Century.

2018 Brandeis University, Boston/Waltham (MA), EMAIG Biennial Conference “Tonal Structures in Early Music at Twenty”. Paper: The Accompaniment of Frescobaldi’s Bass Canzonas.