UMS Concert Program, March 14, 1985: The Academy Of Ancient Music --

Season: 106th
Concert: Sixtieth
Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan

lnteifiatipnal
THE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
The Academy of Ancient Music
CHRISTOPHER HOGWOOD
Director
EMMA K1RKBY, Soprano DAVID THOMAS, Bass
Thursday Evening, March 14, 1985, at 8:30 Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan
PR OG RAM
Water Music..................................................... Handel
Horn Suite in F major
Overture: largo, allegro Mcnucc tor French Horn Adagio e staccato Bourrcc
Allegro Hornpipe
Air: presto
Flute Suite in G major
Menuct Menuets I and II
Rigaudon Country Dance
Trumpet Suite in D major
Allegro Lentement
Alia Hornpipe Air
Trumpet Menuet
INTERMISSION
Cantata, Apollo and Dafne........................................ Handel
Emma Kiukby, Soprano David Thomas, Bass Rachel Brown, flute obbligato Clare Shanks, oboe obbligato
Hyperion and L'Oisean-Lyre Records. Sixtieth Concert of the 106th Season Special Concert
Program Notes by Christopher Hogwood
Water Music.................................... George Frideric Handel
(1685-1759)
"On 15 July, 1717, it was reported that 'at about 8,' the King took Water at Whitehall in an open Barge, and went up the River towards Chelsea. Many other Barges with Persons of Quality attended. A City Company's Barge was employ'd for the Musick, wherein were 50 Instruments of all sorts, who play'd all the way from Lambeth the finest Symphonies, compos'd express for this Occasion by Mr. Hendel; which his Majesty liked so well that he caus'd it to be plaid over three times in going and returning. At Eleven his Majesty went ashore at Chelsea, where a Supper was prcpar'd, and then there was another very fine Consort of Musick, which lasted until 2; after which his Majesty came again into his Barge, and return'd the same way, the Musick continuing to play till lie landed."
It is supposed that at least some of the pieces included in the chaotic published collection of Water Music originated at this alfresco event, but there is no evidence to support the tradition that Handel used the occasion to reinstate himself in royal favor after taking leave without permission from King George (while still Elector of Hanover). The music that was published under Handel's name probably includes pieces played on a number of such occasions, since water parties were a popular frolic in the 18th century; the amalgam of movements consists of three suites (probably used on different occasions) scored for wind and strings, plus a few pieces that were not by Handel at all.
The F major suite features a concertante wind group of two horns, oboes, and bassoon, and in the fugal section of the overture, two solo violins. As in Bach's first Brandenburg Concerto (scored for very similar forces), the alternation of slow and fast sections of the overture proper gives way to a sequence of dance movements. The well known Air, for which the only extant tempo marking is presto, is followed by a minuet featuring the two horns, at this date a novelty in England, with a contrasting middle section in F minor, where the melodic line is scored for the dark combination of violins, violas, and bassoon. The final Bounce and Hornpipe each carry performance instruc?tions suggesting three possible instrumentations: strings alone, wind alone, and finally the whole ensemble.
The more intimate scale and slighter scoring of the G major suite suggests that it was not intended for performance on water. Possibly it accompanied the supper at Chelsea, or it may have become associated with the Water Music by chance. With the exception of the final Country Dance it consists entirely of French dance movements and may well have originated at a court ball or masquerade. The contrast of the traverse flute in the French dances with the English "flauto piccolo" (i.e. recorder) in the concluding jig is typical of Handel's delicacy of orchestration. The independent viola part (a feature of all three suites) means that the texture is harmonically complete without a keyboard continuo, although the indoor atmosphere of the G major suite offers the possibility of a harpsichord.
The D major suite uses the largest orchestral forces, with two trumpets contrasted antiphonally with two horns; this method of scoring 'a due cori' was one of Handel's favorite devices for creating maximum effect from small forces. The opening Allegro is based entirely on this repetition of material, and the following Hornpipe translated this alternation into one of Handel's most rousing versions of this English dance metre. The Trumpet Minuet and the concluding Air carry instructions that they may be played in three different scorings: for trumpets and strings, for woodwind alone, and for the complete ensemble. Only the short Lcnteinent that separates the two dances betrays its French origins, being in fact a Loure, a movement familiar from French ballet and, of course, from Bach's Suites. For this performance, the timpani part, which would have been improvised in Handel's time whenever trumpets were included in the scoring, has been added.
Cantata, Apollo and Dafnc........................................ Handel
Unlike J. S. Bach and Domenico Scarlatti, who share Handel's birth year, 1685, Handel was a traveler and the first truly cosmopolitan composer. While he had much better fortune than Bach at attracting the attentions of the highest patrons, he maintained a staunch independence throughout his lite and never accepted the position ot an employee. Even during his early years in Italy, between 1706 and 1710, he regulated his connections with patrons in Rome and Naples, preferring to act as a temporary "composer-in-residence" rather than a tenured servant.
In Rome his largest output of compositions were the cantatas produced for the household of Prince Francesco Maria Ruspoli, a leading member of the Arcadian Academy. The pastoral con?vention used for these works frequently concealed the identity of leading noblemen and artists under bucolic pseudonyms; amongst the musicians were Arcimelo (Corelli), Terpando (Alessandro Scarlatti) and Protico (Pasquini). The last of the expended works inspired by this almost Masonic gathering was the dramatic cantata Apollo and Dajhe, which Handel probably started after leaving Rome for Venice, and completed only after he returned to Hanover in 1710.
The scoring is lavish and colorful (the special emphasis on variety of wind instruments may indicate a revision to suit the prevailing tastes and resources ot north Germany), and the alteration of full scoring with a trio sonata combination of violin and oboe gives a subtlety to the dramatization which theatrical works could not offer.
Unlike Aci, Galatea, e Polifemo, another pastoral allegory that Handel set in Italy, the meta?morphosis in Apollo and Dajhe involves no third party. The triumphant Apollo, hot from his victory over the Python, is rejected by Dafhe, who, unluckily, is a follower of Diana, the goddess of chastity and Apollo's sister. Although Apollo's opening recitative implies a preceding sinfotiia to represent the battle with the Python, this movement has not survived, and the omission is made good by borrowing from the opera Rinaldo, written in 1711.
Apollo: The earth is freed! Greece is avenged! Apollo has triumphed! After so much terror and carnage, which devastated and decimated the kingdom, the Python lies slain by my hand. Apollo has triumphed! Apollo, Apollo is the victor!
The well-being of the world depends on this liberating bow. Let the earth resound with my praises, and prepare sacrifices to my protecting arm.
Let Love, that conceited boy, yield before the power of my arrows; let him boast no longer of the fatal point of his golden arrow; a single Python is worth more than a thousand lovers he has shot at and inflamed.
Break your bow and cast away your arms, god of leisure and pleasure. How can you now plague me, naked god and blind archer
Dqfite: Blessed is the soul who loves liberty alone! There is no peace, no calm, for one whose heart is not free.
Apollo: What a voice! What beauty! That sound, that sight pierces my heart. Nymph!
Dajhe: What do I see Alas! Who can this be who has surprised me
Apollo: 1 am a god, whom your fair face has inflamed.
Dafiie: I know no other gods within these woods but Diana alone. Come no nearer, profane divinity.
Apollo: I am Cynthia's brother. If you love my sister, fair one, have pity on one who adores you.
Dajhe: You burn, adore and plead in vain, to Cynthia alone I am faithful. To her brother's pas?sion Cynthia bids me be cruel.
Apollo: You are cruel!
Da file: You are importunate!
Apollo: I seek the end of my woes.
Dajhe: And I seek escape.
Apollo: I am consumed with love.
Dajhe: I blaze with anger!
Due;: In my breast a war is raging which I can bear no longer.
Apollo: I burn, I freeze;
Dafne: I fear, I suffer.
Duet: If you do not restrain your ardour I shall find peace no more.
Apollo: Relent at last, my dear one; the beauty which inflames me will not bloom forever; all that nature designs, however beautiful, passes and does not endure.
Like the rose on the briar, it quickly comes and quickly goes. With equal suddenness does the flower of beauty pass.
Dajhe: Ah! A god should pursue no love other than the eternal: the mortal clay which makes me attractive to you will perish and pass away, but not the virtue which protects me.
As in the sky a benign star assuages Nep?tune's fury, so in an honourable soul reason re?strains love.
Apollo: Hear my pleading!
Dajhe: I am deaf.
Apollo: You are a bear, a tigress!
Dajnc: You are no god!
Apollo: Yield to love, or I will use force.
Dajhe: This flame of yours shall be ex?tinguished in my blood!
Duct: Come, let your harsh rigour be softened! -Sooner die than forfeit honour. Oh, cease your anger, my dearest heart!
Apollo: I will always adore you!
Dajhe: I will always abhor you!
Apollo: You will not fly from me
Dajhe:Yes, I must fly from you.
Apollo: I will follow you, run and fly after you; you cannot move faster than the sun himself!
Apollo: Pursue, my steps, clasp, my arms, this cold beauty. I touch her, grasp her, seize her. clasp her. But what is this What do I see What meets my gaze Heavens! Fate! What has hap?pened to you Dafne, where are you I cannot find you! What new miracle has seized you, changed you, and hidden you Winter's frost shall no more harass you, nor heaven's thunder touch your body, glorious leaves.
Dearest plant, with my plaints I will water your foliage; I will crown the greatest heroes with your triumphant branches. If I cannot have you in my arms, Dafne, at least I will wear you around my head.
English translation by Lionel Sailer.
Orchestra Tour Personnel
Christopher Hogwood, Director and Keyboards
Catherine Mackintosh, Leader
First violins
John Willison, Principal Brian Smith Jonathan K.ih.in Frances Turner
Second violins
Christopher Hirons, Principal
Marshall Marcus
William Thorp
Robin Ireland
Peter Fender
Violas
Trevor Jones, Principal
Rupert Bawden
Cellos
Mark Caudle, Principal Richard Webb
Double Bass Barry Guy
RecorderFlute Rachel Brown
Oboes
Clare Shanks, Principal
Robin Canter
Bassoon
Felix Wamock
Horns
Anthony Halstcad
Colin Horton
Trumpets
Crispian Steele-Perkins, Principal
David Staff
Timpani
Robert Howsc
About the Artists
The original Academy of Ancient Music was established in the eighteenth century for the purpose of performing "old" music -defined by their director, Dr. Pepusch, as anything composed more than twenty years earlier. Their concerts of Ancient Music (known as the King's Concerts) were well patronized by London society and continued until 1848. This modern revival of the Academy is dedicated to giving audiences an authentic experience of music as it would have sounded at the time it was written. It brings together specialists in every branch of Baroque and early Classical performance style, playing authentic and original instruments of the appropriate period. Today's Academy is featured frequently in music festivals and concerts from London's Festival Hall to the Sydney Opera House.
In September of 1984, Christopher Hogwood directed a nine-member chamber ensemble of The Academy in a highly successful tour of North America, including appearances in Montreal, Boston, Washington, and Lincoln Center in New York, with a PBS nationwide television broadcast on "Live from Lincoln Center." The current tour marks the North American debut for The Academy's thirty-member chamber orchestra, with three weeks of engagements in Burlington, Worcester, Boston, New York, Iowa City, Kansas City, Toronto, Urbana, St. Paul, San Antonio, and their Ann Arbor debut. This extensive tour coincides with the tricentennial birthday celebrations of Bach, Scarlatti, and Handel.
The Academy's discography includes works by Handel, Purcell, Vivaldi, Beethoven, Haydn, and the Requiem and complete symphonies ot Mozart. Its awards include Gramophone Magazine's Critic's Choice for 1982, one of Stereo Review's Record of the Year Awards in 1983, and for sales, a listing among Billboard's Top Ten Classical Artists and Top Ten Classical Albums.
Christopher Hogwood is one of Britain's most internationally active conductors, with en?gagements ranging from Japan and Australia through Britain and Europe to the major symphony orchestras of the United States. Recent engagements in this country have included a highly successful debut with the Chicago Symphony, appearances with the Boston Symphony at Tanglevvood, and concerts with the San Francisco, St. Louis, and Detroit Symphony Orchestras. He has also appeared as conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for four consecutive years at the Hollywood Bowl, and presented there a re-creation of the 1784 performance of Handel's Messiah. He also recently opened the Los Angeles Philharmonic's 1984-85 winter season in two consecutive weeks of concerts, starting with Bach's B-minor Mass. In the operatic field, Mr. Hogwood has conducted Don Giovanni for St. Louis Opera, Handel's Agrippina for La Fenice in Venice, Mozart's Sogno di Scipione in Vicenza, and last month he conducted a new production of a staged version of Handel's Messiah for Berlin Opera. Other European conducting engagements include concerts in London, Baden-Baden, Paris, Lisbon, Copenhagen, and the Schwetzingen and Ansbach Festivals. He also conducts regularly with resident orchestras in Australia. In April 1983 Mr. Hogwood was appointed Artistic Director of the first London Mostly Mozart Festival at the Barbican Centre, with the second and third festivals taking place in 1984 and 1985.
Apart from his conducting, Christopher Hogwood has long enjoyed a distinguished reputation as a harpsichordist, both in concerts and solo keyboard recordings. He has also made a major contribution as scholar, arranger, and performer to the cause of authenticity in the presentation of Baroque and Classical music. His most recent contribution, a new book entitled Handel, will be published in the United States by Thames and Hudson, Inc. in April of this year.
Emma Kirkby earned a degree in Classics at Oxford University before studying singing with Jessica Cash in London. Other teachers have been her directors and colleagues in specialist groups: Anthony Rooley and the Consort of Musicke, Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music, and Andrew Parrott and The Tavcrner Players, with whom she has appeared all over the world and taken part in more than forty recordings of Renaissance and Baroque music. Most recently released are Mozart's Requiem and solo Mozart motets with The Academy and LamentO d'Ariamia with the Consort of Musicke. Scheduled for release next year are recordings of Handel solo cantatas and Esther with the Academy of Ancient Music.
David Thomas began singing as a chorister at St. Paul's Cathedral in London and at age sixteen won a choral scholarship to King's College, Cambridge, where he studied with David Willcocks. He completed his studies with the eminent teacher Lucy Manen. Since then, Mr. Thomas has made his international reputation as a specialist in the Baroque and Classical repertoire through the unique flexibility and range of his voice, which combines coloratura with a two and a half octave range down to bottom C. He is in great demand at music festivals and with recording companies throughout Europe and has worked with many ot the leading conductors in the field, including Christopher Hogwood, Gustav Leonhardt, John Eliot Gardiner, Neville Marriner, Simon Preston, and Karl Richter. Mr. Thomas' coming engagements include concerts in Tokyo, Buenos Aires, Montreal, San Francisco, and the Tanglcwood Festival. His recent recordings include Mozart's Requiem and Handel's Apollo and Dajhe. Scheduled for future release are Bach's B-minor Mass and Handel's Esther with the Academy of Ancient Music.
Of the artists assembled on stage this evening, all but Emma Kirkby are appearing for the first time under Musical Society auspices. Miss Kirkby performed in recital with lutist Anthony Rooley in November 1982.
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
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