Yale Collection of Musical Instruments presents
THE SEBASTIANS Daniel S. Lee,violin Nicholas DiEugenio,violin Ezra Seltzer,cello Jeffrey Grossman,harpsichord
in
H e a r i n g n at i o n a l i s m What does it mean to be a German, French, or Italian composer? In the 18th century, as national identity became more defined, composers grappled with that question, expressing their emerging national styles while also freely borrowing from others. This cosmopolitan program of Corelli, Telemann, Royer, F. Couperin, Biber, Boyce and Handel brings to life an enchanting diversity of styles.
15 Hillhouse Avenue New Haven 5 November 2017 3:00 p.m.
cover painting Claude Lorrain Seaport at Sunset, 1639 Oil on canvas The Louvre Museum
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Yale Collection of Musical Instruments 5 November 2017 3:00pm
15 Hillhouse Avenue New Haven
The Sebastians Hearing Nationalism Arcangelo Corelli
Trio Sonata in G Major, op. 4, no. 10 Preludio, Adagio - Allegro Adagio - Grave Tempo di Gavotta, Presto
Georg Philipp Telemann
Sonata for violin and continuo in D Major, TWV 41:D1(Frankfurt, 1715) from Six sonates à violon seul, accompagné par le clavessin
Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer
Le Marche des Scythes (Paris, 1746) from Pièces de clavecin,1er livre
François Couperin
L’espagnole from Les Nations (Paris, 1726) Sonade Allemande Courante Second Courante Passacaille
(1653-1713)
(1681-1767)
(c.1705-1755) (1668-1733)
INTERVAL
Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber
Passacaglia for solo violin from Mystery (Rosary) Sonatas (c. 1674)
William Boyce
Trio Sonata in D Major, op. 1, no. 5 Larghetto - Adagio Allegro Adagio Allegro
George Frideric Handel
Trio Sonata in G minor, op.2, no. 5 HWV 390a (London, c. 1730) Larghetto - Adagio Allegro Adagio Allegro
(1653-1704) (1711-1779)
(1685-1759)
Harpsichord by François Etienne Blanchet the Elder, Paris, c. 1742
program notes The term “nationalism” in music often conjures thoughts and images of 19th-century composers (always Dvorák and Smetana) asserting their respective traditions. This notion of nationalism expands in the 20th century, and includes early examples of ethnomusicologist-composers like Kodály and Bartók incorporating national folk idioms in their western art music. One of the common threads is a certain pride, an assertion of a particular set of cultural values. This brand of nationalism, whether cemented in the 19th century European climate through state unifications, perpetrated the world over through the range of “ethnic cleansing” crimes in the 20th century, or trumpeted as protectionist trade policy in today’s politics, is essentially of the same (unfortunate) strain. The nationalism we are hearing in today’s program, though perhaps a relative of this modern strain, is not altogether the same virus. It is noteworthy that the conscious traces of “national styles” which appear in this program always do so with an aim to unite or merely enjoy, rather than to assert. Corelli’s Roman style, not self-conscious in any modern “nationalist” sense, was much loved and imitated across Europe. Telemann’s “German mixed-taste” is much more about the compositional mastery and enjoyment of various musical traditions than it is about “being German.” Couperin’s very conscious posture as the unifier of tastes seeks to use the elements of various national styles (Italianate, French, and perhaps a 17th-century French impression of “others”) to create a rich musical tapestry. In a way, the nationalism we are hearing today is a forerunner to the idealized American project of the 18th and 19th centuries; that is, the music becomes a space in which these various elements contribute to a unified and more compelling whole. We may do well to look to this distant cousin of today’s nationalist strain in searching for a powerful and effective antidote to a virus we have certainly seen before. – Nicholas DiEugenio Arcangelo Corelli Trio Sonata in G major, op. 4, no. 10 It is hard to imagine how influential Corelli’s music was in its time. His music was enormously popular, and through its widespread distribution and popularity, his compositional style gripped and fascinated musicians everywhere. The hallmarks of this style—smooth and regular harmonic motion, satisfying sequences, ravishing suspensions, walking bass lines, violins leaping over each other- were copied by composers all across Europe. Corelli’s trio sonatas, the first four volumes he chose to publish, are traditionally divided into church sonatas (with movements alternating slow-fast-slowfast) and chamber sonatas (usually a prelude followed by movements based on Italian dance forms), and the opus 4 sonatas are examples of the latter. But current scholarship tends to eschew this simple distinction, pointing to the ways Corelli mixes more 4.
complex musical elements throughout. In this sonata, the first movement is not a simple prelude but a three-part overture, and the second movement is not the expected Sarabande but an abstract and austere slow movement that could have come from any church sonata. The only true nod to the sonata da camera is the final movement, a traditional, sprightly Gavotta. Georg Philipp Telemann Sonata for violin and continuo in D major, TWV 41:D1 Telemann’s name generally sparks discussion of his outrageously prolific catalogue: hundreds of orchestral suites, concerti, probably 50 or more operas, at least 20 complete cycles of cantatas (i.e., 1700 cantatas). He was considered one of the greatest composers of his time, with favorable comparisons to his contemporaries (Bach and Handel) and younger successors (Graun and Hasse). In 1729, Telemann described his style in a most cosmopolitan way: “What I have accomplished with respect to musical style is well known. First came the Polish style, followed by the French, church, chamber and operatic styles, and [finally] the Italian style, which currently occupies me more than the others do.” He was an important figure in creating the style that the New Grove Dictionary calls “the German mixed taste, a blending of the German contrapuntal idiom with the French, Italian and Polish styles.” This sonata, from his first collection of six sonatas for violin and basso continuo, is written in a compact five-movement form of Italian dance movements. The meandering first movement leads into a twitchy Corrente, while the third movement Sarabande is a scant sixteen bars long. The closing Gigue is a particularly fun romp, making use of the violin’s open strings to great effect. Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer La Marche des Scythes Born in Turin, Italy, Royer spent the majority of his life as an important figure in the Parisian musical scene. He was known as an operatic composer primarily on the basis of one successful opera-ballet, Zaïde, which had many revivals, but many of his substantial accomplishments were overshadowed by Jean-Philippe Rameau, who was at the height of his fame during Royer’s most productive years. (Though Royer had a reputation as “an agreeable character and most polite,” there is even a police report describing a fight between the two composers). Royer was a virtuoso keyboardist, but he published only one volume of harpsichord works—tantalizing called “1er livre”—and dedicated it to the two musically talented daughters of King Louis XV whom he taught. Five of the twelve pieces are transcriptions from his operas, including “La Marche des Scythes,” which was transformed from the “Air pour les Turcs en Rondeau” in Zaïde. Though the Rondeau (refrain) of the harpsichord version stays close to the opera’s, the couplets (verses) of the harpsichord version are completely original, better suited to the harpsichord than a simple transcription would have been, and each more exciting than the previous.
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François Couperin L’espagnole: Sonade, Allemande, Courante, Second Courante, Passacaille Nothing was more popular in early eighteenth-century France than Italian music, and specifically the music of Corelli. There were many people “who sing nothing else and have nothing else played in their homes but Italian Pieces and Sonatas,” according to a contemporary account. The great François Couperin did not ignore this movement; he attempted to unify the best parts of the French and Italian styles with Les Nations and the collection Les Goûts réunis (“The Pleasures Brought Together”). In fact, Couperin even published three of the opening sonatas of Les Nations under a fake Italian pseudonym to capitalize on the craze. Though the ruse worked in Couperin’s time, there is little worry today we will mistake the sonatas as works by an Italian. They open with a slow movement roughly corresponding to a Corellian prelude movement, but filled with French ornaments and unmistakably French harmonies. The slow-fast pattern of movements one might expect in an Italian sonata is also disturbed with the insertion of “air” movements. The sonata of “L’espagnole” is notable for its final section, which combines a repeating chaconne bass line (based on the descending tetrachord) with eight bars of written out badinage for the harpsichord (“if one wishes,” Couperin writes, a clue as to how he imagined the realization of the movement). The chaconne bass line seamlessly transforms into the theme in the violins: the movement is in fact an unusual chaconnefugue. Thirty years after the sonatas were published, Couperin gathered together these sonatas (replacing the weakest of the group) and added to each one a grand French dance suite to form Les Nations. In this way, Couperin says, the sonatas “serve only as preludes, or some sort of introduction.” Today we perform a selection of the lengthy dance suite of “L’espangole.” By marrying a (roughly) Italian sonata with the most perfumed of French dance suites, Couperin attempts to unite the two national musical styles—though the criticism of the dances is that they are so beautifully written that Couperin has smoothed over the interesting asymmetries and surprises that could appear. It is as if he was preserving the height of refined French dance music, even as he and his contemporaries were experimenting with “modern” character pieces. Consider Les Nations, then, a sort of paean to the old, 17th-century form of dance suite, a summation of the French dance types in their most fragrant state. Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber Passacaglia According to some, the repertoire of music for unaccompanied violin begins with this work. Certainly violinists had played popular tunes by themselves when the occasion arose, and there were small published works by John Paul von Westhoff and Thomas Baltzar, but Biber’s is the first “serious” work for the instrument alone. Biber’s writing for the violin is also far more virtuosic than theirs: he explores higher positions, more active arpeggios and scales, and generally makes more intricate technical demands on the player. In this way, he merges the Italian violin tradition (which Corelli would expand) with the Germanic counterpoint tradition (which Bach in particular would 6.
develop). Biber places this solo at the end of his book of Mystery Sonatas, in which each sonata for violin and basso continuo is preceded by a small engraving depicting a mystery of the rosary. The Passagaglia (as Biber labeled his passacaglia) is paired with an image of a guardian angel holding the hand of a child. If one can imagine never having heard a composition for solo violin by Bach, Telemann, Paganini, and so on, it is truly remarkable how Biber spins a single instrument in a way that implies harmonies and manages the tension throughout the substantial piece—and all on top of sixty-five repetitions of the descending tetrachord ground bass. William Boyce Trio Sonata in D major, op. 1, no. 5 Boyce held many royal appointments and came to be remembered as primarily an anthem composer and an editor of Cathedral Music, the first collection of church music in England after the Restoration. In his own time, though, he was arguably just as famous for his theatre and instrumental music—“Heart of Oak,” a stirring song from one of his theatre works, is still the official march of the Royal Navy of the U.K. and the Canadian Navy. Boyce’s trio sonatas had unprecedented success in England, including hundreds of copies and three editions. Boyce’s music owes a lot to Corelli’s, and he was writing at the same time as the great Handel but with some English quirks. Boyce did not believe in overly dramatic harmonies except for a very good reason, writing that “the skill of the artist is best shewn, not in departing from the original key, but in keeping within it, and producing, by the interchanges of its own consonances, all that variety of harmony of which it may be capable.” This cheerful sonata is an excellent example of the way Boyce used simple methods—unadventurous bass lines, imitative entries, and chains of suspensions—without sounding like a pale imitation of Corelli or Handel. George Frideric Handel Trio Sonata in G minor, op. 2, no. 5 Handel was born in Germany, trained in Italy, and eventually settled in London, and his musical style is something of a synthesis of all these locales. His opus 2 trio sonatas were published without his supervision or blessing, but it is likely that he wrote this sonata shortly after his time in the service of the Earl of Carnarvon (and later Duke of Chandos) at Cannons, outside of London. The walking bass lines, imitative dissonances, and virtuosic violin figurations show his substantial debt to Corelli. Handel heightens these Corellian elements: for example, the running (not walking) bass line in the second movement of this sonata, is not just harmonic but also motivic—the violins answer with their own running scales. In the beautiful third movement, Handel marries the conventional (and satisfying) harmonies with his own incomparable melodic gift; indeed, with a melody that could come straight from his operas. – Jeffrey Grossman
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aboUt the performers The Sebastians (www.sebastians.org) are a dynamic and vital musical ensemble specializing in music of the baroque and classical eras. Lauded as “everywhere sharpedged and engaging” (The New York Times), the Sebastians have also been praised for their “well-thought-out articulation and phrasing” (Early Music Review) and “elegant string playing… immaculate in tuning and balance” (Early Music Today). The Sebastians 2017–18 season celebrates music that crosses boundaries: music published in Amsterdam by Italian composers; music by German, French, and Italian composers exploring a question of their individual “national” styles; vocal cantatas by Buxtehude that transcend the mortal world for the spiritual, in collaboration with TENET; and works by Bach in contrasting Italian and French styles. They are currently in residence at the Yale Collection of Musical Instruments. The ensemble’s first CD, Night Scenes from the Ospedale, pairs Vivaldi concerti from L’Estro Armonico with newly composed interludes by Robert Honstein, and has been praised for “beautifully-nuanced playing and thoughtful expressivity” (I Care If You Listen). Their second CD, the Sebastians a2: Virtuoso Music of the Holy Roman Empire, explores the rich baroque repertoire of music for violin and harpsichord written by composers from modern-day Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic. This spring, the Sebastians will release a new CD of trio sonatas and vocal works by Corelli, Colista, Handel, and Vivaldi, with soprano Awet Andemicael. Award-winning violinist Daniel S. Lee enjoys a varied career as a soloist, leader, collaborator, and educator. Praised for his “ravishing vehemence” and “soulful performance” (The New York Times), he has appeared as a soloist and leader with Early Music New York, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Quodlibet Ensemble, and Yale Schola Cantorum, among others. He is the founding director of the critically-acclaimed period ensemble, the Sebastians. As a piccolo violin specialist, he has performed as a soloist in Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 and Cantata 140, and has given the modern-day premiere of his own transcription of Johann Pfeiffer’s concerto. He has studied at the Juilliard School (BM), Yale School of Music (MM and AD), and University of Connecticut (DMA). He was recently appointed as a faculty member at Yale School of Music. www.danielslee.com Praised for his “invigorating, silken” playing and “mysterious atmosphere” (Cleveland Plain Dealer) and as an “excellent” and “evocative” violinist (The New York Times), Nicholas DiEugenio leads a versatile performing life as a chamber musician, leader, and soloist in music ranging from early baroque to current commissions. In this capacity, he performs in venues such as Glinka Hall in St. Petersburg, Trinity Wall St., Freiburg’s Ensemblehaus, and Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall. Together with pianist Mimi Solomon, Nicholas is currently embarking on the project “Unraveling Beethoven,” a cycle of all ten violin sonatas combined with response works from five composers. 8.
Regarded as an inspiring teacher, Nicholas is currently Assistant Professor of Violin at UNC Chapel Hill. Nicholas holds degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music (BM, MM) and the Yale School of Music (DMA, AD). www.nicholasdieugenio.com Lauded for his “beauty of tone and keenness of musicianship” (Opera Britannia), cellist Ezra Seltzer is a founding member and principal cellist of the Sebastians, and has performed frequently as guest principal cellist of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Musica Angelica, and Orchester Wiener Akademie. Since 2015, he has been the principal cellist of the Trinity Baroque Orchestra, Early Music New York, and New York Baroque Incorporated. He has also appeared with the Portland Baroque Orchestra, Chicago’s Baroque Band, TENET, the Mark Morris Dance Group, and the Clarion Orchestra, and will appear as a soloist with Apollo’s Fire later this season in Cleveland and at Caramoor. He attended Yale University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in history and Master of Music in cello, and graduated from the inaugural class of Juilliard’s historical performance program. Keyboardist and conductor Jeffrey Grossman specializes in vital, engaging performances of music of the past, through processes that are intensely collaborative and historically informed. This season, Jeffrey directs from the keyboard selected concerts – with the Sebastians and TENET, and returns to the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra as featured harpsichord soloist in Bach’s Brandenburg Concerti. In addition to serving as artistic director of the Sebastians, Jeffrey also performs this year with the Green Mountain Project, Chamber Music Northwest, Quodlibet, the Little Orchestra of New York, and the Bach Players of Holy Trinity. For the past twelve seasons, he has also toured parts of the rural United States with artists of the Piatigorsky Foundation, performing outreach concerts intended to bring live classical music to underserved communities. A native of Detroit, Michigan, he holds degrees from Harvard College, the Juilliard School, and Carnegie Mellon University. www.jeffreygrossman.com
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Upcoming performances in the 2017-2018 series December 3rd
BeetHoven for two guitars John Schneiderman, terz guitar Hideki Yamaya, terz guitar, Romantic guitar and Milanese mandolino
Feburary 4th
music inspired By BacH Bach, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Reger Julius Berger, violincello Christoph Hammer, piano
March 4th revolutionary music for tHe sun King: 1689 Paolo Pandolfo, viola da gamba Amelie Chemin, viola da gamba Thomas Boysen, lute Markus HĂźnninger, harpsichord April 22nd smitHsonian cHamBer players music of franz scHuBert Quartet in G minor, D173 Octet in F Major, D803 Vera Beths and Cynthia Roberts, violin Steven Dann, viola Kenneth Slowik, violincello Anthony Manzo, double bass Charles Neidich, clarinet Andrew Schwartz, bassoon William Purvis, natural horn
Tickets may be ordered by telephone at the Yale School of Music box office at (203)432-4158 or over the Internet at: www.yale.edu/music Ticket Prices
$28.00 each, reserved seating $125.00, series of five concerts $25.00 each, senior citizens & Yale staff $15.00 each, students