Nabokov, Nicolas [Nikolay]

Nachtmusik

(Ger.: ‘night music’).

The German form of the Italian term Notturno; the term was used in the late 18th century, mainly for works intended for performance at night (around 11 p.m.). Mozart often preferred this term to the Italian one, particularly for works of relatively simple scoring such as the Trio k266/271f and Eine kleine Nachtmusik k525. The latter originally had two minuets, thus corresponding to a common, earlier divertimento form (the first of the minuets is apparently lost). In letters to his father (3 November 1781, 27 July 1782) Mozart referred to the wind serenades k375 and 388/384a as ‘Nacht Musick’ and ‘Nacht Musique’. Romantic keyboard composers (Field, Chopin, Schumann) chose more literal translations of notturno, as Nocturne and Nachtstück; Mahler used the title ‘Nachtstück’ for two movements in his Seventh Symphony.

For bibliography see Notturno.

HUBERT UNVERRICHT/CLIFF EISEN

Nachtstück

(Ger.).

See Nocturne.

Naderman.

French family of musicians, publishers and instrument makers.

(1) Jean Henri [Joannes Henricus] Naderman [Nadermann]

(2) (Jean) François Joseph Naderman

(3) Henri (Pascal) Naderman

BIBLIOGRAPHY

DEMF, i

FétisB

GerberNL

HopkinsonD

JohanssonFNP

Review of Ecole ou Méthode raisonnée pour la harpe, AMZ, xxxv (1833), 577

T. aus dem Winkel: ‘Einige Worte über die Harfe mit doppelter Bewegung’, AMZ, xxxvi (1834), 65–71

W. von Metzsch-Schilbach ed.: Briefwechsel eines deutschen Fürsten mit einer jungen Künstlerin (Berlin, 1893)

H.J. Zingel: Harfe und Harfenspiel (Halle, 1932)

L. Barthel: La harpe de Rousseau à Boieldieu: évolution organologique, les partitions de Marie Antoinette, catalogue des auteurs et des ouevres: 1760–1828 (diss., U. of Lyon 2, 1994)

D. Droysen-Reber and others: Harfen des Berliner Musikinstrumenten-Museum (Berlin, 1999)

ANN GRIFFITHS, RICHARD MACNUTT

Naderman

(1) Jean Henri [Joannes Henricus] Naderman [Nadermann]

(b Lichteneau, nr Paderborn, Westphalia, bap. 20 July 1734; d Paris,4 Feb 1799). Publisher and instrument maker. Designated an ouvrier étranger on his arrival, he probably reached Paris in 1762–3. He was awarded a maker’s licence in November 1766 and in 1774 he became a master of his guild, later styling himself ‘Editeur, Luthier, Facteur de Harpes et autres instruments de musique’. One of the most important harp makers of the 18th century, he worked from premises in the Rue d’Argenteuil, where he made many single-action pedal harps equipped with a hook (à crochets) mechanism (see illustration). Highly ornate – carved, gilded and decorated in the Vernis Martin style – they were considered to be the most superior instruments of their time from both the mechanical and constructional points of view. In 1778 Jean Henri was officially appointed harp maker to Marie Antoinette, but of the five extant Naderman harps said to have been her property, only two – the first (1774) in the instrument collection of the Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen, and the second (1776) at the Musée de la Musique, Paris – carry definite proof of having been made for her. Both bear labels concealed behind the plaques on their necks on which is written ‘Naderman/Maítre Luthier, ordinaire de Madame/la Dauphine/Rue d’Argenteuil, butte/Saint Roch, à Paris’.

Despite various improvements made by other harp makers, such as Cousineau, who, in 1782, replaced the unsatisfactory crochets with béquilles (see Harp, §V, 7), Naderman continued with his tried and trusted system, concentrating on the ornamentation of the harp. In 1785, however, at the request of Jean-Baptiste Krumpholtz, he produced a short-lived harpe augmentée or harpe à renforcement where the resonance of the harp was improved by placing it on a hollow wooden base. In the same year he fixed a damping mechanism along the length of the centre strip of the soundboard which was operated by an eighth pedal placed to the player’s left (harpe à sourdine). These improvements were followed in 1786 by a harpe à volets, where five shutters placed in the back panel of the harp were operated by another pedal, placed centrally between the pedals operated by the left (D, C, B) and right (E, F, G, A) feet. The improved harp received approval when it was played by Anne-Marie Krumpholtz before the Académie des Sciences et des Beaux-Arts in November 1787. The programme included her husband Jean-Baptiste Krumpholtz’s Sonata no.6, specially written to illustrate the capabilities of the new instrument. This instrument is now housed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. The only element which was to be permanently retained was the shutters; this idea was also incoroporated into Erard’s harp.

Georges Cousineau and his son Jacques Georges became harp makers to Marie Antoinette in 1783, and after this time the Naderman firm seems to have concentrated its activities more on the publishing side, though it continued to make its single-action harps, albeit in a rather less ornate and exaggerated style. The earliest publishing licence granted to Naderman is dated 7 November 1777, and in conjunction with harp makers Cousineau and Salomon he published Krumpholtz’s Fifth Harp Concerto in 1779. In 1784 Naderman published two of the solo symphonies for harp and small orchestra played by Madame Krumpholtz at the Concert Spirituel. One of Naderman’s earliest catalogues (c1790) lists 43 publications, mainly harp or piano solos (including Krumpholtz’s final six sets of harp sonatas) and ariettes with harp or piano accompaniment. The fullest and the latest of his catalogues that has come to light (c1795) lists about 320 publications, of which more than 200 are for harp or piano in various combinations; most of the remainder are for violin, wind instruments or wind band. Between 1791 and 1799 Naderman published orchestral scores of at least eight operas, including Cherubini’s Lodoïska, Le Sueur’s La caverne (see Le sueur, jean françois, fig.2) and Steibelt’s Roméo et Juliette. These were, however, to remain his most substantial publications, and it was chamber music, especially for harp, that continued to predominate in his output, numerous works being either composed or arranged by his elder son (2) François Joseph. Late in 1796 Naderman took over the business and plates of Boyer, many of whose publications were subsequently reissued under Naderman’s imprint. Most of Naderman’s publications are elegant (with some notably handsome ornamental title-pages in the 1790s); all were printed from engraved plates. After his death, his business was carried on by his widow and sons. In 1835 the publishing house either went out of business or was taken over by G.-J. Sieber..

Naderman

(2) (Jean) François Joseph Naderman

(b Paris, 12 Feb 1781; d Paris, 3 April 1835). Harpist and composer, son of (1) Jean-Henri Naderman. He was the most celebrated member of the family. It has been suggested that he was a student of Krumpholtz, but although the latter was closely associated with his father it is unlikely that the young Naderman studied with him at anything but a superficial level since Krumpholtz committed suicide in 1790. Although not otherwise known as a harpist, his father may have been his teacher, an H. Naderman being named as having performed the difficult Sonatas no.5 and 6 of Krumpholtz in 1785. For composition he was a student of Desvigne.

Naderman lived through a period of immense change, but he seems to have possessed a remarkable ability to adapt to any and every social situation. His first compositions were published in 1798, and their dedications to his aristocratic pupils indicate the social milieu in which he moved. His sets of variations and potpourris demonstrate an awareness of the music of his contemporaries, and include arrangements of music by Boieldieu and Lesueur, including two suites based on Lesueur’s opera Ossian ou Les Bardes. Later, he composed a Rossiniana and Variations on La Gazza Ladra. Three sonatas for harp with violin and cello were dedicated to Dussek, with whom Naderman made one of his rare public appearances in a concert at the Salle de l’Odéon on 22 March 1810. In 1818 another group of three sonatas was dedicated to Clementi.

From 1813 Naderman was successively harpist to the royal chapel and harp soloist to the Emperor. After the Restoration (1815) he, his brother and mother were named harp makers and music sellers to the King, and François-Joseph himself was appointed the King’s chamber composer and first solo harpist. He was made a Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur in 1821, and finally, in 1825, he was appointed to the Paris Conservatoire as its first professor of harp, his brother (3) Henri acting as his deputy. His meticulously thoroughgoing Méthode Raisonnée (1825) was intended for his pupils at this institution, and includes the Sept Leçons Progressives which are still used as teaching material today. The harp adopted by the Naderman brothers for use at the Conservatoire was the single-action Naderman harp to which they would admit no superior, despite the acceptance and continuing success of Erard’s double-action harps since their introduction to England (1811) and France (1812).

WORKS

2 hp concs.; 2 qts, 2 hps, vn, vc; trio, 3 hps; duos and trios, hp, other insts.

Hp solo: 7 sonatas, variation sets, fantasias, potpourris, other works

Didactic: Ecole ou Méthode raisonnée pour la harpe (Paris, c1832); Dictionnaire des transcriptions pour s’exercer dans l’art de préluder et d’improviser tant sur la harpe que sur le piano (Paris, n.d.)

Naderman

(3) Henri (Pascal) Naderman

(b Paris, 12 Feb 1783; d Paris, 1842). Instrument maker and publisher, son of (1) Jean-Henri Naderman. His early training was directed towards harp making and the business side of the family firm, but he also took enough harp lessons from his brother to enable him to be appointed his official deputy. By 1825, the Nadermans were virtually the only firm left in Paris making single-action harps. Despite the Baron de Prony’s submission to the Academie Française (1815) that the double-action harp should be the one adopted by the Conservatoire, the Nadermans made certain that only the single-action harp made by their firm should be used. In November 1827 Fétis published an article in the Revue Musicale drawing attention to the superiority of the Erard double-action harp over the kind adopted by the Conservatoire; this sparked off an acrimonious public correspondence between Henri Naderman and Fétis. Motivated by self-justification, misguided self-interest, pride, arrogance and jealous protection of the Nadermans’ business interests, Henri’s retrograde arguments appear pathetic and slightly ridiculous, especially in view of the fact that after the expiry of Erard’s 1802 French patent for a new fork mechanism the Nadermans introduced this mechanism to their own instruments, thus tacitly admitting its superiority over their own hook mechanism.

WRITINGS

Observations sur la harpe à double mouvement, ou Réponse à la note de M. Prony (Paris, 1815)

Réfutation de ce qui a été dit en faveur des différents mécanismes de la harpe à double mouvement, ou Lettre à M. Fétis en réponse (Paris,1828)

Supplement à la réfutation (Paris, 1829)