Prof David Rowland

Professional biography

David Rowland studied as an undergraduate and PhD student in Music at the University of Cambridge. Having lectured at Glasgow University and taught for a variety of Colleges in Cambridge he was appointed a Lecturer at The Open University in 1989 where he was Dean and Director of Studies in the Faculty of Arts from 2007 to 2014. He has been Director of Music at Christ's College, Cambridge since 1984, where his main role is to direct the College choir. His choral conducting has also extended to directing the National Youth Choir of Wales from 2002 to 2004 and he has conducted concerts in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore and the USA as well as in the UK. As an undergraduate he was Organ Scholar at Corpus Christi College and also assisted the Organ Scholar at King's College. In 1982 he won the St. Alban's International Organ Competition and in the following year he was a prizewinner at the Dublin International Organ Competition. He has subsequently performed and recorded on the organ, harpsichord and early piano in a number of venues nationwide and abroad. 

Research interests

His current research focusses on music publishing and piano performance issues in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. He is particularly interested in the role of engravers as the means of transmission of music from composers to the public. Engravers are neglected agents in the music publishing industry. Their role was not simply to provide a faithful copy of the composer's text, but to develop protocols for the representation on the page of issues such as the simultaneous performance of triplets and dotted rhythms, small-note ornaments, pedalling and so on. These issues have been the subject of recent publications and will form part of his latest book project on the notation of piano music.

David's first book, A History of Pianoforte Pedalling, was published by Cambridge University Press in 1993 and the same publishers subsequently commissioned his Cambridge Companion to the Piano and Early Keyboard Instruments: A Practical Guide. He has also published a number of articles on performance practice issues relating to Chopin’s piano music and has edited Chopin’s rondos for the new scholarly edition of Chopin's works published by Edition Peters. H. 

For many years he has been engaged in research into the life and career of Muzio Clementi (1752-1832). His most important publications in this area have been his edition of The Correspondence of Muzio Clementi and its sequel Clementi Correspondence and Other documents. Both volumes are foundational to future research on Clementi and they provided the impetus for other work on London's commercial environment and the music publishing industry more generally, on which he has published several book chapters.

David was Principal Investigator for two substantial and collaborative AHRC-funded projects with the Royal College of Music entitled the Listening Experience Database. The project investigated private individuals’ responses to their experience of listening to music of any style or historical period.

Publications and Recordings

Books

Authored

Early Keyboard Instruments: A Practical Guide, Cambridge University Press (2001), xi +154 pp., ISBN 0 521 64366 X (hardback); 0 521 64385 6 (p/bk)

A History of Pianoforte Pedalling, Cambridge University Press (1993), xi + 194 pp., ISBN 0-521-40255-2

Edited

Clementi Correspondence and Other Documents. Muzio Clementi Opera Omnia. Critical Edition, 14/2. Bologna: Ut Orpheus Edizioni (2024).

The Correspondence of Muzio Clementi. Muzio Clementi Opera Omnia. Critical Edition, 14. Bologna: Ut Orpheus Edizioni (2010).

The Cambridge Companion to the Piano, Cambridge University Press (1998), xiv + 244 pp., ISBN 0 521 47470 1 (hardback); 0 521 47986 X (paperback). Chinese translation, 2003

Book chapters

(2011). Clementi as publisher. In: Kassler, Michael ed. The Music Trade in Georgian England. Farnham, Surrey and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, pp. 159–191.

(2011). Clementi's music business. In: Kassler, Michael ed. The Music Trade in Georgian England. Farnham, Surrey and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, pp. 125–157.

(2010). Chopin and early nineteenth century piano schools. In: Szklener, Artur ed. The Sources Of Chopin’s Creative Style: Inspirations And Contexts. Warsaw: Narodowy Instytut Fryderyka Chopina, pp. 83–96.

(2006). Viotti and Clementi: Friendship, publishing, the Philharmonic Society and the Royal Academy of Music. In: Sala, Massimiliano ed.Giovanni Battista Viotti: A composer between the two revolutions.Bologna, Italy: Ut Orpheus Edizioni, pp. 377–394.

(2005). Performance practices in the nineteenth-century concerto.In: Keefe, Simon ed. The Cambridge companion to the concerto.Cambridge Companions Series. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 227–246.

(2005). The Performance of Chopin's works for piano and orchestra.In: Szklener, Artur ed. Chopin in performance: History, theory, practice.Warsaw, Poland: Narodowy Instytut Fryderyka Chopina, pp. 169–183.

(2004). Clementi's early business career: new documents. In: Bösel, Richard and Sala, Massimiliano eds. Muzio Clementi. Cosmopolita della Musica. Atti del convegno internazionale in occasione del 250° anniversario della nascita (1752-2002). Roma, 4-6 dicembre 2002.Bologna, Italy: Ut Orpheus Edizioni, pp. 49–59.

(2002). Clementi and the British concerto tradition. In: Illiano, Roberto; Sala, Luca and Sala, Massimiliano eds. Muzio Clementi: studies and prospects. Muzio Clementi Omnia Opera (61). Bologna, Italy: Ut Orpheus Edizioni, pp. 179–190.

(1994). ‘Chopin’s tempo rubato in context’ in Samson, Jim and Rink, John eds. Chopin Studies 2, Cambridge University Press , pp. 199-213; translated into Spanish in Quodlibet, February 1997, pp. 5-20.

(1994). ‘Beethoven, pianoforte pedalling’ in Stowell, R. ed. Performing Beethoven, Cambridge University Press, pp. 49-69.

(1992). ‘The nocturne: development of a new style’ in Samson, Jim ed. The Cambridge Companion to Chopin, Cambridge University Press, pp. 32-49.

Articles

‘La Clementi & Co. e l’incendio del 1807’ [‘Clementi & Co. and the fire of 1807’; trans. Massimiliano Sala], Hortus Musicus 3/11 (2002), pp. 61-63.

‘Chopin and the extension of the piano’s compass’, Ostinato Rigore: Revue internationale d’etudes musicales 15 (2000), pp. 187-196.

‘Piano music and keyboard compass in the 1790s’, Early Music 27/2 (1999), pp. 283-93.

With Richard Maunder, ‘Mozart’s Pedal Piano’, Early Music 23/2 (1995), pp. 287-96.

‘Early pianoforte pedalling’, Early Music 13/1 (1985), pp. 5-27.

Conference papers

‘The interaction between the piano businesses in England and France’, International Symposium, ‘Existe-il une école française du piano (1780-1820)?’, Limoges, 27-29 April 2007

‘Chopin’s early piano style: Compass,notation and texture, VI International conference of the Narodowy Instytut Fryderyka Chopina, Warsaw, 30 November – 2 December 2006

‘John Field: a reputation for style’, Inaugural event of the John Field Institute, NUI Maynooth, 18 November 2006

‘Clementi & Co. in international markets’, International conference ‘Instrumental Music and the Industrial Revolution’, Cremona, 1-3 July, 2006

‘Chopin and early nineteenth century piano schools, V International conference of the Narodowy Instytut Fryderyka Chopina, Warsaw, 1-3 December 2005

‘The performance of Chopin’s works for piano and orchestra’, IV International conference of the Narodowy Instytut Fryderyka Chopina, Warsaw, 2-4 December 2004

‘Samuel Wesley’s harpsichord and piano music in context’, One-day Conference, ‘The Life and Music of Samuel and Samuel Sebastian Wesley’, Nottingham University, 15 December, 2003

‘Clementi and his company’, Royal Musical Association Study Day, ‘Longman, Broderip, Clementi & Co: Music Sellers and Instrument Makers’, Royal College of Music, 8 April, 2003

‘Clementi and the 1790s: New Documents’, Muzio Clementi, Cosmopolita della Musica, Convegno internazionale in occasione del 250° anniversario della nascita (1752-2002), Rome, 4-6 December, 2002

‘Chopin and the extension of the piano’s compass’ L’Oeuvre de Chopin, Colloque International, Université de Paris-Sorbonne, 1999

Editions

(in press) Rowland, David (2025). Chopin Rondos. Edition Peters, London.

Piano parts of Sonatas 1-6, 9 from Lefèvre’s Méthode de Clarinette[1802], Oxford University Press/Ricordi (1988)

Commercial recordings

Of a Rose: carol settings by Britten and Leighton, Director, Christ’s College Choir, (Regent Records, REGCD243, 2006).

Parry Songs of Farewell , Stanford Magnificat for Double Chorus and other works, Director, Christ’s College Choir, (Regent Records, REGCD204, 2004).

Howells and Britten choral music, Director, Christ’s College Choir, (Regent Records, REGCD169, 2002).

Antonio Vivaldi, early keyboard with Badinage (Meridian Records, 1998).

Jean Marie Leclair, early keyboard with Badinage (Meridian Records, 1997).

Funeral music and laments of the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, Director, Christ’s College Choir (Meridian Records, 1997).

Johann Joachim Quantz, early keyboard with Badinage (Meridian Records, 1997).

Georg Frederick Handel, early keyboard with Badinage (Meridian Records, 1996.)

Georg Phillip Telemann, early keyboard with Badinage (Meridian Records, 1996).

Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, early keyboard with Badinage (Meridian Records, 1995).

Michel Corrette, early keyboard with Badinage (Meridian Records, 1994).

François Devienne, early keyboard with Badinage (Meridian Records, 1993).

Significant performance

November 1992: Mozart Fantasia K475, Concerto K467. First modern performances with pedal fortepiano. Reviewed in The Times, 22 November 1992