Yale Collection of Musical Instruments presents
The GenTleman’s Band
in
Inspired by Song featuring Stefan Temmingh, recorders and Dorothee Mields, soprano 15 Hillhouse Avenue
New Haven
2 February 2020 3:00 p.m.
This concert is made possible by the generous support of the Associate Members of the Collection.
Cover imaGe Peter Paul Rubens The Honeysuckle Bower Oil on canvas, ca. 1609 Alte Pinakothek, Munich
Yale Collection of Musical Instruments 15 Hillhouse Avenue New Haven
Inspired by Song
2 February 2020 3:00 pm
Stefan Temmingh, Dorothee Mields & The Gentleman’s Band Johann Adolph Hasse
Cantata per flauto (---) | Adagio | Allegro
Anonymous Jacob van Eyck (1590-1657)
De Nachtegael Engels Nachtegaeltje
Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1752)
Più non m’alleta
Francesco Saverio Geminiani (1687-1762)
An Irish Tune
(1699-1783)
INTERVAL Traditional
Lady Ann Bothwel’s Lament Lady Ann Bothwel’s Lament
John Dowland (1563-1626) Johan Schop (ca. 1590- 1667)
Flow my Tears
Anonymous
Greensleeves
Frederik Nussen (1749-1779) Johann Christoph Pepusch (1667-1752)
Can Love be controul’d?
Anonymous Thomas D’Urfey (1653-1723)
Faronells Ground The King’s Health to Farrinels Ground (La Follia)
Francesco Saverio Geminiani
Lachrimae Pavan
Can Love be controul’d by Advice?
This concert is being recorded and streamed live over the internet. Please turn off all cellphones and electronic devices.
Program Notes Let Wit, Wine and Beauty, then teach us our Duty Stefan Temmingh’s thoughts on “Inspired by Song” High art – intellectual, serious, cultured, well informed, thoughtful and emotionally calm. These are the adjectives that immediately come to mind whenever I hear this term. The basis of European high art is the Baroque aristocracy. Life at court was dominated by rules and fixed practices that functioned as a behavioural straitjacket. Individual feelings, sudden outbursts of emotion, freedom from convention and spontaneity were unthinkable. Everyday life was a game conducted according to certain rules. And only those who were already playing the game were allowed to decide who else could join in. As in the age of the Baroque, so nowadays, too, there is the risk that high art may cut itself off from society and suffocate. The people responsible for creating art and culture have realized that high art urgently needs fresh air, otherwise classical music, too, will die. And so orchestras now perform in pedestrian precincts with flash mobs, operas are broadcast on big screens in public places, and musicians like me visit schools and try to breathe new life into classical music. For me, “Inspired by Song” is a concert that is intended to communicate this proximity to living human beings, while at the same time conveying a genuine love of life. Even during the age of the Baroque, instrumentalists would make their virtuoso embellishments and complex harmonies more accessible by using as the basis of their compositions popular melodies picked up in the street. The words of these songs were always very basic and down to earth: the yearning of love (in Più non m’alletta), the frustration of a mother trying to get her child to sleep (in Lady Anne Bothwell’s Lament); the grief of a spurned lover (in Greensleeves) or the joy of birdsong (in De Nachtegael). These are all emotions and situations in life that are familiar to each and every one of us. And these are very much the emotions that can and should be experienced in the palaces of high art. But how can we gain access to them? Even as a very young child I was already given a number of keys that were designed to open these doors. My very first CD included both Greensleeves and La Follia and I can still recall my delight when my teacher allowed me to play them myself. I experienced something similar when I was first introduced in class to Jacob van Eyck’s The English Nightingale. I would like to share these key experiences with my listeners by means of the present program and in that way make it easier for them to appreciate Baroque music. With the exception of the human voice, my instrument – the recorder – is arguably the most frequently played in the world. The fact that it is regarded as a children’s instrument may be seen as enormously positive, because it means that shared musical memories provide a link between me and countless millions of people in every continent. Familiar experiences are always a source of delight – our mother’s cooking, for example, old friends or a favourite pullover. It is no different with music, and this
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principle also plays an important role in this program, partly through the choice of songs that were already well known throughout Europe during the Baroque period and partly through their virtuoso garb and their revival in the form of variations for recorder and ensemble. For me, the only way of communicating the pleasure of live music is the one summed up in the final lines of The King’s Health: “Let Wit, Wine and Beauty, then teach us our Duty.” High art is not about visiting castle museums but is an act of celebration commemorating our love of life. Everyone is invited.
About the Performers The Gentleman’s Band
For years recorder player Stefan Temmingh has been working closely and continuously with a regular group of musician friends. All members of his ensemble are early music specialists and active on the international concert stages - each of them is one of the leading exponents of his or her instrument. Stefan Temmingh has been performing with some of them since his student days, others occasionally join in on projects. Since 2013 the ensemble has been called “The Gentleman’s Band” at their own request inspired by the title of Stefan Temmingh’s second CD (“The Gentleman’s Flute”). In addition to Stefan Temmingh, the line-up includes baroque soprano Dorothee Mields, who is one of the leading singers in her field and with whom Stefan Temmingh has worked closely and intensively since 2013, in many concerts and for two award-winning CDs “Inspired by Song” and “Birds”. The other ensemble members are lutenist Michael Dücker (since 2015) and viola da gamba player and baroque cellist Domen Marinčič (since 2009) - both part of the regular line-up and regularly heard at the most important early music festivals and concert series around the world. The ensemble is completed by harpsichordist Wiebke Weidanz (since 2012), with whom Stefan Temmingh also plays as a duo. She has been the musical assistant to René Jacobs for many years and is a regular guest with the leading German baroque orchestras as a soloist and basso continuo specialist. The South African recorder player and ECHO Award winner Stefan Temmingh is one of the internationally leading soloists in his field. Born in Cape Town, he now lives in Munich. His concerts and recordings show that he is an artist who is not simply following well-known paths. Stefan Temmingh is setting new standards for his instrument, he is creating a new recorder tradition. Already with his remarkable debut album “Corelli à la mode” he succeeded in crossing the boundaries of repertoire and sound. His CDs with Soprano Dorothee Mields “Inspired by Song” and “BIRDS” (both SONY/dhm) were critically acclaimed by the music press and brought him the prestigious German ECHO Klassik Award as Instrumentalist of the Year (Flute) 2016. In 2018 his recent
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Vivaldi CD was awarded an International Classical Music Award, the Editor’s Choice of Gramophone as well as the Diapason d’or as “the new reference for this repertoire” (Diapason). As an Early Music specialist he plays internationally with his baroque ensemble “The Gentleman’s Band” at renowned festivals and concert series. As a soloist, he plays with various baroque, chamber and symphony orchestras in Europe, Asia and Africa and increasingly conducts from the soloist desk. He initiates and participates in numerous projects and premieres of contemporary music. Regularly, Stefan is compared to the legendary Frans Brüggen. Since 2019 he has a professorship at the University of Music in Freiburg. Dorothee Mields (soprano)is one of the leading interpreters of 17th- and 18thcentury music and is admired for her unique timbre and moving interpretations. She appears regularly with the Collegium Vocale Gent, Netherlands Bach Society, L’Orfeo Barockorchester, Freiburger Barockorchester, RIAS Kammerchor, Bach Collegium Japan, Orchestra of the 18th Century, Lautten Compagney Berlin, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra Toronto, The English Concert and Klangforum Wien under conductors such as Stefan Asbury, Beat Furrer, Michi Gaigg, Paul Goodwin, Philippe Herreweghe, Emilio Pomàrico, Hans-Christoph Rademann, Andreas Spering, Masaaki Suzuki and Jos van Veldhoven. Dorothee Mields is a welcome guest at international festivals, including the Leipzig Bach Festival, Suntory Music Foundation Summer Festival in Japan, Boston Early Music Festival, Flanders Festival, Wiener Festwochen, the Handel Festival in Halle, Musikfestspiele Potsdam, Styriarte Graz, Niedersächsische Musiktage, Musikfest Bremen, Mainzer Musiksommer and Mosel Musikfest. She is a devoted chamber musician and offers a range of highly interesting projects such as “Lord Nelson at the river Nile” (music by Haydn and contemporaries dealing with the battles of Lord Nelson), “White as Lillies was her Face” with songs by John Dowland combined with texts by Heinrich Heine, “Mort exquise, mort parfumée” with French impressionistic compositions, “Duft und Wahnsinn” (fragrance and lunacy) together with Hille Perl, viola da gamba, and Lee Santana, lute, as well as “Birds” with flutist Stefan Temmingh. A steadily growing discography with several award-winning recordings documents her artistic achievements. “Inspired by Song” and “Birds” with Stefan Temmingh, “Händel” with Hille Perl, Monteverdi “La dolce vita” with the Lautten Compagney Berlin and Wolfgang Katschner (all dhm), Bach “Kantaten für SoloSopran” with L’Orfeo Barockorchester and Michi Gaigg and Boccherini “Stabat mater” with the Salagon Quartett (both Carus) have been especially well received. In 2018/19, Dorothee Mields is artist in residence at the Heinrich-Schütz-Musikfest. Further upcoming highlights include appearances in Japan with the RIAS Kammerchor, at the Wigmore Hall with The English Concert, with Seattle Symphony, and at the Internationale Orgelwoche Nürnberg, as well as tours with Collegium Vocale Gent, Freiburger Barockorchester, Gli Angeli Genève and Holland Baroque.
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Michael Dücker (lute) studied lute in Cologne with Konrad Junghaenel and in Frankfurt with Yasunori Immamura. In addition, he holds a degree in musicology from the University of Wuerzburg. As a continuo player and as a soloist he is playing with ensembles and baroque orchestras such as musica antiqua koeln, Concerto Koeln, La Stravaganza Koeln, the Akademie fuer Alte Musik Berlin, the Ensemble Echo du Danube, Flautando Koeln, Harmonie Universelle, La Stagione Frankfurt, nuovo aspetto, etc. at the most important festivals throughout Europe, Africa, Asia, North and South America. Michael Dücker has participated in more than 100 CD recordings, as well as radio and TV broadcasts. His own solo CDs include music by S.L. Weiss, lute concertos by Falkenhagen, Fasch etc. For the music publisher Edition Walhall he is active as an editor of music scores. Domen Marinčič (viola da gamba) was born in Slovenia. He studied viola da gamba with Hartwig Groth in Nuremberg and with Philippe Pierlot in Trossingen, Germany. He also studied harpsichord with Carsten Lohff and completed postgraduate studies in basso continuo with Alberto Rinaldi. During his studies he was a prize winner at several competitions and won the highest prize at the 1st International Bach-Abel Competition in Köthen in 1997. He was a member of the Belgian ensemble Ricercar Consort for several years and is a founding member of the Ensemble Phoenix Munich. He performs at well-known festivals throughout Europe (Bruges, Brussels, Ghent, Namur, Liège, Paris, Saintes, Copenhagen, Vantaa, Innsbruck, Lausanne, Lucerne, St. Gallen, Munich, Schleswig-Holstein, Valencia, Gijón, Pisa, Prague, Brno, Bratislava, Varaždin, Brežice, Maribor). He is co-founder of the Slovenian early music ensemble musica cubicularis and the Harmonia Antiqua Labacensis, an international ensemble conducted by Manfredo Kraemer. Domen Marinčič has participated in numerous CD productions for international labels. From 2005 to 2009 he taught at the Department of Musicology of the University of Ljubljana. For performances and music editions he reconstructed missing voices of numerous works of the 17th and 18th centuries. Wiebke Weidanz (harpsichord) is winner of the renowned international Johann Sebastian Bach Competition (Leipzig, 2000). She plays concerts throughout Europe, in the US, Japan and China and participated in numerous CD, radio and TV productions. Both as a soloist and continuo player, she is regularly invited to perform with leading baroque and symphony orchestras such as the Freiburger Barockorchester, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and Concerto Köln. For many years now, she has been working as the musical assistant of René Jacobs for international opera productions, among others, in Berlin, Vienna, Amsterdam, Brussels and Aix-en-Provence. Until 2003, Wiebke Weidanz was a lecturer at the College of Music in Leipzig and until 2009 at the College of Music in Frankfurt. Since 2014 she is teaching as a professor for harpsichord at the College of Music in Nuremberg.
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Upcoming performances & events in Winter/spring 2020 Apr. 1 Wednesday 7:30pm 15 Hillhouse
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Apr. 19 Sunday
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smiThsonian ChamBer Players sChuBerTiade sChuBerTiade Vera Beths and Katya Poplansky, violin Steven Dann, viola Kenneth Slowik, cello and fortepiano PresenTaTions in ConjunCTion wiTh “resoundinG Brass�
The exhiBiTion
3:00pm 15 Hillhouse
...including Douglas Lundeen, natural and early valve horns
7:30pm Sudler Hall
...including John Hagstrom, trumpets from the Herseth Collection
Tickets may be ordered by telephone from the Yale School of Music box office at (203)432-4158 or over the Internet at: www.yale.edu/music Tickets
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$30.00 each, reserved seating $25.00 each, senior citizens & Yale staff $15.00 each, students $25.00 each, Associate Members