Ex Umbris with Nell Snaidas and Karen Hansen Voice, renaissance flute, recorders, cittern, lute, guitar, violin, viola da gamba, tabor, bagpipe

Saturday, October 2, 2004  8:00 pm
Synod Hall



"One delightful turn after another."

– The New York Times

Before the blues…there was Melancholie. And like today's blues musicians, the Elizabethans sang about its causes: poverty, mortality, and love. Aristocrats and commoners alike found solace in sleep, drinking, witchcraft, and merry companions. You'll find solace in Ex Umbris' performance of songs and dumpes (dances) that will bring you out of the shadows.




The English Concert
A Little Night Music
Andrew Manze, director

Violin I
Andrew Manze
Miles Golding
Rodolfo Richter
Thérèse Timoney
Stephen Jones
Sarah Moffatt

Violin 2
Walter Reiter
Claire Duff
Pauline Smith
Fiona Huggett
Marianna Szücs

Viola
Trevor Jones
Stefanie Heichelheim
Ylvali Zilliacus

Violoncello
Alison McGillivray
Timothy Kraemer

Double bass
Peter McCarthy

Harpsichord
David Gordon

Program:

W. A. Mozart 1756-1791
Serenade in G major, Eine kleine Nachtmusik, 'A little night music', K.525
Allegro, Romance Andante, Menuetto & Trio, Rondo Allegro

J.H.Schmelzer c.1623-1680
Fechtschule (The Fencing School)
Aria 1 & 2, Sarabanda, Courente, Fechtschule, Bader Aria

P.Locatelli 1695-1764
Concerto in F major for four violins, Op.4 no.12
Allegro, Largo, Allegro
Soloists: Andrew Manze, Walter Reiter, Miles Golding, Rodolfo Richter

--Intermission--

Introduction to, and performance of:
Mozart
Adagio & Fugue in C minor, K. 546

Vivaldi
Two violin concertos presented to Emperor Charles VI
Soloist: Andrew Manze

Concerto, L'Amoroso, in E major, RV271
Allegro, Cantabile, Allegro

Concerto in C minor, RV202
Allegro non molto, Largo, Allegro non molto


Program Notes
        © 2004 by Andrew Manze

W. A. Mozart 1756-1791
Serenade in G major, Eine kleine Nachtmusik, KV525

Eine kleine Nachtmusik is one of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart`s most familiar, recognizable works. So why are we playing it? Well, for the best reason to play any music, because it is a masterpiece. Too often it receives only a cursory glance, as muzak in shopping malls or as a stocking-filler in concert programmes. Performances are often hastily prepared and ill-considered through lack of time. After all, doesn`t every musician know 'Eine kleine'? It doesn`t need rehearsal, does it? How misguided this is. The music`s easy sounding charm belies a piece of considerable difficulty and subtlety. Underneath its shapely melodies and perfect proportions lies a far more complex, private soul.
        Nachtmusik was a term Mozart sometimes used in preference to Serenade or Notturno. The connotations are the same, of music for evening time, performed out of doors, to loved ones, friends, or patrons, to woo, amuse or flatter. On 10th August, 1787, in the catalogue he kept of his own works, Mozart wrote Eine kleine Nachtmusik beside a piece in G major for strings, not so much a title as a description: 'a little piece of night music'. It is not known why he wrote it, whether to fulfil a commission or for a private occasion, though it is safe to assume that it was performed. In those days few pieces were written without a particular function in mind. The manuscript shows signs of extreme haste, even for Mozart. For example, doublings are written in short hand, and large sections of the piece, where the music repeats itself, are simply left out with written instructions about where to find the missing measures. It is this in particular which shows how quickly Mozart was working, since he would usually take the opportunity to alter small details the second time around. Although his haste is visible, it is not audible, and EkNm is widely accepted as one of the great masterpieces of eighteenth-century instrumental music.

J.H.Schmelzer c.1623-1680
Fechtschule (The Fencing School)

Johann Heinrich Schmelzer began his career as a violinist in the Viennese imperial court band, just another talented, young Austrian in a musical world dominated by Italians. The post of Hofkapellmeister had been filled by Italians for as long as anyone could remember. Italian virtuosos, especially violinists, were unsurpassed in skill and their newfangled sonatas were extending the frontiers of musical expression. By the end of his life, however, Schmelzer had overturned this order. He was the first non-Italian to publish a volume of solo sonatas, the first non-Italian Kapellmeister to the Holy Roman Emperor, and he was widely considered to be, as one diarist wrote in 1660, 'one of the most famous violinists in the whole of Europe'. Ongoing research continues to uncover large amounts of music by Schmelzer, particularly ballet suites written for Hapsburg festivities and sacred music for the imperial chapel. Many of Schmelzer`s ballet suites have intriguing, programmatic titles.
        The suite entitled Fechtschule describes a fencing lesson. During the baroque era, the ability to fence and the ability to play the violin often resided in the same person. For example, the Chevalier Ste George, nowadays dubbed 'the black Mozart', earned his place amongst the Parisian aristocrats by beating the gentlemen at fencing and wooing the ladies with his violin. Another instance is Giuseppe Tartini, composer of the 'Devil`s Sonata', who is said to have devoted himself to teaching and writing after a shoulder injury sustained in a fencing bout ended his performing career. Perhaps the finger, wrist and arm work involved is similar whether one is wielding a sword or a violin bow. We do not know whether Schmelzer was himself a fencer, but certainly the Hapsburg courtiers who heard this suite would have been very familiar with its tale. After several preparatory movements, presumably in both senses of the word, the lesson proper gets underway. The first violins lunge and parry, while the other instruments beat an accompanying drum. After the lesson, the suite ends with gentle, soothing music, which, Schmelzer explains, represents the students` visit to the barber to have their wounds tended.

Pietro Locatelli 1695-1764
Concerto in F major for four violins, Op.4 no.12

Every generation has its Paganinis. Today, you might number Joshua Bell and Mark O`Connor amongst the current Paganinis, and back in the mid-1700s, Pietro Locatelli was certainly one of them. He was probably inspired to write today`s concerto for four violins by Vivaldi`s Op.3 L`estro armonico concertos which had been published just a few years earlier. We do not know whether Locatelli ever met Vivaldi - he came from Bergamo, not far from Venice - but he is thought to have studied the violin in Rome with that other baroque master, Arcangelo Corelli. Corelli was known as the "archangel of the violin", so it is a little surprising that contemporaries found that Locatelli played the violin "like a devil". His tone was thought by many to be scratchy and his compositions "defective in various harmony and true invention". His stunning pyrotechnics, however, won him many fans, amongst them the most infamous of devilish violinists, Nicolò Paganini himself. Paganini even borrowed a passage from a Caprices by Locatelli to open the first of his own Op.1 Caprices. Locatelli settled in Amsterdam, Holland, in 1729. Although he is not known to have visited England, he is buried in the Church of the Begijnhof, then as now known as The English Church, in the heart of Amsterdam. Far from being defective in any way, his F major concerto is full of drama and panache. The last movement even has a sense of humour, so often missing in high baroque concertos and their program notes.

W.A Mozart 1756 - 1791
Adagio & Fugue in C minor, K. 546

This is arguably Mozart's most serious, intense and private instrumental work. The Fugue started life as a piano duet, which Mozart possibly played with his wife, Constanza. He wrote it in Vienna in 1783, at a time when Mozart along with several like-minded friends spent Sunday afternoons at the house of his patron, Baron Gottfried van Swieten. There they immersed themselves in the unfashionable practice of playing fugues, and in particular fugues by Handel and Bach (many of which Mozart arranged for strings). In 1788 he returned to the C minor fugue, orchestrated it for strings and added the Adagio. At van Swieten's behest he spent a large part of the next two years reorchestrating several of Handel's choral works, including Messiah, and some have pointed to the Messiah as a particular influence on the Adagio and Fugue. Its heavily dotted, angular opening is reminiscent of the start of Handel's overture, and the violent, chiasmic intervals of the fugue subject resemble the theme of the chorus And with His stripes we are healed. But perhaps a stronger influence is that of J.S.Bach's Musical Offering. It too is in C minor and its theme is extremely close to Mozart's. Mozart uses several contrapuntal devices, including inversion (the subject turned upside down) and stretto (when new voices start the subject before the last ones have finished, literally 'stressing' the music), to construct a terrible climax. The Adagio's weird harmonies are unprecedented and make the notorious opening of the 'Dissonance' quartet sound quite tame. Thus in this short piece Mozart combined the achievements of the old masters with the most daring of 'modern' music's emotionalism. Yet it is hard to imagine anyone in Vienna but Constanza, van Swieten and their coterie enjoying this piece, let alone understanding it. Amongst the general public its strange combination of ancient and modern would have alienated many of Mozart`s admirers, so it probably only received private hearings.

A.Vivaldi 1678 - 1741
Violin concerto, L'Amoroso, in E major, RV271
presented to Emperor Charles VI

Violin concerto in C minor, RV202
presented to Emperor Charles VI

In 1728, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, travelled from Vienna, his imperial seat, to Trieste. Antonio Vivaldi, always on the look out for potential patrons, rushed the eighty miles north-east of Venice to meet him. The previous year Vivaldi had dedicated his Op.9 concertos, La cetra (The Lyre), to Charles, but it was their 1728 encounter which raised eyebrows. "The Emperor has spent a lot of time discussing music with Vivaldi," one observer reported. "It is said that he has spoken with him more in two weeks than he has with his own ministers in two years." Charles rewarded Vivaldi with a gold chain and medallion, and a large sum of money. In return, Vivaldi presented Charles not with a printed copy of the previous year's Op.9, as one might expect, but with a manuscript set of parts of twelve violin concertos, also entitled La cetra, which is now in the Austrian National Library in Vienna. It lay there undisturbed for two and a half centuries and was assumed to contain the same music as Op.9 until the 1970s, when the musicologist Michael Talbot inspected the manuscript and found that, but for one concerto, the two versions of La cetra are completely different. In this program we play music from that 'new' collection.
        Why there are two versions of La Cetra will probably always remain a mystery. Did Vivaldi simply not have a copy of Op.9 to give Charles? Or did Vivaldi want to give him some special concertos that would please a connoisseur like Charles but not necessarily appeal to the general, music-buying public? Printed music at that time was less an outlet for artistic self-expression or exploration than it was a commercial venture. Music written in an unfamiliar idiom, or requiring enormous technical skill, simply would not sell. Vivaldi was often more daring, virtuosic and experimental when writing concertos which were not to be published, as in the music we play in this programme.


Bios

The English Concert was founded in 1973 and quickly earned a place among the world's leading period instrument groups. With an exceptional combination of sheer enjoyment in music-making and technical brilliance both on concert platforms and in over 100 recordings-many of which still enjoy benchmark status-the orchestra became worldwide ambassadors for British performing arts.

In 2003 violinist Andrew Manze succeeded Trevor Pinnock as only the second artistic director in the orchestra's history. His unique energy and enthusiasm have already forged an exciting partnership, causing The Times of London to exclaim "The English Concert and its new leader do indeed appear to be under a magic spell…playing with the kind of panache that makes your spirits sing."

Under Andrew Manze The English Concert will continue their successful concert series in London. Manze's first season was launched in July 2003 with a special appearance at the BBC Proms and the release of a new recording of Mozart Serenades (Night Music) for Harmonia Mundi USA, with whom the orchestra now records exclusively. The season also included performances of Handel's Alexander's Feast, the first performance in modern times of a mass by Heinrich Biber, Missa Christi Resurgentis, repertoire by C.P.E.Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Vivaldi, and a re-enactment for BBC TV of the first performance of Handel's Water Music on a barge on the Thames.

The English Concert remains in great demand abroad, performing regularly throughout Europe, Japan, Australia, and North and South America. Their fall, 2004 North American tour (their first under Manze) will bring them to New York (Lincoln Center), Chicago (Symphony Center), Pittsburgh, Princeton, Kansas City, Urbana, Costa Mesa, Tucson, Seattle, and the university presenters at Dartmouth, Duke, Wake Forest, College Park MD, UC Davis, and Stanford. Further US tours are planned for 2005 and 2006.

Andrew Manze, violin

Andrew Manze is one of today's most passionate and articulate advocates of early music. As a violinist he specialises in repertoire from 1610 to 1830. As a conductor, Manze is in great demand among period and modern-instrument orchestras around the world. He also teaches, edits and writes about music, as well as broadcasting regularly on radio and television. He is a presenter of BBC radio's Early Music Show.

After reading Classics at Cambridge University, Manze studied the violin with Simon Standage and Marie Leonhardt. He was Associate Director of The Academy of Ancient Music from 1996 to 2003, and succeeded Trevor Pinnock as Artistic Director of The English Concert in July 2003. He is also Artist-in-residence at the Swedish Chamber Orchestra.

Andrew Manze is increasingly sought after as a guest conductor in symphonic repertoire and large scale oratorios throughout Europe, the US and Australia. Future engagements include concerts with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Malmo Symphony Orchestra, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber, Zurich Chamber and Norwegian Chamber Orchestras.

In his role with The English Concert, Manze is increasingly moving into Classical repertoire, including Mozart`s violin concertos, orchestral works and re-orchestrations of Handel`s oratorios, while continuing to perform baroque works. 2003 saw a debut tour with the orchestra of the UK, a televised concert at the London Proms and a reconstruction of Handel`s Water Music on the River Thames filmed by the BBC. Highlights of 2004 include the premiere of a newly unearthed Easter Mass by Biber, a return to the Proms (live on BBC TV) and visits to many major European festivals, including Bath, York, Cheltenham, Utrecht, La Chaise Dieu, Prague and Flanders. He will also be giving concerts in Germany, Spain and the Canaries and has an extensive US tour. In their first recording together, Manze led The English Concert in a Mozart program, including Eine kleine Nachtmusik; their next recordings will feature violin concertos from Vivaldi`s little-known Viennese La cetra, Biber`s chamber music masterpiece, Fidicinium sacro-profanum, and Mozart`s violin concertos.

Manze records exclusively for Harmonia Mundi USA, and has released an astonishing variety of CDs. Recordings made with The Academy of Ancient Music, as a soloist and as a chamber musician have garnered many international prizes, including the Gramophone, Edison and Cannes Classical Awards, the Premio Internazionale del Disco Antonio Vivaldi and the Diapason. His long standing collaboration with Richard Egarr has won great acclaim. Their discography includes sonatas by Rebel and Bach (awarded the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik) and Pandolfi`s complete Violin Sonatas (Gramophone Award, 2000). Their complete Handel Violin Sonatas was nominated for a 2003 Grammy Award, and figured in the US Billboard Chart. Their next releases will be of Mozart`s 'Auernhammer' sonatas and the Rosary sonatas of Biber.

Manze is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Music and a Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Music, London and has contributed to new editions of sonatas and concertos by Mozart and Bach published by Bärenreiter and Breitkopf and Härtel.

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