 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Friday, June 23, 2006 |
| ARCHIVE • 2006 • SUN 18 • MON 19 • WED 21 • FRI 23 • SUN 25 |
| Sherman Library & Gardens, Central Patio Room, 8 p.m. Music in the Gardens II David Shostac, flute Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Intermission Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Christoph Graupner (1683-1760)
The application of “modern” instruments in the service of Baroque music needs no justification when the proficiency and the stylistic interpretations are in the hands of the four virtuosos who have returned to us year after year for this Gardens concert. Bach, Handel and Graupner surely never heard finer and more dedicated performances of their music.
Previous Festival concerts have presented the known trio sonatas. This Trio Sonata in B flat has been derived from BWV 1015, known to us as a sonata for violin and harpsichord. In this reconstruction, we hear melodic imitation between the flute and violin in all four movements, with the bass part joining thematically in the first two movements and indulging in unrelenting 16th note figurations in the third. The fourth movement’s balance between treble and bass lines presents the strongest argument for its origins as a trio sonata. BACK
One’s ear often hears two different lines, high alternating with low, when actually only one note is being played at any given time, and Bach’s way with double stopping creates chords that sound fuller than is expected from a basically “single line” instrument. The solo violoncello and violin suites and sonatas are monuments of our musical inheritance. BACK
A new edition of the Trio Sonata in B flat was created for performance here last year from the original Darmstadt manuscript, but postponed for technical reasons, thus making its debut this evening. An extraordinarily sweet and brief introductory movement leads to an energetic fugue movement that suddenly slows before leaping into a triple-meter Presto. A moderately moving Andante concludes very slowly in order to contrast vividly with the Presto finale that engages the three strings in nearly canonic imitation. BACK Notes by Burton Karson |
ohann
Sebastian Bach must have composed more trio sonatas than those
left to us with that formal designation. Musicologists, somewhat
in the manner of forensic scientists, occasionally have examined
his solo sonatas (violin or viola da gamba with written-out harpsichord
parts) to see a clear indication that the keyboardist’s right
hand has been given linear statements that originally must have
been for a high solo line instrument such as flute, violin or oboe.
Thus a “reconstruction” of a trio sonata can be made
for two melody instruments with a basso continuo line for
violoncello with “figures” (intervallic numbers) from
which a harpsichordist knows the harmonies above the bass line and
adds imaginative musical conversation with the other instruments.
ach’s
output for unaccompanied violoncello numbers six suites written,
along with the violin sonatas and most of his chamber and concerto
music, during his pre- Leipzig years in Cöthen. This Baroque suite
of four basic dance movements, whose names reflect their French
stylizations, begins with a Prelude and inserts a Gavotte before
the Gigue. The dances traditionally fall into bipartite form,
the first half moving from the home key to the key of the dominant
or to the relative minor or major, and the second half reversing
that procedure. 
andel
composed sonatas for flute, recorder, oboe, violin and viola da
gamba (with basso continuo), borrowing themes as needed from
his own works. The sonata in G minor, for flute and harpsichord,
seems to offer three slow movements before the final Presto, but
the Andante’s charming character in three-quarter time nicely
separates the Larghetto, with its smooth singing line, from the
slower Adagio. The Presto takes the theme of the Andante and alters
it rhythmically. Handel’s instrumental music contrasts with
that of Bach in its seeming intent to minimize intellectual challenges
in favor of masterly created and irresistible charms. 
hristoph
Graupner, born in Saxony, resided from 1696 to 1704 in Leipzig,
where he studied music at the Thomasschule with Kuhnau, Bach’s
predecessor there, and enjoyed the acquaintance of Telemann who
directed Leipzig’s Collegium Musicum (later Bach’s assignment).
After working briefly in Hamburg as an opera harpsichordist and
composer, he was hired by Ernst Ludwig, Landgrave of Hessen- Darmstadt,
remaining in Darmstadt’s musically illustrious court until
his death. When Graupner applied for the position of Cantor in Leipzig
on Telemann’s withdrawal in 1722, Darmstadt’s Ernst
Ludwig retained him by increasing his salary, leaving Leipzig’s
City Council grudgingly to settle on J.S. Bach.
BAROQUE MUSIC FESTIVAL CORONA DEL MAR
Post Office Box 838 | Corona del Mar, CA 92625-0838
Tel. (949) 760-7887 | info@BMF-CdM.org
Kindly report any problem to the webmaster.