A multi-media program that I created for the Aston Magna Festival and Milano Classica in which works by Francisco Goya are projected throughout the concert.
While many Spanish composers (and composers of other nationalities residing in Spain) remain mostly unknown, Spanish painting are not only well known, but highly celebrated throughout the world. Among these are: El Greco, Velasquez, and Murillo, but Goya is in a class of his own. His life, and paintings reflect the myriad of styles and epoch that define Spanish culture from the mid 18th through the early 19th centuries: late baroque, rococo, neoclassical and romantic. All the music chosen for this project comes from Madrid during his lifetime, and all reflect the affectation & context of his works: the leisure class enjoying a day on the banks of the Rio Manzañeras, a traditional bullfight, a tavern brawl, common people dancing a bolero or fandango, poverty, military might, royal majesty (albeit sometimes as a parody) and, most deliberately, the horrors of war.
In our program the unique, emerging Spanish classical and early romantic style is depicted through the chamber music of such composers as Antonio Soler, Juan Irribarren. François de Fossa and Luigi Boccherini. The elegance, as well as violence, of Goya’s Spain is well documented through the works of these composers. Instrumental gems are augmented by the unfamiliar tonadilla escénica and seguidilla bolero providing listeners with an invigorating evening of Spanish music. This provides for an interesting cross-over audience, and we all know how visual our world has become.
A Multi-media Presentation
Artemisia Gentileschi (b. Rome, 8 July 1593; d. Naples, 1652/3) was one of the most important painters of the 17th century. She was the daughter of the famed Orazio Gentileschi and possessed a stylistic similarity to Caravaggio. She lived in the most important cities in Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice and Naples) as well as London. She was also an intimate friend of a number of important musicians including Francesca Caccini and Nicholas Lanier (who was also her lover). Artemisia was present at a number of events in which music was an important segment. This program will present a selection of music from the cities in which Artemisia resided performed before projections of her paintings as well as those by her father and Caravaggio. From Rome we will perform music by Giovanni Kapsberger and additional selections from the Vatican archives, from Florence: works by the Caccini family performed at Medici celebrations, from Venice: the music of Monteverdi and Biagio Marini, from London: the music of Nicolas Lanier and Charles Coleman; and finally, from Naples the music of Andrea Falconieri and selected Italian villanelle and Spanish villancicos.
Evolving at the same time as Italian opera the baroque zarzuela is a uniquely Spanish musical genre that integrates spoken text with native Spanish musical forms. The result is wonderful combination of senuous beauty, intense drama and comedic skits. For the coming season El Mundo will be performing Sebastian Duron’s comic zarzuela Salir el amor del mundo (1696) (loosely translated as: Cupid’s Final Folly) which we have recently recorded for the Dorian label. As a compliment to this work we include on our program a substantive excerpt from San Ignacio, Domenico Zipoli’s South American mission opera (c. 1720). This is a program that is sure to entertain and delight audiences.
Early nineteenth century Vienna was beehive of musical activity. Beyond formal concerts for a select group, a growing middle class was clamoring for music suitable for home music making and public “entertainments.” In this environment music publishing houses flourished and provided the public with a plethora of musical compositions, which sated their growing appetite.
In contrast to the standard modern-day concert format, we present to you these composers, and their music, in the manner that more accurately reflects the kind of musical environment that existed in early 19th century Vienna. Rather than playing two or three complete works, we perform selected numerous movements from a variety of compositions: selected sonatas, variations and serenades performed in a variety of settings. It is in this spirit that we attempt to re-create a series of concerts organized by Count Franz Palffy in botanical gardens contiguous to the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna in 1815. And though the imprint of Mozart and Haydn was still fresh in the musical psyche, neo-classicism began to give way to a more romantic aesthetic, one dominated by strong individual personalities.
These musical soirées were performed by some of the greatest virtuosi living in Vienna at that time: Johann Nepomuk Hummel (piano), Johann Mayseder (violin), Johann Merck (violoncello), Johann Sedlatscheck (flute), and Mauro Giuliani (guitar) and concluded with a Serenade for this unique combination of instruments composed by Hummel.
There is a description of one of these affairs in Ignaz Mocheles’ Tagebuch (diary) from 1815, edited by his wife, in which he writes:
As participants the names Mayseder, Merck, Giuliani and Hummel are given. From the start Empress Marie-Louise, Archduke Rainer, and Archduke Rudolph are in attendance and the program consists of a arrangement of the Overture to Fidelio, Sonata by Beethoven, Polonaise of Mayseder’s (and) a Rondo with quartet accompaniment by Hummel. During the pause there were many Jodlersounding forth from the bushes, and a still merrier supper.
Violin, Flute, Guitar, Cello, Forte-piano
The villancico, one of music’s most resilient and popular vocal genre, originally developed in the 15th century and evolved through the 17th & 18th centuries to become the dominant Latin American and Spanish vocal genre. Throughout this same period the Spanish colonies of Central and South America were well-springs of cultural sophistication. Latin American cathedrals and courtly life demanded a varied and active musical scene. Often, the indigenous populations were drawn into the arts and participated in their production. The musical result was a style that even in sacred compositions bears the imprint of folk music. The use of guitars and percussion, coupled with dance rhythms and the occasional use of native languages, demonstrate a close relationship between European and Indigenous cultures. Featured composers will include: Roque Ceruti, José de Orejón y Aparicio, Santiago de Murcia, Rafael Antonio Castellanos, Manuel Quiroz.