|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
¡Sacabuche!:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Franz Friedrich Franck (1627-1687): “Still Life with Musical Instruments”
 Concert Details and Ticket Information |
 |
 |
Friday evening, November 25, 2011 | |||
| Pre-Concert Introduction at 7:15 | Concert at 8:00 pm | ||||
| Christ Church Cathedral | ||||
| 690 Burrard at West Georgia, downtown Vancouver | directions |
for information on Ticket Prices and Seating Plans.
Tickets for this performance at $35 (students & seniors $3 discount) can be ordered on-line via our secure connection.
These ticket prices include 12% HST.
They can also be ordered by phone (604 732-1610) from the office of Early Music Vancouver. Tickets are also available at Sikora’s Classical Records.
Rush Seats for Students with valid ID on sale for $10, at the door only, from 7:00 pm on the evening of the performance.
This concert is included in our “Bring a Youth for Free” programme.
< click on this logo for Chirst Church Cathedral’s listing of this Early Music Vancouver concert
| Programme |
|
Giovanni Gabrieli (c1555–1612):
Canzona Prima (C195)
Leone Leoni (c1560–1627):
Deus exaudi
Giovanni Legrenzi (1626–1690):
Sonata Op. 2, No. 1 “La Cornara”
Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643)
Currite populi, psallite timpanis (SV 297)
Giovanni Gabrieli:
Ricercar on the VIIth and VIIIth tones
Dario Castello (c1590–c1658):
Sonata Decima à 3 (Libro 2o)
Johann Rosenmüller (1619–1684):
Lieber Herre Gott
Giovanni Gabrieli:
Canzona la Spiritata (1608)
Ercole Porta (1585–1630):
Corda Deo dabimus
i n t e r v a l
Antonio Bertali (1605–1669):
Sonata 1 à 5
Heinrich Schütz (1585–1672):
Bringt her dem Herren (SWV 283)
Antonio Bertali:
Sonata à 2, for two violins (Partiturbuch Ludwig)
Johann Christoph Bach (1642–1703):
Ach, dass ich Wassers gnug hätte
Matthias Weckmann (c1616–1674):
Toccata ex D (primi toni)
Giovanni Valentini (1582/3–1649):
Sonata à 5
Gasparo Casati (c1610–1641):
Laetare Syon
Giovanni Valentini:
Canzona à 4
Heinrich Schütz:
Exquisivi Dominum (SWV 268)
– programme subject to changes
| Programme Notes |
|
Venice was a leading centre for the dramatic developments in music at the turn of the seventeenth century. Its looser ties to the Catholic church in Rome, its connections with India and other foreign shores as a port city and popular stop on trade routes, and the affluence of its private citizens and churches created the perfect environment for exploration of the “modern” style. St. Mark’s cathedral—an opulent institution endowed with great wealth, power and beauty—attracted many of the most influential and skilled composers and musicians in Europe. This programme not only explores this vibrant cultural centre with works by leading Venetian composers like Giovanni Gabrieli and Claudio Monteverdi, but also sheds light on the far-reaching influence that Venetian composers exerted in other areas of seventeenth-century Europe. The programme includes works by Viennese composers who were influenced by Gabrieli and the Italian style as well as those by Germans who travelled to Venice and combined Italian compositional style with German texts.
The shift in compositional style that occurred in Italy in the final decades of the sixteenth century and early decades of the seventeenth had far-reaching consequences for both secular and sacred music. The introduction of the basso continuo (instrumental accompaniment that provides harmonic support, and is functionally similar to the rhythm section of a jazz ensemble) resulted in greater textural variety, allowing for the possibility of solo voice or instrumental performance, and resulted in increased virtuosity for both voices and instruments. Without harmonic accompaniment, the voices of an ensemble are entirely responsible for the harmonic and melodic fabric of a work; but with the addition of the basso continuo a work can have more textural variety (duets, trios, solo, etc.)—thus freeing up the voices/instruments to have a strictly melodic function. Characteristics of the newer style include the implementation of sectional form (sacred works up until this point were through-composed, with continuous music from beginning to end); textural variety that includes homophony, imitative polyphony, and monody (as opposed to imitative polyphony as the standard); and greater freedom and the possibility for virtuosity with both voices and instruments.
The search for a mode of expression where the music follows the text led to the increased use of chromatic inflections and a conscious breaking of the rules of counterpoint, resulting in instances of unprepared dissonances, dramatic leaps away from dissonant notes, and increased virtuosity. In short, composers began to follow a new aesthetic, and a new kind of music resulted.
Although there are isolated exceptions, the specification of instruments in the musical part begins at the close of the sixteenth century and the early decades of the seventeenth century. Giovanni Gabrieli is notable for his indications of instruments in several of his works. He was rooted educationally in the sixteenth-century imitative polyphonic style of composition, yet had been exposed to Willaert, Lasso, and in particular, his uncle Andrea’s large-scale polychoral works and their employment of instruments in creating concerted textures. He specified obbligato (necessary) trombone parts in five of his later vocal works from the collection Sacrae symphoniae (1615, discussed below), and likewise specified trombones in several of his instrumental canzonas and sonatas. While it is debatable if these specifications lead immediately to the development of idiomatic styles for each instrument, to be sure, they provide us with valuable information on the use of instruments in sacred settings. The canzonas by Gabrieli are some of the earliest and most beautiful examples of writing for brass instruments in the repertoire. The Canzona Prima begins with the standard canzona rhythm (half note followed by two quarter notes). The writing is primarily imitative, with successive entries in each part following the rhythm and phrase shape of the initial entry. The descending and perhaps mournful opening gesture is contrasted with fanfare-like arpeggiated gestures later on in the work. The imitative writing is similar in the Canzona la Spiritata, but sections are more clearly delineated with shifts from duple- to triple-timemeters. This piece has a decidedly more spirited feel with the majority of gestures beginning with rising lines and lively rhythms.
Virtuosity and the rise of the violin as a vehicle for its expression is one of the most significant developments of seventeenth-century instrumental music. The sonatas by Legrenzi and Castello are full of the florid passagework, expressive and sometimes dissonant leaps that characterize this groundbreaking time in instrumental writing. Formally the works are sectional, each section with its own affect, often with contrasting meters, and fluctuating tempi. The breakdown of the proportional system of metrical relationships that characterizes much of the music of the sixteenth century (a system where a single pulse was maintained throughout a work and various triple and duple times would relate in strict proportion to that pulse), gives way to a more free interpretation that is driven by expression. In this music, affective indications are given with words like adagio, and allegra, or presta.Although these may influence the speed of the pulse, they also indicate the character with which a section of music is to be performed. Little is known of Dario Castello, but the two collections of virtuosic instrumental music that we do have contain some of the most delightful sonatas. Several of these specify trombones, with the parts alternating between a supportive doubling of the continuo part and an equal participation in the virtuosic play of the violins. The sonata performed today is specified for two violins and dulcian; for our purposes, the bass trombone will perform the dulcian part.
Small-scale concerted motets (works for voices and instruments) with specified instrumental parts first appear with Ludovico Viadana’s publication Cento concerti ecclesiastici (1602). The works by Leoni, Porta and Casati belong to a group of almost two hundred Italian small-scale concerted sacred works with trombone. Of the three, Deus exaudi by Leone Leoni is set in the oldest style, with no distinction made between vocal and instrumental parts. The notation is set in the older, larger note values, and there is little of the virtuosity that becomes increasingly common in the early decades of the century. In the stunning work Corda Deo dabimus by Ercole Porta, the trombonesfunction as a sonorous realization of the basso continuo. They have predominantly homophonic textures and chordal passages containing passing tones, prepared suspensions, and resolutions. Here the trombones have a role that is distinct from that of the voices. This work features the sonorous beauty of a group of trombones, and favors slow-moving structures to the exclusion of virtuosic passages. This is a good example of the choro grave (or low choir) that trombones often inhabit. The voices, on the other hand, are emancipated from the texture and show virtuosic displays of monody, florid duets, and a dramatic interplay only possible with the addition of the basso continuo. Laetare Syon, by Gaspari Casati, provides a later and more extreme example of the diverging roles of instruments and voices and of the treble–bass polarity that results from the implementation of the basso continuo. The tenor part is florid and has extended solos that alternate with instrumental sinfonia or are punctuated by short instrumental bursts. It is in this sense a work for solo voice and orchestra. The instruments and voice converge only at key moments: at important cadences preceding two of the triple sections, and during the closing duple section. There is very little textural variety in this work. The instruments are almost always set homophonically and the voice almost always alone. The result is a complete shift from an equality of the parts to a treble–bass polarity and the development of separate roles for voices and instruments. Laetare Syon has a sectional form with multiple alternations of duple and triple meters. In all respects, this work is by far the most forward-looking of the three, and does more than hint at the rising dominance of string music and the sectional form, codification of respective roles for instruments and voices, and longer works of the later seventeenth century. Gone is the expressive chromaticism of the early seventeenth-century. Gone also is the sonorous and mournful choro grave. This music is light and easily digested.
The coronation of Ferdinand II as Holy Roman Emperor in 1619 and the resulting move of his court from Graz to Vienna brought what would become a long chain of prominent Italian composers and music making to Vienna. Giovanni Priuli (who like Schütz, had studied with Giovanni Gabrieli in Venice) and Giovanni Valentini (also a product of the Venetian school) both moved with Ferdinand’s music chapel from Graz to Vienna. Following Priuli’s death in 1626, Valentini succeeded as the Kapellmeister of the imperial court, promoting what would become a long succession of Italians running the music chapel in Vienna. Valentini’s compositions document the transmission of the new Italianate violin writing north of the Alps, and he is known for his chromatic experiments and forward-looking compositions. Nothing could be truer of his Sonata à 5. This so-called ‘enharmonic sonata’ juxtaposes G minor and B minor harmonies; oscillating back and forth throughout most of the work. The root relationship of a major third and the constant shift from the B-flat of the G minor chord to the B-natural of the B minor chord is surprising and highly unusual even for the oftentimes chromatic music of the seventeenth century.
Antonio Bertali was another Italian who moved from Italy to the court in Vienna. He was highly regarded as both violinist and composer, and succeeded Valentini as Kapellmeister in 1649. The instrumental works by Bertali demonstrate different aspects of his writing. The Sonata 1 à 5 is an ensemble work that features the rhythmic interplay of hemiola and duple figures within the context of a triple-meter piece. The Sonata à 2 from the Partiturbuch Ludwig features Bertali’s virtuosic violin writing at its best. The sectional form, contrasting affects, virtuosic runs, duets, solos and expressive writing provide a breathtaking example of what developments were taking place in string writing at the midpoint of the century.
Venice as a hub of culture and music in seventeenth-century Europe was an attractive destination for budding composers. Heinrich Schütz traveled to Venice to study with Giovanni Gabrieli from 1609 until Gabrieli’s death in 1612. He later returned to Italy during Claudio Monteverdi’s reign in Venice. Although he names only Gabrieli as his teacher, the influence of other Venetian composers like Monteverdi and Grandi is visible in his work. The pieces by Schütz presented here not only bear the influence of his Italian sojourns, but also demonstrate Schütz’ attention to text setting that marks him as one of the finest composers of early Baroque music. Johann Rosenmüller travelled to Venice under different circumstances (fleeing the law), but his concerted motet, Lieber Herre Gott,nonetheless demonstrates the influence of the Venetians. The employment of the basso continuo, resulting sectional form, concerted texture, and simple yet stunning writing for soprano (countertenor) show the charm and grace of which Rosenmüller was capable. The choro grave trombone section accompanies the solo voice in this light-hearted work that is a gem of early trombone repertoire.
The innovations of the Italians had a lasting impact on concerted music throughout the seventeenth century. The motet Ach, das Ich Wassers gnug hätte, by Johann Christoph Bach, is a fine display of the expressive potential of concerted textures with solo voice and instruments. This work is originally scored for violin and four violas da gamba, but is presented here with two violins and three trombones. The tension that is generated through the use of suspensions and chromatic passing tones is nothing short of sublime. This is a feast for the ears and soul.
November 2011
| The Artists |
|
¡Sacabuche!
¡Sacabuche! is an ensemble for 17th-century music that began as a collegium ensemble based at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music’s Early Music Institute and performs the beautiful and lesser-known repertoire of baroque trombones, organ and voice. This ensemble is noted for its dedication to creative and engaging interpretations of early Baroque and late Renaissance masterpieces and a willingness to explore multi-genre works.
¡Sacabuche! won the 2009 Early Music America Collegium Musicum grant competition, resulting in a well-reviewed performance at the Boston Early Music Festival fringe festival. The next year, by invitation, ¡Sacabuche! was the opening night headline ensemble at the June 2010 Berkeley Early Music Festival, and recently toured Beijing, China, with the multi-disciplinary programme “Matteo Ricci: His Map and Music”, including performances at China’s National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) and the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art. In addition, residency activities (concerts and lecture-demonstrations) were held at the United States Embassy, Peking and Renmin Universities, and the Central Conservatory of Music. The media coverage was exceptional, including large pre-tour articles in “The Beijinger” and “Time Out Beijing” magazines. We were voted No. 1 Critics’ Choice for December by “Time Out”. Post-concert coverage included a mention by Didi Kirsten Tatlow in the International Herald Tribune’s “Letter from China”, and coverage by CCTV’s French language channel. Our concerts were “standing room only” events with the NCPA and Ullens both citing the highest audience attendance for their series for the entire 2010 year.
James Andrewes grew up in Dunedin, New Zealand and attained a Bachelor of Music degree (University of Otago), Master of Music degree (University of Oregon) and a Post-Masters Certificate in String Quartet Performance (University of Colorado). In 2011 he graduated with his second Masters at Indiana University, where he studied early music and baroque violin with Stanley Ritchie. He has performed with ensembles such as the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra, the Wallfisch Band and most recently as a member of ¡Sacabuche! during its tour to Beijing, China.
Sarah Barbash-Riley is currently in her fourth year of studies for sackbut at Indiana University Bloomington with Linda Pearse. She has been an official member of ¡Sacabuche! since 2009, and has performed with Concentus, Vox reflexa, Lipzodes, and Pro Arte, early music ensembles based in the Midwest. She has also performed at the Bloomington Heinrich Isaac Conference in 2010, the 2010 Berkeley Early Music Festival, and performances of the Monteverdi Vespers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Indianapolis Christ Church. Sarah recently toured China with ¡Sacabuche!, where they performed twelve concerts including the interdisciplinary programme “Matteo Ricci: His Map and Music” which was premiered at the China National Center for the Performing Arts.
Described as being part of an "all-star cast of chamber musicians", tenor Benjamin Geier "has proven his vocal skills" as a professional soloist and chorister. (Journal and Courier, IN 2011). Mr. Geier has performed and collaborated with several leading musicians including James Conlon, Charles Bruffy, David Hayes, Robert Porco, Craig Jessop, Nigel North, Stanley Ritchie and Scott Metcalf, among others. Of his recent performance of Vespro della Beata Vergine 1610, the Bloomington Herald Times said, “Geier, who lent his ringing voice and artistic passion, was splendid." In December 2010, Benjamin toured with early music ensemble ¡Sacabuche! in Beijing, China. Mr. Geier's performance of Monteverdi's "Ecco di dolci raggi" at Peking University, China was performed "with great passion". Benjamin was the proud recipient of the Early Music America's "National Select Ensemble" scholarship. This ensemble performed as part of the Boston Early Music Festival under the direction of Scott Metcalf. Mr. Geier is also a very active performer on the Indiana University campus and was featured recently in Arvo Pärt's Missa Syllabica and Heinrich Schütz's Weihnachts-historie. Benjamin also premiered the role of Aden in William Coogan's electroacoustic opera, Marabel and gave the first performance of Chant Leader in Don Freund's Passion with tropes. Mr. Geier has studied voice with Scharmal Schrock, Dr. Robert Harrison, Dr. Brian Horne, Tenor Paul Elliott, and Tenor James King.
François Godère was born in Sherbrooke, Québec. A background in his church choir as a singer, an organist and a conductor provided the fertile ground in which his love for music has flourished. Studies in modern trombone followed with Ted Griffith and Peter Sullivan at McGill University, in Montréal. He has held jobs with the Victoria Symphony (B.C.), the Kwa-Zulu Natal Philharmonic (Durban, South Africa) and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia). François can be heard on several MPO recordings, most notably for his solo work on Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Russian Easter” and “Scheherazade". A multi-faceted musician, his pursuits include jazz bass trombone, orchestral and baroque music. He is currently teaching trombone for Sistema New Brunswick as well as pursuing a career as a freelancer in the region.
Linda Pearse is the newly appointed Assistant Professor of Music at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick Canada and adjunct lecturer of early trombones at Indiana University. A graduate of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, she has recently completed a Doctor of Music degree (brass pedagogy) at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. In her ten years as a professional musician in Europe, Pearse freelanced with professional orchestras, new music ensembles and early music groups, including mixed-genre collaborative music theatre pieces combining acting and music-making in the Basel Theatre. She performed regularly with the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker and the Stuttgart State Opera House and Theater. Pearse has made five recordings, including Adolf Wölfli (2004), with Ruedi Häusermann (director), improvised new music with violin, accordion, tuba and trombone for DRS German Radio Switzerland and Decasia (2002), by Michael Gordon with the new music ensemble, Basel Sinfonietta. She has also made a CD recording (2002) of the music of Raphaella Aleotti with Cappella Artemisia and a recording with her all-female trombone quartet, “Aurora”, including music of Canadian composer Elizabeth Raum, commissioned for the ensemble for the International Women’s Brass Conference. She is the winner of two Canada Council of the Arts Grants to Performing Musicians (2008 and 2009), and with her ensemble ¡Sacabuche! she won the 2009 Early Music America Collegium Musicum competition.
Martha Perry, baroque violin, whose playing has been called "…ideally realized…taut and loaded with nuance" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution), and “highly expressive” (Boston Musical-Intelligencer) performs with many U.S. period instrument ensembles, including the Indianapolis and Atlanta Baroque Orchestras, Washington Bach Consort, Opera Lafayette, Dallas Bach Society, and Foundling Baroque Orchestra.
Having appeared in productions with the National Cathedral Baroque Orchestra, at Wolftrap, for the Magnolia, St. Louis, and Bloomington Early Music Festivals, the Victoria Bach Festival, and in Italy's 2003 Musica nel Chiostro, Martha also performs regularly with ¡Sacabuche!, Bourbon Baroque, Quince, Ensemble Voltaire, The Comic Intermezzo, Musika Ekklesia, and on Chicago's Ars Antigua early music series. Martha has been heard in a live international broadcast on Chicago's WFMT radio, on the early music programme "Harmonia", and on NPR's "Performance Today", and has recorded for Edition Lilac, Musica Omnia, Naxos, WFIU, Cedille, the National Cathedral, and Concordia Records.
As a recipient of the Dorothy L. Penniman scholarship, she completed her master of music in early music performance at Indiana University, where she was a student of Stanley Ritchie. While at IU, she served as Ritchie's graduate assistant for the baroque orchestra. Martha has attended early music workshops and performed on master classes in the U.S., Canada, England, and Austria, and served as the interim executive director for the 2005 Bloomington Early Music Festival.
Steven Rickards has received international acclaim as one of America’s finest countertenors. He recently took part in the premiere of John Adams's oratorio El Niño at the Châtelet opera in Paris. There have been subsequent performances of the work with the Adelaide Symphony, the BBC Philharmonic, the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, the Tokyo Symphony, and the Malmö Opera (Sweden). His schedule of performances has included frequent appearances Joshua Rifkin and the Bach Ensemble with performances throughout the United States, Europe, and Australia. He has also performed with The American Bach Soloists, Chanticleer, Ensemble Voltaire, the Gabrieli Consort, Chicago ’s Music of the Baroque, the New London Consort, The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Seattle Baroque Orchestra, the Opera Company of Philadelphia, The Santa Fe Opera, and the symphony orchestras of Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and St. Louis and Tokyo. He has sung at Carnegie Hall with the Oratorio Society of New York, and in France as a soloist with The Festival Singers under the direction of Robert Shaw and with Paul Hillier and the Theatre of Voices. Rickards was the was the soloist in the American premiere performance of Michael Nyman's Self-Laudatory Hymn of Inanna and Her Omnipotence with the Netherlands Wind Ensemble at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall. He has recorded for Chanticleer, Decca, Dorian, Four Winds, Gothic, Harmonia Mundi, Koch, Newport Classics, Smithsonian, and Teldec the labels. Rickards can also be heard on the Naxos label where he has recorded two solo albums with lutenist Dorothy Linell of the songs of John Dowland and Thomas Campion.
Steven currently lives in Indianapolis where he teaches singing at Butler University, Marian University, and the University of Indianapolis, where he is director of the Vocal Arts Institute. He sings regularly with The Choir of Men and Boys at Christ Church Cathedral. He received his doctorate from Florida State University.
Harpsichordist Janet Scott has been active as a soloist and continuo player for over twenty-five years, performing in Canada, the United States, England, and Austria. Among her teachers are the well-known British scholar and harpsichordist, Colin Tilney, and Elisabeth Wright, the distinguished professor of harpsichord and forte piano at the Early Music Institute, Indiana University, where Janet earned her Master's degree in Harpsichord Performance. In addition to being a recipient of numerous Canadian government Arts Grants, she was a founding member of two baroque ensembles, served as manager of a baroque orchestra, was the artistic director of a summer music series, and toured the province of Nova Scotia, performing at historical churches in the famed Canadian concert series, Musique Royale.
She now lives in Bloomington, Indiana with her husband, harpsichord maker David Jensen, where she is a sound recording cataloguer for the William & Gayle Cook Music Library at Indiana University. She is also a church organist, gives harpsichord lessons privately, performs regularly with the Fort Wayne Bach Collegium, and freelances with ensembles in the U.S. and in Ontario. A keen amateur viol player, Janet is the editor of the VdGSA News, the Viola da Gamba Society of America’s quarterly newsletter.