The trail of the lute takes us directly to England, where this instrument was held in high regard and used more than any other by composers of the time. But Peter Philips was not the only one who looked to the great role model of Italy when he had Caccini’s Amarilli printed in a lute version entitled Amarilli di Giulio Romano in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book—which also included works by Palestrina and Orlando di Lasso. John Dowland, the epitome of English lute music, also made pilgrimages to Ferrara and Venice to learn about the latest musical ideas. Time and again, his works such as The Frog Galliard and Dowland’s Galliard vary the galliard (French: gaillarde, Italian: gagliarda), a quick dance in three that was popular all over Europe, and whose enthusiastic (and active) admirers also included England’s Queen Elizabeth I. William Byrd is represented tonight by a song arrangement also found in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book: Lord Willobie’s Welcome Home, a musical salute to the 11th Baron Willoghby de Eresby returning from battle as a general.
In the final part of her concert, Margret Köll focuses once again on literature originally written for her instrument. Domenico Scarlatti, whose more than 500 one-movement harpsichord sonatas brought him fame as the untiring inventor of musical motifs and extraordinary playing techniques, is represented by his Sonata in D minor K. 213. There are two works by Henry Purcell, a hornpipe from the incidental music for the play The Old Bachelor as well as the Suite No. 4 in A minor, which Margret Köll brings to a close with a Minuet by Purcell instead of the original Saraband. Music of the English High Baroque, which is associated first and foremost with the name of George Frideric Handel, concludes the harpist’s program. But she slightly widens the circle, including music by William Babell, Handel’s harpsichordist, as well. “Fortunately, Babell’s Lessons for Harpsichord have come down to us,” Margret Köll says. “In these, he turns Handel’s operas into medleys, so to speak, combining them with his own improvisations.” These, in turn, form the basis for Köll’s own improvisation in this part of the program. “Of course I will also improvise in between, but it won’t necessarily be noticeable,” she explains. “But Babell is simply a particularly beautiful example of improvisation.” Which leaves the crowning finale, Handel’s Suite in F major
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