The Vivaldi Project
John Hsu, conductor
with
Elizabeth Field, violin
Gesa Kordes, violin
Stephanie Vial, violoncello
Friday, February 7, 2014
7:30 pm
Recital Hall, School of Music
Program
Concerto Grosso in G Minor, Op. 6, No. 8 Arcangelo Corelli
“Fatto per la notte di natale” (1653-1713)
Vivace – Grave – Allegro
Adagio – Allegro – Adagio
Vivace – Allegro – Pastorale
Elizabeth Field and Gesa Kordes, violins
Sinfonia No. 4 in B minor “Morte e sepoltura di Christo” Antonio Caldara
Grave – Allegretto – Adagio – Allegro assai (1670-1736)
Concerto Grosso in E minor George Frideric Handel
Larghetto – Andante (1685-1759)
Allegro
Polonaise: Andante
Allegro, ma non troppo
Elizabeth Field and Gesa Kordes, violins
Stephanie Vial, violoncello
Intermission
Cocnerto for Violonello in G major, RV 413 Antonio Vivaldi
Allegro (1678-1741)
Largo
Allegro
Stephanie Vial, violoncello
Sinfonia in F major, F. 67 Wilhelm Friedemann Bach
Vivace (1710-1784)
Andante
Allegro
Menuetto
Sinfonia in B minor, Wq. 182 Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Allegretto (1714-1788)
Larghetto
Presto
Program Notes
The works in today’s program were chosen to focus on the inherent dramatic qualities
of all of the best of Baroque music from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
From the music of Corelli to C. P. E. Bach, there was a continuous increase of
innovative musical ideas by the composers that broadened the scope of dramatic
content in their works. On this tercentenary of C. P. E. Bach’s birth, it is appropriate
to note that he was the composer who was most responsible for passing on to Haydn
and Mozart the contemporary compositional development of his time.
Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713) occupies perhaps the most important position in the
history of Italian violin playing. With his own virtuosic performances and his five
collections of solo and trio sonatas for the violin, he is undoubtedly one of the
founders of the Italian school of violin playing. His Concerti Grossi, Opus 6, for a
concertino of two violins and cello with strings and continuo, are nowadays among
the most popular music for strings. These works must have made a strong
impression on Handel during his visit in Italy, for we find many echoes of Corelli in
Handel’s concerti grossi.
Antonio Caldara (1670-1736) was an important composer in his day, having held the
position of maestro di cappella in Mantua and Rome before settling in Vienna, where
he was Vice-Kapellmeister in the imperial court for the last 20 years of is life. His
operas, oratorios, as well as instrumental works were heard regularly at court. A
favorite of Emperor Charles VI, he received a higher salary than the Kapellmeister
Johann Joseph Fux. It is undeserved that Caldara’s instrumental music is almost
totally neglected today.
Baroque sacred concertos and sinfonias were often played in churches on special
occasions. Corelli’s Concerto, “Composed for Christmas Eve,” and Caldara’s
Sinfonia, “The Death and Burial of Christ,” are examples of music for Christmas and
Holy Week respectively. Whether or not the composer had specific programmatic
ideas when composing the works is questionable, but the different moods of the
music easily suggest to the listener various scenes and feelings associated with these
events in the life of Christ. For example, the first three sections of the Corelli concerto
could perhaps suggest the jubilant announcement of the birth of Christ, the calmness
of Christmas Eve, and the joyful reception of the good news. Certainly the serenity of
the final Pastorale is an obvious depiction.
By contrast, the descriptive content in Caldara’s Sinfonia is more detailed and concise.
I see the four sections as presenting the following dramatic scenes. The first section
expresses the suffering and the death of Christ. The second movement reflects the
agitation of the apostles in receiving and passing along the news of the crucifixion.
The brief Adagio transitional section is descriptive of the dramatic moment when the
stone was rolled back and the tomb was found empty. The last movement describes
the excitement of the crowd and ends with a prefiguration of the resurrection of
Christ.
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759), a German by birth, lived most of his life in
England and became a British subject in 1726. He was a prolific composer of
universal taste, and composed music in every genre and in every prevalent national
style of the time. His Concerto Grosso in E Minor is an example of a peculiar secular
concerto. The first movement of four antiphonal phrases and the second fugal
movement are played without interruption and may be construed as an overture to
the three movements that follow. The allegro is a concerto movement stressing the
contrasting sonorities of the alternating solo and tutti sections. The polonaise has a
frequent drone-like accompaniment from the low strings, which gives it a touch of a
pastoral. The last movement is a short gigue in binary form. Handel’s Opus 6, like
that of Corelli, consists of 12 concerti grossi for a concertino of two violins and cello
with strings and continuo. They too have enjoyed great popularity.
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) was arguably one of the most innovative and influential
Italian composers of his generation. Following in the footsteps of Corelli, Vivaldi's
infectious zest, enthusiasm, and virtuosity, the hallmarks of both his playing and his
compositional style, inspired not only his contemporaries, such as J.S. Bach and
Handel, but future generations of composers like C.P.E. Bach, Haydn, and Mozart.
Like Handel, Vivaldi was a prolific composer, producing an impressive range of
instrumental, vocal, and theatrical works. But perhaps his greatest achievement can
be measured by his contributions to the concerto genre, which in addition to setting
the standard for the solo concerto, would impact the development of the opera
sinfonia and ultimately the orchestral symphony. Energy and verve characterize the
outer allegro movements of the Cello Concerto in G major, RV413. The contrasting
largo, elegant in its simplicity, is one of Vivaldi's finest such movements.
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1710-1784) and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788),
the two oldest sons of Johann Sebastian Bach, both received their complete musical
training from their father, and became composers of distinction. Although we do not
know in exact detail the substance and method of the father’s teaching, the
Klavierbüchlein, which he compiled for the benefit of his oldest son, gives us a good
example of the kind of music that the Bach children learned early in life. Here is a
collection of beautiful pieces, most of them by the father and a few by other
composers, intended not only for the development of digital dexterity but also for the
cultivation of what must have been considered good taste and compositional skills.
As long as they were home, musical supervision was around the clock. Both became
outstanding keyboard players and composers.
Wilhelm Friedemann was for some years the organist at the Sophienkirche in
Dresden, and later at the Liebfrauenkirche in Halle. Although not as prolific as his
younger brother, he was equally gifted and wrote some truly compelling and
innovative music. In his Sinfonia in F Major, the first movement is propelled by the
force and vitality of the rhythm, while the second is captivating in its unusually
expressive instrumental figures.
Carl Philipp Emanuel enjoyed renown as a composer, keyboard player, and author.
He spent some thirty years as a court musician and accompanist to Frederick the
Great, who was an ardent flute player, and twenty years as director of music of the
five principal churches in Hamburg. He was considered the leading keyboard player
and teacher of his time. His treatise on keyboard playing was deemed the most
authoritative. He was above all a prolific composer who is considered by many an
important link between the Baroque and Classical, an innovator with revolutionary
ideas about aesthetics. At a time when dynamics in music were mainly determined
by harmony, he made dynamics a separate dimension of music unrelated to the
intensity of the harmony, and juxtaposed unexpected loud and soft passages
seemingly at random. These surprises plus frequent irregular phrase structure, quick
changes in mood, rhythm, harmony, and melody, all were used to increase the
dramatic effect of the music. His Sinfonia in B Minor, W. 182 is a prime example of
the theatrical nature of his music. The first half of the main theme is marked p and the
second half f, followed by a loud unsingable orchestral section in which the violins’
rapid figurations are based on scales. This sequence of musical events could easily
accompany an operatic scene in which a gentle and pleading first singer is being
rebuffed by a stern singer, triggering an outburst that extends beyond the emotional
intensity of vocal expression.
Notes by John Hsu
THE VIVALDI PROJECT
John Hsu, Guest Conductor
Elizabeth Field, Leader
Violin I: Elizabeth Field, Jennifer Roig-Francoli, Alison Edberg
Violin II: Gesa Kordes, Christoph Richter, Leah Peroutka
Viola: Dana Maiben, Suzanne Rousso
Cello: Stephanie Vial, Alice Robbins
Bass: Anne Trout
Harpsichord: Jennifer Streeter
John Hsu is the Old Dominion Foundation Professor of Music Emeritus at Cornell
University, where he taught for 50 years (1955-2005). As an instrumentalist and
conductor, he has toured throughout this country and Europe, and made award-winning
recordings. Among them are his CD of Haydn Baryton Trios (with violist
David Miller and cellist Fortunato Arico), which was chosen Winner in the Music
Retailers Association's Annual Award for Excellence in London, 1989; and his CD
Symphonies for the Esterhazy Court by Joseph Haydn (with the Apollo Ensemble),
which was nominated for the 1996 International Cannes Classical Music Award. He
is also the editor of the first modern edition of the complete instrumental works by
Marin Marais, published by Broude Brothers Limited and The Broude Trust. In May
2000, the government of France and its Ministry of Culture bestowed the high honor
of Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres on John Hsu in recognition of his life-long
commitment to French Baroque music as a scholar, performer, and teacher. He is
a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, which awarded him the
Honorary Doctor of Music degree in 1971, and the Outstanding Alumni Award in
2003. He is also Artistic Director Emeritus of the Aston Magna Foundation for Music
and the Humanities, the pioneering musical organization in the historical
performance movement in this country, founded by Albert Fuller in 1972. From 2006
to 2009, he served as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Atlanta Baroque
Orchestra.
The Vivaldi Project, under the co-direction of Elizabeth Field and Stephanie Vial, has
been gaining critical acclaim for its brilliant and expressive string playing, as well as
its innovative programming which combines scholarship and performance to both
educate and delight audiences. The members and guest artists of The Vivaldi Project
include many of the leading early music soloists, concertmasters, teachers, and
scholars from throughout the U.S. Since it was founded by Field in 2006, the Vivaldi
Project has performed throughout the DC area and the country, including live
performances and interviews for Washington's WETA, North Carolina's WCPE, and
Minnesota Public Radio. In 2010, the ensemble toured the Piedmont region of North
Carolina with an unprecedented performance of all six of C.P.E. Bach's String
Sinfonias, W. 182, under guest conductor John Hsu. The Vivaldi Project, and its
educational arm, the Institute for Early Music on Modern Instruments, strive to build
relationships with local arts organizations to bring a deeper appreciation for our
classical music heritage to diverse metropolitan, rural, and underserved communities.
The name, Vivaldi Project, refers not only to the group's core repertoire (the
extraordinary works of the virtuoso violinist and composer Antonio Vivaldi) but also
the project of probing into the roots of Vivaldi's distinctive musical style, his
innovative contributions to string writing, the concerto genre, and programmatic
orchestral music which have had ramifications that reverberate into the 21st century.
It is the central belief of the Vivaldi Project that musical performances are Events.
Music from the 17th and 18th century was conceived at a time when its very existence
depended on the personal and spontaneous expressions of live performers for live
audiences. Highly rhetorical in nature, music was viewed as a language in its own
right―just as capable of communicating ideas and emotions, only through melody
and harmony rather than words. It is interaction with the audience which renders
each performance unique, and at a Vivaldi Project concert, the audience becomes an
essential part of the music-making process. www.thevivaldiproject.org
Stephanie Vial, cellist, is a sought after performer, lecturer and teacher and has
recorded for Dorian, Naxos, Hungaroton, and Centaur Records. Vial has taught at
Duke and Cornell Universities, and is an adjunct faculty member at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a regular guest teacher at the Curtis Institute of
Music. She is the co-director of The Vivaldi Project and its annual Institute for Early
Music on Modern Instruments. Her book, The Art of Musical Phrasing in the Eighteenth
Century, published by the University of Rochester Press' Eastman Studies in Music
Series, was praised by Malcolm Bilson as "inspired scholarship" and "essential
reading."
