Year: 2013

Born in Northern Italy, Maria Xaveria Peruchona (ca. 1652-after 1709) joined the Collegio di Sant’Orsola, a religious convent for women, in 1668. Contemporary accounts indicated that Peruchona was a fine singer and organist, and she no doubt studied with Isabella Leonarda who was one of the most prolific female composers of that time. Peruchona devoted the majority of her life to the religious orders, but also composed several sacred motets and anthems.

Maria Xaveria Peruchona’s motet “Ad Gaudia, ad jubila” from a live performance by Carolina Pro Musica.

Ars Antigua Presents promotes the work of early music students at the high school and college levels. If you know of an ensemble that represents this next generation of performers, let us know and they may be featured on our podcast.

Podcast produced by Joshua Sauvageau

 

 

Hailing from Verona, Evaristo Felice dall’Abaco was a baroque violinist and composer. Born in 1675 to a skilled guitarist, dall’Abaco received some of the best musical training available, and may even have been a student of Giuseppi Torelli. He spent most of his life composing and performing in his native Italy, but in 1715, he was appointed Concert-meister at court in Munich, where he would remain until his death in 1742. Dall’Abaco’s oeuvre is rather slight, consisting of only six known Opuses. These works are primarily sonatas and concerti in the style of his contemporary, Antonio Vivaldi. It is from dall’Abaco’s Opus 2 Dodici Concerti a Quattro da Chiesa, that we will hear today’s selection, in four movements: Largo, Allegro e Spiritoso, Grave, and Allegro.

Concerti a Quattro da Chiesa in g minor, Op. 2 No. 5 of dall’Abaco, as performed by the Atascocita High School Chamber Strings.

Ars Antigua Presents promotes the work of early music students at the high school and college levels. If you know of an ensemble that represents this next generation of performers, let us know and they may be featured on our podcast.

 

Podcast produced by Joshua Sauvageau

[9’22”]

Based on the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo has come down through history as one of the earliest operas to employ the full resources of the orchestra. Monteverdi’s use of polyphony, and especially his innovative orchestration, dazzled audiences at the 1607 Premiere. The original score called for about a dozen vocalists and over forty instrumentalists, including brass, winds, strings, harpsichord, organ, and percussion. In L’Orfeo Symphonia, we will hear some of the memorable tunes from that opera, performed on period strings and continuo.

Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo Symphonia, as performed by the Baroque Ensemble of Brigham Young University-Idaho, under the direction of Robert Tueller.

Video for L’Orfeo Symphonia

Ars Antigua Presents promotes the work of early music students at the high school and college levels. If you know of an ensemble that represents this next generation of performers, let us know and they may be featured on our podcast.

Podcast produced by Joshua Sauvageau

[12’55”]

Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre is best remembered as the first French woman to write an opera (Cephale et Procris in 1694). She was born into a family of musicians and performed upon the harpsichord for Louis XIV when she was just five years old. According to contemporary accounts, she was a virtuosic keyboard player, dazzling audiences at court and in her home. Her oevre includes stage music, cantates, a book of pièces de clavessin, several sonatas for violin and continuo and some trio sonatas.

This is Jacquet de la Guerre’s Trio Sonata in D Major, performed by La Donna Musicale.

Ars Antigua Presents promotes the work of early music students at the high school and college levels. If you know of an ensemble that represents this next generation of performers, let us know and they may be featured on our podcast.

Podcast produced by Joshua Sauvageau

[10’11”]