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Home , Harpsichord, Johann Caspar Kerll, Johann Jakob Froberger, Marin Marais

for a While A concert celebrating Central’s new

Featuring Savannah members Marcy Brenner, da gamba, and Anne Acker, harpsichord Saturday, April 17, 2021 • 3:00 PM

Florence, SC www.centralmethodist.net Acknowledgment We express gratitude to our donors, Dr. Panos and Debi Kalaritis for their generous gift of the harpsichord to Central. Here is the dedication as it appears on the instrument: Dr. Panos and Debi Kalaritis dedicate this Harpsichord to the Honor of God in appreciation of Dr. Donald Grice, Mrs. Beverly Hazelwood and the extensive, extraordinary Musical Ministry at Central United Methodist Church. Thanks also to the following donors who provided additional funds towards this project and concert. Dr. Bill & Eileen Blackwell, Judy Blackwell, Dick & Gale Dixon, John & Bebe Frank, Dr. Carlanna Hendrick, Wayne & Jeanette Jackson, Rene & Marty Josey, Dr. Ben & Kari King, Rick & Peggy Knight, Laurence & Frances McIntosh, Marvin & Beth Ann Owen, Dr. Carroll & Nancy Player, Dr. Raymond & Ann Thomas, Rev. Leon & Carolyn Wagnon, Karen West, and Dr. Benjamin & Dr. Sherry Woods

About the Harpsichord written by the builder, Anne Acker This harpsichord is a double manual instrument based on those by the famed Flemish family, who flourished in in the 16th and 17th century, their influence continuing well into the . Highly valued throughout northern Europe and England, their tone was regarded as ideal. Indeed, when tastes and needs demanded a larger range of notes, original Ruckers were modified in a process calledgrand ravalement utilizing most of the original, and then being sold as a Ruckers. This harpsichord reflects agrand ravalement et plus as today’s players prefer the larger range and want the ability to transpose between modern pitch (A440), what we now call baroque pitch (A415) and low baroque, or French pitch (A392). This harpsichord can play at these three different pitch levels. It has a range of 56 notes, GG-d’’’.

The harpsichord has three sets of strings. The wire is true replica historic music wire, made by Stephen Birkett based on decades of research which gives a purer tone than modern wire. The upper keyboard plays the front 8’ which plucks the strings closer to the for a more nasal tone. The lower manual can play either or both of the mellower back 8’ or the 4’ (an higher) and can be coupled with the upper manual. The instrument can play in six different combinations. It also has a “singing ” stop, comprised of pieces of naturally tanned thick deer skin on a batten that produce a lute like sound when pressed against the back 8’ strings.

The decorative aspects are based upon my impressions, photographs and sketches upon visiting the church, and sitting during rehearsals for Messiah. The blue main color reflects both the stained glass windows and the needlepoint kneelers around the altar rail. The gilded “boxes” with gilded arabesques in their corners represent the shape and designs of the needlepoint kneelers, as the harpsichord should likewise indicate our humility before and the glorification of God. The milk-based paint is colored with natural pigments made by a company that has been making paint since the 18th century. The unpainted wood parts are stained to match the wood of the church. Many harpsichords have what is called a “rose” in the soundboard which is the signature of the builder. I took this opportunity to make an original gilded rose that I had first designed decades ago instead of using a standard Ruckers type rose. It shows a woman with long hair, with rays of light shining down, and a bird sitting in her right hand, reflecting the glory of God, and the Holy Spirit, as well as my love of nature, and the singing of the instrument. I believe it is unique in portraying a female figure, vs. the usual abstract design or male angel representing St. Luke, the patron saint of the Guild that included harpsichord builders. The instrument is made from many types of wood, mostly European and assembled with natural hot hide glue. The case is of European lime; the stand, lid stick, and music desk are of oak; the bridges and nuts are cut from hard beech that I steam and bend to shape; the keys are cut from a blank of sugar pine, the naturals topped with , and the accidentals with bone. The soundboard wood comes from the high Swiss alps, thin “flitches’ of which are glued along their long sides to make the soundboard blank, that I cut to shape and thin with planes on the underside in a pattern that optimizes the transmission of vibrations of the various ranges of pitches. The jacks are of pearwood, and the holly wood tongues sit on axle pins in the jacks holding the plectra that pluck the strings. Instead of bird quill, which can be problematic, I use a black synthetic material that I feel sounds and feels very close to bird quill. I cut and trim these (171) with a scalpel to fit in the jack tongue and produce the touch and quality of sound I want. Performers Anne Beetem Acker Chief instigator and founder of Savannah Baroque, Anne Acker is a full time historic keyboard specialist based in Savannah, Georgia and northeastern Pennsylvania. She has played , , harpsichord and early organs and recorded with professional , soloists and chamber groups including at the Savannah Music Festival, with the Savannah Sinfonietta, the Savannah Childrens at Chicago’s Hall, Wells Cathedral, England and Verona, Italy, the Savannah Philharmonic, the Hilton Head , the Jackson Symphony, chamber in the Washington, DC area, and as for the Miami Bach Society Orchestra. She also plays Medieval and music on portative organ, percussion and hurdy-gurdy with the Savannah based groups The Goliards and Everyman. A consultant and regularly published lecturer and writer about 18th, 19th and early 20st century piano, she professionally builds, appraises, restores and decorates harpsichords, and historic for clients across North America and internationally. She regularly exhibits at The Boston Festival. As Senior Editor and Contributor for Oxford University Press’s recent publication of the 2nd edition of the Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, she was responsible for all stringed related entries, electronics, computers, ‘weird cool stuff’, touch and acoustics. Persistently curious, she is also a collaborating researcher at the Piano Design Lab at the University of Waterloo, Ontario. She lives with a large assortment of keyboard instruments, two Siamese kittens and two collies all of which bring her great joy.

For more information, please see: http://www.anneackerkeyboards.com and of course, on Facebook.

Marcy Jean Brenner Marcy Jean Brenner has degrees in viola da gamba and harpsichord and has a long career of performance, teaching and recording performed in Europe and the USA. After moving to St. Augustine, she added playing Irish Music on with the group Celtic Fire, as well as studying and performing Djembe with renowned Jacksonville percussionist Ken Anoff of Time to Drum, and singing with Jacksonville Harmony Chorus. She is a founding member of RareSong, which plays early Spanish music from the time of the founding of St. Augustine, among other programs. She is also a founding member of Savannah Baroque and a recent addition to the Savannah based group The Goliards. Marcy plays on instruments built by Matthias Boelli. His seven-string French model is her favorite. The Program Life

Introduction Primo ...... (1627-1693)

Grief De che le morta di mi signora ...... anonymous Italian (early 16th century) Flow My Tears ...... (1563-1626)

Fate Fortune My Foe ...... Jan P. Sweelinck (1562-1621)

Forward Plus ne regres (no more regrets) ...... Marco Antonio Cavazzoni (1490-1570) Lamento sopra la dolorosa perdita della Real Maesta di Ferdinando IV ...... (1616-1667)

Life Life ...... Tobias Hume (1579?-1645) Tickle, Tickle ...... Hume Cello in F (RV41) ...... (1768-1741) Largo Allegro Largo Allegro Vivre Prelude ...... Elizabeth Jacquet de la Guerre (1665-1729) Folies d’Espagne ...... (1656-1728)

Peace, Joy and Faith in G (mixolydian) ...... Froberger Gamba Sonata in G (BWV 1027) ...... (1685-1750) Adagio Allegro ma non tanto Andante Allegro moderato Program Notes Life

Our program starts with the dramatic d minor Toccata Primo by the German and organist Johann Caspar Kerrl, setting the tone for the drama and angst of this past year. Music from the late Renaissance and Baroque was intended to affect the listener, to express and transmit the “passions”, the emotions, of life. What could be more appropriate as we remember this past year?

The sorrows and grief many have experienced have been part of life throughout the history of humankind. From early 16th century Italy we play a beautiful, sad, slow rhythmic piece about the death of the singer’s wife, De che le morta di mi signora. Over a century later, Flow My Tears was the signature work of the renowned lutenist and composer John Dowland. Originally published in 1596 as an instrumental under the name “Lachrimae ”, its structure is based on the slow couples dance, the pavane. This arrangement is our own based on an another arranged vocal version we usually perform with one our singers and baroque flute, an adaptation for this Covid time.

Fate is sometimes defined as “the development of events beyond a person’s control”. The sorrowful and beautiful 16th century Irish song Fortune, My Foe, was arranged by many of the Elizabethan period and early Baroque periods including the famous late Dutch composer Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck. Sweelinck’s arrangement is a typical Elizabethan style of a set of improvisation-like variations where the melody moves about amid the increasing embellishments. Highly popular for decades, it is mentioned in Shakespeare’s works and was sung at so many public hangings that it became known as “the hanging song”.

Despite sorrow and pain, life goes on. This is reflected in the popularity of the Renaissance French chanson Plus ne regres (literally no more regrets) that was arranged by various composers including the 16th century composer Marco Antonio Cavazzoni. The Lamento sopra la dolorosa Perdita della Real Maesta di Ferdinando IV by Froberger, reflects on the death of King Ferdinand IV of Germany, ending with the monarch’s apotheosis, reflected by the closing ascending notes to heaven. Many of us realized that we must still enjoy life as best as we can, and we must celebrate survival of the sick and the health of those who escaped illness. Life is precious! We focus on the viola da gamba in this set, an instrument that seems to speak from the very soul. Little is known about Captain Tobias Hume, who somehow combined the life of a mercenary and player and composer for the . Clearly he understood something of life, as we hear in Life, and Tickle, Tickle. Antonio Vivaldi, aka The Red Priest, suffered ill health for most of his life, but the range of his massive compositional output reveals that he too understood life, as we can hear in his Cello Sonata in F.

How could we talk about life without French music? Music and the arts flourished in 17th century where we find the great composer and harpsichordist Elizabeth Jacquet de la Guerre and gamba performer and composer Marin Marais. Jacquet’s Prelude, an unmeasured improvisational rumination from her first harpsichord makes a fine opening for Marais’ Folies d’Espagne, a set of variations based on an ancient and highly popular European musical form, the . The haunting line and chordal progression is repeated in each improvisation inspired variation. Many composers wrote highly popular versions of , which somehow speak to the heart and spirit of us all throughout time.

As the trial of the last year moves into year two, as more of us are vaccinated, we hope you find peace, joy, hope and faith.Froberger ’s Ricercar in G seems to reflect, to meditate with thoughtfulness and peace. As a young man, Froberger lost his father, his wife and one of his daughters to the plague, but clearly had great faith that sustained him. J.S. Bach devoted all his works to God and indeed theories map many of his compositional figures to religious and spiritual meaning. The Ricercar leads us into Bach’s beautiful life-affirmingGamba Sonata in G as a beautiful and joyful conclusion.