Category: Podcast

This month we’re featuring Musique de Joye—joyous songs and dances from 16th century France.

Social and political conditions in France during the 16th century were particularly favorable to the growth of popular music. During the long reign of Francis I (1515-47), French composers developed a uniquely new song form, the chanson, which was distinctly national in both poetry and music. While chansons were typically written for voices in polyphony, in the mid-16th century hundreds of chanson transcriptions for the lute and arrangements for solo voice with lute accompaniment were also published.

One of the most prolific and versatile of all 16th century composers, Roland de Lassus [1532-1594] penned over 150 chansons. Covering subjects as diverse as nature, biblical themes and bawdy narratives, Lassus’s chansons were popular in his native France as well as the Munich court, where he spent most of his career. Today we’ll hear his setting of “Bonjour mon coeur,” with text by a French contemporary of Lassus, the poet Pierre de Ronsard [1524-1585].

After “Bonjour mon coeur,” we will hear an anonymous chanson, arranged for solo lute, “Branle simple,” followed by “Changeons propos,” by a master of the Renaissance chanson, Claudin de Sermisy.

In these performances we will hear members of the Chicago Early Music Consort, under the direction of Gary Berkenstock:
Gary Berkenstock—recorder
Stephanie Sheffield—soprano
Phillip W. Serna—bass viol
Joel Spears—lute

Podcast episode produced by Joshua Sauvageau.

Today we’re featuring two beautiful soprano arias by George Frederic Handel, whose vocal music made him the toast of London in the first half of the eighteenth century.  We’ll hear “Lascia ch’io pianga” from the 1711 opera Rinaldo and “Tornami a vagheggiar” from Alcina, written a quarter decade later.

Both are examples of the ternary “da capo aria” form, in which the first “A” section returns near the end, sometimes with a great deal of embellishment and ornamentation improvised by the singer.  Vocalists and divas of Handel’s time loved the opportunity to put their prowess on full display, and audiences delighted in filling opera houses like the Queen’s Theater and the Covent Garden to take in the spectacle.

This performance is presented by Ars Antigua under the direction of Jerry Fuller with Kathryn Mueller, soprano.

[10:58]

Today we’re featuring one of the most recent winners of the Walgreens National Concerto Competition, which celebrated its 15th anniversary this year.  This annual contest, sponsored in conjunction with Midwest Young Artists, selected bassoonist JJ Sechan as the winner of the Senior Division’s Early Music category.

JJ has been enrolled in MYA since the Fall of 2007, and is a member of Quintethero, MYA’s top woodwind quintet.  It’s a group that has been featured on WFMT’s Introductions and on NPR’s From the Top, and was also selected as the winner of the 2010 Chicago Chamber Music Competition.  JJ was chosen as Principal Bassoon of the 2010 Illinois All-State Honors Band as well as Principal Bassoon of the MYA Symphony Orchestra and District 7 Illinois Music Education Association Festival a number of times.

JJ plans to attend either the Conservatory at Oberlin College or the Juilliard School in the fall, majoring in bassoon performance and microbiology.

Here is JJ Sechan performing the first movement of Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto with the orchestra at Midwest Young Artists.

[8:59]

Hello, and welcome to the March 2011 edition of Ars Antigua Presents, a free monthly podcast of music from the Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical eras. Today we’re featuring a suite of instrumental music from Jean-Phillipe Rameau’s opéra-ballet Les Indes Galantes, first performed at the Paris Opéra in 1735. In it, we hear the allure that anything exotic had for so many Baroque artists and composers, as a story of Cupid seeking out love in distant climes is told. After an overture, representatives of four nations make their entrance onto the stage- the Turks, the Incans, the Persians, and native Americans. Though Rameau never traveled to any of the foreign lands he depicts, he nevertheless had a grand time depicting the ways in which their citizens universally fall victim to Cupid’s machinations.

In this performance from the Music Institute of Chicago, we’ll hear violinist and leader Garry Clarke direct the Baroque Band. Jean Phillipe Rameau’s first suite from Les Indes Galantes.

Podcast length: [14:52]

Today we’re featuring music of Heinrich Schütz, a composer born around 1585 who, more than anyone else at the time, established a tradition of high craftsmanship and intellectual depth in German music, moving it from the periphery of the arts into the central position that it would occupy for the next three centuries. In this performance, the City Voices, Oriana Singers, and Ars Antigua join together for “Alleluja! Lobet den Herren”, a setting of Psalm 150.

[10:19]

Happy New Year from Ars Antigua Presents! We begin with a song written by Karl Friedrich Zelter, a contemporary of Mozart whose pupils included Felix Mendelssohn and Giacomo Meyerbeer. Zelter found a friend and kindred artistic spirit in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and the two of them often discussed musical matters and the importance of the song in arts and society. Of Zelter’s 210 solo Lieder, 75 are to texts by Goethe, including “At Midnight”.

Performers: Peter van de Graaff, bass; Sharon Peterson, piano [3:42]

We’ll also hear a piece from that concert to celebrate Mozart’s 255th birthday later this month- the famous Rondo alla Turca, music that imitates the sound of Turkish janissary bands, thought to be the oldest type of military marching band in the world.

Performers: Ars Antigua [3:33]

Total podcast length: [9:30]

This month’s Handel Gloria for soprano, two violins, and basso continuo is a newly-discovered find at the Royal Academy of Music’s library in London. The manuscript- not in Handel’s hand but bound in a collection of Handel arias owned by singer William Savage- was left to the Academy by his student RJS Stevens on his death in 1837. Handel may have composed it during his early years in Germany prior to his departure for Italy. Handel later borrowed music from this Gloria for use in the Laudate pueri dominum and Utrecht Jubilate.

Linda Dayiantis-Straub, soprano

Patricia Ahern and Jin Kim, violin

Pablo Mahave-Veglia, violoncello

Jerry Fuller, double bass

Andrew Fredel, harpsichord

[10:12]

In 1769, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was appointed Konzertmeister at the Salzburg Court by the Archbishop. Beginning that same year, Mozart and his father made three tours of Italy, where the young composer studied Italian opera and produced two successful efforts, Mitridate and Lucio Silla. In 1773, Mozart was back in Austria, where he spent most of the next few years composing. He wrote all his violin concertos between 1774 and 1777, as well as Masses, symphonies, and chamber works. Among these was this Divertimento in Bb Major (K. 137), the second of which is known as the “Salzburg Symphonies,” though it is only scored for strings.

Here are Elizabeth Blumenstock and Patricia Ahern, violins, Elizabeth Holzman, viola, John Mark Rozendaal, cello, and Jerry Fuller, double bass, playing Mozart’s Divertimento in Bb Major, K. 137.

Length: 12:29

Today we are exploring music for the viol consort, featuring a seldom-heard composer, Christopher Simpson.

Simpson was born between 1602 and 1606, at Egton, Yorkshire. He was the eldest son of the manager of a theatre company patronized by wealthy Yorkshire Catholics. Very few of Simpson’s musical compositions appeared in print during his lifetime except those included as examples in his books. A small number of his compositions also survive in manuscript form, such as two sets of fantasias entitled The Monthes and The Seasons, which both consist of one treble and two bass viol parts.

All his surviving instrumental works are for viol ensembles or for the solo viol, an instrument about which he wrote, “a viol in the hands of an excellent viol player may no doubt be reckon’d amongst the best of musical instruments. To play extempore to a ground is the highest perfection of it”.

In addition to Simpson’s The Monthes, we will hear Fantasia VIII by Giovanni Coprario, and La Bernardina by Josquin des Prez. Performing is the Viol Consort: Liam Byrne, Joelle Morton and Erica Rubis.

Program length: 9:34

Today we will listen to a performance of an unusual instrument, the hurdy-gurdy. It’s a stringed instrument that produces sound via a crank-turned rosined wheel that acts at the bow. Notes are played by a keyboard that presses small wood wedges against the strings to change their pitch. The hurdy-gurdy sound is characterized by several drone strings, creating a sound similar to a violin and the bagpipes.

Jacques-Christophe Naudot, born in 1690, was a French composer, typesetter, and flutist. Most of his compositions were published in Paris between 1726 and 1740, and his most well-known work is the opus 17 No. 5 flute concerto. The poet Denesle wrote a book called “Syrinx, ou l’origine de la flutte”, which was dedicated in part to Naudot and published in 1739. “Babioles” or “baubles”, published about 1750, are duets by Naudot, suitable for hurdy gurdies or bagpipes.

In this performance of Iile Babiole and Menuets I and II, we’ll hear Robert Green playing the hurdy-gurdy.

Duration: 4:33

Born in 1667, Michel Pignolet de Monteclair made his way to Paris in 1697, professional essay writing service and by 1699 was playing the basse de violon in the Paris Opera and gaining renown as a teacher. Acknowledged as one of the most important composers of the post-Lully generation, his stage works influenced Jean Phillipe Rameau’s orchestration and dramatic music. He gave a more prominent role to his obbligato instruments than any other composer of cantatas before his time, as evidenced by the use of totally independent bass lines. In fact, his music to La Triomphe de la Constance features extensive substantive solo passages for the bass viol.

In this performance of music from La Triomphe de la Constance, we will hear Amy Conn, soprano, Craig Trompeter, viola da gamba, and Doug Schneider, harpsichord.

Podcast length: 13:55

Today we’re excerpting from the Monteverdi opera Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria. The Return of Ulysses to His Country is an opera consisting of a prologue and five acts to an Italian libretto by Giacomo Badoaro, based on the final portion of Homer’s Odyssey. It was Claudio Monteverdi’s first opera for Venice, and had a very successful run of ten performances at the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo beginning in February 1640. The opera was then taken to the Teatro Guastavillani in Bologna, and in 1641 was revived again in Venice. The first modern revival was lead by Vincent d’Indy in Paris in 1925.

In this performance we’ll hear singers from the Chicago Opera Theater, who are joined by Ars Antigua for the Prologue and 10th scene from Act V.

Rizo Arellano, L’Humana Fragilita
David Young, Tempo
Kari Sorenson, Fortuna
Micaela Oeste, Amore
Melina Pineda, Penelope
Melina Pineda, Melanto
Edmundas Seilius, Eurimaco
Robert Burt, Iro
Jason Collins, Ulisse
Stephen Hargreaves, harpsichord
Craig Trompeter, violoncello
Jerry Fuller, violone