Music from the Era of elGreco & Velázquez

The Musical Patronage of Francisco Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas (1552–1625) Duke of Lerma Music from the Era of elGreco & Velázquez The Musical Patronage of Francisco Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas (1552–1625), Duke of Lerma Saturday, April 26, 2008, at 8 p.m. First Church in Cambridge, Congregational

Blue Heron Boston & Ensemble Noël Bisson Douglas Kirk, , shawm, recorder Lydia Brotherton Stephen Escher, cornett & recorder Martin Near Daniel Stillman, trombone, dulcian, recorder Daniela Tošić Peter Christensen, trombone Marilyn Boenau, dulcian, shawm, recorder Michael Barrett Mack Ramsey, trombone, recorder Allen Combs with Jason McStoots Christa Patton, shawm, dulcian David McSweeney Steven Soph Blue Heron Band Glenn Billingsley Scott Metcalfe, violin Paul Guttry Julie Andrijeski, violin Darrick Yee Karina Fox, Laura Jeppesen, viola Scott Metcalfe, director Emily Walhout, bass violin

Christa Patton, · Peter Sykes, organ · Tom Zajac, percussion

This evening’s concert is presented with support from the Spanish Government (Program for Cultural Cooperation between ’s Ministry of Culture and United States Universities), and in conjunction with the exhibition “El Greco to Velázquez: Art during the Reign of Philip III,” at the Museum of Fine Arts from April 20 to July 27, 2008.

This organization is funded in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

Blue Heron · 45 Ash Street · Auburndale, MA 02466 · (617) 960-7956 [email protected] · www.blueheronchoir.org Program I Canción Anonymous (Lerma, DK 2, no. 61) Vexilla regis Verses 1, 3, 5 & 7: plainchant Polyphonic verses by Francisco Guerrero (1528–99) and Juan Navarro (c. 1530–1580) II Surge, propera, amica mea Guerrero Veni, dilecte mi Sebastián de Vivanco (c. 1550–1622) Sancta Maria, succurre miseris Pedro Ruimonte (1565–1627) III Xácaras Lucas Ruiz de Ribayaz (b. before 1650) Endechas: Burlose la niña NB LB SS PG Gabriel Díaz Besón (c. 1580–1638) La galera / La de don ju[an] Anonymous (Lerma, DK 1) Ya no les pienso pedir DT MN JM AC Juan Blas de Castro (c. 1561–1631) La de las medias / La francesa Anonymous (Lerma, DK 1) intermission IV Mon seul a 7 (c. 1495–c. 1560) V quarti toni Vivanco interpolations for instruments from Lerma, DK 2, ? by Phillipe Rogier (c. 1561–1596) VI Music for Canción glosada “Ultimi mei suspiri” Antonio de Cabezón (c. 1510–1566) Christus factus est pro nobis Vivanco Maria Magdalene et altera Maria ? (c. 1555–1617), from Lerma, DK 2 Gloria, Missa Maria Magdalene Lobo Canción Anonymous (Lerma, DK 2, no. 76) Victimæ paschali laudes Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548–1611) Notes In a century that saw the creation of some of his- (1) The Duke gave money to sponsor the pub- tory’s greatest empires and whose rulers depended lication of music collections by certain : on advisors of great power and ambition, the Duke particularly Pedro Ruimonte, Antonio Mogav- of Lerma stands out even among such figures as ero, Giovanni Pietro Flaccomio, and Estephano Wolsey, Moura, Olivares, Richelieu, and Mazarin. Límido. Chief minister to King Philip III of Spain, Don Francisco Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas, Marquis (2) The Duke commissioned prominent play- of Denia and later Duke of Lerma, enjoyed power wrights (for instance, Carpio) to over the royal purse, unlimited access to the sov- write spectacle plays to be produced before the ereign, and control over who could be received by king (Philip III) and court when they were invited him. He spent lavishly on royal entertainments and to Lerma; as part of these performances, inciden- personal projects at a time when the Spanish crown tal music—very probably composed specifically was virtually bankrupt and suffering horrendous for the setting—was performed. This kind of pa- rates of inflation. Foreign and domestic policies tronage had the same effect as his commission- he and Philip pursued were often unpopular (such ing Rubens to do the equestrian portrait of him as making peace with England and negotiating a so prominently featured in the MFA exhibition: truce in the war with the Spanish ) his action was trend-setting in Spain with other and since he was eventually forced out of office grandees imitating the practice, gradually making in disgrace, he has usually been criticized as the it possible to work as a professional poet/play- very model of a corrupt and incompetent, power- wright in Spain. hungry, self-aggrandizing civil servant. (3) The Duke was personally responsible for the Historians, however, have recently begun re- introduction of the violin family to Spain, having evaluating the Duke’s political advice and relation brought an ensemble of Italian violinists to court to Philip III, and the current exhibition at the to perform for the baptism of the future Philip IV Museum of Fine Arts, examining his contribu- in 1605 (led by the aforementioned Estephano tion to artistic patronage and collecting, is an art Límido). This group of musicians remained in historical parallel to that re-evaluation. So is this Madrid and they and their descendents and suc- concert, in the realm of music. cessors constituted the royal violin consort for several decades in the seventeenth century. Since My own research into the Duke of Lerma’s in- the Duke’s important role in the history of the vio- volvement with music-making provides evidence lin family in Spain has not been known before, we of his cultivated musical tastes and encouragement are featuring a five-part violin band prominently of music, both at the royal court and in Lerma, in the concert. his natal village. (4) The Duke was clearly a music lover him- In brief, the Duke’s roles in musical patronage self—someone who made a concerted effort to can be summed up in four principal ways: have fine vocal and instrumental music both at

4 the royal court, at his own court in Lerma and at anco. The only musician ever allowed simultane- his other residences. He assembled an extensive ously to hold the chair of music at the University of library of vocal and instrumental music for the and serve as chapelmaster of Salamanca choir and ministriles (instrumentalists) at his col- cathedral, Vivanco had studied with Guerrero in legiate church of San Pedro in Lerma, together and become one of Spain’s most superb with a small choir and a five-part ensemble of wind composers. The Lerma chapel possessed his great and string players. He procured three organs for collection of and other works. We San Pedro and the Dominican convent of San Blas perform the Magnificat in typical “high” style of (which adjoined his ducal palace in Lerma) from the time—punctuating the work with instrumental Diego Quijano, one of the finest organ builders insertions to vary and enhance its grandeur. in Spain in the (Quijano was the stepson and successor to Johannes Brebos, builder of the Pedro Ruimonte was a who benefited great organs in and elsewhere). from the Duke’s willingness to sponsor music And he hired Gabriel Díaz, student of Philip II’s publications. A native of , Ruimonte chapelmaster, , and one of the more worked principally in at the archducal accomplished composers of the younger genera- court of Alberto and Isabella, governors of the tion at the beginning of the seventeenth century, Spanish Netherlands. His “Sancta Maria, succurre to be chapelmaster in Lerma (1612–1617). miseris” is a splendid example of his emotionally charged compositional style. The concert is informed by each of these points. The purely instrumental music played by the winds The secular set ending the first half attempts to and comes from two instrumental manu- illustrate the sort of incidental music that would scripts used by the ministriles in Lerma. One of have occurred in processions in Lerma or in the them (the “DK” manuscript) is still in Lerma and spectacle plays the Duke staged there in 1614 and was very probably compiled at the royal court 1617 to entertain the king and court. Gabriel Díaz in Madrid in the 1590s, the other perhaps in the was Lerma’s chapelmaster in those years and Juan cathedral in Palencia. Both provide excellent ex- Blas received money from the Duke for his pub- amples of the high quality of music played by lications of villancicos. The instrumental works Spanish instrumentalists c.1600. were copied by the Lerma instrumentalists into their manuscripts, clearly for use in dramatic pro- The hymn “Vexilla regis” for Palm Sunday is ductions to judge from the titles. performed in alternatim style: verses of plainchant alternating with instrumental by Fran- The final set of the concert draws on the rich cisco Guerrero (Seville) and Juan Navarro (Palen- repertory of music available to the Lerma chapel cia). The Lerma chapel possessed Vespers and for use in Holy Week. The tientos, versos, and hymn collections by both composers. fantasias of Antonio de Cabezón, who grew up only a few miles from Lerma, were the staple rep- Another very fine composer of the time—little ertory of any organist and harp player in Spain known today, unfortunately—is Sebastián de Viv- and must have been heard innumerable times in

5 Lerma. His fantasia on ’s great , “Ultimi miei sospiri,” seems very appro- priate as a musical rendering of Christ’s death on the cross on Good Friday, and Vivanco’s “Christus factus est” is liturgically specific to that feast—a monumental polychoral work of power and yet surprising delicacy.

Alonso Lobo, another student of Guerrero and later chapelmaster in Toledo cathedral, was one of Golden Age Spain’s great composers. His parody mass on Guerrero’s , depicting the three Marys’ visit to Christ’s tomb on Holy Saturday, is one of the most beautiful masses I know from the time.

Lastly, we present a surprising and little-known work from that best-known Spanish composer, Tomás Luis de Victoria. His setting of the great Easter sequence, “Victimæ paschali laudes,” is a joyous, rollicking work so different from our usual conception of him, and yet so appropriate to the spirit of Easter. Hoping to help raise the spirits of the dead, we set it to the accompaniment of the Spaniards’ favorite loud instruments—the .

Dr. Douglas Kirk

6 Texts & Translations

Vexilla regis Venantius Fortunatus (6th century). Processional hymn in Passiontide. 1. 1. Vexilla regis prodeunt: The banners of the King advance; fulget crucis mysterium, there blazes forth the mystery of the cross, quo carne carnis conditor by which the creator of flesh suspensus est patibulo. was himself hanged in the flesh from the gibbet. 3. 3. Impleta sunt que concinit Now are fulfilled those things about which David fideli carmine, David sang in trustworthy song, dicens: In nationibus saying: God has reigned among the nations regnavit a ligno Deus. from the wood. 5. 5. Beata cujus brachiis Blessed [cross], for from your arms secli pependit pretium, hung the ransom of the world; statera facta corporis, made the balance of his body, predamque tulit tartari. it bore the prey of hell. 7. 7. Te summa Deus Trinitas, To you, God, most high Trinity, collaudet omnis spiritus; may every spirit sing praise; quos per crucis mysterium rule forever those whom salvas, rege per secula. Amen. you save through the mystery of the cross. Amen.

Surge propera amica mea / Veni sponsa Christi Song of Songs 2:10-12 Surge, propera, amica mea, columba mea, Arise, hasten, my love, my dove, my fair one, and formosa mea, et veni. Iam enim hyems transiit, come. Lo, the winter is over, the rains are over imber abiit et recessit. Flores apparuerunt in and gone. Flowers appear in the land and the terra, tempus putationis advenit. time of pruning is come. Vox turturis audita est in terra nostra; ficus The voice of the turtle is heard in our land, the fig protulit grossos suos, vineae florentes dederunt puts forth green fruits, the flowering vine gives off odorem suum. Surge, surge, amica mea, et veni. its scent. Arise, arise, my love, and come.

Cantus firmus: Veni, sponsa Christi. Come, bride of Christ.

7 Veni, dilecte mi Song of Songs 7:11-13 Veni, dilecte mi; egrediamur in agro, Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field, let commoremur in villis. Mane surgamus ad us lodge at the farms. Let us go up early to the vine- vineas: videamus si floruit vinea, si flores yards: let us see if the vine flourishes, if the flowers fructus parturiunt, si floruerunt mala punica: of the fruit appear, if the pomegranates bud forth: ibi dabo tibi ubera mea. Mandragorae dederunt there I will give you my love. The mandrakes give odorem suum in portis nostris; omnia poma forth their aroma at our gates; all manner of fruits nova et vetera, dilecte mi, servavi tibi. new and old, O my beloved, have I saved for you.

Sancta Maria, succurre miseris Sancta Maria, succurre miseris, juva Holy Mary, succor the wretched, aid the pusillanimes, refove flebiles: Ora pro fainthearted, refresh the sorrowful: Pray for populo, interveni pro clero, intercede pro the people, intervene for the clergy, intercede for devoto femineo sexu: sentiant omnes tuum the devoted female sex: all feel your aid, juvamen, quicumque celebrant tuam sanctam whosoever celebrates your holy feast. commemorationem.

Burlose la niña Burlose la niña de amor y huyole; The girl mocked Love and fled from him; corre amor tras ella, mas ay! si la coje… Love runs after her, but ah! if he catches her… La niña que prende libres corazones, the girl who captures free hearts, rosas de los campos, alva de los montes. roses of the fields, dawn of the mountains. Burlose la niña… The girl mocked Love…

Ya no les pienso pedir Ya no les pienso pedir más lágrimas a mis ojos, I mean to ask no more tears from my eyes, porque dicen que no pueden llorar tanto y ver for they say that they cannot weep so much and tan poco. see so little. ¿Para qué buscais remedios, coraçón? Why do you seek remedies, my heart? Sufrid, que imposibles son. Suffer, for they are impossible. ¿De qué sirve que busqueis remedio en ajenos What good does it do you to seek remedy in new daños? injuries? los que maten son los años; pasos y tiempo All they kill are the years; you lose progress and perdeis, time, y pues ninguno teneis, coraçón, and since you have no remedy, my heart, Sufrid, que imposibles son. suffer, for they are impossible. Cuando te mirava, Lisis, con este remedio solo When I gazed at you, Lisis, with this “remedy” alone pasava cuantas fortunas corre un I endured as many changes of fortune as

8 amante zeloso, a jealous lover does; y pues ninguno teneis, coraçón, and since you have no remedy, my heart, Sufrid, que imposibles son. suffer, for they are impossible. Curava mi mal ausencia, pero como en mis Absence was treating my illness, but because no enojos remedies no me aprovechan remedios, devo de estar are effective against my troubles, I must remain peligroso. dangerous. ¿Para qué buscais remedios, coraçón? Why do you seek remedies, my heart? Sufrid, que imposibles son. Suffer, for they are impossible.

Magnificat Canticle at Vespers: Luke 1:46-55 Magnificat anima mea dominum, My soul magnifies the Lord, et exaltavit spiritus meus in deo salutari meo. and my spirit has rejoiced in God my savior. Quia respexit humilitatem ancillae sue: ecce For he has regarded the lowliness of his hand- enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes maiden: behold, henceforth all generations generationes. shall call me blessed. Quia fecit mihi magna qui potens est, For he that is mighty has made me great, et sanctum nomen ejus. and holy is his name. Et misericordia ejus a progenie in progenies And his mercy from generation to generation timentibus eum. is on them that fear him. Fecit potentiam in brachio suo: He has shown strength with his arm: he has scat- dispersit superbos mente cordis sui. tered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. Deposuit potentes de sede He has put down the mighty from their seat et exaltavit humiles. and exalted the humble. Esurientes implevit bonis, The hungry he has filled with good things, et divites dimisit inanes. and the rich he has sent empty away. Suscepit Israel puerum suum, He has helped his servant Israel, recordatus misericordie sue. in remembrance of his mercy. Sicut locutus est ad patres nostros, As it was promised to our forefathers, Abraham et semini ejus in secula. to Abraham and his seed forever. Gloria patri et filio et spiritui sancto. Glory be to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. [additional texts for Gloria] 1. Ave maris stella, Dei matris alma, atque 1. Hail, star of the sea, nurturing mother of God, semper virgo, felix celi porta, alleluia. perpetual virgin, happy gate of heaven, alleluia. 2. Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum, 2. Hail, Mary, full of grace: the Lord is with you, benedicta tu in mulieribus, alleluia. blessed are you among women, alleluia. 3. O gloriosa Domina, excelsa super sidera, qui te 3. O glorious Lady, higher than the stars, he who creavit provide, lactasti sacro ubere, alleluia. created you providentially, you gave suck to at your holy breast, alleluia. Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in As it was in the beginning, is now, and forever shall secula seculorum. Amen. be, world without end. Amen.

9 Christus factus est pro nobis Christus factus est pro nobis obediens usque ad Christ became obedient for us even unto death, mortem, mortem autem crucis. Propter quod et indeed to the death of the cross. For this reason Deus exaltavit illum et dedit illi nomen quod est God also exalted him and has given him a name super omne nomen. above every name.

Gloria in excelsis deo, et in terra pax Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace hominibus bone voluntatis. Laudamus te. to all of good will. We praise you. We bless you. Benedicimus te. Adoramus te. Glorificamus te. We adore you. We glorify you. We give thanks to Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam you for your great glory. Lord God, heavenly king, tuam. Domine deus, rex celestis, deus pater almighty God the Father, Lord Jesus Christ, only omnipotens. Domine fili unigenite, Jesu Christe. begotten Son, Lord God, lamb of God, Son of the Domine deus, agnus dei, filius patris. Qui Father. Who takes away the sins of the world, have tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Qui tollis mercy on us. Who takes away the sins of the world, peccata mundi, suscipe deprecationem nostram. receive our prayer. Who sits at the right hand of Qui sedes ad dexteram patris, miserere nobis. the Father, have mercy on us. For you alone are Quoniam tu solus sanctus, tu solus dominus, holy, you alone are the Lord, the Most High, Jesus tu solus altissimus, Jesu Christe, cum sancto Christ, with the Holy Spirit in the glory of God the spiritu in gloria dei patris. Amen. Father. Amen.

Victimae paschali laudes Easter sequence, 11th century; ? Wipo of Burgundy Victimae paschali laudes immolent Christiani. To the paschal victim let Christians offer songs of praise. Agnus redemit oves: Christi innocens Patri The lamb has redeemed the sheep: sinless Christ reconciliavit peccatores. has reconciled sinners to the Father. Mors et vita duello conflixere mirando: dux vite Death and life have engaged in miraculous com- mortuus, regnat vivus. bat: the leader of life is dead, yet living he reigns. Dic nobis, Maria, quid vidisti in via? Tell us, Mary, what saw you on the way? I saw the Sepulchrum Christi viventis et gloriam vidi sepulchre of the living Christ and the glory of resurgentis. his rising. Dic nobis, Maria, quid vidisti in via? Angelicos Tell us, Mary, what saw you on the way? testes, sudarium et vestes. The angelic witnesses, the shroud and vesture. Dic nobis, Maria, quid vidisti in via? Surrexit Tell us, Mary, what saw you on the way? Christ my Christus spes mea: precedet vos in Galileam. hope is risen: he goes before you into Galilee. Scimus Christum surrexisse a mortuis vere: tu We know that Christ has truly risen from the dead: nobis victor rex, miserere. thou conqueror and king, have mercy on us. Alleluia. Alleluia.

10 Biographies The vocal ensemble Blue Heron combines a sitions with many ensembles and orchestras in commitment to vivid live performance with the the Northeast, she also frequently combines her study of original source materials and historical skills as violinist, choreographer, and/or dancer performance practice. Blue Heron’s principal rep- for projects and music/dance workshops. ertoire interests are fifteenth-century English and Ms. Andrijeski holds a D.M.A. in Franco-Flemish polyphony, ranging from Dun- from Case Western Reserve University, an M.M. stable and Du Fay through Ockeghem to Josquin; from Northwestern University, and a B.M. from Spanish music between about 1500 and 1575; and the University of Denver. A native of Boise, Idaho, neglected early sixteenth-century English music, Ms. Andrijeski now resides in Pittsburgh. Her especially the rich and unexplored repertory of the recordings can be found on Dorian Recordings Peterhouse partbooks (c. 1540). The ensemble has (with Chatham ), Centaur, and Musica also reached outside these areas to perform very Omnia. Her most recent recording, “Sweet Desire,” early music (organa by the twelfth-century French was just released by Dorian Recordings. composer Perotinus), very recent music (new works by the Australian composer Elliott Gyger), Michael Barrett is active in the Boston area as a and more, including the complete Eighth Book of singer and conductor. While studying and work- by at the international ing in the Netherlands he was a member of the Marenzio conference at Harvard University in , the April 2006. Founded in 1999, Blue Heron presents and the Hemony Ensemble. In Boston Mr. Barrett its own series of concerts in Cambridge, performs directs Sprezzatura, a professional vocal ensemble, regularly at Monadnock Music in New Hampshire, and Convivium Musicum, a chamber and has appeared at other venues throughout choir; he co-directs l’Academie, a professional the Northeast, including the 2005 Boston Early chamber choir and orchestra for Baroque mu- Music Festival and the 92nd Street Y in New York sic. At Harvard he directs the Holden Chamber City. This summer it will perform as a guest of the Ensembles and the Dudley Chorus. As a singer Mozaic Festival (formerly the Mozart Festival) Mr. Barrett has collaborated with Blue Heron, in San Luis Obispo, California. Blue Heron’s first Seven Times Salt, and Boston Secession, and has CD, featuring music by , was appeared in the two most recent opera produc- released in March of 2007. tions of the Boston Early Music Festival. He also maintains a studio for private instruction in voice Julie Andrijeski enjoys teaching and performing and music theory. Mr. Barrett earned an AB in both and historical dance. She is music from Harvard University, an MM in choir currently a Visiting Lecturer in the Department of conducting from Indiana University in Bloom- Music at Case Western Reserve University, where ington, and a first phase diploma in Baroque and she teaches performance practice classes in music Classical singing from the Royal Conservatory and dance and directs the Case/CIM Baroque in The Hague. Orchestra. In addition to holding principal po-

11 Noël Bisson, a soprano and co-founder of Blue Lydia Brotherton, soprano, received her B.A. in Heron, has sung as soloist and ensemble singer music with honors from Brown University, and with many groups across the country and locally, her honors thesis was published as a winner of most regularly with the choir of the Church of the the prestigious University Prize. Now residing Advent and the . She earned a in the Boston area, Ms. Brotherton is working doctorate in musicology from Harvard University towards an M.Mus. in Historical Performance with a dissertation on the Eton Choirbook and a from Boston University. She has sung under Mar- scholarly focus on English sacred music just prior tin Pearlman in performances of Bach’s Wedding to and around the time of the Reformation. She and in the title role of Eccles’s rarely heard has taught as a lecturer in music at Harvard and at opera Semele, and performed with Blue Heron, the Colgate University. After several years in upstate Boston Camerata, Sprezzatura, and Exultemus. New York where she was Associate Dean of the Ms. Brotherton recently toured Australia and College at Colgate, Noël is happy to have returned New Zealand with the Boston Camerata and the to Harvard where she is now Associate Dean of Tero Saarinen Dance Company in Borrowed Light, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Secretary for which her part was praised as being “familiar of the Faculty. yet fresh, exquisitely sung” (Dominion Post, NZ). Upcoming engagements include performances at Marilyn Boenau received a Soloist’s Diploma the Connecticut Early Music Festival and roles in from the Schola Cantorum in Basel, Switzerland, the Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Opera where she studied recorder and shawm with Mi- productions of Blow’sVenus & Adonis and Char- chel Piguet, and dulcian and with Walter pentier’s Actéon. Stiftner. She performs with Philharmonia Ba- roque Orchestra, the Handel & Haydn Society, Baritone Glenn Billingsley made his debut with Tafelmusik, Portland , Apollo’s the New York City Opera National Company. He Fire, Tempesta di Mare, and Opera Lafayette. She has sung with the Santa Fe, Chautauqua, and Lake can be heard on three recently released recordings: George Opera companies, appeared in the Spoleto Lully’s Psychée with the Boston Early Music Festi- and Madeira Bach Festivals, toured most of the val, Rameau with Opera Lafayette (Washing- western hemisphere with the Waverly Consort, ton, DC), and Fasch suites with Tempesta di Mare and done significant solo work in New York with (Philadelphia). She has performed Renaissance Musica Sacra, the Ensemble for Early Music, the music with the Boston Camerata and the Folger Bach Group, Johannes Somary’s Amor Artis Consort. Her playing has been called “breathtak- , and others, and with numerous choral ing” by the Portland Oregonian. Marilyn is the organizations in Boston. A longtime member of Executive Director of Amherst Early Music, Inc., the Choir of the Church of the Advent, he has been which presents the Amherst Early Music Festival a part of Blue Heron since its inception. Glenn’s at Connecticut College in New London. wife, soprano Monique Phinney, is on the voice faculty of The Boston Conservatory, their son Ken

12 is the drummer for the band Exhale, and their tor at the Church of the Advent, Mr. Combs has daughter Lisa is majoring in Music Theater at served as music director of the Andover Choral The Boston Conservatory. Glenn recently became Society since 1990. He is also the vocal director for the Boston Early Music Festival’s first Director of the Composers’ Conference and Chamber Music Development. Center at Wellesley College and music director for the New England Dance Ensemble. Peter Christensen holds a master’s degree in trombone performance from McGill University. After receiving a B.A. degree at Luther College, A former member of the Winnipeg and Thunder Stephen Escher did post-graduate work at the Bay symphony orchestras, he currently performs University of Iowa and studied in Bologna with on trombone and baritone with several Montreal cornettist Bruce Dickey. Stephen is a founding ensembles, including the Griffon Brass Band. As member of the San Francisco area wind band The a sackbut player and early music specialist he is Whole Noyse. He has performed with numerous a member of the Montreal ensemble Les Son- ensembles in Europe, North America, and , neurs, with whom he has performed, recorded among them The Taverner Players, Le Studio de and toured since 1989. He has also performed and musique ancienne de Montréal, Magnificat, The recorded with the Studio de musique ancienne Spiritus Collective, Chanticleer, American Bach de Montréal, the Toronto Consort, Apollo’s Fire Soloists, the Toronto Chamber Choir, and Apollo’s (The Cleveland Baroque Orchestra), countertenor Fire. Stephen has made two recordings in London Matthew White, and Les Voix humaines; and he with Andrew Parrott and the Taverner Players for has performed with L’ensemble Claude Gervaise, EMI and can also be heard on recordings with the Boston Shawm and Sackbut Ensemble, and the Vancouver Cantata Singers on Skylark, with Tafelmusik. ABS and Magnificat on Koch, with Angelicum de Puebla on Urtext, and with The Whole Noyse Tenor Allen Combs is a native of Idaho Falls, Ida- on Helicon. ho, and received his education at the University of Idaho and the University of Lowell. In addi- ViolistKarina Fox holds degrees from New Eng- tion to his work with Blue Heron, Mr. Combs has land Conservatory and the Cleveland Institute of performed with Schola Cantorum and Cappella Music. Her early music studies began at Oberlin . His recital repertoire embraces music Conservatory with Marilyn McDonald, Miho from the Renaissance to the twentieth century and Hashizume and David Breitman. She continued includes the major song cycles of Schubert and her training in the Apollo’s Fire Apprentice Pro- Britten. Mr. Combs has given world premieres at gram in Cleveland, while serving as concertmaster the Lowell New Music Festival and with Compos- of the Case Western Reserve University Baroque ers in Red Sneakers. He performs frequently at Orchestra. Based in Boston, Ms. Fox is currently Phillips Academy, Andover, where he is a member principal second violin of Philadelphia’s baroque of the voice faculty. Currently a soloist and can- orchestra Tempesta di Mare, principal violist with

13 Apollo’s Fire, and assistant-principal violist of Repertory Theater’s staging of Christopher -Mar the Carmel Bach Festival Orchestra, and she has lowe’s Dido, Queen of Carthage. She has performed played with the Trinity Consort (Portland, OR), as soloist under conductors Christopher Hog- the Rutland (VT) Baroque Orchestra, the Dryden wood, Edo de Waart, Seiji Ozawa, Martin Pearl- Ensemble, and the Harvard Baroque Orchestra. man, Grant Llewellyn, and Bernard Haitink. Her As a modern player, she serves as principal vio- extensive discography includes music for solo viola list of the Gardner Museum Chamber Orchestra, da gamba, the gamba sonatas of J.S.Bach, Buxte- and has held substitute positions with the Boston hude’s trio sonatas opus 1 and 2, Telemann’s Paris Symphony and National Symphony. Quartets, and music of . She teaches at Boston University and Wellesley College. Bass-baritone Paul Guttry enjoys a varied career including opera, oratorio, and chamber music. He Douglas Kirk studied musicology at The Univer- recently played the Mother in Weill’s 7 Deadly Sins sity of Texas at Austin and McGill University, and with Intermezzo and Balthasar in Schumann’s early music performance practice at the Royal Genoveva with Emmanuel Music. Paul has sung Conservatorium of Music in The Hague. His doc- with the ensemble and toral thesis, Churching the Shawms in Renaissance is a former member of Chanticleer. In Boston he Spain: Lerma, Archivo de San Pedro Ms. Mus. 1 has performed with Emmanuel Music, Handel & (McGill University, Montréal, 1993), is a study of a Haydn, the Boston Cecilia, Boston Revels, Prism very important late sixteenth century manuscript Opera, and Collage New Music. Paul can be heard compiled for an ensemble of wind instrumental- on BMG recordings of medieval music with Se- ists, and establishes not only a critical edition of quentia, Erato recordings of the Boston Camerata, the musical text of this manuscript but also the and Koch International recordings of Bach with daily playing responsibilities of instrumentalists Emmanuel Music. who served Spanish churches throughout the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Dr. Kirk is a Laura Jeppesen is a graduate of the Yale School well-known cornettist and shawm player, and has of Music. She is the principal violist of Boston concertized widely throughout North America Baroque and the gambist of the Boston Museum and Europe with such groups as the Studio de Trio, and plays in many early music groups, in- musique ancienne de Montréal, the Boston Cam- cluding the Handel & Haydn Society, The Boston erata, the Boston Shawm and Sackbut Ensemble, Early Music Festival Orchestra, Aston Magna, and the Taverner Consort of London, Les Sonneurs the Carthage Consort. She has been a Woodrow (Montréal), the Toronto Consort, Tafelmusik, and Wilson Designate, a Fellow of Harvard’s Institute the Ensemble Claude Gervaise. He can be heard for Advanced Studies, and a Fulbright Scholar. In on numerous recordings of 17th-century Venetian, 2006 the Independent Critics of New England Spanish, and German music with such ensembles nominated her for an IRNE award for the score as the Taverner Consort of London (Andrew she produced as music director of the American Parrott), the Gabrieli Consort of London (Paul

14 McCreesh), the Boston Camerata (Joel Cohen), Scott Metcalfe is a specialist in music between and the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal 1400 and 1750 whose career as a violinist and con- (Christopher Jackson). He directs large-scale early ductor has taken him all over North America and music performance projects at McGill University Europe. Besides directing Blue Heron, he serves where he also teaches cornetto and other early as concertmaster of the Trinity Consort in Port- wind instruments. land, Oregon, under the direction of Eric Milnes, enjoys a varied freelance career as a player, teacher, Jason McStoots, tenor, has been celebrated as conductor, and writer, and is presently becoming one of the “new generation of New England an active member of Montreal’s burgeoning early singers” and described by critics as “particularly music scene, working with Montreal Baroque, outstanding,” with “a perfect light-opera voice,” Arion, Les Boréades, and other groups. Metcalfe “sweet, appealing tone and real acting ability.” In directed the Renaissance choir Convivium Musi- Monteverdi’s Coronation of Poppea with the Early cum from 1996 through 2007 and was a founding Music Guild of Seattle he was acclaimed by the member of La Luna and The King’s Noyse. He ap- Seattle Post-Intelligencer as “a born comic,” and pears on recordings on harmonia mundi, ATMA, as the Madwoman in Britten’s Curlew River with Dorian, Wildboar, and elsewhere. He received a Intermezzo, McStoots was called “heartbreaking” bachelor’s degree in 1985 from Brown University, by The Boston Phoenix. He has performed with where he majored in biology, and in 2005 com- groups around the US including Boston Lyric pleted a master’s degree in historical performance Opera, Handel Choir of Baltimore, New Haven practice at Harvard. Symphony Orchestra, Tragicomedia, Emmanuel Music, Granite State Opera and OperaProvidence, Countertenor Martin Near began his professional and has sung in recitals with Tanglewood Music singing career at age ten, advancing to Head Cho- Center, the MIT Recital Series, and the Boston rister at Saint Thomas’s Fifth Avenue in New York French Library. In 2008 he was honored by Em- City. He currently sings with Blue Heron, Vox manuel Music as a Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson fel- Triniti, Boston Secession, Amiable Consort, and low. with the choir of the Church of the Advent. He has appeared as guest soloist with the Fromm Players David McSweeney appears regularly with several at Harvard, Seraphim Singers, Boston Choral En- local chamber ensembles, including Boston Ba- semble, Exultemus, the Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus, roque, Emmanuel Music, and the Handel & Haydn Andover Choral Society, and NotaRiotous. Trained Society. David studied music while pursuing an in composition at the New England Conservatory, engineering degree from Brown University. He is Mr. Near was composer and music director of the the the president and founder of Tenor Technolo- one act opera Six Characters in Search of an Opera gies, a consulting company providing new media for Project ARIA (AIDS Response by Indepen- solutions for the arts. dent Artists), which received five performances in

15 Boston. He has been a soloist in numerous world and Sackbut Ensemble and the New England premieres, including Temptation in the Desert by Waites. He often appears with other wind bands Elliott Gyger, written for Mr. Near and Seraphim and orchestras such as Piffaro, The Whole Noyse, Singers, On Prayer and Praying by Rodney Lister, Les Sonneurs de Montreal, Palatino, written for Mr. Near and organist Ross Wood, Apollo’s Fire, , Concert Royal, and and You Are There by Johanna Malone, a micro- Tafelmusik. tonal piece in 72-note equal temperament. Future projects include a debut as record producer for a With a voice hailed as “sweetly soaring” by the recording of sacred music by and Dallas Morning News, tenor Steven Soph is an ac- Marbrianus de Orto with the vocal ensemble Cut tive performer in chamber music and oratorio. He Circle, for release in 2009. sings with Blue Heron, Boston Secession, Schola Cantorum, Cut Circle, Philovox, Exsultemus, and Christa Patton has performed as a historical harp the Choir of Church of the Advent. Recent solo specialist with Apollo’s Fire, The King’s Noyse, engagements include Bach’s St. John Passion with Tafelmusik, Toronto Consort, Seattle Baroque New Trinity Baroque of Atlanta and Musikanten Orchestra, Artek, the New York City Opera, and Montana, Schütz’s Musicalische Exequien with the the Wolf Trap Opera Company. Also a multi- Providence Singers, and Bach’s BWV 148 instrumentalist, Christa has appeared on the con- and 76 with Musica Maris. While studying at the cert stage throughout the US, Europe, and Japan, University of North Texas with Julie McCoy and with New York’s Ensemble for Early Music, Ex David Sundquist, he performed with the Orpheus Umbris and Piffaro, the Renaissance Band. A for- Chamber Singers, Texas Choral Artists, Dallas mer Fulbright scholar, Christa studied the Italian Bach Society, Helios Ensemble, Orchestra of New baroque harp in Milan, , with historical harp Spain, Paradigm Singers, and the Chancel Choir specialist Mara Galassi. She can be heard on the of the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation. Mr. Dorian, Lyrachord, and Helicon labels. Soph appears on recordings for Arsis, Edition Lilac and Pro Organo labels. When not singing, Mack Ramsey specializes in the performance he restores electro-pneumatic organs for Spencer of repertoires ranging from the fifteenth to the Organ Co. in Waltham, Massachusetts. eighteenth centuries. Equally at home on a num- ber of different wind instruments, he has been Daniel Stillman is a founding member and direc- especially fascinated with the role of the municipal tor of the Boston Shawm & Sackbut Ensemble. and court wind bands of the sixteenth century Playing a wide variety of medieval and Renais- and the special skills and performance practices sance wind instruments, he has toured extensively that help us interpret this music. Mack performs with the Boston Camerata and Waverly Consort, on bass sackbut with the seventeenth-century and has performed and recorded with such groups ensemble Spiritus Collective in New York, and as the Gabrieli Consort and Taverner Players (Lon- is also a founding member of the Boston Shawm don), Oltremontano (), Folger Consort

16 (Washington), Les Sonneurs (Montréal), and the both the Chadwick Medal and Outstanding Alum- avant-garde rock ensemble Roger Miller’s Ex- nus Award from the New England Conservatory quisite Corpse. He is a member of the trombone and the Erwin Bodky Prize from the Cambridge section of the period-instrument orchestra Boston Society for Early Music, he is a founding board Baroque and has played with numerous such or- member and current president of the Boston chestras throughout the US. A highly sought-after Society. instructor of Renaissance wind instruments, he has served on the faculties of Wellesley College, Mezzo-soprano Daniela Tošić, a native of Bel- Tufts University, the Five College Early Music grade, , toured with the -based Program, the Longy School of Music, and numer- ensemble Renaissance throughout the former ous summer workshops. He can be heard on some Yugoslavia. In the Boston area she has worked two dozen recordings of music from the 13th to with Ensemble P.A.N., Revels, Balmus, Found- 20th centuries. ling, and La Donna Musicale, and has premiered several new works. She is a founding member Peter Sykes is Associate Professor of Music and of Tapestry, the acclaimed vocal ensemble that Chair of the Historical Performance Department at records with Telarc International and MDG and Boston University, where he teaches , tours widely throughout the US and abroad. She organ, performance practice, and continuo real- is also a founding member of the medieval-world ization. He is also a member of the faculty of the fusion ensemble HourGlass. Longy School of Music and Music Director of First Church in Cambridge. He performs extensively Emily Walhout grew up playing the , but it on the organ, harpsichord, and clavichord, and was not until college that she discovered her love has made ten solo recordings of organ repertoire for baroque bass lines. At Oberlin Conservatory ranging from Buxtehude and Bach to Reger and she took up the baroque cello and the viola da Hindemith and his acclaimed organ transcription gamba, thus launching an active career in early of Holst’sThe Planets. His most recent recording music. Ms. Walhout was a founding member of is the dedication recital of the restored 1800 Tan- La Luna, an ensemble of two violins and continuo, nenberg organ at Old Salem, an event featured and from 1987 through 2004 she was a member on the national television program “CBS Sunday of The King’s Noyse, with whom she played bass Morning;” soon to be released is a recording of violin, the lowest instrument of the Renaissance the complete Bach harpsichord partitas. He also violin consort. Ms Walhout has played solo viola performs, tours and records with Boston Baroque da gamba or principal cello for the Boston Early and Aston Magna. With Christa Rakich he created Music Festival Orchestra, Seattle Baroque, the the concert series “Tuesdays with Sebastian,” in Portland Baroque Orchestra, Les Violons du Roy which the two performed the complete keyboard (Quebec City), the New York Collegium, Les Boré- works of Bach in thirty-four benefit recitals which ades (Montreal), and the Trinity Consort (Port- raised $20,000 for local charities. A recipient of land, OR). She has toured as a chamber musician

17 throughout North America and Europe and has Tom Zajac is a multi-instrumentalist praised for recorded extensively with the Boston Camerata, his versatility and stylish playing in the perfor- La Luna, and The King’s Noyse. Recently she mance of music from the medieval and Renais- has joined the ensemble Les Délices (dir. Debra sance periods. He is a member of the wind band Nagy), based in Cleveland. Her playing has been Piffaro and the New York-based theatrical/musical described as “soulful and expressive ” by the New group Ex Umbris, and appears frequently with the York Times. Ms. Walhout maintains a small studio Folger Consort, King’s Noyse, Newberry Consort, of private students and coaches several devoted Hesperus, and other leading US ensembles. His consorts. most recent interest is in learning the beautiful repertory of Ottoman court music, performing Darrick Yee has performed regularly with a wide with the Boston-based group Dünya. Tom teaches array of Boston-area vocal ensembles over the at Wellesley College, and at courses and work- past fifteen years, from the close-harmony groups shops throughout the US. Downtown Crossing and the Harvard Krokodiloes to the early music ensembles Exsultemus and Blue Heron. He has performed on local and national stages, including Boston’s Symphony Hall, the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Cen- ter’s Alice Tully Hall, and in nationally televised performances on ABC, A&E, and PBS. His diverse interests have afforded him the opportunity to per- form with such luminaries as Bryn Terfel, Simon Carrington, Barry Manilow, and Sarah Jessica Parker, in programs ranging from vocal jazz and pop to sacred early music. Darrick appears on recent recordings of Philovox Ensemble, Boston Secession, and Blue Heron.

18 Acknowledgments Today’s concert would never have happened with- podcast series featuring pre-concert talks and out Douglas Kirk. Douglas proposed the idea to us concert performances. when he first learned of plans for the MFA’s exhibi- Evan Ingersoll (empict multimedia) designs tion “El Greco to Velázquez.” He programmed the our programs and our website. Chris Clark (Cave concert, edited much of the music, wrote the notes, Dog Studio) designs our publicity materials and and gave the pre-concert talk—and he plays the program covers. We are fortunate to work with cornetto! We are grateful to him for everything. two so talented, reliable, and patient graphic art- This concert is presented with support from ists. We are equally blessed to have Doc Davis the Spanish Government (Program for Cultural record so many of our concerts, both efficiently Cooperation between Spain’s Ministry of Culture and beautifully. and United States Universities), and from generous Special thanks to our devoted volunteers, for special donations from Pauline Stillman and Philip their help this evening and throughout the year. Davis. We would like to thank the Museum of Fine And thanks to those who hosted visiting musi- Arts for its enthusiastic support and cooperation cians this week: Debra Cash and David Fillingham, in promoting this concert. Sarah Mead and Mack Ramsey, annd Paul and Dan Stillman prepared new editions of several Alice Johnson. of the pieces we are performing this evening. We are honored and grateful to have so many Thanks to the Cambridge Society for Early generous donors. Blue Heron could not exist with- Music for a grant supporting this season’s pre- out you. Many, many thanks. concert talks. Visit Blue Heron’s website for our

Board Of Directors John A. Yannis, president Marilyn Boenau, treasurer Richard L. Schmeidler, clerk Philip H. Davis Cynthia C. Schlaikjer

Volunteers & Staff Susan Delaney Laurie Francis-Wright Alexandra Hawley cover image: Curt Hayashi Peter Paul Reubens, Equestrian Portrait of the Anne Kazlauskas Duke of Lerma, 1603, Museo del Prado, Madrid Benjamin Krepp courtesy Wikimedia Commons Emily Letourneau fonts: body copy is set in Minion Pro, John Nesby titles in Jenson Pro, both from Adobe. Cheryl Ryder program design: Evan Ingersoll

19 Donations from April 19, 2007 through April 18, 2008

Angel Supporter Friend Philip H. Davis Anonymous Debra K. S. & Brian Anderson Pauline Stillman Carol & Leonard Berkowitz Marcia Anderson Reverend Dr. & Mrs. Andrew C. Blume Charles Ash Benefactor Louise N. Botero Joan Boorstein Massachusetts Cultural Council Maureen Conroy Bruce & Martha Davidson Cynthia C. Schlaikjer C. & J. Davin May & Carl Daw Sheila & Charles Donahue Charles Dunn Guarantor John F. Dooley Alan Durfee John Paul & Diane Britton Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation Alison & Jim Fowle John & Harriet Carey Connie & Don Goldstein Martha Gruson William & Elizabeth Metcalfe David P. Halstead Ivan J. Hansen Cheryl K. Ryder Deborah Jones & Alfred Mendoza Kenneth Hoffman Robert Kowalik Katharine Howard Patron Ron V. Lacro & Jon P. Schum Waltrud Lampe Scott Metcalfe Julianne Lindsay Catherine Liddell Eiji Miki & Jane Hever Samuel Lorber George Mastellone Therry Neilsen-Steinhardt James Martin Elana M. Messer Joan Margot Smith Anne H. Matthews Lindsay Miller & Peter Ambler Cindy & Peter Nebolsine Anne & Dennis Moore Sponsor Dick O'Connor Virginia Newes Thomas Bisson Richard & Janet Post Mary Lynn Ritchey Elizabeth Davidson Susan Poverman Julie Rohwein & Jonathan Aibel Samuel & Anne Freeh Engel Richard R. Rivard Saint-Gobain Corporation Foundation Thomas Kelly Bruce & Virginia Roberts Polly Stevens Benjamin Krepp & Virginia Webb Katherine Rosenfield Michal Truelsen & Jody Wormhoudt Ellen Powers & Klaus Bibl Richard L. Schmeidler Andrew Sigel Tom & Valerie Stone Michael & Annlinnea Terranova William J. Vaughan Lee Warren

20