by Graham Wood:
Stan Kowarski had brought with him from Holland three baroque style instruments. Modern reproductions, they included a “Quinton”, a five stringed cross between a violin and a viol, a viola d’amore and a “viola bastarda”, with six strings and six sympathetic strings and no frets. He was keen to form a group similar to one in which he had played in Europe. So four of us formed “Musica Antiqua” along with harpsichordist Elizabeth Munro-George, later Allyne Tilsed. I was given the viola d’amore to play. This was a cumbersome creature because of its size and tuning problems. It had seven strings and seven sympathetic strings and was tuned to a chord of D major or D minor according to the key one was playing in. To assist with staying in tune I invested in a metal Thomastik tailpiece and metal strings. Our repertoire ranged from Elizabethan viol music through to baroque trio sonatas. We added flute and soprano [Owen Fisenden and his wife Sylvia Biddle] on at least one occasion. The unusual, even bizarre feature of our public performances was the fact that we all dressed in period costume! Elizabeth Munro George had our costumes made by her dressmaker. The male members wore satin breeches, causing some embarrassment in fittings with the lady dressmaker! We wore white stockings with “silver” buckles strapped to our shoes. To this we added brocade waistcoats and velvet jackets. To top it all of we had to wear wigs! Stan took all this very seriously of course, but Brian and I were not particularly comfortable. From a stylistic viewpoint our playing left much to be desired. Stan always played with a rapid vibrato, but would countenance no argument when Brian and I suggested that this might not be the type of sound appropriate to early music.