Dr Catherine Crisp

Head of Chamber Music / Senior Lecturer in Music

About

Catherine Crisp is a Senior Lecturer and Head of Chamber Music at the University of Chichester.

In January 2017, she was awarded a PhD for her thesis researching the use and development of the clarinet and clarinet playing in Paris and London, c. 1760-c. 1810. Catherine received a full Scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music as the Pamela Weston Clarinet Research & Performance Scholar.

Her thesis combined written and practical research and was supervised by Professor Colin Lawson and Dr. Ingrid Pearson. To support the written part of her PhD, Catherine recorded a CD of 18th- and early 19th-century repertoire for the clarinet published in Paris or London. The CD features extant and replica instruments and the majority of pieces were recorded for the first time.

Catherine graduated from the University of Chichester with BA Music (First Class Honours) and MA Music Performance (Distinction). She is also a Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music (LRSM) in clarinet performance. She is an active performer, both on modern and early clarinets and intends to develop her historical and practical research further through various publications.

Catherine has presented papers and lecture recitals concerning various aspects of her research at a number of conferences.

These include:

‘The Classical Clarinet in Theory and Practice: Xavier Lefèvre’s Méthode of 1802’ presented at the CUK Research Students’ Conference (Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, 7 July, 2009).
‘The Solo Clarinettist in London Concert Life, 1740-1800’ presented at the Twenty-Seventh Annual Conference on Music in Eighteenth Century Britain, (The Foundling Museum, London, 25 November, 2011).
‘The Developing Roles of the Clarinet Teacher and Amateur Clarinettist in Paris, 1760-1810’ presented at the Royal Musical Association Research Students’ Conference, (University of Hull, 5-7 January, 2012).
‘The clarinet in London’s popular culture (c. 1760-c. 1810)’ presented at the Thirty-third Annual Conference on Music in 18th-Century Britain, (The Foundling Museum, London, 24 November, 2017).
‘Clarinet performance, 1760-1810: venues, audience attendance and response’ presented at the Thirty-fifth Annual Conference on Music in 18th-Century Britain, (The Foundling Museum, London, 29 November, 2019).
‘The clarinet and its developing role in London’s popular culture (c. 1760-c. 1800): Recognition, perception and reception’ presented at The Tenth Biennial Conference of the North American British Music Studies Association, Hybrid conference, Illinois State University, 21-24 July 2022.

‘Teachers and amateur players of the clarinet in London, c. 1750 – c. 1810’, in Handbook for Studies in 18th-century English Music XXIII, ed. Colin Coleman and Katharine Hogg (The Foundling Museum: November, 2019).

“Transports of delight”? Reviews of Clarinet Performance in Paris and London, c. 1770 – c. 1810’, in Performance Practice Online, (Claremont Colleges Library, University of California: July, 2020). https://scholarship.claremont.edu/ppr/vol22/iss1/7/

‘The clarinet and clarinettists in London orchestras from the 1760s to the 1790s’ in Handbook for Studies in 18th-Century English Music XXV, ed. Colin Coleman and Katharine Hogg (The Foundling Museum: November 2021).

A. R. Rice and C. J. Crisp, ‘John and William Mahon, the earliest British clarinet soloists’ Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle (Cambridge University Press: forthcoming, Autumn 2022).

Research Output

Articles

Rice, A. R. and Crisp, C. J. (2023) John and William Mahon, the earliest British clarinet soloists. Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle, 53. pp. 1-30. ISSN 2167-4027 10.1017/rrc.2021.7

Crisp, C. J. (2018) “Transports of delight”? Reviews of Clarinet Performance in Paris and London, c. 1770 – c. 1810. Performance Practice Review. ISSN 1044-1638

Book Sections

Crisp, C. J. (2021) The Clarinet and Clarinettists in London Orchestras from the 1760s to the 1790s. In: A handbook for studies in 18th-century English music XXV. A handbook for studies in 18th-century English music, XXV . Gerald Coke Handel Foundation, pp. 27-52. ISBN 9781916639140 10.1353/book.123598

Crisp, C. J. (2019) Teachers and amateur players of the clarinet in London, ca 1750 - ca. 1810. In: A Handbook for studies in 18th-century English music XXIII 2019. A handbook for studies in 18th-century English music, XXIII (XXlll). Gerald Coke Handel Foundation, London, UK, pp. 1-32. ISBN 9780956099860 10.1353/book.123596

Conference or Workshop Items

Crisp, C. J. (2023) Masters, servants and the interactions of instrumental performance in 18th-century England, 1760-1800. In: NABMSA Online Symposium: Music and Ideas of the Popular: Reconsidering British Music and Musical Practices, 10-12 August, 2023, Online. (Unpublished)

Crisp, C. J. (2022) The clarinet and its developing role in London’s popular culture (c. 1760-c. 1800): Recognition, perception and reception. In: The Tenth Biennial Conference of the North American British Music Studies Association, 21-24 July 2022, Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois. (Unpublished)

Crisp, C. J. (2019) Clarinet performance 1760-1810: Venues, audience attendance and reception. In: 35th Annual Music in Eighteenth-Century Britain, 29 Nov 2019, The Foundling Museum, 40 Brunswick Square, London, WC1N 1AZ. (Unpublished)

Crisp, C. J. (2017) The clarinet in London's popular culture (c. 1760-c. 1810). In: Thirty-third Annual Conference on Music in Eighteenth-Century Britain, 24 Nov 2017, Foundling Museum, London. (Unpublished)

Crisp, C. J. (2011) The Developing Roles of the Clarinet Teacher and Amateur Clarinettist in Paris, 1760-1810. In: Royal Musical Association Annual Research Students' Conference, 5 -7 Jan 2012, University of Hull, UK. (Unpublished)

Crisp, C. J. (2011) The Solo Clarinettist in London Concert Life, 1740-1800. In: Twenty-Seventh Annual Conference on Music in 18th-Century Britain, 25 Nov 2011, Foundling Museum, London. (Unpublished)

Crisp, C. J. (2009) The Classical Clarinet in Theory and Practice: Xavier Lefèvre’s Methode of 1802. In: CUK Research Students Conference, 7 July 2009, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance (Laban Campus). (Unpublished)