VCHpresents Baroque Festival: The Aroma of Music

BAROQUE FESTIVAL

THE AROMA OF MUSIC 10 & 11 Nov 2022, 7:30pm Victoria Concert Hall

PROGRAMME Peter Hanson violin/leader Joyce Lee Tung soprano* David Charles Tay tenor* Martin Ng bass* Musicians of the SSO HANDEL Water Music: Suite No. 1 in F major, HWV 348

25 mins

Intermission

20 mins

J.S. BACH Coffee Cantata, BWV 211*

25 mins

HANDEL Selections from Water Music: Suite No. 2 in F major, HWV 331

8 mins

CONCERT DURATION: approximately 1 hour and 30 mins (with 20 mins intermission)

PETER HANSON violin/leader

Peter Hanson has been the Concertmaster of Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique for over 25 years. He formed The Eroica Quartet in 1993 with colleagues from the world of period instrument performance. The group quickly became established, and toured extensively in the United Kingdom as well as making visits to France and the U.S.

As Director of the Carmel Bach Festival in California, his role includes Chamber performances, directing the String Orchestra and appearing as Concertmaster for most of the Festival Orchestra concerts. The CBF Orchestra is flexible with regard to period and modern instruments and style: the 2018 Festival saw a performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons at Hz415 on baroque instruments, followed by Piazzolla’s Four Seasons at Hz440 on modern instruments, with Peter as soloist.

Peter also appears as Director in projects with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Kymi Sinfonia in Finland and Orquesta da Camera in Spain. He has been Guest Concertmaster with the Luxembourg Philharmonic and Concerto Copenhagen under the baton of Lars Ulrik Mortensen.

JOYCE LEE TUNG soprano

Soprano Joyce Lee Tung graduated from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA), studying piano and with

DAVID CHARLES TAY tenor

Singaporean tenor David Charles Tay made his operatic debut in the US premiere of Paisiello’s Nina, o sia pazza

a Master of Arts in Voice from the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, Austria. Her professional operatic engagements include Tonina (Salieri’s Prima la musica), Madame Herz (Mozart’s Der Schauspieldirektor), Frasquita (Bizet’s Carmen) and Zerlina (Mozart’s Don Giovanni – abridged version) with Singapore Lyric Opera; Queen of the Night (Mozart’s The Magic Flute) with Kuala Lumpur City Opera; Marzelline (Beethoven’s Fidelio – abridged version) and Elettra (Mozart’s Idomeneo – film version) with The Opera People.

per amore in 2007. His performance of Arnalta in Poppea with Bare Opera, was reviewed by Opera News as “hypnotic, affecting and amusing” and sung with “bold clarity”. Other recent engagements include Eumete in Del Arte Opera’s production of Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria, the title role in La Clemenza di Tito with Bronx Opera and the tenor solo in Thomas Cabaniss’ Firesongs with Bare Opera .

Tay received his doctorate in music at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City.

Taiwan Symphony Orchestra (NTSO), the title role in Viktor Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis at Teatro Rosetum in Milan, Silvio (I Pagliacci) with the Teatro Sociale di Trento and Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte) with Taiwan’s Creation Opera.

MARTIN NG bass

Born in Singapore, Martin Ng graduated in Voice at the Conservatorio dall’Abaco di Verona, making his debut with the Florence Maggio Fiorentino as Sleep and Corydon in Purcell’s The Fairy Queen. He subsequently sang Don Bartolo (Barber of Seville) with the Teatro Comunale di Guastalla, First Soldier (Salome) and Bauer (Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder) for National

THE OPERA PEOPLE The Opera People redefines the experience of opera both online and in live performances. The company was co-founded in 2018 by David Charles Tay, Jonathan Charles Tay and Shridar Mani, and is conceptualized as a collective of multidisciplinary performers and innovative industry professionals creating both a creative voice and an engaged community in Singapore and around the world. The company’s 2022 season began with a

In 2022, he will sing Batone in Rossini’s L’inganno Felice with Lirica Arts Singapore, and Junius in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia with the Opera People, amongst others.

His concert performances include soloist in Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with Singapore’s Wayfarer Sinfonietta, Bach’s Magnificat and St John’s Passion, Buxtehude’s Membri Jesu Nostri, Mozart’s Coronation Mass with the Orchestra of the Virtuosi Italiani, Mozart and Fauré’s Requiem and the Mozart C minor Mass with the Accademia Filarmonica di Verona.

sold out run of Penelope and continued with a workshop-showcase of our first ever original children’s opera Arianna on Another Island by Chen Zhangyi and Sara Florian as part of Esplanade’s PLAYLab! in March, our 3rd season of Kopi & Song as a podcast in July, In Our Manner of Speaking: Songs of Home in August, and our mainstage opera production, Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia in October. Highlights of the rest of the 2022 season include Femme X: Baroque Heroines in November and Handel’s Messiah in December.

MUSICIANS LEADER Peter Hanson

FLUTE Jin Ta

FIRST VIOLIN Duan Yu Ling Karen Tan William Tan Wei Zhe Zhang Si Jing

OBOE Carolyn Hollier Wanchen Hsieh

SECOND VIOLIN Sayuri Kuru Margit Saur Shao Tao Tao Tseng Chieh-An Yin Shu Zhan

HORN Jamie Hersch Hoang Van Hoc

VIOLA Hyunjae Bae Joyce Huang Luo Biao Shui Bing CELLO Wang Yan Wu Dai Dai Zhao Yu Er DOUBLE BASS Wang Xu

BASSOON Liu Chang

HARPSICHORD Shane Thio

PROGRAMME NOTES GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL (1685 – 1759) Water Music: Suite No. 1 in F major, HWV 348 I. Ouverture II. Adagio e staccato III. Allegro – Andante – Allegro da capo IV. Andante V. Allegro VI. Air VII. Minuet VIII. Bourrée IX. Hornpipe X. Allegro Dealing with quirky clients is nothing new to composers and musicians, so when King George I requested an evening concert on the River Thames, Handel and his musicians must have rolled their eyes inwardly. The opera company Handel had banked on working for had just closed down, and its orchestra jobless, so they were really in no position to refuse, so he dutifully produced three suites of light orchestral movements.

These were premiered on 17 July 1717, when a royal barge sailed upstream from Whitehall to Chelsea at 8 p.m., accompanied by another barge with 50 musicians. Many Londoners came out to hear the music, which played continuously while the king’s barge was moving – the king was so pleased he ordered it repeated at least thrice.

The only break was when the king went ashore at Chelsea, but otherwise the orchestra played continuously from 8 p.m. until well after half-past-

four in the morning when the royal barge arrived back at Whitehall. No records survive of the musicians’ reactions to the long hours (more than eight hours of service—what would the union say!), the bobbing barge, the humidity, or the difficulty of playing to candlelight in the summer night, but one imagines they were rather relieved when the event was over. They could not have imagined the work they premiered to become one of the most popular works in the repertoire some 300 years later.

Handel had managed to absorb the French, German, and Italian styles in his travels around Europe, and now settled in London, composed music that feels quintessentially English.

Even the courtly Minuet and French Bourée, with continental origins, manage to sound English thanks to Handel’s magical touch. The Suite in F prominently features horns, which appear in English orchestras outside of the opera for the first time. One imagines the British audiences thinking ‘What was that funny instrument we heard? Hunting horns… but playing tunes instead of hunting calls!’. The Suite begins with the obligatory grand Ouverture, followed by an assortment of pretty slow movements and traditional dances, before ending with jubilant music. To these dances, Handel adds the classic English hornpipe—reminding his audience he now had an British passport!

Was this all just muzak to accompany a royal pleasure trip? Hardly. King George I, who had only been crowned a few years ago, had always had a poor relationship with his son George Augustus, Prince of Wales (later King George II). The Prince of Wales had

constantly encouraged opposition to his father’s policies, and now they were not on talking terms. To make things worse, an opposing political faction was gathering around Prince George, who was throwing lavish parties and dinners to win support.

What was poor daddy to do?

The answer was optics. Make a big public splash: throw a lavish party with A-list musical entertainment. That was what the whole river spectacle was all about—to have elegant and organized music in a barge towing behind the royal one, where the king sat with his two mistresses and watched the world, which in turn watched them.

This was the king’s way of making his son look bad and reminding London that he could give bigger parties.

With the bold and stately accompaniment of Handel’s music, the king’s move appears to have worked— he reigned ten more years in peace, leaving Britain securely in the hands of the Hanoverian dynasty and of Parliament.

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685 – 1750) Coffee Cantata, BWV 211 Picture it: the outskirts of Vienna, 1683, in the aftermath of the failed Siege of Vienna, Austrian soldiers discovered bags of the beans left abandoned in tents by the fleeing Ottoman Turkish troops. Thinking these to be horse fodder, they were relieved when Jerzy Franciszek Kulczycki, a Polish diplomat, bought these useless beans from them.

Kulczycki had spent enough time as a translator (and spy) in Ottoman-ruled Belgrade to know what they were,

so he promptly took them to Vienna and opened the first Viennese coffee house. The fashionable coffee house culture took Europe by storm – they became places where serious thinkers could discuss philosophy, politics, and science. Women rarely visited coffee houses and would have had to indulge in the privacy of their homes.

Coffee began to replace the traditional beer and wine as a morning drink, and drinkers found themselves energized.

Nevertheless, many were suspicious of ‘the Devil’s drink’, which was already widely popular with the Turks and Arabs and hence considered ‘Muslim’. The matter was definitively settled by Pope Clement VIII who tried the drink and decided it was too tasty to let the Muslims have exclusive use of it - no doubt the beneficial effects of it (compared to alcohol) influenced his decision somewhat.

While Bach wrote no operas, his cantata Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht, BWV 211, also called the Coffee Cantata, is essentially a miniature comic opera. In addition to his duties in church at the St Thomas Church in Leipzig, he also directed a musical ensemble at Zimmermann’s Coffee House. It was for Zimmermann’s that Bach wrote this cantata, with a libretto by Picander, about a lively young lady (and coffee addict) named Lieschen. Her father Schlendrian (lit. killjoy) unsuccessfully tries to bribe his daughter into renouncing caffeine in favour of getting married, threatening all sorts of punishments, yet she chooses coffee over all these things. he finally gets the brilliant idea to tell his daughter that she will not be able to marry at all unless she gives up coffee – something she is suddenly

brew coffee whenever she wants!

The text for this last part did not exist in Picander’s original text; apparently, Bach added this little plot twist himself!

quite willing to do. Schlendrian decides to rush off to find a husband for his daughter; Lieschen, meanwhile, has secretly announced that she will put in the marriage contract a stipulation that she be permitted to

Liesgen (Soprano) (S), Erzähler (Narrator) (T), Schlendrian (Bass) (B) 1.

Rezitativ Erzähler Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht Und höret, was itzund geschicht: Da kömmt Herr Schlendrian Mit seiner Tochter Liesgen her, Er brummt ja wie ein Zeidelbär; Hört selber, was sie ihm getan!

1.

Recitative Narrator Be quiet, do not chat, And listen to what happens now: Here comes Mr. Schlendrian with his daughter Liesgen, He grumbles like a grizzly bear; hear for yourselves, what she has done to him!

2. Arie Schlendrian Hat man nicht mit seinen Kindern Hunderttausend Hudelei!

Was ich immer alle Tage Meiner Tochter Liesgen sage, Gehet ohne Frucht vorbei.

2. Aria Bass With children, aren’t there a hundred thousand aggravations!

Whatever I, all the time and every day, tell my daughter Liesgen, slides on by with no effect.

3. Rezitativ Schlendrian Du böses Kind, du loses Mädchen, Ach! wenn erlang ich meinen Zweck: Tu mir den Coffee weg!

3. Recitative Bass You naughty child, you wild girl, ah! When will I achieve my goal: get rid of the coffee for my sake!

Liesgen Herr Vater, seid doch nicht so scharf!

Wenn ich des Tages nicht dreimal Mein Schälchen Coffee trinken darf, So werd ich ja zu meiner Qual Wie ein verdorrtes Ziegenbrätchen.

Soprano Father sir, but do not be so harsh!

If I couldn’t, three times a day, be allowed to drink my little cup of coffee, in my anguish I will turn into a shriveled-up roast goat.

4. Arie Liesgen Ei! wie schmeckt der Coffee süße, Lieblicher als tausend Küsse, Milder als Muskatenwein.

Coffee, Coffee muss ich haben, Und wenn jemand mich will laben, Ach, so schenkt mir Coffee ein!

4. Aria Soprano Ah! How sweet coffee tastes, more delicious than a thousand kisses, milder than muscatel wine.

Coffee, I have to have coffee, and, if someone wants to pamper me, ah, then fill up my coffee again!

5. Rezitativ Schlendrian Wenn du mir nicht den Coffee lässt, So sollst du auf kein Hochzeitfest, Auch nicht spazierengehn.

5. Recitative Bass If you don’t give up coffee for me, you won’t go to any wedding parties, or even go out for walks.

Liesgen Ach ja!

Nur lasset mir den Coffee da!

Soprano Okay then!

Only leave my coffee alone!

Schlendrian Da hab ich nun den kleinen Affen!

Ich will dir keinen Fischbeinrock nach itzger Weite schaffen.

Bass Now I’ve got the little monkey!

I will buy you no whalebone dress of the latest fashion.

Liesgen Ich kann mich leicht darzu verstehn.

Soprano I can easily put up with that.

Schlendrian Du sollst nicht an das Fenster treten Und keinen sehn vorübergehn!

Bass You may not go to the window and watch anyone passing by!

Liesgen Auch dieses; doch seid nur gebeten Und lasset mir den Coffee stehn!

Soprano This too; but be merciful and let my coffee stay!

Schlendrian Du sollst auch nicht von meiner Hand Ein silbern oder goldnes Band Auf deine Haube kriegen!

Bass You’ll also not receive from my hand a silver or gold ribbon for your bonnet!

Liesgen Ja, ja! nur lasst mir mein Vergnügen!

Soprano Sure, sure! Just leave me my pleasure!

Schlendrian Du loses Liesgen du, So gibst du mir denn alles zu?

Bass You naughty Liesgen, you grant all of that to me?

6. Arie Mädchen, die von harten Sinnen, Sind nicht leichte zu gewinnen.

Doch trifft man den rechten Ort, O! so kömmt man glücklich fort.

6. Aria Girls of stubborn mind are not easily won over.

But if the right spot is touched, Oh! Then one can happily get far.

7. Rezitativ Schlendrian Nun folge, was dein Vater spricht!

7. Recitative Bass Now do what your father says!

Liesgen In allem, nur den Coffee nicht.

Soprano In everything but coffee.

Schlendrian Wohlan! so musst du dich bequemen, Auch niemals einen Mann zu nehmen.

Bass All right then! So you will have to content yourself with never having a husband.

Liesgen Ach ja! Herr Vater, einen Mann!

Soprano Ah yes! Father, a husband!

Schlendrian Ich schwöre, dass es nicht geschicht.

Bass I swear that it will never happen.

Liesgen Bis ich den Coffee lassen kann?

Nun! Coffee, bleib nur immer liegen!

Herr Vater, hört, ich trinke keinen nicht.

Soprano Until I give up coffee?

All right! Coffee, lie there now forever!

Father sir, listen, I won’t drink none.

Schlendrian So sollst du endlich einen kriegen!

Bass So finally you’ll get one!

8. Arie Liesgen Heute noch, Lieber Vater, tut es doch!

Ach, ein Mann!

Wahrlich, dieser steht mir an!

Wenn es sich doch balde fügte, Dass ich endlich vor Coffee Eh ich noch zu Bette geh, Einen wackern Liebsten kriegte!

8. Aria Soprano Even today, dear father, make it happen!

Ah, a husband!

Indeed, this will suit me well!

If it would only happen soon, that at last, instead of coffee, before I even go to bed, I might gain a sturdy lover!

9. Rezitativ Erzähler Nun geht und sucht der alte Schlendrian, Wie er vor seine Tochter Liesgen Bald einen Mann verschaffen kann; Doch, Liesgen streuet heimlich aus: Kein Freier komm mir in das Haus, Er hab es mir denn selbst versprochen Und rück es auch der Ehestiftung ein, Dass mir erlaubet möge sein, Den Coffee, wenn ich will, zu kochen.

9. Recitative Narrator Now old Schlendrian goes and seeks How he, for his daughter Liesgen, might soon acquire a husband; but Liesgen secretly spreads the word: no suitor comes in my house unless he has promised to me himself and has it also inserted into the marriage contract, that I shall be permitted to brew coffee whenever I want.

10. Chor (Terzett) Liesgen Erzähler Schlendrian Die Katze lässt das Mausen nicht, Die Jungfern bleiben Coffeeschwestern.

Die Mutter liebt den Coffeebrauch, Die Großmama trank solchen auch, Wer will nun auf die Töchter lästern!

10. Chorus (Trio) Soprano Narrator Bass Cats do not give up mousing, girls remain coffee-sisters.

The mother adores her coffee-habit, and grandma also drank it, so who can blame the daughters!

Text: Christian Friedrich Henrici (Picander)

GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL (1685 – 1759) Allegro and Alla Hornpipe from Water Music: Suite No. 2 in F major, HWV 331 Handel, like any good musician, was known to revisit good ideas and works from the past for new inspiration.

While the ‘canonical’ Water Music of 1717 consists of three suites (HWV 348–350), in 1722 he drew on the first two movements from the Suite No. 2 in D major HWV 349 to produce

HWV 331, a two-movement concerto, possibly for a 20 March 1723 concert.

The original movements featured trumpets, and Handel’s manuscript of the new version shows he first started with a straight transposition from D major to F major, subtracting the trumpets, but ever the artist, Handel made a new composition after only a few bars, borrowing material from a recent oratorio and providing new counterpoint. The result is a new work that stands worthily on its own.

Notes by Edward C. Yong

UPCOMING CONCERTS CHAMBER

THE TROUT AND THE TRIO Sun 11 Dec, 4pm

CHAMBER

LOVE IS IN THE AIR* Sun 12 Feb, 4pm Musicians of the SSO

Musicians of the SSO

ORGAN

A CHRISTMAS CARILLON Wed 28 Dec, 7:30pm LD !

SO UT O

Yap Wai Hoong organ Evelyn Lim organ Ministry of Bellz Damien Lim (Principal Conductor) Valerie Lee (Associate Conductor)

CHAMBER

CHAMBER

SCHUBERT’S PIANO SONATAS WITH PAUL LEWIS* Sat 18 Feb, 7:30pm Paul Lewis piano

ORGAN

DANIEL MOULT – ORGAN RHYTHM Sun 5 Mar, 4pm Daniel Moult organ

TIME REMEMBERED – BILL EVANS* Sun 8 Jan, 4pm Thomas Clausen Trio

* Tickets for Time Remembered – Bill Evans, Love is in the Air, and Schubert’s Piano Sonatas with Paul Lewis go on sale 15 Nov, 10am.

SINGAPORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Founded in 1979, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) is Singapore’s flagship orchestra, touching lives through classical music and providing the heartbeat of the cultural scene in the cosmopolitan city-state. Our Music Director is Hans Graf. While the SSO performs frequently at the Esplanade Concert Hall, for a more intimate experience, we return to the place of our beginnings, the Victoria Concert Hall (VCH) – the home of the SSO. The VCH is host to our popular Children’s, Family and biannual free Lunchtime Concerts as well as our VCHpresents chamber series.

VCHpresents

VCHhomeofthesso

sso.org.sg/ VCHpresents

HANS GRAF Music Director

SUPPORTED BY

PATRON SPONSOR