American Bach Soloists 2015 Festival & Academy Program Booklet

2015

Jeffrey Thomas Artistic Director

August 7 – 16, 2015 at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music

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Welcome from the Artistic Director Thank you for joining us for this year’s American Bach Soloists Festival & Academy.

If you have attended the ABS Festival in years past, you know what great fun it is to immerse ourselves in extraordinary music, brilliant illuminations of Baroque culture by our faculty lecturers, and those truly magical transformations of performance during master classes. Our annual Colloquium (this year on Saturday, August 8th) provides another pathway to delve into the eclectic sources that fuel historically informed performance practice and that make these concerts not only musically satisfying and enriching, but also informing and captivating.

I am always so gratefully touched by the responses of members of our audiences who tell me how much they value these opportunities to become completely absorbed in the processes of discovery, polish, and intense focus that lead musicians to the goal of passionate and committed performance.

JEFFREY THOMAS

We look forward to the opening day of the Festival when you join us, become one of us, as together we find immeasurable worth in the art and aesthetics of previous cultures. We are united in our desire to preserve—through compelling performances and intellectual pursuits—some of the greatest art to have been handed down to us over the centuries.

Artistic & Music Director

Already the musicians of ABS and the faculty and participants of the 2015 Academy have been hard at work. Our 73 Academy participants, 50 ABS musicians, 14 faculty members, and an army of staff and volunteers have been preparing for the Festival’s opening for months.

In the first week of rehearsals and classes, both the mentorship by our outstanding faculty and their exchange of information with Academy participants have been priceless.

For me, there is nothing quite so enjoyable as the first day of the Academy when I have the opportunity to meet some of the most talented, ambitious, and intelligent young artists in the field of Early Music. In the very near future, they will take over concert stages around the world. We are proud to see so many move on to perform with important and distinguished ensembles here in the U.S. and abroad, and I am very fortunate to have been able to work with many of them again here at ABS. We are proud of our alumni, we are nothing without our superb faculty, and we would not be here were it not for your patronage and support. Thank you, as always, for that. Our gratitude is profound.

But it’s time for the music! Our opening night and second night concerts—named after the title of this year’s Festival, “Versailles & The Parisian Baroque”—begin with a trumpet fanfare

by Michel-Richard de Lalande (1657-1726). As part of his job as sous-maître à la Chapelle Royale du château de Versailles, he was required to produce music every fifteen days for the entertainment of Kings Louis XIV and XV, resulting in a collection titled Simphonies pour les Soupers de Roy. In this case, supper music signifies ceremonial, or public music for events often held outside. The Concert de trompettes that will be performed in the lobby of the Conservatory bears the description “pour les festes sur le canal de Versailles,” which was probably part of the Divertissement sur la Paix of 1713, extravagant festivities in celebration of the signing of treaties between several European states—including Spain, Great Britain, France, Portugal, Savoy, and the Dutch Republic—that helped end the War of the Spanish Succession.

So allow yourself to be transported back to another era—one noted not only for its opulence but also, and significantly, for its focus on the nurturing of High Art—and enjoy the 2015 Festival & Academy! San Francisco has garnered many nicknames over the centuries, and perhaps for these two weeks we will be “Versailles by the Bay.” Again, thank you!

Jeffrey Thomas 1

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Contents

San Francisco’s Summer Bach Festival • Festival Sponsors • Anonymous (2) The Ann & Gordon Getty Foundation Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation Welcome from the Music Director About the Festival Festival Schedule ABS Annual Auction, Concert, and Dinner: Sparkle A Message from the Executive Director Academy Founders & Sponsors About American Bach Soloists Board of Directors, Advisory Council, Founders, & Staff American Bach Soloists & American Bach Choir Rosters ABS Academy Participants Artist & Academy Faculty Biographies 2015/16 - Our 27th Season American Bach Soloists Discography Continuo Circle Bach’s Mass in B Minor: Anatomy of a Masterwork ABS Messiah on Blu-ray Become an American Bach Soloists Donor Contributors & Acknowledgments

1 4 4 6 7 9 12 13 15 16 17 22 24 42 45 48 75 76

• Programs • Versailles & The Parisian Baroque I 25 Public Colloquium 29 Versailles & The Parisian Baroque II 30 Bach’s Mass in B Minor 39 Academy-in-Action “Baroque Marathon” Concerts 47 Marais’ Sémélé 49 Distinguished Artist Series: John Thiessen, baroque trumpet 70

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About the Festival Festival Events

Academy Events

The 2015 American Bach Soloists Festival & Academy is a celebration of Bach’s French contemporaries and the splendid music of the extravagant court at Versailles.

The American Bach Soloists Academy—the educational component of the ABS Summer Bach Festival—offers advanced conservatory-level students and emerging professionals unique opportunities to study and perform Baroque music in a multi-disciplinary learning environment.

Artistic and Music Director Jeffrey Thomas will conduct masterworks by Rebel, Rameau, and others, including Marin Marais’ spectacular opera Sémélé, presented complete for the first time outside of Europe. From the grand to the elegantly mirthful, this exploration of the musical inspiration and wit of the French Baroque will be performed in addition to Bach’s Mass in B Minor, a beloved tradition of the ABS Festival & Academy.

The concerts, lectures, master classes, and colloquia of the ABS Festival & Academy provide a comprehensive, 10-day immersive experience in the music and culture of the Baroque.

Masterworks Series

Jeffrey Thomas directs the American Bach Soloists, the American Bach Choir, and the Academy Orchestra and Soloists, in annual performances of Bach’s Mass in B Minor, large-scale instrumental and vocal works, and concerts of Baroque oratorio and opera.

Distinguished Artist Series

These concerts feature performances by acclaimed early music specialists. Within the framework of a solo recital, instrumentalists and singers will present works with orchestral accompaniment, in programs built around themes of cultures, places, or events in history.

Academy-In-Action

Academy participants are featured exclusively in two days of Academy-in-Action Concerts offering chamber vocal and instrumental works by Baroque masters.

Public Colloquia

Annual engaging forums for performers and audience members alike explore a variety of topics centered on historical, artistic, and practical considerations of performing Baroque music today.

(Free)

Lecture Series

Join the members of the American Bach Soloists Academy for a series of enlightening and informative public lectures presented by the Academy faculty on a wide range of subjects centered on Festival themes. (Free)

Master Class Series

The ABS Academy opens its doors to the public to witness the artistic transformations that make Master Classes so tremendously exciting, as performers and their master teachers share their knowledge and insights. (Free)

Festival Schedule Friday August 7 2015

5:00 p.m. Opening Night Dinner 8:00 p.m. Versailles & The Parisian Baroque - Part I The Festival opens with a trio of stunning orchestral works by three French masters. The high-minded musical ideals and splendor of the era are fully evident in the Ouverture & Suite of dances from Jean-Philippe Rameau’s opera Naïs. Here beauty and grandeur are enhanced by a third trait: velocity! As first violinist at the Paris Opera, Jacques Aubert had an ear for music that would be suitable for drama and dance. His D Major Concert de Symphonie, an early incarnation of what would become the French symphony, is a delightful, foot-tapping tour of dance forms. Finally, Jean-Féry Rebel’s imaginative and vivid work for orchestra, Les Élémens, depicts the creation of the world from chaos using motifs associated with earth, air, fire, and water.

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Saturday August 8 2015 2:30 p.m. Public Colloquium: The Culture of Versailles Join ABS Academy faculty and guests as they explore what sets French Baroque music apart from that of the rest of Europe. The first of three 45-minute sessions—presented by Beverly Wilcox, a specialist in the music of 18th-century Paris—will outline the culture of Paris and Versailles through a survey of the art, architecture, music, and politics of the period. Then, ABS Academy instrumental and vocal faculty members will share their insights gained from years of historically informed performing experience as they discuss the challenges specific to French Baroque music.

The Colloquium will conclude with a discussion of the Querelle des Bouffons, the philosophical battle that took place in Paris in the 1750s over the relative merits of French and Italian style. (Free)

Festival Schedule Saturday August 8 2015 (continued)

8:00 p.m. Versailles & The Parisian Baroque - Part II From the grand to the intimate, ABS’s exploration of the Parisian Baroque continues into the drawing rooms, private halls, and Royal residence at Versailles. Featuring works by Marin Marais, François Couperin, André Campra, & Quirinus van Blankenburg, the elegance, refinement, mirth, and poignancy that were hallmarks of the Parisian Baroque will be presented.

Sunday August 9 2015

7:00 p.m. Bach’s Mass in B Minor Bach’s Mass in B Minor is the pinnacle of Baroque repertoire, and ABS’s annual performances draw Bach pilgrims to San Francisco from around the world. Jeffrey Thomas and the ABS Festival Orchestra, with vocal and instrumental soloists from the ABS Academy, perform this masterwork on each Festival Sunday.

Monday August 10 2015

3:00 p.m. Academy-in-Action “Baroque Marathon” I 8:00 p.m. Academy-in-Action “Baroque Marathon” II These concerts present an opportunity for Academy musicians and audiences to experience a rich repertory of works in a focused, two-day immersion. Along with the myriad chamber works, each session will also feature works for larger ensembles of instrumentalists and vocalists. Maximizing the sense of discovery, the Marathon integrates three discrete sessions of Baroque music into two intense forays into the musical delights of the age. The programs will include intimate French motets by Mouliné and several motets composed by Clérambault for the nuns at the Royal Convent School at Saint-Cyr; a cantata for 5 voices, trumpets, and strings by Buxtehude; High Baroque chamber works from the Court of Dresden by Zelenka, Fasch, and Graun; quartets and trios by Telemann; many arias from cantatas by J.S. Bach; and music from Johann Abraham Schmierer’s Zodiaci musici.

Tuesday August 11 2015

3:00 p.m. Master Class Series Harpsichord (Free) 5:00 p.m. Lecture Series: Kenneth Slowik Musical institutions of the Grand Siècle (Free) 8:00 p.m. Academy-in-Action “Baroque Marathon” III The Baroque Marathon continues with a third session featuring a splendid selection of vocal works by J.S. Bach along with a suite of dances from Marais’ 1709 opera Sémélé. One of Bach’s earliest surviving cantatas, Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir, BWV 131, will be presented in its entirety with ABS Music Director Jeffrey Thomas conducting an ensemble of vocal and instrumental soloists from the ABS Academy. A generous selection of vocal highlights from Bach’s cantatas will follow with small ensembles performing arias by the master. As a sneak preview to the ABS Festival & Academy performances of Marais’ Sémélé, the Academy Orchestra will perform a series of buoyant and kinetic dances from the opera.

View the Schedule & Reserve Tickets Online americanbach.org/tickets

Wednesday August 12 2015

3:00 p.m. Master Class Series Violin & Viola (Free) 5:00 p.m. Lecture Series: Robert Mealy Le Parnasse Français: what makes French music so French? (Free)

Thursday August 13 2015

3:00 p.m. Master Class Series Violoncello, Viola da gamba, Violone, and Contrabass (Free) 5:00 p.m. Lecture Series: Corey Jamason The Fabulous World of the Clavecinistes (Free) 8:00 p.m. Marais’ Sémélé Drawn from the same mythological source that would inspire Handel over three decades later, Marin Marais’ 1709 opera, Sémélé, is an amorous tale of desire and ambition. The mortal woman, Semele, wins the devotion of Jupiter, king of the gods.

Inflamed by her husband’s wandering eye, Juno devises a plan to ruin the pairing that ends in both tragedy and a wondrous new beginning. Utilizing a cast of musicians from the ABS Academy and Festival Orchestra, joined by the American Bach Choir, Jeffrey Thomas conducts the first complete performances outside of Europe of this gem from the golden era of musical Paris.

Friday August 14 2015

3:00 p.m. Master Class Series Winds & Brass (Free) 5:00 p.m. Lecture Series: Judith Malafronte Trillo or tremblement? Italian and French vocal style (Free) 8:00 p.m. Marais’ Sémélé See above.

Saturday August 15 2015

3:00 p.m. Master Class Series Voice (Free) 5:00 p.m. Lecture Series: Debra Nagy Arts Entrepreneurship & Le Concert Spirituel (Free) 8:00 p.m. Distinguished Artist: John Thiessen, baroque trumpet Described by The New York Times as “the gold standard of Baroque trumpet playing in this country,” John Thiessen’s performances combine beauty of sound with brilliance and virtuosity. Performing a diverse program of Italian chamber music and cantatas, English music for the theater, and oratorio, John Thiessen will demonstrate his instrumental mastery in an astonishing variety of styles and settings in music by Corelli, Jeremiah Clarke, Handel, and Alessandro Scarlatti. For this special recital, members of ABS and guest soloist, soprano Kathryn Mueller, will join Thiessen.

Sunday August 16 2015

2:00 p.m. Bach’s Mass in B Minor The 2015 Festival concludes with a second performance of Bach’s monumental testament to his life’s work under the direction of Jeffrey Thomas. Fanfare Magazine wrote that “Thomas’ direction seems just right, capturing the humanity of the music…there is no higher praise for Bach performance.”

Call the Festival Box Office (415) 621-7900 5

Honorary Chair The Rt. Rev. Marc Handley Andrus (Episcopal Bishop of California), Maestro Jeffrey Thomas, the Musicians, Board, and Staff of American Bach Soloists invite you to join them for a glittering San Francisco evening.

Sparkle American Bach Soloists 13th Annual Auction, Concert, & Dinner Saturday, September 26, 2015 at 5:00 p.m.

James Leary Flood Mansion 2222 Broadway ~ San Francisco

Order of Events 5:00 p.m.

Champagne & Hors d’oeuvre Silent Auction

Enjoy a rare and exclusive performance in the Flood Mansion.

Bid on exciting auction items while enjoying superb cuisine and excellent wines.

All proceeds will benefit ABS’s artistic, educational, and outreach programs.

For further inquiries, please contact us at gala@americanbach.org.

Black Tie Requested

Concert by

Valet Parking Provided at Flood Mansion Shuttles available from Marin and the East Bay Dinner by Melons Catering Liam Mayclem, benefit auctioneer

American Bach Soloists

KCBS Foodie Chap & “World Access” host on Travel Channel

6:30 p.m.

Agnes Vojtko mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Blumenstock violin William Skeen violoncello Steven Lehning violone Corey Jamason harpsichord Jeffrey Thomas music director 7:30 p.m.

Festive Dinner Live Auction

Auction Highlights A Trip for Two to Paris A Private Sightseeing Flight over the San Francisco Bay A Mendocino Getaway Gourmet San Francisco Experience with Liam Mayclem Conduct Handel’s “Hallelujah” Chorus in Rehearsal “Into the Woods” (private house concert and wine tasting) An Apple Watch™ Raffle And so much more!

Please reserve your tickets by September 10th. americanbach.org/gala ~ (415) 621-7900

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A Message from the Executive Director Welcome to the sixth annual American Bach Soloists Festival & Academy. I am so glad that you have chosen to join us for our 2015 San Francisco Summer Bach Festival that will focus on Versailles and the Parisian Baroque through concerts as well as free public lectures and master classes.

DON SCOTT CARPENTER Executive Director

Since 2010, ABS has presented this internationally acclaimed Festival & Academy at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in the cultural heart of the city. Since the Academy’s founding, we have admitted 363 Academy participants from around the world, representing Australia, Bolivia, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Puerto Rico, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, and the United States. Many of our Academy participants are completing degrees or just beginning their professional careers in music, so their financial resources are extremely limited. Tuition for our two-week program is $1,200. Through the generosity of our Academy Founders and Sponsors, we have been able to reduce that fee to $840 per person. Yet, with travel and housing, many of these extremely talented musicians pay up to $2,000 to attend. If you appreciate the myriad performances during our Festival & Academy or if you’ve seen the many alumni who have joined us for our subscription concerts, then you know the value of supporting the American Bach Soloists Academy. Here is how you can help: Having purchased a ticket to this year’s Festival, you are supporting this worthwhile venture, but if you are so inclined, an additional (and tax deductible) contribution will go a long way to help these young musicians achieve their goals. Information on how to support our annual Festival & Academy can be found on page 9.

There are many other ways that you can support ABS. Our 13th annual gala auction, concert, and dinner, “Sparkle,” will be held on September 26, 2015, at the James Leary Flood Mansion in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco. This elegant evening celebrating American Bach Soloists—the early music jewel of the Bay Area—will feature a performance by mezzosoprano Agnes Vojtko (Academy alumna), joined by Elizabeth Blumenstock, William Skeen, Steven Lehning, Corey Jamason, and Jeffrey Thomas. Proceeds will benefit the educational and outreach programs of ABS, including the Academy. Additionally, we will raffle a trip for two to the Ka’anapali Beach Club in Maui on August 16. You may purchase tickets for the Gala and for the Raffle in the lobby at any time during the Festival performances.

Finally, I am pleased to announce that in just a few months we will release our long-awaited Blu-ray video project: Handel’s Messiah. Recorded in HD video and Surround Sound in December 2014 at Grace Cathedral, the performance features Maestro Jeffrey Thomas, soprano Mary Wilson, countertenor Eric Jurenas and tenor Kyle Stegall (both Academy alumni), baritone Jesse Blumberg, American Bach Soloists, and the American Bach Choir. You will be able to purchase copies at our December programs of Bach’s “Christmas Oratorio” at Saint Ignatius Church and Messiah at Grace Cathedral, as well as through our website: americanbach.org/recordings.

We thank you for continuing to support the American Bach Soloists Festival & Academy. Your attendance is greatly appreciated, and we look forward to seeing you throughout our next season!

With all best wishes, Don Scott Carpenter

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Three Masterworks Programs Two Holiday Concerts One Great Season

Subscriptions start at $105.

Add a holiday concert and get one Free Companion Certificate.

The season starts November 1, 2015

MARINSYMPHONY ALASDAIR NEALE | MUSIC DIRECTOR

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Rachmaninoff  Tchaikovsky Bartók  Rodrigo  Brahms Duruflé  Bizet  Ravel Celebrate Alasdair Neale’s 15th season as music director!

Call 415.479.8100 to order or visit marinsymphony.org/subscribe

Academy Founders & Sponsors 2015 ACADEMY SPONSORS Festival Concert Sponsor ($5,000 and above) Anonymous Hugh Davies & Kaneez Munjee Judith Flynn Marie Hogan & Douglas Lutgen George & Patricia Locke Academy Scholarship ($2,500-$4,999) Jose & Carol Alonso John & Lois Crowe Peggy Harrington Academy Sponsor ($1,000-$2,499) Judith Barker & Linda Mitteness Richard J. & Sharon Boyer Hugh Davies & Kaneez Munjee Richard G. Fabian Tom Flesher & Adam Verret Jan Goldberg Steven Lehning Blair Martin Fraser & Helen Muirhead Paul & Sandra Ogden Kay & Ray Roberts Peter & Asiye Sonnen Jeffrey Thomas (Gifts up to $999) Carol Dutton-Hollenberg James & Joan Kelly Bill & Ray Riess ACADEMY FOUNDERS Jose & Carol Alonso Richard J. & Sharon Boyer Lisa Capaldini David Cates J.P. Crametz & Tamar Ravid John & Lois Crowe Silvia Davidson Hugh Davies & Kaneez Munjee Tom Driscoll & Nancy Quinn Richard G. Fabian Tom Flesher & Adam Verret Judith Flynn Richard Forde & David Foushee Jan Goldberg Benjamin & Lynette Hart James & Joan Kelly James R. Meehan Fraser & Helen Muirhead Paul & Sandra Ogden Virginia Patterson Peter & Asiye Sonnen Fred Stark & Roman Shi Jim & Jennifer Steelquist Jeffrey Thomas Kwei & Michele Ü

The American Bach Soloists ACADEMY FOUNDERS & SPONSORS represent the San Francisco Bay Area arts community’s most culturally responsible patrons who are excited to provide uniquely challenging and artistically productive educational experiences to the world’s next generation of professional musicians specializing in the timeless repertoire of the Baroque era and, in particular, the music of Bach and his contemporaries. We are exceedingly grateful for their support and commitment to the Academy.

SUPPORT THE ACADEMY Whether your passion is for the Arts, Education, or Early Music in particular, your investment in the careers of the most promising young artists from conservatories and professional studios around the globe will help ensure the future of great music from the Baroque that has inspired generations from all walks of life.

You can help us welcome next year’s roster of students by becoming an Academy Sponsor through your commitment of $1,000 in support. You can help us further—and bring much-needed scholarship funds to the program—by engaging your colleagues, associates, and friends to join you as Academy Sponsors.

American Bach Soloists Academy Sponsors will be acknowledged in Festival program booklets and enjoy the same perks and benefits as our annual donors. As a member of this essential and prestigious society, you will be invited to a special opening reception on the first day of the Academy to meet our students and faculty, and you will have first access to Priority Ticketing for all events.

Please call Don Scott Carpenter, ABS Executive Director, for information about how to become an Academy Sponsor: (415) 621-7900 extension 203.

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Early Music America has provided scholarships, grants, and financial assistance to musicians for the past 30 years. In addition to our outreach programs, EMA publishes a highly-regarded quarterly magazine, maintains a community-driven, informational website and international events calendar promoting our members’ concerts, workshops, and festivals. We are also proud to be at the forefront of fostering emerging historical performance professionals through our competitions and Young Performers Festival.

Join today! Experience the benefits of an EMA membership.

Use the code EMABACH20 to receive 20% off new memberships.

earlymusicamerica.org 10

AMERICAN BACH SOLOISTS ANNUAL RAFFLE $20 per ticket or 6 for $100

Trip for Two to Ka’anapali Beach Club, Maui 6 Days 5 Nights Includes a voucher for up to $1,000 for travel Drawing will be held on August 16, 2015.

American Bach Soloists is a not for profit 501(c)(3) organization.

44 Page Street Suite 403 ~ San Francisco CA 94102 ~ (415) 621-7900

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Fax: (415) 391-4514 • Toll Free: (800) 391-1013 E-mail: pbrown@farallonins.com

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About American Bach Soloists

“Jeffrey Thomas draws crisp, vital playing from the ace baroque instrumentalists of American Bach Soloists, who provide galvanizing vigor but also caress the gut strings of their period instruments with unusual beauty.”

Joshua Rosenblum, Opera News The AMERICAN BACH SOLOISTS (“ABS”) were founded in 1989 with the mission of introducing contemporary audiences to the cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach through historically informed performances. Under the leadership of co-founder and Music Director Jeffrey Thomas, the ensemble has achieved its vision of assembling the world’s finest vocalists and period-instrument performers to bring this brilliant music to life.

major works, opera, and oratorio from the Baroque; Distinguished Artist Series; Academy-in-Action Concerts; free Lectures and Master Classes; and public Colloquia on a variety of topics. In addition to their regular subscription season, the American Bach Soloists have been presented at some of the world’s leading early music and chamber music festivals, and have appeared across the continent, in Europe, and in Asia.

For more than two decades, Jeffrey Thomas has brought thoughtful, meaningful, and informed perspectives to his performances as Artistic and Music Director of the American Bach Soloists. Recognized worldwide as one of the foremost interpreters of the music of Bach and the Baroque, he continues to inspire audiences and performers alike through his keen insights into the passions behind musical expression. Fanfare Magazine proclaimed that “Thomas’ direction seems just right, capturing the humanity of the music…there is no higher praise for Bach performance.”

ABS has been a leader throughout the Bay Area in its commitment to artistic collaborations. Some examples include a collaboration with two San Francisco dance organizations, Xeno and Ultra Gypsy, at The Crucible in Oakland in 2004 and collaborations with the well-known Mark Morris Dance Group in 2004 and 1999. To celebrate the 20th Anniversary Season, ABS presented a spectacular laser show featuring Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks in Grace Cathedral, and in 2012, ABS teamed up with the San Francisco Girls Chorus in a program titled “Vivaldi’s Venice.” During the 2013 ABS Festival & Academy, ABS presented the first North American performance of Heinrich Biber’s 53-part Missa Salisburgensis— the largest-scaled surviving work from the Baroque—with the composer’s full forces and instrumentation.

Critical acclaim has been extensive: The Washington Post named ABS “the best American specialists in early music…a flawless ensemble…a level of musical finesse one rarely encounters.”

San Francisco Classical Voice declared “there is nothing routine or settled about their work. Jeffrey Thomas is still pushing the musical Baroque envelope.” And the San Francisco Chronicle has extolled the ensemble’s “divinely inspired singing.”

PERFORMANCES The American Bach Soloists present an annual Subscription Series with performances in Belvedere, Berkeley, Davis, and San Francisco. Their annual holiday performances of Handel’s Messiah— presented each December before capacity audiences since 1992— have become a Bay Area tradition. Each season culminates with the American Bach Soloists Festival & Academy, held every summer in the spectacular facilities of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Components of the Summer Bach Festival include performances of 12

HISTORY The first public concerts were given in February 1990 at St. Stephen’s Church in Belvedere, where the ensemble serves as Artists-in-Residence. The debut of ABS’s first annual summer festival in Tiburon/Belvedere took place in 1993. By the fifth season, regular performances had been inaugurated in San Francisco and Berkeley, and as a result of highly successful collaborations with the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, ABS’s full concert seasons expanded to the Davis/Sacramento region in 2005.

As the audience increased, so the artistic direction of the ensemble expanded to include Bach’s purely instrumental and larger choral masterpieces, as well as music of his contemporaries and that of the early Classical era.

About American Bach Soloists In 1998, in conjunction with the Fifth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition, ABS established the American Bach Soloists & Henry I. Goldberg International Young Artist Competition as a way to foster emerging musicians who wish to pursue a career in early music.

The Chorus of the American Bach Soloists has shone in repertoire from the Baroque and early Classical eras to works by living composers. With the inception of a Choral Series in 2004, these fine singers have been featured on programs exploring over five centuries of choral music. To acknowledge this splendid work, the American Bach Soloists announced in 2006 a new name for their choral ensemble: American Bach Choir. Critics have acclaimed their “sounds of remarkable transparency and body.”

In July 2010, the American Bach Soloists inaugurated North America’s newest annual professional training program in Historically Informed Performance Practice. Drawing on their distinguished roster of performers, the AMERICAN BACH SOLOISTS ACADEMY offers unique opportunities to advanced conservatorylevel students and emerging professionals to study and perform Baroque music in a multi-disciplinary learning environment. The Academy is held in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s exquisite facilities in the heart of the city’s arts district.

In 2013, to commemorate ABS music director Jeffrey Thomas’s 25-year tenure of inspired leadership, the American Bach Soloists created the Jeffrey Thomas Award to honor, recognize, and encourage exceptionally gifted emerging professionals in the field of early music.

RECORDINGS The American Bach Soloists have a discography of nineteen titles on the Koch International Classics, Delos International, and American Bach Soloists labels, including six volumes of Bach cantatas, many performed one on a part. The ensemble’s

critically acclaimed disc of Bach’s Mass in B Minor has been called a benchmark recording and a “joyous new performance” (The Washington Post).

One of their most popular offerings is an historically significant version of Handel’s Messiah, recorded live during performances in 2004 at the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts at UC Davis, and released in November 2005 on the Delos International label.

In 2007, ABS’s entire catalogue—Bach’s Mass in B Minor, cantatas, and transcriptions of Italian music, Haydn Masses, choral and vocal works by Schütz, and other works—was re-released on iTunes, Magnatune.com, Amazon, CDBaby, and ABS’s own excellent and resourceful website, which features free streaming audio of most titles. The same year brought two new and much-anticipated releases: Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos. The following release, 1685 & The Art of Ian Howell, features the remarkable countertenor (and winner of the ABS Young Artist Competition) in works by Bach, Handel, and Domenico Scarlatti. ABS’s newest recording features soprano Mary Wilson singing a collection of virtuoso vocal works by Handel, including his setting of the psalm, Laudate pueri Dominum, and the motet, Silete venti.

SUPPORT The American Bach Soloists have been recipients of major grants from Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund, The Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation, The Charles Hosmer Morse Foundation, E. Nakamichi Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, The Bernard Osher Foundation, The Wallis Foundation, The AT&T Foundation Matching Gifts Program, The AXA Foundation Matching Gifts Program, Clorox Foundation, County of Marin, and The San Francisco Foundation. An administrative staff and Board of Directors support ABS’s activities as a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization.

“Leaving the church, several audience members were hugging each other.

This is clearly a close-knit community who is absolutely mad about American Bach Soloists.”

Maggee Van Speybroeck, San Francisco Classical Voice

Board of Directors, Advisory Council, Founders, & Staff BOARD OF DIRECTORS

ADVISORY COUNCIL

FOUNDERS

Hugh Davies President Angela Hilt Vice President Greg Madsen Secretary James R. Meehan Treasurer Richard J. Boyer Don Scott Carpenter ex-officio Lucy Connolly Mark Connolly Judith Flynn Marie Hogan D. Kern Holoman Blake Reinhardt Jeffrey Thomas ex-officio

The Rt. Rev. Marc Andrus Irving Broido Karen Broido Corty Fengler Tom Flesher Jan Goldberg John Karl Hirten Corey Jamason Harvey Malloy Sandra M. Ogden Don Roth Peter Sonnen Kwei Ü Charles E. Wilts Elizabeth F. Wilts

Jeffrey Thomas Jeffrey Thomas Artistic & Music Director Jonathan Dimmock Richard H. Graff Don Scott Carpenter The Rev. & Mrs. Alvin S. Haag Executive Director Mr. & Mrs. Robert V. Kane Steven Lehning Dr. & Mrs. Paul C. Ogden Artistic Administrator PAST PRESIDENTS Sandra M. Ogden (1989-1997) Vernon Moore (1997-2000) Michael Weller (2000-2002) Hank Goldberg (2002-2005) Marie Hogan (2005-2009)

STAFF

Jeff McMillan

Judith Murio

Patron Services Manager Executive Assistant

Brandon Labadie

Communications Associate

Derek Tam

Education Coordinator

Marketing & Communications Director Academy Administrator

Philip Daley

Steven J. Spector

Stage Crew

Business Manager

Emma Gavenda

Stage Manager

E. J. Chavez Erin Nishimori Intern

Artistic Administrator

13

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14

“Solomon’s feel for programming is superb.”

—San Francisco Classical Voice

American Bach Soloists & Their Instruments FLUTE

TRUMPET

VIOLA

VIOLONE / CONTRABASS

Sandra Miller *

John Thiessen *

Lisa Grodin

Steven Lehning *

Kathryn James Adduci

Katherine Kyme

Roderick Cameron, Mendocino, CA, 1986; after Thomas Cahusac, London, 1740.

Janet See

Roderick Cameron, Mendocino, CA, 1986; after Peter J. (Pierre Jaillard) Bressan, London, circa 1710.

ainer Egger, Basel, 2004; after Leonhard Ehe III, Nuremberg, 1748.

Rainer Egger, Basel, 2005; after Leonhard Ehe III, Nuremberg, 1748.

Jay Haide, El Cerrito, CA, 2008; after Giovanni Paolo Maggini, Brescia, circa 1580.

TIMPANI Anonymous, England, circa 1840.

Debra Nagy *

Randall Cook, Basel, 2004; after Jonathan Bradbury, London, circa 1720.

Stephen Bard

Joel Robinson, New York, NY, 2003; “Saxon Model,” patterned on builders from Dresden & Leipzig, circa 1720.

PERCUSSION Various assortment of Percussion instruments

VIOLIN Andrea Guarneri, Cremona, 1660.

Robert Mealy *

Jason Viseltear, New York, NY, 2009; after Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù, Cremona, circa 1735.

2003 after “HKICW” (maker’s mark), Germany, circa 1700.

Carla Moore

Guntram Wolf, Kronach, Germany, 2011; after “HKICW” (maker’s mark), Germany, circa 1700.

HORN

Johann Georg Thir, Vienna, 1754.

Richard Seraphinoff, Bloominton, IN, 1997; copy of J. W. Haas, Nürnberg, early 18th century.

HARPSICHORD Corey Jamason *

Kevin Fryer, San Francisco, CA, 2011; after “Colmar” Johannes Ruckers, Antwerp, 1624.

John Phillips, Berkeley, CA, 2013; after Nicolas Dumont, Paris, 1707.

VIOLA DA GAMBA

ORGAN

Ken Slowik *

Corey Jamason *

John Brombaugh & Associates, Eugene, OR, 1980.

William Skeen *

John Pringle, Efland, NC, 2001; after William Addison, London, 1697.

Steven Lehning *

Marcelo Ardizzone, Paris, 1992; after Edward Lewis, England, circa 1700.

*ABS Academy Faculty **ABS Academy Alumnus The 1660 Andrea Guarneri violin played

by Elizabeth Blumenstock is made available to her though the generosity of the Philharmonia Baroque Period Instrument Trust.

Maxine Nemerovski

Timothy Johnson, Bloomington, IN, 1999; after Stradivari, Cremona, 17th century.

Noah Strick **

Paul Avril

Eric Lourme, Le Havre, France, 2009; after Brothers Amati, Cremona, 17th century.

Anonymous, German or Milanese, 1725.

Elizabeth Blumenstock *

Nate Helgeson **

Clio Tilton **

Violone: Hammond Ashley Luthiers, Issaquah, WA, 1977; after 17th-century models.

Contrabass: Anonymous, Austria, circa 1830.

Peter Maund

BASSOON Dominic Teresi * Guntram Wolf, Kronach, Germany,

Anonymous, Germany, 18th century.

Jason Pyszkowski ** Kent Reed

OBOE

Anonymous; copy of Mathias Eberle, Salzburg, 1696.

Celia Bridges, Cologne, 1988; after Nicola Amati, circa 1640.

David Wilson

Loren Tayerle

Lowell Greer, Ypsilanti, MI, 1982; after anonymous German, circa 1750.

Timothy Johnson, Hewitt, TX, 2007; after Stradivari, Cremona, 18th century.

VIOLONCELLO William Skeen *

Anonymous, The Netherlands, circa 1685.

Kenneth Slowik *

5-string, Anonymous, Northern Italy, circa 1680.

Gretchen Claassen **

Anonymous, American early 18th century.

David Morris

John Morrison, London, circa 1780

American Bach Choir SOPRANO I

SOPRANO II

ALTO

COUNTERTENOR

TENOR

BASS

Michelle Clair Tonia D’Amelio Shauna Fallihee Diana Pray Cheryl Sumsion

Jennifer Brody Cheryl Cain Rita Lilly Meghan Spyker Helene Zindarsian

Amelia Triest Heidi Waterman Celeste Winant

James Apgar Nicholas Burns Daniel Cromeenes Clifton Massey

Edward Betts Mark Bonney Andrew Morgan Mark Mueller Sam Smith

John Kendall Bailey Adam Cole Jeff Fields Boyd Jarrell Jefferson Packer Chad Runyon

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Jeffrey Thomas & Corey Jamason, Co-Directors

Instrumentalists VIOLIN Sarah Bleile – Calgary, Alberta, Canada Alexa Cantalupo – Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Alice Culin-Ellison – Cleveland, Ohio Delaney Harter – Chicago, Illinois Shan Jiang – Beijing, China Addi Liu – San Bruno, California Holly Piccoli – Melbourne, Australia Guillermo Salas-Suárez – Grecia, Costa Rica Chiara Stauffer – Cleveland, Ohio Alana Youssefian – Haddon Heights, New Jersey VIOLA Katie Hagen – Pleasant Hill, California Zoe Kemmerling – Davis, California Dan McCarthy – New York, New York Daniel Mireles – Long Beach, California Ramón Negrón – Canóvanas, Puerto Rico Whitney Smith – San Francisco, California VIOLONCELLO Isaac Pastor-Chermak – Berkeley, California Alexa Pilon – Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada Frédéric Rosselet – San Francisco, California Mikala Schmitz – Lansdale, Pennsylvania Paul Vanderwal – Wayne, New Jersey Oliver Weston – New York, New York CONTRABASS / VIOLONE Shawn Alger – Woodland, California Matthew Girolami – Toronto, Ontario, Canada Benjamin Rechel – Cambridge, Massachusetts Daniel Turkos – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania FLUTE Mili Chang – Kaohsiung City, Taiwan Weronika Balewski – Boston, Massachusetts Laura Hairgrove Randall – Boston, Massachusetts Jonathan Slade – Portsmouth, United Kingdom Aik Shin Tan – Penang, Malaysia Bethanne Walker – Eugene, Oregon OBOE David Dickey – Bowie, Maryland Cameron Kirkpatrick – Boston, Massachusetts Fiona Last – Southampton, United Kingdom Anke Nickel – Hamburg, Germany Aki Nishiguchi – Ashiya, Hyogo, Japan BASSOON Georgeanne Banker – San Francisco, California Neil Chen – Toronto, Ontario, Canada Leah Kohn – Hanover, New Hampshire Joseph Jones – Brigham City, Utah 16

TRUMPET Louie Eckhardt – Hastings, Nebraska Dominic Favia – Vienna, Virginia Steven Marquardt – Minneapolis, Minnesota HORN Sadie Glass – Napa, California HARPSICHORD / ORGAN Gabriel Benton – Dover, Pennsylvania Kyle Collins – Shongaloo, Louisiana Kevin Devine – San Francisco, California Hee-Seung Lee – Seoul, South Korea Jacqueline Nappi – Durham, North Carolina John Steven Yeh – Hong Kong THEORBO Paul Holmes Morton – Strasburg, Pennsylvania Tatiana Senderowicz – Moraga, California

Vocalists SOPRANO Hannah De Priest – Kansas City, Missouri Julianna Emanski – Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Rebecca Myers Hoke – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Chelsea Morris – Paw Paw, Michigan Grace Srinivasan – Silver Spring, Maryland MEZZO-SOPRANO Eva Kastner-Puschl – Graz, Austria Sylvia Leith – Bethesda, Maryland Sara LeMesh – San Rafael, California Elisa Sutherland – Milwaukee, Wisconsin COUNTERTENOR Nicholas Burns – Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Travis Hewitt – Salt Lake City, Utah Patrick Dailey – Nashville, Tennessee Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen – Brooklyn, New York TENOR Steven Brennfleck – Ewing, New Jersey Matthew Hill – Laurel, Maryland Ryan Townsend Strand – Minnetonka, Minnesota BARITONE Ben Kazez – San Francisco, California Corbin Phillips – Nashville, Tennessee David G. Rugger – Bloomington, Indiana BASS Christopher Besch – Houston, Texas

Artist & Academy Faculty Biographies ELIZABETH BLUMENSTOCK (violin & viola) started playing the violin at age eight when her mother developed a crush on a fine local violinist. Their relationship did not pan out, but Elizabeth is still with the violin, despite brief affairs with some violas. She grew up listening to Baroque music at home: “It was the background music to my childhood. But then I heard these [Harnoncourt and Leonhardt] cantata recordings. I was blown away by the expressiveness and instrumental timbres. The music came alive.” Now widely admired as a baroque violinist of expressive eloquence and technical sparkle, she is a long-time concertmaster, soloist, and leader with the Bay Area’s American Bach Soloists and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and is concertmaster of the International Handel Festival in Göttingen, Germany. In Southern California, Elizabeth is Music Director of the Corona del Mar Baroque Music Festival. Her love of chamber music has involved her in several accomplished and interesting smaller ensembles including Musica Pacifica, Galax Quartet, Ensemble Mirable, Live Oak Baroque, the Arcadian Academy, and Trio Galanterie.

She has appeared with period orchestras and chamber ensembles throughout the United States and abroad, and has performed for the Boston and Berkeley Early Music Festivals, Los Angeles Opera, the Carmel Bach Festival, the Oulunsalo Soi festival in Finland, and the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival, among many others.

With more than 95 titles in her discography, she has recorded for Harmonia Mundi, Deutsche Grammophon, Virgin Classics, Dorian, BMG, American Bach Soloists, Reference Recordings, Koch International, and Sono Luminus. An enthusiastic educator and mentor, Elizabeth teaches at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the American Bach Soloists’ summer Festival and Academy, and the International Baroque Institute at Longy, with former appointments at the University of Southern California and the Austrian Baroque Academy, among others. When not concertizing or teaching, she plays Scrabble obsessively, and pieces quilt tops. She has ten of them now, none of which has been quilted.

MAX van EGMOND (bass-baritone) was born in 1936, on the isle of Java (Netherlands East Indies, at the time). After World War II, he completed his education and musical studies in the Netherlands. He became a member of the Nederlandse Bachvereniging (Dutch Bach Society) at the age of eighteen. In 1959 (three years after his friend and compatriot, Elly Ameling) he became one of the prizewinners at the ‘s‑Hertogenbosch Vocal competition. He took prizes also in Brussels (1959) and Munich (1964) competitions. Those prizes marked the beginning of his full-time career as a singer of oratorio, lieder, and baroque opera. He achieved his greatest fame as an interpreter of J. S. Bach’s cantatas, masses,

and passions, and from 1965 participated in complete recordings and performances of these masterpieces with conductors Gustav Leonhardt, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Frans Brüggen. His recordings Songs of the Baroque Era and Monteverdi’s Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda (both Telefunken/Decca) were awarded the prestigious Edison Award recognizing outstanding achievements in the music industry. In more recent years, he has participated in recordings of the great Schubert Cycles (MusicaOmnia) and La bonne chanson

by Fauré (Channel Classics). Following four decades of performing, he is now much in demand for workshops and master classes around the world, including annual visits to Mateus, Portugal for 21 years and the Baroque Performance Institute at Oberlin, Ohio for 32 years. In 2012, McGill University, Montreal, awarded him an Honorary Doctorate in Music. His concerts, recordings, and many prominent students all provide eloquent testimony not only to his expertise in all areas of the vocal repertoire, but also to his great kindness and humanity in the service of music.

COREY JAMASON (harpsichord & Academy CoDirector) was born in New York City and developed a fascination with baroque music as a young piano student growing up in Puerto Rico and Florida. He was introduced to the harpsichord by Anthony Newman while an undergraduate student at SUNY Purchase and then pursued further studies in early music at Yale University and at the Early Music Institute at Indiana University. His fascination with historically informed performance and a love of American musical theater and vaudeville led him and his colleague Eric Davis to create Theatre Comique, an ensemble specializing in reviving late nineteenth and early 20th-century American musical theater in historically informed performances. He has performed the Goldberg Variations and the Well-Tempered Clavier throughout the United States and his playing of Bach was described in the Los Angeles Times as displaying “the careful, due balance of objective detachment and lofty passion.” From 2007 to 2014 he was artistic director of the San Francisco Bach Choir. Nominated for a GRAMMY® award, his recent recordings include performances with American Bach Soloists, violinist Gilles Apap, recorder player Astrid Andersson, and El Mundo. He is a contributing author to History of Performance, published in 2012 by Cambridge University Press and is currently preparing an article on the performance practice of early 20thcentury musical theater for Oxford Handbooks Online.

He joined the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory in 2001 where he is director of the school’s historical performance program and professor of harpsichord.

Corey has enjoyed working with a variety of ensembles, appearing frequently with American Bach Soloists, with

Academy Faculty Elizabeth Blumenstock, violin & viola Max van Egmond, voice Corey Jamason, harpsichord Steven Lehning, violone & contrabass Judith Malafronte, voice Robert Mealy, violin & viola Sandra Miller, flute

Academy Staff Debra Nagy, oboe & recorder William Sharp, voice William Skeen, viola da gamba & violoncello Kenneth Slowik, viola da gamba & violoncello Dominic Teresi, bassoon John Thiessen, trumpet Jeffrey Thomas, conductor

Jeff McMillan, Academy Administrator Derek Tam, accompanist Michael Peterson, accompanist Kelly Savage, accompanist Andrew Wang, accompanist

17

Artist & Academy Faculty Biographies whom he is principal keyboardist, as well as a variety of other groups such as the San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Opera, Philharmonia Baroque, Musica Angelica, Camerata Pacifica, Yale Spectrum, and El Mundo.

News, Early Music America, Stagebill, Schwann Inside, and Opus. She is a faculty member at Yale University where she teaches, among other courses, a freshman seminar she created on Shakespeare and Music.

STEVEN LEHNING (violone & contrabass) was attending Pacific Lutheran University as an undergraduate when he stumbled upon a used book store that had a nearly complete collection of the Bach-Gesellschaft edition of Bach Cantatas in mini-score; each for only a nickel!

Finding these while taking a class in Lutheran theology set him on a trajectory that prepared him to eventually become one of the founding members of the American Bach Soloists. A remarkable and versatile musician who is equally at home with violas da gamba, violones, contrabass, and historical keyboards, he has worked with many of the luminaries of the early music world including Jeffrey Thomas, John Butt, Andrew Parrott, and Ton Koopman. He has performed at the acclaimed Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, as well as the Early Music Festivals in Boston and Berkeley. After finishing his undergraduate degree and while waiting to see what performances might come his way, he worked as an apprentice learning the art of French bread and pastry. Always curious about the entirety of the world in which the music he plays came from, he dove into many aspects of early music. In addition to performing with ABS, he is their librarian, and tunes harpsichords and organs for rehearsals and performances. On the scholarship side, he has pursued graduate studies in musicology at the University of California (Davis).

Steve has recorded on the American Bach Soloists, Delos, EMI, Harmonia Mundi, and Koch Labels.

ROBERT MEALY (violin & viola) first began exploring early music as a teenager in Berkeley. He joined the UC Collegium Musicum in high school, working with Alan Curtis and Philip Brett; at 16 he spent a formative year studying in London, where he performed with the baroque orchestra of the Royal College of Music.

While still an undergraduate at Harvard he was asked to join Tafelmusik, with whom he toured and recorded for eight years. He then moved to Europe to work with Les Arts Florissants; he also played frequently with Sequentia, with whom he toured the world performing Hildegard. He directed the Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra for over a decade, and then led the Yale Collegium for many years; he remains Professor of Early Music at the Yale School of Music. In 2009, he joined the faculty of the new Historical Performance program at the Juilliard School, and became Director of the program in 2012. A devoted chamber musician, he loves to play with his friends in Quicksilver, which has received much critical acclaim in many festival appearances. He cofounded the medieval ensemble Fortune’s Wheel, which performed throughout the United States and in Mexico, and played for years with the King’s Noyse. Robert regularly appears as a soloist and concertmaster in New York City, where he leads the GRAMMY®-nominated orchestra of Trinity Wall Street in their weekly performances of Bach cantatas.

As Orchestra Director of the Boston Early Music Festival, he has led this distinguished ensemble since 2004 in many festival operas, tours, and recordings. He has made over 80 CDs, and still very much likes to practice.

JUDITH MALAFRONTE (mezzo-soprano) was born in Stratford, Connecticut and attended American Shakespeare Theater rehearsals and performances as a toddler and believed everyone was in a play or, in some way, involved backstage in theater. Since pursuing her path as a performer, she has appeared with Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the San Francisco Symphony, the St. Louis and Baltimore Symphonies, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Seattle Baroque Orchestra, and the Handel and Haydn Society. She has sung at the Tanglewood Festival, the Boston Early Music Festival, and the Utrecht Early Music Festival, and is a frequent guest artist with the American Bach Soloists, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, The Harp Consort, and the medieval vocal ensemble Bicinium, which she cofounded with Drew Minter in 2004. Her operatic performances have included the title role in Handel’s Serse at the Göttingen Festival, Scarlatti’s L’Aldimiro at the Berkeley Festival, Dido and Aeneas with Mark Morris Dance Group (singing both Dido and the Sorceress), the title role of Handel’s Ariodante at the Spoleto USA Festival, and Nero in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea for the Aston Magna Festival. She holds degrees with honors from Vassar College and Stanford University, and pursued post-graduate studies at the Eastman School of Music, with Mlle. Nadia Boulanger in Paris, and with Giulietta Simionato in Milan as a Fulbright scholar. She has recorded a wide range of repertoire, from the 12th-century chant of Hildegard von Bingen to the Deutsche Motette of Richard Strauss, including Handel operas, Bach cantatas, the St. Matthew Passion, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with American Bach Soloists, medieval music, and Spanish 17th-century music. Her writings on music have appeared in Opera 18

SANDRA MILLER (flute) had an early fascination with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach that ultimately led her to the baroque flauto traverso, upon which she is widely regarded to be one of the finest performers of her generation. Trained at the North Carolina School of the Arts and the Curtis Institute of Music in the conservatory curriculum traditional for woodwind players, she chose—instead of the path leading to membership in a symphony orchestra—to settle in New York City, where she leads an active musical life, appearing in a variety of chamber music performances, solo recitals, and orchestral concerts. She was winner of the Concert Artists Guild Competition, the Erwin Bodky Competition for Early Music, and of a Solo Recitalist’s Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Sandra is frequently invited to perform and record with many well-known period-instrument ensembles, touring throughout the United States and in Canada, South America, Europe and Asia. For many years Professor (now Emerita) of Music at the Purchase College Conservatory of Music (SUNY), she has also taught at the Mannes College of Music, in the City University of New York’s doctoral program, at the New England Conservatory of Music, and as Kulas Visiting Artist at Case Western Reserve University. She currently serves on the faculty of the Historical Performance Program at the Juilliard School of Music. Her solo recordings include the complete Bach flute sonatas and, on six- and eight-keyed classical flutes, the three Mozart concertos.

Artist & Academy Faculty Biographies KATHRYN MUELLER (soprano) was born in San Francisco, and began her musical studies on the edge of Arizona’s White Mountain Apache Reservation. During high school in Rhode Island she lucked into the world of early music, when she brought a Handel aria to a local church director for coaching. He asked, “Do you have a high C?” and asked her to sight-read the Allegri Miserere, then hired her for her first professional singing gig: a section leader position. Kathryn continued her vocal studies as an undergraduate at Brown University, followed by a Masters degree from the University of Arizona. Praised by San Francisco Classical Voice for her “lovely tone and easy agility,” she has appeared as a soloist with ensembles across the United States including American Bach Soloists, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Santa Fe Pro Musica, Grand Rapids Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Winston-Salem Symphony, Miami’s Firebird Orchestra, and in operatic productions with Arizona Opera and Bach Collegium San Diego.

Performances have also taken her to Indonesia and Mexico. Kathryn adores chamber music, especially her collaborations with the award-winning Wayward Sisters. Honors include two GRAMMY®-nominated albums with Seraphic Fire and prizes from the Oratorio Society of New York’s Solo Competition and Early Music America’s Baroque Performance Competition. Kathryn is on the voice faculty at East Carolina University and lives in Raleigh, NC with her college choral director husband, cute baby, and crazy dog. Although she has not lived in California since she was 18 months old (except for a summer as an Adams Fellow at the Carmel Bach Festival), she delights in returning to her natal city to perform with American Bach Soloists.

DEBRA NAGY (oboe & recorder) was once worried she’d be spending an entire summer in a windowless basement repairing pianos at the Oberlin Conservatory so her teacher suggested she attend an early music workshop, offering, “Even if you hate it and never want to play baroque oboe again, it will help your modern playing.” Hearing Bach’s Christmas Oratorio on period instruments for the first time, she knew that early music could be her vocation. Debra has been praised for her “dazzling technique and soulful expressiveness,” (Rocky Mountain News), and deemed “a baroque oboist of consummate taste and expressivity” (Cleveland Plain Dealer). She performs with baroque ensembles and orchestras on both coasts including American Bach Soloists, Portland and Seattle’s Baroque Orchestras, Tempesta di Mare, REBEL, Apollo’s Fire, Musica Pacifica, and many others. Debra was the first-prize winner in the 2002 American Bach Soloists Young Artist Competition, is the director of Les Délices (whose debut recording was named “One of the Top Ten Early Music Discoveries of 2009”), and performs 15thcentury music on shawms and recorders as a member of Ciaramella. She directs the Collegium Musicum and teaches Medieval & Renaissance Notation at Case Western Reserve University (where she earned her doctorate), and completed undergraduate and master’s degrees at the Oberlin Conservatory with additional studies at the Amsterdam Conservatory. Debra makes her home in Cleveland, OH, which awarded her a 2010 Creative Workforce Fellowship (generously funded by Cuyahoga Arts & Culture). She is also an unabashed foodie and loves commuting by bike from her home in Cleveland’s historic Ohio City neighborhood.

WILLIAM SHARP (baritone) was a teenager when he became interested in medieval and renaissance music, Bach, Romantic Lieder and mélodie, and contemporary music. His highly inclusive musical diet as a young man laid the foundation for a career as a leading performer and educator of musical styles spanning 900 years, from the 12th century to today. His first professional solo performance was in Bach’s St. John Passion, 40 years ago.

He left doctoral studies at the Eastman School of Music to join a leading early music ensemble and performed hundreds of concerts. His expertise in art song led to his winning the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, the Carnegie Hall International American Music Competition, and the Geneva International Music Competition. He has performed as a soloist throughout the US and abroad, including a sold-out solo recital in Carnegie Hall. He was nominated for a GRAMMY® award for Best Classical Vocal Performance for his recording featuring the works of American composers such as Virgil Thomson, John Musto, and Lee Hoiby in 1989 and his recording of Leonard Bernstein’s last major work, Arias and Barcarolles, won a GRAMMY® Award in 1990. He is profoundly grateful for the career that he has enjoyed, consisting of innumerable concerts and recordings, operatic engagements in Baroque and contemporary works, and teaching, which has long been central to his musical life. He currently serves on the voice faculty of Peabody Conservatory of Music of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

William is proud of his association with American Bach Soloists, a collaboration which began twenty-five years ago during the inaugural season. Along with being a featured soloist at ABS concerts, he has appeared on their recordings of Bach cantatas, the St. Matthew Passion, the Mass in B Minor, and Handel’s Messiah.

WILLIAM SKEEN (violoncello and viola da gamba) had little incentive to practice cello as a young man growing up in tropical South Florida. He overcame the acute lack of arts culture in his surroundings when he found chamber music partners among a community of retired 1930s orchestra musicians in Miami Beach. Today, he is Principal Cellist with American Bach Soloists, Musica Angelica, and Co-Principal Cellist with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. He has also appeared as solo cellist with the Los Angeles, Portland, and Seattle baroque orchestras and is a frequent continuo cellist for opera companies including Chicago Opera and San Diego Opera. He is Co-Founder of the New Esterházy Quartet, whose repertoire includes over 150 string quartets performed exclusively on gut strings. Bill performs with several leading early music ensembles including Aeris, El Mundo, Galanterie, Agave Baroque, Philharmonia Chamber Players, Pacific MusicWorks in Seattle, Portland Baroque Orchestra, and Bach Collegium San Diego. In addition to his busy schedule as a period instrument specialist, he also serves as associate principal cellist of the Stockton Symphony and was, for seven seasons, a member of the Carmel Bach Festival orchestra. He has appeared on over 80 recordings for Koch, Delos, BIS, Hannsler, Sono Luminus, and Pandore records. Since 2000, Bill has been a faculty member of the University of Southern California where he teaches baroque cello and viola da gamba.

KENNETH SLOWIK (violoncello & viola da gamba) built his first harpsichord from a kit at age twelve in order to indulge his love of Bach and the English virginalists.

19

Nicholas McGegan’s 30th Season!

Highlights include:

nicholas mcgegan, music director

Scarlatti’s La gloria di primavera – the American premiere!

Bach’s Brandenburgs with Richard Egarr Handel & Purcell with the Philharmonia Chorale Majestic Mozart with Kristian Bezuidenhout Plus, subscribers get exclusive access to tickets for a gala performance featuring Susan graham. www.philharmonia.org/subscribe

Subscribing is always the best deal.

Call (415) 295-1900 to order your seats.

20

nicholas mcgegan

philharmonia.org

Artist & Academy Faculty Biographies Artistic Director of the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society since 1985, he initially established his reputation as a cellist and viola da gamba player through his work with the Smithsonian Chamber Players, Castle Trio, Smithson String Quartet, Axelrod Quartet, and with the Amsterdam-based ensemble L’Archibudelli. Conductor of the Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra since 1988, he led the Santa Fe Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra from 1998 to 2004, and has been a featured instrumental soloist and conductor with numerous other orchestras, among them the National Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, l’Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, the Vancouver Symphony, the Filharmonia Sudecka, and the Cleveland Orchestra. His impressive discography comprises over seventy recordings featuring him as conductor, cellist, gambist, baryton player, and keyboard player for music ranging from the Baroque (Marais, Corelli, Bach) through the Classical (Haydn, Boccherini, Beethoven, Schubert) and Romantic (Mendelssohn, Gade, Spohr, Schumann) to the early 20th century (Schönberg, Mahler, Richard Strauss). Of these, many have won prestigious international awards, including France’s Diapason d’Or and Choc, the “British Music Retailers’ Award for Excellence,” Italy’s Premio Internazionale del Disco Antonio Vivaldi, two GRAMMY® nominations, and numerous “Record of the Month” and “Record of the Year” prizes. He has presented lectures throughout the United States and has contributed to a number of symposia at American and European museums. Artistic Director of the Baroque Performance Institute at Oberlin since 1993, he serves on the faculties of the University of Maryland and L’Académie internationale du Domaine Forget, and received the Smithsonian Secretary’s Distinguished Research Lecture Award in 2011.

DOMINIC TERESI (bassoon) started out musical life as a saxophonist and later took up the modern bassoon at university. He first became enamoured with historical bassoons while a graduate student at Yale, listening to Ensemble Zefiro play Zelenka during his 60 mile commute each day to and from New Haven. Several speeding tickets later, he finally got his hands on a baroque bassoon and has never looked back. After a year of doctoral studies in early music at Indiana University, he won a job with Tafelmusik where he has played principal bassoon for the past 14 years. Dominic also teaches historical bassoons and chamber music at The Juilliard School, and plays with Quicksilver, the Boston Early Music Festival, American Bach Soloists, and Juilliard Baroque. In demand on dulcian, baroque, classical, and modern bassoon, he has also enjoyed playing with Le Concert d’Astrée, L’Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, Arion Orchestra, Ensemble Caprice and Apollo’s Fire. His playing has been described as “stellar” (The New York Times), “reminding us of the expressive powers of the bassoon” (The Globe and Mail). Dominic has been a featured artist on CBC Radio, performing a live radio concert of bassoon concertos and sonatas, and has appeared as a concerto soloist throughout Europe, Australia and North America. When home, Dominic appreciates being able to bike, cook, garden, and play and read with his silly and wonderful kids.

JOHN THIESSEN (trumpet) began his journey as a brass player on the modern valve trumpet, and he was introduced to the baroque trumpet as a young man in his native Ontario, Canada. Following his undergraduate degree in performance at the Eastman School of Music,

where he studied 17th- and 18th-century music with lutenist Paul O’Dette and cultural historian Peter Kountz, Mr. Thiessen chose to specialize in period performance, training in the UK with renowned soloists Michael Laird and Crispian Steele-Perkins, and completing a master’s degree in musicology at King’s College, University of London. While living in the UK, he performed with the Academy of Ancient Music, Monteverdi Orchestra, Taverner Players, and Amsterdam Baroque. In 1990, he returned to Canada where he was Principal Trumpet with Tafelmusik, and now also holds that position with the American Bach Soloists, Trinity Baroque, Philharmonia Baroque, and the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra.

On the modern trumpet, he has recently appeared as soloist with the San Francisco Symphony and as principal with the St Luke’s Orchestra. 2013-14 season highlights include J. S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in New York and San Francisco, numerous cantatas with Trinity Baroque in New York, and Magnificat with Tafelmusik in Leipzig; as well as productions of Handel’s Messiah, Saul, Israel in Egypt, and Samson throughout North America. John teaches at the Juilliard School of Music, and has presented master classes throughout the United States and Canada. He has recorded extensively for Sony Classical Vivarte, Telarc, EMI, BMG, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, London Decca, Analekta, CBC, Tafelmusik Media, and Denon, including major works by Bach, Handel, Purcell, Vivaldi, Biber, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert.

JEFFREY THOMAS (conductor & Academy Co-Director) has loved the music of Bach since his teenage years when he took up harpsichord and organ studies. He attended the Oberlin Conservatory and The Juilliard School, and enjoyed brief forays in musical theater (including dancing with the legendary hoofer, Ann Miller), before beginning his professional career as a tenor at the Spoleto USA Festival and the San Francisco Opera, which awarded him one of their first prestigious Adler Fellowships. While at the SFO, he made the acquaintance of Laurette Goldberg, who introduced him to Gustav Leonhardt and set in motion his career in early music. Engagements with most major US symphonies and Baroque orchestras followed, including collaborations with the greatest early music conductors and scholars including Hogwood, Koopman, Norrington, Parrott, and Rifkin. Appearances abroad took him to the UK, Europe, Japan, and Southeast Asia.

Cited by the Wall Street Journal as “a superstar among oratorio tenors,” His extensive discography of vocal music includes dozens of recordings of major works for Decca, EMI, Erato, Koch International Classics, Denon, Harmonia Mundi, Smithsonian, Newport Classics, and Arabesque. For the past 25 years, as Music Director of ABS, he has counted himself among the luckiest conductors in the world, being able to work with superb colleagues that have inspired him to continue his pursuit of perfection in the performance of the music of Bach and others. Thoroughly dedicated to the education and mentorship of new generations of early music performers, he established the ABS Academy and holds a Barbara K. Jackson Professorship in Conducting at the University of California, Davis. Listeners around the world enjoy his weekly streaming broadcasts of choral music and Baroque music produced by Classical KDFC.

More artist biographies are available online at americanbach.org/ bios

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DECEMBER 12 2015

Bach’s Christmas Oratorio Hélène Brunet soprano Agnes Vojtko alto Kyle Stegall tenor Jesse Blumberg baritone Jeffrey Thomas conductor Saturday December 12 2015 7:30 pm Saint Ignatius Church, San Francisco

Jeffrey Thomas • Artistic Director

2015/16 Our 27th Season

Subscriptions Now Available

ABS presents a feast of Baroque splendor

Last presented by ABS in 2008, Johann Sebastian Bach’s vast and inspiring “Christmas Oratorio” (Weihnachts-Oratorium, BWV 248) contains elements of three secular cantatas and an otherwise lost church cantata that Bach synthesized into a single, unified musical expression of the Christmas story. Requiring four vocal soloists, a full complement of wind and brass instruments, and choir, it is an expansive piece comprised of six separate cantatas originally performed over multiple days. ABS will present Bach’s grand work in its entirety within the gorgeous venue of San Francisco’s Saint Ignatius Church. The “Christmas Oratorio” will also be performed on December 13 at the Robert & Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts in Davis.

DECEMBER 16–18 2015

Handel’s Messiah Hélène Brunet soprano Agnes Vojtko alto Kyle Stegall tenor Jesse Blumberg baritone Jeffrey Thomas conductor Wednesday December 16 2015 7:30 pm Grace Cathedral, San Francisco Thursday December 17 2015 7:30 pm Grace Cathedral, San Francisco Friday December 18 2015 7:30 pm Grace Cathedral, San Francisco The beloved holiday tradition continues! ABS’s annual presentations of Messiah in Grace Cathedral bring together Handel’s timeless score, the outstanding performances of ABS, and one of San Francisco’s most breathtaking settings in an indelible Bay Area experience. Thomas will direct the renowned period-instrument orchestra, the American Bach Choir, and four leading vocal soloists in three unforgettable performances that are sure to draw music lovers from around California and beyond. These performances sell out year after year – get your tickets today!

including cantatas, works for violin, and a trilogy of oratorios by J. S. Bach, choral masterpieces by Handel, and luminous works by Kuhnau and Buxtehude.

SUBSCRIBE TODAY!

americanbach.org (415) 621-7900

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JANUARY 22–25 2016

Bach Favorites BACH: Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben BACH: Toccata & Fugue in D Minor for Violin BACH: Wachet! betet! betet! wachet!

BACH: Violin Concerto in E Major Mary Wilson soprano Derek Chester tenor Mischa Bouvier baritone Tatiana Chulochnikova violin - 2016 Recipient of The Jeffrey Thomas Award Jeffrey Thomas conductor Friday January 22 2016 8:00 pm St. Stephen’s Church, Belvedere Saturday January 23 2016 8:00 pm First Congregational Church, Berkeley Sunday January 24 2016 4:00 pm St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, San Francisco Monday January 25 2016 7:00 pm Davis Community Church, Davis ABS’s 27th subscription season opens with an all-Bach program that displays the composer’s genius in a variety of settings. Maestro Thomas leads his ABS forces in two brilliant cantatas, Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147 (“Heart and Mouth and Deed and Life”), a work best known for the beloved chorale setting, “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring,” and Wachet! betet! betet! wachet!, BWV 70 (“Watch!

Pray! Pray! Watch!”), a bold and urgent setting of a text about the Day of Judgment. Violinist Tatiana Chulochnikova, the 2016 recipient of The Jeffrey Thomas Award, will be featured in a pair of thrilling instrumental works. Exhibiting the dazzling technique and bravura style that have made her one of today’s most exciting new Baroque violinists, Chulochnikova will perform her own transcription of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor for solo violin and the Concerto for Violin in E Major, BWV 1042.

FEBRUARY 26–29 2016

Alexander’s Feast HANDEL: Alexander’s Feast HANDEL: Concerto Grosso in C Major HANDEL: Harp Concerto in B Flat Major

BRUNET

Anna Gorbachyova soprano (debut) Aaron Sheehan tenor William Sharp baritone Maria Christina Cleary harp Jeffrey Thomas conductor Friday February 26 2016 8:00 pm St. Stephen’s Church, Belvedere Saturday February 27 2016 8:00 pm First Congregational Church, Berkeley Sunday February 28 2016 4:00 pm St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, San Francisco Monday February 29 2016 7:00 pm Davis Community Church, Davis Based on a poem by John Dryden, subtitled “The Power of Music,” Handel’s ode, Alexander’s Feast, recounts a banquet held for Alexander the Great in the conquered city of Persepolis at which the musician Timotheus moves the great military commander through a course of emotions until he is compelled to seek revenge for his perished Greek soldiers, killed by the armies of the Persian King Darius III. Handel’s richly scored setting expresses the narrative in a direct manner that is, at times, surprising in its intensity. This evening-length work of some of the composer’s most ambitious and glorious choral music will feature the acclaimed American Bach Choir and an outstanding trio of vocal soloists. Following Handel’s tradition of inserting instrumental concertos between the work’s different parts, ABS will perform his Concerto Grosso in C Major and Harp Concerto in B Flat Major.

VOJTKO

STEGALL

BLUMBERG

WILSON

APRIL 22–25 2016

CHESTER

Easter & Ascension Oratorios BACH: Easter Oratorio BUXTEHUDE: Heut triumphieret Gottes Sohn BACH: Ascension Oratorio KUHNAU: Ihr Himmel jubiliert von oben

BOUVIER

Clara Rottsolk soprano Eric Jurenas countertenor Zachary Wilder tenor Joshua Copeland bass Jeffrey Thomas conductor Friday April 22 2016 8:00 pm St. Stephen’s Church, Belvedere Saturday April 23 2016 8:00 pm First Congregational Church, Berkeley Sunday April 24 2016 4:00 pm St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, San Francisco Monday April 25 2016 7:00 pm Davis Community Church, Davis Bach composed impressive oratorios for three important occasions of the Lutheran calendar: Christmas, Easter, and the Feast of the Ascension. Completing the trilogy begun in December (see December 12-13 for “Christmas Oratorio”), ABS will perform the composer’s exuberant “Easter Oratorio” (Oster-Oratorium, BWV 249) and “Ascension Oratorio” (Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen, BWV 11). Pulling out all the stops for these jubilant works—trumpets, timpani, flutes, oboes, recorders, strings, and voices—Bach composed joyful, extroverted music, tempered by exquisite moments of reflective calm. Along with these masterworks from Bach’s mature years in Leipzig, Thomas and his ABS forces will perform an Ascension cantata by Bach’s predecessor Johann Kuhnau and Heut triumphieret Gottes Sohn (“Today God’s Son triumphs”), a work for Easter by one of Bach’s important musical influences, Dieterich Buxtehude.

CHULOCHNIKOVA

GORBACHYOVA

SHEEHAN

SHARP

ROTTSOLK

JURENAS

ABS Subscribers enjoy exclusive perks.

Visit americanbach.org/subscribe for more information.

WILDER

Programs and Artists subject to change.

COPELAND

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ABS on CD Bach Brandenburg Concertos Bach Harpsichord Concertos Bach Italian Transcriptions Bach Mass in B Minor

Bach St. Matthew Passion Beethoven Ninth Symphony Corelli Concerti Grossi Handel Messiah

Haydn Masses Sch端tz Choral & Vocal Works The Art of Ian Howell Mary Wilson Sings Handel

St Matthew Passion Highlights Carols for Christmas Solo Cantatas Trauerode

M端hlhausen Cantatas Cantatas for Easter Weimar Cantatas Favorite Cantatas

americanbach.org/recordings 24

Available in the Lobby during the Festival.

Versailles & The Parisian Baroque I This concert is generously sponsored by John & Lois Crowe.

AMERICAN BACH SOLOISTS Jeffrey Thomas, conductor • Les Élémens, Symphonie Nouvelle (Paris, 1737)

Jean-Féry Rebel

Le Cahos Les Élémens “La Terre & L’Eau” Chaconne gai ”Le Feu” L’Air “Ramage” Rossignols Loure Tambourins I & II Sicillienne Rondeau “Air pour l’Amour“ Caprice

1666-1747

Suite II in D Major, Op. 9, no. 2

Jacques Aubert le Vieux

Concert de Simphonies pour les Violons, Flutes, et Hautbois (Paris, 1731)

1689-1753

Ouverture Rondeaux I & II Airs I & II Sarabande Rigaudons I & II Fanfare Menuets I & II Gavottes I & II Tambourins I & II Chaconne ~ Intermission ~ Ouverture & Suite from Naïs, Opéra pour la Paix (Paris, 1749) Ouverture (Modéré—Vit) Musette tendre Menuets I & II Tambourins I & II Musette Sarabande Entrée majestueuse de Dieux Gavotte vive, pour les Zéphirs Gavotte légère en rondeau & Gavotte II Rigaudons I & II Entrée des Lutteurs—Chaconne—Air de Triomphe

Jean-Philippe Rameau 1683-1764

Versailles & The Parisian Baroque I

Friday August 7 2015

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Friday August 7 2015 Of all the musical riches that have been provided to us through the French Baroque—the delicacy of supple ornamentation, the refined polish of its chamber music, the natural and graceful flow of vocal music, and the timeless aspect of its reliance on the old and the new through the retention of the viola da gamba and the forward-looking cultivation of the flauto traverso—it can be said that the most glorious contribution is the sumptuous sound of its orchestras as they developed during the reigns of Louis XIII and Louis XIV. In 1626, Louis XIII officially established an ensemble of the finest string players in the land called Les Vingt-quatre Violons du Roi (“The 24 Violins [including violas and ‘cellos] of the King”). Occasionally they would join forces with the King’s wind and brass ensemble, the Grande Écurie, and together those ensembles would join the orchestra of the opera. Then, under Louis XIV, the 24 were bolstered by an additional group of string players (named La petite bande), a supplementation that created a new name for the Vingt-quatre: La grande bande.

The most defining aspect of the string orchestras was the configuration of their various sections. Between the topmost, melodic line and the bottom bass line (originally 6 violins and 6 bass instruments, known as basse de violon) were an equal number of violas divided into three sections of four players each. Those inner parts rarely contributed much more than harmonic support, almost never being assigned anything extraordinarily independent, but the sonority of that support is one of the defining aspects of the French Baroque orchestra.

Under the direction of Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687), the Vingt-quatre Violons achieved even higher levels of skill, especially in the detail of their ensemble control. Such a focus on perfection, however, never took a toll on the focus on gracefulness that was a trademark of both the music itself and the performance gestalt of the period. And one of the compositional (and performance) methods that assured that lightness of sonority was the very same distribution of parts as just described. The top line, called Dessus (“above”), was almost always reinforced by the addition of wind instruments—oboes, flutes, recorders—drawing the listener’s attention away from those rich, but deferential inner parts. Thus, the sometimes nimble and acrobatic, and at other times pliable and willowy, (yet always elegant) melodic line would steal the spotlight, elevating its contours away from the harmonic infrastructure.

This tonal concept lent itself perfectly to the French Baroque’s heavy reliance on dance structures. While Italian composers prioritized forms that created structural organization, and while German composers pursued perfect fugal counterpoint, French composers took a nod from the court’s enjoyment of the dance: Louis XIV made his debut as a ballet dancer at the age of 13, and his enthusiasm for the ballet never waned.

The eminence of the royal musical institutions in Paris and at Versailles created a tradition in France, and even today the modern-day equivalent ensembles have not lost their dominance over international rankings. The Orchestre de Paris, the Paris Opéra, and a number of Paris-based early music organizations remain at the top of the heap.

Jean-Féry Rebel: Les Élémens, Symphonie Nouvelle

2 Flutes, 2 Piccolos, 2 Oboes, 2 Bassoons, 2 Horns, 2 Trumpets, Timpani, 2 Violins, 2 Violas, Basso continuo (Violoncello, Contrabass, Harpsichord) This program opens most unusually with a rather shocking sound. It is Rebel’s depiction of the Chaos from which the world was 26

The opening measures of Rebel’s manuscript of Les Élémens with modern notation detail of the opening chord. created. The composer’s intentions for the dramatic opening of Les Élémens (“The Elements”) are expressed in his preface to the work: The introduction to this Simphonie…is Chaos itself, the confusion that reigned between the Elements before the instant when, obeying unchanging laws, they had taken the places assigned to them in the Natural order. In order to designate each Element in the chaos, I resorted to the most recognized conventions. The Bass expresses the Earth by its slurred notes to be played with a tremolo; the Flutes by their melodic traits…imitate the course and the murmur of the Water; the Air is painted by the sustained sounds followed by trills played on the Petites Flutes; finally, the Violins by their liveliness and brilliance represent the action of Fire.

Subsequent movements depict the elements themselves: Earth, Water, Fire, and Air. The final movements represent, primarily through obligatory dance movements, the eventual calm and order of the created world. Rebel’s innovative genius and unmistakable originality was highly regarded by Louis XIV.

Friday August 7 2015

Chateau de Versailles (1668) by Pierre Patel (1605-1676), before the construction of the Grand Trianon, begun in 1670.

Jacques Aubert le Vieux: Suite II in D Major

leading to its disreputable connotation throughout Italy. But a kinder, gentler, and subdued version worked its way into operas

by Lully, and therefore found favor at the court of Louis XIV.

Like Jean-Féry Rebel, Jacques Aubert was a member of the distinguished “24 Violins of the King.” Noted as a fine violinist, he was appointed principal violinist at the Paris Opéra in 1728. By then he had composed at least eight theatrical works (operas and ballets), as well as instrumental sonatas, concertos, and would publish in 1730 twelve suites of Concerts de Symphonie, of which you will hear the second suite in D Major. By this time, the standard 5-part format of the string orchestra was undergoing inconsistent modifications.

The Italian preference for 3-part (trio) writing was being adopted by some French orchestras, omitting entirely the benefits of inner viola parts. The result is a crystal clear clarity and transparency of sound.

The two upper dessus parts (played by violins with or without oboes and/or flutes) are often combined so that substantial portions of the Suite II are fundamentally in just two parts, melody and bass.

Jean-Philippe Rameau: Ouverture & Suite from Naïs

2 Flutes, 2 Piccolos, 2 Oboes, 2 Bassoons, 2 Violins, Basso continuo (Violoncello, Contrabass, Harpsichord)

The final movement in many instrumental works was often a Chaconne, a series of inventive short sections based on a repeated bass line in triple meter. The dance steps originated in Spain (although perhaps of Mexican origin) around 1600, when it was considered to be a fiery and suggestive representation,

2 Flutes, 2 Piccolos, 2 Oboes, 2 Bassoons, 2 Trumpets, Timpani, 2 Violins, 2 Violas, Basso continuo (Violoncello, Contrabass, Harpsichord) Naïs was first performed at the Paris Opéra in 1749. It is in the pastorale héroïque format of an allegorical prologue followed by three acts based on Classical mythology, in this case about the amorous intentions of the god Neptune for the water-nymph Naïs.

The process of assembing suites of incidental and ballet music from operas has no particular rules about it. Usually the full work’s overture begins such a suite, but the various dance movements that follow it can come in any order, bearing no necessary relevance to the order in which they appear in the opera. Since different acts might very well be built around different harmonic plans (and keys), the trick is to assemble them in such a way that the sequence of individual movements (sometimes in different keys) makes sense from a distant perspective. Such is the case in our collection of movements.

— Notes by Jeffrey Thomas 27

Preparing artists for success in the 21st century

HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS 2015-16 Corey Jamason director

CLASSICAL FESTIVAL

Embellished Mozart: The art of vocal improvisation September 13 Voice fortepiano and guitar students of the Baroque Ensemble Featuring works by Mozart and J.C. Bach

FACULTY HISTORICAL PERFORMANCES Music of Jean Marie Leclair and Tarquinio Merula September 24 Corey Jamason harpsichord Elizabeth Blumenstock baroque violin with Catherine Mackintosh baroque violin

BAROQUE ENSEMBLE

Corey Jamason and Elisabeth Reed directors Cantatas of Vivaldi and Handel November 1 A Vivaldi Celebration November 15 Featuring 2015 Concerto Competition Winners Purcell The Fairy Queen (concert version) March 12 and 13

MASTER CLASSES Sponsored by American Bach Soloists

J.S. Bach: The complete sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord October 15 Corey Jamason harpsichord Elisabeth Reed viola da gamba

February 22 Debra Nagy baroque oboe

Music of J.S. Bach, Biber and Corelli April 1 Corey Jamason harpsichord Elizabeth Blumenstock baroque violin with Margaret Faultless baroque violin

April 18 Sandra Miller traverso

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April 4 Jeffrey Thomas conductor

Complete season details at www.sfcm.edu | 50 Oak Street, San Francisco |

SEASON SPONSOR

Saturday August 8 2015

Session I - 2:30pm–3:15pm The Culture of 18th-century Paris and Versailles Beverly Wilcox is a Ph.D. candidate in musicology and criticism at UC Davis and Alvin H. Johnson AMS50 fellow of the American Musicological Society. Her in-progress dissertation, “The Music Libraries of the Concert Spirituel: Canons, Repertoires, and Bricolage in Eighteenth-Century Paris” concerns concert entrepreneurs who amassed libraries of musical scores and parts and later leased them to their successors, and the effect these practices had on public concert repertoires. Her article “The Hissing of Jean-Pierre Pagin: Diderot’s Violinist meets the Cabal at the Concert Spirituel,” was published in Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture in 2010, and her article on a 1754 concert poster and its relationship to Parisian concert reviews, “Une affiche du Concert spirituel retrouvée,” will be published in France later this year. She plays the natural horn and received UC Davis’ Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Assistant award in 2007, the Music Library Association’s Carol June Bradley Award for Historical Research in Music Librarianship and the American Musicological Society’s Eugene K. Wolf Travel Award for European Research in 2010, and a Humanities Graduate Research Fellowship from the UC Davis Office of Graduate Studies and Music Graduate Group in 2011.

Public Colloquium

Public Colloquium

Session II - 3:30pm–4:15pm Performing Music from the French Baroque ABS Academy instrumental and vocal faculty members will share their insights gained from years of historically informed performing experience.

Session III - 4:30pm–5:15pm A Discussion of the Querelle des Bouffons Robert Mealy, violin ~ Debra Nagy, oboe Steven Lehning, moderator Reacting to a performance in Paris of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s intermezzo, La serva padrona, rival factions of philosophers began a literary battle that earned the title “Querelle des Bouffons” (“Quarrel of the Comic Actors”), after the Italian name for itinerant actors (buffoni) who staged the performance of the intermezzo at the Académie royale de musique. This war of words took place from 1752-1754 and focused on the relative merits of French versus Italian music. Composer, writer, and philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) theoretically represented the tastes of the Queen (Marie Leszczyńska, known as “Queen Marie of France”), and various supporters of Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Philippe Rameau staunchly represented the preferences of Louis XV.

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Saturday August 8 2015

Versailles & The Parisian Baroque II 30

Versailles & The Parisian Baroque II This concert is generously sponsored by George & Patricia Locke.

AMERICAN BACH SOLOISTS featuring the Faculty of the ABS Academy Elizabeth Blumenstock violin - Max van Egmond baritone - Corey Jamason harpsichord Steven Lehning viola da gamba - Judith Malafronte alto - Robert Mealy violin Sandra Miller flute - Debra Nagy oboe - William Sharp baritone William Skeen violoncello & viola da gamba - Kenneth Slowik viola da gamba - Dominic Teresi bassoon • Suite in D Major

Marin Marais

Pièces à une et à trois Violes & Basse-continues du quatrième livre (Paris, 1717)

1656-1728

Prélude Allemande Courante Menuet Sarabande Gigue Gavotte Airs de Cour from Airs à deux et trois parties (Christophe Ballard, Paris, 1678)

Bois écarté, lieu solitaire Quand l’amour veut finir Que ta voix divine me touche!

Sébastien le Camus ca. 1610-1677

from Livre d’airs de cour miz sur le luth (Adrian le Roy, Paris, 1571)

Quand le gril chante

Nicolas de la Grotte ca. 1530-ca. 1600

Sinfonia I in G Minor

François-André Danican Philidor 1726-1795

from Six Quatuors “L’art de la modulation” (Paris, 1755)

Con spirito L’Arte della Fuga, Moderato Pastorella, gratioso Gavotta Les Femmes

André Campra 1660-1744

from Premier livre de Cantates (Paris, 1708)

Récitatif mesuré “Dans un desert inaccessible” Air, Vivement “Par les vents et par l’orage” Symphonie & Air, Lentement: “Ah! qu’un cœur est malheureux” Air, Vivement et mesuré “La Coquette nous trahit” Air, Gravement (Sommeil) “Fils de la nuit” Ariette, Louré “Je borne mes rêveries” Récitatif mesuré “Que les Amants dans leur chaînes” ~ Intermission ~

L’Apologie des femmes (1715)

Quirinus van Blankenburg

Ritournelle, Viste Récitatif “Antres affreux, sombres retraites” Air “Ni des vents ni de l’orage” Ariette (Menuet) “Je ne regrette point l’amour qui m’enteste” Récitatif mésuré “Saisi de flames nouvelles” Air (Bourrée) “La Jalouse a le cœur tendre” Air “Je bannis la rêverie” Sonata in A Major, Op. 51, no. 5

1654-1739

Joseph Bodin de Boismortier

from VI Sonates Pour une Flute Traversière et un Violon par accords, sans basse (Paris, 1734)

1689–1755

Larghetto Presto Sarabanda Allegro Troisième Ordre, “L’Impériale” from Les Nations – Sonades & Suites de Simphonies en trio (Paris, 1726)

Sonade: Gravement—Vivement—Gravement et marqué— Rondeau légèrement—Rondement—Vivement Allemande, sans lenteur Courante Seconde Courante, plus marquée Sarabande, tendrement Bourrée, gayement Gigue, d’une légèreté modérée Rondeau, gayement Chaconne Menuet

François Couperin 1668-1733

Versailles & The Parisian Baroque II

Saturday August 8 2015

Robert Mealy ~ Steven Lehning ~ Max van Egmond ~ William Sharp 31

Saturday August 8 2015 Marin Marais: Suite in D Major

3 Violas da gamba, Basso continuo (Harpsichord) It was not so very long ago that few, if any—other than musicologists and some avid amateur enthusiasts of early music (especially players of the viola da gamba)—had even heard of Marin Marais. Though he was one of the most influential and important musicians during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, it was not until the film Tous les matins du monde (Alain Corneau, 1991) that his name suddenly became as common as Schubert!

Marais was born in 1656 and spent his entire life in Paris, the better part of it in service of the royal court. He had studied with the most influential viol virtuoso of the 17th century, Monsieur de SainteColombe, who it was said refused to continue to teach him after only six months, as by that time the student had already surpassed the teacher. Marais continued his studies, though now in composition, with Jean-Baptiste Lully who held absolute control of nearly all the professional music-making under Louis XIV, the Sun King. He was a member of the royal orchestra by 1676, and by 1679 he was named Ordinaire de la chambre du Roi pour la viole, a title that he kept until 1725 when he withdrew and bequeathed the appointment to his son.

Although he was director of the Opéra from 1704-1709, leading to the composition of two staged works during that period, Marais is best known today for more than 550 pieces for his own instrument, the viola da gamba, the bulk of which he selfpublished in five books from 1686 to 1725. The majority of these works are for a solo viol with basso continuo accompaniment, though two suites in the first book are written for two viols and continuo and two suites in his fourth book are for three viols and continuo, which he states in the preface to this volume, “has not yet been tried out in France.” Throughout all five books, the pieces are grouped in “suites” according to key (like the ordres in François Couperin’s keyboard publications). Marais did not intend for all of the movements in a given suite to be played at a single performance, but rather musicians could pick and choose movements from the set that suited their moods.

Tonight’s performance presents seven movements from the Suite in D Major for three viols from Marais’ fourth book (1717).

“Bass Viol, Music Score, and a Sword” (1693) by Michel Boyer (1668-1724).

Although many suites, particularly those of the later books, contain pieces with fanciful titles such as: La petite Brillante, La Provençale, L’Amériquaine, Le Labyrinthe, L’Asmatique, Saillie du Caffé, Le Jeu de Volant (“game of badminton”), Contrefaiseurs (“the fakers”), and even Le Tableau de l’Opération de la Taille (a musical description of the surgical removal of a urinary bladder stone!), tonight’s selection adheres to the more traditional dances associated with the suite à la française: an Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, and Gigue, with a Menuet and Gavotte thrown in the mix as well. Preceding these dances is an expansive prelude that expresses philosopher and theorist Marin Mersenne’s stated ideal in his L’Harmonie universelle (1636): “all the inflections of the human voice, and even its deepest expressions of joy and sorrow.” Therefore it is a fit opening to this evening’s program.

Sébastien le Camus & Nicolas de la Grotte: Airs de Cour Alto Solo; Basso continuo (Viola da gamba, Harpsichord)

When Lully looked for the model for his staged vocal works, he turned not to his native Italian opera, but to nearly 200 years of French secular songs as his ideal for the pure expression of the French language in music. Although the generally limited range and somewhat restricted harmony of that song tradition was at odds with the new Italian tastes that were invading Paris at the time, Italian style had proved unable to successfully marry the poetry and rhythm of the French language. In the 16th century, many terms were used for such songs: vaudeville, air, chansonette, etc. The first publication to actually use the term air de cour was that of Adrian le Roy and Robert Ballard in 1571. Its dedication to the Comtesse de Retz showed a rise from popular and burlesque vaudeville to an extremely high art form.

Although this was a move to a more serious and simultaneously precious sort of composition, collections throughout the 17th and 18th centuries continued to utilize lighter texts alongside stirring and elevating lyrics. Composers seldom had a hand in these publications and therefore many works appear in various collections of Airs de différents autheurs with wildly conflicting accompaniments. While the original versions were generally 32

for a solo voice and lute, they were also released in polyphonic arrangements.

Little is known about Sébastien le Camus, but he was likely born around 1610. He is first documented in 1648 as intendant de la musique de Son Altesse Royale at the court of Gaston d’Orléans.

Here he was known as one of the leading theorbo and treble viol players. At his death in 1677, according to a detailed inventory of his belongings, his estate contained a number of lutes, viols, harpsichords, music, and—most important for our understanding of the man and the circles in which he moved—several portraits of important associates, poets, musicians, literary figures, and noble patrons. As stated above, composers of airs seldom oversaw the publication of their own works and therefore had no control of their accuracy. However, after le Camus’ death, his son Charles obtained the privilège for an accurate publication of some of his father’s works.

This resulted in the collection, Airs à deux et trois parties, from which this evening’s songs were chosen (save the final, Quand le gril chante, which lightens the mood of the set with a text that is both amusing and somewhat scandalous).

Saturday August 8 2015 Bois écarté, lieu solitaire, Pour m’affranchir des lois d’une beauté sévère, Je suis venu chercher ce paisible séjour.

J’y croyais oublier une ingrate que j’aime, Mais à toute heure, hélas! vôtre silence même Me dit que pour Iris je dois mourir d’amour.

Lonely wood, solitary place, In order to free myself from the rule of a stern beauty, I have come seeking this peaceful abode.

I thought to forget an ungrateful one whom I love, But at any moment, alas! your very silence Tells me that for Iris I must die of love.

Quand l’amour veut finir les peines d’un amant, Un seul moment Paye aisément Le plus rude tourment.

O doux moment! o doux fruit des amours, O doux moment! qui fait les heureux jours, O doux moment par quelle injuste loi N’es-tu pas fait pour moi?

When the loved one wishes to end the pains of a lover, A single moment Discharges easily The harshest torment.

O sweet moment! o sweet fruit of loves, O sweet moment! which makes for happy days, O sweet moment by what unjust law Were you not made for me?

Que ta voix divine me touche!

Et que je serais fortuné!

Si je pouvais rendre à ta bouche Le plaisir qu’elle m’a donné.

How your divine voice touches me!

And how fortunate I would be!

If I could give to your mouth The pleasure it has given me.

Quand le gril chante au son du gringolin derin din din din din Ma dame dit qu’on luy huche Martin derin din din din Gentil Martin, ô beau Martin Saute Martin, danse Martin din derin din din din din din din din derin O que ne suis-je lieu de ce Martin.

When the cricket sings with his chirping sound, derin din din din din My lady tells him to cry out for Martin. derin din din din din Gentle Martin, oh beautiful Martin Jump, Martin, dance, Martin din derin din din din din din din din derin If only it were me instead of Martin.

Quand le coq chante aprochant le matin, derin din din din din Ma dame dit qu’on luy huche Martin derin din din din din Gentil Martin, [etc]

When the cock announces the approach of morning, derin din din din din My lady tells him to cry out for Martin derin din din din din Gentle Martin, [etc]

Et quand el’olt fraper chez son voysin, derin din din din din Ma dame dit qu’on luy huche Martin derin din din din din Gentil Martin, [etc]

And when she hears knocking at her neighbor’s, derin din din din din My lady tells him to cry out Martin. derin din din din din Gentle Martin, [etc]

Quand heurte à l’huys le quetteur augustin, derin din din din din Ma dame dit qu’on luy huche Martin derin din din din din Ou augustin ou bien Martin Puis l’augustin après Martin. din derin din din din din din din din derin O que ne suis-je augustin ou Martin.

When someone runs into the alms-collector derin din din din din My lady tells him to cry out for Martin derin din din din din Or for the alms-collector or else good Martin Then the alms-collector after Martin din derin din din din din din din din derin Oh if only I were the alms-collector or Martin

Lors dit grondant entre ses dens Martin, derin din din din din Ne suis-je pas un harassé Martin. derin din din din din Soir et matin, toujours Martin Martin Martin, venez Martin. din derin din din din din din din din derin Je ne croy pas qu’on n’en veuille la fin.

Then Martin says, growling between his teeth, derin din din din din Aren’t I a tormented Martin. derin din din din din Evening and morning, always Martin Martin, Martin, come Martin. din derin din din din din din din din derin I don’t think anyone would want an end to this.

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Saturday August 8 2015 François-André Danican Philidor: Sinfonia I in G Minor Oboe, 2 Violins, Basso continuo (Bassoon, Harpsichord)

The Grand Écurie was an ensemble that provided music for royal occasions. Its members included families who were some of the finest wind players and instrument builders of the period. Among the family names associated with this ensemble is that of Philidor.

Their original family name was Danican (found with various spellings; probably a corruption of Duncan); Philidor was initially a nickname taken from a well-known Italian wind player, but it was a name that stuck. As a result, at least a half dozen family members share not only the same occupation, but also the name of Danican Philidor.

François-André Danican Philidor was the son of André Danican Philidor who married twice, so the names for the additional offspring compound an already bewildering array. Although François-André Danican Philidor studied composition in Paris with André Campra, his musical works, and especially those in the set inappropriately named, L’art de la modulation—from which this evening’s Sinfonia has been chosen—reflect the influence of the popular new Italian style and are anything but harmonically daring.

Known today as a composer, François-André was most famous in his lifetime as a chess player. However, in 1745 he left Paris on a musical tour with Geminiani, which was canceled before its conclusion, leaving him in London. He remained in England for the next ten years, leaving only once to visit the court of Frederick the Great, but to play chess, not music. When he returned to Paris, he applied for a post as a court composer, but was rejected by Jean-Féry Rebel because his music was too Italianate. This presented no impediment at the Comédie-Italienne whose presentations of opera in the Italian style were becoming more and more popular.

As Philidor grew older, his interest in music declined, and he devoted more time to chess. He joined the St. James Chess Club in London and traveled back and forth across the Channel to give lectures and demonstrations. He was in London when war broke out between England and France and unjustly put on the list of political exiles. He died there in 1795, separated from his family.

André Campra: Les Femmes

Baritone Solo; Flute, Violin, Basso continuo (Viola da gamba, Harpsichord) To say that Jean-Baptiste Lully wielded absolute control and had a lengthy reign over nearly all music in Paris during the monarchy of Louis XIV would be no overstatement. When Lully died in 1687—thereby releasing his grip on musicians, composers, and all music-making in general—the possibility for expressing new ideas opened up. Lully’s jurisdiction had amounted to artistic shackles that prevented the exploration of the new Italian tastes. Now, however, composers could develop their interests in Italian music and formats, including cantatas which would soon flood the publications market.

The first publication of cantatas in Paris was in 1706, and by 1713 the Mercure Galant complained, “…we are suffocated by cantatas.” André Campra was attracted to the popular Italian fashions, yet he was astute enough to maintain the French style, especially its approach to text setting. In the preface to his first book of cantatas (1708)—from which Les femmes is taken—he reproaches his colleagues for being completely seduced by their new found “Italian” voice, at the expense of what was beautiful in their native French: I have tried as much as possible to mix the vivacity of Italian with the delicacy of French music, .

Perhaps those who have quite lost their taste of the former will not find my manner of composition to their liking. Although I am as convinced as anybody about the merit of the Italians, our language is not susceptible to certain things in which they excel.

Our music contains beauties which the Italians cannot help but admire and try to imitate, although these very things are being neglected by some of our French composers.

The beauty of Campra’s music is not easily visible on the score, but (similar to the cantatas of Bernier and Clérambault) its simplicity, ease, and grace come alive in performance. Les femmes is one of two cantatas for bass voice and instruments and is among his finest.

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“The Love Lesson” (1716-1717) by Antoine Watteau (1684-1721).

In it, the singer rebukes all women for their capriciousness, cruelty, ungratefulness, insincerity, and hypocrisy. The music is both playful and reflective. In the end, the narrator bids farewell to all women and departs for the depth of the forest, as taking part in the game of love comes at too great a cost to the heart.

Saturday August 8 2015 Récitatif mesuré Recitative in tempo

Dans un desert inaccessible Je cherche un Antre écarté, Où mon âme trop sensible, Contre l’Amour puisse être en sûreté.

In a remote wilderness I seek a secluded den Where my too tender soul Might be safe from Love.

Air

Par les vents et par l’orage, Je fus longtemps agité.

Desirs de tranquilité, Regrets de la liberté, Foibles restes de mon naufrage, Vous ferez ma felicité.

By winds and by storms I have long been shaken.

Desires for peace, And regret for my lost liberty, Frail remains from my shipwreck, You shall make my happiness.

Symphonie & Air

Ah! qu’un cœur est malheureux De s’engager dans vos chaînes!

Redoutables souveraines Des esclaves amoureux, Vos mépris sont rigoureux, Et vos faveurs sont trop vaines.

Oh! how miserable is a heart Which submits to your chains!

Dread mistresses Of amorous slaves, Your scorn is withering, And your favors are empty.

Air

La Coquette nous trahit, La Prude nous désespère, Et la Jalouse en colère, Irrite qui la chérit.

La Belle est capricieuse, La Sçavante audacieuse Tyrranise qui la suit.

L’Indolente est ennuyeuse, Ses insipides langueurs Ne font qu’endormir nos cœurs.

The Coquette betrays us, The Prude makes us despair, And the Jealous one, in her anger, Maddens any who cherish her.

The Beauty is fickle, The Bold intellectual Tyrannizes those who follow her.

The Indolent one is tedious; Her insipid languishing Only puts our hearts to sleep.

Air (Sommeil)

Fils de la nuit et du silence, Père de la plus douce paix, Sommeil, tes pavots ne sont faits, Que pour l’heureuse indifférence.

J’attendray sans impatience, Renaître l’astre du matin, Je joüîray du jour sans desirer sa fin, Par la vaine esperance, D’un plaisir que l’amour remet au lendemain.

Son of the night and of silence, Father of the sweetest peace, Sleep, your poppies serve only To invoke a pleasurable indifference.

Without impatience I shall await The morning star’s rebirth; I will enjoy the day without desiring its end, The vain hope of a pleasure That love forever puts off to the following day.

Ariette

Je borne mes rêveries, A l’émail de nos prairies.

Je vais passer mes loisirs Sur les bords d’une Fontaine; Si je pousse des soûpirs, C’est pour recevoir l’haleine Des rafraîchissants Zephirs.

I shall confine my reveries To the luster of our meadows.

I shall pass my vacant hours Beside some fountain; And if I sigh at all, It is but to inhale the breath Of refreshing breeze.

Récitatif mesuré

Que les Amants dans leur chaînes Soient tristes ou satisfaits, Que les Belles desormais Souffrent, ou causent des peines, Je n’y prends plus de part ...

Dans le fond des forests, De mes jours affoiblis, Je vais passer le reste.

Qu’ il en coûte a nos cœurs, Sexe aimable et funeste, A te dire adieu pour jamais.

Whether lovers in their chains Be unhappy or satisfied, Whether the Beauties henceforth Suffer, or cause pain, I take no further part ...

In the depths of the forest Of my remaining days I shall pass the remainder.

Though at a cost to our hearts, Dear yet fatal sex, We bid you adieu forever.

Text by Pierre-Charles Roy (1683-1764)

~ Intermission ~ 35

Saturday August 8 2015 Quirinus van Blankenburg: L’Apologie des Femmes

Baritone Solo; 2 Violins, Basso continuo (Viola da gamba, Harpsichord) Little is known about Quirinus van Blankenburg, the composer of this cantata that provides an alternative view of women. He was likely the son of an organist, but rather than pursuing his father’s career, he enrolled in the University of Leyden in 1679 to study mathematics, medicine, and philosophy. It was likely through his studies of contemporary French philosophers that he became a devoted Francophile, following all the newest social and political trends in Paris.

Eventually he did follow in his father’s footsteps, becoming an organist in several important churches, the last of which was

the Waalse Kerk (i. e. French Church) in The Hague. There he was also the leader of the Collegium Musicum te Den Hague.

A side by side comparison of the text of this cantata with Campra’s clearly shows that van Blankenburg’s text was written to mirror that of Les Femmes. Musically, the Apologie is much more Italianate, beginning with an instrumental ritornello in the Italian style. Although there are movements, which are modeled on the French dances, menuet and bourrée, melodically and harmonically, the music still owes much more to those Parisian composers who had fully embraced the Italian style.

Ritournelle Récitatif

Antres affreux, sombres retraites.

Tristes tombeaux des vivans, Je fuis vos horreurs secrettes Qui aigrissent le sort des malheureux amans.

Votre séjour est infidelle Aux cœurs infortunés que vous avez séduits.

Loin de calmer leurs ennuis Chaqu’ instant les renouvelle.

Frightful lairs, somber retreats.

Sad tombs of the living, I flee your secret horrors That embitter the fate of unhappy lovers.

Your sojourn is untrue To the unfortunate hearts of those whom you have seduced.

Far from calming your unease Each moment renews it.

Air

Ni des vents ni de l’orage Mon cœur n’est plus agité.

Je ne perds dans ce naufrage Qu’une ingrate liberté.

Neither winds nor the storm Are more disturbed than my heart.

I lose nothing in this shipwreck Than an ungrateful freedom.

Ariette (Menuet)

Je ne regrette point l’amour qui m’enteste Content toujours de mon sort.

Je veux bien par la tempeste Estre jetté dans le port.

I do not regret the love that obsesses me But I remain content with my fate.

I would rather the storm Threw me into the harbor.

Récitatif mésuré

Saisi de flames nouvelles Je quitte les vains plaisirs.

Et malgré leurs déffauts On peut avec les belles Y passer mieux ses loisirs.

Enough with the new flames I abandon vain pleasures, And in spite of their faults It is better with the ladies To spend one’s leisure.

Air (Bourrée)

La Jalouse a le cœur tendre.

La Prude agit par ressort.

La Coquette aime à se rendre.

La Sçavante a l’esprit fort.

La Pale dans son teint Est toute incomparable, La Noire une brune adorable.

La Grasse a de la majesté.

La Maigre a de la taille et de la liberté.

La Fourbe avec esprit raisonne La Sotte est toute bonne.

La Muette a de la pudeur.

Et la grande Parleuse est d’agréable humeur.

The Jealous One has a tender heart.

The Prude acts out of necessity.

The Coquette loves to submit.

The Knowing One has a wicked wit.

The Pale One, in her complexion Is without compare, The Dark One an adorable brunette.

The Fat One has majesty.

The Slender One has height and independence.

The Deceiver argues craftily.

The Fool is always lovely.

The Mute is modest.

And the big Blowhard is in an agreeable mood.

Air

Je bannis la rêverie.

Je fuis la mélancolie.

Source de maux et de pleurs: Si l’indolence n’apprêtte Que d’insipides langueurs, L’amour fait tourner la teste Par l’excès de ses douceurs

I banish all thoughtful care.

I flee from melancholy, Source of evils and of tears: If inaction leads to nothing But insipid languors, Then Love turns the head By means of excessive sweet-talking.

Translation: Victor Gavenda, 2015

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Saturday August 8 2015 Joseph Bodin de Boismortier: Sonata in A Major, Op. 51, no. 5 Flute, Violin

The compositions of Joseph Bodin de Boismortier have all too often been harshly and unreasonably judged. The music theorist Jean-Benjamin de la Borde wrote in his Essai sur la musique ancienne et moderne (1780): Bienheureux Boismortier, dont la fertile plume peut tous les mois, sans peine, enfanter un volume.

Happy Boismortier, whose fertile pen can, every month, without pain, give birth to a new volume. [of music] Boismortier reportedly responded: “I am earning money.”

Between 1724—the year of his first published work—and 1745, the composer brought forth 102 collections of music. Much of this output was aimed at the growing number of amateur musicians. As many of these publications were regularly reprinted, Boismortier indeed became a very wealthy man. It is also telling that very few of

his works bear dedications to one patron or another, and the few that do are written in a genuinely friendly manner, without even a hint of obsequious tone.

This is not to say that Boismortier’s work was dull and without innovation. He was the first French composer to write a concerto for a solo instrument (Op. 26, 1729, for violoncello or bassoon) and composed many works for novel instrumentation such as his arrangements for 3 and even 5 unaccompanied flutes. He also was the first composer to write for a solo flute with a fully realized harpsichord part (Op. 91). Although playable on various instruments, much of his music is conceived for flute and sounds best on that instrument. The duets of Op. 51 for flute and violin are among those works oriented toward professionals and highly skilled amateur musicians. The violin operates both as a melodic partner and as chordal, harmonic support to the flute, and the weaving interplay between the two parts is both delightful and captivating.

François Couperin: Troisième Ordre, “L’Impériale”

Treble instruments (Flute, Oboe, Violin), Bass instruments (Viola da gamba, Bassoon, Violoncello), Basso continuo (Harpsichord) François Couperin’s 1726 collection, Les Nations, contains four separately titled works: La Françoise, L’Espagnole, La Piemontoise, and L’Impériale. Each of these is comprised of two discrete sections, a sonata and a suite. The history of the sonata elements is somewhat complicated. They are among Couperin’s earliest works. The first three, composed in the 1690s under the pseudonyms Francesco Coperuni, Pecurino, and Nuperico, had been composed in the Italian style and, indeed, Couperin passed them off as works by Italians. In his preface to Les Nations, Couperin admits to the ruse and published them side by side with newly composed suites for which the sonatas would serve as preludes. However, we know of no early version of the sonata contained within L’Impériale. This sonata seems to be homogenous with its partner suite, implying the possibility that they were composed at the same time. L’Impériale is one of the greatest works in French chamber music, alongside Rameau’s Pièces de clavecin en concert, and even the post-Baroque sonatas of Debussy, Fauré, Chausson, and Ravel. Another testament to the power of this sonata is that Johann Sebastian Bach not only knew this work, but also transcribed the movement marked légèrement. The confidence of musical ideas, their development, and the overall harmonic complexity further this claim of supremacy. The luxuriousness of the opening sonata movements is matched by the grace and lightness of the suite that follows. Many composers endeavored to unite their native French predispositions with those of their Italian colleagues, but Couperin achieved the goûts réunis (“united tastes”) seemingly without effort.

François Couperin by an anonymous painter.

— Notes by Steven Lehning

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Bach’s

Jeffrey Thomas Artistic Director

CHRISTMAS ORATORIO in Saint Ignatius Church December 12, 2015 at 7:30 p.m.

Hélène Brunet soprano Agnes Vojtko alto Kyle Stegall tenor Jesse Blumberg bass Jeffrey Thomas conductor

Last presented by ABS in 2008, Johann Sebastian Bach’s vast and inspiring “Christmas Oratorio” (Weihnachts-Oratorium, BWV 248) contains elements of three secular cantatas and an otherwise lost church cantata that Bach synthesized into a single, unified musical expression of the Christmas story.

Requiring four vocal soloists, a full complement of wind and brass instruments, and choir, it is an expansive piece comprised of six separate cantatas originally performed over multiple days. ABS will present Bach’s grand work in its entirety within the gorgeous sanctuary of San Francisco’s Saint Ignatius Church, with an additional performance on December 13 at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts in Davis.

americanbach.org (415) 621-7900 38

Mass in B Minor BWV 232 Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) These concerts are generously sponsored by an Anonymous Donor.

AMERICAN BACH SOLOISTS ACADEMY ORCHESTRA AMERICAN BACH CHOIR Jeffrey Thomas, conductor •

I. MISSA

II. SYMBOLUM NICENUM

KYRIE

Chorus: Credo in unum Deum

Chorus: Kyrie eleison

Chorus: Patrem omnipotentem

Duet: Christe eleison Chelsea Morris, soprano (August 9) Eva Kastner-Puschl, mezzo-soprano (August 9) Julianna Emanski, soprano (August 16) Sylvia Leith, mezzo-soprano (August 16)

Duet: Et in unum Dominum Hannah De Priest, soprano (August 9) Grace Srinivasan, soprano (August 16) Patrick Dailey, countertenor

Chorus: Kyrie eleison

Chorus: Et incarnatus est Chorus: Crucifixus Chorus: Et resurrexit

GLORIA Chorus: Gloria in excelsis Deo Chorus: Et in terra pax Aria: Laudamus te Elisa Sutherland, mezzo-soprano (August 9) Chiara Fasani Stauffer, violin (August 9) Sara LeMesh, mezzo-soprano (August 16) Holly Piccoli, violin (August 16)

Aria: Et in Spiritum Sanctum Dominum Ben Kazez, baritone (August 9) Corbin Phillips, baritone (August 16) Aki Nishiguchi, oboe d’amore I David Dickey oboe d’amore II Chorus: Confiteor Chorus: Et expecto

Bach’s Mass in B Minor

Sunday August 9 & Sunday August 16 2015

Chorus: Gratias agimus tibi Duet: Domine Deus, Rex coelestis Julianna Emanski, soprano (August 9) Chelsea Morris, soprano (August 16) Steven Brennfleck, tenor Laura Randall, flute Chorus: Qui tollis peccata mundi Aria: Qui sedes ad dextram Patris Travis Hewitt, countertenor (August 9) Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, countertenor (August 16) David Dickey, oboe d’amore Aria: Quoniam tu solus sanctus David Rugger, bass (August 9) Paul Avril, horn (August 9) Christopher Besch, bass (August 16) Sadie Glass, horn (August 16) Neil Chen, bassoon I Joseph Jones, bassoon II Chorus: Cum Sancto Spiritu ~ Intermission ~

III. SANCTUS Chorus: Sanctus

IV. OSANNA, BENEDICTUS, AGNUS DEI et DONA NOBIS PACEM Chorus: Osanna in excelsis Aria: Benedictus Ryan Strand, tenor (August 9) Mi-li Chang, flute (August 9) Matthew Hill, tenor (August 16) Bethan Walker, flute (August 16) Chorus: Osanna in excelsis Aria: Agnus Dei Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, countertenor (August 9) Nicholas Burns, countertenor (August 16) Chorus: Dona nobis pacem 39

Sunday August 9 & Sunday August 16 2015 Bach’s motivations to compile the Mass in B Minor, and the variety of styles that he chose to chronicle, give us tremendous insight into so many burning questions about his self-identity as composer, theologian, and craftsman. As a young man, he was fascinated by the styles of his forbears; mid-career, despite the criticisms from his contemporaries that his music was old-fashioned and fussy, he implemented modern devices from opera and dance better than any other; and at the end of his life—as evidenced by the 16th-century stile antico compositional techniques that he incorporated with never-before-realized perfection into the Mass in B Minor—he again looked backwards as if to bow in homage one last time to the great masters of the expired traditions that he honored and revered. Bach accepted his world and found no need to dismiss or look beyond the methodologies for the creation of art, or the answers to life’s most difficult questions that were provided by his culture, by his religion, and by his ancestry. Rather, he sought to perfect all of those ideals and solutions in a way that further glorified what he saw as the ideal expression of life’s meaning and purpose.

The genesis of the Mass in B Minor—so admired for its colossal dimensions and encyclopedic stylistic variety—is actually a long history of separable parts. Although Bach compiled the music for this work in the last years of his life (1748-1749), most of the movements had been composed long before or were reworked from earlier pieces. The origins of the Mass date back to Christmas day of 1724—the day on which the Sanctus was first performed. Indeed, it was entirely in keeping with Lutheran liturgical practice of this time to insert individual parts of the Latin Mass Ordinary into the predominantly vernacular liturgy.

Two other sections—the Kyrie and Gloria—anticipate the compilation of the Mass by a considerable amount of time. In 1733, Bach presented a manuscript of the Kyrie and Gloria (titled Missa) to the new Elector Friedrich August II in Dresden; he also attached to this an ingratiating petition for a titled position in the Elector’s Hofkapelle, which he hoped would give him additional stability in his post as Kantor at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. Three years earlier, Bach had been threatened by the political machinations of the head Leipzig Burgermeister, Jakob Born, who tried to restore the original requisites for the position of Kantor and thus disqualify Bach from his job. Although this initiative failed, Bach continued to be frustrated with the limited musical resources in Leipzig and with the behavior of the authorities. (In the end, Bach had to wait until 1736 to receive the requested court title, that—though it perhaps gave to him a measurable increase in rank—did not dispel the difficulties that persisted in his career at the Thomaskirche.) As John Butt notes in the Cambridge Music Handbook on the Mass in B Minor, Bach seems to have composed the Kyrie and Gloria especially to suit the taste of the Dresden court, in that they demonstrate several style characteristics typical of mass settings at Dresden: the writing for two soprano parts, the setting of the “Christe eleison” as a duet, the absence of da capo arias, and the use of independent instrumental parts. (This invaluable guide examines the Mass from a variety of perspectives and provides an overview of the latest scholarly discoveries.) It is unknown whether these two sections were performed around the time of their presentation. The music for the Gloria, however, shows up again in the mid-1740s, appearing in Bach’s Latin cantata Gloria in excelsis Deo, BWV 191.

For most of the parts of the Mass, Bach borrowed music from his own compositions. Arias, duets, instrumental concertos, and cantata choruses all provide possible sources for the various movements. Some of the sections—such as the breathtaking aria “Agnus Dei”—represent the third version of a musical model; the 40

Johann Sebastian Bach holding a page of his manuscript of Fourteen Canons on the Goldberg Ground, circa 1748,

by Elias Gottlob Haussmann (1695-1774).

music for the chorus, “Et expecto”, appears in at least three other settings.

Bach gathered the parts of the Mass in B Minor into four discrete manuscripts, to which he assigned a numerical order. Part I consists of the Kyrie/Gloria Missa of 1733; Part II the Symbolum Nicenum or Credo; Part III the Sanctus; and Part IV the Osanna, Benedictus, Agnus Dei, et Dona nobis pacem. Unlike the Missa and Sanctus, the Symbolum Nicenum seems not to have existed before the final compilation. This section also contains the only newly composed parts of the Mass. In fact, only the “Confiteor” is regarded without doubt to be an original composition; Bach’s alterations in the autograph of the opening fugue subject give evidence that no previous manuscript could have existed. Moreover, like the first “Credo” section, the “Confiteor” features a plainchant cantus firmus that corresponds to the specific text. The “Et incarnatus est” was added to the Symbolum Nicenum during the compilation and may also represent a new composition.

There is no record of a performance of the complete Mass in B Minor in Bach’s lifetime. Long after his father’s death, C.P.E. Bach conducted a performance in 1786 of the Symbolum Nicenum in a concert that included works by himself and Handel. Performances in the first part of the 19th century followed this example, presenting only extracts of the Mass. Only in the latter half of the century did the work see performance as an integral composition.

Recent scholarship that has illuminated the often difficult task of reliably dating the various elements of the complete Mass in B Minor has been all but conclusive. Debates still continue about the origins of a number of movements that seem to be parodies of pre-existing compositions. When used in the context of Bach’s compositional methods, “parody” simply refers to Bach’s practice of borrowing music from his own earlier compositions. Typically the context would change, but the music would not.

Sunday August 9 & Sunday August 16 2015 The methods of determining the origins of the various movements that Bach compiled to assemble the Mass in B Minor are several, but the most interesting, and problematic, is that of calligraphic analysis. Within the autograph score, three types of Bach’s handwriting have been identified: the so-called “fair” hand, characterized by meticulously spaced notes, vertically upright note stems, and calligraphic text; the “revision” hand, characterized by the fluent copying of notes for one group of instruments or voices, but poorly spaced and often corrected notes in another part, and often cluttered verbal underlay (the result of applying a new text to preexisting musical material); and the “composing” hand, characterized by diagonal note stems, uneven note spacing, corrections, and generally poor calligraphy. Through the identification of these handwriting styles, much can be determined regarding the originality of the musical material; that is, whether or not a piece was pre-existing, a parody of an earlier work, or newly composed.

Several movements contain more than one type of handwriting. For example, the opening Kyrie contains all three.

The initial four bars show the revision hand for the instrumental parts, which were put to paper first, and the composing hand for the vocal parts. Then, the main body of the Kyrie is in the fair hand, indicating a pre-existing work. Generally, those movements in the fair or revision hands are considered to be pre-existing or parodies.

But Bach’s health was poor by the time he compiled the complete mass (or, missa tota), and there are arguments as to whether or not his infirmity led him to preliminarily sketch new music before committing it to the final version of the score, thus clouding the issue in the cases of music not in the composing hand and that cannot be found among his earlier surviving works.

Such technical detective work does not, however, shed light on the most burning question of all: Why did Bach compile, or assemble, a work for which he had no plans or need for performance? We know that in Bach’s last years, he set his hand to two other summative documents that would become monuments of his compositional legacy. In 1747, The Musical Offering was composed and very shortly thereafter published, and The Art of the Fugue, a collection of fugues and canons that exhaustively catalogues the contrapuntal possibilities of one predominant fugue subject, was copied out by Bach in 1745 and published in its final, yet incomplete, form in 1751 (one year after his death).

Bach was clearly reading the writing on the wall regarding his “old school” craftsmanship. Compositional styles had already changed quite dramatically, and the fact that Bach’s music was more or less always considered to be old-fashioned further exacerbated his fears that a century of contrapuntal mastery—begun by his predecessors—was simply going down the drain. He had no reason to believe that any of his church cantatas would survive.

Indeed, Bach’s own compositions essentially replaced those of the previous Leipzig Kantor, and newly composed works by whomever would be his successor would surely replace his. But complete settings of the choral movements from the Ordinary of the Mass had survived as time capsules from previous centuries. And new Age of Enlightenment trends would further secure the longevity of such “masterworks” (a concept that was still mostly outside of the consciousness of artists and their patrons). By encapsulating works from a span of at least thirty-five years—the “Crucifixus” is borrowed from music composed in 1714, and the new movements including “Confiteor” were composed in 1749—Bach was able to leave behind a lasting testament to his art.

— Notes by Jeffrey Thomas & Kristi Brown-Montesano

AMERICAN BACH SOLOISTS present

Handel’s Messiah in Grace Cathedral Wednesday December 16 2015 Thursday December 17 2015 Friday December 18 2015 Hélène Brunet soprano Agnes Vojtko alto Kyle Stegall tenor Jesse Blumberg baritone SOLD OUT YEAR AFTER YEAR

americanbach.org/tickets 41

The Continuo Circle salutes the foresight and generosity of those individuals who have included American Bach Soloists in their wills or estate plans.

Bequests and other planned gifts help secure ABS’s long-term financial stability ensuring that ABS will enrich future generations. American Bach Soloists wish to acknowledge and express appreciation to the following individuals who continue to value and support ABS through their estate plans.

Anonymous Hugh Davies Philip Eisenberg* Jan Goldberg Paul & Sandra Ogden Michael Weller* *Deceased

Please notify us if you have made a provision for American Bach Soloists through your estate planning, so that we might acknowledge you as a member of the Continuo Circle. If you would like additional information, please contact executive director Don Scott Carpenter at 415-621-7900 extension 203.

How to Support the Continuo Circle 1.

You name American Bach Soloists as a beneficiary in your will or living trust, designating the gift of your choice (for example, cash, real estate, personal property, or securities). There are many types of bequests to choose from. You maintain control of your assets during your lifetime and possibly save on estate taxes.

2.

You name American Bach Soloists as a beneficiary of the remainder of your retirement plan assets. You avoid double taxation on those assets.

3.

You designate American Bach Soloists as owner and beneficiary of an insurance policy. Your gift has little immediate cost and you receive an immediate income tax deduction and possibly future deductions.

4.

You transfer cash or another type of asset, such as shares of stock, to a charitable gift annuity or pooled income fund. In exchange, you receive income for life and an immediate income tax deduction.

5.

You create a trust that pays you fixed or variable income. You receive an immediate income tax deduction, income for life or a set period, and tax-advantaged investments. If you use appreciated property, like real estate or securities, to fund the trust, you will also reduce or eliminate capital gains taxes.

6.

You give to American Bach Soloists a personal residence, farm, vacation home, or commercial or rental property during your lifetime which provides you with an immediate tax deduction and the chance to avoid capital gains tax. There are also ways to donate residential property while staying in the home for life.

To include American Bach Soloists by beneficiary designation, please use the following information: American Bach Soloists presently headquartered at 44 Page St. Suite 403, San Francisco, CA 94102. Tax ID Number: 68-0211969

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Sunday August 9 & Sunday August 16 2015 Johann Sebastian Bach

Mass in B Minor, BWV 232

I. MISSA

Tromba I, II, III; Corno da caccia; Timpani; Flauto traverso I, II; Oboe I, II; Oboe d’amore I, II; Fagotto I, II; Violino I, II; Viola; Continuo (e Violoncello); Soprano I, II; Alto; Tenore; Basso

KYRIE 5-part (SSATB) Chorus; Flutes, Oboes d’amore, Bassoon, Strings, Basso continuo

Kyrie eleison.

Lord, have mercy.

Duet: Soprano I & Soprano II Violins, Basso continuo

Christe eleison.

Christ, have mercy.

Alla breve 4-part (SATB) Chorus; Flutes, Oboes d’amore, Bassoon, Strings, Basso continuo

Kyrie eleison.

Lord, have mercy.

GLORIA 5-part (SSATB) Chorus; Trumpets, Timpani, Flutes, Oboes, Bassoon, Strings, Basso continuo

Gloria in excelsis Deo. Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.

Glory be to God in the highest. And on earth peace to men of good will.

Aria: Soprano II Violin (solo), Strings, Basso continuo

Laudamus te; benedicimus te; adoramus te; glorificamus te.

We praise thee; we bless thee, we worship thee; we glorify thee.

Alla breve 4-part (SATB) Chorus; Trumpets, Timpani, Flutes, Oboes, Bassoon, Strings, Basso continuo

Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam.

We give thanks to thee for thy great glory.

Duet: Soprano I & Tenor Flute (solo), Strings, Basso continuo

Domine Deus, Rex coelestis, Deus Pater omnipotens. Domine Fili unigenite Jesu Christe altissime: Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris: Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father almighty. O Lord, the only-begotten Son Jesus Christ most high: Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father:

4-part (SATB) Chorus; Flutes, Strings, Basso continuo

Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis: Qui tollis peccata mundi, suscipe deprecationem nostram: Thou that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us: Thou that takest away the sins of the world, receive our prayer:

Aria: Alto Oboe d’amore (solo), Strings, Basso continuo

Qui sedes ad dextram Patris, miserere nobis: Thou that sittest at the right hand of the Father, have mercy upon us:

Aria: Bass Corno da caccia (solo), Bassoons, Basso continuo

Quoniam tu solus sanctus, tu solus Dominus, tu solus altissimus, Jesu Christe: For thou only art holy, thou only art the Lord, thou only art the most high, Jesus Christ:

Vivace 5-part (SSATB) Chorus; Trumpets, Timpani, Flutes, Oboes, Bassoon, Strings, Basso continuo

Cum Sancto Spiritu in gloria Dei Patris. Amen.

With the Holy Ghost in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

~ Intermission ~

“Thomas united enlightened historical performance practice with native musical intelligence. He welded scholarship to theatricality...This was a B Minor Mass that transcended technical expertise and incidental points of authenticity to touch the heart on the most profound level.” — Allan Ulrich San Francisco Examiner

MASS IN B MINOR 2 CD SET

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Sunday August 9 & Sunday August 16 2015 We can’t do it without you!

American Bach Soloists strive to retain reasonable ticket prices even though sales cover only about 40% of the cost of presenting these outstanding concerts. We are fortunate to receive government, foundation, and corporate support, but the bulk of our contributed income must come from generous donations from individuals like you.

As an ABS donor, you’ll play a crucial role in bringing these wonderful programs to the widest possible audience.

Find out how you can help. Please turn to page 75 for more information.

Your gift in any amount is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

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II. SYMBOLUM NICENUM

Tromba I, II, III; Timpani; Flauto traverso I, II; Oboe I, II; Oboe d’amore I, II; Violino I, II; Viola; Continuo; Soprano I, II; Alto; Tenore; Basso

5-part (SSATB) Chorus; Violins, Basso continuo

Credo in unum Deum I believe in one God

4-part (SATB) Chorus; Trumpets, Timpani, Oboes, Strings, Basso continuo

Patrem omnipotentem, factorem coeli et terrae, visibilium omnium et invisibilium: the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible:

Andante Duet: Soprano I & Alto Oboes d’amore, Strings, Basso continuo

Et in unum Dominum Jesum Christum, Filium Dei unigenitum, et ex Patre natum ante omnia saecula: Deum de Deo, Lumen de Lumine, Deum verum de Deo vero, Genitum non factum, consubstantialem Patri, per quem omnia facta sunt: qui propter nos homines et propter nostram salutem descendit de coelis: And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds: God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten not made; being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made: who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven:

5-part (SSATB) Chorus; Violins, Basso continuo

Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria virgine, et homo factus est. and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man.

4-part (SATB) Chorus; Flutes, Strings, Basso continuo

Crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato, passus et sepultus est.

He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, he suffered and was buried.

5-part (SSATB) Chorus; Trumpets, Timpani, Flutes, Oboes, Strings, Basso continuo

Et resurrexit tertia die, secundum scripturas: Et ascendit in coelum. Sedet ad dexteram Dei Patris.

Et iterum venturus est cum gloria judicare vivos et mortuos, cujus regni non erit finis.

And the third day he rose again according to the scriptures; and ascended into heaven. He sitteth at the right hand of God the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

Aria: Bass Oboes d’amore, Basso continuo

Et in Spiritum Sanctum Dominum et vivificantem, qui ex Patre Filioque procedit: Qui cum Patre et Filio simul adoratur et conglorificatur: qui locutus est per prophetas. Et unam sanctam catholicam et apostolicam ecclesiam.

And in the Holy Ghost the Lord and giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spake by the prophets. And in one holy, catholic and apostolic church.

5-part (SSATB) Chorus; Basso continuo

Confiteor unum baptisma in remissionem peccatorum.

I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins,

Vivace e Allegro 5-part (SSATB) Chorus; Trumpets, Timpani, Flutes, Oboes, Strings, Basso continuo

Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen. and I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Sunday August 9 & Sunday August 16 2015 III. SANCTUS

Tromba I, II, III; Timpani; Oboe I, II, III; Violino I, II; Viola; Continuo (Violoncello, Violone, Fagotto, Organo); Soprano I, II; Alto I, II; Tenore; Basso

6-part (SSAATB) Chorus; Trumpets, Timpani, Oboes, Strings, Basso continuo

Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria ejus.

Holy is the Lord God of Hosts. Heaven and earth are full of his glory.

IV. OSANNA, BENEDICTUS, AGNUS DEI et DONA NOBIS PACEM

Tromba I, II, III; Timpani; Flauto traverso I, II; Oboe I, II; Violino I, II; Viola; Continuo; Soprano I, II; Alto I, II; Tenore I, II; Basso I, II

8-part (SATB/SATB) Double-Chorus; Trumpets, Timpani, Flutes, Oboes, Strings, Basso continuo

Osanna in excelsis.

Hosanna in the highest.

Aria: Tenor Flute (solo), Basso continuo

Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini.

Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

8-part (SATB/SATB) Double-Chorus; Trumpets, Timpani, Flutes, Oboes, Strings, Basso continuo

Osanna in excelsis.

Hosanna in the highest.

Aria: Alto Violins, Basso continuo

Agnus Dei qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.

Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.

4-part (SATB) Chorus; Trumpets, Timpani, Flutes, Oboes, Strings, Basso continuo

Dona nobis pacem.

Grant us peace.

Bach’s Mass in B Minor Anatomy of a Masterwork A 30-minute Documentary in HD

Using footage from the 2014 ABS Festival & Academy, this film explores the work from the perspectives of ABS musicians who perform it each summer. Interviews with ABS Music Director Jeffrey Thomas, violinist Elizabeth Blumenstock, bassist Steven Lehning, flutist Sandra Miller, oboist Debra Nagy, trumpeter John Thiessen, and others, illuminate the work’s history, musical structure, and artistic challenges as well as the rewards of revisiting it annually in performance.

Watch on americanbach.org/youtube

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650-485-1097 · www.calbach.org “the choral singing was magnificent—the sound beguiling”

A BohemiAn mAsterpiece oct 16–18, 2015

Zelenka’s Missa Votiva

Joyeux noël! Dec 4–6, 2015

French Christmas, medieval to the present

orAtorios & DiAlogues—A genre emerges FeB 26–28, 2016

Carissimi, Charpentier, and Schütz

singet Dem herrn Apr 22–24, 2016

Bach motets and chorales

Fridays at 8 pm — San Francisco · Saturdays at 8 pm — Palo Alto · Sundays at 4 pm — Berkeley

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Academy-In-Action “Baroque Marathon” Concerts These concerts are generously underwritten by Judith Flynn.

• In July 2010, the American Bach Soloists inaugurated North America’s newest annual professional training program in Historically Informed Performance Practice, drawing on the ensemble’s distinguished roster of performers. The American Bach Soloists Academy offers advanced conservatory-level students and emerging professional musicians unique opportunities to study and perform Baroque music in a multi-disciplinary learning environment.

The Academy is home to several series of events including Academy-in-Action Concerts, a Lecture Series, a Master Class Series, and Public Colloquia.

•

The Academy-in-Action Concerts feature the next generation of early music virtuosi as they perform cantatas, arias, and chamber music by masters of the Baroque.

•

The Lecture Series joins faculty and students in a series of enlightening and informative free public lectures.

•

The Master Class Series allows the ABS Academy to open its doors to the public to witness the artistic transformations that make master classes so tremendously exciting.

•

The Public Colloquia create engaging forums for performers, presenters, and their public supporters.

Most Academy days include master classes with primary mentors and ensemble rehearsals coached by primary and cross-disciplinary teachers. On many afternoons, faculty members present lectures on a variety of relevant topics including performance practice, Baroque studies, and historical contexts.

These Academy-in-Action Concerts showcase the talents of Academy participants. Many are works in progress and represent both in-depth development of previously studied

Academy-in-Action Concerts

Monday August 10 & Tuesday August 11 2015

repertoire as well as forays into newly awakened aspects of performance, musical rhetoric, and historical perspectives.

Please ask an usher for each session’s specific program.

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ABS is proud to announce

Handel’s

MESSIAH 1753 Foundling Hospital Version

HD Video on Blu-ray 5.1 Surround Sound

filmed in Grace Cathedral Coming December 2015 featuring Mary Wilson soprano Eric Jurenas countertenor Kyle Stegall tenor Jesse Blumberg bass John Thiessen trumpet The American Bach Choir Jeffrey Thomas conductor 48

Jeffrey Thomas Artistic Director

Sémélé Marin Marais (1656-1728) These concerts are generously sponsored by Hugh Davies & Kaneez Munjee.

The Grand Priestess of Bacchus

soprano

Julianna Emanski

The Grand Priest of Bacchus

baritone

Ben Kazez

Apollon

tenor

Cadmus

baritone

Corbin Phillips

Sémélé

soprano

Rebecca Myers Hoke

Dorine

soprano

Chelsea Morris

Adraste

tenor

Mercure (Arbate) Jupiter (Idas) Junon Shepherd

baritone bass

Matthew Hill

Steven Brennfleck David Rugger Christopher Besch

mezzo-soprano

Sara LeMesh

tenor

Ryan Strand

First shepherdess

soprano

Hannah De Priest

Second shepherdess

soprano

Grace Srinivasan

Marais’ Sémélé

Thursday August 13 & Friday August 14 2015

AMERICAN BACH SOLOISTS ACADEMY ORCHESTRA - AMERICAN BACH CHOIR Jeffrey Thomas, conductor •

“The Death of Semele” (before 1640) by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640).

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Thursday August 13 & Friday August 14 2015 The operas of Marin Marais are rarely performed today in contemporary opera houses, though not for lack of musical and dramatic value. With the exception of occasional 18th-century revivals of his first successful stage work, Alcyone (1706), Marais’ tragedies en musique went mostly unperformed for hundreds of years. Thanks to the 1991 film Tous les matins du monde (“All the World’s Mornings”)—an evocative treatment of the composer’s life with a stirring, viola da gamba-focused soundtrack—a renewed interest in Marais took off during the 1990s and 2000s.

With the simultaneous reappraisal of French Baroque operas by Charpentier, Lully, Rameau, and others, a new appreciation of this grand tradition blossomed and yielded many thrilling musical rediscoveries. His final opera, Sémélé, had not been heard in nearly 300 years when the French ensemble Le Concert Spiritual, under the baton of Hervé Niquet, presented the work at the Festival International d’Opéra Baroque in Beaune, France in 2006, the 350th anniversary year of the composer’s birth. The following year, Sémélé (without Marais’ nearly 30-minute prologue) was offered in a fully staged production directed by Olivier Simonnet in Montpellier.

Despite its rediscovery nine years ago, Marais’ final work for the lyric stage has only been performed in Europe—until now.

Marais’ Sémélé is a work of beauty and verve (it has an exciting earthquake scene in Act V), but few actually heard the opera when it premiered on April 9, 1709, at the Palais Royal in Paris. Due to an extraordinarily cold European winter (often referred to as “The Great Frost”), the 1708-09 season was a terrible one for opera in France as the country was hit particularly hard: food shortages crippled its urban centers and revolts broke out in the streets. Amid this turmoil, turnouts for revivals of old operas by Lully or the new one by Marais were modest, to say the least. By the time conditions had improved in Paris, Marais had retired from his stressful position at the Opéra and returned to composing smaller-scale works for viola da gamba.

Born in Paris in 1656, the son of a shoemaker, Marais began his musical career at the age of eleven as a choirboy at the Church of Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois. One of his fellow pupils was Michel-Richard de Lalande (the composer of the ABS Festival opening night fanfares). He began studies of the viola da gamba, eventually working under the tutelage of the great viol virtuoso, Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe, about whom very little is known. By the time he was twenty years old, he was engaged as a musician at the royal court of Versailles, soon being appointed ordinaire de la chambre du roy pour la viole, one of the viol players in the court’s famous orchestra known first as Les Vingt-quatre Violons du Roi (“The 24 Violins of the King”), which was founded in 1626 under Louis XIII, existing until 1761. The orchestra had grown in scale under Louis XIV, taking on the grander name of La grande bande.

Composition studies with Jean-Baptiste Lully led to happy collaborations at the Royal Opera, known then as the Académie Royale de Musique. Lully had become director of the Opéra in 1672, and he produced a new opera each year until his death fifteen years later, performing only works produced by his own pen. When he died in 1687, a number of musicians stepped in to fill Lully’s rather big shoes including Marais who was appointed chef d’orchestre in 1704 or 1705. During his term as conductor, he would revive works by Lully and premiere his own composition, Alcyone, in 1706. That work was a tremendous success, owing in no small way to the dramatic effectiveness of a thunderous storm scene in the opera’s fourth act, an effect that Marais revisited in Sémélé. As noted above, Sémélé would not enjoy the same success as Alcyone at the time of its premiere.

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Marin Marais (1704) by André Bouys (ca. 1656-1740) As is the case far too often, we don’t know much about Marais’ personal adult life, other than these few professional details.

However, we do know that he was married in 1676, around the time of his first appointment to Versailles. His wife, Catherine d’Amicourt, bore 19 children.

Marais would become one of the most famous viol players of all time. So great was his legacy that the mid-18th-century viol player, abbot, and eccentric, Hubert Le Blanc (fl. 1740), wrote that Marais “founded and firmly established the empire of the viol.” The same author later wrote the treatise Défense de la basse de viole contre les enterprises du violon et les prétentions du violoncelle, which was one of many documents sadly documenting the fall from fashion of playing the viol. In fact, France and French composers (and the Francophile court of Frederick the Great) held out longer than any other national school of composition in retaining the regular use of the viola da gamba and not giving in to the takeover by the Italian violoncello as the new, and preferred bass string instrument.

Another facet of the staunchness of the French Baroque is the prevalence of the 5-part string orchestra comprised on one “melodic” line on top, the bass line on the bottom providing harmonic footing, and in between were three inner parts of violas, named (from top to bottom) the hautes-contre, the tailles, and the quintes. Rather unlike the relative equality of all string part in the works of Bach, for example—necessary for counterpoint and polyphony—the soundscape of the French orchestra gave prominence to melody and harmony, with those inner parts providing well-behaved chordal support, much like a battery of chordal continuo instruments could do.

Sémélé is richly scored, utilizing ten principal roles, a full chorus, and a full orchestra with ample opportunity to create a wide range of expressive colors. Whereas much of Marais’ music has been lost—including two operas and a setting of the Te Deum—this particular treasure is a welcome part of the heritage of French Baroque opera. The dance movements, in particular, provide plentiful divertissement.

— Notes by Jeff McMillan & Jeffrey Thomas

Thursday August 13 & Friday August 14 2015 SÉMÉLÉ

Tragédie en Musique Composed by Marin Marais (1656-1728) Libretto by Antoine Houdar de la Motte (1672-1731) First performance: April 9, 1709, by the Académie Royale de Musique at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal.

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ In the Prologue High Priest of Bacchus High Priestess of Bacchus Apollo Chorus of Ægipans, Sylvans, and Mænads In the Tragedy Cadmus, King of Thebes Semele, daughter of Cadmus Dorine, confidant of Semele Adraste, Prince of Thebes and intended of Semele Jupiter (sometimes disguised as Idas) Mercury (sometimes disguised as Arbate) Juno (sometimes disguised as Beroe, nurse of Semele) Choruses of warriors, nymphs, & naiads Choruses of demons, shepherds, and Thebans

SYNOPSIS PROLOGUE – Ægipans and Mænads, led by a Priest and Priestess of Bacchus, are participating in a Bacchanal. All drink copious amounts of wine, the gift of Bacchus (referred to as “nectar”), until they are robbed of their wits. Love (Cupid) is invited to participate, but he is admonished to leave his darts behind and let the wine replace their effects. When the noise of their revelry reaches a peak, Apollo descends from the heavens, bringing with him calming, harmonious music.

He is pleased by the celebrations, as Bacchus is, after all, his brother by the same father, Jupiter. To consecrate their festival and the elevation of Bacchus to the ranks of the gods, Apollo asks the Muses to tell the story of how Bacchus came to be.

ACT I – The setting is Thebes. Cadmus, the Theban king, has granted the hand of his daughter Semele to the prince Adraste, but Semele has fallen in love with Jupiter, who courted her in disguise as Idas. Cadmus speaks to Semele about her imminent marriage to Adraste, then enters the Temple of Jupiter to offer praise. Semele confides in her maid, Dorine, that, although she loves Idas, she will accede to her father’s will. Adraste arrives and professes his love for Semele. Festivities celebrate Adraste’s military exploits, but they are interrupted by thunder and the appearance of Furies, a sign of the gods’ anger. Adraste vows to circumvent whatever reason the heavens might have for their anger. Semele politely reiterates her loyalty to her father’s wishes.

ACT II – Dorine and her lover, Arbate (Mercury in disguise), consider Semele’s difficult situation and reconfirm their love for each other. Semele tries to shun Idas (Jupiter in disguise) in order to fulfill her obligation of betrothal to Adraste. Jupiter reveals his identity to her and organizes a celebration. A chorus of fauns, nymphs, and naiads sing and dance. Adraste appears and questions Semele, who tells him that she is loved by a god. Adraste tries to attack Jupiter, but a cloud spirits Jupiter and Semele away, leaving Adraste behind vowing revenge.

ACT III – Adraste proclaims his determination to raise up all other gods against Jupiter. He calls upon Juno, Jupiter’s wife, to join him in avenging Jupiter’s unfaithfulness. Juno sends Adraste away, so that she can plot her revenge. She takes on a disguise as Beroe, Semele’s nurse maid, in order to enact her jealous hatred of Semele, made even stronger when she sees Semele’s beauty. Planting insidious seeds of doubt in Semele’s mind, Juno (as Beroe) suggests that Semele might have been fooled, falsely wooed by an imposter. Semele entreats Beroe to help reveal the truth. Juno casts a spell and calls upon Furies and Demons from Hell to frighten Semele, who decides that she will ask Jupiter to prove his identity to her.

ACT IV – Mercury reveals his true identity to Dorine, who has loved him solely in his disguise as Arbate. Dorine is fearful that Mercury will be as faithless to her as Jupiter will be to Semele.

Mercury pledges his constancy and together they sing of renewed vows. Jupiter’s approach reminds Mercury that he has been sent to the grotto to prepare a pastoral setting for Jupiter and Semele to enjoy. Shepherds and shepherdesses sing and dance for the couple. Jupiter tries to persuade Semele to forget his grandeur and dream of his tenderness, but she cannot quiet her doubts and demands that he appear in his full splendor. Jupiter resists, knowing that if he would display himself in his true, divine form, Semele will perish.

ACT V – Cadmus and his people, the Thebans, prepare for the arrival of Jupiter. Adraste accepts his impending fate as the result of both his love for Semele and her ambitious pursuit of glory as the lover of Jupiter. Cadmus, Semele, and the people voice their entreaties to Jupiter but are interrupted by an earthquake, thunder, and lightning. All flee as a shower of fire engulfs Semele and Adraste. Adraste is killed and Semele submits to her fiery end. Jupiter calls Semele back to life and elevates her to a place in the heavens.

American Bach Soloists are grateful to Éditions du CMBV - Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles for the use of the performance materials.

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Thursday August 13 & Friday August 14 2015 Libretto Translation by Victor Gavenda PROLOGUE The Bacchanals The scene is a Sacrifice to Bacchus in the background.

OVERTURE CHORUS Accourons; pour un Dieu nouveau, Inventons des festes nouvelles, Et signalons un jour si beau Par nos chansons les plus belles.

March of Ægipans and Mænads, led by a Priest and Priestess of Bacchus THE PRIESTESS and THE HIGH PRIEST Le fils du maistre du tonnerre, Bacchus s’élève au rang des Dieux, Il fût le bonheur de la Terre, Il sera la gloire des Cieux.

CHORUS Le fils du maistre du tonnerre, Bacchus s’élève au rang des Dieux, Il fût le bonheur de la Terre, Il sera la gloire des Cieux.

THE HIGH PRIEST Chantons ses glorieux exploits.

THE PRIESTESS Chantons sa jeunesse et ses charmes.

THE HIGH PRIEST Il mit l’Orient sous ses loix.

THE PRIESTESS D’Ariane trahie, il essuya les larmes.

Qu’il charme, THE HIGH PRIEST Qu’il triomphe, THE PRIESTESS and THE HIGH PRIEST Et qu’il goûte à la fois La douceur des plaisirs et la gloire des armes.

First Air for the Mænads Second Air for the same THE PRIESTESS Goûtons icy les plus doux charmes, Amour, rassemble tes attraits, Vole, n’apporte point tes armes, Ce nectar tient lieu de tes traits.

Bacchus deffend à la tristesse De repandre icy son poison, Règne, et que ta charmante yvresse Nous aide à bannir la raison.

Goûtons icy les plus doux charmes… etc.

Third Air for the Mænads Fourth Air for the same

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Run! To honor a new God, Let us create new festivals, And greet such a beautiful day By singing our most beautiful songs.

The son of the master of thunder, Bacchus is elevated to the ranks of the Gods.

He was the happiness of the Earth, He shall be the glory of the Heavens.

The son of the master of thunder, Bacchus is elevated to the ranks of the Gods.

He was the happiness of the Earth, He shall be the glory of the Heavens.

Sing of his glorious exploits!

Sing of his youth and his charms.

He brings the East under his law.

By Ariadne betrayed, he will wipe away tears.

May he charm, May he triumph, And, likewise, may he taste of The sweetness of pleasure and the glory of arms.

Here we taste of the sweetest of charms, Love, gather your attractions, Fly! Bring none of your arms, This nectar shall replace your darts.

Bacchus forbids that sadness Should spread here its poison, Reign! And may your charming intoxication Help us to banish reason.

Here we taste of the sweetest of charms… etc.

Thursday August 13 & Friday August 14 2015 THE HIGH PRIEST Ô Ciel ! quel est l’effet de ce nectar charmant!

Que vois-je? où suis-je? je m’égare.

Bacchus de mes esprits s’empare.

Je luy resiste vainement.

Partagez mes transports; Bacchus vous le commande; C’est l’honneur qu’il veut qu’on luy rende.

CHORUS Courons les bois et les campagnes, Remplissons les airs de nos cris ; Du nom de Dieu qui trouble nos esprits, Faisons retentir les montagnes.

Entrance of the Ægipans and Mænads in a frenzy Quiet, expressive symphony THE PRIESTESS Quel bruit nouveau se fait entendre?

Ces aymables concerts, ces sons harmonieux ; Rameinent le calme en ces lieux.

C’est Appollon qui va descendre.

APOLLO J’ayme à voir pour Bacchus éclatter vostre amour.

C’est peu qu’au mesme sang nous devions la naissance, Il me fait des Sujets, il étend ma puissance, Et je veux par reconnaissance, Redoubler à vos yeux la pompe de ce jour.

Muses, marquez-luy vôtre zele; Consacrez à sa Gloire une feste nouvelle, Retracez-nous dans ce séjour Le grand événement qui luy donna le jour.

CHORUS Le fils du Maistre du Tonnerre, Bacchus s’élève au rang des Dieux: Il fût le bonheur de la Terre.

Il sera la gloire des Cieux.

End of the Prologue ACT I The scene is the Temple of Jupiter.

First Scene: Cadmus, Semele, Dorine CADMUS Ma fille, la Victoire a nommé vôtre Époux.

Adraste a soumis les Rebelles.

Il revient couronné de palmes immortelles, Et digne enfin de l’Empire et de vous.

Dans ce Temple, au Maître du monde, Il va bien-tôt offrir les armes des Mutins; Il faut à ses désirs que vôtre cœur réponde, Et m’acquitte envers luy de nos heureux destins.

Certain de vôtre obéissance, Pour vous à Jupiter je vais offrir mes vœux; Le Ciel doit protéger des nœuds, Formez par la victoire et la reconnoissance.

Cadmus enters the Temple.

Second Scene: Semele, Dorine SEMELE Que vais-je devenir! ah! ma chère Dorine, Du sort de Sémélé conçois-tu la rigueur?

Tu vois l’époux qu’on me destine, Et tu connois l’Amant que s’est choisi mon cœur.

Heavens! This charming nectar has quite an effect!

What do I see? Where am I? I wander…

Bacchus robs me of my wits.

I resist him in vain.

Share my transports; Bacchus commands you; He wishes to bestow honor on you.

Let us run through the woods and the countryside, Let us fill the airs with our cries.

With the name of the God who unhinges our wits, Let us make the mountains resound.

What new noise makes itself heard?

These agreeable concerts, these harmonious sounds; They restore calm to this place.

It is Apollo who descends.

I am happy to see your love blaze for Bacchus.

It is just that we are born of the same blood, He gives me Subjects, he extends my power, And I would like, by way of recognition, To redouble the splendor of this day in your eyes.

Muses, take note of their zeal; Consecrate to Glory a new festival, Recount for us in this place The great event that brought him to life.

Son of the Master of Thunder, Bacchus is elevated to the rank of the Gods.

He is the source of the happiness of the Earth, He shall be the glory of the Heavens.

Daughter! Victory has favored your Spouse!

Adraste has subjugated the Rebels.

He returns, crowned with the palms of immortals, And at last he is worthy of the Empire and of you.

In this Temple, to the Master of the world, He will soon offer the arms of the Mutineers; Your heart must respond to his wishes, And I must discharge my happy obligation to him.

Confident that you will yield to him, I shall offer to Jupiter my wishes for you; The Heavens must protect those ties, Formed by victory and by gratitude.

What shall become of me! Ah! My dear Dorine, Can you imagine the harshness of Semele’s fate?

You see the husband destined for me, And you know the Lover that my heart has chosen for me.

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Thursday August 13 & Friday August 14 2015 DORINE Vous ne vous rendrez point à cette loy barbare?

SEMELE C’en est fait cher Idas, le Devoir nous sépare.

DORINE Vostre cœur jusques-là pourroit-il se trahir.

SEMELE Je sens que j’en mourray; mais il faut obeïr.

DORINE Non, non, c’est trop d’obeïssance, Malgré le fier Devoir nôtre cœur a ses droits , Quand ce Tiran nous fait de trop sévères loix, L’Amour, l’Amour nous en dispense.

SEMELE Tu gémis vainement ; fuy trop indigne Amour, N’usurpe plus un cœur qui n’est dû qu’à la Gloire.

Ay-je donc perdu la memoire De cet auguste sang dont j’ay reçû le jour?

Ce n’est plus sur mon sort, l’Amour que j’en veux croire, Que ma fierté regne à son tour, Recevons un Époux des mains de la Victoire.

Tu gémis vainement ; fuy trop indigne Amour, N’usurpe plus un cœur qui n’est dû qu’à la Gloire.

DORINE Idas a pour vous plaire oublié ses États; Inconnu dans ces lieux, il vous y suit sans cesse, Rien n’est égal à l’amour qui le presse.

SEMELE Crois-tu donc que le mien ne le surpasse pas?

DORINE Quoy vous croyez surpasser sa tendresse ?

Et vous allez luy donner le trepas.

Quelle preuve d’amour!

SEMELE Ô trop aimable Idas! Ô trop malheureuse Princesse!

DORINE Vous pouvez changer vôtre sort.

Pourquoy voulez-vous suivre une loy rigoureuse?

Ah! s’il faut vous faire un effort, Faites-le pour vous rendre heureuse.

Allez à vôtre Pere avoüer vôtre choix.

SEMELE Je mourrois plûtôt mille fois.

SEMELE, then DORINE and SEMELE (together) Que vous causez un trouble extrême, Amour, charmant Amour, Devoir trop rigoureux!

Hélas ! qu’un cœur est malheureux, Quand vous l’armez contre luy-même.

The sound of trumpets is heard.

DORINE Ce bruit annonce Adraste, il s’avance en ces lieux.

Fuyez, évitez sa présence.

SEMELE Non, non, il faut se faire un effort glorieux , Et payer à la fois sa gloire et sa constance.

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You shall not submit to this barbaric law?

It’s over, dear Idas, Duty keeps us apart.

Your heart could betray you before then.

I feel that I will die of it; but it is necessary to obey.

No, no, this is too much submission, Despite proud Duty our heart has its own rights, When this Tyrant subjects us to too severe laws, Love, Love grants us dispensation.

You groan in vain; fly, too unworthy Love, Usurp no longer a heart to which only Glory is due.

Have I thus lost the memory Of the august blood which I received this day?

My fate is no more certain, Love whom I want to believe, Than that my pride should reign in its turn, Let us receive a Husband from the hands of Victory.

You groan in vain; fly, too unworthy Love, Usurp no longer a heart to which only Glory is due.

Idas has forgotten his State in order to please you; Unknown in this land, he pursues you unceasingly; Nothing is equal to the love that he offers.

Do you believe that my love does not surpass his?

What, you think to surpass his affection?

And you are willing to give him death.

What a test of love!

Oh, too lovable Idas!

Oh, too unhappy Princess!

You can change your fate.

Why do you desire to follow a harsh law?

Ah! If you’re going to put in the effort, Use it to make yourself happy.

Go to your father and announce your choice.

I would rather die a thousand times.

You cause such extreme trouble, Love, charming Love; Duty, too demanding!

Alas! How unhappy the heart, When one arms it against one’s self.

This sound announces Adraste, he advances on this place.

Flee, avoid his presence.

No, no, one must make a glorious effort, And reward both his glory and his faithfulness.

Thursday August 13 & Friday August 14 2015 Third Scene: Adraste, troop of warriors carrying the trophies seized from the Rebels, Cadmus, Semele, Dorine March for the Warriors ADRASTE Vous voyez les Mutins captifs, humiliez; Dans mes exploits connoissez vôtre ouvrage, Princesse, c’est à vous qui me les ordonniez, Que j’en rends le premier hommage.

Le Roy flatte mes vœux du bonheur le plus doux; Mais il consent en vain que l’Himen nous unisse, Ce bien, tout grand qu’il est, deviendroit mon supplice Si je ne le tenois de vous.

SEMELE Prince, vous scavez trop... [à part] Ô Ciel! que vais-je faire!

ADRASTE Parlez belle Princesse, imposez-moy vos loix.

SEMELE Prince vous scavez trop que la Gloire m’est chère, Elle décide de mon choix, Et je me rends à vos exploits Autant qu’à l’ordre de mon pere.

ADRASTE Ô sort charmant! trop heureux jour!

Je joüis d’un bonheur qu’à peine j’ose croire.

Je dois ma gloire à mon amour; Et l’Objet que j’adore est le prix de ma gloire.

Que mon triomphe est glorieux; Chantez, rendez-en grâce au Souverain des Dieux.

CHORUS Que son triomphe est glorieux, Chantons, rendons-en grâce au Souverain des Dieux.

First Air for the Warriors Second Air for the same CADMUS leaving the Temple with the Priests Tout tremble, Dieu puissant, sous ton pouvoir supreme, Les Rois en frémissant reconnoissent ta loy.

Un seul de tes regards remplit le Ciel d’effroy Et tout le pouvoir des Dieux meme N’est que faiblesse devant toy.

Third Air CADMUS Unissez vos cœurs et vos voix; Remplissez de vos chants le ciel, la terre et l’onde.

Que tout en retentisse, et que tout nous réponde.

Que toute la nature applaudisse à la fois À l’auguste Maître du monde.

CHORUS Unissons nos cœurs et nos voix; Remplissons de nos chants le ciel, la terre & l’onde.

Que tout en retentisse, et que tout nous réponde.

Que toute la nature applaudisse à la fois À l’auguste Maître du monde.

ADRASTE Allons, pour mériter des victoires nouvelles , Offrons à Jupiter les armes des Rebelles.

The Temple closes and the Furies come to make off with the trophies.

ADRASTE Mais le Temple se ferme. Ô Cieux!

You see the Mutineers captive, humiliated; See your work in my exploits, Princess, I present them to you, To whom I render the highest homage.

The King fulfills my wishes for the sweetest happiness; But he agrees in vain that Hymen should unite us, This boon, as great as it may be, will become my ordeal If I do not receive it from you.

Prince, you know too much…[aside] O Heavens! what do I do!

Speak, Princess, impose your laws upon me.

Prince, you know too well that Glory is dear to me, She has decided my choice, And I grant as much to your exploits As to the orders of my father.

O fate so charming! O day so happy!

I rejoice in a happiness I scarcely dared to hope for.

I owe my glory to my love; And the Object of my adoration is the prize of my glory.

How glorious is my triumph; Sing, render grace unto the Sovereign of the Gods.

How glorious is this triumph, Let us sing, let us render thanks unto the Sovereign of the Gods.

All tremble, powerful God, in the face of your supreme power, The Kings shudder to acknowledge your law.

One look of yours alone fills the Heavens with dread And all the power of the Gods themselves Is but weakness before you.

Unite your hearts and your voices; Fill the heavens, the earth, and the waves with your songs.

So that all of it resounds, and so that all answer us.

So that all of nature applauds at the same time The august master of the world.

Let us unite our hearts and our voices; Let us fill the heavens, the earth, and the waves with your songs.

So that all of it resounds, and so that all answer us.

So that all of nature applauds at the same time The august Master of the world.

Let us go, to be worthy of these new victories, We shall offer the Rebels’ arms to Jupiter.

But the Temple is closing, O Heavens!

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Thursday August 13 & Friday August 14 2015 CHORUS Sous nos pas s’ébranle la terre, L’Enfer est déchaîné! Quells éclats de tonnerre; Fuyons, fuyons la colère des Dieux.

CADMUS Fuyons, fuyons la colère des Dieux.

CHORUS Sous nos pas s’ébranle la terre, L’Enfer est déchaîné! Quells éclats de tonnerre; Fuyons, fuyons la colère des Dieux.

Fourth Scene: Adraste, Semele ADRASTE Mes premiers vœux, et mon premier hommage Dans ces lieux ont été pour vous, Et sans doute, c’est-là l’outrage Dont se vange le Ciel jaloux; Je le fléchiray par mon zèle; Mais si vôtre cœur m’est fidelle; Je suis incapable d’effroy.

SEMELE Fléchissez Jupiter, et j’obéis au Roy. End of Act I ACT II The theater represents a wood in a rocky terrain.

First Scene: Mercury disguised as Arbate, Dorine MERCURY (ARBATE) La Princesse abandonne Idas!

Dorine, est-il bien vray? Je n’ose encore le croire.

DORINE Arbate, il est trop vray! l’Amour n’y consent pas.

Mais son cœur l’immole à la Gloire.

MERCURY (ARBATE) Tu me fais trembler pour mes feux; Ton cœur sera-t-il plus fidelle?

Que je crains qu’en de nouveaux nœuds La Gloire à ton tour ne t’appelle!

DORINE La gloire peut régner au cœur d’une Princesse, Pour les plus grands héros il doit garder sa foy.

Mais le mien a plus de foiblesse, Et l’Amant le plus tendre est le héros pour moy.

MERCURY (ARBATE) Si l’Amant le plus tendre a seul droit de te plaire, Il n’est point de Rival qui doive m’allarmer; Mon amour est ma seule affaire, Et mon unique gloire est de me faire aimer.

DORINE C’est une assez belle victoire Que de m’avoir réduitte à t’aimer à mon tour.

Ce que ton cœur donneroit à la Gloire, Serait autant de perdu pour l’Amour.

DORINE & MERCURY (ARBATE) Faisons nôtre bonheur suprême Des plaisirs qu’on goûte en aimant.

Le triomphe le plus charmant, C’est de régner sur ce qu’on aime.

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The Earth shakes under our feet, Hell is unleashed! What claps of thunder; Flee, flee from the anger of the Gods.

Flee, flee from the anger of the Gods.

The Earth shakes under our feet, Hell is unleashed! What claps of thunder; Flee, flee from the anger of the Gods.

My primary wish, and my primary homage In this place have been for you, And without doubt, that is the outrage For which jealous Heaven avenges itself; I shall change its will through my zeal; But if your heart is faithful to me, I am incapable of fear.

You bow to Jupiter, and I obey the King.

The Princess abandons Idas!

Dorine, is it true? I scarcely dare to believe it.

Arbate, it is indeed true, Love does not consent.

But she sacrifices her heart to Glory.

You make me tremble for my passion; Will your heart remain more faithful?

How I fear that new ties Glory will call to you in your turn!

Glory may reign in the heart of a Princess, For the greatest of heroes it must keep his faith.

But my heart has more weakness, And the more tender lover is my hero.

If only the tenderest lover has the right to please you, He is hardly a Rival that ought to alarm me; My love is my business alone, And my unique glory is to be loved.

It is a rather fine victory To have induced me to love you in return.

That which your heart gave to Glory, Will be likewise lost for Love.

Let us make our supreme happiness From the pleasures that one tastes in loving.

The most delightful triumph, Is to reign over the one whom one loves.

Thursday August 13 & Friday August 14 2015 MERCURY (ARBATE) La Princesse en ces lieux s’avance avec Idas; Éloignons-nous et le les troublons pas.

Second Scene: Semele, Jupiter disguised as Idas, Mercury, Dorine JUPITER (IDAS) Quoy! vous pouvez briser, Cruelle, Le lien le plus doux que l’Amour ait formé?

Adraste me ravit vostre cœur infidelle!

SEMELE Ingrat, le croyez-vous aimé.

JUPITER (IDAS) Ouy, je le crois, Barbare; envain vous voulez feindre, Vous vous plaisez à causer mon tourment.

SEMELE Accusez le Destin, plaignez-vous cher Idas; Mais croyez-moy la plus à plaindre.

Malgré moi je brise mes fers, Je sens en vous voyant à quels maux je me livre; Mais pour me consoler du bonheur que je perds, J’ay l’espoir de n’y pas survivre.

JUPITER (IDAS) Vous soupirez; vous répandez des pleurs!

Vous me trompez encor par ces perfides larmes.

SEMELE Non, jamais vostre amour n’eut pour moi tant de charmes.

JUPITER (IDAS) Et cependant, c’est par vous que je meurs.

SEMELE Que vous ébranlez ma constance!

Ah! je devois toujours éviter de vous voir.

Laissez-moy fuir; vôtre présence Me feroit repentir d’avoir fait mon devoir.

JUPITER (IDAS) Demeurez? pourquoy suivre un devoir trop barbare?

Le Ciel vous fait une autre loy.

Il vient de condamner un nœud qui nous sépare, Et je n’ay que vous contre moy.

SEMELE Que moy! Cruel! quelle injustice!

Non, de nostre bonheur les Dieux seuls sont jaloux; Adraste en ce moment leur offre un Sacrifice.

Peut-être a-t’il déjà désarmé leur courroux.

JUPITER (IDAS) Vous aimez du moins à le croire?

SEMELE Hélas; pourquoy dois-je à la Gloire Un cœur que l’Amour fit pour vous.

JUPITER (IDAS) C’en est donc fait, malgré la douleur qui me presse, Vous me condamnez à la mort.

SEMELE Malgré mon désespoir, je tiendray ma promesse; Heureuse, si je meurs de ce cruel effort!

Cessez de m’attendrir, je ne veux rien entendre, Adieu cher Prince. . . .

The Princess approaches with Idas; Let us withdraw and not disturb them.

What! You can break, Cruel One, The sweet ties that Love may have created?

Adraste has stolen your unfaithful heart from me!

Ungrateful one, you think yourself loved?

Yes, I believe it, Inhuman; in vain you fool yourself, You are pleased to cause my torment.

Accuse Fate, pity yourself, my dear Idas; But believe me most to be pitied.

In spite of myself, I break my chains, In seeing you I feel the evils from which I free myself; But in order to console me for the happiness which I lose, I hope not to survive.

You sigh; you shed tears!

You deceive me yet with this perfidious weeping.

No, never did your love hold any charms for me.

Nevertheless, it is through you that I die.

How you undermine my constancy!

Ah! I should have always avoided seeing you.

Let me flee; your presence Causes me to repent of having done my duty.

Stay? Why follow such a barbaric duty?

Heaven gives you another law.

It just condemned a link that keeps us apart, And I have only you against me.

Only me! Cruel one! What injustice!

No, the Gods themselves are jealous of our happiness; At this moment Adraste is offering a Sacrifice to them.

Perhaps he has already assuaged their wrath.

At least, you would like to believe that?

Alas; why do I owe to Glory A heart which Love made for you?

So that is the end, in spite of the sorrow which afflicts me, You condemn me to death.

In spite of my despair, I will keep my promise; Happy, if I die from this cruel effort!

Do not try to dissuade me, I want to hear no more, Farewell, dear Prince. . . .

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Thursday August 13 & Friday August 14 2015 JUPITER (IDAS) Ingratte, il faut se déclarer; J’y vais perdre un plaisir bien cher pour un cœur tendre, Et le plus grand bonheur ou je pusse aspirer; Je me flattois d’être aimé pour moi-même; Sous le faux nom d’Idas, Je vous cachois mon rang suprême, Mais puisque sous ce nom je ne vous suffis pas, Connoissez Jupiter charmé par vos appas.

SEMELE Vous, Jupiter?

JUPITER Ouy, c’est luy qui vous aime Cruelle, en est-ce assez pour vostre gloire?

SEMELE Hélas!

JUPITER Suivez le transport qui vous presse, Allez choisir Adraste dès ce jour.

SEMELE Ah! loin de me troubler, rassurez ma foiblesse; La frayeur un moment a suspendu l’amour.

Ciel! quel est l’heureux sort dont ma crainte est suivie!

Vous avez vû le trouble de mon cœur, Pourquoi différiez-vous de me sauver la vie, En accordant ma gloire et mon ardeur?

JUPITER Joüissez de vôtre conqueste.

Que ces lieux à ma voix, brillent de mille attraits, Et que la plus aimable feste Y rassemble les Dieux des Eaux et des Forests.

Ungrateful one, I must declare myself; I will lose a pleasure dear to me for a tender heart, And the greatest happiness to which I could aspire; I flattered myself to be loved for myself; Under the false name of Idas, I hid from you my supreme rank, But because under this name I was not good enough for you, Know now Jupiter, under the spell of your charms.

You, Jupiter?

Yes, it is he that loves you Cruel one, is that enough for your glory?

Alas!

Submit to the transport that overcomes you, Go ahead and choose Adraste right now.

Ah! Far from troubling me, reassure my weakness; Terror has held back love for a moment.

Heavens! What a happy fate to follow from my fear!

You have seen the distress in my heart, Why should you defer to saving my life, By bringing together my glory and my passion?

Enjoy your conquest.

At the sound of my voice, may this place sparkle with a thousand delights, And may the most agreeable festival Here assemble the Gods of Fountains and Forests.

The trees gather into rows, the rocks open to reveal Naiads leaning on urns from which waters flow downstage, forming cascades.

The scene changes to display a palace decorated with cascades.

Third Scene: Jupiter, Semele, Fauns, Nymphs, and Naiads JUPITER Accourez, venez rendre hommage À l’Objet qui comble mes vœux.

Par vos chants les plus amoureux, Redoublez l’amour qui m’engage; Ce n’est qu’en l’aimant d’avantage Que je puis être plus heureux.

CHORUS Secondez-nous, Oyseaux de ces Boccages; Joignez à nos Concerts la douceur de vos sons: L’Amour anime vos ramages; Qu’il anime aussi nos chansons.

Chaconne Fourth Scene: Adraste, Semele, Jupiter ADRASTE Quel spectacle vient me surprendre?

Quels chants! quels Jeux! Ingrate, ah! vous me trahissez?

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Gather around, come and render homage To the beloved Object that satisfies my wishes.

By your most amorous songs, Redouble the love that has seized me; It is only in loving more That I can be any more happy than I am.

Assist us, Birds of these Groves; Join to our Concerts the sweetness of your sounds: Love inspires your warbling; May it also inspire our songs.

What spectacle surprises me?

What songs! what games! Ungrateful one, ah! do you betray me?

Thursday August 13 & Friday August 14 2015 SEMELE Prince, un moment daignez m’entendre.

Je vous sacrifiois la flame la plus tender, Vous alliez voir vos vœux récompensez, Contre tout mon amour j’auroi sçû vous deffendre, Je vous l’avois promis, et c’en estoit assez.

Mais un Dieu m’aime, un Dieu dégage ma promesse, Respectez son amour; c’est à vous de céder.

ADRASTE Un Dieu! le croyez-vous? quelle indigne foiblesse; Par cette vaine erreur croit-on m’intimider?

JUPITER Téméraire Mortel, crains que ton cœur n’éprouve Le pouvoir que tu veux braver.

ADRASTE Eh bien, si c’est un Dieu, que mon trépas le prouve; Mais s’il n’est qu’un mortel, sa mort va le prouver.

He moves to attack Jupiter. Semele stops him.

SEMELE Ah! barbare arrestez...

To Jupiter … j’oubliois qui vous êtes.

A cloud rises around Adraste and hides him from the scene.

Fifth Scene: Adraste alone ADRASTE Ciel! tout disparoît à mes yeux!

Un nüage soudain a couvert ces retraittes, Mon transport impuissant en est plus furieux.

Achève Dieu cruel, vient me réduire en poudre, Punis mon affreux désespoir; Force-moy par un coup de foudre À reconnoître ton pouvoir.

End of Act II

Prince, deign to hear me for a moment.

To you I sacrificed the most tender flame, You were going to see your vows repaid, Against all of my love I have been able to defend you, I had promised it to you, and that had been enough.

But a God loves me, a God releases me from my promise, Respect his love, it is up to you to withdraw.

A God! You believe that? What unworthy weakness; You think to intimidate me with this vain error?

Reckless Mortal, fear that your heart does not experience The power that you defy.

Ah well, if it is a God, may my death prove it; But if it is only a mortal, his death will prove that.

Ah! Barbarian stop. . . . … I forgot who you are.

Heavens! Everything disappears before my eyes!

A sudden cloud has covered this landscape, My powerless stupor is all the more furious because of it.

The cruel God finishes me off, comes to reduce me to powder, Punishes my frightful despair; Dispose of me by a stroke of lightning To demonstrate your power.

~ Intermission ~ Act III The scene is the pleasure garden of the Palace of Cadmus.

First Scene: Adraste ADRASTE Non, je ne doute plus du malheur de mes feux; Le jaloux Jupiter est le Dieu qui m’outrage; C’est luy qui dans le Temple a rejetté mes vœux, C’est luy qui m’a couvert de ce nüage affreux, Dont il insultoit à ma rage.

Descend fière Junon; que fais-tu dans les Cieux?

Livres-tu ton époux à l’Ingratte qu’il aime?

Hâtes-toy; contre luy soulève tous les Dieux, Viens me vanger; viens te vanger toy-même.

Que le Dépit vangeur, que la Haine cruelle, De leurs traits arment ton courroux, Rassemble contre un infidelle, Tout ce que peut l’amour jaloux.

Juno descends.

No, I no longer doubt the misfortune of my ardor; Jealous Jupiter is the God who affronts me; It is he who rejected my vows in the Temple, It is he who covered me with that terrible cloud, Thereby insulting my rage.

Descend, proud Juno; what are you doing in the Heavens?

Will you relinquish your spouse to the Ingrate whom he loves?

Quickly; raise up all the Gods against him, Come and avenge me; come and avenge yourself.

May vengeful Jealousy, may cruel Hate, Arm your wrath, And gather in opposition to an unfaithful one, All who are capable of jealous love.

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Thursday August 13 & Friday August 14 2015 Second Scene: Juno, Adraste JUNO Ne doute point de ta vangeance; C’est à moy de briser de funestes liens, Je ne te flatte point d’une vaine espérance, Ce jour verra vanger tes tourments et les miens.

JUNO and ADRASTE (together) Que le Dépit vangeur, que la Haine cruelle, De leurs traits arment mon / ce courroux; Rassemblons / Rassemblez contre une infidelle Tout ce que peut l’amour jaloux.

ADRASTE Enlevez-luy l’objet qu’il vous préfère, Et par l’hymen qui devoit nous unir...

JUNO Laisse-moy, va, sur ma colère Repose-toy du soin de le punir.

Exit Adraste Third Scene: Juno (alone) JUNO Tremble des maux qu’on te prépare, Ambitieuse Sémélé; Je me feray connoître au coup barbare Dont ton cœur doit être immolé.

Le plus affreux tourment va suivre ton audace; Le terrible destin d’Isis, Le sort de Calisto, mourant des mains d’un fils, N’égalent point encor le sort qui te menace.

Volez Zéphirs, allez enlever Béroé; Je vais prendre ses traits pour perdre Sémélé; The Zephyrs carry out the orders of Juno.

JUNO Cachons-nous, elle vient, son malheur me l’ameine; Que sa beauté redouble encor ma haine!

Fourth Scene: Semele, Juno disguised as Beroe, the nurse of Semele SEMELE Amour, régnez en paix; régnez charmant Vainqueur.

Mon ame à vos feux s’abandonne; Lancez tous vos traits dans mon cœur, La Gloire vous l’ordonne.

Unissez-moy d’un éternel lien Au Dieu du Ciel et de la Terre.

Le sort de Junon même est moins beau que le mien, J’ay soumis à mes loix le Maître du Tonnerre.

JUNO (BEROE) Quoy! Jupiter vous aime et vous me le cachiez?

Dorine seule a vostre confidence.

Princesse, est-ce le prix que vous me réserviez Des soins que j’eus de vôtre enfance?

SEMELE Je craignois tes yeux pour témoins!

J’ay long-temps ignoré qu’elle étoit ma victoire; Tu m’as appris à n’aimer que la gloire, J’aurois rougi de démentir tes soins.

JUNO (BEROE) Un Dieu puissant vous rend les armes, Méprisez désormais les soupirs des mortels, L’encens est le tribut que l’on doit à vos charmes; C’étoit trop peu d’un Trône, il vous faut des autels.

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Do not doubt of your vengeance; It is for me to break the fatal links, I do not flatter you into a vain hope, This day will avenge your torments and mine.

May vengeful Jealousy, may cruel Hate, Arm your wrath, And gather in opposition to an unfaithful one, All who are capable of jealous love.

Remove from him the object whom he prefers, And by the nuptials that should have united us. . . .

Leave me, go, entrust my anger To carry out the punishment.

Tremble at the evils being prepared for you, Ambitious Semele!

I will make you acquainted by a savage stroke Which will destroy your heart.

The most horrible torment will follow your audacity; The terrible destiny of Isis, The fate of Calisto, dying at the hands of a son, Are in no way equal to the fate that threatens you.

Fly hither, Zephyrs; remove Beroe; I will take her appearance in order to harm Semele.

Let us hide, she is coming, her unhappiness drives me; How her beauty redoubles my hatred!

Love, rule in peace; reign, enchanting Conqueror.

My soul gives itself up to your fires; Launch your darts into my heart, Glory orders you!

Unite me in an eternal link To the God of Heaven and Earth.

The fate of Juno herself is less happy than my own, I have subjected the Master of Thunder to my laws.

What! Jupiter loves you and you hid that from me?

You confide only in Dorine now.

Princess, is this how you repay me For the care I took to raise you in infancy?

I feared that your eyes might witness!

For a long time I did not know what my victory was; You taught me to love nothing but glory, I would blush if I denied your efforts.

A powerful God now arms you, Now you despise the sighs of mortals, Incense is the tribute now owed to your charms; It was too little a Throne, you now require altars.

Thursday August 13 & Friday August 14 2015 SEMELE Ma chère Béroé, que j’aime à voir ton zèle!

JUNO (BEROE) Autant que vous, je ressens vos plaisirs.

SEMELE Ciel! une conqueste si belle A passé mon espoir et même mes désirs.

JUNO (BEROE) Je ne le cèle point; cette gloire est extreme; Mais j’ose à peine m’en flatter.

SEMELE N’en doute point, c’est Jupiter qui m’ayme !

JUNO (BEROE) Je le souhaite assez pour en douter.

SEMELE Je suis témoin de sa puissance, D’un mot il embellit les plus sauvages lieux; Il soumet la nature, et j’ay vû tous les Dieux Luy marquer leur obéissance.

JUNO (BEROE) Par une trompeuse apparence, Peut-être un enchanteur a-t’il séduit vos yeux.

Mais que fais-je? pourquoi douter de vôtre gloire?

Vostre beauté me fait tout croire.

SEMELE Tu crois tout! cependant on a pû me tromper.

Ciel! de quel coup viens-tu de me fraper!

Quelle honte pour moy! que faut-il que je pense?

Mes yeux n’auroient donc [ils] vû que des fantômes vains!

Croiray-je que les Dieux permettent aux Humains D’imiter si bien leur puissance?

JUNO (BEROE) N’en doutez point, il est un Art mistérieux Qui sçait donner des loix aux Dieux.

SEMELE Non, non, à tes discours ma raison se refuse; Cet art n’est qu’une erreur, qu’un bruit qui nous abuse.

JUNO (BEROE) J’en pourrois convaincre vos yeux;] Autrefois dans la Thessalie, Moy-même, j’en appris les mistères puissants.

SEMELE Fais-moy voir s’il est vray tout ce qu’on en publie.

JUNO (BEROE) Vos yeux soutiendroient-ils les Enfers menaçans?

SEMELE Mon doute est plus cruel, contente mon envie.

JUNO (BEROE) Je crains trop d’effrayer vos sens.

SEMELE Ne me résiste point, il y va de ma vie.

My dear Beroe, how I love to see your zeal!

I share in your pleasure as much as you.

Heavens! Such a beautiful conquest Has surpassed my hopes and even my dreams.

I do not hide it one bit; this glory is extreme; But I dare to flatter myself.

Do you have any doubt, it is Jupiter that loves me?

I rather wish I could doubt it.

I have witnessed his power, With a single word he has beautified the most untamed wildernesses; He subjugates nature, and I have seen all of the Gods Do him homage.

Using a deceptive appearance, Perhaps a wizard has seduced your eyes.

But what am I saying? Why doubt your glory?

Your beauty leads me to believe you.

You believe it all! Nevertheless, I could be deceived.

Heavens! What you said has suddenly hit me!

What shame for me! What could I have been thinking?

My eyes may have seen imaginary phantoms!

Can I believe that the Gods allow Humans To mimic their power so well?

No doubt about it, it is a mysterious Art Which knows how to give laws to the Gods.

No, no, my reason rejects your idea; This art is but an error, a rumor that fools us.

I could convince you of that; Once, in Thessaly, I myself learned powerful mysteries.

Show me that what you say is true.

Your eyes could withstand the menaces of Hell?

My doubt is more cruel, satisfy my desire.

I fear I will frighten your senses.

Do not deny me, my life is at stake.

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Thursday August 13 & Friday August 14 2015 JUNO (BEROE) Terrible Roy des pâles Ombres, Vous, fleuves redoutez qui sur les rives sombres, Roulez avec horreur vos ténébreuses Eaux, Et vous Déesses implacables, Dont les Serpens et les flambeaux Tourmentent les cœurs des coupables, Répondez à mes cris; mon trouble, ma terreur Sont l’hommage et l’encens que vous offre mon cœur.

An underground noise is heard.

JUNO (BEROE) Le charme est fait; ce bruit et ces flammes terribles Nous annoncent l’aveu de l’infernale Cour.

Venez, venez Démons, sous des formes horribles; En un spectacle affreux, transformez ce séjour.

Fifth Scene: Semele, Juno disguised as Beroe, Furies, and Demons The scene changes to Hell.

JUNO (BEROE) Soleil fuy de ces lieux, venez Sœurs inflexibles, Et que vos seuls flambeaux y répandent le jour.

CHORUS Ordonne, nous t’obéissons, Des plus grands criminels nous suspendons les peines; Console-nous par des loix inhumaines Du repos où nous les laissons.

JUNO (BEROE) Vous lisez dans mon cœur, comblez mon espérance; Montrez à Sémélé jusqu’où va ma puissance.

Air for the Furies CHORUS Qu’un affreux ravage Marque nos fureurs, Et de nôtre rage Troublons tous les cœurs, Que l’affreuse Haine, Les Soupçons jaloux, La rage inhumaine, Le cruel Couroux, Le Trouble et la Peine Règnent avec nous.

Second Air for the Furies Sixth Scene: Semele, Juno disguised as Beroe SEMELE Cesse; je ne puis plus résister à mon trouble; Le plus cruel soupçon est entré dans mon cœur, À chaque instant je le sens qui redouble, Et qui m’annonce mon malheur.

Je brûle d’éclaircir ma crainte; Comment sçaurai-je dès ce jour De quel trait mon ame est atteinte, Et si c’est Jupiter qui cause mon amour?

JUNO (BEROE) Exigez qu’aux Thébains luy-mesme il vienne apprendre.

Un choix pour vous si glorieux; Qu’armé de son tonnerre il se montre à vos yeux.

Que par le Stix, il jure de descendre Avec tout l’appareil du souverain des Dieux; Tel qu’aux yeux de Junon il paroît dans les Cieux!

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Terrible King of the pale Shadows.

You, dread rivers which past somber banks, Roll your shadowy Waters with horror, And you implacable Goddesses, Whose Serpents and torches Torment the hearts of the guilty, Answer my call; my trouble, my terror Are the sacrifice and incense that you offer my heart.

The spell is cast; the noise of these terrible flames Announces to us the sign of the infernal Court.

Come, come Demons, in your horrible forms; Transform this place in a frightening spectacle.

Sun, flee from this place; come, inflexible Sisters, And may your torches alone shed light on the day.

You order, we obey, We will suspend the agonies of the greatest criminals; Console us with inhuman laws For the repose in which we leave them.

You read my heart, fulfill my wish; Show to Semele just how far my power goes.

Let awful violence Mark our furors, And with our rage Shall we trouble every heart, Let awful Hate, Jealous suspicions, Inhuman rage, Cruel Fury, Trouble and Pain Reign alongside us.

Stop; I can no longer fight this torment; The most cruel suspicion has entered my heart, Each moment I feel it growing, And informing me of my misery.

I burn to enlighten my fear; How should I know before this day Which of Cupid’s darts would hit my soul, And that it is Jupiter who causes my love?

Require of him that he show himself to the Thebans.

Such a glorious choice for you; That armed with his thunder he show himself before your eyes.

That he swears by the Styx to descend Bearing the full regalia of the sovereign of the Gods; Just as he appears to Juno in the Heavens!

Thursday August 13 & Friday August 14 2015 SEMELE Ah! tu me rends le jour par cet avis fidèle; Que mille embrassemens soient le prix de ton zèle.

End of Act III Act IV The Scene is a grotto.

First Scene: Mercury, Dorine MERCURY Apprends quel est le Dieu qui t’offre sa tendresse.

Ma puissance bien-tôt va paroître à tes yeux; Jupiter m’a chargé de donner en ces lieux De nouveaux jeux à la Princesse.

DORINE Ce n’est donc plus Arbate que je vois?

C’est Mercure à présent qui m’offre son homage?

MERCURY Le fils de Jupiter se soumet à ta loy; Tu dois m’en aimer davantage.

DORINE Si vous êtes un Dieu, je vous en aime moins, Ou plûtôt je romps nôtre chaîne; Mon cœur n’aspiroit pas à de si nobles soins, Trop d’inégalité me gesne.

MERCURY Connois mieux le lien charmant Où le cœur d’un Dieu te convie; Nous aimons plus en un moment Qu’un Mortel en toute sa vie.

DORINE Si vous sentez plus de tendresse Vous en avez plûtôt épuisé vos désirs; Et j’aime mieux que mes plaisirs Soient moins grands, et durent sans cesse.

MERCURY De quel soupçon ton cœur est-il troublé?

Je t’aimeray d’un amour éternelle.

DORINE Non, vous ne me seriez fidelle, Qu’autant que Jupiter doit l’estre de Sémélé.

On sçait trop que rien ne l’arreste, Après de courts plaisirs, il laisse un long ennuy.

Il va bientôt voler à quelqu’autre conqueste, Et vous changeriez avec luy.

MERCURY S’il se plaît à brûler d’une flamme nouvelle, De mon cœur par le sien, pourquoy veux-tu juger?

Il fait son plaisir de changer, Je fais le mien d’être fidelle.

DORINE Jupiter en promet autant Et n’en aime pas advantage: Plus un cœur se connoît volage, Plus il jure d’être constant.

MERCURY Je le vois trop, Dorine, il faut que je prévienne Ton changement caché sous ces reproches vains.

Mon inconstance que tu crains N’est qu’une excuse pour la tienne.

Ah! You have made my day with this true news; May a thousand embraces be the prize for your fervor.

Learn now which God offers you his affection.

My power will soon appear before your eyes; Jupiter has charged me with giving in this place New games for the Princess.

Is this thus no longer Arbate whom I see?

Is it Mercury who offers me his homage at present?

The son of Jupiter submits to your law; You must love me all the more for it.

If you are a God, I love you less, Or rather I break our chain; My heart aspires not to such noble concerns, Too great inequality causes me pain.

Know better the delightful bond To which the heart of a God invites you; We love more in one moment Than does a Mortal in his entire life.

If you feel more affection Rather you have exhausted your desires; And I love more that my pleasure Should be less grand, and endure without ceasing.

What suspicion troubles your heart?

I shall love you with an undying love.

No, you will never be faithful to me, Any more than Jupiter will be to Semele.

One knows well that nothing will stop him, After brief pleasures, he will abandon a long boredom.

He will soon fly to some other conquest, And you will change along with him.

If it pleases him to burn for a new flame, Speaking of my heart as well as his, why do you judge?

He finds pleasure in changing, I find it in remaining faithful.

Jupiter promises that so much Yet does not love more: The more that a heart knows itself to be flighty, The more it swears to be constant.

I see that too often, Dorine, I must prevent Your change hidden behind vain reproaches.

My “inconstancy” that you fear Is only an excuse for your own.

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Thursday August 13 & Friday August 14 2015 MERCURY and DORINE (together) Vole Amour, en mon cœur lance de nouveau feux; Je veux prévenir un / la Volage Vole Amour, mais ne me degage Que pour de plus aimables nœuds.

MERCURY Jupiter en ces lieux vient avec la Princesse.

Par de nouveaux plaisirs, ranimons leur tendresse.

Que ce séjour se change en paisibles Hameaux.

The scene represents a hamlet.

MERCURY Vous, Bergers, accourez, venez sous ces Ormeaux Célébrez vos amours [ardeurs] fidelles, Mêlez à la voix de vos Belles Le doux son de vos Chalumeaux.

Second Scene: Jupiter, Semele, Mercury, Dorine, Troupe of Shepherds and Shepherdesses March for the Shepherds CHORUS of SHEPHERDESSES Venez, tendres Bergers dans ces belles retraittes.

SHEPHERDS Venez, jeunes beautez dont nous suivons les loix.

SHEPHERDESSES Animez nos chansons par vos douces muzettes.

SHEPHERDS Animez nos sons par vos voix.

JUPITER (to Semele) Ces jeux répondent mal à ma grandeur suprême; Mais je vous la dérobe exprès en ce moment.

Jaloux d’être aimé pour moy-même, Je vous cache le Dieu; ne voiez que l’Amant.

Que ma Gloire, belle Princesse, N’ait point de part à vôtre ardeur.

Comme moy, dans ces jeux, oubliez ma grandeur, Et ne songez qu’à ma tendresse.

Menuet I & II A SHEPHERD (alternating with the chorus) Icy chacun s’engage Pour ne jamais changer, Point de Beauté volage, Ny d’indiscret Berger, L’Amant le plus sincère, Y sçait le mieux charmer; Nôtre gloire est de plaire, Nôtre plaisir d’aimer.

Jamais ardeur leger N’a profane ces lieux, Qui plait à sa Bergère Veut luy plaire encore mieux, De nos amours parfaits l’ardeur croît en aimant, On aime en ces retraites, Pour aimer seulement.

Air for the same

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Fly, Love, launch a new bolt into my breast; I want to preoccupy the Flighty One Fly, Love, but call upon me Only for the sweetest ties.

Jupiter approaches this place with the Princess.

With fresh pleasures, let us revive their affection.

May this place transform into a serene Hamlet.

You Shepherds, hurry, come under these Elms Celebrate your faithful passions, With the voices of your Beloveds, Blend the sweet sound of your Chalumeaux.

Come, gentle Shepherds of these lovely retreats.

Come, young fair ones, whose laws we follow.

Enliven our songs with your sweet musettes.

Enliven our tones with your voices.

This merriment corresponds badly with my proud grandeur; But I shed that garb for you for the moment.

Eager to be loved for myself, I hide the God from you; you see but a Lover.

May my Glory, beautiful Princess, Take no part in your ardor.

Like me, in these celebrations, forget my grandeur, And dream only of my affection.

Here each pledges Never to change, No fickle Beauty, No indiscreet Shepherd, The most sincere Lover, Knows here the greatest enchantment; Our glory is to please, Our pleasure is to love.

Never does lightweight love Profane these places, He who would please his Shepherdess Wants ever to please her more, In our perfect loves Passion believes in loving, We love in these refuges, Purely for the sake of loving.

Thursday August 13 & Friday August 14 2015 TWO SHEPHERDESSES (alternating with the chorus) Amoureux Oiseaux Célébrez le retour de Flore, Par vos Chants nouveaux Réveillez nos doux Chalumeaux.

Icy les beaux jours Deviennent plus charmants encore, Mais sans vous, Amours, Que faire des beaux jours?

Muzette & Passepied Muzette Third Scene: Jupiter, Semele JUPITER Ah! Sémélé, c’est trop allarmer ma tendresse, Au milieu de ces jeux, quelle sombre tristesse Vous arrache encor des soupirs?

SEMELE Il le faut avoüer, le soupçon qui me presse Empoisonne tous ces plaisirs.

JUPITER Qu’entends-je! ma chère Princesse.

SEMELE Ne trompez-vous point mes désirs!

Vois-je le Souverain de toute la nature?

N’est-ce qu’un Enchanteur paré de ce grand nom?

Ah! je mourrois de l’imposture, Et je meurs même du soupçon.

JUPITER Eh! sur quoy se peut-il que vôtre cœur s’allarme?

N’ay-je pas à vos yeux signalé mon pouvoir?

SEMELE Tout ce que vous m’avez fait voir Peut n’estre que l’effet d’un charme.

JUPITER Quel soupçon! Jusques-là pouvez-vous m’offencer!

SEMELE Plus vous le combattez, plus je sens qu’il redouble.

JUPITER Bannissez cet injuste trouble.

SEMELE Déjà si vous m’aimiez, vous l’auriez fait cesser.

JUPITER Je brûle de détruire un soupçon qui m’offence, Parlez, je n’attends que vos loix; Trop heureux, si je puis vous prouver à la fois, Et mon amour et ma puissance!

SEMELE Je demanderay trop, et je crains vos refus.

JUPITER Écoûtez-moy pour ne les craindre plus.

Suspends pour m’écouter tes Ondes redoutables, Fleuve affreux qui défends l’Empire de Pluton; De mes Serments attestez par ton nom, Fais-moy des loix irrévocables.

Je jure de tout accorder Aux vœux de la Beauté que j’aime; Et ce sera pour moi l’arrest du Destin même, Que ce qu’elle va demander.

Amorous Birds Celebrate the return of Flora, By our new Songs Awaken our sweet Chalumeaux.

Here the fair days Become even yet more enchanting But without you, Loves, What’s the use of fair days?

Ah! Semele, you alarm my affection too much, In the middle of this merriment, what somber sadness Still drags from you these sighs?

I must admit, the suspicion that weighs upon me Poisons all of these pleasures.

What do I hear! My dear Princess…

Do not deceive my desires!

Do I see the Sovereign of all of nature?

Is it only a Wizard dressed up with a great name?

Ah! I shall die from this counterfeit, And I die likewise from the suspicion.

Eh! What could possibly have alarmed your heart so?

Have I not in your eyes demonstrated my power?

Everything you’ve showed me Could just be the result of a spell.

What a suspicion! Up to now, you were on the point of offending me!

The more you fight me, the more I will insist.

Drop this unfair commotion.

If you loved me, you would stop.

I burn to destroy a suspicion which offends me, Speak, I await only your orders; I am only too happy if I can prove at once to you My faithfulness, my love, and my power.

I am asking too much, and I fear that you will refuse.

Listen to me so you fear them no longer.

The better to hear me, hold back those formidable Waves.

Dreadful river who defends the Empire of Pluto; From my Oaths, witnessed by your name, Make for me unbreakable laws.

I swear to agree to any and all things Wished by this Beauty whom I love; And it shall be for me the judgment of Destiny itself, Whatever she may ask.

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Thursday August 13 & Friday August 14 2015 SEMELE Eh bien, si vous m’aimez, déclarez ma victoire À mon père, à tous les Thébains.

Paroissez à mes yeux dans toute vôtre gloire, Avec tout cet éclat interdit aux Humains.

Qu’à moy, tel qu’à Junon, Jupiter se présente; Qu’aux honneurs de l’Épouse il élève l’Amante.

JUPITER Ciel! que demandez-vous! qu’ay-je promis! hélas!

Mon amour m’a-t’il fait jurer vôtre trépas!

SEMELE Ce que j’ai demandé passe vôtre puissance; Ce trouble me le fait trop voir.

JUPITER Ah! je tremblerois moins avec moins de pouvoir, Ne me faites point violence, Au nom de nôtre amour, formez d’autres désirs.

SEMELE Non! je n’en croiray point ces perfides soupirs.

Faites briller icy la grandeur souveraine, Qui doit justifier mon cœur; Mais si mon espérance est vaine, Je ne vois plus en vous qu’un barbare imposteur À qui je dois toute ma haine.

JUPITER Ô Destin, sauve-là de sa propre fureur.

Passepied Muzette End of Act IV Act V The scene is the Palace of Cadmus.

First Scene: Semele, Adraste (hidden) SEMELE Descendez, cher Amant, quittez les Cieux pour moy; Venez, venez jouir de l’ardeur qui m’anime.

Tout l’Univers vous rend un respect légitime, Un sentiment plus doux, me tient sous vostre loy.

Si j’ay soupçonné vôtre foy, Pardonnez à l’Amour, luy seul a fait le crime.

Second Scene: Adraste, Semele ADRASTE C’en est donc fait! Mercure est venu l’annoncer.

Ces lieux de mon rival attendent la présence!

Que t’a servy Junon de menace?

Ta rivale triomphe et brave ta vengeance.

SEMELE Faut-il qu’Adraste seul de ma gloire s’offense?

ADRASTE Vous triomphez, cruelle, et le sort a comblé Vôtre espérance ambitieuse.

SEMELE Je serois encor plus heureuse, Si vous en estiez moins troublé.

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Ah well, if you love me, declare my victory To my father, to all Thebans.

Appear before my eyes in all your glory, With all of the brilliance denied to Humans.

As to me, such as to Juno, Jupiter presents himself; To the honor of a Spouse he elevates his Beloved.

Heavens! What do you ask! What have I promised! Alas!

My love caused me to swear to your death!

What I have asked exceeds your power; This trouble causes me to see too much.

Ah! I would tremble less with less power, Cause me no violence, In the name of our love, come up with another wish.

No! I have no faith in these lying sighs.

Dazzle us here with royal grandeur, Which must justify my heart; But if my hope is vain, I see nothing in you but a crude impostor To whom I owe all my hate.

O Fate, save her from her own madness.

Descend, dear Lover, leave the Heavens for me; Come, come and enjoy the passion which gives me life.

The whole Universe offers you well-deserved respect, But a more tender sentiment holds me under your sway.

If I have held your faithfulness suspect, Give pardon to Love, who alone has committed the crime.

Thus it is done! Mercury has just announced it.

These places of my rival await the presence!

How did you manage to rival Juno?

Your rival triumphs, and risks your vengeance.

Must only Adraste begrudge me my glory?

You triumph, cruel one; and fate has satisfied Your ambitious hopes.

I shall be happier yet, If you are less bothered by it.

Thursday August 13 & Friday August 14 2015 ADRASTE Ne croyez pas que je me flatte De mêler quelque trouble à vos heureux désirs; Mes maux et mon trépas, ingratte, Mettront le comble à vos plaisirs.

Toy barbare tyran, dont la flame m’outrage, Qui te plais à troubler le bonheur des mortels, Je voudrois pouvoir dans ma rage Détruire tes honneurs, briser [renverser] tes autels.

Que ne puis-je forcer la terre D’enfanter des géants nouveaux, Qui jusques dans les Cieux t’arrachent ton tonnerre, Et te punissent de nos maux!

SEMELE Vous cherchez un affreux supplice; Je frémis de vôtre danger.

ADRASTE Que ne puis-je assez l’outrager, Pour mériter qu’il m’en punisse!

Third Scene: Cadmus, Adraste, Thebans, Semele CADMUS (to Adraste) Le souverain des rois en ces lieux va descendre, J’ignore quel dessein l’ameine parmy nous.

Mais il n’est point de biens que je n’ose attendre; Trop heureux qu’il veüille deffendre Un trône qu’aujourd’huy je partage avec vous.

ADRASTE Goûtez les biens qu’icy sa faveur va répandre. (aside) Mais sur moy Dieu barbare, épuise ton courroux.

CADMUS Qu’à mon zèle icy tout réponde: Que vos voix, que vos chants pénètrent jusqu’au Cieux, Et rendez s’il se peut, ces lieux Dignes du souverain du monde.

CHORUS Protège, Dieu puissant, un peuple qui t’implore, Qu’il règne, qu’il commande à l’Univers jaloux, Qu’il étende ses loix du Couchant à l’Aurore, Et sur ces Ennemis fait tonner son courroux.

SEMELE Tout tremble devant toy.

Tout frémit, tout t’adore, Mais que pour toy ma flame soit encore Un tribut mille fois plus doux.

CHORUS Protège, Dieu puissant, un peuple qui t’implore, Qu’il règne, qu’il commande à l’Univers jaloux.

Air for the Theban men and women Second Air for the same SEMELE and CADMUS Descendez, Dieu puissant, comblez nôtre espérance, Faites régner icy la Victoire, ou la Paix; Et n’y faites jamais Sentir vôtre puissance, Que par vos plus rares bienfaits.

Descendez Dieu puissant, comblez notre espérance.

Third Air for the Theban men and women Here an earthquake begins.

Don’t believe that I fool myself By getting mixed up in some trouble based on your desires; My woes and my death, ungrateful one, Represent the culmination of your pleasures.

Your barbarous tyrant, whose flame offends me, Whom it pleases to trouble the happiness of mortals, I wish I could, in my rage Destroy your honors, break [overturn] your altars.

If only I could force the earth To give birth to the giants again, Who even unto the Heavens would steal away your thunder, And punish you for our ills!

You are asking for a horrifying punishment; I shudder at your danger.

If only I could enrage him enough To deserve the punishment I will receive!

The sovereign of kings will descend to this place, I am unaware of what he intends for us.

But it is not proper that I dare not wait for him; Too happy that he might defend A throne which today I share with you.

Sample the blessings that his favor will her repay.

But upon me, barbarous God, spill out your wrath.

May all answer my plea: May your voices, may your songs reach unto the Heavens, And render this place, if you can, Worthy of the ruler of the world.

Protect, powerful God, a people who beg of you, May he reign, may he command a jealous Universe, May he extend his laws from Sunset to Dawn, And may his wrath fall upon his enemies.

All tremble before you.

All shudder in terror, all worship you, But as for me, may my passion be A tribute a thousand times sweeter.

Protect, powerful God, a people who beg of you, May he reign, may he command a jealous Universe.

Descend, powerful God, satisfy our hope, Cause Victory or Peace to reign here; And only cause us To sense your power, Through you the rarest benefits you bring.

Descend, powerful God, satisfy our hope.

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Thursday August 13 & Friday August 14 2015 CHORUS Ciel! quel bruit soûterrain! quel affreux tremblement!

SEMELE Peuples, rassûrez-vous, Jupiter va paroître; Déjà par ce frémissement La Terre reconnoît son maistre.

Thunder and Lightning follow the earthquake and ignite the scene.

CHORUS Quels éclairs menaçants! quels terribles éclats!

La foudre gronde, l’air s’allume.

Dieu redoutable, ah! ne paroissez pas; Vôtre présence nous consume.

All flee and try to escape the fire.

Fourth Scene: Semele, Adraste; Jupiter, hidden in the clouds of fire ADRASTE Qu’attendez-vous icy? qui peut vous secourir?

Ah! Princesse, fuyez, s’il en est temps encore; Fuyez, au feu qui me dévore, Je sens que vous allez périr.

SEMELE En vain la flamme dévorante Exerce sur moy son pouvoir; Aux yeux de Jupiter je périray contente, Et je ne crains encore que de ne le pas voir.

ADRASTE Evitez une mort cruelle, Je sens à chaque instant s’accroître les ardeurs.

SEMELE Puis-je craindre une mort si belle?

SEMELE and ADRASTE Ah! je vois Jupiter, je meurs.

Adraste is carried off, dying, and Semele collapses onto a seat.

JUPITER Vivez Princesse trop charmante.

Ma puissance pour vous a modéré ses feux.

SEMELE Il n’est plus temps, vous me voiez mourante, Je descends pour jamais sur les bords ténébreux.

Je vois les Parques inflexibles Qui tranchent le fil de mes jours.

Qu’à mes yeux, cher amant, les Enfers sont terribles!

Ils nous séparent pour toûjours.

JUPITER Non, les Enfers n’ont point de droit sur ce que j’aime, Volez, Zéphirs, volez, portez-là dans les Cieux; Qu’elle y partage, aux yeux de Junon même, L’éternelle gloire des Dieux.

Jupiter and Semele rise, while a torrent of fire completes the destruction of the Palace of Cadmus.

End of the Fifth and Final Act

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Heavens! Such a noise from deep in the earth! What a horrible shaking!

People, rest assured, Jupiter will appear; Already, by this trembling Does the Earth recognize its master.

What menacing lightning! What terrible flashes!

The bolts growl, the air itself glows.

Formidable God, ah! do not appear!

Your presence consumes us.

What do you expect here? who could rescue you?

Ah! Princess, run, while there is yet time; Run, escape the fire that devours me, I feel that you will perish.

In vain does the devouring flame Exert its power over me; In the eyes of Jupiter I shall perish content, And I fear only that I will see him no longer.

Avoid a cruel death, I sense the passion growing moment by moment.

How can I fear such a beautiful death?

Ah! I see Jupiter, I die.

Live on, enchanting Princess.

My power has abated its fires for you.

There’s not enough time, you see me dying, I descend forever to the shadowy shores.

I see the inflexible Fates Who cut the cord of my days.

How terrible, dear lover, does Hell appear!

It separates us always.

No, Hell has no part in what I love, Fly, Zephyrs, fly, carry her into the Heavens; Let her there share, under the gaze of Juno herself, The eternal glory of the Gods.

AT

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Saturday August 15 2015 John Thiessen, baroque trumpet

John Thiessen, baroque trumpet

Distinguished Artist Series

These concerts are generously sponsored by Marie Hogan & Douglas Lutgen.

Kathryn Mueller, soprano AMERICAN BACH SOLOISTS Elizabeth Blumenstock violin - Corey Jamason organ & harpsichord Katherine Kyme viola - Steven Lehning contrabass - Robert Mealy violin William Skeen violoncello - Kenneth Slowik violoncello & viola da gamba • Sonata detta del Nero for Trumpet & Basso continuo Modo per imparare e sonare di tromba tanto di guerra quanto musicalmente (Frankfurt, 1638)

Aria nona à 3 “L’Emenfrodito”

1600-1675 Marco Uccellini

Maritati insieme la Gallina e il Cucco fanno un bel concerto

1603-1680

Sonate, arie e correnti, Op. 3 (Venice, 1642)

Su le sponde del Tebro (Naples, between 1690 & 1695)

Alessandro Scarlatti

Sinfonia Recitativo “Su le sponde del Tebro” Sinfonia & Aria “Contentatevi, o fidi pensieri” Recitativo “Mesto, stanco e spirante” Aria, Largo “Infelici miei lumi” Aria “Dite almeno” Recitativo “All’aura, al cielo, ai venti” Aria “Tralascia pur di piangere”

1660-1725

Sonata in A Major for Violoncello & Basso continuo (no. 15) Largo Allegro Non molto allegro Allegro

Antonio Caldara ca. 1670-1736

Sonata a Quattro for Trumpet, two Violins, & Basso continuo WoO 4 Grave Allegro Grave Allegro Allegro

Arcangelo Corelli 1653-1713

~ Intermission ~

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Girolamo Fantini

Saturday August 15 2015 Round-O “The Prince of Denmark’s March” Slow Air Trumpet Tune Gigue Sonata V in G Minor Z. 806 Ten Sonnatas in Foure Parts (J. Heptinstall, for Frances Purcell, London, 1697)

Jeremiah Clarke ca. 1674-1707

Henry Purcell 1659-1695

[Adagio] Canzona, Allegro Largo Adagio Presto “Let the bright seraphim” Samson (Act III, Scene 3), HWV 57 (1743)

“Baroque trumpet players are an elite group, like celebrity chefs, dramatic tenors, and ace relief pitchers. In the forefront of this select set is Canadian John Thiessen, who has the panache of Mario Batali, the staying power of Placido Domingo, and the awesome control of Mariano Rivera.”

Early Music America “John Thiessen, a busy professional who represents the gold standard of Baroque trumpet playing in this country.”

The New York Times “The presence of John Thiessen, who represents the state of the art on the intractable Baroque trumpet hereabout, was invaluable throughout.”

The New York Times “Brilliant solo playing on a valveless trumpet” The New York Times

George Frideric Handel 1685-1759

John Thiessen, baroque trumpet

Suite of Ayres for the Theatre for Trumpet, Strings, & Basso continuo

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Saturday August 15 2015 Girolamo Fantini: Sonata detta del Nero for Trumpet & Basso continuo Trumpet, Basso continuo

In the early 17th century, playing the trumpet was such a demanding occupation that the transmission of its technique was passed from one generation to the next, often as a well guarded secret. In 1638, Girolamo Fantini—born in Spoleto, rose to fame in Rome, and spent the greater portion of his life in Florence— published his Modo per imparare e sonare di tromba tanto di guerra quanto musicalmente (Method of learning to play the trumpet, both in war and also musically). This volume includes 120 musical examples, which address matters of articulation, expression, and techniques for achieving “false notes,” that is to say, notes that are

outside the natural harmonic series, which traditionally had been the only pitches available to a brass instrument without valves.

The work is progressive, starting with simple exercises, moving through short dance-like pieces, and concluding with a series of challenging and highly ornamented sonatas of which Fantini’s Sonata detta del Nero is but one. Virtuoso trumpet playing seems to have begun in Italy in the early 17th century and from there moved north of the Alps into Bohemia, Germany, and England as the rest of this program will demonstrate.

Marco Uccellini: Aria nona à 3 “L’Emenfrodito” – Maritati insieme la Gallina e il Cucco fanno un bel concerto 2 Violins, Basso continuo

Violinist and composer Marco Uccellini, born and died within the 17th century, spent his entire life in or near Modena. He is considered the founder of the Modena School, which also includes Bononcini, Colombi, and Vitali. He produced nine books of violin sonatas. In his third book (1642), the first eight works are all variations on popular songs while the ninth is programmatic and bears the title L’Emenphrodita: Maritati insieme la Gallina e il Cucco fanno un

bel concerto (“Hymen-Aphrodite: Married together, the Hen and Cuckoo make beautiful music”). As in Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber’s programmatic work of bird sounds, Sonata Representativa, Uccellini’s hen and cuckoo are musically represented according to the model established by Carlo Farina in his famous “Capriccio stravagante” for four strings and continuo, published in his Ander Theil newer Paduanen, Gagliarden, Couranten, französischen Arien (Dresden, 1627).

Alessandro Scarlatti: Su le sponde del Tebro Soprano, Trumpet, 2 Violins, Basso continuo

Most of the cantatas by Alessandro Scarlatti are for solo voice with only basso continuo accompaniment. However, in the late 17th century, Neapolitan composers were increasingly finding ways to augment these works by the inclusion of obbligato instruments. This is the case with 60 of Alessandro Scarlatti’s cantatas for solo voice.

Usually the addition is a string instrument—and he seemed to have a preference for the violoncello—but there are a number that require winds. Su le sponde del Tebro contains an exceptionally demanding

part for obbligato trumpet. It suggests there must have been a remarkable player in Naples with the strength and stamina required to perform its high tessitura.

The text is one of unrequited love, and those movements that include the trumpet show the lover’s loyalty and determination. But for the expression of the lover’s anguish, Scarlatti’s use of dissonances (and their resolutions) in the slow movements without trumpet reveal the composer at his very best.

Sinfonia

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Recitativo

Su le sponde del Tebro ove le Dee latine fecero à gl’archi lor corde del crine, colà Aminta il fido da Clori vilipeso con dolore infinito disse al ciel’, disse al mondo, io son tradito!

On the banks of the Tiber, where the Latin goddesses plaited bow-strings of hair, faithful Aminta, from his infinite anguish, cried to heaven and earth of the scornful Chloris, “I am betrayed.”

Symphonia & Aria

Contentatevi, o fidi pensieri, trattenervi per guardie al mio core.

Che gl’affanni giganti guerrieri dan’l’assalto, et è duce il dolore.

Be content my faithful thoughts, keep check and watch over my heart.

For giant warlike troubles make assault, and sorrow is their leader.

Recitativo

Mesto, stanco e spirante dal duol che l’opprimea, rivolto a gl’occhi suoi, così dicea:

Sad, exhausted, and sighing with grief that oppressed him, and so to his eyes he speaks:

Aria

Infelici miei lumi già che soli noi siamo, aprite il varco al pianto, e concedete al core, che tramandi su gl’occhi il mio dolore.

Unhappy eyes of mine, since we alone remain, open thy gates to my tears and suffer my heart to pour out my sadness through my eyes.

Saturday August 15 2015 Aria

Dite almeno, astri crudeli, quando mai vi offese il petto, che ricetto voi lo fate di dolore. È già martire d’amore nelle lagrime defeli a sperar solo è costretto.

Tell me, at least, cruel stars, when my heart is so sore what remedy you have for sorrow.

And now a martyr to love in faithful tears he must only hope.

Recitativo

All’aura, al cielo, ai venti Pastorello gentil così parlava, e pur l’aura crudel fido adorava; ma conscendo al fine, che nè pianti, nè preghi sapevano addolcire un cor di sasso risoluto e costante così disse al cor chernito, schernito amante:

To the air, to the sky, to the winds the gentle Shepherd spoke, and yet again the cruel air he trustingly implored; but at last, perceiving that no tears, no prayers could soften a heart of stone, firmly and resolutely the disillusioned lover spoke to his heart:

Aria

Tralascia pur di piangere, povero afflittto cor, che sprezzato dal tuo fato non ti resta, che compiangere d’un infida il suo rigor.

No reason to weep, poor afflicted heart, since despised by fate, nothing remains to you, but to weep over the faithless one’s cruelty.

Antonio Caldara: Sonata in A Major for Violoncello & Basso continuo (no. 15) Violoncello, Basso continuo

Antonio Caldara was born in Venice in 1670, the son of a violinist. As a student at the Basilica of San Marco he sang, learned to play several instruments, and studied composition under the supervision of Giovanni Legrenzi. He is primarily known for his operas, oratorios, and cantatas, but he also produced some very fine instrumental works. He composed two early sets of trio sonatas in 1693 and 1699, but then wrote little more until quite late in his life. Around 1735 he likely received a commission for sonatas for violoncello and basso continuo from Rudolf Franz Erwein von Schönborn (1677-1754), a diplomat in the service of the Hapsburg emperors. The Schönborn family played an important role in the collection and preservation of music from the late 17th and early

18th centuries. In its present condition, the collection contains nearly 500 manuscripts, many of them for violoncello, including 16 sonatas

by Caldara.

As a likely consequence of his long association of writing for the voice, these sonatas contain a great deal of lyricism, particularly in their slower movements. This is not to state that he spares the ‘cellist from tremendously difficult and technically demanding material in the quicker movements! It is impossible to know if these sonatas reflect Caldara’s own performance aptitudes or if they were simply written to match the virtuosity of other works in the collection. In any case, they compare favorably with the betterknown sonatas of Geminiani and Vivaldi.

Arcangelo Corelli: Sonata a Quattro for Trumpet, two Violins, & Basso continuo, WoO 4 Trumpet, 2 Violins, Basso continuo

As previously stated, virtuoso trumpet playing traveled north from Italy through Bohemia, Germany, and Scandinavia, and eventually made its way to England. Italian music seems to have accompanied the virtuosi: In London, an 18th-century manuscript consisting of four part-books contains a complete copy of a Sonata a Quattro scored for “Trumpet, two violins and a bass by a Signor Corelli.” While some still consider the authorship dubious, it is nevertheless the only work attributed to Arcangelo Corelli for trumpet, and that alone will safeguard its place in the repertoire. It consists of an opening slow march-like movement followed by an

Allegro in the florid style of the Bolognese school as represented by Giuseppe Torelli. Although Corelli was not from Bologna, he had a great deal of respect for the music-making there. He was a member of Bologna’s Accademia Filarmonica, and on the title pages of his first four collections of trio sonatas he refers to himself as Arcangelo Corelli da Fusignano detto “il Bolognese.” The two movements are followed by two more, the first a slow movement for the violins without the trumpet, and then the trumpet without the violins. The final movement is a joyous Allegro filled with imitative passages playfully tossed back and forth between the trumpet and strings.

~ Intermission ~ 73

Saturday August 15 2015 Jeremiah Clarke: Suite of Ayres for the Theatre for Trumpet, Strings, & Basso continuo Trumpet, 2 Violins, Viola, Basso continuo

Oddly enough, Jeremiah Clarke is best known today as the composer of “Trumpet Voluntary,” a work that was famously misattributed to Henry Purcell in a 19th-century arrangement for trumpet and organ by Sir Henry Wood. That piece is identical with a work by Clarke titled “The Prince of Denmark’s March,” published in A Choice Collection of Ayres for the Harpsichord (1700) from which the music on tonight’s program also originates. In reality, we know very little about the life of Jeremiah Clarke; however he was one of the most important English musicians in the period following Purcell’s death.

In 1700, he and his colleague William Croft were sworn as Gentlemen-extraordinary of the Chapel Royal, and Clarke was promised the post of organist when it became vacant (which happened in May of 1704 with the death of Francis Pigott). Clarke wrote keyboard music, church anthems, odes, songs, and incidental music for the theater. An air of mystery surrounds the composer’s suicide in 1707.

There is speculation that an unhappy love affair drove him to despair.

We know that Clarke was unmarried and in a mentally unstable state when he shot himself. But because of his stature as a musician, he nonetheless was buried in the crypt of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Henry Purcell: Sonata V in G Minor, Z. 806 2 Violins, Viola da gamba, Basso continuo

The two sets of sonatas for two violins, viola da gamba, and bass by Henry Purcell stand at the conclusion of one chamber music tradition and the beginning of another. Although the Sonatas in Four Parts were written when Purcell was somewhere near 21 years of age, they were not published until after his death.

They were conceived (along with the Fantazias for viols) in the tradition of music written by John Coprario and Orlando Gibbons for the court of Charles I, but by the time Purcell’s widow had them published in 1697, the music of Corelli had entered the English

market place and tastes had completely changed. Although they show some signs of the newer Italian sonatas, their pre-Restoration influences are easily observed in how each of the sections—one can hardly call them movements—run in a long sequence, one directly after the other, unlike the well delineated movements of the works of Corelli and his followers.

Purcell died in 1695 at the youthful age of 36, and it is tempting to speculate about the sort of instrumental works he would have written after the Italian encroachment.

George Frideric Handel: “Let the bright seraphim” 2 Violins, Viola da gamba, Basso continuo

In 1741, while Handel was working on the score for Messiah, he was simultaneously at work on the oratorio Samson. The aria, “Let the bright seraphim,” occurs after Samson’s heroic death, taking his enemies along with him. Samson’s father, Manoah, implores the people to cease their grieving and rejoice in the victory. The soprano aria, which precedes the final chorus, calls on the Seraphim and Cherubim to welcome the dead hero into heaven. In a performance of the oratorio, the aria moves directly into the chorus after a section

without trumpet in the relative minor key. Removed from that original context, a full da capo makes for a very satisfying rendering.

The combination of trumpet and soprano creates such a splendid, brilliant, and inspirational effect that this aria has become a favorite for recitalists and audiences. Performed at the Royal Wedding of Prince Charles and Diana in 1981, which was seen on television by an estimated 750 million viewers, this aria has risen to the status of a popular standard.

Israelite Woman: Let the bright seraphim in burning row,

Their loud, uplifted angel trumpets blow.

Let the cherubic host, in tuneful choirs, Touch their immortal harps with golden wires.

Text by Newburgh Hamilton (1691–1761)

— Notes by Steven Lehning

MEET JOHN THIESSEN AFTER THE PERFORMANCE Join John Thiessen in the Conservatory lobby immediately following the performance for a CD signing event at which copies of his recording of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 with ABS will be available for purchase.

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Gifts to the Annual Fund keep the mission of ABS alive by supporting our year-round programming. From subscription concerts to our annual Festival & Academy and from our master classes to our lecture series, your support ensures that ABS is at the forefront of the performing arts in Northern California, across the country, and around the world.

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Contributors & Acknowledgments ACADEMY FOUNDERS Jose & Carol Alonso Richard J. & Sharon Boyer Lisa Capaldini David Cates J.P. Crametz & Tamar Ravid John & Lois Crowe Silvia Davidson Hugh Davies & Kaneez Munjee Tom Driscoll & Nancy Quinn The Rev. Richard G. Fabian Tom Flesher & Adam Verret Judith Flynn Richard Forde & David Foushee Jan Goldberg Benjamin & Lynette Hart James & Joan Kelly James R. Meehan Fraser & Helen Muirhead Paul & Sandra Ogden Virginia Patterson Peter & Asiye Sonnen Fred Stark & Roman Shi Jim & Jennifer Steelquist Jeffrey Thomas Kwei & Michele Ü 2015 ABS ACADEMY SPONSORS Festival Concert Sponsor ($5,000 and above) Anonymous Hugh Davies & Kaneez Munjee Judith Flynn Marie Hogan & Douglas Lutgen George & Patricia Locke Academy Scholarship ($2,500-$4,999) Jose & Carol Alonso John & Lois Crowe Peggy Harrington Academy Sponsor ($1,000-$2,499) Judith Barker & Linda Mitteness Richard J. & Sharon Boyer Hugh Davies & Kaneez Munjee The Rev. Richard G. Fabian Tom Flesher & Adam Verret Jan Goldberg Steven Lehning Blair Martin Fraser & Helen Muirhead Paul & Sandra Ogden Kay & Ray Roberts Peter & Asiye Sonnen Jeffrey Thomas (Gifts up to $999) Carol Dutton-Hollenberg James & Joan Kelly Bill & Ray Riess

ABS ACADEMY KICKSTARTER PROJECT “THE FLYING GAMBAS” Judith Barker & Linda Mitteness Karen Baumer Django Bayless Daniel Bort James T. Caleshu Beau Carter Eunice Childs Grace Cho Mark & Lucy Connolly Susan Lamb Cook John & Lois Crowe Victoria Davies Mag Dimond John Erickson Laurel Feigenbaum Tom Flesher & Adam Verret Jan Goldberg Jim & Laura Gregory Peggy Harrington Elizabeth Hoelter Ken Hoffman Richard Horrigan Elaine C. Johnson Robert & Kathleen Kaiser Teresa Kaneko Irene Kuhn David Littlejohn Jeff McMillan Janice Murota Paul & Sandra Ogden Barbara Patterson Gary Payne J. William Pezick Heather Piazza David Rapoport Dair & David Rausch Bill & Ray Riess Robert Ripps & Steven Spector Laura Rubinstein-Salzedo Nina Salerno San Francisco Renaissance Voices Gary Schilling & Stefan Hastrup Charles & Janet Seim Douglas Shaker Steve Siegelman Jim & Jennifer Steelquist Jean Sugihara Loren Tayerle Jeffrey Thomas Sloane Thomas Millicent Tomkins Michele & Kwei Ü Ani Weaver Michael & Sheila Weston Kelly Woodard John Steven Yeh Jude Ziliak Rena Zurn

SOLOISTS CIRCLE Sebastian Society ($100,000 and above) Anonymous Benefactor ($25,000-$99,999) Hugh Davies & Kaneez Munjee Jan Goldberg Royal Patrons ($10,000-$24,999) Anonymous Wendy Buchen Marie Hogan & Douglas Lutgen Patricia & George Locke James R. Meehan Jeffrey Thomas Bach Family Circle ($5,000-$9,999) Richard J. & Sharon Boyer John & Lois Crowe Judith Flynn Peggy Harrington Norman T. Larson Paul & Sandra Ogden Jim & Jennifer Steelquist Patron ($2,500-$4,999) Anonymous Dean Farwood Tom Flesher & Adam Verret Angela Hilt & Blake Reinhardt Greg & Robin Madsen Fraser & Helen Muirhead David Rapoport David & Mary Raub Robert Ripps & Steven Spector Martin Secker Kwei & Michele Ü Capellmeister ($1,500-$2,499) Peter & Claudia Brown Eunice Childs Mag Dimond Richard G. Fabian Alfred & Irene M. Glassgold Lamar Leland Bill & Ray Riess Geerat & Edith Vermeij Cantor ($1,000-$1,499) Anonymous (2) John & Jane Buffington Michael Coffin Thomas & Phyllis Farver Ayame O. Flint Robert & Ann Goldberg John F. Heil Valerie & Daniel King Blair Martin Terry McKelvey & Heli Roiha Mary Belle O’Brien & Georgia Heid Kay & Ray Roberts Jack & Betty Schafer Edward Towne Richard & Shipley Walters

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Contributors & Acknowledgments INDIVIDUAL SUPPORT Chorister ($500-$999) Anonymous (3) Marc & Sheila Andrus Judith Barker & Linda Mitteness Marian Beard Meagan & Ben Becker Borden & Betty Bloom Michele Cargill Eric Collier & Joseph Newell Jacqueline Desoer Carol Dutton-Hollenberg Richard Forde & David Foushee Cynthia Foster David & Dorli Hanchette John W. Harbaugh Ingeborg Henderson Philip & Ruth Hicks Kathryn Hobart James & Joan Kelly William and Gretchen Kimball Fund David G. King, M.D. David Kvaratskhelia William & Adair Langston Robert Lea Norman & Rae Leaper William Lokke Pierre Martin Jo Maxon Noreen Mazelis Guy & Wende Williams Micco Dawn Newton Frank Pajerski Charles Quesenberry, Jr. Nancy Quinn & Tom Driscoll Charles & Janet Seim David Stein & William Stewart Millicent Tomkins Thomas & Ann Watrous Stadtpfeifer ($250-$499) Anonymous (2) Patricia Bauman Richard Burnham Gerard Butler Helen Cagampang Robert & Mary Commanday Robert Cook & Blanca Haendler Richard de Lacy Bob & Margaret Eldred Norma Feldman William & Ilse Gaede Jim & Laura Gregory Allen Hackett The John Lee Fund John & Kathleen Leones David & Kathleen Martin Robert McCaskill Doerte Murray Mark & Katherine Perl Theodore & Olivia Ruel Cynthia Sawtell Gary Schilling & Stefan Hastrup John & Pamela Sebastian Wylie R. Sheldon Sharie Shute 78

Hart & Wilma Smith Judd & Sherry Smith Theresa Stuart & Martin Schoell Gerald & Sandra Swafford Barbara Thomas-Fexa J. Toney & Sandra Gillies Analee Weaver Thomas & LeRose Weikert Duain Wolfe Foster Wright Steward ($100-$249) Anonymous (5) Douglas D. Abbey Jose Ballesteros James Barnes Frederick Baumer Merry Benard Geni Bennetts James & Josephine Bennington Robert Berman Al Bernstein C. L. Best Ernst & Hannah Biberstein Robert Wilder Blue Daniel & Diana Bort Jody Bourland Irving & Karen Broido Roberta Brokaw Gretchen Brosius Leslie Brown Philip Browning William Byerley James T. Caleshu Karen Carmody Donna Chazen Richard & Evelyn Clair Mark & Lucy Connolly Eleanor R. Crary Audrey Dandrea Jayne DeLawter Steven Edwards John & Barbara Erickson Judith Ets Hokin Jeff Everett Janet Farrant Heather Findlay James Finerty Thomas & Mary Foote Lowell Froker Margaret Fuerst Victor & Linda Gavenda John & Sheila Girton Bruce Gordon John Gosselin Kay Sprinkel Grace Don Graulich Carolyn Greene Philip Grisier Helen Gunderson Thomas H. Guthrie Robert & Dottie Hamilton Susan Hamilton David Hammer Teresa Hammond Benjamin & Lynette Hart William Hartrick

Donna Heinle Joseph M. & Pamela S. Helms Daniel Hersh Elizabeth & Bruce Hoelter Bob Isaacson & Virginia Stearns Mia Jang Bonnie & Peter Jensen Mario & Masako Juncosa Wolfram Jung Stephen Kadysiewski Teresa Kaneko Elizabeth Kaplan Gary Keller Dr. & Mrs. Laszlo Kiraly Joseph & Jeanne Klems John & Julianna Kleppe Barbara Koerber Thomas Koster Ronald & Sharon Krauss Dominique Lahaussois Rowe Lawson William & Emily Leider Hollis Lenderking Arthur Lillicropp Marcia C. Linn David Littlejohn Malcom Litwiller & Teri Dowling Jack Litwin Deana Logan & Joseph C. Najpaver Richard & Kyoko Luna Malcolm & Natalie Mackenzie James Manning Malcolm & Sandy Manson Kim & Judith Maxwell Suzanne McCormick Lee & Hannelore McCrumb Thomas McElligott Jay & Brigitte McKnight Hugh & Katherine McLean Sharon Menke Antonio Merino Marian Metson Joanne Moldenhauer Shelley Montgomery Kevin Morrissey Carol Mowbray Krista Muirhead & Barry Grossman Amy D. Mullen Debra Nagy Linda Nakell Paul Nettelmann Jefferson Packer Steven Peterson & Peter Jaret Patrizian Pollastrini Tamar Ravid & J.P. Crametz Eugene & Elizabeth Renkin Penelope Rink & Frederick Toth Reuben Sandler Kenneth & Marjorie Sauer Temple Schauble Lori Schneeman William Senecal & Karen Roseland Douglas Shaker Ellen Shapiro Edith Simonson Harold Skilbred & Rochelle Matonich Chalmers Smith

Contributors & Acknowledgments Nelda Smith Judith Stanley Mariana Steinberg Jan Stevens & Carole Cory Harold S. Stoddard George & Millicent Susens Glenn W. Tilton Dean & Jeanice Tipps Richard Wallis Laurie Wayburn Samuel Weeks David & Kay Werdegar Maureen Wesolowski Dr. George & Bay Westlake Michael & Sheila Weston Richard White Dennis Wolframski Rick Yoshimoto & Tamara Trussell Friend ($25-99) Anonymous (4) Jean Alford Mary Anderson Caroline Jou Armitage Jeanine Augst Adrienne Austin-Shapiro & Arthur Shapiro J. Jeff Badger Phyllis Baer Schuyler & Susie Bailey Ralph Barhydt Lydia Baskin Roy C. Bergstrom John Beviacqua Richard & Nancy Bohannon James Borden Felix Braendel Lois Bueler Tom & Elinor Burnside Beau Carter Hugh J. & Katherine Cavanaugh Gary Chock Stephen & Christie Coffin Michael W. Condie Mechthild Cranston Kenn & Elaine Cunningham Dan deGrassi Sean & Pam Donahoe Mary Lou Dorking John D. Drago Hubert & Genevieve Dreyfus Linda Elrod Elliott & Laurel Feigenbaum Deborah C. Francis John Frykman Anne Maria Gaddini Francesca E. Gasaway The Honorable & Mrs. Ronald M. George Barbara Graham Patrick Gunning Judith Hanks Edward Helfeld Susan Hendrie-Marais Marlies Hensel Alison M. Hill Greer & Thayer Hopkins Jr. Wayne & Laurell Huber Brenda Hunt

Peter Huson David Israel Laurence Jacobs Cary & Elaine James Joseph & Ann Jensen Herbert Jeong Elaine C. Johnson Robert & Kathleen Kaiser David T Kalins Charles & Paige Kelso Bill Lann Lee James H. Lee Angela LeFall Henry & Jane Lesser Jay Linderman Mary Logger Emily Lyon Tonia Macneil Anne Michelle Manzo George Marchand Hiroko T. Margesson John Mark Tina N. Mayer Sharon Mayo Brittany McClinton Terry McNeill John R. Miller Minako Miyazaki Michael Moerman & Patricia Miller Jim & Julie Monson Michael & Jennifer Moran Lawrence J. Morgan Roger & Mary Murray Russell Nelson Birgit Nielsen Eleanor Norris Joe Novitski James O’Shea Jerome Oremland Judith Ostapik William Palmer Lynette P. Perkins J. William Pezick Bradford A. Pollock Linda & Nelson Polsby Paul Premo Nancy Ranney Donald Rehlaender Janet Reider Carolyn Revelle Maria Reyes & Thomas Plumb John Richmond Rebecca Rishell Charles Roberts Thomas Robinson Bettina Rosenbladt Laura Rubinstein-Salzedo Susan Ryu Albert Sammons Peter Samson Barbara Sargent Stephen Schrey Joan Schwalbe Bernard Schwartz Susanne Schwarzer Nina & Nathan Shoehalter Steve Siegelman

Allegra Silberstein Paul M. Skan Jane Sloane Dan Slobin Elliott P. Smith Bhakti E. Sonderman Ealish Sowerby Robert & Ellen Spaethling Joan E. Sprinson Alex Stagner Karen Stanway Sandra & Mason Stober Lindsey Strand-Polyak Edwin Swatek Susan Tanner Alyce Tarcher Loren Tayerle Stanley & Stephanie Tick Michael Tierney April Tilles Ann Tissue Patricia Tom Stephanie Trenck & Michael Witty Stuart & Clemencia Turner Bill Van Loo Marianne Wachalovsky Barbara O. Wagstaff Peter Weltner Mary Wildavsky Cooley Windsor Barbara Winter Maylene Wong Kurt Wootton & Ken Fulk John Steven Yeh Stephen H. Zendt Russell Zink BACH KIDS Richard J. & Sharon Boyer in honor of Felix Edward Boyer Walker Avery Elkus Alexander J. Sutter Jake D. Sutter Keira N. Sutter Leah G. Sutter Zuri Anela Summers Nova Brooklyn Summers Jan Goldberg, in honor of Cameron Gremmels Alexander Goldberg Michael Goldberg TRIBUTES Anonymous in memory of Margo Koppenol-Knape Rouhlac & Tom Austin in honor of The Rt. Rev. Marc Andrus & Sheila Andrus Richard J. & Sharon Boyer in memory of Rosemary Pollastrini in memory of Edward T. Smithburn in memory of Mamie F. Vercelli 79

Contributors & Acknowledgments David & Dorli Hanchette in honor of Jeffrey Thomas and Barbara Thomas-Fexa David, Dorli, & Diella Hanchette in memory of Dominique Sebastian Hanchette D. Kern Holoman in honor of Jeffrey Thomas and 25 years of ABS Dr. Frank Mainzer in honor of Ken Hoffman Jo Maxon in memory of Karl & Alice Ruppenthal Sandra Ogden in memory of Dominique Hanchette in honor of Jeffrey Thomas in memory of Milton Hollenberg in memory of Judith Nelson in memory of Kevin Harrington Tia Pollastrini in honor of Mom Sher Gary Schilling & Stefan Hastrup in memory of John Grimes Sharie Shute in memory of Professor Garniss H. Curtis Edith Simonson in honor of the marriage of Maisie King & Martin Secker Jeffrey Thomas in honor of Steven Lehning Michael & Karen Traynor in memory of Professor Garniss H. Curtis

Cooper-Garrod Estate Vineyards Hugh Davies & Kaneez Munjee Julia Earl Ruth Escher F3 Jan Goldberg The Green Music Center Ken Hoffman Il Fornaio Lark Theater Marie Hogan & Douglas Lutgen Marin Symphony Raymond Martinez Merola Opera Program Helen Drake Muirhead The Musical Offering Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra Sam Price Paul & Sandra Ogden The Plant Cafe Organic Jennifer Owen-Blackmon Camille Reed San Francisco Ballet San Francisco Giants San Francisco Opera San Francisco Performances Smuin Ballet Jeffrey Thomas Millicent Tomkins Michele Ü Mary Wilson Rick Yoshimoto

IN-KIND GIFTS

Anne Averill Keith Baillie Larry Becker Rhoda Becker Sheila Brooke Thailia Broudy Jo Brownold Bill Chiles Kevin Downing Susan Ford Sara Frucht

Absinthe Brasserie and Bar American Conservatory Theater Bellanico Restaurant and Wine Bar Bi-Rite Creamery Richard J. & Sharon Boyer Cal Shakes Don Antonio Trattoria Don Scott Carpenter Casa Madrona Hotel & Spa

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FESTIVAL USHERS

Patricia Hendricks Kris Kargo William Langley Linda McCann Joy Massa Mary Osterloh Pamela Peris Renee Peris Karen Stella Ruth Unger Margriet Wetherwax ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS San Francisco Conservatory of Music David H. Stull, President Robert Fitzpatrick, Interim Provost and Dean Sam Smith, Director of Communications Seth Ducey, Production Manager Jason O’Connell, Director of Recording Services Instrument Loans The Academy thanks the following institutions and individuals for generously loaning instruments: Phebe Craig Victor & Linda Gavenda Bruce Lamott Music Sources San Francisco Bach Choir San Francisco Conservatory of Music Colin Shipman Sonoma State University Derek Tam Kwei & Michele Ü University of California at Davis Housing Richard G. Fabian Sémélé Performance Materials Éditions du CMBV Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles 22 avenue de Paris 78 000 VERSAILLES

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J. M.W.

TURNER

Painting Set Free One of the greatest English painters of the nineteenth century, J.M.W. Turner was celebrated for his brilliant depictions of light, the virtuosity of his technique, and his extraordinary Romantic imagination. Experience the first major survey of Turner’s late career, when the artist displayed a fierce engagement with grand themes of nature, history, and religion.

JUNE 20—SEPTEMBER 20, 2015

HERBST EXHIBITION GALLERIES

de Young Golden Gate Park • deyoungmuseum.org

This exhibition is organized by Tate Britain in association with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the J. Paul Getty Museum. Presenting Sponsors: Cynthia Fry Gunn and John A. Gunn. Director’s Circle: Clare C. McEvoy Charitable Remainder Unitrust and Jay D. McEvoy Trust, and Estate of Merrill and Hedy Thruston. President’s Circle: Estate of Harold Dana Crosby Jr., and Ray and Dagmar Dolby Family Fund. Conservator’s Circle: The Diana Dollar Knowles Fund, and Lucinda Watson and Theodore Bell. Benefactor’s Circle: Tully and Elise Friedman, and Ms. Lisa Sardegna and Mr. David A. Carrillo. Patron’s Circle: Mr. Edward D. Baker III, Gretchen and John Berggruen, Carol and Shelby Bonnie, Mrs. George Hopper Fitch, Mr. David Fraze and Mr. Gary Loeb, Gerald Stanley Levinson and Robert Charles Armstrong, Maria Pitcairn, Dorothy Saxe, and the Berenice R. Spalding Charitable Trust. The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities J.M.W. Turner, Snow Storm—Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth (detail), 1842. Oil on canvas. Tate, London. © Tate, London 2014