Handel and Haydn Society October 18 / 2:30 Pm Bing Concert Hall
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PROGRAM: HANDEL AND HAYDN SOCIETY OCTOBER 18 / 2:30 PM BING CONCERT HALL ARTISTS PROGRAM Handel and Haydn Society George Frideric Handel: Coronation Anthem No. 1, Zadok the Priest Harry Christophers, artistic director and conductor Antonio Vivaldi: Concerto for Two Violins in A Minor, op. 3, no. 8 Period Instrument Orchestra and Chorus Allegro Larghetto e spiritoso Allegro Aisslinn Nosky, leader and violin Susanna Ogata, violin Antonio Vivaldi: “Summer” from The Four Seasons Allegro mà non molto Adagio Presto Aisslinn Nosky, leader and violin George Frideric Handel: Coronation Anthem No. 3, The King Shall Rejoice INTERMISSION Johann Sebastian Bach: Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 225 George Frideric Handel: Part the Third from Messiah Margot Rood, soprano Emily Marvosh, contralto Stefan Reed, tenor David McFerrin, bass PROGRAM SUBJECT TO CHANGE. Please be considerate of others and turn off all phones, pagers, and watch alarms, and unwrap all lozenges prior to the performance. Photography and recording of any kind are not permitted. Thank you. encoremediagroup.com 51 PROGRAM: HANDEL AND HAYDN SOCIETY A MUSICAL CELEBRATION 200 initially performed throughout the concert has remained a distinctive part of H+H’s YEARS IN THE MAKING season, which generally lasted from November history. In today’s performance of his or December to May or June, since 1854, H+H motet Singet dem Herrn ein neues Liede, On December 25, 1815, at 6:00 pm, the has performed Messiah annually in December. BWV 225, we will hear double chorus with Handel and Haydn Society opened its strings, an ensemble Bach used in motet inaugural concert at King’s Chapel with Part Handel’s Coronation Anthem No. 1, Zadok performances. Bach’s position in Leipzig 1 from The Creation by Haydn. Selections the Priest, was published in conjunction required that he provide music for special from oratorios by George Frideric Handel with H+H in 1819. Two sets of text were occasions; however, no specific occasion (1685–1759) interspersed with English provided for Handel’s anthem; the first has been definitively associated with this anthems completed the three-hour concert. was the text which Handel set and the motet, composed between 1726 and 1727. The music for today’s concert, which second was a Christmas text by Rev. Dr. features one of H+H’s namesake composers, Gardiner, from Boston’s Trinity Church. Bach sets the opening text rather delicately, celebrates some of the composers and with bell-like articulations that begin in the works from the ensemble’s 200-year Handel composed four anthems to be sung upper voices but are eventually heard in history of continuous performances. at the October 1727 coronation of King all the voice parts. Next, he overlaps and George II and Queen Caroline. Zadok the weaves two texts, one a hymn and the The Handel and Haydn Society was founded Priest, the story of which has been part of other a response. Not surprisingly, Bach about nine months prior to its first concert English coronations since 973, was sung at sets the final text to a magnificent fugue. when several men met in Boston to discuss the anointing ceremony. Handel crafts a Interestingly, when Mozart heard this motet the feasibility of forming a new singing powerful and lasting effect with the clarity during a visit to St. Thomas Church in society. The founders acted quickly, and by of his choral and orchestral writing; it is no 1789, he is said to have exclaimed, “Now the end of April, a constitution outlining wonder that this anthem has been sung there is something one can learn from!” the organization’s goal of “improving the at every English coronation since 1727. style of performing sacred music, and Beginning in the 1980s, the instrumental introducing into more general use the The third anthem, The King Shall Rejoice, and vocal music of Antonio Vivaldi works of Handel and Haydn and other was sung at the crowning and equals the (1678–1741) became a welcomed addition eminent composers” was approved by the first anthem in its feeling of joy balanced to H+H concerts. Today’s concert original members. Membership was open with reflection. The cascading lines on the includes the Concerto for Two Violins in to any man with “a good singing voice.” word blessings sound exuberant; these are A minor, op. 3, no. 8, which is followed Women sang in the chorus from the first matched by the steadiness and stability of by “Summer” from The Four Seasons. days of the Handel and Haydn Society; the entrances of each individual part. The however, they officially participated only blessings are, in effect, the result of the Vivaldi titled his highly successful Op. 3 as invited guests until 1967, the first year fundamental, underlying musical order. collection of concertos L’estro armonico. women were accepted as members. Sometimes rendered as The Musical For H+H, the mid-19th century was a time Fantasy or The Harmonic Whim, these Throughout 1815, H+H grew steadily. For of expansion not only in the size of the translations attempt to convey the effect the first concert, there were 100 singers organization (membership reached an all-time of Vivaldi’s concertos in which a pattern (90 men and 10 women), accompanied by high of some 700 singers) but also in terms of is first established and then altered with an orchestra of 13 and performing for an the repertoire performed. American premieres unexpected twists and turns, such as in the audience of about 1,000. Demand for tickets of Handel oratorios were given, including solo passages of the outer movements. was high, and a Boston newspaper hoped the Samson in 1845 and Jephtha in 1867. Boston These are balanced with sections for the concert would be “immediately announced premieres included Mendelssohn’s Elijah in larger ensemble, the ritornelli, which are for repetition.” The second concert was 1848, Mozart’s Requiem in 1857, Handel’s Israel a stabilizing but never a staid force. soon scheduled for the following January. in Egypt in 1859, and Verdi’s Requiem in 1878. One of the most recognized compositions Portions of Handel’s Messiah were performed H+H first performed music by Johann by Vivaldi, The Four Seasons (Le quattro at the first H+H concert, including the Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) as part of its stagioni) was published in 1725 as part of a “Hallelujah” chorus as the final work. In 50th Anniversary Festival in 1865, and Bach’s larger collection of 12 solo concertos. Each 1818, H+H presented the first complete music, such as the American premiere of concerto has a corresponding sonnet that performance of Messiah in America. Although the complete St. Matthew Passion in 1879, describes a scene associated with that season; 52 STANFORD LIVE MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015 even the performing score is marked with broadcasts, and the organization maintains series of recordings on the Coro label. letters that correspond to lines in the sonnets an active touring schedule that includes Mr. Christophers is known internationally to create a one-to-one correspondence performances this season in California, as the founder and conductor of the U.K.- between the poems and the music. Montreal, and Washington, D.C. based choir and period-instrument ensemble the Sixteen. He has directed the Sixteen When the Handel and Haydn Society was In 1985, H+H established the Karen S. and throughout Europe, America, Australia, and founded in 1815, Haydn’s music was new George D. Levy Education Program and the Far East, gaining a distinguished reputation or contemporary and Handel represented now reaches more than 10,000 children for his work in Renaissance, Baroque, and the traditions on which choral music was each year through public school visits, 20th- and 21st-century music. In 2000, he based. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, chorus partnerships, in-school music instituted The Choral Pilgrimage, a tour of H+H concerts regularly programmed the instruction, and a Vocal Arts Program that British cathedrals from York to Canterbury. music of past masters and contemporary includes five youth choruses. H+H also composers. In the late 20th century, maintains partnerships with higher-education He has recorded more than 120 titles for which H+H adopted a historically informed institutions such as the New England he has won numerous awards, including the performance practice, renewing its mission Conservatory, Massachusetts Institute of coveted Gramophone Award for Early Music to perform “the works of Handel and Technology, and Massachusetts College and the prestigious Classical Brit Award in Haydn and other eminent composers.” of Art and Design, giving college students 2005 for his disc Renaissance. His CD Ikon —Notes by Teresa M. Neff, H+H Historically opportunities to learn about and develop was nominated for a 2007 Grammy, and his Informed Performance Fellow mastery in Baroque and classical music. The second recording of Handel’s Messiah on the Heartstrings program gives free concert Sixteen’s own label, Coro, won the prestigious HANDEL AND HAYDN SOCIETY tickets to children and adults who cannot MIDEM Classical Award in 2009. In 2009, he For 200 years, the Handel and Haydn Society otherwise attend performances, and H+H also received one of classical music’s highest has enriched life and influenced culture presents free concerts and lectures at local accolades, recognition as the Classic FM by bringing vocal and instrumental music libraries, community centers, and museums. Gramophone Awards Artist of the Year, and to America. Founded in Boston in 1815, the Sixteen won the Baroque Vocal award for H+H is considered the oldest continuously Handel Coronation Anthems, a CD that also performing arts organization in the United received a 2010 Grammy Award nomination, States and is celebrating its bicentennial as did Palestrina, Volume 3 in 2014.