UMS Concert Program, June 11, 1967: Fair Lane Festival -- Chicago Symphony Baroque Orchestra

Concert: THIRD
Complete Series: 3568
Fair Lane, Dearborn Campus, The University Of Michigan

FAIR LANE FESTIVAL
'11 ?
CHICAGO SYMPHONY BAROQUE ORCHESTRA
Antonio Janigro, Guest Conductor
Sunday Afternoon, June 11, 1967, at 4:00 Fair Lane, Dearborn Campus, The University of Michigan
PROGRAM
Concerto Grosso in C minor, Op. 1, No. 2.......Locatelli
Adagio Allegro Largo
Allegro Allegro
Kenneth Gilbert, harpsichord
Concerto for Bassoon in E minor, F. VII, No. 6......Vivaldi
Allegro poco Andante Allegro
Wiixard Elliot, bassoon; Kenneth Gilbert, harpsichord
Sonate No. 5 For Violoncello in E minor.......Vivaldid'Indy
Largo
Allegro
Largo: alia Siciliana Allegro vivace
Frank Miller, violoncello
Concerto for Piccolo in C major, F. VI, No. 5.......Vivaldi
Allegro non molto Largo
Allegro molto
Walfrid Kujala, piccolo; Kenneth Gilbert, harpsichord
INTERMISSION
Concerto for Violin in Bflat major.........Pergolesi
Allegro Largo
Allegro
Steven Staryk, violin
Concerto for Flute in D major, Op. 10, No. 3 ("II Cardellino") . . . Vivaldi
Allegro
Cantabile Allegro
Donald Peck, flute; Kenneth Gilbert, harpsichord
Concertino No. 2 in G major.......Pergolesi (Ricciotti)
Largo
Da cappella, non presto Largo affettuoso Allegro
Kenneth Gilbert, harpsichord
Third Program 1967 Fair Lane Festival Complete Series 3S68
89th Season of the University Musical Society Presentations Twentyfourth Program in the Sesquicentennial Year of The University of Michigan
PROGRAM NOTES by John F. Ohl
Concerto Grosso, C minor, Op. 1, No. 2........Locatelli
Pietro Antonio Locatelli (16951764), a pupil of Corelli, had a distinguished career as a violin virtuoso whose innovations in solo technique had an important influence upon the still more dazzling inventions of Paganini. Almost all his compositions were published in Amsterdam by the great firm of Roger; he finally settled in Amsterdam, where he remained until his death. His Opus 1, consisting of twelve concertos, was published in 1721, when Locatelli was twentysix years old. These works belong to the concerto grosso category in which a group of solo instruments alternates with the full orchestra. The Concerto in C minor, like the others in the collection, not unexpectedly shows clearly the influence of Corelli in its sequence of movements and in the manner in which the concertino, or solo string group, is handled. As in Corelli's concertos, the pattern of the sonata da chiesa (church sonata) with its twofold alternation of slow and fast movements is followed, and a fifth movement in a lively dancelike rhythm is added to the preceding four, also a practice Corelli often employs.
Locatelli is not a mere imitator of his teacher, however; to Corelli's standard solo group of two violins and cello Locatelli has added a viola, so that the concertino consists of a complete string quartet, and in the fugal second and fourth movements his workingout of the material is far more systematic and vigorous than in Corelli.
Concerto for Bassoon in E minor (F. VII, No. 6)......Vivaldi
Antonio Vivaldi (c. 16781741) is without question one of the most fascinating figures of the Baroque period. His extraordinary career was entirely bound up with the intense musical life of his native city, Venice, where in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century music seems to have been a wellnigh universal preoccupation. Music of all types was constantly to be heard, and its composition and execution demanded the services of great numbers of musicians.
Vivaldi's life, and his truly fantastic creativity, can only be understood as the outgrowth of an environment that favored his development as no other could have done. The son of a violinist in the service of the great Cathedral of St. Mark's, whose musical establishment had been outstanding for more than a century before his birth, Vivaldi began his professional career in 1703, when he was engaged as a teacher at the Semenario Musicale dell" Ospitale della Pieta, with which he was asso?ciated for nearly forty years. The Pieta was one of four institutions in Venice, originally charitable homes for foundling girls, to which schools were annexed which in time became principally con?cerned with the teaching of music. Such "conservatories" existed in other Italian cities, but those of Venice were particularly famous.
The frequent performances at the Pieta demanded a staggering amount of music, and favored the development of such facility in composition as that of Vivaldi, who, in addition to some forty operas and a large amount of church music, has left us over five hundred instrumental works in various forms. Of the music in this last category only a small amount was published during the composer's lifetime.
Vivaldi's concertos reveal that he was an inveterate experimenter with instrumental combina?tions; concertos exist which make use of every sort of instrument commonly employed in his time,
? John F. Ohl is Chairman of the Department of Music History and Literature, School of Music, Northwestern University.
and in addition there are works for such unusual ones as mandolin, piccolo, and clarinet--the lastnamed a new instrument at the time.
He contributes to all three of the basic types of Baroque concerto: the concerto grosso, the solo concerto, and the "orchestral concerto" which he usually calls sinjonia. The Concerto for Bassoon in E minor is in his favorite threemovement form. The solo instrument doubles the bass line in the orchestral tuttis; in the contrasting solo sections it is accompanied very lightly. The first move?ment is full of Vivaldi's characteristic rhythmic drive; the middle movement allows the bassoon to reveal its lyrical side; and the lively last movement gives the soloist a chance to show his virtuosity.
Sonata No. 5 for Violoncello in E minor........Vivaldi
Orchestrated by Vincent d'Indy
Vivaldi's six sonatas for violoncello are among the greatest of early solo works for the instrument. The fifth sonata is a particularly fine composition, and displays the cello technique of the first half of the eighteenth century to perfection. The form is that of the sonata da chiesa. A rather solemn slow movement is followed by a lively allegro in which wide leaps are exploited; the third move?ment is a flowing Siciliana, a favorite type of slow movement with Vivaldi; and the final movement is a lively dance in gigue rhythm. The accompaniment, originally for basso continuo, has been realized for string orchestra by Vincent d'Indy.
Concerto for Piccolo in C major (F. VI, No. 5)......Vivaldi
The originality of Vivaldi's thought is never more apparent than when he chooses to write for an unorthodox solo instrument such as the piccolo. Not unexpectedly, much of the solo part is devoted to showing off its extreme agility in arpeggios and other passagework; however, lovely effects result from the use of only the upper strings for accompaniment, and the slow movement, in the relative minor, is full of delicate and poetic figuration for the solo instrument against a gently murmuring string background.
Concerto for Violin in Bflat major.........Pergolesi
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (171036) had one of the most remarkable and one of the shortest careers of any composer of any period. At a very early age he was given a stipend by a nobleman, the Marchese Cardolo Pianetti, which enabled him to enter the Conservatorio dei Poveri in Naples. In 1731, when he was seventeen, his first major work, an oratorio, was produced; in the nine years that remained to him he composed a series of operas--both serious and comic--oratorios, masses, concertos, and chamber works. In 1733 his most famous work, La Serva Padrona, was produced in connection with his serious opera Prigionier Superbo; his last complete work was his famous setting of the Stabat Mater. He died early in 1736 of "consumption" at the age of 26; he seems thus to have anticipated by halfacentury the series of composers, beginning with Mozart, who died very early, many of the same disease. The Violin Concerto in Bflat is a brilliant work which displays strong affinities with the style in which he excelled, that of Italian comic opera, a style which although in part Baroque played an important role in the formation of the later "classical" style which had its beginnings during Pergolesi's short lifetime.
Concerto for Flute ("II Cardellino") in D major, Op. 10, No. 3 ... Vivaldi
This concerto, part of a set published in Amsterdam about 1729, is one of those in which Vivaldi indulges in a certain amount of portrayal of ideas outside the music itself. His best known works of this type are the four violin concertos called "The Seasons." As is often the case with such programmatic concertos by Vivaldi, the ostensible subject of the work, "The Goldfinch," seems to be present chiefly in the opening movement, where the aptitude of the flute for presenting bird calls, often utilized by composers, is exploited. The slow movement, again in Vivaldi's favorite Siciliana rhythm, seems quite unlike anything a goldfinch might whistle, but there are sporadic suggestions of birdcalls in the last movement.
Concertino No. 2 in G major...........Pergolesi
The set of six socalled "Concertini" for four violins, viola, cello, and basso continuo, from which the present work comes, was published in London under the name of Carlo Ricciotti. This illustrates a tendency noticeable throughout the eighteenth century, especially in connection with music belonging to the "new style," which ultimately became what we are accustomed to call "classical": the almost incredible confusion produced by misattributions, accidental or deliberate, together with what amounts to "piracy" on the part of music publishers, especially in France and England. It may be suggested that the social ferment of the eighteenth century, the struggle of the old and the new, and its effect upon composers, performers, publishers, and the musical public, may help to explain this. The popularity of Pergolesi's music certainly has something to do with the very large number of works attributed to him which seem to be spurious. The "Concertini" are almost certainly his; in any case, they are works of great charm. Concertino No. 2 begins with a Largo which serves as an introduction to the fugal "Da Capella, non presto" which follows. The succeeding slow movement is in E minor with a central section in E major. The final Allegro, with its powerful drive, concludes what is clearly more like a "preclassical" symphony than a Baroque concerto.