BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Early Music Society of the Islands - ECPv6.15.20//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-WR-CALNAME:Early Music Society of the Islands X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Early Music Society of the Islands REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Toronto BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20180311T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20181104T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20190310T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20191103T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20200308T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20201101T060000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Vancouver BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0800 TZOFFSETTO:-0700 TZNAME:PDT DTSTART:20150308T100000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0700 TZOFFSETTO:-0800 TZNAME:PST DTSTART:20151101T090000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0800 TZOFFSETTO:-0700 TZNAME:PDT DTSTART:20160313T100000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0700 TZOFFSETTO:-0800 TZNAME:PST DTSTART:20161106T090000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0800 TZOFFSETTO:-0700 TZNAME:PDT DTSTART:20170312T100000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0700 TZOFFSETTO:-0800 TZNAME:PST DTSTART:20171105T090000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0800 TZOFFSETTO:-0700 TZNAME:PDT DTSTART:20180311T100000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0700 TZOFFSETTO:-0800 TZNAME:PST DTSTART:20181104T090000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0800 TZOFFSETTO:-0700 TZNAME:PDT DTSTART:20190310T100000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0700 TZOFFSETTO:-0800 TZNAME:PST DTSTART:20191103T090000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0800 TZOFFSETTO:-0700 TZNAME:PDT DTSTART:20200308T100000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0700 TZOFFSETTO:-0800 TZNAME:PST DTSTART:20201101T090000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20190406T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20190406T220000 DTSTAMP:20260501T053519 CREATED:20200426T022832Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T022858Z UID:3791-1554580800-1554588000@earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca SUMMARY:Constantinople: Gate to the East DESCRIPTION:Constantinople (MONTREAL) \nMarco Beasley tenor (ITALY) \nKiya Tabassian setar and direction \nDoors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. \nItalian\, Ottoman\, and Persian songs are interwoven in Majmua\, an early-17th century manuscript from Constantinople compiled by the Polish musician and orientalist Albert Bobowski (Ali Ufki). Bobowski revels in shifting among languages and styles. Constantinople recreates a bridge between European and Asian cultures. URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/concert/constantinople-gate-to-the-east/ LOCATION:Alix Goolden Hall\, Victoria Conservatory of Music\, 907 Pandora Avenue\, Victoria\, BC\, V8V 3P4\, Canada ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/ph_COPL_DallaPortadOriente_1-web-e1527870693257.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20190323T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20190323T220000 DTSTAMP:20260501T053519 CREATED:20200426T023159Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T023159Z UID:3794-1553371200-1553378400@earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca SUMMARY:Choir of Clare College Cambridge: Victoria’s Requiem and Penitential Motets DESCRIPTION:Choir of Clare College Cambridge (UK) \nDoors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. \nThirty-two voices-strong\, the fresh young vocalists of the Choir of Clare College give a complete performance of Tomas Luis de Victoria’s 1605 Requiem – widely considered one of the last great masterworks of the Renaissance – interwoven with English and Spanish Passiontide motets by Tallis\, Byrd\, Victoria\, and others. \n  Co-produced by Christ Church Cathedral URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/concert/choir-of-clare-college-cambridge-victorias-requiem-and-penitential-motets/ LOCATION:Chapel of the New Jerusalem\, Christ Church Cathedral\, 911 Quadra Street\, Victoria\, British Columbia\, Canada ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Clare-CREDIT-Nick-Rutter-e1527870638968.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20190309T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20190309T220000 DTSTAMP:20260501T053520 CREATED:20200426T023540Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T023540Z UID:3796-1552161600-1552168800@earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca SUMMARY:Chiaroscuro String Quartet: Quartets of Haydn\, Beethoven\, and Schubert DESCRIPTION:Chiaroscuro String Quartet (EUROPE) \nDoors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. \nChiaroscuro Quartet brings together some of the finest period string players from across Europe: France\, Spain\, Sweden\, and Russia. Savour some of the most revered of all string quartets as you have never heard them before: Haydn’s Op. 33 No. 2\, Beethoven’s Op. 18 No. 6\, and Schubert’s beloved ‘Death and the Maiden.’ URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/concert/chiaroscuro-string-quartet-quartets-of-haydn-beethoven-and-schubert/ LOCATION:Alix Goolden Hall\, Victoria Conservatory of Music\, 907 Pandora Avenue\, Victoria\, BC\, V8V 3P4\, Canada ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/chiaroscuro_conservatory-Eva-Vermandel-e1527870159644.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20190224T150000 DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20190224T170000 DTSTAMP:20260501T053520 CREATED:20200426T014721Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T043230Z UID:3771-1551020400-1551027600@earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca SUMMARY:Corina Marti: Tabulatura Ioannis De Lyublyn 1540 DESCRIPTION:Corina Marti harpsichord (SWITZERLAND) \nDoors open at 2:30 pm.  \nHarpsichord virtuoso Corina Marti performs preludes\, fantasias\, and dances from the manuscripts of Johannes of Lublin and Johannes Fischer Morungensis: fresh\, lively music that is still danceable half a millennium after its composition. Don’t miss the once in a lifetime opportunity to hear this repertoire. URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/concert/corina-marti-tabulatura-ioannis-de-lyublyn-1540/ LOCATION:St. Andrew’s Cathedral\, 740 View St\, Victoria\, British Columbia\, V8W 1J8\, Canada ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Corina_Cover_077-Bearbeitet-2_pp-Bearbeitet-e1527870574528.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20190126T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20190126T220000 DTSTAMP:20260501T053520 CREATED:20200426T014721Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T035718Z UID:3770-1548532800-1548540000@earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca SUMMARY:Tafelmusik: J.S. Bach\, The Circle of Creation DESCRIPTION:Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra (TORONTO) \nElisa Citterio violin and direction \nDoors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. \nThis all-Bach multimedia creation combines text\, music\, and stunning projected video and images to explore the world of the artisans—papermakers\, violin carvers\, string spinners\, and performers—who helped J.S. Bach realise his musical genius. In the tradition of the Galileo Project and House of Dreams. Not to be missed! URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/concert/tafelmusik-j-s-bach-the-circle-of-creation/ LOCATION:Alix Goolden Hall\, Victoria Conservatory of Music\, 907 Pandora Avenue\, Victoria\, BC\, V8V 3P4\, Canada ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1718-Tafelmusik-Baroque-Orchestra-by-SianRichards-web-e1527870522292.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20181222T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20181222T220000 DTSTAMP:20260501T053520 CREATED:20200426T014720Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T035457Z UID:3769-1545508800-1545516000@earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca SUMMARY:Victoria Baroque: A Festive Baroque Christmas DESCRIPTION:Victoria Baroque \nJeanne Lamon violin and direction (TORONTO) \nRebecca Genge soprano (TORONTO) \nKris Kwapis trumpet (SEATTLE) \nDoors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. \nVictoria’s own Baroque orchestra\, one of Canada’s most brilliant early music sopranos\, and trumpet virtuoso Kris Kwapis are led by the legendary Jeanne Lamon in a performance of festive arias and instrumental works by Baroque masters including Manfredini\, Scarlatti\, Torelli and Vivaldi. Featuring Bach’s effulgent cantata: Jauchzet Gott allen Landen. URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/concert/victoria-baroque-a-festive-baroque-christmas/ LOCATION:St Andrews Cathedral\, 740 View St\, Victoria\, BC\, V8W 1J8\, Canada ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/VBP-Jan2016-by-Jan-Gates-web-e1527870454828.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20181117T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20181117T220000 DTSTAMP:20260501T053520 CREATED:20200426T014720Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T035218Z UID:3768-1542484800-1542492000@earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca SUMMARY:Schenkman and Mobley: “My heart trembles” Cantatas by Handel DESCRIPTION:Byron Schenkman and Friends (SEATTLE) \nReginald Mobley countertenor (MIAMI) \nByron Schenkman harpsichord and direction \nDoors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. \nByron Schenkman\, one of EMSI’s favourite musicians\, is joined by flautist Joshua Romatowski\, cellist Nathan Whittaker\, and countertenor Reginald Mobley in a performance of some of Handel’s most moving cantatas\, including Mia Palpita il Cor\, and works by Anna Bon\, Caldara\, and Scarlatti. URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/concert/schenkman-and-mobley-my-heart-trembles-cantatas-by-handel/ LOCATION:Alix Goolden Hall\, Victoria Conservatory of Music\, 907 Pandora Avenue\, Victoria\, BC\, V8V 3P4\, Canada ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/55875daa-a5cf-11e5-9c4b-70aea859ce73-780x519-e1527870391481.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20181027T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20181027T220000 DTSTAMP:20260501T053520 CREATED:20200426T014719Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T034928Z UID:3767-1540670400-1540677600@earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca SUMMARY:London Handel Players: A Celebration of Baroque Dance DESCRIPTION:London Handel Players (UK) \nMary Collins and Steve Players dancers (UK) \nDoors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. \nExplore the origins of ballet in the dances of Baroque opera. Two of the world’s leading authorities on Baroque dance\, accompanied by one of Britain’s most distinguished Baroque ensembles\, brings to life the elegance\, humour\, and passion of the early form. Works include those by Bach\, Couperin\, Handel\, Lully\, Rameau. URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/concert/london-handel-players-a-celebration-of-baroque-dance/ LOCATION:Oak Bay United Church\, 1355 Mitchell Street\, Victoria\, British Columbia\, V8S 4P9\, Canada ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/handel-13-of-97-web-e1527870338843.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20180929T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20180929T220000 DTSTAMP:20260501T053520 CREATED:20200426T014719Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T035943Z UID:3766-1538251200-1538258400@earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca SUMMARY:Psallentes: Angels of the Ghent Altarpiece DESCRIPTION:Psallentes (BELGIUM) \nDoors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. \nThe angels of the Ghent Altarpiece\, one of the apexes of European art\, are the inspiration for this concert where the women of Psallentes impersonate these angels and perform the Flemish polyphony that their earlier counterparts would have witnessed. URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/concert/psallentes-angels-of-the-ghent-altarpiece/ LOCATION:Alix Goolden Hall\, Victoria Conservatory of Music\, 907 Pandora Avenue\, Victoria\, BC\, V8V 3P4\, Canada ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Psallentes-e1527870260428.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20180422T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20180422T220000 DTSTAMP:20260501T053520 CREATED:20200426T014719Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T034704Z UID:3765-1524427200-1524434400@earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca SUMMARY:The Tallis Scholars: War and Peace DESCRIPTION:The Tallis Scholars UK\nPeter Phillips\, music director\n \nDoors open at 1:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 2:10 pm. \nTo commemorate the centenary of the end of World War I\, Peter Phillips has put together a stirring program with masses on the theme of the Armed Man (L’homme armé)\, chansons describing a battle (La Batalla)\, movements from Victoria’s Requiem Mass\, and deeply moving funeral motets: Tavener from the funeral of Princess Diana\, Mouton from the funeral of Anne of Brittany\, and Lobo from the funeral of Philip II of Spain. URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/concert/the-tallis-scholars-war-and-peace/ LOCATION:Alix Goolden Hall\, Victoria Conservatory of Music\, 907 Pandora Avenue\, Victoria\, BC\, V8V 3P4\, Canada ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-04-06-at-11.34.24-AM-e1497293897446.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20180324T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20180324T220000 DTSTAMP:20260501T053520 CREATED:20200426T014718Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T034153Z UID:3764-1521921600-1521928800@earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca SUMMARY:La Rêveuse: A Telemann Celebration DESCRIPTION:La Rêveuse FRANCE\n \nDoors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. \nA master of instrumental music\, Telemann enjoyed more fame and adoration in his time than even the lauded J.S. Bach. Open to French and Italian influences as well as the new galant style that flourished in Germany\, he excelled in chamber music\, creating a charming synthesis of European styles at the crossroads between Baroque and Classicism. URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/concert/la-reveuse-a-telemann-celebration/ LOCATION:Alix Goolden Hall\, Victoria Conservatory of Music\, 907 Pandora Avenue\, Victoria\, BC\, V8V 3P4\, Canada ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/LaReveuse-Telemann-056-web-e1497293593107.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20180210T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20180210T220000 DTSTAMP:20260501T053520 CREATED:20200426T014718Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T040407Z UID:3763-1518292800-1518300000@earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca SUMMARY:Elinor Frey & Luc Beauséjour: Bach and Sons DESCRIPTION:Elinor Frey\, cello\nLuc Beauséjour\, harpsichord MONTREAL\n \nDoors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. \nTwo of Canada’s leading exponents of historically-informed performance bring to life masterpieces of high Baroque chamber music by Johann Sebastian Bach and his sons Johann Christoph Friedrich and Carl Philipp Emanuel. URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/concert/elinor-frey-luc-beausejour-bach-and-sons/ LOCATION:Alix Goolden Hall\, Victoria Conservatory of Music\, 907 Pandora Avenue\, Victoria\, BC\, V8V 3P4\, Canada ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/mtangelabbeyluc-elinor-e1497293188144.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20180113T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20180113T220000 DTSTAMP:20260501T053520 CREATED:20200426T014718Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T033258Z UID:3762-1515873600-1515880800@earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca SUMMARY:Diderot String Quartet: Bach to the Future: Legacy of the Fugue DESCRIPTION:Diderot String Quartet NEW YORK\nDoors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. \nWhen Leipzig composer Felix Mendelssohn revived Bach’s music\, it finally received universal admiration. The Diderot String Quartet performs excerpts from The Art of Fugue alongside Mendelssohn’s No.4 Fugue for String Quartet\, Op. 81 and his much-loved String Quartet No. 2\, Op. 13\, in a beautiful nod to Bach\, the Baroque master. URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/concert/diderot-string-quartet-bach-to-the-future-legacy-of-the-fugue/ LOCATION:Alix Goolden Hall\, Victoria Conservatory of Music\, 907 Pandora Avenue\, Victoria\, BC\, V8V 3P4\, Canada ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/static1.squarespace-1-e1497292942661.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20171222T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20171222T220000 DTSTAMP:20260501T053520 CREATED:20200426T014717Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T040805Z UID:3761-1513972800-1513980000@earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca SUMMARY:Monica Huggett: Vivaldi Gloria and Magnificat DESCRIPTION:Monica Huggett\, violin and music direction UK\nPacific Baroque Orchestra\n \nDoors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. \nCelebrate the holidays with a fresh take on some old favourites. Vivaldi’s Gloria and Magnificat were originally composed for an all-female ensemble. Join beloved violinist Monica Huggett as she leads these joyful works the way they were originally heard – performed entirely by women. URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/concert/monica-huggett-vivaldi-gloria-and-magnificat/ LOCATION:Alix Goolden Hall\, Victoria Conservatory of Music\, 907 Pandora Avenue\, Victoria\, BC\, V8V 3P4\, Canada ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/EMV-Festive-Cantatas-and-JS-Bach-Magnificat-Photos-by-Jan-Gates-201-e1497292578770.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20171118T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20171118T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T053520 CREATED:20200426T014716Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T050300Z UID:3756-1511035200-1511035200@earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca SUMMARY:Asteria: "My Heart Remains With You" DESCRIPTION:Asteria NEW YORK\nSylvia Rhyne\, soprano\nEric Redlinger\, tenor and lute\n \nDoors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. \nThrough the tale of Sir Yvain\, one of the most beloved of Arthurian stories\, Asteria explores how the ideal of courtly love was very much alive and well in the art songs of the 15th century. Compositions include those by Binchois\, Busnoys\, and Dufay. URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/concert/asteria-my-heart-remains-with-you/ LOCATION:Alix Goolden Hall\, Victoria Conservatory of Music\, 907 Pandora Avenue\, Victoria\, BC\, V8V 3P4\, Canada ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Asteria-2005-e1497292160732.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20171014T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20171014T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T053520 CREATED:20200426T014715Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T050140Z UID:3755-1508011200-1508011200@earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca SUMMARY:Cantores: 14th C Music from the Papal Chapel in Avignon DESCRIPTION:Diabolus in Musica FRANCE\n \nDoors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. \nThere was a time when the Christian world bowed to Avignon. The wealth\, splendour\, and power of the French popes attracted kings\, princes\, and the greatest Medieval artists. This pilgrimage through beautiful music born in Papal opulence includes many works sung for the first time since the 14th century. URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/concert/cantores-14th-c-music-from-the-papal-chapel-in-avignon/ LOCATION:Alix Goolden Hall\, Victoria Conservatory of Music\, 907 Pandora Avenue\, Victoria\, BC\, V8V 3P4\, Canada ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Diabolus-in-Musica-1-web-e1497289863416.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20170930T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20170930T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T053520 CREATED:20200426T014714Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T050010Z UID:3754-1506801600-1506801600@earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca SUMMARY:Boston Early Music Festival Ensemble: Duets of Love and Passion DESCRIPTION:Boston Early Music Festival Ensemble BOSTON\nAmanda Forsythe\, soprano  \nColin Balzer\, tenor  \nChristian Immler\, baritone  \nEmőke Baráth\, soprano\n \nDoors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. \nHandel openly praised his mentor Stefani and modeled virtuosic Italian chamber duets on the composer’s exquisite work. Stephen Stubbs leads an all-star ensemble of singers and instrumentalists featuring Forsythe and Balzer in a programme of sensual Baroque duets of love and passion. \n\n\n\nWatch a Feb 2017 performance of the concert in Germany\n[youtube id=”oplFdH69Stk” width=”600″ height=”350″] URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/concert/boston-early-music-festival-ensemble-duets-of-love-and-passion/ LOCATION:Alix Goolden Hall\, Victoria Conservatory of Music\, 907 Pandora Avenue\, Victoria\, BC\, V8V 3P4\, Canada ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/BEMF_steffani_immler_barath-e1497289596973.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20170812T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20170812T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T053520 CREATED:20200426T014714Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T045835Z UID:3753-1502568000-1502568000@earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca SUMMARY:Gli Angeli Genève: Johann Schein's "Fountains of Israel" DESCRIPTION:Gli Angeli Genève SWITZERLAND\n \nDoors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. \nA century before Bach\, northern Germany succumbed to the lush charms of a bold\, new music from Italy: the Baroque. \nJohann Schein\, in his position at the Thomas Kirche that would be Bach’s a hundred years later\, was one of the great composers who would successfully adapt this powerful style to the German tradition. URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/concert/gli-angeli-geneve-johann-scheins-fountains-of-israel/ LOCATION:St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church\, 924 Douglas St\, Victoria\, British Columbia\, V8W 1C1\, Canada ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/gli-angeli-geneve-stephan-macleod.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20170429T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20170429T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T053520 CREATED:20200426T014714Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T045648Z UID:3752-1493496000-1493496000@earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca SUMMARY:The Purcell Project DESCRIPTION:Doors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. \nKarina Gauvin\, soprano\nFrancis Colpron\, recorder and direction\nMONTREAL\nLes Boréades de Montréal\nCanada’s own superstar soprano joins forces with the exciting musicians of Les Boréades baroque orchestra to perform Henry Purcell’s sacred and secular songs\, some of the very finest in the English language. \nGauvin sings with passion\, ingratiating charm\, sincerity and utter conviction INTERNATIONAL RECORD REVIEW \nVisit the website of Karina Gauvin\nVisit the website of Les Boréades de Montréal \nListen to Les Boréades de Montréal \n \nPROGRAMME\nChaconne (King Arthur\, Z.628\, 1691) \nHither\, This Way (King Arthur) \nHow Blest Are The Shepherds (King Arthur) \nMusic For A While (Oedipus\, Z.583\, 1692) \nShepherds\, Shepherds (King Arthur) \nThird Act Hornpipe (King Arthur) \nSee\, Even Night Herself Is Here (The Fairy Queen\, Z.629\, 1692) \nOne Charming Night (The Fairy Queen) \nPrelude (Aux Flûtes) (The Fairy Queen) \nIf Love’s A Sweet Passion (The Fairy Queen) \nPrelude (Aux Cordes) (The Fairy Queen) \nFrom Rosy Bowers (Don Quixote\, 1695 \nIntermission \nWhile The Swans Come Forward (The Fairy Queen) \nFairest Isle (King Arthur) \nAn Evening Hymn (Recueil Harmonia Sacra\, Z.193\,1688) \nNow The Night Is Chas’d Away (The Fairy Queen) \nPrelude (The Fairy Queen) \nO Let Me Ever\, Ever Weep (The Fairy Queen) \nStrike The Viol (Ode Come Ye Sons Of Art\, Away\, Z.323\, 1694) \nTrumpet Tune (King Arthur) \nHark! The Echoing Air (The Fairy Queen) \nAir (King Arthur) \nWhen I Am Laid In Earth (Dido And Æneas\, Z.626\, 1689) \nPROGRAMME NOTES\nThe Author’s extraordinary Tallent in all sorts of Music\, is sufficiently known; but he was particularly admir’d for his Vocal\, having a peculiar Genius to express the Energy of English Words\, whereby he mov’d the Passions as well as caus’d Admiration in all his Auditors. \nHenry Playford\, Orpheus Britannicus\, 1698. \nHenry Purcell was only thirty-six years old when he died and the posts he occupied were relatively modest: organist at both Westminster Abbey and the Chapel Royal and harpsichordist for the king’s private music. Yet\, he composed in all the genres of his period – vocal and instrumental\, sacred and profane. \nA considerable part of his generous output was written for the stage. Plays\, including comedies and tragedies that were sometimes mediocre\, served as vehicles for many pieces of music: overtures\, dances\, airs\, and act or curtain tunes. These were all more or less integrated into the dramatic framework of the plays. Opera was an Italian invention that had not taken hold in England. Despite many attempts\, it had not unseated the musical theatre of which the English were so fond. For several decades\, the favoured genre was the masque\, a mixture of vocal music and dance. Masques were written on allegorical or exotic subjects and were presented with sumptuous sets and costumes. They were\, in a sense\, the equivalent of the ballets de cour that had been so popular in France since the sixteenth century. The masque was a princely diversion\, much in favour during the reign of Charles I. However\, the enchantment and the fantasy it provided were characteristic of most forms of entertainment in England during this period. \nPurcell wrote only one real opera – Dido and Aeneas. It was a modest production commissioned in 1689 by a boarding school for girls in Chelsea whose director was Josias Priest. The opera was inspired by John Blow’s Venus and Adonis. Some believe that the work had been previously presented at court with Mary Davies in the role of the Queen of Carthage. This masterpiece of brevity and depth of expression ends with the air When I Am Laid in Earth. Abandoned by Aeneas\, the heroine sings the celebrated lament before ending her life. As Nanie Bridgman explained\, “this lament of Dido\, while so short\, reaches the heights of emotion and is one of the most beautiful moments in the entire history of music.” An Evening Hymn\, which appeared in 1688 in a collection of airs entitled Harmonica Sacra written for use in domestic worship\, is a celebrated piece based on a ground\, as the basso ostinato was known in England. Similarly\, Music For a While was inserted into the Oedipus of John Dryden. Purcell used the very constraints imposed by this form to find new ways to evoke sadness and suffering; he offered audacious harmonies\, often recurring to chromaticism\, and played with the ambiguity between modality and tonality. And throughout\, as Jack A. Westrup explained\, “the vocal line is adjusted to disguise the repetition of the bass.” \nDuring his final years\, Purcell composed five particularly elaborate theatrical scores called “semi-operas” by Roger North. These pieces were not planned as a series of optional interpolations. Completely integrated into the dramas\, they participated in the unfolding of the plays through scenes showing ceremonies\, supernatural tableaux\, or pastoral episodes\, which were most often performed by secondary characters. These masques of various magnitudes alternated\, as divertissements or interludes\, with the dialogue. Thus\, in the words of William Christie\, “Purcell created a series of mirrors that reflect the action\, but that also subtly reveal ambiguities\, underline the tensions at work in the piece\, or throw an ironic light on certain themes\, considerably enriching the initial frame-work of the piece.” In his semi-operas\, Purcell had recourse to an imposing orchestra\, adding woodwinds and brass to the strings. In the overtures\, the dances\, the instrumentation\, and the accompaniment to the voices\, he showed himself to be the disciple of Lully. Yet he even surpassed the French master in his range of inspiration\, his elaboration of the inner parts\, and his harmonic invention\, while his vocal lines blend Italian fluidity with the sonorities and colors of the English language. \nPresented in June 1691 at the Dorset Gardens Theatre\, King Arthur or The British Worthy was the fruit of the close collaboration between Dryden and Purcell. It tells the story of the victory of King Arthur’s Britons over King Oswald’s Saxons. If\, in the view of Roland de Candé\, the work\, “makes you laugh with its excessive chauvinism\,” it nevertheless contains elements of remarkable ingenuity\, liveliness\, and expression. In the second act\, the elf Philidel leads the armed Britons through the night (Hither This Way) while shepherds and shepherdesses entertain the lovely Emmeline\, Arthur’s beloved (How Blest are Shepherds and Shepherd\, Shepherd\, Leave Decoying). In the fifth-act air Fairest Isle\, Venus evokes the miraculous birth of Britannia\, the island where the united Britons and Saxons will live forever in love and harmony. \nThe Fairy Queen premiered in May of 1692 at Dorset Gardens in an expensive and extravagant production – conceived as a revision of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Many people consider the poetic imagination and incomparable humour that Purcell employed in his magnificent score respect more closely the spirit of the original work than Alkanah Settle’s adaptation of the text which lacked a single\, authentic line. Here\, according to Christie\, “English Baroque musical theatre\, a complete and protean show\, highly diverting and rich in emotions and in contrasts\, attains its summit.” The masques of each act show the to-ing and fro-ing and magical powers of Titania and Oberon\, the lovelorn Queen and the King of the fairies. In the second act\, Night (See\, Even Night Herself is Here)\, Mystery\, Secresie (One Charming Night)\, and Sleep put Titania to sleep. In the third act\, the air If Love’s a Sweet Passion accompanies the love of Titania for the ass Bottom\, the result of a magic potion. Now the Night is Chac’d Away is sung in the fourth act to announce the arrival of Phoebus in his chariot. In the fifth and final act\, the air Hark! The Echoing Air announces the triumph of love and the reconciliation of the couples. In this score – the longest that Purcell wrote for the stage – “the melodic\, rhythmic\, and instrumental invention of Purcell is inexhaustible\,” according to Roland de Candé\, “and his rich and refined writing makes use of all styles and all techniques.” \nIn the 1698 edition of the collected airs of Purcell entitled Orpheus Britannicus\, Henry Playford stated that From Rosy Bowers was\, “the last song the author sett\, it being in his sickness.” Inserted into The Comical History of Don Quixote\, a comedy by Thomas D’Urfey performed in 1695\, the air develops into a veritable scena presented in five contrasting sections. It is sung by Altisidore\, a role played at the time by the very young Letitia Cross\, who wants to seduce Don Quixote away from Dulcinea. According to William Christie\, it is an air of madness\, “wrung with emotions heightened by abrupt changes in tempo and by unexpected modulations and dissonances.” To illustrate the connections between excitement\, disappointment in love\, and madness\, D’Urfey planned the following sequence which Purcell respected perfectly: Sullenly Mad – Mirthfully Mad (a swift Movement) – Melancholy Madness – Fantastically Mad – Stark Mad. \nThe theatrical music of Purcell stands alone in making use of the vitality and suppleness of the English language\, while demonstrating an exceptional diversity of tones and atmospheres. Nothing\, in effect\, was beyond his inspiration — the joys and torments of love\, the pain of abandonment\, the mysteries of the night\, the raving of madness — each is given the most perfect tone imaginable. John Dryden\, who cared about the compatibility of poetry and music\, declared that he was delighted with his collaboration with the musician\, admiring the perfection of English music\, “through the Artful hands of Mr. Purcell.” He added that\, “with so great a Genius… he has nothing to fear but an ignorant\, ill-judging Audience.” \nIt is difficult to learn much about the personalities of musicians who lived in the distant past; often we have only anecdotes or evidence that is questionable and second-hand. Some rare writings describe Purcell as an affable man\, spontaneous\, generous towards musicians\, loyal to friends\, and able to laugh. He was happy in his marriage although his children died young\, as often happened in that period. That is about all one can say about the man himself\, despite the very personal accents that we can sometimes detect in his music. Romantic ideology would have us relate the composition of certain works to ups and downs in the life of their creator; we would search in vain for such a connection with Purcell and his contemporaries. It is tempting\, at times\, to examine the sensitivity\, the melancholy poetry\, and the feverish vigour given off by the art of the British Orpheus\, as well as the strained harmonies and the “angular qualities” of his melodies\, in the words of Manfred Bukofzer\, and try to read therein a portrait of the personality and feelings of the composer. Nothing could be less certain. The vein of nostalgia that he manifested was everywhere in the England of his time. All we can agree upon is that he expressed it more exquisitely than his contemporaries! \nFrom text by François Filiatrault \n(translated by Sally Campbell) \nTHE ARTISTS\nKarina Gauvin \nLauded for her work in the Baroque repertoire\, Canadian soprano Karina Gauvin sings Bach\, Mahler\, Britten\, and music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries with equal mastery. She was awarded “Soloist of the Year” by the Communauté Internationale des Radios Publiques de Langue Française\, first prize in the CBC Radio Competition for Young Performers\, the Virginia Parker Prize\, and the Maggie Teyte Memorial Prize in London. Karina Gauvin’s extensive discography – over thirty titles – has won numerous awards\, including several Opus Prizes as well as the Chamber Music America Award for her Fête Galante disc with pianist Marc-André Hamelin. \nShe has sung with elite symphony orchestras\, including the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal\, the San Francisco Symphony\, the Chicago Symphony\, the New York Philharmonic\, the Rotterdam Philharmonic\, as well as baroque orchestras such as Les Talens Lyriques\, the Venice Baroque Orchestra\, Accademia Bizantina\, Il Complesso Barocco\, the Akademie Für Alte Musik Berlin\, Tafelmusik\, and Les Violons du Roy. \nGauvin has portrayed a wide range of Baroque heroines from Alcina (Handel) with Les Talens Lyriques to Ariadne in Georg Conradi’s Die Schöne Und Getreue Ariadne for the Boston Early Music Festival. She sang Seleuce in Handel’s Tolomeo with Alan Curtis with whom she has also recorded Handel operas on the ARCHIV/Deutsche Grammophon\, Virgin\, and Naïve labels. She performed in Tito Manlio (Vivaldi) in Brussels and at the Barbican in London\, in Ezio (Handel) in Paris and Vienna\, in Giulio Cesare (Handel) in Paris and Vienna\, as well as in Juditha Triumphans (Vivaldi) with Andrea Marcon at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Her performances with the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra earned her nominations at the Grammy Awards in 2007 and 2009. \nKarina Gauvin recently performed the role of the Princess in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges with the Rotterdam Philharmonic and Yannick Nézet-Séguin\, and she sang in Bach’s Johannes Passion on tour in Canada and at Carnegie Hall in New York with Les Violons du Roy and Bernard Labadie. Future seasons promise to be exciting: she will sing Armida in Handel’s Rinaldo at the Glyndebourne Festival\, Giunone in Cavalli’s Callisto at the Bayerische Staatsoper\, Vitellia in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris\, and Gluck’s Armide with the Netherlands Opera. \nLes Boréades \nLes Boréades de Montréal with its focus on early music\, was founded by Francis Colpron in 1991. The ensemble’s interpretive approach honours the spirit of the Baroque era in performing on period instruments\, respectful of historically-informed practices. Critics and audiences have unanimously hailed the group’s energy and spontaneity as well as its theatrical\, expressive\, and elegant playing – all indicative of a flair for Baroque aesthetics. \nEach year\, Les Boréades\, with an array of international guest artists (many of whom  have been broadcast by the CBC) gives a series of concerts at Montréal’s historic Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel. It has toured extensively in Canada and abroad and is the recipient of funding from the governments of Canada and Québec. It has also performed at the Frick Collection in New York\, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam\, Salle Gaveau in Paris\, Vancouver Festival\, Musikfest Bremen\, Alter Musik Regensburg\, and at numerous other festivals. The ensemble won the Prix Opus for Best Performance (Conseil Québécois De La Musique) not only in December 1999 but also a year later for Best Recording in Early and Classical Music. \nLes Boréades boasts fifteen recordings on the Atma Classique label featuring renowned artists\nsuch as Hervé Niquet\, Skip Sempé\, Manfredo Kraemer\, Alex Weimann\, and Eric Milnes. In 2006\, Hyver\, with Karina Gauvin\, was nominated for The Juno Best Classical Album of the Year: Vocal or Choral Performance and has also been nominated for an award at the ADISQ Gala. Purcell\, again featuring Karina Gauvin\, was also nominated for the Juno for Best Classical Album of the Year: Vocal or Choral Performance. \nWhere does the name “Les Boréades” come from? \nThe Boreads (Les Boréades in French) were Zetes and Calais\, the winged sons of the god of the north wind\, Boreas. Their father was the son of Eos (goddess of the dawn) and of Astraeus. The brothers were Titans\, beings from Greek mythology who personify the elemental forces of nature. Zetes\, the more spirited of the two\, was associated with quests. Calais\, the temperamental one\, personified the turquoise sea. URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/concert/the-purcell-project/ LOCATION:Alix Goolden Hall\, Victoria Conservatory of Music\, 907 Pandora Avenue\, Victoria\, BC\, V8V 3P4\, Canada ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Concert9_Purcell-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20170304T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20170304T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T053520 CREATED:20200426T014714Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T045522Z UID:3751-1488657600-1488657600@earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca SUMMARY:In a Strange Land: Elizabethan Composers in Exile DESCRIPTION:SPECIAL EVENT \nDoors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. \nStile Antico UK\nTorn between conscience and obedience\, Philips\, Dering\, and Dowland\, several of England’s greatest composers\, chose a life of exile while others\, Byrd and Robert White\, remained at home in spiritual exile. The result was music of astonishing intensity and emotional impact. \n…breathtaking freshness\, vitality and balance. NY TIMES \nVisit the website of Stile Antico\nListen to Stile Antico \n \nPROGRAMME\nFlow my tears John Dowland (1563 – 1626) \nSuper Flumina Babylonis Philip de Monte (1521 – 1603) \nQuomodo cantabimus William Byrd (c.1540 – 1623) \nSancta et immaculata virginitas Richard Dering (c.1580 – 1630) \nIn ieiunio et fletu Thomas Tallis (c.1505 – 1585) \nRegina caeli laetare Peter Philips (1560/1 – 1628) \nTristitia et anxietas William Byrd \nINTERVAL \nHaec Dies William Byrd \nGaude Maria / Virgo prudentissima Peter Philips \nIn this trembling shadow cast John Dowland \nFactum est silentium Richard Dering \nLamentations a5 Robert White (1538 – 1574) \nTEXT AND TRANSLATIONS\nFlow my tears\, fall from your springs! \nExiled forever let me mourn; \nWhere night’s black bird her sad infamy sings\, \nThere let me live forlorn. \nDown vain lights\, shine you no more! \nNo nights are dark enough for those \nThat in despair their last fortunes deplore. \nLight doth but shame disclose. \nNever may my woes be relieved\, \nSince pity is dead; \nAnd tears and sighs and groans my weary days \nOf all joys have deprived. \nFrom the highest spire of contentment \nMy fortune is thrown; \nAnd fear and grief and pain for my deserts \nAre my hopes\, since hope is gone. \nHark! you shadows that in darkness dwell\, \nLearn to contemn light. \nHappy they that in hell \nFeel not the world’s despite. \nSuper flumina Babylonis\, illlic sedimus et flevimus dum recordaremur tui\, Sion. Illic interrogaverunt nos\, qui captivunt abduxerunt nos\, verba cantionum. Quomodo cantabimus canticum Domini in terra aliena? In salicibus in medio eius suspendimus organa nostra. \nBy the streams of Babylon\, there we sat and wept when we remembered you\, Sion. There our captors questioned us about the words of our songs. How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land? On the willows in its midst we hung up our harps. \nPsalm 137 \nQuomodo cantabimus canticum Domini in terra aliena? Si oblitus fuero tui\, Jerusalem\, oblivioni detur dextera mea. Adhaerat lingua mea faucibus meis\, si non meminero tui. Si non proposuero Jerusalem in principio laetitiae meae. Memor esto\, Domine\, filiorum Edom\, in die Jerusalem. \nHow shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land? If I forget thee\, O Jerusalem\, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee\, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth. Yea if I prefer not Jerusalem in my mirth. Remember the children of Edom\, O Lord\, in the day of Jerusalem. \nPsalm 137 \nSancta et immaculata virginitas\, quibus te laudibus esseram nescio\, quia quem caeli capere non poterant\, tuo gremio contulisti. Benedicta tu in mulieribus\, et benedictus fructus ventris tui. \nHoly and spotless virginity\, I know not what praises to bring to thee\, for Him whom the Heavens could not contain thou didst bear in thy womb. Blessed are you among women\, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. \nResponsory at mattins of Christmas \nIn ieiunio et fletu plorabant sacerdotes\, parce Domine\, parce populo tuo\, et ne des haereditationem in perditionem. Inter vestibulum et altare plorabant sacerdotes dicentes: parce populo tuo. \nWith fasting and weeping let the priests pray\, saying: spare\, O Lord\, spare Thy people\, and give not Thine heritage to destruction. Let the priests weep between the porch and the altar\, and let them say: spare Thy people. \nMattins respond\, first Sunday of lent \nRegina caeli laetare\, alleluia. Quia quem meruisti portare\, alleluia. Resurrexit sicut dixit\, alleluia. Ora pro nobis Deum\, alleluia. \nQueen of Heaven\, rejoice\, alleluia. Because you were worthy to bear him\, alleluia. He has risen as he fortold\, alleluia. Pray to God for us\, alleluia. \nMarian antiphon at compline during Eastertide \nTristitia et anxietas occupaverunt interiora mea. Moestum factum est cor meum in dolore\, et contenebrati sunt oculi mei. Vae mihi\, quia peccavi. \nSed tu\, domine\, qui non derelinques sperantes in te\, consolare et adjuva me propter nomen sanctum tuum\, et miserere mei. \nSadness and anxiety have overtaken my inmost being. My heart is made sorrowful in mourning\, my eyes are become dim. Woe is me\, for I have sinned. \nBut thou\, O Lord\, who dost not forsake those whose hope is in thee\, comfort and help me\, for thy holy name’s sake\, and have mercy on me. \nAfter Lamentations\, Psalm 112 (113): 2 \nHaec dies quam fecit Dominus; exultemus et laetemur in eia. Alleluia. \nThis is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad therein. Alleluia. \nPsalm 117: 246 \nGaude Maria Virgo\, cuncta haereses sola interemisti\, in universo mundo\, Alleluia. \nVirgo prudentissima\, quo progrederis\, quasi aurora valde rutilans? Filia Sion\, tota formosa et suavis es: pulchra ut luna\, electa ut sol\, Alleluia. \nRejoice\, Virgin Mary\, you alone have destroyed all heresies in the whole world\, alleluia. \nMost wise virgin\, whither do you go\, shining gloriously as the morning? Daughter of Sion\, you are all comely and sweet\, fair as the moon\, excellent as the sun\, alleluia. \nTract for Votive Mass of the Blessed Virgin; \nMagnificat antiphon at Assumption \nIn this trembling shadow cast \nFrom those boughs which thy winds shake\, \nFar from human troubles placed\, \nSongs to the Lord would I make\, \nDarkness from my mind then take: \nFor thy rites none may begin \nTill they feel thy light within. \nMusic all thy sweetness lend\, \nWhile of his high power I speak\, \nOn whom all powers else depend\, \nBut my breast is now too weak\, \nTrumpets shrill the air should break\, \nAll in vain my sounds I raise\, \nBoundless power asks boundless praise. \nA Pilgrimes Solace (1612)\, no. 12 \nFactum est silentium in caelo dum committeret bellum draco cum Michaele Archangelo. Audita est vox milia milium\, dicentium: salus\, honor et virtus omnipotenti Deo. Alleluia. \nThere was silence in heaven as the dragon joined battle with the archangel Michael. A voice was heard\, thousand upon thousand-fold\, saying: salvation\, honour and virtue to almighty God. Alleluia. \nBenedictus antiphon at Lauds on Michaelmas7 \nLAMENTATIONS \nHeth \nPeccatum peccavit Jerusalem\, propterea instabilis facta est. Omnes qui glorificabant eam spreverunt illam\, quia viderunt ignomimiam eius; ipsa autem gemens et conversa est retrorsum. \nTeth \nSordes eius in pedibus eius\, nec recordata est finis sui. Deposita est vehementer\, non habens consolatorem. Vide\, Domine\, afflictionem meam\, quoniam erectus est inimicus. \nJoth \nManum suam misit hostis ad omnia desiderabilia eius\, quia vidit gentes ingressas sanctuarium suum de quibus preceperas ne intrarent in ecclesiam tuam. \nJerusalem\, Jerusalem\, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum. \nCaph \nOmnes populos ejus gemens\, et quaerens panem; dederunt pretiosa quaeque pro cibo ad refocillandam animam. Vide\, Domine\, et considera quoniam facta sum vilis! \nLamech \nO vos omnes qui transitis per viam\, attendite\, et videte si est dolor sicut dolor meus\, quoniam vindemiavit me\, ut locutus est Dominus\, in die irae furoris sui. \nMem \nDe excelso misit ignem in ossibus meis\, et erudivit me: expandit rete pedibus meis\, convertit me retrorsum; posuit me desolationem\, tota die moerore confectam. \nJerusalem\, Jerusalem.\, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum. \nHeth \nJerusalem has committed a great sin\, and therefore she has become untrustworthy. All who used to praise her have spurned her\, because they have seen her shame; and she groans and has turned away her face. \nTeth \nHer own filth is upon her feet\, and she has given no thought to her purpose. She has been brought very low\, and has none to comfort her. ‘Look\, Lord\, upon my suffering\, and see how my enemy is exalted.’ \nJoth \nThe enemy has laid hands on all that was dear to her\, for she has seen the foreigner enter her sanctuary\, the men you decreed should never be admitted into your assembly. \nJerusalem\, Jerusalem\, return again to the Lord your God. \nCaph \nAll her people sigh\, they seek bread; they have given their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul. See\, O Lord\, and consider\, for I am become vile! \nLamech \nO all ye that pass by in the way\, hearken\, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow. For he hath plucked me like a grape\, as the Lord uttered in the day of his fierce anger. \nMem \nFrom on high he hath sent fear into my bones\, and hath chastised me: he hath spread a net for my feet\, and turned me back; he hath made me desolate\, and all the day I am consumed with sorrow. \nJerusalem\, Jerusalem\, return again to the Lord your God. \nLamentations 1: 8-138 \nPROGRAMME NOTES\n‘How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?’ \nHenry VIII’s infamous break with Rome in 1534 and subsequent destruction of religious institutions did comparatively little to change the appearance or content of church services\, which continued to be carried out according to the centuries-old Sarum rite. When his Protestant young son Edward VI came to the throne\, however\, church worship in England was turned upside-down within a space of months. The backlash was equally violent at the accession of Mary I\, who restored papal authority and the Sarum rite between 1553 and 1558. By the time Elizabeth I came to the throne\, English churchgoers might have been forgiven for feeling disillusioned. The new queen’s task was to unify her subjects behind her rule\, and\, although her convictions were essentially Protestant she did not in fact wish to alienate those who held more traditional Catholic beliefs – which may explain her softening of one or two more distinctly Protestant corners of Edward’s Book of Common Prayer. While many may have disliked the newly-imposed English services\, few seem to have absented themselves from public worship in the early Elizabethan years. \nAlthough by the late 1560s there were notable Papist stirrings (echoes of which can perhaps be detected in a work like White’s Lamentations)\, the real turning point came in late February 1570\, when Pope Pius V issued a bull asserting Elizabeth to be a heretic and pretender\, prohibiting her subjects from obeying ‘her orders\, mandates and laws’ and declaring any who did so excommunicated. Thus\, to be an obedient Catholic now entailed rejecting Elizabeth’s authority and (by implication) desiring her overthrow. Furthermore\, for those whose conscience now prevented them from attending the ‘impious rites’ of the English Prayer Book\, recusancy was the only option\, against which laws were enforced from the late 1570s. So began the years of persecution which saw influential Roman Catholics martyred for treason\, and many more imprisoned and persecuted. A ‘clarification’ from Rome in 1580 permitting Catholics to be loyal citizens in civil matters until an ‘opportunity for liberation’ helped little (nor\, to be fair\, did many want England to be ‘liberated’ by the Spaniards). Yet\, while it is well documented that Elizabeth personally favoured greater religious tolerance than Parliament permitted her\, the foiling of numerous plots and assassination attempts against her during the 1570s and 80s demonstrated that concerns about her safety were well-founded. Meanwhile\, behind the walls of Roman Catholic houses\, of the scriptures to which believers most often turned for comfort and encouragement during these troubled times\, Old Testament texts concerning the Babylonian captivity proved particularly popular\, and provided much inspiration for composers. This is the context out of which sprang the works in the present programme. All but one of the composers represented here were English Catholics\, either in the metaphorical ‘strange land’ of Protestant England\, or living abroad. \nJohn Dowland (1563 – 1626) turned to Rome while a teenager in Paris\, but he had returned to England by the time he was first turned down for a post at court. An Italian journey to study with Marenzio got him accidentally mixed up in a plot against Elizabeth from which he hurriedly escaped\, but\, upon his return\, failed again to win the royal patronage he so desperately craved. To describe his travels as ‘exile’ is far-fetched\, but\, from what we know of his character he wouldn’t have minded in the least. He self-pityingly wrote that his religion was the reason for his failure to win Elizabeth’s favour – though in reality it hadn’t stopped others\, and\, if anything\, she probably just didn’t warm to such a self-absorbed sycophant. He clearly therefore ‘had no choice’ but to take a very well-paid position at the Danish court in 1598\, from which he was dismissed in 1606 after spending too long on visits home. Finally\, James I took him on as a lutenist in 1612. Dowland’s music is famed for its melancholy; this seems to have been rather true of his personality\, too (though such affectations were somewhat in vogue amongst artistic types at that time). His famous lute song Flow my tears\, with its striking descending lacrimae motif\, must be considered his signature tune\, and appears here in a consort arrangement 9 \n– a not uncommon practice in Dowland’s time. Indeed\, the song In this trembling shadow is one of many of Dowland’s songs published in such a way as to permit just that type of performance: the solo melody and lute tablature are printed on one side of the page\, and three voice (or viol) parts – in ‘table’ format\, with each different part facing outwards in a different direction so that the music can be gathered-around – on the facing page. Here\, Dowland casts his melancholia in rather chromatic musical material. \nWilliam Byrd (c.1540 – 1623)\, by contrast\, stayed in England and was the most admired composer of his generation. His connections in Catholic circles are well-documented\, but it was through his music that he most openly served the recusant community (while his friendship with Elizabeth ensured impunity): his Cantiones sacrae of 1589 and 1591 included numerous works with overtly subversive texts\, while the Gradualia of 1605 and 1607 provided short liturgical motets for the year-round celebration of the mass. His three famous mass settings\, composed in the mid-1590s\, were considered dangerous enough that the printer dared not include his own name\, although Byrd’s appears on each page. The extraordinary 8-part motet Quomodo cantabimus\, appears to have had a particularly memorable genesis: the eighteenth-century antiquarian John Alcock records that Philippe de Monte\, kappelmeister to the Holy Roman Emperor\, sent Byrd a copy of his motet Super flumina Babylonis\, a setting of the opening verses of that most memorable exile text\, psalm 136 (137 in English translations). Byrd ‘replied’ with Quomodo cantabimus – a setting of verses 4-7 – the motet itself providing an answer to the question posed in the opening line of the text. That three of its eight voice parts formed an ingenious canon by inversion doubtless assured the rest of the world that music was alive and well amongst England’s persecuted Catholics. Tristitia et anxietas (from the 1589 Cantiones sacrae) is without doubt one of his great tours de force – a musical setting which uses expressive semitonal melodic inflections (perhaps a nod to Clemens’ setting of the same text) and a strikingly broad sense of scale to lend great heaviness to the lament of the first half of the text\, while lending the more hopeful second a sense of profound yearning. The much-loved Haec dies\, on the other hand\, has little of this gravitas; here the joy of this psalm text (one closely associated with Easter day\, when it is used as a Gradual) calls forth a more economical\, madrigalian response. \nRichard Dering (c.1580 – 1630) spent the first years of his career in England\, but probably converted to Rome on a trip to Italy in the early 1610s and spent most of the rest of his life in the Low Countries. Only in 1625 did he return\, taking the position of organist to Charles I’s Catholic wife Henrietta Maria. Sancta et immaculata virginitas finds him in a distinctly modern\, Italianate voice\, writing for two solo voices with basso continuo (not to mention setting a text which would hardly be countenanced in the English church). The same can be said of perhaps his best-known motet\, Factum est silentium – a setting of a dramatic passage from the Revelation of St John – in which he draws upon considerable variation in note durations\, vividly contrasting textures and insistent\, stylised rhythms in order to convey the text; the style is not at all unlike that seen in many of the madrigals of the day. \nThomas Tallis (c.1505 – 1585) – a close friend and teacher to Byrd – represents the generation who experienced all the mid-century upheavals first-hand – which\, as a composer\, meant a constant reinventing of his craft to suit the religious tastes of the moment. Although many of his works cannot be precisely dated\, the bold\, expressive harmonies of In ieiunio et fletu suggest a late date of composition not long before the motet’s publication in 1575. Indeed\, its emotive power lies in some extraordinary progressions of seemingly barely-related chords\, which present to us\, as if dumbstruck\, the scene of priests lamenting their desecrated heritage. At the words of the priests themselves\, the voices reach the highest point in their tessitura as if to echo the impassioned cries for mercy. Although the worst persecution was yet to come\, it is hard not to see this piece as in some way a metaphor for the grief of many at the perceived desecration of the church by the Protestant regime. \nThe most-published English composer of his generation after Byrd\, Peter Philips (1560/1 – 1628) spent much of his working life in the Low Countries\, having fled England in 1582 on account of his Catholicism. His travels took him via Douai to Rome\, where he stayed for three years\, before another 5 years’ travel in the employment of Lord Thomas Paget\, another prominent English refugee. He settled in Antwerp around 1590\, enjoying a quiet seven years\, save for a visit to Amsterdam (probably to see Sweelinck) during which he was accused of complicity in a plot against Elizabeth and briefly imprisoned – a stark reminder of the perils of being an English Catholic\, home or abroad. When the matter came to court\, Philips was released without charge. In 1597 he joined the household of the Archduke Albert VII\, Hapsburg governer of the Low Countries and was to remain in Brussels until his death. Like many continental composers of his generation\, Philips’s extensive output of sacred and secular music spans the join between the Renaissance and Baroque styles. The fine five-voice setting of Regina caeli performed here is a good example – its various metrical and textural changes\, and its reliance upon ‘modern’ cadential patters\, are not unreminiscent of the sacred music of Monteverdi or Gabrieli (as would be especially the case if the voice parts were to be doubled by instruments) but its strong roots in the prima pratica are also evident. By contrast\, his two-part motet Gaude Maria virgo seems more archaic; imitative counterpoint prevails\, and\, at its conclusion\, Philips employs one of the oldest gags in the book: the words ‘ut sol’ (‘as the sun’) set to a rising fifth interval – a reference to the note names in the Guidonian hexachord. \nRobert White (1538 – 1574) is one of the several very fine sixteenth-century English composers eclipsed by Tallis and Byrd\, primarily on account of the monopoly they had been given by the queen over the printing of music. Nonetheless\, White’s music is highly imaginative\, individual and masterful\, and his Lamentations setting is one of his finest works. It is one of several superb settings of that text which seem to have been written during the 1560s (Tallis’s being the most famous) – yet more evidence that\, even before 1570\, not everybody was happy with the religious status quo. The fact is particularly striking when one considers the way in which the Babylonians’ sacking of Jerusalem (the historical impetus for the Lamentations of Jeremiah) was to become such a notorious metaphor for the plight of English Catholics over the ensuing decades. On the other hand\, it needn’t go unnoticed that\, on the facing page in each of the Dow partbooks (the work’s principal source) is a Latin inscription which reads ‘wine and music make the heart glad’. Perhaps\, even amidst the turmoil of the 1580s\, this extraordinary setting was appreciated as much for its musical merit and affective power as for its devotional message. The original Hebrew text is an acrostic poem (each short section begins with a new letter of the Hebrew alphabet) and White’s Latin text contains the Hebrew letter names at the beginning of each section\, which he sets as a musical equivalent of ‘illuminated letters’.11 \nTHE ARTISTS\nStile Antico \nStile Antico is firmly established as one of the world’s most accomplished and innovative vocal ensembles. Working without a conductor\, its twelve members have thrilled audiences throughout Europe and North America with their fresh\, vibrant and moving performances of Renaissance polyphony. Its bestselling recordings on the Harmonia Mundi label have earned accolades including the Gramophone Award for Early Music\, Diapason d’or de l’année\, Edison Klassiek Award\, and Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik\, and have twice received Grammy® nominations. \nBased in London\, Stile Antico has performed at many of the world’s most prestigious venues and festivals. The group enjoys a particularly close association with the Wigmore Hall\, and has appeared at the BBC Proms\, Buckingham Palace\, Amsterdam Concertgebouw\, Cité de la Musique\, Palais des Beaux-Arts\, and Luxembourg Philharmonie. Stile Antico is frequently invited to perform at Europe’s leading festivals: highlights include the Lucerne Easter Festival\, the Rheingau\, Schleswig-Holstein and Wrocław Festivals and the Antwerp\, Barcelona\, Bruges\, Granada\, Utrecht and York Early Music Festivals. \nSince making its North American debut at the Boston Early Music Festival in 2009\, Stile Antico has enjoyed frequent tours to the US and Canada. The group performs regularly in Boston and in New York’s Music before 1800 and Miller Theatre series\, and has appeared at Washington’s National Cathedral and Library of Congress\, Vancouver’s Chan Centre\, the Quebec Festival of Sacred Music\, at Duke\, Michigan\, and Yale Universities\, and in concert series spanning nineteen US states. In 2010\, Stile Antico made its debut at the Cervantino festival in Mexico. \nStile Antico is renowned for the committed and expressive performances that arise from its uniquely collaborative style of working: members rehearse and perform as chamber musicians\, each contributing artistically to the musical results. The group is also noted for its intelligent programming\, drawing out thematic connections between works to shine new light on Renaissance music. In addition to its core repertoire\, Stile Antico has given world premieres of works by John McCabe\, Huw Watkins\, and\, most recently\, Nico Muhly\, whose Gentle Sleep was written to mark the group’s tenth birthday. Stile Antico’s diverse range of collaborators includes Fretwork and the Folger Consort of viols\, pianist Marino Fomenti\, orchestra B’Rock\, and Sting. \nAlongside its concert and recording work\, Stile Antico is passionate about sharing its repertoire and working style with the widest possible audience\, and its masterclasses and workshops are much in demand. The group regularly leads courses at the Dartington International Summer School\, and is often invited to work alongside ensembles at universities\, festivals\, and early music forums. The support of the charitable Stile Antico Foundation has enabled Stile Antico to expand its education work in schools\, and to offer annual bursaries to talented young consort singers. \nHighlights of Stile Antico’s 2016-7 season include a residency at BOZAR in Brussels\, performances at the Wigmore Hall\, Leipzig Gewandhaus and Bruges Concertgebouw\, two vists to North America\, and the conclusion of the group’s acclaimed Shakespeare400 tour. Stile Antico’s eleventh recording for Harmonia Mundi\, featuring the unjustly neglected sacred music of Giaches de Wert\, is released early in 2017. Stile Antico gratefully acknowledges the support of American Friends of Wigmore Hall. URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/concert/in-a-strange-land-elizabethan-composers-in-exile/ LOCATION:Alix Goolden Hall\, Victoria Conservatory of Music\, 907 Pandora Avenue\, Victoria\, BC\, V8V 3P4\, Canada ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Concert8_Strange-Land-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20170205T150000 DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20170205T150000 DTSTAMP:20260501T053520 CREATED:20200426T014714Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T045404Z UID:3750-1486306800-1486306800@earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca SUMMARY:Mozart and Le Mozart Noir DESCRIPTION:Northwest Baroque MASTERWORKS PROJECT \nNOTE: This is a matinée performance\n \nMonica Huggett\, violin UK\nPacific Baroque Orchestra\nAlexander Weimann\, music director\nJoseph Boulogne\, Chevalier de Saint-Georges\, the son of a slave\, overcame obstacles of class\, race and prejudice to become one of the greatest composers of his time\, inspiring Mozart and Haydn. The concert includes several of his violin concertos\, works by Mozart and one of Haydn’s Paris Symphonies. \nMusicianship that is not showy\, just highly penetrating and accomplished. GRAMOPHONE \nVisit the website of Monica Huggett \n\nThe Northwest Baroque Masterworks Project\, an initiative of EMSI and Early Music Vancouver\, is a series of major works performed at various venues in the Pacific Northwest. Supported by Christ Church Cathedral.\n\n  \nPROGRAMME\nJoseph Bologne\, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745 – 1799) \nConcerto for 2 violins and strings op 13/2 in G-major \n     Allegro\, Rondeau   Chloe Meyers and Linda Melsted \nFranz Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809) \nSymphony No. 85 in Bb-major “La Reine” \n     Adagio – Vivace\, Romance Allegretto\, Menuetto Allegretto\, Finale Presto \nJean-Marie Leclair (1697 – 1764) \nConcerto for violin and strings op 10/1 in Bb-major \n     Allegro\, Andante\, Giga Allegro ma non troppo   Monica Huggett \nINTERMISSION \nWolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791) \nSymphony No. 5 in Bb-major\, K. 22 \n     Allegro\, Andante\, Allegro molto \nJoseph Bologne\, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745 – 1799) \nConcerto for violin and orchestra op 5/1 in C-major \n     Allegro\, Andante moderato\, Rondeau   Monica Huggett \nPROGRAMME NOTES \nThis evening’s concert celebrates the extraordinary accomplishments of Joseph Bologne de Saint-Georges (1745-1799)\, champion swordsman\, French colonel\, virtuoso violinist\, director of Paris’s finest orchestra\, and prolific composer. \nBirth in Guadeloupe \nBorn in the French colony of Guadeloupe to the plantation owner George Bologne de Saint-Georges and his African slave Nanon\, Joseph faced a life of oppression and poverty. \nFrench law prohibited children of mixed parentage inheriting from their parents and racial tensions in the colonies prevented free people of African descent from settling in towns and cities. Colonial lawyer Hilliard d’Auberteuil expressed the sentiments of the time when he wrote in 1776\, “Policy and security demand that we crush the race of the blacks with such contempt\, that whoever descends from it even to the sixth generation should be marked by an indelible stain.” Though young Joseph held an uncommonly privileged position as his father’s cherished only son\, his childhood was tumultuous\, including a flight to France at the age of two\, when his father was unjustly accused of murder. Eventually\, despairing of the possibility of raising his family in peace and security in the Caribbean\, George Bologne permanently moved his household to France. \nPaternal and Patrician Protection \nOn August 12\, 1753 George Bologne\, Joseph\, two nieces\, and his valet set sail for Paris on Le Bien Aimé.  Nanon joined them two years later\, and they settled into a spacious Parisian apartment together. Duplicitous French law\, while permitting slavery in the colonies\, forbade it in France\, and permitted fathers of mixed-race children to enroll them in French schools. Provided they could acquire appropriate social graces\, such children might even find a place in Parisian high society alongside their fathers. \nJoseph excelled. He mastered swordsmanship\, dancing\, and musicianship\, those ennobling physical disciplines that were believed to demonstrate an orderly and cultivated mind. He caught the attention of the influential Duke d’Orléans\, who also championed nine-year- old Mozart when he visited Paris in 1766. Though no historical evidence survives\, it is hard to believe that the Duke failed to introduce the two prodigies. \nChevalier de Saint-Georges \nJoseph Bologne de Saint-Georges bolstered his position in Parisian high society when\, at the age of 19\, he became a Gendarme de la Garde du Roi and received the title of chevalier. Joseph’s peer\, Antoine Texier de la Boëssiere\, the son of his fencing instructor\, remembered\, “No one had ever deployed more grace\, more assurance in the obligatory exercises. His development was superb; his hand held at the highest possible elevation… made him the master of his adversary’s weak point; his left foot\, solidly planted\, never moved out of position and his right leg remained perpendicular at all times\, this afforded him the means to strike with lightning speed.” The dexterity evident in his fencing also characterized his violin playing. The compositions of the Chevalier de Saint-Georges make extensive use of the highest hand positions on the neck of the violin\, and the newly invented Tourte bow\, longer with the characteristic slight curve and balanced tip and frog\, allowed him to achieve bold\, détaché strokes and vigorous arpeggiated figuration in fast movements\, and long\, lyrical lines in slow movements. His virtuosity was so renowned that the early nineteenth-century biographer and music critic François- Joseph Fétis asserted (probably incorrectly) that Saint-Georges must have studied with Jean-Marie Leclair\, considered France’s greatest violinist and the founder of the French violin school. Like Saint George’s concerti\, Leclair’s Concerto for Violin and Strings in Bb Major\, Op. 10/1 demands unprecedented virtuosity from the violinist. Nevertheless\, Leclair was most praised for the sweetness he coaxed from his violin. One audience member who heard him perform with fellow Corelli student\, Pietro Locatelli\, wrote\, “Once he and Leclair were at the court of Kassel at the same time\, prompting the court jester to say that both of them ran like rabbits up and down the violin\, the one playing like an angel\, the other like a devil. The first (Leclair) with his practiced left hand and through his neat and lovely tone knew how to steal hearts\, while the second (Locatelli) brought forth great difficulties and mainly sought to astound the listener with his scratchy playing.” \n“Under the Direction of the Famous Saint Georges” \nVerses for the portrait of M.B. de S.***G***\n Child of refinement and of genius\,\n He was born in the sacred valley\n Nursling and image of Terpsichore\,\n Rival to the God of Harmony\,\n Had he joined his music to poetry\,\n He would be taken for Apollo \nIn 1768\, the periodical of Parisian elegant society and courtly life\, the Mercure de France (1768)\, published this word portrait of Saint-Georges. Not surprisingly\, a few years later in 1772\, he made his solo debut with the Concert des Amateurs\, an auditioned orchestra of the best noble and professional musicians in Paris. By 1773\, he had become their musical director. It was during this time that he composed and published the two concerti on this evening’s programme. When the Amateurs was disbanded in 1781 owing to severe financial losses incurred by its members during the American War of Independence\, Saint-Georges appealed to his friend the Duke d’Orléans\, who reestablished the group as the Concert de la Loge Olympique\, part of the exclusive Freemason club to which many members of the nobility and the best professional musicians belonged. At the request of the Loge’s grand-master\, Saint-Georges commissioned Haydn’s Paris Symphonies\, including the Symphony No. 85 in Bb Major nicknamed “La Reine”\, because it was a favorite of Marie-Antoinette. Haydn received a staggering twenty-five louis d’or per symphony from the Loge. In return\, he produced his grandest works to date. Saint-George’s orchestra was more than double the size of the orchestra that Haydn led in Esterháza\, having sixty-five members: 14 first violins\, 14 second violins\, 7 violas\, 10 cellos\, 7 contrabasses\, 4 horns\, 3 flutes\, 2 oboes\, 2 bassoons\, 2 clarinets\, 2 trumpets\, and timpani. \nSaint-Georges also led in the fight for political equality. He worked with the young Duke d’Orléans\, nicknamed Philippe-Egalité\, in the abolitionist Société des Amis des Noirs. During the Revolution\, he joined\nthe National Guard and in 1792 became the colonel of the Légion des Américains et du Midi\, Europe’s first\nregiment comprised of citizens of colour\, which included Thomas-Alexandre Dumas\, father of the novelist Alexandre Dumas. On account of his close connections with France’s nobility\, he was jailed\nfor eighteen months during Robespierre’s Reign of Terror\, but in 1795\, succeeded in reestablishing a Masonic orchestra at the Cercle de l’Harmonie. The Mercure reported that this orchestra “left nothing to be desired as to the choice of works or the superiority of their execution.” \nChristina Hutten \nSupported by David McMurtry and Glen Patterson \nTHE ARTISTS \nMonica Huggett \nMonica Huggett was born in London in 1953\, the fifth of seven children. In order to differentiate herself from her piano-playing siblings\, she took up the violin at age six. Her talent became apparent quickly and by the age of twelve\, it had been decided by her parents and teachers that she would become a violinist. This saved her from the agony of having to decide what to do with her life! At sixteen years old\, she entered the Royal Academy of Music as a student of Manoug Parikian. \nShe did well and won several prizes\, but she was not entirely comfortable with her instrument until she was given a baroque violin. She was immediately won over by the mellow quality of the gut strings and became a fervent champion of the baroque violin. From age seventeen\, Monica has earned her living solely as a violinist and artistic director\, beginning in London as a freelance violinist and currently as the first artistic director of the Juilliard School’s Historical Performance Program. \nIn the intervening four decades\, she co-founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra with Ton Koopman (PBO’s first artistic advisor); founded her own London-based ensemble\, Sonnerie; worked with Christopher Hogwood at the Academy of Ancient Music and with Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert; and toured the United States in concert with James Galway. She has served as guest director of the Arion Baroque Orchestra (Montreal)\, Tafelmusik (Toronto)\, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra\, Philharmonia Baroque (San Francisco)\, the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra\, the Seville Baroque Orchestra\, and Concerto Copenhagen. She also performs frequently as a solo violinist all over the world. \nThe 2016-17 season marks Monica’s 21st as artistic director of Portland Baroque Orchestra. Under her leadership the orchestra has achieved an ever-higher level of artistic excellence and expanded its historically informed repertoire through the Classical period to the early Romantic. Her achievements with PBO include a week-long festival of Bach on the 250th Anniversary of his death\, the commission and world premiere of a Baroque-inspired violin concerto\, and two commercial CD releases: (Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante and Concertone on the Virgin Veritas label and Giuliani’s Guitar Concerto and Boccherini’s Guitar Sinfonia on Koch International). She has also released two limited-edition live recordings with Portland Baroque Orchestra: one entirely of music by J.S. Bach\, the other (in 2008) her first new release since 1992 of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons paired with his complete Opus 11 violin concerti. \nMonica’s discography numbers in the hundreds\, many of which\, sadly\, are currently out of print. Her award winning CDs of Biber Sonatas with Sonnerie will be re-released by Universal Music. Universal will also soon make many of her out-of-print recordings available to the public again as downloads. \nAmong her prizes : the 1997 Editor’s Choice award (Gramophone magazine) for J.S. Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin\, the Vantaa Baroque Energy Prize (Finland) in 2005\, and Gramophone’s Best Instrumental Recording Award for Heinrich Biber’s Violin Sonatas in 2002. Monica and Ensemble Sonnerie received a 2009 Grammy™ nomination for J.S. Bach: Orchestral Suites for a Young Prince\, and was praised by the New York Times for her “sizzling rendering” of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 with her Juilliard Baroque ensemble. \nAlongside her work at Juilliard and Portland Baroque Orchestra\, Monica continues as artistic director of the Irish Baroque Orchestra. \nThe Pacific Baroque Orchestra \nThe Pacific Baroque Orchestra (PBO) is recognized as one of Canada’s most exciting and innovative ensembles performing “early music for modern ears.” PBO brings the music of the past up to date by performing with cutting edge style and enthusiasm. Formed in 1990\, the orchestra quickly established itself as a force in Vancouver’s burgeoning music scene with the ongoing support of Early Music Vancouver. \nIn 2009 PBO welcomed Alexander Weimann (one of the most sought-after of ensemble directors/soloists/chamber music partners of his generation) as Artistic Director. Weimann’s imaginative programming and expert leadership have drawn in many new concertgoers. His creativity and engaging musicianship have carved out a unique and vital place in the cultural landscape of Vancouver. \nThe Orchestra has also toured B.C.\, the northern United States and across Canada as far as the East Coast. The musicians of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra have been at the core of many large-scale productions by EMSI in recent years\, including the Northwest Baroque Masterworks Project. \nAlexander Weimann \nAfter traveling the world with ensembles like Tragicomedia\, Cantus Cölln\, the Freiburger Barockorchester\, the Gesualdo Consort and Tafelmusik\, Weimann now focuses on his activities as music director of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra in Vancouver and the Seattle Baroque Orchestra. \nRecently\, he has conducted the Montreal-based baroque orchestra Ensemble Arion\, Les Violons du Roy\, and the Portland Baroque Orchestra. Both the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra have regularly featured him as a soloist. In recent years\, he has also conducted the Victoria Symphony and Symphony Nova Scotia\, most recently with Handel’s Messiah. \nAlexander Weimann can be heard on some 100 CDs. He made his North American recording debut with the ensemble Tragicomedia on the CD Capritio (Harmonia Mundi USA)\, and won worldwide acclaim from both the public and critics for his 2001 release of Handel’s Gloria (ATMA Classique). Volume 1 of his recordings of the complete keyboard works by Alessandro Scarlatti appeared in May 2005. Critics around the world unanimously praised it\, and in the following year it was nominated for an Opus Prize as the best Canadian early music recording. He released an Opus Award-winning CD of Handel oratorio arias with superstar soprano Karina Gauvin and his Montreal-based ensemble Tempo Rubato\, a recording of Bach’s St. John’s Passion\, and various albums with Les Voix Baroques of Buxtehude\, Carissimi and Purcell\, all with rave reviews. His latest album with Karina Gauvin and Arion Baroque Orchestra (Prima Donna) won a Juno Award in 2013\, and a complete recording of Handel’s Orlando was released in the fall of 2013\, with an exciting group of international star soloists and the Pacific Baroque Orchestra performing. \nAlexander Weimann was born in 1965 in Munich\, where he studied the organ\, church music\, musicology (with a summa cum laude thesis on Bach’s secco recitatives)\, theatre\, medieval Latin\, and jazz piano\, supported by a variety of federal scholarships for the highly talented. In addition to his studies\, he has attended numerous master classes in harpsichord and historical performance. To ground himself further in the roots of western music\, he became intensely involved over the course of several years with Gregorian chant. Alexander Weimann has moved to the Vancouver area with his wife\, three children and pets\, and tries to spend as much time as possible in his garden and kitchen. URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/concert/mozart-and-le-mozart-noir/ LOCATION:Alix Goolden Hall\, Victoria Conservatory of Music\, 907 Pandora Avenue\, Victoria\, BC\, V8V 3P4\, Canada ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Concert7_Mozart-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20170114T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20170114T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T053520 CREATED:20200426T014712Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T045204Z UID:3749-1484424000-1484424000@earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca SUMMARY:Locura & Tormenta: Spanish and Italian music of the XVIIth century DESCRIPTION:Doors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. \nRaquel Andueza and La Galanía SPAIN\nOne of Spain’s leading early music ensembles\, Raquel Andueza and La Galanía have appeared to great acclaim across Europe. The folk-inspired songs of Spain are contrasted with the emerging Baroque Italian music of Merula\, Monteverdi\, Barbara Strozzi and others. \na gem…a major musical event. CLÁSICA \nVisit the website of Raquel Andueza\nListen to Raquel Andueza \n \nPROGRAMME \nI \nYo soy la locura – Henry du Bailly (d. 1637) \nMarizápalos\n– Anonymous (XVII c.) \nZarabanda del Catálogo – Text: Anónimo\n/ Arrangement: Álvaro Torrente (n. 1963) \nFolias – G. Sanz/improv (ca. 1640 – 1710) \nSé que me muero\n– Jean Baptiste Lully (1632 – 1687) \nLa Ausençia\n– Anonymous (XVII c.) \nVuestros ojos tienen d’amor – Anonymous (XVII c.) \nCanarios\n – Francisco Gerau (1649 – 1722) \nJácara de la Trena – Text: Francisco Quevedo (1580 – 1645)\n(Arrangement: Álvaro Torrente\, 1963) \nII \nFolle è ben che si crede – Tarquinio Merula (1595 – 1665) \nEraclito amoroso – Barbara Strozzi (1619 – 1664) \nBella mia\n– Anonymous (XVII c.) \nToccata arpeggiata – Giovanni G. Kapsberger (1580 – 1651) \nOblivion soave\n– Claudio Monteverdi (1567 – 1643) \nCaprice de Chacone – Francesco Corbetta (1615 – 1681) \nSdegno campione audace – Virgilio Mazzocchi (1597 – 1646) \nChi vuol ch’il cor gioisca – Pietro P. Capellini (fl. 1641 – 1660) \nPROGRAMME NOTES \n“Locura & Tormenti”\, madness and torments: they usually go together when concerning love. We wanted to bring together these two visceral feelings in a program\, which consists of two very different sections. \nIn the first part\, we will perform Spanish music\, but also scores with text in Castilian that have been found in 17th century French\, English\, and Italian collections: songs about love and disaffection\, hope and abandonment. \nLikewise\, we bring some new music to light\, created upon the harmonic and rhetorical parameters of two very famous dances of the Spanish baroque: the Zarabande and the Jácara. The Zarabande was already forbidden in 1583 because it was considered an obscene and disgraceful dance\, but composers and the greatest men of letters (Cervantes\, Góngora\, Lope de Vega\, etc) continued making use of it and the Zarabanda was hugely popular until the end of the 17th century. All the written music was lost (or destroyed)\, but not its texts. The Spanish musicologist Álvaro Torrente\, one of the greatest specialists of the Spanish 17th century and also expert in literature and rhetoric of that period\, has reconstructed for La Galanía one zarabanda of anonymous text\, and one jácara with a text by Francisco de Quevedo. In both cases\, it can be considered as a reliable and traditional sample of how these dances used to be. In this zarabanda we present a rascal who describes\, without a hint of shyness\, why he loves all kinds\, types\, and social position of women; and in the case of the jácara\, our protagonist\, another rogue of the period\, writes a letter to his lover from a Sevillian prison\, and he narrates all of his adventures and misfortunes being locked there. \nIn the second half of the concert\, we will move to 17th century Italy\, guided by the main composers of the period: Monteverdi\, Strozzi\, Merula. We show different styles of compositions of the Seicento: strophic songs\, like “Folle è ben” and “Bella mia”\, melodical constructions upon ground basses\, bassi ostinati\, that is to say\, upon the repetition of the same harmonic pattern\, as in the passacaglia “L’Eraclito amoroso” or the ciaccona in “Sdegno campione audace”. We will also bring danses of Neapolitan origin\, as the tarantella\, in “Chi vuol ch’il cuor gioisca”. \nAll these love songs alternate with Spanish and Italian traditional dances (folía\, canarios and ciaccona)\, as well as with a wonderful toccata arpeggiata from the theorbo player and composer Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger. \nIn conclusion\, it is a program from that wonderful century called degli affetti\, or “of affections”\, to love\, dream\, cry\, and\, above all\, feel. We really hope you will enjoy it as much as we do performing it on stage. Please\, make yourself comfortable. Thank you very much\nfor coming. \n– Raquel Andueza \nTHE ARTISTS \nEnsemble La Galanía \nFormed by Raquel Andueza and Jesús Fernández Baena in 2010\, La Galanía quickly established itself as one of the most important groups of the Spanish\nmusic scene. \nThe ensemble specializes in Baroque music from the 17th and 18th century. Its performances are always based on meticulous historical research and performed by accomplished Spanish and foreign musicians\, experts in this repertoire. \nAll the members of the group are also active with other internationally-recognised orchestras and prestigious groups such as Hespèrion XXI\, Al Ayre Español\, L’Arpeggiata\, Orquesta Barroca de Sevilla\, Private Musicke\, and the Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment. The core of the group is soprano Raquel Andueza\, regularly invited to perform at prestigious international festivals. \nLa Galanía made its very successful debut at Pamplona Cathedral with Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater. The group quickly began to appear at the most prestigious concert halls and festivals\, including the National Auditorium of Music of Madrid\, RheinVokal Festival in Germany\, Kultur-Casino Bern\, Konzerthaus Berlin\, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne\, Saint- Michel-en-Thiérache Abbey\, MA Festival Bruges\, Royal Palace of La Almudaina in Palma de Mallorca\, Aranjuez Festival\, Panama City Early Music Festival\, Donostia-San Sebastián Musical Fortnight\, Festival Van Mechelen\, Moscow International Christmas Festival\, Bogotá Sacred Music Festival\, and Innsbruck Festival amongst others. \nIn January 2011\, their first recording\,  Yo soy la locura\, was published on the record label Anima e Corpo. Since its release\, the album has been enjoying great success\, being unanimously conferred the Festclásica award by the Spanish Association of Classical Music Festivals in 2011. In July 2013 the group released Alma Mia\, a compilation of the most beautiful opera arias and cantatas by Antonio Cesti\, which is also receiving enthusiastic reviews and accolades from the press followed by Pegaso in 2014. Yo soy la locura 2 appeared in 2015. \nwww.lagalania.com \nRaquel Andueza \nBorn in Pamplona\, Raquel Andueza began her musical training at the age of six. Subsequently\, a scholarship from the government of Navarre and the Town Hall of London enabled her to go on to train at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London where she was awarded a Bachelor of Music degree with Honours and the School Singing Prize. Afterwards\, she met the singing teacher\, Richard Levitt\, who has been her mentor to date. \nRaquel Andueza works regularly with a number of ensembles: L’Arpeggiata\, Gli Incogniti\, B’Rock\, La Tempestad\, Al Ayre Español\, Orquesta Barroca de Sevilla\, El Concierto Español\, Private Musicke\, Conductus Ensemble\, La Real Cámara\, Hippocampus\, Orphénica Lyra\, etc. In 2003 she became a member of the vocal quartet La Colombina. With theorbo player Jesús Fernández Baena she explored XVII century Italian music and in 2010\, founded her own ensemble La Galania. \nRaquel is currently a soloist at venues in Europe (Paris\, Madrid\, Barcelona\, Brussels\, Frankfurt\, Utrecht\, Prague\, Bucarest\, Viena\, Mexico\, Naples\, Granada\, Minneapolis\, Bern\, London\, Hong Kong\, etc). In 2012 she made her New York debut at Carnegie Hall and also at the BBC Proms. \nShe has performed with conductors William Christie\, Fabio Biondi\, Emilio Moreno\, Jacques Ogg\, Monica Huggett\, Eduardo López-Banzo\, Christina Pluhar\, Richard Egarr\, Ottavio Dantone\, Christian Curnyn\, Pablo Heras\, Sir Colin Davis\, Ramón Encinar amongst others. \nRaquel is regularly invited to teach singing courses at the Teatro Real in Madrid and at the universities of Burgos and Alcalá de Henares. \nRaquel has made recordings for the labels Virgin Classics\, Glossa\, K617\, NB Musika\, Accentus and Zig-Zag Territoires. In 2010 she created her own label\, Anima e Corpo\, and she released the disc ‘Yo soy la locura’ in January 2011\, which obtained the award “Festclásica 2011”\, given by the Spanish Association of Classical Music Festivals. \nwww.english.raquelandueza.com URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/concert/locura-tormenta-spanish-and-italian-music-of-the-xviith-century/ LOCATION:Alix Goolden Hall\, Victoria Conservatory of Music\, 907 Pandora Avenue\, Victoria\, BC\, V8V 3P4\, Canada ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Concert6_Locura-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20161217T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20161217T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T053520 CREATED:20200426T014712Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T045050Z UID:3748-1482004800-1482004800@earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca SUMMARY:J.S. Bach: The Magnificat DESCRIPTION:Northwest Baroque MASTERWORKS PROJECT \nDoors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. \nAlexander Weimann\, music director\nMolly Quinn\, Danielle Sampson\, Meg Bragle\,\nAaron Sheehan\, Jesse Blumberg VANCOUVER/USA\nFive internationally renowned soloists\, and a Baroque orchestra with three trumpets and timpani perform the Magnificat written for Christmas Vespers in 1723\, Telemann’s Concerto for Three Trumpets in D major\, TWV 54 and Bach’s beloved Cantata 140\, Wachet auf. \nThe result was nothing less than splendid\, one of the best musical treats of the holiday season. THE VANCOUVER SUN \nVisit the website of\nAlexander Weimann\nListen to Meg Bragle \nListen to Aaron Sheehan \n\nThe Northwest Baroque Masterworks Project\, an initiative of EMSI and Early Music Vancouver\, is a series of major works performed at various venues in the Pacific Northwest. Supported by Christ Church Cathedral.\n\n  \nProgramme\nJohann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750) \nMagnificat in D Major with Carol Insertions BWV 243 \nMagnificat anima mea (sopranos 1 & 2\, alto\, tenor\, bass\, chorus) \nEx exultavit spiritus meus (soprano 2) \nVon Himmel hoch (soprano\, alto\, tenor\, bass) \nQuia respexit humilitatem (soprano 1) \nOmnes generationes (sopranos 1 & 2\, alto\, tenor\, bass\, chorus) \nQuia fecit mihi magna (bass) \nFreut euch und jubiliert (sopranos 1 & 2\, alto\, tenor) \nEt misericordia (alto and tenor) \nFecit potentiam (sopranos 1 & 2\, alto\, tenor\, bass\, chorus) \nGloria in excelsis Deo (ssopranos 1 & 2\, alto\, tenor\, bass\, chorus) \nDeposuit potentes (tenor) \nEsurientes (alto) \nVirga Jesse floruit (soprano\, bass) \nSuscepit Israel (sopranos 1 & 2\, alto) \nSicut locutus est (sopranos 1 & 2\, alto\, tenor\, bass\, chorus) \nGloria Patri (sopranos 1 & 2\, alto\, tenor\, bass\, chorus) \nINTERVAL \nGeorg Philipp Telemann (1681 – 1767) \nConcerto for 3 trumpets\, 2 oboes & timpani in D major TWV 54:D3 \n1. lntrada\n2. Allegro\n3. Largo\n4. Vivace \nJohann Sebastian Bach \nWachet auf\, ruft uns die Stimme BWV 140 \nWachet auf\, ruft uns die Stimme (soprano\, alto\, tenor\, bass\, chorus) \nEr kommt (tenor recitative) \nWann kommst du\, mein Heil (soprano and bass Duet: Dialogue – Soul and Jesus) \nZion hört die Wächter singen (tenor\, chorus) \nSo geh herein zu mir (bass recitative) \nMein Freund ist mein! (soprano and bass Duet: Dialogue – Soul and Jesus) \nGloria sei dir gesungen (soprano\, alto\, tenor\, bass\, chorus) \n\nProgramme Notes\nUpon the death of Johann Kuhnau on June 5th 1722\, a vacancy opened for the position of music director at the churches of St. Thomas and St. Nicolas in Leipzig. Two of the five applicants for that post composed the music for the present program: Georg Philipp Telemann and Johann Sebastian Bach. Given the immense legacy left by Bach\, it may come as a surprise that he was not the first choice for the Leipzig cantorship. The town council selected Telemann first\, but Telemann used his application to leverage a salary increase from his current employer and withdrew. Of the remaining candidates\, Bach alone managed both to prove his suitability and\, almost more importantly\, to receive a gracious discharge from his current employer (Prince Leopold of \nAnhalt-Cöthen). \nBach’s duties at Leipzig included supplying a fresh cantata for each Sunday as well as providing additional liturgical music for special occasions. On Christmas Day\, 1723\, Bach led the music at three church services; for the Vespers service at St. Nicolas\, Bach crafted his largest vocal work to date\, the Magnificat\, BWV 243a in E-flat major. This Bach would later revise as the better-known version in D major\, BWV 243. \nThe Magnificat text (Luke 1:45-55) is strongly associated with Vespers services in the Catholic Church\, an association that survived Martin Luther’s liturgical reforms. At the Leipzig Vespers\, the text was usually recited simply using a formula known as the tonus peregrinus\, often in German translation. Only major feasts warranted such an extensive setting as Bach’s though he makes a nod to usual practice by quoting the peregrinus tune in the trumpet in the movement\n“Suscepit Israel.” \nBWV 243a makes its association with Christmas clear by the inclusion of four interpolated texts important to the local liturgy in Leipzig. Bach wove in this motley collection of texts—“Vom Himmel Hoch”\, “Freut euch und jubiliert”\, “Gloria in excelsis”\, and “Virga Jesse”—likely because of a precedent set by his predecessor Kuhnau to deploy them in works for Christmas Day. One will note the much lighter use of instrumental resources for these movements\, separating them dramatically from the Magnificat text proper. \nBach eliminated these Christmas texts in the revised version of 1733\, as the work was likely performed in July. Further\, he transposed the piece down to D major\, the standard trumpet key\, replaced the oboes in some spots with oboes d’amore (a mezzo soprano oboe)\, and substituted flutes for the original recorder parts. Director Alexander Weimann has opted in this program to perform a hybrid version of the work\, choosing to use the revised Magnificat (BWV 243) but reinstalling the Christmas texts that Bach removed. The reasons for this are both practical and aesthetic: D major sounds much more resonant on string instruments than E-flat\, which is also a highly unusual key for the trumpets. It may be that the trumpets for the 1723 version were pitched in D but to a higher absolute pitch than the other instruments (pitch was not then standardized as now). Thus\, the reason for the original key of E-flat may have been to accommodate those particular trumpets. Further\, the timbre of the flutes in the movement “Esurientes” is arguably more appealing than that of the original recorders\, as is the much more voluptuous sound of the oboe d’amore than the standard oboe in “Quia respexit.” \nBach’s most concentrated period of cantata composition occurred in the first three years of his cantorship at Leipzig (1723-26) as afterward he had a recyclable corpus of works and did not need to supply many new ones. It was for the rare occurrence of a 27th Sunday after Trinity in 1731 that Bach wrote Wachet auf\, ruft uns die Stimme (BWV 140). (Easter fell very early that year.) This work\, as in the case of many Bach cantatas\, takes both the tune and the text of an existing Lutheran chorale as its basis. The seven movements correspond to the seven stanzas of a hymn by Philipp Nicolai (fl. 1599). To represent the symmetry of the cross\, Bach presents the hymn text verbatim and quotes the original tune in movements 1\, 4\, and 7. \nThe first movement is a chorale fantasia: the soprano voice sings the tune in long tones throughout (in a cantus firmus\, or fixed voice)\, around which Bach composed the fabric of the music. The text describes a metaphorical wedding between Christ and the souls of the faithful\, whom the night watchman of Jerusalem calls to wake. The march-like rhythm that begins the piece references the approach of the noble Jesus. After a few bars\, the oboe and the violins begin to “chase” each other with a rhythm that anticipates each beat\, building the listener’s sense of expectation and fostering a sort of breathless excitement. This gives way to a wash of running scales representing the excited inhabitants of Jerusalem rushing forth at the watchman’s call. These rhythmic features permeate the movement\, creating a sense of blissful anticipation throughout. \nThe intervening movements 2\, 3\, 5\, and 6 all draw upon the ingredients of Italian opera–recitative and the da capo aria. An unknown author has paraphrased Nicolai’s texts here to accommodate the poetic demands of these genres. The arias\, movements 3 and 6\, are both love duets for the soul and for Jesus. The first of these shows their courtship\, and the unusual violino piccolo – a small violin tuned a third higher than normal – provides the accompaniment. Since the violino piccolo part does not ascend beyond Bach’s usual violin range\, its use here may be more symbolic than practical: it may suggest an outdoor serenade\, given the portability of the instrument. The second aria provides a confirmation of the union of the soul with Christ. The recitatives act as introductions to each aria. In the case of the second of these\, movement 5\, the speaker is actually Jesus\, who is framed by a “halo” of strings to differentiate him from the narrative voice heard in movement 2. \nTelemann\, before relocating to Hamburg and applying for the cantorship at Leipzig\, worked in Frankfurt (1712-1721). It was during this period in 1716 that he composed the Concerto for Three Trumpets (TWV 54:D3) as the overture to a celebratory serenata. The opening intrada suggests French influence with its heavily dotted rhythms\, reminiscent of the style of a French ouverture. Telemann once commented that his concertos “reek of France”\, though as this example shows\, he tailored many different fashions to cultivate a highly individualized style. The work’s four-movement format (slow-fast-slow-fast) recalls the church sonatas and concerti grossi of Arcangelo Corelli\, as does the fugal opening to the second movement. The valveless trumpet of this period required special considerations as a melodic instrument\, as it could play only the tones of the natural harmonic series in a single key. Only by playing very high can one execute a scale. The instrument is thus taxing to play\, and consequently\, the strings and oboes in this work take much of its substance. The lovely third movement stars the oboe as the soloist\, both to give the brass a little respite and to allow for the use of a contrasting key as is customary for central slow movements in concertos. \nJustin Henderlight \n\nThe Artists\nThe Pacific Baroque Orchestra \nThe Pacific Baroque Orchestra (PBO) is recognized as one of Canada’s most exciting and innovative ensembles performing “early music for modern ears.” PBO brings the music of the past up to date by performing with cutting edge style and enthusiasm. Formed in 1990\, the orchestra quickly established itself as a force in Vancouver’s burgeoning music scene with the ongoing support of Early Music Vancouver. \nIn 2009 PBO welcomed Alexander Weimann (one of the most sought-after of ensemble directors/soloists/chamber music partners of his generation) as Artistic Director. Weimann’s imaginative programming and expert leadership have drawn in many new concertgoers. His creativity and engaging musicianship have carved out a unique and vital place in the cultural landscape of Vancouver. \nThe Orchestra has also toured B.C.\, the northern United States and across Canada as far as the East Coast. The musicians of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra have been at the core of many large-scale productions by EMSI in recent years\, including the Northwest Baroque Masterworks Project. \nAlexander Weimann \nAfter traveling the world with ensembles like Tragicomedia\, Cantus Cölln\, the Freiburger Barockorchester\, the Gesualdo Consort and Tafelmusik\, Weimann now focuses on his activities as music director of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra in Vancouver and the Seattle Baroque Orchestra. \nRecently\, he has conducted the Montreal-based baroque orchestra Ensemble Arion\, Les Violons du Roy\, and the Portland Baroque Orchestra; both the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra have regularly featured him as a soloist. In recent years\, he has also conducted the Victoria Symphony and Symphony Nova Scotia\, most recently with Handel’s Messiah. \nAlexander Weimann can be heard on some 100 CDs. He made his North American recording debut with the ensemble Tragicomedia on the CD Capritio (Harmonia Mundi USA)\, and won worldwide acclaim from both the public and critics for his 2001 release of Handel’s Gloria (ATMA Classique). Volume 1 of his recordings of the complete keyboard works by Alessandro Scarlatti appeared in May 2005. Critics around the world unanimously praised it\, and in the following year it was nominated for an Opus Prize as the best Canadian early music recording. He released an Opus Award-winning CD of Handel oratorio arias with superstar soprano Karina Gauvin and his Montreal-based ensemble Tempo Rubato\, a recording of Bach’s St. John’s Passion\, and various albums with Les Voix Baroques of Buxtehude\, Carissimi and Purcell\, all with rave reviews. His latest album with Karina Gauvin and Arion Baroque Orchestra (Prima Donna) won a Juno Award in 2013\, and a complete recording of Handel’s Orlando was released in the fall of 2013\, with an exciting group of international star soloists and the Pacific Baroque Orchestra performing. \nAlexander Weimann was born in 1965 in Munich\, where he studied the organ\, church music\, musicology (with a summa cum laude thesis on Bach’s secco recitatives)\, theatre\, medieval Latin\, and jazz piano\, supported by a variety of federal scholarships for the highly talented. In addition to his studies\, he has attended numerous master classes in harpsichord and historical performance. To ground himself further in the roots of western music\, he became intensely involved over the course of several years with Gregorian chant. Alexander Weimann has moved to the Vancouver area with his wife\, three children and pets\, and tries to spend as much time as possible in his garden and kitchen. \nMolly Quinn \nMolly Quinn has captivated audiences with her “radiant” soprano\, possessing an “arresting sweetness and simplicity” (NY Times) in diverse repertoire ranging from Monteverdi to the Rolling Stones. Ms. Quinn opened her 2013/14 season as one of four Virginia Best Adams Fellows at the Carmel Bach Festival\, highlighting her penchant for 17th and 18th century music in performances of Bach\, Buxtehude\, Handel and Purcell. \nShe continued with performances as the soprano soloist in the world premiere completion of Mozart’s Requiem by composer Gregory Spears with Miami’s GRAMMY® nominated Seraphic Fire\, Handel’s Messiah at Alice Tully Hall with Trinity Choir and Baroque Orchestra and In Dulci Jubilo\, a collaboration between TENET\, Bach Collegium San Diego and Dark Horse Consort in the music of Michael Praetorius in both New York and San Diego. As a member of New York’s TENET\, Ms. Quinn has been a long-time collaborator of artistic director Jolle Greenleaf. She has been featured in several projects\, including the Green Mountain Project\, the TENEbrae series and their duo program Uno + One: Italia Nostra\, recorded and released this fall by Avie Records to critical acclaim and dubbed as an “Album of the Week” by WQXR. \nSince 2006\, Molly has been a member of the renowned Trinity Wall Street Choir\, performing regularly at services\, the Bach at One series\, concert programs\, recordings\, and tours. She is a featured soloist on their 2013 GRAMMY® nominated recording of Handel’s Israel in Egypt with conductor Julian Wachner on the Musica Omnia label\, has appeared with them in London\, Moscow\, Paris\, and Sonoma\, and joined soprano colleagues in singing back up for rock legends The Rolling Stones at The Barclays Center. In recent seasons\, Ms. Quinn has appeared regularly with notable early music ensembles and festivals including Clarion Music Society\, The New York Early Music Festival\, Antioch Chamber Ensemble\, Connecticut Early Music Festival\, Ecstatic Music Festival\, Mostly Mozart Festival\, Quicksilver\, and Seraphic Fire. As a proud native of Chapel Hill\, North Carolina\, Molly is drawn to the root music of Appalachia and Ireland and has performed in the cross-over programs Come to the River with Apollo’s Fire and The Music of Dublin with The Folger Consort. \nUpcoming performances include Arvo Pärt’s Passio with TENET at Carnegie Hall as part of the collected stories series curated by composer David Lang\, Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine 1610 with Cambridge Concentus and conductor Joshua Rifkin\, as well as on tour in the U.S. with Apollo’s Fire and conductor Jeannette Sorrell\, and a return home to Chapel Hill\, NC for both Mozart’s Regina Coeli at the University of North Carolina in the newly restored Memorial Hall and a program of French cantatas for the newly launched HIP [Historically Informed Performance] Festival. Ms. Quinn holds both a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music in Vocal Performance from University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music and currently resides in New York City. \nDanielle Sampson \nDanielle Sampson (formerly Danielle Reutter-Harrah) is a versatile performer with a particular enthusiasm for historically informed performance practice. She has been lauded for her “lovely” solo (San Francisco Classical Voice) in her recent debut as a soloist with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus in Mason Bates’ Mass Transmission. She appears frequently with the American Bach Soloists\, most recently singing with “beauty and passion” (San Francisco Classical Voice) in a rarely performed early version of Bach’s St Matthew Passion. \nWhile she frequently interprets Handel\, Bach\, and Purcell\, her repertoire also includes Brahms\, Saint-Saëns\, Stravinsky\, Britten\, and Corigliano. She has appeared with the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado\, St. Martin’s Chamber Choir\, the San Francisco Bach Choir\, the San Jose Opera\, and the American Bach Soloists\, among others. Her stage roles include Dido (Dido and Aeneas)\, Giannetta (L’Elisir d’Amore)\, Ruggiero (Alcina)\, and Maggie (Gift of the Magi). She has performed under numerous directors\, among them Helmut Rilling\, Marin Alsop\, Catherine Sailer\, Timothy Krueger\, Tan Dun\, Michael Tilson Thomas\, Jeffrey Thomas\, Ragnar Bohlin and George Cleve. \nOriginally from Portland\, Oregon\, Danielle earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver\, and a Master of Music degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She has been a professional member of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus since 2011 and is a founding member of the Bay Area’s Liaison\, an early music ensemble which features chamber music from the 17th and 18th centuries. \nMeg Bragle \nWidely praised for her musical intelligence and “expressive virtuosity” (San Francisco Chronicle)\, Meg Bragle is quickly earning an international reputation as one of today’s most gifted mezzo-sopranos. \nA frequent featured soloist with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists\, she has made four recordings with the group\, including Bach’s Easter and Ascension Oratorios – the vehicle for her BBC Proms debut − and the October 2015 release of Bach’s Mass in B Minor. \nMs. Bragle has performed with the Houston\, Indianapolis\, Pacific\, and Colorado Symphonies\, National Arts Center Orchestra\, Calgary Philharmonic\, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra\, Music of the Baroque\, Orchestra of St. Luke’s\, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment\, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique\, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra\, Les Violons du Roy\, and Apollo’s Fire. \nHighlights of her 2016/17 season include appearances with Milwaukee Symphony\, Cincinnati Symphony\, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra\, American Bach\, and Early Music Vancouver. Bragle also performs this season at the Winter Park and Carmel Bach Festivals\, with St. Thomas Church Choir of Men and Boys in New York\, University Musical Society\, Voices of Music\, and Catacoustic Consort. \nOpera roles from recent seasons include the title role in Handel’s Susannah\, Dido and the Sorceress in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas\, Dardano in Handel’s Amadigi\, Amastre in Handel’s Serse\, Speranza in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo\, Ippolita in Cavalli’s Elena\, and Elpina in Vivaldi’s La Fida Ninfa. \nIn addition to her recordings with the English Baroque Soloists\, Ms. Bragle has made several with Apollo’s Fire: Mozart’s Requiem (Koch)\, Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine (Avie)\, L’Orfeo(Eclectra)\, and Handel’s Dixit Dominus and Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne (Avie). \nAaron Sheehan \nA first rate interpreter of the works of Bach\, Handel and Mozart\, Aaron Sheehan sang the title role in Boston Early Music Festival’s (BEMF’s) Grammy Award-winning recording of Charpentier’s La déscente d’Orphée aux enfers. \nHe made his professional operatic début with BEMF where his roles have included L’Amour and Apollon in Psyché\, Actéon in Actéon\, Orfeo in Orfeo\, Eurimaco in Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria\, Acis in Acis and Galatea and Liberto/Soldato in L’incoronazione di Poppea. With Boston Baroque he sang Telemaco in Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria. \nHe has performed in concert at Tanglewood\, the Lincoln Center\, the Metropolitan Museum of Art\, Washington National Cathedral\, the Early Music Festivals of San Francisco\, Vancouver\, Washington DC\, Carmel and Regensburg\, and with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra\, Handel and Haydn Society\, Tafelmusik\, North Carolina Symphony\, New York Collegium\, Charlotte Symphony\, and Pacific Music Works. \nRecent engagements include Orfeo in Le Carnaval de Venise (BEMF)\, Messiah with Portland Baroque Orchestra\, Bach’s Mass in B minor (Calgary Philharmonic and Boston Baroque)\, Alexander’s Feast (American Bach Soloists)\, Gluck’s Orphée (title role – Pacific Music Works)\, and performances of Handel’s Messiah\, Bach’s Easter Oratorio\, Monteverdi’s Vespers\, Rameau’s Cantatas and Charpentier’s La Fête de Ruel. \nForthcoming performances include Apollon and Trajan in Le Temple de la Gloire (Rameau – Philharmonia Baroque)\, Orfeo in Le Carnaval de Venise (Campra – BEMF)\, Eumete in Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria (Opera Atelier)\, Mozart’s Requiem (Mercury Houston)\, and further performances of Messiah\, St John Passion and Mass in B Minor. \nHis many recordings for BEMF include the Grammy nominated operas Thésée and Psyché\, Agostino in Steffani’s Niobe\, and also Acis in Acis and Galatea. \nJesse Blumberg \nBaritone Jesse Blumberg enjoys a busy schedule of opera\, concerts\, and recitals\, performing repertoire from the Renaissance and Baroque to the 20th and 21st centuries.  His performances have included the world premiere of The Grapes of Wrath at Minnesota Opera\, Bernstein’s MASS at London’s Royal Festival Hall\, various productions with Boston Early Music Festival\, and featured roles with Atlanta Opera\, Pittsburgh Opera\, Utah Opera\, and Boston Lyric Opera.  Recital highlights include appearances with the Marilyn Horne Foundation\, New York Festival of Song\, and Mirror Visions Ensemble.  He has performed major concert works with American Bach Soloists\, Los Angeles Master Chorale\, Boston Baroque\, Oratorio Society of New York\, Apollo’s Fire\, and on Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series. His current season includes debuts at Arion Baroque\, Early Music Vancouver\, and Opera Atelier\, guest appearances with the baroque string band ACRONYM\, and leading roles at the 2017 Boston Early Music Festival. \nJesse has been featured on a dozen commercial recordings\, including the 2015 Grammy-winning Charpentier Chamber Operas with Boston Early Music Festival.  He has been recognized in several competitions\, and was awarded Third Prize at the 2008 International Robert Schumann Competition in Zwickau\, becoming its first American prizewinner in over thirty years.  Jesse holds degrees from the University of Michigan and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music\, and is also the founder of Five Boroughs Music Festival in New York City.\nwww.jesseblumberg.com URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/concert/j-s-bach-the-magnificat/ LOCATION:Chapel of the New Jerusalem\, Christ Church Cathedral\, 911 Quadra Street\, Victoria\, British Columbia\, Canada ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Concert5_BachMagnificat-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20161126T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20161126T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T053520 CREATED:20200426T014712Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T044909Z UID:3747-1480190400-1480190400@earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca SUMMARY:Toque of the Town DESCRIPTION:Doors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. \nFuoco E Cenere FRANCE\nA unique staged performance combines music of the French Baroque by Charpentier\, Rameau\, Marais\, and Lully with acting and French cuisine. At the conclusion of the performance\, the artists serve canapés prepared exclusively for the audience. \nDishing up platters of well simmered Baroque music—artfully slicing the ingredients into thin strips of staccato—and the whole served all with talent\, humour and joie de vivre. What a marvelous idea… APPOGGIATURE \nVisit the website of Fuoco E Cenere \n\n \n \nPROGRAMME \nTake one Party Prince and one golden fingered Chef. \nShake them up with the delightful Margoton\, fresh off the farm. \nSprinkle them all with the sweet sounds of recorder\, viol and theorbo\, \nAnd a smattering of breathtaking baroque music from France…. \nVoilà\, the delicious recipe for Complètement Toqué! \nRecently ranked as a world intangible heritage by UNESCO\, France’s legendary gastronomic savoir-faire was in large part dreamed up by the culinary wizards who worked their magic at the court of Louis XIV. Remembered for the sauces which have inspired today’s Haute Cuisine\, their reputations were built on richly appointed tables\, as well as dazzling musical and theatrical entertainments that spiced up their memorable festive meals. \nFuoco E Cenere has concocted a highly original musical entertainment honouring these purveyors of “taste”and shares the stage with Chef Denis Leroy. \nGastronomic preparations . . . \nCarrot cream with coconut milk \nChicken liver mousse with Port-soaked raisins \nApple chutney \nAccompanied by choice musical morsels . . . \nMarc-Antoine Charpentier \nMarin Marais \nMichel de La Barre \nJean-Philippe Rameau \nJean-Baptiste Lully \nLouis Nicolas Clérambault… \nTasting . . . \n ___ \nCast  \nMargoton\, Julie Fioretti (soprano) \nMaître d’Hôtel\, Philippe Cantor (baritone) \nChef Cuisinier\, Denis Leroy \nPatricia Lavail\, recorder \nMike Fentross\, theorbo \nJay Bernfeld\, viola de gamba & direction \nAgnès Marin\, scenography \nAurélie Chamouard\, costume design \nOlivier Oudiou\, lighting \nJennifer Montesantos and François Luberne\, stage managers \nSynopsis \nThe Maître d’Hôtel and Chef are under great pressure to pull off another of their celebrated feasts. The farm girl\, Margoton\, symbol of France’s great natural bounty\, is nowhere to be seen. With her are the products which will be so artfully employed by the Chef under the watchful gaze of the Maître d’Hôtel. Once found\, the tardy Margoton is forced to stay and lend a hand. Amidst all these splendid recipes the lovelorn Margoton has lost her appetite but is quickly enticed by a Chocolate Cream recipe whipped up by our two culinary magicians. Inspired by her imaginative friends and their heady creations\, Margoton is herself transformed: a baroque My Fair Lady! \nTo recreate the excitement of preparing one of these special events where music\, dance\, theatre\, and fabulously creative food left lasting impressions on the lucky\nvisitors\, we have chosen from the many volumes of collected songs published by the Ballard family\,\ninstrumental works\, airs and ritornellos by Lully\, Charpentier and the less well known Pascal Colasse as well as the stunning cantata Zéphire et Flore by Louis Nicolas Clérambault. Descriptions of the banquets come from several of the cookbooks mentioned\, and the dance sequence is adapted from the Bourgeois Gentilhomme by the great Molière. \nPROGRAMME NOTES \nToque of the Town tips it hat to French Cuisine\, recently declared by UNESCO as a ‘world intangible heritage’. This honour piqued our interest in the origins of modern French cooking and its special relation to the other arts situated at the very outset of the Baroque era\, specifically to the world of music. \nIronically\, it was the marriage of that cultivated Florentine Marie de Medicis with Henri II that inspired a new interest in the culinary arts in France. The new queen brought with her Italian musicians\, actors\, and above all\, talented chefs who introduced new techniques and products\, not the least of which was the divine truffle! She also introduced the idea of sumptuous banquets\, and the novel idea of food as theatre\, which sparked a gastronomic revolution. \nThis explosion in interest produced a series of first cookbooks starting with “La Cuisine Françoise” by Pierre François de la Varenne. Many of the sauces and techniques which are still a part of modern French cooking appear in print for the first time. Included in these pages is the first Napoleon recipe. La Varenne calls his creation a Millefeuille\, ‘thousand leaves’. Napoléon himself is not born for another century. Other important cookbooks\, aimed not just at royalty but at a growing middle class\, rapidly followed. One such volume\, which inspired this evening’s entertainment is “The Festin Joyeux” (The Happy Banquet) by J. Lebas in 1738\, where all the recipes are very remarkably sung to the tunes of the greatest hits of the day. In tonight’s presentation\, you hear a recipe for a chocolate cream sung to the tune of an aria from Lully’s Atys. \nWhen the young Louis XIV ascends to the throne\, France enters a golden age of cuisine. Louis quickly becomes known for the splendid lengthy celebrations where all the arts conspire to produce divertissements of remarkable sophistication. During the very first of the Fêtes at Versailles\, Molière collaborates with Lully for the first time. Louis was a force of nature\, and justly celebrated for his immense appetite. Descriptions of banquet menus of the time inspire awe\, with upwards of forty dishes placed before the guests. In a new innovation\, instead of all being served at once\, certain dishes are allied and served in a first\, then replaced by a second service. A dozen dishes in each service and five such services were not uncommon. And the fork makes its first appearance during Louis’s reign! \nTo give an idea of the theatrical approach to the art of presentation\, here is one of the stranger recipes of the era: \nHow to make moo\, as if alive\, a calf’s head cooked and served at table \nYou will produce a great effect with the following simple and innocent stratagem. \nTake a live frog and place it inside the head\, under the calf’s tongue\, which you will then let cover it\, taking special care to place the frog in place just prior to serving the dish! The heat of the tongue never fails to make the frog croak\, and coming from inside and therefore slightly muted perfectly imitates the moo of the cow! \nP.S. Don’t try this at home! \nTHE ARTISTS \n“Now in its fifteenth year\, Fuoco E Cenere has established itself as an arena for sensational musical adventures. The ensemble since then retained an often remarked daring in its choice of repertoire. Eager to preserve the unique freshness of the concert-going experience\, Fuoco E Cenere has devised a number of original entertainments including recent intriguing mixes of music with puppetry\, and music with haute cuisine. \nStory telling through song and translating emotions and dreams into music are the missions we have readily accepted. In our musical laboratory we eagerly juxtapose and metamorphose outstanding works\, permitting the listener to view these gems of a bygone era in a new light\, frequently imagining entertainments that delight both young and old\, the novice and the connoisseur. \nSpurred on by director Jay Bernfeld’s love of song\, Fuoco E Cenere has been pleased to collaborate with many of today’s finest voices as well as the stars of tomorrow. The ensemble is proud to have presented several forgotten masterpieces to an appreciative public. Fuoco E Cenere has produced ten recordings covering one thousand years of music. \nIts first\, Fantasy in Blue – Purcell meets Gershwin\, was hailed by Le Monde as a  “veritable knock-out”. The ensemble’s recording of Marco da Gagliano’s little known masterpiece\, La Dafne\, was awarded the prestigious Orphée d’Or by the Académie du Disque Lyrique and unanimously lauded by international critics. Our most recent recording\, Judith & Esther\, divine destinies\, recounts the universal stories of two biblical super-women\, who with force and tenderness\, vanquish oppression\nand injustice.” URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/concert/toque-of-the-town/ LOCATION:Alix Goolden Hall\, Victoria Conservatory of Music\, 907 Pandora Avenue\, Victoria\, BC\, V8V 3P4\, Canada ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Concert4_Toque-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20161029T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20161029T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T053520 CREATED:20200426T014712Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T044755Z UID:3746-1477771200-1477771200@earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca SUMMARY:Love Makes Me Sing in the French Style DESCRIPTION:Doors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. \nmusica fantasia\nJulie Ryning\, soprano and percussion\nKatelyn Clark\, clavicimbalum VANCOUVER\nCourtly love in the 13th and 14th centuries is explored with works by Walther von der Vogelweide\, trecento ballate from the Vatican Rossi Codex\, virelai from the allegory Le Roman de Fauvel\, and culminates with the gorgeous ballade Tres douce dame que j’aour by Guillaume de Machaut. \nRyning and Clark were mesmerizing\, interpreting German and Catalan Medieval works alongside the Trecento. DIARI DEL PRIORAT \nVisit the website of musica fantasia\nListen to musica fantasia \n\n \nPROGRAMME\n1. Under der linden\nWalther von der Vogelweide (c.1170 – c.1230)\n2. song setting\nMunich\, Staatsbibliothek\, Codex lat. 7755\, Anonymous (14th century)\n3. Che ti çova nasconder ‘l bel volto\n4. Per tropo fede talor se perìgola\nBiblioteca Apostolica Vaticana\, Rossi Codex 215\, Anonymous (14th century)\n5. Estampie\nRobertsbridge Codex\, Anonymous (c. 1325)\n6. Amor mi fa cantar a la Francesca\n7. Lucente stella\, che ‘l mio cor desfai\nBiblioteca Apostolica Vaticana\, Rossi Codex 215\, Anonymous (14th century)\nIntermission\n8. La quinte estampie real\nParis\, Bibliothèque Nationale\, MS fr. 844\, Anonymous (13th century)\n9. Douce et de tout noble afaire\n10. A touz jours sanz remanoir\n11. Je\, qui poair seule ai de conforter\nLe Roman de Fauvel\, Paris\, BN fr. 146\, Anonymous (14th century)\n12. Praeambulum super f\n13. Paumgartner\nAnonymous (early 15th century)\n14. Douce dame jolie\nGuillaume de Machaut (c.1300 – 1377)\n \nPROGRAMME NOTES\nThis programme follows the theme of courtly love\, weaving through the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries with the work of lyric poet Walther von der Vogelweide\, trecento ballate from the Vatican Rossi Codex\, and lai from the satirical allegory Le Roman de Fauvel. The concert culminates with the gorgeous virelai Douce dame jolie\, written by French poet-composer Guillaume de Machaut. \nUnder der linden\nGerman Minnesinger and Spruch poet\, Walther von der Vogelweide is commonly considered to be the greatest of the Middle High German authors and one of the most renowned musicians of his generation. Despite his fame\, relatively little is known of his life; even his name\, Vogelweide or “bird pasture” does not denote a specific place. It is likely that he had been knighted before spending time traveling between various courts. Under der linden is a beautiful example of his love-themed work. The text is set to an anonymous melody\, as very little of Vogelweide’s musical material has been preserved.\nRossi Codex and the Ballata\nAs one of the richest sources from the trecento\, the Rossi Codex contains madrigals\, cacce\, and a group of monophonic ballate (a popular poetic form and dance-song for secular work of the 14th and 15th centuries). Its origin is likely from the Padua-Veron region\, dating from mid to late 14th century. The ballata consisted of of a ripresa\, two or more piedi\, followed by ripresa. The ballata form reached its height of artistic stature in Florence and Veneto by the 1360s\, with over 140 examples of polyphonic ballate composed by Francesco Landini during his career. The Rossi Codex ballate are anonymous love poems\, monophonic in texture and beautifully constructed.\nRobertsbridge Codex and the Estampie\nThis codex is a two-leaf fragment containing the earliest known source of keyboard music. Although the origin of the fragment is English\, the musical material finds its origin in France\, with instrumental estampie and ornamented transcriptions of motets from the Roman de Fauvel. The estampie within the codex are instrumental dances\, the form meaning “stamping dance” or “to resound.” The form is quite simple and repetitive\, with puncta or “repeated sections” concluding with a common refrain that has ouvers “open” and clos “closed” sections.\nRoman de Fauvel\nThe Roman de Fauvel\, a work of medieval allegorical verse\, comments satirically on the church\, politics\, and courtly life. It is at least partly cast in the tradition of admonitio regum\, or advice for kings\, and contains prose\, pictures\, and a rich variety of music and poetry\, including numerous intricate monophonic works such as virelai\, lai\, and rondeau. It is an extended Beast Epic\, with the male horse Fauvel set as the central figure\, the text following his rise to power\, his courtship of Fortune\, and marriage to Vaine Glory. FAVVEL is also an acronym for the human vices\, Flaterie\, Avarice\, Vilanie\, Vanité\, Envie\, Lâcheté.\nGuillaume de Machaut\nGuillaume de Machaut was the most important composer and poet from the 14th century. His work influenced countless artists for generations\, and his oeuvre reflects his important place in developing form\, musical quality\, and poetic formulation. In particular\, his use of secular monophony and ars nova techniques heralded a new type of French song with ballades and rondeaux. Douce dame jolie is an example of his use of the earlier virelai or “chanson ballade\,” a form that was one of the few examples of dance-song types employed in Machaut’s output.\n \nTHE ARTISTS\nmusica fantasia\, early music ensemble\n“Ryning and Clark were mesmerizing\, interpreting German and Catalan Medieval works alongside the Trecento…” Diari del Priorate\nEmerging as one of Canada’s most captivating early music groups and recognized internationally for their interpretation of historical repertoire\, musica fantasia specializes in the creative performance of music from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries. Pairing voice and percussion with clavicymbalum and organetto\, they transfix audiences with a rare glimpse into the musical world of secular Medieval performance. Each programme is carefully researched and explored through text and improvisation.\nWinners of the 2010 Musica Antigua Obra Social la ‘Caixa in Spain\, musica fantasia was founded by Julie Ryning (voice)\, Katelyn Clark (clavicymbalum/organetto)\, and Ji Sun Kim (recorders) at McGill University in 2008. The ensemble received its New York debut at Corpus Christi Church as finalists in the 2009 Early Music America Performance Competition\, and has gone on to tour in Austria\, the Netherlands\, the USA\, Canada\, Spain and Catalonia\, performing at international festivals including Musica Antigua Barcelona\, Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht Fabulous Fringe\, Festival de Musica Antigua de Caceres\, and the Festival Medieval d’Elx. The 2016/17 season takes the ensemble across Canada\, including concerts in Toronto ON\, Whitehorse YK\, and Victoria BC.\nVisit us online at http://musicafantasia.org\nJulie Ryning\, voice & percussion\nJulie Ryning holds a master’s degree in early music performance from McGill University\, where she studied in the voice studios of Thérèse Boudreault-Sevadjian and Suzie LeBlanc. Ms. Ryning has had the pleasure of singing in masterclasses with many of the world’s most renowned early music singers\, including Emma Kirkby\, Ellen Hargis\, James Bowman\, and Harry van der Kamp. Equally at home in new music\, Ms. Ryning has premiered many new works for soprano\, including Lines from George Gordon\, Go Lovely Rose and Sleep Silence’ Child by Canadian composer David Gordon Duke. She has performed across Canada and Europe\, and has been broadcast on WFMT Radio in Chicago\, Illinois. Ms. Ryning is based in Vancouver\, British Columbia.\nKatelyn Clark\, clavicymbalum & organetto\nKatelyn Clark specializes in the performance of historical and experimental repertoire on early keyboards. As a soloist and chamber musician\, she performs internationally\, and has been an artist in residence at the Banff Centre\, NES in Iceland\, and OMI in New York. A native of Victoria\, British Columbia\, Katelyn completed a master’s degree in harpsichord and basso continuo with Bob van Asperen at the Amsterdam Conservatory in The Netherlands. She also studied with Christophe Rousset at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena\, Italy\, and holds a doctorate in performance from McGill University. Her artistic practice has been generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts and Le Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec. URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/concert/love-makes-me-sing-in-the-french-style/ LOCATION:Alix Goolden Hall\, Victoria Conservatory of Music\, 907 Pandora Avenue\, Victoria\, BC\, V8V 3P4\, Canada ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Concert3_Love-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20160917T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20160917T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T053520 CREATED:20200426T014712Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T044534Z UID:3745-1474142400-1474142400@earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca SUMMARY:Handel and his Rivals: Opera Arias from 18th century London DESCRIPTION:Northwest Baroque MASTERWORKS PROJECT \nDoors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. \nAmanda Forsythe\, soprano USA\nPacific Baroque Orchestra\nAlexander Weimann\, music director\nPossessed of astounding technique\, deep musicality and undeniable charm\, the young American lyric soprano Amanda Forsythe has taken the world of early music by storm. Works by Handel and rival composers from the “Opera of the Nobility” who briefly put him out of business—Porpora\, Hasse and others. \nAmanda Forsythe\, possessor of a superb technique\, was vocal and visual perfection. OPERA NEWS \nVisit the website of\nAmanda Forsythe\nPacific Baroque Orchestra \nAlexander Weimann\nListen to Pacific Baroque Orchestra \n\nThe Northwest Baroque Masterworks Project\, an initiative of EMSI and Early Music Vancouver\, is a series of major works performed at various venues in the Pacific Northwest. Supported by Christ Church Cathedral.\n \nPROGRAMME \nJohann Adolph Hasse (1699–1783)\nSinfonia to Artaserse\nAllegro\, Un poco Lento\, Allegro assai \nGeorge Frideric Handel (1685–1759)\nLargo from Concerto grosso op 3/2\n“Mio caro bene” from Rodelinda \nNicola Porpora (1686–1768)\n“Miseri sventurati” from Arianna \nFrancesco Maria Veracini (1690–1768)\nConcerto for violin & strings\nAllegro\, Grave\, Presto \nGeorge Frideric Handel (1685–1759)\n“Piangero” from Giulio Cesare \nIntermission \nGeorge Frideric Handel (1685–1759)\nSuite from HWV 342\, 346 & Watermusic\nAllegro\, Air\, Marche\, Hornpipe\n“Se’l mio duol” from Rodelinda \nGiovanni Bononcini (1670–1747)\n“Difese mi giurasti” from Astianatte \nGeorge Frideric Handel (1685–1759)\nAdagio from Concerto grosso op 3/1\nAdagio from Concerto grosso op 3/3\n“Da tempeste” from Giulio Cesare \n\nPROGRAMME NOTES \nInterest in opera never quite blossomed in seventeenth-century England. In 1692\, the editor of the Gentleman’s Journal summed up the English attitude to opera thus: “Other Nations bestow the name of Opera only on such Plays whereof every word is sung. But experience hath taught us that our English genius will not rellish [sic] that perpetual Singing.” \nTimes had apparently changed by the eighteenth century\, however. From about 1705 onward\, the Queen’s Theatre in Haymarket acquired an impressive roster of instrumentalists and began to perform imported Italian operas. George Frideric Handel had the honour of supplying the first opera composed specifically for this stage\, Rinaldo\, in 1711\, shortly after his arrival on the Fairest Isle. He had acquired mastery of the Italian style during his time spent in Rome the previous four years. In 1719\, King George I authorized the creation of the Royal Academy of Music to stage Italian operas. Handel\, who had established a significant reputation for himself by that point\, was requested by the Earl of Burlington to travel to the Continent to collect the best singers he could for the new company. Burlington himself traveled to Rome to entice Italian composer Giovanni Bononcini to join Handel as co-musical-director of the venture. \nHandel returned with four castrati\, including the highly sought-after Senesino (castrati traditionally took a single name as their stage name). These male singers—castrated before adolescence to retain a boy’s vocal range with an adult’s vocal power—had to be sourced from Italy as other nations had understandably mixed feelings about the process of creating them. Their importation was indispensable to bringing the incredibly virtuosic arias of Italian opera to life on foreign soil. \nItalian-trained female singers played as crucial a part in the Academy’s success as the castrati. Francesca Cuzzoni attained great acclaim as the Academy’s prima donna during the 1720s. She sang the role of Cleopatra in Handel’s Giulio Cesare (1724) opposite Senesino\, who took the title role. Cleopatra’s arias\, “Piangerò” and “Da tempeste il legno infranto”\, occur in quick succession in Act III of the opera and show the incredible range of emotion that Handel demanded of his singers. The first of these arias finds the Egyptian Queen sentenced to prison by her power-hungry brother Tolomeo. She first laments her fate\, expecting to die\, but in the central section of this da capo aria\, she vows to come back as a spectre to torment her prisoner. Such a quick shift of dramatic affect is a typical device of Handel and his contemporaries. In the ABA standard aria format of the time\, the “B” section often displays a drastic shift in mood\, only to return to the original sentiment at the conclusion. “Da tempeste” occurs after Caesar\, believed to be dead\, rescues Cleopatra\, prompting her to express her triumph in a dazzling array of coloratura. Cleopatra’s mastery of her situation therefore finds musical embodiment in the singer’s mastery of her voice. \nCuzzoni played the title role in Handel’s Rodelinda (1725)\, again opposite Senesino\, who portrayed her supposedly deceased husband and king\, Bertarido. Rodelinda discovers that her husband still lives\, but not before she grudgingly promises to marry a usurper to the throne\, Grimoaldo. After Rodelinda finds out that Bertarido is still alive\, Grimoaldo throws the former king in jail\, believing him to be an impostor. In Act III\, Bertarido escapes prison with the assistance of an ally\, Unulfo\, who sustains an injury as they leave the cell together. Rodelinda visits the cell only to find it empty and covered in blood. Fearing the worst\, she sings the aria “Se ‘l mio duol non è sì forte” to express her grief and her desire to die rather than to live with her anguish. As we hear the descending\, chromatic bass line and the musical sighs that Handel weaves over the top\, we mourn with Rodelinda. Her long\, often dissonant\, sustained notes reach out to infinity to express her longing for an escape from what she believes is the loss of her husband. Of course\, Bertarido is really alive and upon Rodelinda’s discovery of this fact after a few scenes\, her aria “Mio caro bene” celebrates their newly unobstructed love. Perhaps more importantly to Cuzzoni\, there was a final chance for a display of vocal fireworks before the end of the opera. \nDespite the success enjoyed by Handel and his singers during in the mid-1720s\, 1727 ended the Academy’s string of successful seasons. Bononcini faced increasing difficulties in England due to mounting anti-Catholic sentiments\, and Astianatte would be his last opera for the Britons. Cuzzoni by this point had problems\, as well: In 1726\, the nobles who operated the Academy insisted on bringing in new blood to stimulate interest in the subscribers. Soprano Faustina Bordoni arrived in London that year\, cast in rival roles to Cuzzoni on the same stage. During the premiere of Astianatte\, the sopranos’ increasing resentment toward one another exploded into an onstage brawl. The audience also became involved\, and a veritable riot ensued. Several nobles\, appalled\, saw to it that the theatre shut its doors. After a brief hiatus\, however\, the Academy was able to resume productions the following autumn. \nFor reasons that still remain unclear\, a rival group of nobles set up a new opera company in 1733. Given the difficulties that Handel was beginning to encounter to keep up audience interest\, it seems strange this new Opera of the Nobility formed in the first place. The new company hired Neapolitan composer Nicola Porpora\, who supplied Arianna in Nasso as the premier work. The Academy then saw Senesino and Cuzzoni stolen from them by this rival new venture. The aria “Miseri sventurati”\, originally sung by Cuzzoni\, shows Porpora’s more modern\, emerging galant style as cultivated by the Neapolitans. The simple accompaniment texture of repeated eighth notes\, relatively slow and steady chord changes\, and frequent small-scale repetitions are all hallmarks of this style\, which therefore contrasts with Handel’s more old-fashioned—albeit richer—language. The Opera of the Nobility managed to stage several works by Continental composers\, including Johann Adolf Hasse and Francesco Maria Veracini\, yet England’s fickle interest was not enough to offset the huge debts incurred by the directors. Both rival opera companies\nfolded in 1738. \nHandel\, however\, had long guaranteed his personal success by securing a number of patrons for his music. After abandoning opera\, he turned to the oratorio genre\, of which Messiah is the best known. He supplied occasional music to the monarchy\, including the Water Music\, written for a ceremonial journey down the River Thames taken by George I in 1717. Handel also published instrumental music\, though the Concerti Grossi\, Op.3 (1734) were probably printed without his authorization or supervision. Certain of the concerti are composites or clippings from various earlier works\, and therefore\, performing individual movements from the pieces does them no injustice\, since they were not necessarily conceived as cohesive wholes in the first place. \n-Justin Henderlight\, June 2016 \n\nTHE ARTISTS \nAmanda Forsythe\nAmanda Forsythe has been praised by Opera News for her “light and lustre”\, “wonderful agility and silvery top notes”.  She was a winner of the George London Foundation Awards and was sponsored by them in her New York recital début.  She has also received prizes from the Liederkranz Foundation and the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation. \nForsythe made her European operatic début in the role of Corinna in Il viaggio a Reims at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro\, which led to an immediate invitation to make her début at the Grand Théâtre de Genève as Dalinda Ariodante.  She returned to the Rossini Opera Festival to perform the role of Rosalia L’equivoco stravagante and Bellini duets in the Malibran recital with Joyce di Donato\, and\, most recently\, Jemmy in the new production of Guillame Tell for which she received considerable critical acclaim. \nShe made her débuts at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich as Dalinda in Ariodante and as Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro at the Theatre des Champs-Elysées\, Paris and at the Royal Opera House\, Covent Garden. She returned to Covent Garden to perform the role of Manto Niobe\, regina di Tebe under Thomas Hengelbrock (with subsequent performances at the Grand Theatre de Luxembourg) and Nannetta Falstaff under Daniele Gatti.  She also sang Nannetta for Opéra d’Angers-Nantes. \nForsythe made her USA stage début at the Boston Early Music Festival\, with whom she is now a regular soloist.  Her roles for BEMF have included the title role in Niobe\, regina di Tebe\, Galatea in Acis and Galatea\, Aglaure in Lully’s Psyché\, Venus in Venus and Adonis (John Blow)\, Drusilla in L’incoronazione di Poppea\, and Pallas in Eccles’ The Judgment of Paris. \nWith Opera Boston\, she has appeared as Iris Semele\, and Amenaide in Rossini’s Tancredi.  With Boston Baroque she has sung Bastienne in Mozart’s Bastien und Bastienne\, Serpina in Pergolesi’s La Serva Padrona\, Ninfa/Proserpina in Monteverdi’s Orfeo\, Amore in Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria\, Oberto in Handel’s Alcina; performed in Bach’s Coffee and Wedding Cantatas\, Purcell’s The Fairy Queen\, Vivaldi’s Juditha triumphans and Handel’s Messiah. \nEqually adept at contemporary music\, Forsythe created the role of Young Margarta/Nuria in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar\, a role which she later repeated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Calgary Philharmonic.  She also received high critical acclaim for her début as The Angel in the North American première of Peter Eötvös’ opera\, Angels in America\, a production which was revived at the Ravinia Festival.  She has sung world premières by John Austin and Elena Ruehr\, and recorded songs by the composer Ken Sullivan. \nOn the concert platform Forsythe’s major engagements have included Alexander’s Feast with the Ulster Orchestra and L’allegro\, il perseroso\, ed il moderato with the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic\, both under Kenneth Montgomery.  She has also sung Rossini Arias at Teatro la Fenice in Venice\, Cendrillon in Viardot’s Cendrillon with the Caramoor Festival\, Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate and Vivaldi’s Nulla in Mundo pax sincera with the Omaha Symphony\, Carmina Burana with the Rhode Island Philharmonic\, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with the Handel and Haydn Society\, Handel’s Israel in Egypt with Emmanuel Music\, and Haydn’s Creation with the Charlotte Symphony.  Her other appearances include concerts with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra\, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra\, the Boston Chamber Music Society\, and Apollo’s Fire. \nHer recordings with BEMF on the German CPO label include Lully’s Psyché and Venus and Adonis\, as well as Minerve and La Grande Pretresse in Lully’s Thésée which was nominated for the 2008 Grammy Awards. Her other recordings include Handel’s Messiah with Apollo’s Fire on the Avie label. \nForsythe most recently sang Jemmy at the Rossini Opera Festival\, Pesaroin in the new production of Guillaume Tell\, starring Juan Diego Florez and directed by Graham Vick.  Other recent engagements include the title role in Handel’s Teseo with the Philharmonia Baroque\, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and Vivaldi’s Nulla in mundo with Mercury Baroque\, Dafne in Handel’s Apollo e Dafne with Pacific Musicworks\, Haydn and Mozart arias with Apollo’s Fire\,  Scarlatti’s Pastorale per la natività and arias from Handel’s Messiah with the Brabants Philharmonic Orchestra in the Netherlands\, Orlando for Vancouver Early Music Festival\, which was also recorded on the ATMA label\, Partenope for Boston Baroque\, and Edilia in Handel’s Almira for BEMF. \nAlexander Weimann\nAlexander Weimann is one of the most sought-after ensemble directors\, soloists\, and chamber music partners of his generation. After travelling the world with ensembles like Tragicomedia\, Cantus Cölln\, the Freiburger Barockorchester\, the Gesualdo Consort and Tafelmusik\, he now focuses on his activities as music director of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra and as music director of the Seattle Baroque Orchestra. \nAlex is a regular guest conductor of Montreal-based Arion Baroque Orchestra\, Les Violons du Roy\, Les Voix Baroques\,  the Portland Baroque Orchestra\, the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. He has also recently conducted the Victoria Symphony and Symphony Nova Scotia. \nAlexander Weimann can be heard on some 100 CDs. Recently\, he released a Juno Award-winning CD of Handel arias with superstar soprano Karina Gauvin and the Arion Baroque Orchestra\, entitled Diva. He has also released Juno nominated recordings of Bach’s St. John’s Passion\, Handel’s Orlando and with Les Voix Baroques\, Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri. \nMr. Weimann recently moved to the Vancouver area with his wife\, three children and pets\, and tries to spend as much time as possible in his garden and kitchen. \nThe Pacific Baroque Orchestra\nThe Pacific Baroque Orchestra (PBO) is recognized as one of Canada’s most exciting and innovative ensembles performing “early music for modern ears.” PBO brings the music of the past up to date by performing with cutting edge style and enthusiasm. Formed in 1990\, the orchestra quickly established itself as a force in Vancouver’s burgeoning music scene with the ongoing support of Early Music Vancouver. \nIn 2009 PBO welcomed Alexander Weimann as Artistic Director. His imaginative programming and expert leadership have drawn in many new concertgoers and his creativity and engaging musicianship have carved out a unique and vital place in the cultural landscape\nof Vancouver. \nPBO regularly joins forces with internationally celebrated Canadian guest artists\, providing performance opportunities for Canadian musicians while exposing West Coast audiences to a spectacular variety of talent. The Orchestra has also toured B.C.\, the northern United States and across Canada as far as the East Coast. URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/concert/handel-and-his-rivals-opera-arias-from-18th-century-london/ LOCATION:Chapel of the New Jerusalem\, Christ Church Cathedral\, 911 Quadra Street\, Victoria\, British Columbia\, Canada ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Concert2_Handel-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20160806T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20160806T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T053520 CREATED:20200426T014710Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T044415Z UID:3744-1470513600-1470513600@earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca SUMMARY:J.S. Bach: Mass in B Minor DESCRIPTION:Northwest Baroque MASTERWORKS PROJECT \nDoors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. \nArion Baroque Orchestra MONTREAL\nAlexander Weimann\, music director\nYulia Van Doren\, Shannon Mercer\, sopranos\nKrisztina Szabo\, Laura Pudwell\, mezzo-sopranos\nCharles Daniels\, Phillipe Gagné\, tenors\nChristian Immler\, Sumner Thompson\, baritones\n\nBach spent the last years of his life creating the magnificent Mass in B Minor. This performance is with full Baroque orchestra\, eight internationally renowned soloists and a professional chorus. \ndash\, panache\, and impeccable timing…outstanding. ARTS & OPINION \nVisit the website of\nArion Baroque Orchestra\nAlexander Weimann \n\nSupported by Canada Council for the Arts\, Conseil des Arts et des Lettres de Quebec\nThe Northwest Baroque Masterworks Project\, an initiative of EMSI and Early Music Vancouver\, is a series of major works performed at various venues in the Pacific Northwest. Supported by Christ Church Cathedral.\n\nPROGRAMME\nI Missa\nIntermission\nII Credo – Symbolum Nicenum\nIII Sanctus\nIV Osanna\, Benedictus\, Agnus Dei\n \nPROGRAMME NOTES\nAlmost all Bach’s works were composed for specific functions: the instrumental works for Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen and for the Leipzig Collegium Musicum\, the cantatas and Passions for religious services at Weimar or Leipzig. The exceptions are the works written for keyboard and the Mass in B minor. This gigantic work was not intended to be sung in its entirety at any specific liturgical ceremony. As Roland de Candé says\, “listening to it is not compatible with the duration of the liturgy\, not even as part of the most solemn ceremony.” While several of its movements are borrowed from previously written cantatas\, it remains a free-standing gratuitous religious work\, without specific liturgical function. In this\, it is unique not only among Bach’s works\, but indeed in the history of music.\nLet us look at the circumstances and events of its genesis. Bach\, from the first\, had in mind a very precise goal. He was annoyed by the numerous vexations to which he was subjected by the authorities in Leipzig where\, for nearly ten years\, he had been working as Thomaskantor. The ‘most wise’ city council insisted more on his teaching Latin at the St. Thomas school than on the quality of music he was required to prepare for Sunday and holy day services at the St. Thomas and St. Nicholas churches.\nOn the other hand\, the court of Dresden—the capital of Saxony\, the state in which Leipzig was located—possessed one of the best orchestras in Europe. Musicians such as Weiss\, Zelenka\, Pisendel\, Hasse Heinichen\, plus Italians on tour (including Veracini and Lotti) assured the city a musical life of very high quality. Bach would have loved to add his name to this long list. Thus it was that\, on July 27\, 1733\, he dedicated to the Elector of Saxony a Kyrie and a Gloria—the equivalent of a Lutheran mass—in a bid to obtain the post of court composer. The Saxon court had been Catholic since 1697\, when Elector Augustus I converted so as to gain the throne of Poland\, becoming King Augustus II. However\, except for the question of religious obedience\, there was in principal no problem of liturgical usage\, for the standard texts were common to both religions. Luther had rejected neither the respective parts of the mass nor the numerous Latin texts: the Kyrie was sung on the first Sunday in Advent\, the Gloria and the Magnificat on Christmas\, and the Sanctus on all major feasts.\nJust as Bach was dedicating his work\, Augustus II died and his successor\, Augustus III\, was crowned King of Poland in 1734. The first two parts of what would be the B-minor Mass were probably first performed during the ceremonies in which Augustus III swore the oath of fidelity\, or possibly when he came to Leipzig. Some commentators have seen the Kyrie as funeral music for the dead Elector\, and in the Gloria a wish for good portents for the new one. Still with the same goal in mind\, Bach was unstinting in writing homages. Within two years he had composed and directed the Leipzig Collegium Musicum in several secular cantatas composed in honor of the Elector: for the birthday of the sovereign\, for that of his royal consort\, for the birth of an heir\, and for his coronation as King of Poland in Krakow. Despite all these efforts\, it is highly unlikely that the 1733 Kyrie and Gloria were ever played in Dresden. At last\, in 1736\, Bach obtained the coveted post at the Dresden court; but he had to remain in Leipzig\, for the post turned out to be more an honorary title than a real job. In the opinion of musicologist L.A. Marcel\, the position was not a feather in Bach’s cap.\nPerhaps at the request of some Dresden friends\, Bach decided at the end of the 1740s to finish the B-minor Mass by setting the texts of the mass for which he had not yet written music—with the exception of the Sanctus\, which he had set to music for Christmas\, 1724. Thus between 1747 and 1749—certain musicologists prefer an earlier date\, however—all the sections were completed. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach reassembled them a bit later under the name of Große Katholische Messe (Great Catholic Mass)\, and arranged for the Credo to be performed in Hamburg in 1786. Between 1833 and 1845 Nägeli and Simrok published the first edition of the mass in Bonn. It was entitled Hohe Messe in h-moll (High Mass in B Minor)\, and described as “the greatest masterpiece of all time and all people.” It was not until 1859\, though\, that the work was first performed in its entirety—but in a modified version\, ‘improved’ according to 19th-century standards and translated into German!\nAlthough it had not been composed in one stroke\, the B-minor mass shows formidable unity. Sumptuously orchestrated—and far more often in a gleaming D major\, ideal for trumpets\, than in B minor\, the key of the Kyrie—it is like a gigantic cantata with neither recitatives nor chorales. Only in the Credo\, and there only in a few places\, did Bach utilize a Gregorian cantus firmus. He recycled pieces\, choruses and arias\, from a dozen cantatas\, but these borrowings are always rethought and reworked both as settings for Latin texts and for their general sense; and by adding a fifth voice to some four-voice choruses\, Bach made them almost more perfect than the originals.\nThe genre of the mass demands a different and more objective treatment than that appropriate for a motet or a cantata. The emotion that Bach breathed into his mass may not have the intensity of that in his Passions\, but it is more intense than the masses of his predecessors\, whose polyphonic compositional techniques he used. His choral writing is contrapuntal and expresses the full range of emotions\, from affliction to triumph\, registered in the text\, while the airs and duos are more modern and lighten the work’s general texture.\nMusical symbolism\, so prominent in the Passions and cantatas\, is present too in the B-minor Mass. However\, it serves more to underline the general sense of a section than to illustrate a specific word or expression. For instance\, the violin motifs in Et incarnates est evoke the grace of the Virgin; the consubstantial nature of Father and Son is represented by imitation at the unison of the two voices in the duo Et in unum Dominum; the six-voice chorales of the Sanctus symbolize the six wings of the seraphims as described by the prophet Isaiah; and the change of tonality on the words homo factus est represents the change of being associated with the Incarnation.\nBut the reasons pushing Bach to write this Mass\, the only religious vocal work of his not tailored to the needs of a specific function\, remain an open question. Because of its dimensions\, because of certain words not acceptable to the Catholic liturgy (for instance\, altissime after Jesu Christe in the Gloria)\, it suits neither the Lutheran rite\, in which nothing is sung after the Sanctus\, nor the Catholic. Bach must have known that his work could not be played\, at least in his lifetime. Maybe he wanted to rival or surpass composers\, such as Caldara\, Lotti\, or Zelenka\, who had written similar grand masses; or perhaps in the evening of his life\, he wanted to propose\, through his musical art\, a rapprochement between the Christian churches\, a musical solution to their quarrels\, so contrary to the spirit of the Gospels. The two oboes d’amore in unison on unam sanctam catholicam ecclesiam would seem to suggest this.\nBuilt on an architecture worthy of its subject and to the high standards of Bach’s genius; expressive of his personal idealism; distilling in the form of a testament the quintessence of his religious opus—many consider the Credo of the B-minor Mass to be Bach’s very last composition\, later even than The Art of Fugue: the confluence of all these factors make this monumental work one of the absolute summits of Western music.\n– François Filiatrault. English Translation by Douglas Kirk\n \nTHE ARTISTS\n\nYulia Van Doren\nRecognized by Opera Magazine as “A star-to-be” following her Lincoln Center debut\, young Russian-American soprano Yulia Van Doren’s debut with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra was acclaimed as a “revelation… a ravishing lyric voice and an ease with vocal ornamentation that turned her into an enchanted songbird” (Toronto Star). For her last minute step-in with the Cleveland Orchestra\, The Cleveland Plain Dealer praised Van Doren as an artist of “melting poignancy” and added\, “To Van Doren\, one could easily have listened for hours.”\nA dedicated interpreter of repertoire off the beaten path\, career highlights include creating the lead female role in the world premiere of Shostakovich’s Orango with the Los Angeles Philharmonic\, directed by Peter Sellars and released on Deutsche Grammophon; two Grammy-nominated opera recordings with the Boston Early Music Festival; the modern revival of Monsigny’s opera Le roi et le fermier at Opera de Versailles\, Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center (recorded for Naxos); and a tour of Handel’s Orlando with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra to the Mostly Mozart\, Ravinia and Tanglewood festivals.\nHighlights of Ms. Van Doren’s upcoming season include appearances with the Cincinnati and Baltimore Symphonies\, the Cleveland Orchestra\, and tours with Mark Morris Dance Group including performances of Handel’s Acis and Galatea and L’Allegro under conductor Nicholas McGegan.\nShannon Mercer\nRecognized for the luminosity and effortless agility of her voice\, as well as her commanding stage presence and profound acting ability\, Canadian soprano Shannon Mercer enthusiastically embraces a range of repertoire from early to contemporary music\, from Francesca Caccini and Monteverdi to John Beckwith and Ana Sokolović. Shannon maintains a busy and challenging performance calendar of opera\, concert\, and recital engagements throughout North America and Europe while also sustaining an active recording presence\, capturing some rarely performed works.\nHighlights of Shannon’s 2015–2016 season include a return to the opera stage as Pamina in the Calgary Opera production of Die Zauberflöte\, concerts with the Naples Philharmonic in Florida\, Handel’s Messiah with the Oregon Symphony\, Dean Burry’s The Mummers’ Masque with the Toronto Masque Theatre\, the 20th Anniversary Gala of the Toronto Welsh Male Voice Choir and a concert with the ensemble ‘5’ at the First Chamber Music Series.\nShannon’s discography includes Trobairitz\, a new disc containing songs set to poems by female troubadours in the South of France\, the 2014 Juno-nominated Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’été and Palej’s The Poet and the War\, two recordings of Bach’s St. John Passion\, the Juno-Award winning Gloria: Vivaldi’s Angels\, Vivaldi—The Return of the Angels\, Salsa Baroque\, O Viva Rosa\, Bach and the Liturgical Year\, Wales—The Land of Song\, and others. She appears on DVD in Alexina Louie’s comic operas Burnt Toast and Mulroney: The Opera\, and in Monty Python funny-man Eric Idle’s hit Not the Messiah.\nKrisztina Szabó\nIn the 2016–17 season\, Krisztina Szabó will sing the title role in Rossini’s Cenerentola with Edmonton Opera\, and will appear in concert with Tafelmusik (Toronto)\, Music of the Baroque (Chicago)\, Grand Philharmonic Choir (Kitchener-Waterloo) and Pax Christi Chorale (Toronto). She will also be a featured performer in Canadian Stage’s All But Gone\, a production featuring short plays by Samuel Beckett.\nIn the 2015–16 season Krisztina Szabó sang the role of Judith in Bluebeard’s Castle (Colorado Music Festival)\, Thisbe in Pyramus and Thisbe (Canadian Opera Company). She appeared as soloist in Handel’s Messiah (Symphony Nova Scotia\, Calgary Philharmonic)\, in concert with Bravissimo! at Roy Thomson Hall\, with Soundstreams\, with the Toronto Children’s Chorus\, and with Talisker Players.\nIn 2015\, she was nominated for 2 Dora Awards for her performances as The Woman in Erwartung with the COC and in Booster Shots with Tapestry Opera. Career highlights include The Woman in Death and Desire (Against the Grain Theatre)\, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni\, and Sesto in La clemenza di Tito (Vancouver Opera)\, Le Pèlerin in L’Amour de loin and Idamante in Idomeneo (COC)\, Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos (Stadttheater Klagenfurt)\, Rosalind in The Mines of Sulphur (Wexford Festival Opera)\, Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro) and Meg (Little Women)(Calgary Opera)\, Dorabella (Mostly Mozart Festival\, NY)\, St. Matthew Passion (Brooklyn Academy of Music)\, Nerone in Agrippina (L’Opéra de Montréal)\, and Ruggiero in Alcina and Haydn’s Arianna a Naxos (Les Violons du Roy).\nLaura Pudwell\nGrammy-nominated Laura Pudwell’s reputation as a superb vocalist has been well-established as a result of her performances in London\, Paris\, Salzburg\, Houston\, Vienna and Boston. Her vast repertoire ranges from early music to contemporary works. Ms. Pudwell is equally at home on the opera\, oratorio or recital stage\, and has received international acclaim for her recordings.\nA frequent guest of many national and international presenters\, Ms. Pudwell has had the privilege of working with many outstanding conductors\, including Hans Graf\, Hervé Niquet\, Andrew Parrott\, Ivars Taurens\, Bernard Labadie\, Lydia Adams\, Howard Dyck and Robert Cooper.\nOn the opera stage\, she has performed across Canada with such companies as Opera Atelier\, the Calgary Opera\, Vancouver Early Music and Festival Vancouver\, as well as with the Houston Grand Opera and the Cleveland Opera. Her many roles include Cornelia (Giulio Cesare)\, Marcelina (Le Nozze di Figaro)\, Nerone and Arnalta (L’Incoronazione di Poppea) and Dido/Sorceress (Dido & Aeneas)\, which also was an award-winning recording performed by Ms. Pudwell in Paris. Laura Pudwell is a regular participant in many festivals\, including Festival Vancouver\, the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival\, the Banff Summer Festival\, the Elora Festival\, the Boston Early Music Festival and the WinterPark Bach Festival in Orlando.\nMs. Pudwell appears regularly with the Toronto Consort\, and is a frequent guest soloist with Tafelmusik\, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra\, the Toronto Chamber Choir\, Symphony Nova Scotia\, the St. Lawrence Choir\, Le Concert Spirituel and the Menno Singers. Ms. Pudwell lives in Kitchener-Waterloo\, Ontario with her husband and two children.\nCharles Daniels\nCharles Daniels is best known for interpreting Baroque music\, notably Monteverdi\, Purcell\, Bach\, and Handel\, but his narrative gifts have been praised over many repertoires. Among his two hundred recordings are Monteverdi L’Orfeo with Andrew Parrott\, Bach’s Matthäus-Passion with the Bach-Stiftung and Johannes-Passion with Portland Baroque\, Handel Messiah with the Gabrieli Consort\, Wojciech Kilar’s Missa Pro Pace with the Warsaw Philharmonic\, The Beggar’s Opera\, Schütz’ Christmas Story\, Lambert airs with Fred Jacobs\, much other Bach and Purcell.\nHis concerts range from intimate performances—Lawes songs with Les Voix Humaines\, Caccini and Kapsberger with Elizabeth Kenny\, John Tavener’s ‘Songs of the Sky‘—through Purcell King Arthur (Tafelmusik)\, Handel Solomon (Halle\, Göttingen)\, to BBC Proms\, Britten War Requiem (Canterbury\, Salisbury)\, and Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius (Wroclaw\, Cardiff).\nThis season features festive Bach (De Nederlandse Bachvereniging)\, secular Bach (Bach Collegium Japan) and Schütz in Stuttgart with Christoph Rademann.\nHis completion of Purcell’s unfinished Ode Arise my Muse was performed in Montreal in 2009 and broadcast on Radio-Canada. His completions of Gesualdo’s Sacrae Cantiones for 6 and 7 voices\, are being performed in Amsterdam’s Muziekgebouw by the Gesualdo Consort.\nHe is married with two daughters and is a keen cyclist. Charles enjoys frequent collaborations with Canadian musicians and is very much looking forward to this tour of Bach’s Mass in B Minor.\nPhilippe Gagné\nPhilippe Gagne has been praised for his expressiveness\, refined musical sensitivity and vocal flexibility\, as well as the beauty and lightness of his tone quality. He embraces all periods of music\, but has a predilection for the baroque repertoire.\nThis particular affinity\, combined with an innate talent for the music of this period\, has led him to perform in numerous countries and with many well-known groups\, including Les Violons du Roy\, Arion Baroque Orchestra\, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra\, Orchestre symphonique de Québec\, Le Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal\, I Musici de Montréal\, La Bande Montréal Baroque and Le Palais Royal\, Les Boréades\, Les Idées heureuses\, Ensemble Caprice and L’Harmonie des Saisons. He has worked under several acclaimed conductors and artistic directors\, including Bernard Labadie\, Ivars Taurins\, Eric Milnes\, Fabien Gabel\, Christopher Jackson\, Francis Colpron\, Geneviève Soly\, Florian Heyerick\, Hervé Niquet and Christophe Rousset. In 2014\, Philippe was awarded the Bruce Haynes International Competition prize and also featured in two ATMA Classique recordings.\nDuring winter 2016 in Europe\, he sang on three different recordings under CPO Label\, including a selection of Beck\, Gossec and Telemann. In the coming months\, he will participate again in June in a recording of Bach cantatas under ATMA Classique label\, it will then produce in July and August with the Theatre of Early Music\, with Arion Baroque in September and October and then finally in November\, in Toronto with Tafelmusik.\nChristian Immler\nFrom the Tölzer Knabenchor as a boy alto to singing as a soloist at major concert halls all over the world\, German baritone Christian Immler has spent years making music of the highest quality. Having studied at the Guildhall in London with Rudolf Piernay\, Christian won the International Nadia et Lili Boulanger Competition in Paris in 2001\, launching his baritone career.\nAlthough also known for singing Handel\, Haydn\, Mozart and\, increasingly\, Mahler\, running down the spine of Christian’s career has been the music of J S Bach. Having sung the B minor Mass\, St John Passion and St Matthew Passion with Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre\, he has also performed these works with Philippe Herreweghe\, Daniel Harding\, Michel Corboz\, Jos van Veldhoven\, Leonardo García Alarcón (receiving a ‘Diapason d’Or’ for ‘Music for Weddings’ by Bach and Böhm) and Ensemble Pygmalion (‘Editor’s Choice’ in the Gramophone for Masses BWV 233/236).\nChristian’s musical interests and talents are very broad. Recent projects have included Handel’s Dixit Dominus with Concentus Musicus and Ivor Bolton\, Krenek’s Orpheus with Lothar Zagrosek (Berlin Konzerthaus)\, Mozart’s C minor Mass with Giovanni Antonini (Salzburg Festival)\, the world premiere of Hellstenius’s The moon eats humans (Bergen Festival)\, C. P. E. Bach’s Magnificat with Ottavio Dantone\, Christmas Oratorio with Akademie für alte Musik Berlin\, Weill’s Berliner Requiem at the Lucerne Festival\, Krenek’s Reisebuch with Radio Svizzera Italiana and Graziella Contratto\, Mahler Songs with the Ensemble Symphonique de Neuchâtel\, Handel’s Messiah with Masaaki Suzuki\, Telemann Cantatas with Andrew Parrott\, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle (Vancouver Festival) and Fauré’s Requiem with the Gulbenkian Orchestra.\nAs a recitalist\, Christian has been hailed as one of the foremost Lieder singers of his generation\, applauded for his particular interest in 20th Century ‘Emigré Composers’ such as Zemlinsky\, Korngold\, Eisler\, Schreker and Gál. He has presented their works—as well as core Lieder repertoire by Schubert\, Schumann and Wolf—in leading recital venues\, such as the Wigmore Hall\, the Royal Festival Hall\, the Frick Collection in New York and the Salzburg Mozarteum\, the latter with pianist Helmut Deutsch. Their CD Modern Times was recently awarded both the ‘Diamant d’Opéra’ and the prestigious ‘Diapason Découverte’.\nAlongside his concert work\, Christian’s operatic career has been flourishing. His most recent roles were Docteur Itard/Vicaire in the world premiere of Fénelon’s JJR (directed by Robert Carsen) and Dodo/Frog Footman/Mock Turtle in Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. He has also sung Seneca (Poppea) at the Boston Early Music Festival\, Förster (Cunning Little Vixen) for the Wiener Kammeroper\, Ubalde (Armide) at New Israeli Opera\, Achis (David & Jonathas) conducted by William Christie and Pharnaces in Zemlinsky’s Der König Kandaules at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. Christian will return to the BEMF in 2013 to sing Consalvo in Handel’s Almira.\nHis recordings include Bach B Minor Mass\, Schubert Sakuntala (‘Diapason d’Or’)\, Continental Britons (five stars in BBC Music) and Albeniz’s Henry Clifford\, all released to wide critical acclaim. Christian is professor of voice at the Conservatoire in Lausanne/Fribourg.\nSumner Thompson\nDescribed as possessing “power and passion\,” and “stylish elegance\,” Sumner Thompson is in high demand on the concert and opera stage across North America and Europe. He has appeared as a soloist with many leading ensembles and orchestras including the Britten-Pears Orchestra\, the National Symphony\, the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra\, Apollo’s Fire\, Pacific Baroque Orchestra\, Portland Baroque Orchestra\, Les Voix Baroques\, The Handel and Haydn Society\, Tafelmusik\, Arion Baroque Orchestra\, Gli Angeli Genève\, and the orchestras of Phoenix\, Memphis\, Indianapolis\, Buffalo\, and Charlotte.\nRecent engagements include a repeat performance of Handel’s Messiah with Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society\, Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers with the critically acclaimed Green Mountain Project\, Britten’s War Requiem with the Boston Philharmonic\, Bach’s St. John Passion at the National Cathedral\, and the title role in Britten’s Saint Nicolas with Philadelphia Choral Arts. On the operatic stage he performed the role of El Dancaïro in Carmen with the Cincinnati Opera\, and the role of Siegmund in a concert version of Act I of Wagner’s Die Walküre in Boston.\nMr. Thompson can be heard on the Boston Early Music Festival’s Grammy-nominated recording of Lully’s Psyché on the CPO label\, with the Handel and Haydn Society on their recording of Handel’s Messiah on the Coro label\, and also with Les Voix Baroques on Canticum Canticorum\, Carissimi Oratorios\, and Humori\, all on the ATMA label.\nIn addition to his musical pursuits\, Mr. Thompson spends his time restoring his 1885 Stick-style Victorian home\, building various types of bass guitars\, and entertaining his 4 year old daughter.\nAlexander Weimann\nAlexander Weimann is one of the most sought-after ensemble directors\, soloists\, and chamber music partners of his generation. After traveling the world with ensembles like Tragicomedia\, Cantus Cölln\, the Freiburger Barockorchester\, the Gesualdo Consort and Tafelmusik\, he now focuses on his activities as Artistic Director of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra in Vancouver\, and as music director of Les Voix Baroques\, Le Nouvel Opéra and Tempo Rubato.\nRecently\, he has conducted the Montreal-based baroque orchestra Ensemble Arion\, Les Violons du Roy\, and the Portland Baroque Orchestra; both the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra have regularly featured him as a featured soloist. In the last years\, he has repeatedly conducted the Victoria Symphony and Symphony Nova Scotia\, most recently with Handel’s Messiah.\nAlexander Weimann can be heard on some 100 CDs. He made his North American recording debut with the ensemble Tragicomedia on the CD Capritio (Harmonia Mundi USA)\, and won worldwide acclaim from both the public and critics for his 2001 release of Handel’s Gloria (ATMA Classique). Volume 1 of his recordings of the complete keyboard works by Alessandro Scarlatti appeared in May 2005. Critics around the world unanimously praised it\, and in the following year it was nominated for an Opus Prize as the best Canadian early music recording. Recently\, he has also released an Opus Award-winning CD of Handel oratorio arias with superstar soprano Karina Gauvin and his new Montreal-based ensemble Tempo Rubato\, a recording of Bach’s St. John’s Passion\, various albums with Les Voix Baroques of Buxtehude\, Carissimi and Purcell\, all with rave reviews. His latest album with Karina Gauvin and Arion Baroque Orchestra (Prima Donna) won a Juno Award in 2013\, and a complete recording of Handel’s Orlando was released in the fall of 2013\, with an exciting group of international star soloists and the Pacific Baroque Orchestra performing.\nAlexander Weimann was born in 1965 in Munich\, where he studied the organ\, church music\, musicology (with a summa cum laude thesis on Bach’s secco recitatives)\, theatre\, medieval Latin\, and jazz piano\, supported by a variety of federal scholarships for the highly talented. In addition to his studies\, he has attended numerous master classes in harpsichord and historical performance. To ground himself further in the roots of western music\, he became intensely involved over the course of several years with Gregorian chant. Alexander Weimann has moved to the Vancouver area with his wife\, 3 children and pets\, and tries to spend as much time as possible in his garden and kitchen.\nArion Baroque Orchestra\nFounded in 1981 in Montreal\, Arion Baroque Orchestra is now a cornerstone in the world of early music on period instruments in Quebec and Canada. The clarity and freshness of Arion’s interpretations have been remarked upon since its first concerts; the delicacy of its readings of well-chosen and varied works has never wavered in more than 30 years. Constant attention to detail has earned the orchestra\, led by the enlightened artistic vision of flutist Claire Guimond\, a place among the most renowned early music ensembles in North America and throughout the world.\nThe Orchestra offers a prestigious Montreal concert Series featuring more than twenty musicians and with the participation of internationally known guest conductors. Arion has hosted such celebrated conductors as Stefano Montanari\, Jaap ter Linden\, Monica Huggett\, Christophe Rousset\, Barthold Kuijken\, Rachel Podger and Elizabeth Wallfisch\, to name just a few. Arion has been awarded many prizes and grants and tours regularly in the United States\, Mexico\, Europe and Japan\, as well as Quebec and Canada. Arion know holds an impressive discography of 27 titles. In 2001\, Claire Guimond founded early-music.com\, dedicated to furthering excellence on period instruments in early music. Largely centered on Arion recordings\, early-music.com contributes undeniably to the prestige of these artists thanks to its international diffusion. For Arion’s discography\, please browse through the early-music.com website.\n  URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/concert/j-s-bach-mass-in-b-minor/ LOCATION:Chapel of the New Jerusalem\, Christ Church Cathedral\, 911 Quadra Street\, Victoria\, British Columbia\, Canada ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Concert1_BachMass.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20160416T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20160416T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T053520 CREATED:20200426T014710Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T044240Z UID:3743-1460836800-1460836800@earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca SUMMARY:Tears of St. Peter: Collegium Vocale Gent DESCRIPTION:SPECIAL EVENT \nDoors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. \nCollegium Vocale Gent (Belgium)\nPhilippe Herreweghe\, director\nTears of St. Peter: 21 Sacred Madrigals\nFounded in 1970\, Collegium Vocale Gent is one of the most venerable and celebrated ensembles in the world of early music. They have traveled the world to ecstatic acclaim and now\, at long last\, make their Victoria debut\, performing Orlande de Lassus’s monumental Lagrime di San Pietro. \n“a superb performance of Orlande de Lassus’s powerful 16th century Lagrime di San Pietro.” THE TIMES (LONDON) \nVisit the website of Collegium Vocale Gent\nListen to Collegium Vocale Gent \n\n \nPROGRAMME\nTears of St. Peter: 21 Sacred Madrigals\nLagrime di San Pietro\nOrlando de Lassus (1532\, possibly 1530–14 June 1594)\nIl magnanimo Pietro\nMa gli archi\nTre volte haveva\nQual’ à l’incontro\nGiovane donna\nCosì tal’hor\nOgni occhio del Signor\nNessun fedel trovai\nChi ad una ad una\nCome faIda di neve\nE non fu il pianto suo\nQuel volto\nVeduto il miser\nEvago d’incontrar\nVattene vita và\nO vita troppo rea\nA quanti già felici\nNon trovava mia fe\nQueste opre e piu\nNegando il mio Signor\nVide homo\nPROGRAMME NOTES By Ignace Bossuyt\nFour centuries ago\, the most celebrated composer in Western Europe put the final barline to a strenuous career of forty years of creative activity with an altogether exceptional and curious work. In 1593-1594 Roland de Lassus\, aged sixty-two and Kapellmeister to the Bavarian Court in Munich at the time\, composed a monumental cycle of spiritual madrigals\, the Lagrime di San Pietro. On 24 May 1594\, he dedicated this swan song to Pope Clement VIII. Three weeks later\, on 14 June\, he died\, at the very moment when the decision to discharge him for economic reasons was decreed in writing. The work was published posthumously in 1595 by the publisher Adam Berg who\, with a good forty publications and reprints in his catalogue\, had applied himself to the dissemination of Lassus’ work since 1567.\nThe Lagrime di San Pietro are exceptional on more than one account\, and occupy a unique position both in Lassus’ overwhelming production and in the entire late 16th century repertory. In the first place\, Lassus attained an absolute summit in the genre of the madrigal\, of which the spiritual madrigal was a minor category\, but a no less important one\, for all that. The spiritual madrigal is a typical product of the Counter-Reformation\, intended as a stimulation to piety outside the official liturgy.\nThe Lagrime are remarkable\, too\, in their cyclic arrangement: the twenty-one sections\, twenty of which have words from a common source (the Lagrime di San Pietro by Luigi Tansillo)\, form an indivisible whole and\, from a strictly musical point of view\, the work is ordered according to the cycle of the modes. Lassus frequently used the same principle\, most notably in the Psalmi poenitentiales of 1559-1560.\nIn the third place\, the collection is characterized by the rather uncommon setting in seven parts. The infrequently encountered works in seven parts often have a symbolic connotation. The number seven in fact symbolizes the suffering and affliction of the Virgin Mary\, “Mother of the seven sorrows”. The number seven then became the symbol of suffering in general\, and most of the compositions in seven parts\, or consisting of seven sections\, allude to suffering and mourning. It may be noted\, too\, that Lassus’ work comprises twenty-one sections\, a multiple of seven\, the number three itself\, moreover\, being loaded with symbolic connotations! Lassus added a Latin motet (Vide homo quae pro te patior) to the twenty Italian madrigals. This motet\, his last composition\, is focused on the theme of suffering. Finally\, reference may be made to the dedication of the collection: no dutiful constraint associated with his position as Kapellmeister\, but “a personal devotion at this difficult age”. Indeed\, an uncommon occurrence in the 16th century.\nLassus had been stricken with a bout of severe depression in 1590-1591 and\, although he overcame it\, it had brought home to him the afflictions of old age and the precariousness of human existence. Concern for the salvation of his soul probably persuaded him that a certain degree of piety might be of help to him now that he had to come face to face with death (it is true that some of the secular songs that came from his pen must have shocked more than one sensitive ear!). The dedication to the supreme head of the Church\, the Pope\, is in perfect congruity with the subject of the work\, as Lassus expresses it himself\, “I hope that you will take pleasure in listening to my music\, not for itself\, but for the subject of which it speaks\, Saint Peter\, the foremost of the apostles of whom you are the true successor.” Lassus chose works by the Italian poet\, Luigi Tansillo (1510-1568)\, who had published forty-two eight-line stanzas (ottave rime) in 1560 on the grief and the repentance of Saint Peter after his denial of Christ. The Venetian publication remained in obscurity for a long time because it was printed as a complement to a translation of the second book of Virgil’s Aeneid\, not under the name of Tansillo but under that of Cardinal de’ Pucci. It was not until 1571 that these stanzas appeared under their author’s name in an anthology called Stanze di diversi Autori. It was reprinted in 1579.\nThe figurative language of Tansillo’s religious poetry is undoubtably derivative of the secular poetic art of Petrarch and the Neo-Petrarchism fostered by Pietro Bembo in the 16th century . The Giovane donna of the fifth stanza refers\, moreover\, to the first line of one of Petrarch’s sestine: Giovene donna sotto un verde lauro. Occhi (eyes) is one of the six rhymes recurring in each stanza of this sestina; lovers’ eyes and looks are\, in fact\, words that constantly appear in Petrarch’s love poetry. The transposition to the encounter between Peter and Christ adds a religious dimension to this love. Other profane elements are found to recur as well\, like the bow (arco) and the arrow (saetta)\, attributes of Amor\, the god of love.\nThe music Lassus composed to these texts\, which were held in high esteem at the time\, is of an extraordinary quality. The composer’s musical language had become more austere in his last period\, and this tendency persists. These pieces are good illustrations of the definition of it given by Adrien Le Roy\, the Parisian friend of Lassus: “pressus et limatus”\, meaning “concise and refined”. Not one superfluous note\, every one perfectly it its place\, no digression or repetition\, all of it shaped in terms of an ideal expression of the words. In its vocal sonority as much as in its semantic import\, the text is the be-all and end-all of the composition. With unequalled mastery and genius\, Lassus manipulates all of these elements in such a way that he transmits the message in a delicate and subtle form. However\, one must know the language and its grammar if one wishes to understand the message\, and Lassus’ language is that of the Italian madrigal.\nOnto poetry of high literary quality (with Petrarch as its figurehead) is grafted an equally elevated musical equivalent that does justice to the poetic art. The rhythm of the declamation of the word is transformed into a musical rhythm\, and the conceptual and emotional contents of the text are transposed into music. The musical grammar follows the syntax of the text\, and the musical caesuras (rests\, cadences\, changes in the number of voices) correspond to the caesuras of the text.\nThroughout the cycle Lassus explores his innermost soul by means of a text of his choice which he freely sets to music without any constraint. This deeply personal music cannot fail to move the listener and make an indelible impression on whoever is prepared to open ears and heart. This work is “doomed” to greatness; it asserts itself without conditions or concessions. It is\, in the true sense of the term\, “elitist art”\, Art with a capital “A”\, ranking with the best that was composed in the Renaissance. Let us finally reserve the place this masterpiece deserves in our present society that so fervently aspires after beauty.\n \nBIOGRAPHIES\nPhilippe Herreweghe was born in Ghent and studied at both the university and music conservatory there\, studying piano with Marcel Gazelle. He also started to conduct during this period\, and founded Collegium Vocale Gent in 1970. He was invited by Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Gustav Leonhardt\, who had noticed his innovative work\, to participate in their recordings of the complete cantatas of J.S. Bach.\nHerreweghe’s energetic\, authentic and rhetorical approach to Baroque music was soon drawing praise. In 1977 he founded the ensemble La Chapelle Royale in Paris\, with whom he performed music of the French Golden Age. From 1982 to 2002 he was artistic director of the Académies Musicales de Saintes. During this period\, he founded several new ensembles with whom he made historically appropriate and well-thought-out interpretations of repertoire stretching from the Renaissance to contemporary music. They include the Ensemble Vocal Européen\, specialised in Renaissance polyphony\, and the Orchestre des Champs Élysées\, founded in 1991 with the aim of playing Romantic and pre-Romantic repertoire on original instruments. Since 2009\, Philippe Herreweghe and Collegium Vocale Gent have been actively working on the development of a large European-level symphonic choir\, at the invitation of the prestigious Accademia Chigiana in Siena\, and from 2011 with the support of the European Union’s Cultural Programme.\nPhilippe Herreweghe continually seeks out new musical challenges\, and for some time has been very active performing the great symphonic works\, from Beethoven to Gustav Mahler. Since 1997 he is principal conductor of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic. He has been permanent guest conductor of the Netherlands’ Radio Chamber Philharmonic since 2008. He is also in great demand as a guest conductor with orchestras such as Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw Orchestra\, the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig and the Berlin-based Mahler Chamber Orchestra.\nOver the years\, Philippe Herreweghe has built up an extensive discography of more than 100 recordings with all these different ensembles\, on such labels as Harmonia Mundi France\, Virgin Classics and Pentatone. Highlights include the Lagrime di San Pietro of Lassus\, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion\, the complete symphonies of Beethoven and Schumann\, Mahler’s song cycle Des Knaben Wunderhorn\, Bruckner’s Symphony No. 5\, Pierrot Lunaire by Schönberg and the Symphony of Psalms by Stravinsky. In 2010\, together with Outhere Music\, he founded own label\, φ (PHI)\, in order to give himself full artistic freedom to build up a rich and varied catalogue. Since then some ten new recordings with music by Bach\, Beethoven\, Brahms\, Dvorak\, Gesualdo\, Mahler\, Mozart or Victoria have become available. In 2014 three new recordings appeared: another volume with J.S.Bach’s Leipzig Cantatas (LPH012)\, Joseph Haydn’s oratorio Die Jahreszeiten (LPH013) and Infelix Ego (LPH014) with motets and the Mass for 5 voices by William Byrd.\nPhilippe Herreweghe has received numerous European awards for his consistent artistic imagination and commitment. In 1990 the European music press named him “Musical Personality of the Year”. Herreweghe and Collegium Vocale Gent were appointed “Cultural Ambassadors of Flanders” in 1993. A year later he was awarded the Belgian order of Officier des Arts et Lettres\, and in 1997 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Catholic University of Leuven. In 2003 he received the French title Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur. Lastly\, in 2010 the city of Leipzig awarded him its Bach-Medaille for his great service as a performer of Bach.\nMore info via: http://www.collegiumvocale.com / http://www.orchestredeschampselysees.com / http://www.defilharmonie.be\n© collegium vocale gent/jens van durme [January 2015]\n \nIn 2010\, Collegium Vocale Gent celebrated its founding forty years before\, by a group of friends studying at the University of Ghent\, on Philippe Herreweghe’s initiative. They were one of the first ensembles to use new ideas about baroque performance practice in vocal music. Their authentic\, text-oriented and rhetorical approach gave the ensemble the transparent sound with which it would acquire world fame and perform at the major concert venues and music festivals of Europe\, Israel\, the United States\, Russia\, South America\, Japan\, Hong Kong and Australia.\nIn recent years\, Collegium Vocale Gent has grown organically into an extremely flexible ensemble whose wide repertoire encompasses a range of different stylistic periods. Its greatest strength is its ability to assemble the ideal performing forces for any project. Music from the Renaissance\, for example\, is performed by an ensemble of six to twelve singers. German Baroque music\, particularly J.S. Bach’s vocal works\, quickly became a speciality of the group and is still the jewel in its crown. Today Collegium Vocale performs this music with a small ensemble in which the singers take both the chorus and solo parts. Collegium Vocale is also specializing more and more in the Romantic\, modern and contemporary oratorio repertoires. To this end\, Collegium Vocale Gent has enjoyed the support of the European Union’s Cultural Programme since 2011. The result is a shared symphonic choir recruiting singers from all of Europe\, in which experienced singers stand alongside young talent. Moreover\, Collegium Vocale Gent fulfils an important educational role.\nBesides using its own Baroque orchestra\, Collegium Vocale Gent works with several historically informed instrumental ensembles to perform these projects\, including the Orchestre des Champs Elysées\, Freiburger Barockorchester and Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. It also works with prominent symphony orchestras such as deFilharmonie (Royal Flemish Philharmonic)\, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra\, the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. The ensemble has worked with Nikolaus Harnoncourt\, Sigiswald Kuijken\, René Jacobs\, Paul Van Nevel\, Iván Fischer\, Marcus Creed\, Kaspars Putnins\, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and many others leading conductors.\nUnder Philippe Herreweghe’s direction\, Collegium Vocale Gent has built up an impressive discography with more than 80 recordings\, most of them with the Harmonia Mundi France and Virgin Classics labels. In 2010\, Philippe Herreweghe started his own label φ (phi) together with Outhere Music in order to give himself full artistic freedom to build up a rich and varied catalogue. Since then some ten new recordings with vocal music by Bach\, Beethoven\, Brahms\, Dvorak\, Gesualdo and Victoria have become available. In 2014 three new recordings appeared: another volume of J.S.Bach’s Leipzig Cantatas (LPH012)\, Joseph Haydn’s oratorio Die Jahreszeiten (LPH013) and Infelix Ego (LPH014) with motets and the Mass for 5 voices by William Byrd.\nCollegium Vocale Gent enjoys the financial support of the Flemish Community\, the Province of East Flanders and the city of Ghent. From 2011-2013 the ensemble has been Ambassador of the European Union.\nMore info via: http://www.collegiumvocale.com\n© collegium vocale gent/jens van durme [update: January 2015] URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/concert/tears-of-st-peter-collegium-vocale-gent/ LOCATION:Alix Goolden Hall\, Victoria Conservatory of Music\, 907 Pandora Avenue\, Victoria\, BC\, V8V 3P4\, Canada ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/EMSI-Collegium-banner-e1436295744578.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20160305T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20160305T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T053520 CREATED:20200426T014710Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T044126Z UID:3742-1457208000-1457208000@earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca SUMMARY:Tafelmusik: House of Dreams DESCRIPTION:SPECIAL EVENT \nDoors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. \nTafelmusik Baroque Orchestra (Toronto)\nHouse of Dreams\nA magical journey to the meeting places of baroque art and music—five European homes where exquisite works by Bach\, Handel\, Vivaldi and Marais were played against a backdrop of paintings by Vermeer\, Canaletto\, and Watteau. Includes stage direction\, narration\, and stunning projected images. \n“…much more than a concert … an experience that transcends its many components to create a special\, all-encompassing experience that makes one forget time and place for two bliss-filled hours.” THE TORONTO STAR \nVisit the website of Tafelmusik\nRead about House of Dreams\nListen to Tafelmusik \n\nTAFELMUSIK BAROQUE ORCHESTRA\nViolin: Jeanne Lamon\, Patricia Ahern\, Thomas Georgi\, Aisslinn Nosky\, Christopher Verrette\, Julia Wedman\, Cristina Zacharias\nViola: Patrick G. Jordan\, Stefano Marcocchi\nVioloncello: Christina Mahler\, Allen Whear\nBass: Alison Mackay\nOboe: John Abberger\, Meg Owens\nBassoon: Dominic Teresi\nLute: Lucas Harris\nHarpsichord: Charlotte Nediger\nPROGRAMME\nCanadian Tour March 2016. Conceived\, programmed\, and scripted by Alison Mackay\nMarshall Pynkoski\, Stage Director\nGlenn Davidson\, Production Designer\nRaha Javanfar\, Projections Designer\nTafelmusik Baroque Orchestra directed by Jeanne Lamon\nBlair Williams\, Narrator\nTRIPTYCH\nThe First House: London\nGeorge Frideric Handel    \nPrelude to “As with rosy steps\,” from Theodora\nAllegro\, from Concerto grosso op. 6\, no. 5\nVivace\, from Concerto grosso op. 3\, no. 2\nAllegro\, from Concerto grosso op. 6\, no. 1\nDances from Alcina:\nEntrée des songes agréables – Gavotte – Tamburino\nThe Second House: Venice\nAntonio Vivaldi \nLargo\, from Concerto in D Major for lute RV 93\nAllegro\, from Concerto in D Minor for 2 oboes RV 535\nAllegro\, from Concerto in E Minor for bassoon RV 484\nAllegro\, from Concerto in G Minor for 2 cellos RV 531\nThe Third House: Delft\nJan Pieterszoon Sweelinck    \nEngelse Fortuin\nHenry Purcell    \nFantasia in 3 parts upon a ground\nThird act tune\, from The Indian Queen\nSymphony\, from St. Cecilia Ode\n— Intermission —\nMIRROR IMAGE\nThe Fourth House: Paris\nMarin Marais    \nSuite from Alcyone\nTambourins – Marche en rondeau – Ritournelle Acte III –\nMarche des matelots – Ritournelle Acte III reprise – Tempeste –\nRitournelle Acte V – Chaconne\nThe Fifth House: Leipzig\nJohann Sebastian Bach    \nGigue\, from Trio sonata in C Major\, BWV 1037\nAdagio\, after Cantata 42/3: “Wo zwei und drei versammelt sind”\n(Where two and three are gathered together)\nAllegro\, from Concerto for 2 violins in D Minor\, BWV 1043\nGeorg Philipp Telemann    \nOuverture\, from Wassermusik\nReprise\nHandel\nPrelude from Theodora\nAllegro\, from Concerto grosso op. 6\, no. 5\n \nPROGRAMME NOTES By Alison Mackay\nTafelmusik’s House of Dreams is an evocation of rich and intimate experiences of the arts in the time of Purcell\, Handel\, Vivaldi and Bach. It is a virtual visit to London\, Venice\, Delft\, Paris and Leipzig\, where great masterpieces by European painters were displayed on the walls of five private homes. These houses were also alive with music\, often played by the leading performers and composers of the day. Thus it was possible for visitors to drink tea in a Mayfair townhouse\, observe how Watteau had applied his brushstrokes in the portrayal of a silk dress\, and listen to Handel directing the rehearsal of a new gavotte.\nThe five historical houses are all still in existence and our project has been planned as an international collaboration with their present owners and administrators. Invitations from the Handel House Museum (London)\, The Palazzo Smith Mangilli-Valmarana (Venice)\, the Golden ABC (Delft)\, the Palais-Royal (Paris) and the Bach Museum and Archive (Leipzig) to visit and photograph the houses have allowed us to portray for you the beautiful rooms where guests were entertained with art and music long ago.\nThe title of the concert comes from the atmospheric description of the “House of Dreams” in Book 11 of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. In a dark cave where no cackling goose or crowing cockerel disturbs the still silence\, the floor surrounding the ebony bed of the god of sleep is covered in empty dreams\, waiting to be sent to the houses of mortals. The people\, objects\, and animals in the theatre of our dreams are portrayed by the god’s children\, Morpheus\, Phantasos and Phobetor\, who are re-imagined as messengers of artistic inspiration in the context of our script. In the course of the performance\, dreams enter the houses in many guises\, first during Handel’s music for the “Entrance of the agreeable dreams” from his opera Alcina.\nAlcina\, like Messiah and Hercules\, was composed and rehearsed on an upper floor of the London house where George Frideric Handel lived for the second half of his life. The modest townhouse was built in 1723 as part of the new subdivision of Mayfair and Handel was its first tenant; as a foreign national\, he was forbidden from owning property. The location at 25 Brook Street was a convenient distance from St. James’s Palace\, where he performed his official duties as the newly appointed Composer to the Chapel Royal.\nThe plan of the house was typical for row houses in London at this time. The kitchens were in the basement; each of the next two floors up had a front and a back parlour; the third-floor bedroom contained a fine crimson\, canopied bed. We know these details from Handel’s estate inventory\, the legal document recording the value of his possessions at the time of his death. Estate documents are one of the most important sources of information about the contents and layout of all of our five houses\, along with wills\, private listings of paintings\, and catalogues from estate sales.\nTen months after Handel’s death\, the London firm of Abraham Langford published an auction catalogue of 80 paintings and 64 engravings from Handel’s private collection. This document came to light in 1985 and revealed Handel to have been a dedicated and sophisticated collector of art. The Brook Street house contained works by many major English and Continental painters\, including Antoine Watteau\, Marco Ricci\, Jan Breughel the Elder\, Canaletto and Rembrandt. It is not possible in most cases to determine the exact paintings that were on the walls\, but the titles and detailed descriptions in the auction listing allow for an appreciation of Handel’s taste. He was attracted by the works of artists who had been active as set painters in the opera world\, and he owned two paintings by Watteau called “conversations.” These were genre works depicting men and women in theatrical dress\, often set in the world of the Paris Opéra or Comédie. Two works which depict pairs of dancers and groups of instrumentalists have been chosen for our performance because of an important link between the Parisian dance world and the composition of the opera Alcina.\nOne of Handel’s most popular Italian operas\, Alcina\, was premiered April 16\, 1735 at Covent Garden. Shortly before\, a read-through had been directed by the composer himself in the music room of his home. It was attended by Handel’s great friend\, Mary Pendarves\, who later remarried and is now known as the brilliant letter writer and paper-cut artist\, Mrs. Delany. (Her brother\, also a great friend\, had given Handel his View of the Rhine by Rembrandt.) Of the rehearsal of Alcina\, Mrs. Delany wrote to her mother:\nYesterday morning my sister and I went with Mrs. Donellen to Mr. Handel’s house to hear the first rehearsal of the new opera Alcina. I think it is the best he ever made\, but I have thought so of so many\, that I will not say positively ’tis the finest\, but ’tis so fine I have not words to describe it. Strada has a whole scene of charming recitative – there are a thousand beauties. Whilst Mr. Handel was playing his part\, I could not help thinking him a necromancer in the midst of his own enchantments.\n\nOne of several startling features of this letter is its date of April 11 – there were only five days between the first read-through at home and opening night at Covent Garden. It was certainly common for London opera composers to hold open rehearsals before the move into the theatre. There is a charming series of nine paintings by the Venetian painter Marco Ricci (who had come to London to paint opera sets) depicting tea-drinking friends\, patrons and dogs attending rehearsals of this sort. One of these paintings forms a backdrop to our opening sequence and informs the placement of our continuo section in the first segment of the concert.\nThe premiere of Alcina featured dance music composed for the Parisian dancer Marie Sallé\, whose diaphanous costumes and expressive choreographies\, often featuring her brother as a partner\, had created a sensation on the London stage earlier in the decade. She had made her debut at the Paris Opéra in 1721\, placing her squarely in the world portrayed in Watteau’s “conversation” paintings. The pair of dancers depicted in Watteau’s Plaisirs du bal would have been virtuoso performers of the French gavottes and other dance forms used by Handel for Marie Sallé.\nHandel also owned a painting of the ducal palace at the harbour entrance to Venice\, a famous view by Canaletto\, who had started his career as a set painter for operas by Alessandro Scarlatti and Antonio Vivaldi. Canaletto painted a number of versions of this scene\, sometimes including the Ospedale della Pietà where Vivaldi was the music master. At this time La Pietà was a large red brick building\, slightly west of and entirely different from the white marble church we see today.\nA version of Canaletto’s harbour scene was also hanging in the Venetian home of Joseph Smith\, where Handel collected his forwarded mail when he was in Italy. Our performance makes the move from London to Venice through the portal of the painting: it appears first on the battleship-grey wall of Handel’s bedroom and then in the Grand Canal palazzo where it emerges on the red damask wall of Smith’s piano nobile – the “noble floor” where Venetians entertained their guests a level up from the odoriferous canal.\nJoseph Smith\, who had moved from London to Venice as a young man in 1700\, became a merchant banker and wealthy trader specializing in wine\, olives and dried fruits. In 1744 he was appointed British Consul in Venice where he continued to live until his death in 1770.\nHe lived just above the Rialto on the Grand Canal in a house known today as the Palazzo Smith Mangilli-Valmarana. It was famous all over Europe as a place of intellectual ferment and artistic activity. Carlo Goldoni\, in the preface to his play Il filosofo inglese\, which was dedicated to Joseph Smith\, called the house the site of “the most perfect union of all the sciences and all the arts.”\nSmith was a serious book collector with a magnificent library of printed books (including 248 printed before 1500) and rare manuscripts\, including one of the oldest and most complete texts of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Anxious that his collection be kept intact after his death\, he sold his books to George III in 1765 and they became a founding collection of the British Museum Library.\nConsul Smith’s reputation as a collector also rested on his patronage of Venetian painters. He became the agent for Canaletto in the 1720s\, commissioning many paintings for his own palazzo and for English clients. His walls were covered in dozens of exquisite scenes of Venice\, as well as works by old Italian masters. A large collection of the paintings as well as engraved gems and hundreds of master drawings and prints were also sold to George III and remain in the Royal Collection today.\nSmith was a serious music lover whose collection of instruments used at house concerts was sold at auction in London after his death. His first wife\, Catherine Tofts\, was the English prima donna depicted in the version of Marco Ricci’s “Opera Rehearsal” seen near the beginning of our concert. In the 1730s Smith acted as agent for the celebrated castrato Farinelli in connection with opera performances in England.\nJoseph Smith’s interest in musical instruments may have attracted him to the famous Vermeer painting now known as The Music Lesson\, which he bought in 1742 from the estate of the Venetian painter Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini. Fifty years earlier the painting had been sold at auction as part of the estate of Jacob Dissius\, a Dutch bookbinder with a small shop called “The Golden ABC” on the main square of Delft.\nOn April 14\, 1680\, Dissius had married a young Delft woman named Magdalena van Ruijven who tragically died after only two years of marriage. The widower was so badly off that he had to borrow money to pay for mourning clothes and the funeral. Yet the walls of his tiny house with its street-level bookshop were covered with one of the great treasure troves of Western art\, for he had inherited 21 paintings by Johannes Vermeer from his wife. Vermeer had lived close by and had enjoyed the friendship and patronage of Magdalena’s father and mother\, Pieter van Ruijven and Maria de Knuijt\, who had bought many of the 34 Vermeers known to be in existence.\nMagdalena’s estate inventory lists 11 Vermeers in the front hall of the Golden ABC\, one in the kitchen\, two in the basement\, several others in unspecified rooms\, and four in the back room\, which also contained a chest of musical instruments and music books.\nThe young woman playing the virginals in The Music Lesson might have been playing a piece like Engelse Fortuin\, the early 17th-century set of variations on the English tune “Fortune my foe” by the great Dutch keyboard composer Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck.\nThe music books in the back of the Dissius house might have contained later music from across the Channel\, for throughout the 17th century the Dutch public had a high regard for English music\, bolstered in the 1690s by the presence on the English throne of a Dutch king (William III of Orange) who employed Henry Purcell as his composer-in-residence and travelled to Holland with his English orchestra in tow.\nJacob Dissius died in 1695 at the age of 42 and was carried to the cemetery by coach and 18 pallbearers (a sign that he had begun to prosper). Six months later an announcement of the auction of the Dissius paintings with a number of their titles appeared in Amsterdam. We have chosen for our performance several of the paintings known to have been in the collection from the house.\nThe first half of the concert bears the subtitle of “Triptych\,” partly because of the three houses joined by shared works of art\, and partly because of the Vermeer triptych we have created with three famous tronies (character studies of expressive faces). When Jeanne Lamon and Christina Mahler met me in the Golden ABC this past September to play the violin and cello within the old rooms\, it was possible to imagine the impact that the thoughtful gaze of these young women\, forever captured in their youthful health by Vermeer\, must have had in the little house which had lost its young mistress.\nThe second half of the concert\, called “Mirror Image\,” takes place in two houses where paintings and performances of music were reflected in large embedded wall mirrors.\nThe Palais-Royal on the Rue St. Honoré in Paris\, just north of the Louvre\, began life as the principal residence of the theatre-loving Cardinal Richelieu\, first minister to Louis XIII. There was a private theatre in the east wing of the building with sets and lighting designed by Bernini. When the Cardinal died two years after the opening of the theatre\, the house was left to the crown and the theatre gradually fell into disrepair. In 1660 the young Louis XIV granted use of the theatre to Molière’s acting company and then to Jean-Baptiste Lully\, who renovated it for opera performance. It became the venue for every Paris performance of Lully\, Marais and Rameau operas for the next 70 years.\nIn 1692 the entire house became the property of the brother of Louis XIV\, the Duc d’Orléans\, known as “Monsieur.” His son Philippe became duke in 1701 and four years later Regent to the five-year-old Louis XV\, great-grandson of the previous king.\nThe Palais-Royal became a sparkling centre of Parisian social life\, with its beautiful gardens and rooms renovated by the architect Gilles-Marie Oppenord\, who was charged with creating a magnificent setting for the Duke’s collection of 500 paintings. Now known as the Orléans Collection\, it was in its time the most important private collection of art in Europe. The jewel of the palace renovation was a lofty salon and adjacent gallery covered in red damask with a huge mirror at each end\, making the already imposing space seem twice as long. The mirrors reflected the dramatic scenes portrayed by Titian\, Tintoretto and Correggio\, many of which were derived from the stories in Ovid’s Metamorphoses.\nThe Metamorphoses also provided the plots for many of the operas performed in the theatre. Thus it was possible within the walls of the palace\, open on certain days to the public\, to experience the stories from ancient mythology in visual art and on the stage. The night of the Duke d’Orléans’ 14th wedding anniversary was marked by the première of Alcyone\, an opera based on one of Ovid’s tales about a loving marriage\, set to music by the great viola da gamba virtuoso Marin Marais. The storm scene from this opera was famous for many years and was the first use of a double bass in French opera.\nThe style of decor and home furnishings found in the Palais-Royal spread across Europe as far east as the city of Leipzig\, described by Goethe a generation later as “a little Paris.” Across from the St. Thomas Church\, the signature of Goethe (who also made a pilgrimage to visit the grave of Consul Smith on the Lido) could be found in the visitors’ book of a beautiful house where a private collection of paintings by Rembrandt\, Holbein\, Rubens\, Lucas Cranach\, Paolo Veronese and Pieter Breughel the Younger was open to the public one day a week for two hours.\nThe art collection had been started by Georg Heinrich Bose\, who had moved into the house in 1711. The Bose family became best friends to the family of Johann Sebastian Bach after the Bachs moved into the St. Thomas School next door in 1723; four of the Bose daughters became godmothers to four of Bach’s children. The Bachs and the Boses also shared a love of domestic music-making and scholars think it highly likely that the Bach family performed in the beautiful music room at the top of the Bose house. This room had its walls covered in large embedded mirrors in French style and had a hidden musicians’ gallery\, revealed when a movable ceiling painting was mechanically raised.\nDetails about the rooms\, furniture\, and contents of the house are found in the family estate inventories. This is also true of J.S. Bach’s inventory\, which lists his musical instruments\, the titles of books in his library\, his items of clothing\, his furniture and his kitchen tools. This inventory is a still-life portrait of the rooms in his house\, captured in words at the end of his life. Our arrangement of a meditative aria from Cantata 42 accompanies three still-life paintings by Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin portraying objects of the type described in the inventory: a silver goblet\, a smoking box\, and a copper kettle.\nHouse of Dreams ends with a review of our own newly acquired art collection as if visited in the museum of our mind’s eye. No imagined image or digitized projection can rival the experience of being in the same room with an original painting by Vermeer or Chardin. But we lovers of Baroque music on original instruments can be grateful for the technology that allows us to step back into a time when Canaletto and Watteau were creating modern art and when visitors could spend an hour or two in a room full of delights for the ear and the eye.\nHOUSE OF DREAMS STAGE SET\nSeveral features of the stage set\, which was designed by Glenn Davidson and built in the theatre department at The Banff Centre\, have been inspired by historical features in the 18th-century Venetian residence of Joseph Smith. The collection of books\, paintings\, and other artifacts and artworks sold by Consul Smith to George III of England included a group of ornate gilt frames used for matched sets of paintings and mirrors. One of the frame designs still in the Royal Collection has been copied in the creation of our own framed projection surface. The floor design is a replica of the salmon and white marble tiles found on the ground floor of the Palazzo Smith Mangilli-Valmarana.\n THE HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY SCARF\nThe European economy during the period of House of Dreams was greatly influenced by the profits from newly-formed companies trading in North and South America\, Africa and Asia. Wealth from the Hudson’s Bay Company\, founded in 1670\, allowed middle-class people from Britain to embark on the Grand Tour and buy Italian paintings from dealers such as Joseph Smith. The company also injected capital into the Murano glass industry\, buying Venetian beads for the fur trade in Canada. We have used the centuries-old Hudson’s Bay Company design to help identify Blair Williams as the history-loving\, Shakespeare-reciting Canadian tourist who starts his own Grand Tour at Handel’s house in London.\n©Alison Mackay 2012\nBIOGRAPHIES\n\nHailed as “one of the world’s top baroque orchestras” by Gramophone Magazine\, Tafelmusik was founded in 1979 by Kenneth Solway and Susan Graves. At the heart of Tafelmusik is a group of remarkably talented\, enthusiastic\, and dynamic permanent members\, each of whom is a specialist in historical performance practice.\nDelighting audiences worldwide for more than three decades\, Toronto-based Tafelmusik reaches millions of people through its touring\, critically-acclaimed recordings\, broadcasts\, new media\, and artistic/community partnerships. The vitality of Tafelmusik’s vision clearly resonates with its audiences in Toronto\, where the orchestra performs more than 50 concerts every year for a passionate and dedicated following of all ages. For over 35 years Tafelmusik has maintained a strong presence on the world stage\, performing in some 350 cities in 32 countries.\nTafelmusik has also invested much energy and many resources into supporting the next generation of period performers through its artist training programmes\, most notably through the renowned annual Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute. Musicians from around the globe gather to study period performance in an intensive and varied programme. This year’s Institute takes place in Toronto June 5–18\, 2016 (application deadline March 11\, 2016: tafelmusik.org/TBSI).\nAn integral part of Tafelmusik’s worldwide success has been its critically acclaimed discography of over 80 baroque and classical albums\, which have garnered many national and international awards. including nine JUNO Awards. A number of new and past recordings have been released on the Tafelmusik Media label\, including a DVD/CD of House of Dreams. These and other recordings\, as well as digital downloads and merchandise\, are available from Tafelmusik’s online shop (www.tafelmusik.org/Shop).\nJeanne Lamon\nMusic Director of Tafelmusik from 1981 to 2014\, Jeanne Lamon has been praised by critics in Europe and North America for her strong musical leadership. She has won numerous awards\, including honorary doctorates from York University\, Mount Saint Vincent University\, and University of Toronto\, and the prestigious Molson Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts. In 2000\, Jeanne Lamon was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada and in 2014\, a Member of the Order of Ontario. She is in demand as guest director of symphony orchestras in North America and abroad. She is passionate about teaching young professionals\, which she does as Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto and through Tafelmusik’s artist training programmes. Jeanne Lamon stepped down as Music Director of Tafelmusik in June\, 2014\, and is currently serving as the Chief Artistic Advisor until the next Music Director is chosen. She continues to perform and tour with the orchestra in a reduced capacity.\nAlison Mackay\nAlison Mackay\, who has played the violone and double bass with Tafelmusik since 1979\, is active in the creation of cross-cultural and multi-disciplinary programmes for the orchestra. A number of her projects\, which include The Four Seasons\, a Cycle of the Sun; Metamorphosis; The Galileo Project; House of Dreams\, and Bach\, the Circle of Creation have been made into feature documentary films and have toured extensively around the world. Her musical tale of adventure\, The Quest for Arundo Donax\, was awarded the 2006 Juno Award for Children’s Recording of the Year\, and she is the recipient of the 2013 Betty Webster Award for her contribution to orchestral life in Canada.\nBlair Williams\nBased in Toronto\, Blair Williams works as a director and actor in theatres across Canada and the US\, most recently appearing in Educating Rita at the Thousand Islands Playhouse and directing Moss Hart’s Light Up The Sky at the internationally renowned Shaw Festival. Prior to House of Dreams\, he had previously collaborated with Tafelmusik on the narrative concerts Chariots of Fire; King Arthur; The Grand Tour; and The Quest for Arundo Donax\, the recording of which won a Juno Award for Best Children’s Album of the Year. He was born in North Bay Ontario\, and is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada. \n\nHouse of Dreams is performed with the kind patronage of the Domaine National du Palais-Royal (Paris) and in partnership with Handel House Museum (London)\, Claudio Buziol Fondation (Venice)\, Het Gulden ABC (Delft)\, Bach Museum (Leipzig).\nWe acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts\, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country. / Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier\, le Conseil a investi 153 millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays.\n\nTafelmusik 2015 /2016 Season Presenting Sponsor\n\nGenerously supported by:\n\nHouse of Dreams received its premiere in February 2012 at The Banff Centre\, where it was co-produced in a residency.\n\nEMSI Season sponsors URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/concert/tafelmusik-house-of-dreams/ LOCATION:Alix Goolden Hall\, Victoria Conservatory of Music\, 907 Pandora Avenue\, Victoria\, BC\, V8V 3P4\, Canada ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/8_tafelmusik-e1436295430220.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Vancouver:20160220T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/Vancouver:20160220T200000 DTSTAMP:20260501T053520 CREATED:20200426T014710Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T043929Z UID:3741-1455998400-1455998400@earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca SUMMARY:Back Before Bach: Piffaro DESCRIPTION:Doors open at 6:45 pm. Pre-concert talk at 7:10 pm. \nPiffaro\, The Renaissance Band (Philadelphia)\nBack Before Bach\nMusic familiar to Bach’s father\, Johann Ambrosius Bach\, a Stadtpfeifer in the town band of Arnstadt\, performed on shawms\, recorders\, sackbuts and bagpipes by one of today’s most respected Renaissance wind ensembles. Works by Isaac\, Luther\, Praetorius\, Obrecht and Lassus\, plus the popular dances of the day that underlie and inform all Baroque music. \n“”Piffaro sits atop the early music scene as one of the world’s top international ensembles.” THE DETROIT NEWS March 2013 \nVisit the website of Piffaro\nListen to Piffaro \n\nThis concert is co-sponsored by the Ancient Music Society of Victoria\n\nPIFFARO\, The Renaissance Band\nJoan Kimball & Bob Wiemken\, Artistic Co-Directors\nGreg Ingles – sackbut\, recorder\, percussion\nGrant Herreid – lute\, guitar\, shawm\, recorders\, krumhorn\, percussion\nPriscilla Herreid – shawm\, schalmei\, recorders\, krumhorn\nJoan Kimball – shawm\, schalmei\, recorders\, bagpipes\, dulcian\, krumhorn\nChrista Patton – shawms\, harp\, bagpipes\, recorder\, percussion\nBob Wiemken – dulcians\, recorders\, krumhorn\, percussion\nwith Guests\nCatherine Motuz – sackbut\nChuck Wines – shawm\, dulcian\, recorders\, bagpipes\nPROGRAMME\nGerman Popular Tunes (Bagpipes\, recorder\, guitar\, percussion)\nHildebranntslied/Es taget/Zart liep (Anonymous\, German\, 16th c.)\nChrist ist erstanden (Shawms\, schalmei\, sackbuts\, dulcians)\nChant (traditional\, 11th c.)\nSetting à 3    (Glogauer Liederbuch\, c. 1480)\nSetting à 4 (Heinrich Isaac 1450-1515)\nSetting à 5 (Stephen Mahu c.1490-c.1541)\nSetting à 3 “auf Bergreihenweis” (Johann Walther 1527-1578)\nSetting à 4 “ad aequales” (J. Walther)\nChorale à 4 (Michael Praetorius 1571-1621)\nChorale BWV 276 (Johann Sebastian Bach 1685-1750)\nA Jolly Song & Two Dances from Terpsichore (Bagpipes\, guitar\, krumhorns\, percussion)\nZu Regensburg (Anonymous)\nPhilou & Ho Herders (M. Praetorius)\nA solis ortus/Christum will sollen loben schon (Recorders\, harp)\nA solis ortus cardine (Anonymous\, late 15th c.)\nMotet: Christum wir sollen loben schon à 4 (J. Walther)\nHymnus: Christum wir sollen loben schon à 5 (J. Walther)\nChorale: A solis ortus à 4 (M. Praetorius)\nMotet: A solis ortus à 6 (M. Praetorius)\nCanzona: A solis ortus à 4 (Samuel Scheidt 1587-1684)\nChorale: Christum wir sollen loben schon à 4 (J.S. Bach)\nMore dances from Terpsichore (Shawms\, sackbuts\, dulcian\, percussion)\nPassameze à 6 (M. Praetorius)\nAllemande (S. Scheidt)\nVolta (M. Praetorius)\nINTERMISSION\nThe World of Chromaticism (Shawms\, sackbuts\, dulcians)\nMusica\, Dei donum optimi (Orlande de Lassus c.1532-1594)\nCarmina chromatico: Prologue (de Lassus)\nMirabile mysterium (Jakob Handl 1550-1591)\nSteht auf\, ihr liebe Kinderlein (Kile Smith b. 1956)\nA Song from Andernach along the Rhine (Recorders\, lute\, harp)\nTander naken (Jakob Obrecht 1450-1505)\nTanndernac (Antoine Brumel c. 1460-1512 or 1513)\nTandernack Quatuor (Ludwig Senfl c.1486-1543)\nSuite of Flemish Dances (Tylman Susato\, publ. 1551) (Bagpipes\, shawms\, sackbuts\, dulcians\, percussion)\nPasse e medio/Reprise\nThree Galliards\nLa Morisque\nPROGRAMME NOTES\nIt’s perhaps an inescapable truism – but one worth mentioning in the context of this programme – that no composer can truly write de novo. He or she is but one link in the long chain of compositional history\, a product of centuries of practice\, innovation and experimentation\, all of which finds its voice ineluctably and perceptibly in each new work. Even the most innovative composer\, who may try to steer his/her own course against the flow of received tradition\, must wrestle with the weight of preceding years. There will always be a “back before” that illuminates any present and traces the path of a fascinating journey\, time travel through layers of individuality applied to temporal contexts.\nThis program attempts just such a journey\, trekking through some\, but by no means all of the influences\, the musical strata that are brought to bear on the formation\, the creativity and imagination of one of the Baroque period’s most fascinating\, adventuresome and individual composers\, Johann Sebastian Bach.\nFamily matters! Bach’s father was a stadtpfeiffer in the towns of Lubeck and Arnstadt. He played trumpet\, surely also shawm\, probably even recorder. Such were the job requirements for a wind player of that day\, multi-instrumentalists par excellence\, conversant in most genres of music\, embellishing many a different occasion\, fluent in the languages of both sacred and secular occasion. Even more\, Bach’s wife’s father\, Johann Caspar Wilcke\, was a trumpeter in Zeitz and Weissenfels. His godfather\, Sebastian Nagel\, was a stadtpfeiffer in Gotha. The preponderance of familial evidence suggests that Johann Sebastian knew wind instruments\, wind playing\, wind tradition and repertoire intimately. As a young boy he heard the sounds of trumpets and shawms\, sackbuts and dulcians ringing in his ears\, that combination of reeds and brass that from the early 15th century constituted the professional German bands\, employed by almost every city\, court and cathedral of substance. Whether performing mass or motet\, hymn or psalm\, canzona or dance\, these wind players maintained their lofty place in German music circles well through the 17th century\, even when strings had carved out a prominent niche for themselves in the professional musical circles of the time. These wind players\, the stadtpfeiffer\, with their historical instruments\, repertoire and style served as the plinth on which Bach erected his own column of compositional creativity.\nSo\, back before Bach we go. The initial step of the journey is a familiar one\, namely\, a few good tunes. German repertoire throughout the Medieval and Renaissance periods is replete with singable\, enduring\, popular melodies that drove compositions of numerous varieties and forms. One of the more famous is the Hildebrandtslied\, a tale of heroic valor sung to a haunting melody\, possibly of Flemish origin. Another is the lilting\, dancelike Es taget vor dem walde (“It’s early morning in the woods”)\, a tune set many times by Ludwig Senfl and numerous other composers\, clearly a favorite. The final tune in the set is the boisterous and cheerful Zart liep\, wie süß dein anfang ist (“Tender love\, how sweet the beginning”) from the Lochamer Liederbuch\, an extensive collection of German songs from the transition between the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It dates from about 1450 and is regarded as one of the most important surviving collections of music from fifteenth-century Germany.\nThe next leg of the journey takes us from 11th century Burgundy to 18th century Leipzig and to Bach himself\, the means of transport the well-known Easter hymn Christ ist erstanden (“Christ is risen”). The hymn is based on and derived from the original Latin Easter sequence Victimae paschali laudes (“Praises for the paschal victim”)\, attributed to Wipo of Burgundy in the 11th century\, which was itself transformed into a Leise in the 12th century. The Leise was a devotional\, German stanzaic song in the nature of a refrain\, found particularly in the later Middle Ages\, supposedly deriving its name from the words of the opening section of the Mass\, ‘Kyrie eleison’\, that often appeared repeated in the verses of the song. In the early stages of specifically German polyphony\, beginning with the lost early 15th-century Strasbourg manuscript\, Leisen were often transformed into multiple-voiced compositions.\nThe earliest known such polyphonic setting of the Leise on Christ ist erstanden to have survived is found in the Glogauer Liederbuch\, dating from the 1480’s\, a three-voice version in late Medieval style\, with the melody lying uncharacteristically in the top voice and embellished in florid\, improvisational style in the two lower voices. The subsequent setting by Heinrich Isaac expands to four voices and places the melody in the more usual tenor voice\, though the opening phrase appears in imitation in all the voices. Isaac’s setting\, however\, maintains some of the florid counterpoint of the Glogauer version. In both of these settings the Kyrie eleison is replaced by the simple Alleluia.\nThe setting by Stephan Mahu bridges the gap between late Medieval and early Renaissance compositional styles. Mahu’s works consist chiefly of a few contrapuntal settings à 4 and 5 of German songs\, both sacred and secular. His five-part Christ ist erstanden setting is unusual for its scoring of virtually four tenor and one bass range voices\, containing the tessitura in a tightly-knit aural spectrum resulting in a dense texture. From the text of one of his sacred songs\, Lobt Gott ihr Christen all (“Praise God\, all you Christians”)\, a fierce diatribe against the abuses of the Roman church\, as well as from the fact that Mahu contributed a setting à 5 of Martin Luther’s Ein’ feste Burg (“A mighty Fortress”)\, to Georg Rhau’s Geistliche Gesange (“Sacred Songs”) of 1544\, we might conclude that Mahu was more Lutheran in his sympathies than Roman.\nA major bend in the road occurred with the founding of the Reformation in Germany in 1516 under the leadership of Martin Luther. Though he jettisoned some of the excess baggage the Roman Church had amassed over the centuries\, Luther nevertheless maintained many of its musical and liturgical traditions. Under his influence\, and with the help of his close friend and colleague\, Johann Walther\, the Leise on Christ ist erstanden was transformed into a liturgical hymn for congregational use. In so doing\, elements of the original Easter sequence melody were reinstated\, as well as\, most notably\, the Kyrie eleison of the early Leise traditions. Walther was himself a prolific and accomplished composer who supplied the emerging Reformed\, (i.e. Lutheran)\, Church with a wealth of musical treasures\, in both hymn and polyphonic motet styles.\nWalther’s contributions to the emerging Lutheran church were matched and even exceeded by the more well-known Michael Praetorius\, composer\, publisher\, theorist and arranger\, whose respect for Walther’s works led him to include many in his own publications. Praetorius provided numerous chorale-based settings of various hymn tunes that served the church’s pedagogical aims and needs. His chorale setting of Christ ist erstanden is a characteristic 17th century marker on the road to those of Bach himself.\nPraetorius is also well known\, and well appreciated\, for his famous collection of dances\, the Terpsichore of 1612. Dance stands as yet another\, significant leg of the journey to Bach\, for a commonplace of current scholarly opinion holds that Baroque music is heavily imbued with elements of dance (as is that of the Renaissance)-not just specific dance forms themselves\, such as the passameze\, the allemande\, the bourree\, the gigue\, the gavotte\, the ballet\, and more\, but the rhythms\, figures and gestures of dance music in general. Curiously\, little German dance music in ensemble settings survives that might be dated before this publication by Praetorius. His collection\, however\, is international in scope\, preserving not only German dance forms but also much from the French\, Flemish\, English and Italian traditions as well\, both courtly and rustic.\nConsequently\, this leg of our journey makes a couple of appropriate stops at the Terpsichore station. The Philou and Ho Herders (“Yo\, shepherds!”) represent the rustic side of German dance\, appropriately set to bagpipes and krumhorns\, near cousins to the bagpipes\, with the driving rhythmic energy of the guitar and percussion as well. The second set including the Passameze\, Allemande and Volta display the more courtly side of German\, and international\, dance and are thus set to the shawms\, sackbuts and dulcians that constituted the major instruments of the professional court bands in Praetorius’ day.\nAnother major trajectory in this musical journey to Bach lies in the well-known early Christian hymn A solis ortus cardine (“From the point of the sun’s rising”). Attributed to Coelius Sedelius (d. 450)\, the text narrates the life of Christ from birth to resurrection in 23 verses\, each one starting with a consecutive letter of the Latin alphabet\, a technique called abecedarius or alphabet song. The first seven verses related the events of the birth and thus in the Middle Ages became a separate Christmas hymn in the Roman liturgical calendar. Subsequently\, Martin Luther translated this hymn for use in the Reformed church\, giving it the title Christum wir sollen loben schon (“We should now praise Christ…”)\, which became the principle Lutheran Christmas hymn until recently when the publication of the 1955 Evangelisches Gesangbuch left it out.\nThe first four-voice polyphonic treatment of this early 5th century monophonic hymn appears to be the anonymous setting from the late 15th century on this program. It preserves the contour of the original melody\, distributing the opening\, stepwise rising fifth\, D to A\, in slow note values throughout the voices\, vividly depicting the sun’s gradual emergence over the horizon. The original chant melody appears in the tenor voice\, as was a customary style of the time\, with elaboration in the remaining three parts. Johann Walther’s four-voice setting of the Lutheran hymn maintains this treatment in late medieval style while altering the melody of the anonymous setting slightly\, but significantly. Whereas the original chant melody opens with a stepwise rising pattern\, Walther’s rendering bypasses the E in the sequence and thus opens with an initial leap of a minor third\, D to F\, which appears in all the parts. In addition\, he further embellishes the melody\, particularly in the alto and bass lines with appropriately florid counterpoint. His five-part setting represents a step toward the more equal-voiced style of the early Renaissance polyphonic practice\, much in the manner of Heinrich Finck. The melody still lies in the tenor voice\, yet snippets of the melody sound from all the voices in this overlapping imitative texture\, providing the compositional framework for the whole.\nThe chorale setting by Michael Praetorius reverts to the Latin text\, A solis ortus cardine\, and moves the melody to the top voice\, as regularly occurred throughout later 16th century treatments of earlier material. The writing is much more chordal and homorhythmic\, and thus more singable for a congregation of untrained voices\, as was Luther’s desire. Yet\, he maintains the opening leap of a minor third that first appears in the Walther settings\, and harmonizes the melody in an up-to-date\, “modern” style for his time. His six-part setting\, however\, represents a striking\, and highly creative\, divergence from the received tradition. He achieves a thoroughly polychoral effect within the six voices\, frequently dividing them into an upper and a lower choir of three voices each\, which interact in a clever conversation around the elements of the familiar melody that no longer exists intact in any one voice. Nevertheless\, the hymn’s identity remains clearly discernible.\nEven more imaginative is the canzona-like setting by the renowned organist and composer\, Samuel Scheidt\, a younger contemporary and colleague of Praetorius.  From his collection of organ works\, the Tablatura Nova published in 1619\, this setting pares down to four voices once again and maintains the opening minor third leap in all the previous Lutheran settings. In addition\, he alters the opening rhythm of equal rising notes to an opening dactyl\, or long-short-short figure\, which puts this treatment squarely in the long-standing canzona tradition. Melody no longer predominates or even prescribes. Instead\, Scheidt allows himself to enjoy flights of fancy based on the ostinato of the opening rising figure from the original chant\, a feature that drives the entire composition. Only in the last five bars does his whimsical playfulness give way to a more declamatory\, and traditional\, glide into the final chord.\nFinally\, Bach himself drew upon the Lutheran hymn to compose an entire cantata with Luther’s German text reinstated. The concluding chorale of this cantata is emblematic of Bach’s creative genius\, and a fitting culmination to this part of our musical journey. Notably\, he also reinstates the note “E” in the opening\, ascending figure between the D and the F\, as in the original chant\, but treats both the D and E in short note values as though a pickup to the F – a small feature but distinctly his own. In addition\, his harmonizations\, replete with chromatic adventures\, bear witness to his unique vision\, even though he preserves the modal beginning\, Dorian\, and ending\, Phrygian\, of the original chant.\nBefore completing this journey to Bach\, it is imperative that we travel the route that carries us through the history of chromaticism in late Renaissance composition\, for one cannot imagine the works of Bach without the first adventurous\, striking and even courageous explorations outside the strictures of Medieval and Renaissance theory at the hands of such composers as the Flemish masters Adrian Willaert and Cipriano de Rore\, the Neapolitan organist Giovanni Maria Trabaci and most notably\, Carlo Gesualdo. The most prominent German composer to venture down this path was Orlande de Lassus. While serving Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria and his son William V in Munich for most of his career\, Lassus achieved international acclaim as one of the most gifted purveyors of imitative polyphony of his generation. His Musica\, Dei donum optimi (“Music\, gift of the most high God”) not only evinces his love and devotion to his profession\, but also displays his near perfection of the genre. With Lassus\, and his contemporaries Palestrina\, Victoria and Guerrero\, the international language of sacred mass and motet reached a pinnacle in compositional success. Little more remained to be achieved within the style. There was need for something new and one of those new elements lay in the bold use of notes outside the gamut\, or range\, of acceptable notes.\nLassus’ chief contributions to this new direction lay in his collection entitled Prophetiae Sibyllarum (“Sibylline Prophecies”)\, an extraordinary collection of twelve songs with a prologue. The Sibylline Prophecies of the title are the work of 2nd century authors apocryphally attributed to the legendary Sibyls\, ancient Greek prophetesses. The texts\, which purport to foretell the birth of Christ\, were accepted as genuine by Saint Augustine and other early Christian thinkers\, giving the Sibyls a status equal to that of Old Testament prophets. Michelangelo painted five of the Sibyls onto the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican in 1508 – 1512. The Prologue\, the Carmina Chromatico\, whose text may have been written by Lassus himself\, reads in translation: “Polyphonic songs which you hear with a chromatic tenor/these are they in which our twice-six sibyls once sang with fearless mouth the secrets of salvation.” Lassus responded immediately to the idea of “chromaticism” with a series of jarring\, yet successful\, progressions. Within the opening nine measures of this prologue\, he uses all twelve chromatic pitches of the octave and builds triads on ten different roots\, bursting the bounds of the traditional gamut beyond recognition.\nFollowing hot on the heels of Lassus’ extraordinary effort\, lies the justly famous Mirabile mysterium (“Wondrous mystery”) of the Slovenian composer\, Jacob Handl\, or Jacobus Gallus in the Latinized version of his name that he himself preferred. Handl\, or Gallus\, represented the Bohemian Counter-Reformation in his musical career\, writing almost exclusively in sacred Latin texts for the Catholic tradition. His style was essentially wide-ranging and eclectic\, blending archaism with the latest elements of modernity. He displayed fluent mastery of the Franco-Flemish style of imitative polyphony and successfully braved the waters of chromaticism as well. His motet Mirabile mysterium foreshadows the eccentricities of Carlo Gesualdo\, while at the same time pays close attention to text and its message.\nFounded on these early\, essential steps\, Bach’s use of chromaticism shows a clear sophistication and easy familiarity with the practice. His chorale settings on the melodies of Christ ist erstanden  and Christum wir sollen loben schon are just two of many examples. His chromatic ventures are less jarring and shocking than these earlier\, Renaissance experiments\, which nevertheless paved the way to a fully chromatic scale. He weaves his chromaticism deftly and smoothly into the full fabric of the polyphonic texture.\nOne last\, and highly necessary\, stop on this musical journey involves the practice of florid\, improvisatory instrumental display. It was common practice in the Medieval and Renaissance periods for performers to embellish compositions with ornaments\, as they were called\, or diminutions\, sequences of small note values in swift melodic flow in place of larger notes. Some were even capable of improvising whole lines of such quick display\, often to a fixed melody or tenor. Some examples of this improvisatory treatment survive in written form\, giving us a transparent window into the practice. One of the most popular melodies to receive this treatment was the song entitled “Tandernaken”\, a sad love song the events of which occurred near the Dutch town of Andernach along the Rhine river. For some reason the melody of this popular song pricked the imagination of composers and performers alike\, leaving a small treasure trove of ingenious creations.\nThe settings of this song in this programme are a small sampling of the many that have survived in written form\, and presumably of the many more that never did. Obrecht’s three-part composition keeps the melody intact in the tenor\, embellishing it with somewhat restrained virtuosic display in the upper and lower voices. Brumel’s setting\, also in three parts\, keeps the melody unembellished in the tenor\, but gives the other two lines many more notes to play in more rhythmic variety than does Obrecht\, which in the words of one scholar “seem[s] to represent a conscious effort to push professional instrumental virtuosity to its limits”. Ludwig Senfl’s four-part setting is notable for its treatment of the melody in close imitation in the tenor and bass voices together. These provide a framework for delightful embellishment in the top two voices\, until the last few bars give all the voices a concerted run into the final chord.\nThis practice of improvisatory display\, much in the manner of jazz musicians of our day\, continues throughout the 16th century and is codified in treatises by Silvestro Ganassi in Italy (1535) and Diego Ortiz\, a Spaniard working in Rome (1550’s). Gradually\, however\, composers worked such instrumental displays into the fabric of their own compositions\, usurping the performers prerogative very likely for the purpose of gaining more control over the performances of their own works.  The results of this trend lead directly to the written embellishments that are ubiquitous in all the works of baroque composers\, most notably of Bach himself.\nAt journey’s end\, then\, one can’t help but be awestruck by the wealth\, the richness\, the variety and depth of musical history that lay in the couple of centuries or more “back  before Bach”.\nBob Wiemken\nARTISTS\n“Widely regarded as North America’s masters of music for Renaissance wind band” (St Paul Pioneer Press)\, Piffaro has delighted audiences throughout the United States\, Europe\, Canada and South America since its founding in 1980. Piffaro recreates the rustic music of the peasantry and the elegant sounds of the official wind bands of the late Medieval and Renaissance periods. Its ever-expanding instrumentarium includes shawms\, dulcians\, sackbuts\, recorders\, krumhorns\, bagpipes\, lutes\, guitars\, harps\, and a variety of percussion — all careful reconstructions of instruments from the period. Under the direction of Artistic Directors Joan Kimball and Bob Wiemken\, Piffaro concertizes extensively\,  close to home with its four-concert season in Philadelphia\, as well as nationally and internationally. The ensemble debuted at Tage Alter Musik in Regensburg\, Germany in 1993\, and has returned to Europe frequently since then\, most recently in June 2014\, performing at major festivals in Austria\, Germany\, France\, Belgium\, Italy\, Spain and The Czech Republic. They have traveled to South America\, including a memorable tour in Bolivia under the auspices of that country’s bi-annual International Renaissance & Baroque Festival. Piffaro has performed at the major Early Music festivals throughout the US\, including Boston\, Berkeley\, Indianapolis\, and Madison\, as well as on Early Music series\, chamber music series\, and college series\, both in the US and Canada. Through Piffaro’s many recordings on Newport Classics\, Deutsche Grammophon Arkiv Produktion\, Dorian Recordings\, PARMA/Navona\, and its own house label\, and through radio and internet broadcasts\, its music has reached listeners as far away as Siberia. Piffaro has been active in the field of education since its inception\, and has been honoured twice for its work by Early Music America\, receiving the “Early Music Brings History Alive” award in 2003\, and the Laurette Goldberg “Lifetime Achievement Award in Early Music Outreach” in 2011. Its National Recorder Competition for Young Players attracts talented competitors from around the country to Philadelphia every two years. The ensemble was honoured this past June by The American Recorder Society with its “Distinguished Artist Award”.\nAfter graduating from Oberlin Conservatory\, Greg Ingles played trombone in the Hofer Symphoniker in Hof\, Germany\, and then completed Master’s and Doctoral degrees in trombone at SUNY Stony Brook\, specializing in historic performance. Greg is a member of Quicksilver and Ciaramella\, has performed with the American Bach Soloists\, Chatham Baroque\, Concerto Palatino\, and Tafelmusik\, and recently played on Broadway with the Globe Theater.  He is Music Director of the Dark Horse Consort\, an ensemble devoted to rarely performed 17th-century brass music. Greg taught trombone at Hofstra University for ten years and is currently Lecturer in Sackbut at Boston University.\n Grant Herreid performs frequently on early reeds\, brass\, strings and voice with many US early music ensembles. A specialist in early opera\, he has played theorbo\, lute and baroque guitar with Chicago Opera Theater\, Aspen Music Festival\, Portland Opera\, New York City Opera\, and others. A noted teacher and educator\, he is the recipient of Early Music America’s Laurette Goldberg award for excellence in early music outreach and education. On the faculty at Yale University\, he leads the Yale Collegium Musicum and the Yale Baroque Opera Project (YBOP). Grant also directs the New York Continuo Collective\, and often sings gregorian chant for the Tridentine mass. He has created and directed several theatrical early music shows\, and devotes much of his time to exploring the esoteric unwritten traditions of early music with the ensembles Ex Umbris and Ensemble Viscera. Grant mourns the recent passing of his teacher\, colleague and friend\, Pat O’Brien.\nPriscilla Herreid plays early winds with Piffaro\, Waverly Consort\, Hesperus\, and Ex Umbris\, and performs on early oboes and recorder with Trinity Baroque Orchestra\, Handel & Haydn Society\, Philharmonia Baroque\, Portland Baroque\, Venice Baroque\, Juilliard Baroque\, Musica Angelica\, Mercury\, and Tempesta di Mare. She has sung and played new music with the Metropolis Ensemble\, the Second Instrumental Unit\, Cygnus\, and the Momenta Quartet. Last season\, Priscilla played for the Shakespeare on Broadway productions\, and made her third appearance at the annual Festival Dans les Jardins de William Christie. She graduated from Temple University and Juilliard School’s Historical Performance program.\nJoan Kimball\, artistic co-director and founding member of Piffaro\, has concertized with the ensemble throughout the U.S.\, Europe\, and South America\, and has performed with many of the leading early music artists and ensembles in this country. She gave full time to early music performance in 1980 after a number of years as an educator\, and still treasures her work teaching recorder and early winds to students of all ages. In addition\, she collaborates with instrument maker Joel Robinson of Portland OR on the construction of Medieval and Renaissance bagpipes\, and makes double reeds for shawms\, dulcians and capped winds.\nCatherine Motuz enjoys an active career in North America and Europe as a performer\, teacher\, and scholar. Co-director of Ensemble La Rose des Vents in Montreal and a founding member of I Fedeli\, she has also played and recorded with ensembles including Concerto Palatino\, the Amsterdam and Freiburg Baroque Orchestras\, and the Studio de Musique Ancienne de Montréal. Recent recordings include 17th-Century Italian Motets\, with ¡Sacabuche! and Fede e Amor: Baroque Music with Trombones from the Viennese Imperial Court with countertenor Alex Potter. She has also performed on slide trumpet with Mediva and at Shakespeare’s Globe in London. Catherine lived in Basel\, Switzerland\, from 2004 to 2011\, where she studied historical trombone with Charles Toet at the Schola Cantorum. Now a Ph.D. Candidate in musicology at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music\, Catherine’s primary research interests focus on ideas about musical expression in the sixteenth century.\nChrista Patton\, historical harpist and early wind specialist\, has performed with many of today’s premiere early music ensembles. As a baroque harpist she has appeared with Apollo’s Fire\, King’s Noyse\, Newberry Consort\, Toronto Consort\, Seattle Baroque Orchestra\, La Nef\, Blue Heron\, Folger Consort\, Parthenia\, ARTEK\, Pegasus Early Music\, and New York State Baroque Orchestra.  She has performed in early opera productions with New York City Opera\, Wolf Trap Opera\, Tafelmusik\, Opera Atelier\, Opera Vivente and Opera Omnia. Christa is musical director and co-director of the Baroque Opera Workshop at Queens College specializing in the works of early 17th century composers.\nBob Wiemken began his musical life as a French hornist\, but started a love affair with early double-reed instruments in the early 80’s\, playing\, studying\, and making reeds for shawms\, dulcians\, bassoon\, krumhorns and more. As artistic co-director of Piffaro\, he has performed worldwide\, recorded extensively\, and built over 100 programs of Renaissance and early Baroque music. He is a well-appreciated teacher and lecturer in college and university settings\, having directed the Early Music Ensembles at Temple University for 20 years. He teaches at workshops throughout the country\, and is director and teacher for the Indiana Early Double Reed Workshop.\nWoodwind specialist\, Charles Wines is a native of the Kansas City area and has performed extensively with the Philharmonia of Greater Kansas City\, the Kansas City Baroque Consortium\, St. Michael’s Baroque Ensemble\, and at multiple theaters in the Kansas City area. He is founder and director of Forgotten Clefs\, a Renaissance wind band which performed at the Boston Early Music Festival in 2015. He studied bassoon at UMKC and oboe at the University of Central Missouri. He recently completed a Masters in Early Music at the University of Indiana Bloomington\, and will begin his doctorate this fall. URL:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/concert/back-before-bach-piffaro/ LOCATION:Alix Goolden Hall\, Victoria Conservatory of Music\, 907 Pandora Avenue\, Victoria\, BC\, V8V 3P4\, Canada ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://earlymusicsocietyoftheislands.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/7_piffaro.jpg END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR