MAY 2015
SONNET FOR SUMMER from THE FOUR SEASONS
Vivaldi’s best-known music is likely his four concertos that make up THE FOUR SEASONS. These four concertos were dedicated to Count Wenceslaus di Marzin and were probably played for the first time by the nobleman’s private orchestra, with Vivaldi himself as the conductor. Vivaldi added four sonnets to the work to make it more attractive to the public. We have now seen in two past issues of Upbeat the English translations of the sonnets for two of the concertos, WINTER and SPRING. Now we offer the translation for the three movements of SUMMER. It is a bit difficult for us to relate to this description of summer in that it is quite violent. We in California are spoiled with a much milder climate than Vivaldi experienced in Venice! Let us hope that your summer recess from MPRO will be calm and most enjoyable.
Allegro Non Molto
In this tedious season of the blazing sun
men and flocks are sweltering and pines are seared
the cuckoo regains its voice,
repetition of the end and soon the turtle dove
and finch begin to sweetly sing.
The sweet breeze of summer blows,
but suddenly the contentious north wind
elbows these soft winds aside;
then weeps the shepherd, for he fears
the violence of the cold wind and what it may betide.
-continued on page 3-
CONDUCTOR’S CORNER
Dear members of the Mid-Peninsula Recorder Orchestra,
Listed below is information regarding the final meeting, dress rehearsal and performance that will conclude MPRO’s 2014-2015 season. Bassoon, tenor krummhorn, bass viola da gamba and sopranino, great bass and contrabass recorders will be needed at the meeting on May 27. These instruments plus dulcien and soprano, alto and bass krummhorns will be needed for the dress rehearsal on May 29 and concert on May 30. Please note that the meeting on Wednesday, May 27, will take place at Trinity Presbyterian Church, 1106 Alameda de las Pulgas in San Carlos at 7:30 P.M. and that Friday, May 29, is the dress rehearsal for MPRO’s spring concert, and this rehearsal will also take place at Trinity Presbyterian Church at 7:30 P.M. The spring concert will be at Trinity Presbyterian Church on Saturday, May 30, at 2:00 P.M. As in the past, small ensembles are encouraged to appear in the spring concert. Those groups that intend to perform at the spring concert on May 30 are asked to send me the following information by May 15: the title(s) of the music to be performed, the name(s) of the composer(s), the name of the ensemble (if any) and the names of the ensemble's members.
Wednesday, May 27
Trinity Presbyterian Church
1106 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Carlos
7:30 P.M.
Gabrieli: Canzon Noni Toni
Jarzebski: Berlinesa
Krieger: Partie
Guerrero: Adiós mi amor
Josquin: Adieu mes amors
Elfers and Johansson: Pippi Långstrump
Friday, May 29
Dress Rehearsal
Trinity Presbyterian Church
7:30 P.M.
Gabrieli: Canzon Noni Toni
Guerrero: Adiós mi amor
Josquin: Adieu mes amors
Elfers and Johansson: Pippi Långstrump
Jarzebski: Berlinesa
Mainerio: Caro Ortolano
Krieger: Partie
Saturday, May 30
MPRO Spring Concert
Trinity Presbyterian Church
2:00 P.M.
Gabrieli: Canzon Noni Toni
Guerrero: Adiós mi amor
Josquin: Adieu mes amors
Elfers and Johansson: Pippi Långstrump
Jarzebski: Berlinesa
Mainerio: Caro Ortolano
Krieger: Partie
The orchestra’s spring concert will offer a wide variety of exciting and attractive music, and I encourage you to invite your family and friends to attend this performance. I would also like to thank the members of MPRO for all of the time and effort that they have put in preparing this season’s music, as well as the orchestra's officers for seeing to the necessary tasks that make MPRO's programs possible. Special thanks go to Greta Haug-Hryciw for continuing to serve as the orchestra’s Assistant Director and conducting a portion of this season’s spring concert. I wish all MPRO members the very best this summer and look forward to seeing all of you again in September at our first meeting of the orchestra’s 2015-2016 season.
Sincerely, Fred Palmer
◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
SONNET FOR SUMMER from THE FOUR SEASONS
-continued from page 1-
Adagio
His tired limbs are robbed of rest
by fear of lightning and rude thunder’s
roar, and angry swarms of flies
both great and small.
Presto
Alas, his greatest fears are confirmed;
the heavens growl and flash and hailstones
pound the ripened, lofty corn.
Transcribed from J. Koolbergen (1996) Vivaldi (1678-1741) by MPRO member, Keith Kvenvolden
FROM OUR MUSIC DIRECTORS
So that readers can become more familiar with the music to be presented at the MPRO spring concert on May 30, here is a preview of the program notes.
At the end of the 16th century there was a major shift in Western music that was centered in Italy and the San Marco Basilica in Venice in particular. It was at San Marco that composers, the most influential of which was Giovanni Gabrieli, cultivated forms that added a spatial dimension to the music by taking advantage of the multiple choir lofts found throughout the basilica and using two or more separate ensembles at different locations to create dramatic antiphonal effects. This antiphonal style later developed into the form we now know as the concerto. Although composed over four hundred years ago, Gabrieli’s Canzon Noni Toni still impresses today’s listeners with its majestic grandeur and the freshness and power of its antiphonal writing that was meant to thrill and amaze those who first heard it.
Adiós mi amor and Adieu mes amors have very similar names, one in Spanish, the other in French, meaning “Farewell, my Love(s),” and in fact both carry the same melody. Originally found in 4- and 5-part chansons by Josquin des Prés and Francisco Guerrero respectively, the simple tune (Ut Mi Re Ut Sol) recurs throughout both versions and can be heard distinctly in each voice. In Josquin’s version, the lower two voices are in quasi-canon while the upper two are freer and interlace with each other. Original instrumentation of this simple virelai form (ABBA) is not known, but it is very likely that the chanson was performed with a mixed ensemble of voices and instruments, quite likely a bowed string and recorder. Adieu mes amors is considered to be one of Josquin’s earliest successes, and the first attribution of this chanson to him is in the Casanatense chansonnier of about 1480, a collection of music believed to have been put together to celebrate the betrothal of Isabella d’Este to Francesco Gonzaga. The tune was used by several very well-known and respected composers of the period, including Heinrich Isaac, Simon Moreau, Johannes Ockeghem as well as Guerrero. Although Adieu mes amours was originally a secular piece, it was used in a number of mass settings, the lovely Missa “Adieu mes amours” by Jacob Obrecht being one example. This afternoon’s concert presents expanded versions for recorder orchestra of the original settings by Josquin and Guerrero.
Pippi Långstrump is the theme song for the movies based on Astrid Lindgren’s children’s books featuring that young, fictional heroine. Pippi was the daughter of seafarer Ephraim Longstocking, captain of the sailing ship Hoptoad. Pippi loved the seafaring life and was a better sailor and helmsman than most of her father’s crew.
At the turn of the 17th century, Poland had a vibrant musical culture thanks to the support of that country’s nobility and the importation of the latest musical innovations from Italy. So advanced were Polish composers at this time that one, Andrzej Hakenberger, a Catholic, was employed by a German Protestant church to compose polychoral music in the Venetian style for its services because the local German composers were not skilled in this new compositional technique. Another, and one of the most prominent Polish composers from this period, was Adam Jarzebski, who was also a violinist, poet and author. After serving at the chapel of Johann Siegmund Hohenzollern in Berlin and a year’s stay in Italy he became a musician at the court of King Sigismund III in Warsaw and was well respected by the Polish aristocracy. Evidently, this respect extended beyond music because in 1635 he was put in charge of constructing a royal palace at Ujazdów. Jarzebski’s instrumental works comprise the first significant body of Polish music written in the style of the 17th century Italian canzona and concerto with basso continuo accompaniment. Berlinesa probably alludes to Jarzebski’s tenure in Berlin, but its musical idiom is Polish dressed in Italian garb. Of particular interest is the range of the solo bassoon that is similar to the beginning of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring ballet premiered in 1913.
Giorgio Mainerio’s biography and legacy are among the strangest of any Italian composer living during the 16th century. To begin with, his real family name appears to be Mayner, leading to the supposition that his father was Scottish. Although he studied music as part of his schooling as a youth, Mainerio did not receive any further musical training until well into adulthood and only after that began a musical career. Meanwhile, he seems to have developed an interest in the occult, particularly astrology, magic and communicating with the dead. Rumors soon spread that he was taking part in strange rituals, and this made him the target of an investigation by the Inquisition that was eventually dropped. Aside from Mainerio’s compositions that have come down to us, a modern reworking of one of his dances can be heard on an Italian folk rock album from the 1970s featuring an eclectic range of lyrics dealing with occult, pagan and Christian subjects. Mainerio also appears as a character in a recent Italian horror comic book, where he is known as “The Bewitched Musician,” whose frictional story is based on certain aspects of Mainerio’s life, particularly his interest in the occult and magic. To whatever extent Mainerio may have departed from Christian orthodoxy, the vast majority of his musical output consists of sacred compositions. Caro Ortolano, heard this afternoon, is found in Mainerio’s only collection of secular works published in Venice in 1578.
During the late 17th century, the influence of the French court of Louis XIV was strongly felt in what is now Germany. This included musical forms such as the Ouverture or French suite with its majestic opening and court dances that followed as well as ensembles calling for new instruments, such as the oboe and bassoon, that were recently invented in the workshops of French court craftsmen. The six Parties by Johann Philipp Krieger contained in the 1704 publication entitled Lustige Feld-Musik (Cheerful Outdoor Music) are all in the form of the French suite and call for an ensemble consisting of oboes and bassoons, which were the instruments used in Louis XIV’s military bands. Since these Parties were originally written for winds they are very effective when arranged for recorders.
UPBEAT IS TAKING A VACATION
Upbeat will begin its traditional three-month summer break following the publication of this issue. Production will resume in September.
Accomplishments during MPRO’s 52nd season include the Holiday Concert, the upcoming Spring Concert, and the January workshop with Adam Gilbert. MPRO also welcomed several new members and guests.
Special thanks to Music Directors Fred and Greta for their outstanding arrangements for the orchestra, as well as to George Greenwood for compiling the music and making it available in print and midi form, and to the members of the Board for their important contributions to the success of MPRO.
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