Convivio From Leipzig to London PROGRAMME Saturday 28 August 2021 St Michael’s Church, Bath Welcome

e are delighted to present the second national influences from Germany, Italy, France and concert in our relaunched 2021 season England. Yet they are also all united by the unmistakable Wwith Convivio and a feast of the Baroque: vibrancy and energy of music from this period. From Leipzig to London. As we emerge from lockdown we are thrilled While we are still adhering to the latest to be able to present live music once again. However, Government Covid guidelines to ensure both you, the these are particularly challenging times for all arts audience, the performers and our volunteers are safe, we organisations. As a volunteer led charity the generous also want to provide you with a memorable evening of support we receive from Friends is vital in enabling us top quality, live music - something we have all missed for to provide a platform for talented young musicians. far too long. If you have not yet joined as a Friend, please Tonight’s concert brings the talents of eight consider doing so. You can sign up online through our young musicians who take us on journey across 18th website: bathrecitals.com century Europe to enjoy music by some of the greatest Thank you for your support tonight. We hope names of the Baroque age. you have a wonderful evening and we look forward to All five of the composers featured in this seeing you at future Bath Recitals events in 2021 and programme were born within 26 years of each other. beyond. They each have their own individual nuances and styles which shine through their music backed by their The Bath Recitals team

Bath Recitals, 42 Great Pulteney Street, Bath BA2 4DR | bathrecitals.com | Registered Charity Number 1051410 Programme designed by Revolution Arts, revolutionarts.co.uk

2 Bath Recitals 2021 Season

Convivio Programme

J.S. Bach (1685-1750) Orchestral Suite no 1 in C major BWV 1066

H. Purcell (1659-1695) Chaconne in G minor Z 730

A. Vivaldi (1678-1741) Bassoon Concerto in E minor RV484

Interval

J.P. Rameau (1683-1764) Suite from ‘Hippolyte et Aricie’ RV 439

A. Vivaldi (1678-1741) Concerto in C Major RV450 for oboe, strings and continuo

J.P. Rameau (1683-1764) Les Boreades - Entree de Polimnie

G. F. Handel (1685-1759) Suite from Water Music Suite No. 1 HWV 348 (excerpts)

J. S. Bach (1685-1750) Orchestral Suite no 1 in C major BWV 1066

Ouverture - Courante - Gavottes - Forlane - Menuets - Bourrees - Passepieds

t was not so very long ago that historians blithely Gavotte; Forlane; Menuet; Bourrée; and Passepied in lumped the majority of Bach’s instrumental and addition to the more traditional Ouverture and Courante. Iorchestral works into the Cöthen period (1717–1723) What makes Bach’s dance movements so unusual since that was the period when he was employed as a court is the sheer detail of the writing: The inner parts of the Kapellmeister and was not required to produce church Courante, for instance, exploit the opening melodic cantatas. (The Calvinist court at Cöthen had no use for the gesture to create a highly cohesive texture, while the sort of complex music of which Bach’s cantatas were traditional metrical clashes of the dance are exploited to comprised.) Even though many scholars have admitted their fullest. The paired dances show a degree of wit that some of the pieces could have originated later, some which is often neglected in Bach studies: Gavotte II works still do not seem to fit into the neat categories introduces an actual horn call as counter melody, but not, provided by the course of Bach’s career. as might be expected, in the wind instruments; rather, it is Among them, the Orchestral Suite in C, BWV played by the (inappropriately enlisted) strings. 1066, can be dated in performing sources to circa 1725, Menuet II dispenses with winds altogether precisely the time when Bach was supposed to be and sounds, on first hearing, as if the melodic line immersed in his remarkable production of cantata cycles. has been omitted. But soon it emerges that the Of course, this date does not exclude the possibility that “accompanimental” material is all there is, and Bach may have composed the work at Cöthen, but it does very satisfactory it proves to be. at least suggest that Bach was involved in instrumental Other important “accompaniments” are the performance of some kind at precisely that juncture when lower strings in the Forlane, which in some ways determine he was supposed to have been occupied with other things. the character of the movement more than the melody. Whatever its origins, the C major suite was The same sort of figuration reappears in the second probably composed and performed independently of the Passepied, as a complement (rather than mere other three, which do, however, match it in style and form; accompaniment) to the melody of the first Passepied. only in the 19th century were all four perceived as forming a set. Jeffrey Thomas & John Butt Bach’s C major suite contains no less than five “modern” dances (or more specifically, pairs of dances):

4 (1659 - 1695) Chaconne in G minor, Z. 730H

enry Purcell’s Chacony in G minor takes us Despite being in a minor key, the Chacony to the London theatres that reopened after was probably written as a lively dance. Charles had Hthe return of Charles II to England in 1660. picked up the French habit of listening to music while Restoration theatre music was ‘incidental’: auxiliary to standing and tapping his foot, and he emphatically the actual play, music was performed before the main preferred music that gratified his partiality. The piece is event began and during the interval. based on a descending tetrachord—four consecutive By and large, a suite of theatre music notes of a minor scale, leading from tonic to comprised eight pieces—an overture and a sequence of dominant—which became associated with the lament, dances—that were very often subsequently used as a decisive instance being Dido’s lament from Purcell’s concert works. As the Purcell scholar Peter Holman (1689). As was usual in England, in explains, much Restoration theatre music only survives the case of the Chacony, the chaconne of the title is in concert versions, and it is therefore often problematic used indeterminately, and the word might equally to decide which music was written for which play. This suggest a passacaglia or simply a ground. is certainly the case with Purcell’s Chacony in G minor, which was probably composed around 1680—that is, Paul Williamson while Purcell was employed by Charles, and nearly a decade before he turned his attention almost exclusively to the theatre, after the accession of William III (who notoriously disliked music) and Queen Mary in 1689.

5 A. Vivaldi (1678 - 1741) Bassoon Concerto in E minor, RV 484

Allegro poco - Andante - Allegro

eginning in 1703 and intermittently for bassoon concertos – more than for any other many decades, served as instrument except the violin. From their technical Bmusic factotum at the Pio Ospedale della demands, it is clear that he composed them for a Pietá in Venice, an institution devoted to the care virtuoso. and education of abandoned, orphaned and The E minor Concerto RV484 is the indigent girls–not a few of them with most famous of the many concerti, at least in unacknowledged patrician pedigrees. part for it’s unusual brooding opening movement There was with a special emphasis on showing off the baroque bassoon’s more sultry musical training and in addition to his duties as side! virtuoso violinist, violin teacher, orchestra This is followed by a beautiful slow director and instrument purchaser, Vivaldi served singing second movement exploiting the plaintive as resident composer, producing hundreds of expressivity of the bassoon’s tenor register. works for various instruments and ensembles, In true Vivaldi style the concerto including around 500 concerti, usually at a rate concludes with a virtuosic flare in the final of more than two per month. movement which pushes the bassoon to the Lacking among the girls in the Ospedale extremes of its agility and flexibility! were bassoonists. There is no mention of bassoon solos or instruments among the records, and it is unclear for whom Vivaldi composed his 38

6 J. P. Rameau (1683 - 1764) Suite from Hippolyte et Aricie, RV 439

Ouverture - Premier et deuxieme rigaudon - Chaconne - Vol des zephirs - Premier et deuxième Gavotte

ittle is known about Rameau’s early years, and music of the day - a number of hybrid forms that it was not until the 1720s that he won fame as combine elements of opera and ballet. La major theorist of music with the publication This suite draws on the instrumental of his Treatise on Harmony (1722). interludes designed for dancing interspersed Rameau was almost 50 before he embarked throughout the opera typical of 18th century opera. on the operatic career on which his reputation chiefly These pieces demonstrate Rameau’s rests today. extraordinary aptitude for creating colourful music, His debut, Hippolyte et Aricie (1733), caused a in particular through his highly imaginative great stir and was fiercely attacked for its orchestration. revolutionary use of harmony. Rameau especially pushes the wind Hippolyte et Aricie changed the direction of instruments (the oboes and bassoon) to the extremes Rameau's career, and, over the next 30 years, he of their range and paints wonderful pictures of the turned out another two dozen works for the stage, outside scenes in this opera. representing the many kinds of French dramatic

7 A. Vivaldi (1678 - 1741) Concerto in C Major RV 450 for oboe, strings and continuo Allegro Molto - Larghetto - Allegro

ntonio Vivaldi composed some 500 concertos, and the amazing breadth and variety of these Aworks reflect the brilliance and imagination of their composer. Alongside a few of his contemporaries Vivaldi was instrumental in developing the concerto into the form in which we know it today, a work for soloist and orchestra. About 350 of his concertos are solo concertos; 250 of these are for violin, but there are many other instruments highlighted in the soloist role. Vivaldi wrote about 20 oboe concertos, most likely for students or faculty at the Ospedale della Pieta, the girls’ school where he taught for years. Given his prolific output Vivaldi was often economical with his ideas and this concerto is in fact his own reworking of one of the 37 bassoon concerti, RV 471.

J. P. Rameau (1683 - 1764) Les Boreades - Entree de Polimnie

es Boréades was Rameau’s last opera, composed Like other Rameau operas, it includes a wealth in his eightieth year. Although rehearsals had of instrumental music, written to accompany the dance, Lbegun as early as April 1763, no performance to cover scene changes, and to provide aural “images” of took place prior to Rameau’s death in September of events and scenes on stage. 1764, for no obvious reason. Entree de Polimnie depicts the entrance of The work was not premiered on stage until over Polimnie, the goddess of sacred poetry, dance, and 200 years later, in 1982 (by John Eliot Gardiner at the eloquence. It is a stunning example of Rameau’s unusaul Aix-en-Provence Festival). use of the bassoon not as a continuo (bass) instrument It is a remarkable opera — Rameau seems to but as a separate singing high line, known as an haut- have summoned all of his creative energy to create one contre part. final masterpiece, a work that is surprisingly modern, sensual, and spirited.

8 G. F. Handel (1685 - 1759) Suite from Water Music Suite No. 1 HWV 348 (excerpts) Overture - Adagio e Staccato - Bourree - Air - Hornpipe

‘At about eight in the evening the King repaired to his barge. Next to royal excursions were important social occasions. the King’s barge was that of the musicians, about 50 in number, The 1717 event was apparently the grandest, who played on all kinds of instruments, to wit trumpets, horns, and possibly the last, of King George I’s water parties. A hautboys [oboes], bassoon, German flutes [transverse flutes], French contemporary newspaper account reported that there flutes [recorders], violins, and basses; but there were no singers. were so many boats, filled with ‘persons of quality,’ that The music had been composed specially by the famous ‘the whole river in a manner was cover’d.' Handel, a native of Halle, and His Majesty’s principal court The barges floated up the river from Whitehall composer. His Majesty approved of it so greatly that he caused it to to Chelsea, riding the tide. The King and his party were be played three times in all, although each performance lasted an served dinner at Chelsea at one o’clock in the morning, hour — namely; twice before and once after supper. returning to St. James’s Palace at half-past four. The [weather in the] evening was all that could be Handel’s reputation, both with the royal family desired for the festivity, and the number of barges and above all of and the more general public, was served well by his boats filled with people wanting to listen was beyond counting.’ contribution to the ‘royal cruise.’ Movements from the so-called Water Music t was on the occasion of the royal river excursion of appeared in various publications for several decades, and July 17, 1717, described above by the Brandenburg concert performances were very popular. Throughout IResident in London, Friedrich Bonet, that Handel’s the work the wind instruments, so well suited for outdoor ‘Celebrated Water Music’ was first performed. use, figure prominently. River parties were regular occurrences during the summer season in eighteenth-century London, and Charlotte Nediger

9 lice is a young and Richter and performed with engaging British various other groups such as the Aviolinist specialising in Orchestra of the Age of period instrument performance. Enlightenment, The Irish Alice studied under Pavlo Baroque Orchestra, Ex Cathedra, Beznosiuk at the Royal Academy The Sixteen and as a member of of Music, graduating in 2016 the European Union Baroque with a first-class degree and the Orchestra (EUBO). Bickerdike Allen Prize for As a founding member achievement. of Ensemble Molière, Alice has She has since gone on to performed at the Brighton Early perform with the Academy of Music Festival, Bruges Early Ancient Music at the BBC Proms Music Festival and made her and as part of the Lincoln BBC Radio debut on BBC radio Centre's Mostly Mozart Festival. 3's In Tune. She has also played at She plays on a Thomas Shakespeare's Globe as part of Kennedy violin on loan from the 'Vivaldi's The Four Season. A Harrison-Frank Family Reimagining' with music by Max Foundation. Violin Alice Earll

ritish violinist Maxim Del and he is an active member of Mar is a recent graduate emerging chamber ensembles Bof the Royal College of including Ensemble Echos and Music, London, with a Master of Endelienta Baroque. Recent Performance in Historical Violin, highlights have included a concert where he studied with Adrian exploring the chamber music of Butterfield as a Musician’s Chevalier St George held in the Company Lambert Scholar. Queen's Gallery, Buckingham A music graduate from Palace, with an RCM period the University of York, where he string quartet, and the production began to explore historically- of his debut CD recording “La informed performance, Maxim Folia”, with Ensemble La Notte. has gone on to specialise in this He has performed with many field, performing a wealth of solo, leading period orchestras chamber, and orchestral music including the Hanover Band, I spanning from Monteverdi to Fagiolini, Yorkshire Baroque Beethoven on original set-ups. Soloists, London Handel Chamber music forms a Orchestra and Players, and big part of Maxim's musical life, Florilegium. Violin Maxim del Mar

10 istorical and modern Ancient Music, the BBC Symphony violist Joanna Patrick is Orchestra and the London Han active orchestral and Symphony Orchestra, as well as chamber musician, performing touring with the European Union across the UK and Europe. Baroque Orchestra. In 2018 she graduated She is an active chamber with First Class Honours from the musician and has performed with Royal College of Music in London chamber ensembles at concert under the tutelage of Simon venues including the Queen's Rowland-Jones and Annette Isserlis, Gallery in Buckingham Palace, the where she was a prize-winning Wigmore Hall and King's Place. finalist in the 2018 Concerto Upcoming performances Competition and the 2016 June include Handel's Dixit Dominus Emerson Chamber Music Prize. with the English Baroque Soloists Joanna has played with and John Eliot Gardiner at the BBC orchestras including Orchestra of Proms and in the Berlin the Age of Enlightenment, Philharmonie. Florilegium, the Academy of Viola Joanna Patrick

he Franco-British cellist, Florence has played at the Florence Petit, graduated Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Tfrom the Royal College of London Handel Festival, Music, London, with First Class Hatchlands Park, Buckingham Honours and Distinction for her Palace, the National Gallery, the Bachelors and Masters Degrees National Portrait Gallery and the respectively. Queen’s Gallery. Florence studied modern She has recorded for the cello with Alexander Chaushian Royal Collection Trust’s exhibition and Alexander Boyarsky and Masters of the Everyday: Dutch throughout her studies developed a Artists in the Age of Vermeer and strong interest in the baroque cello, has worked with Florilegium, the studying with Richard Tunnicliffe. Brandenburg Baroque Soloists and She has participated in . numerous master classes and has received coaching from Jonathan Manson, Ashley and Adrian Butterfield, amongst others. Cello Florence Petit

11 icola Barbagli studied Cercle de L'Harmonie, La modern oboe in Italy at Barocca, Classical Opera NScuola di Musica di Company, Ensemble Zefiro, Fiesole and the Scala Theatre Boxwood and Brass, Cappella Academy. Cracoviensis, Geneva Camerata He then graduated from among others Geneva Haute Ecole de Musique Nicola runs Istante with Maurice Bourgue. Collective and Baroquestock, a He moved to the UK to new music festival in Hampstead play in the Southbank Sinfonia (London) that combines and after that decided to study imaginative early music historical oboes with Katharina performances with homemade Sprekelsen at the Royal Academy cooked food. of Music. When Nicola is not at Nicola performed 415 or 430hz he can usually be regularly with the Orchestra of found baking cakes and playing Age of Enlightenment, Gabrieli accordion with his folk band. Consort, La Lira di Orfeo, Le Oboe Nicola Barbagli

my Roberts is a British featured as guest principal with oboist who is at home on London Philharmonic Orchestra, Aboth historical and BBC NOW, BBC Symphony modern instruments. She has Orchestra and London Chamber recently played with the Orchestra Orchestra, and has spent several of the Age of Enlightenment, seasons at the Glyndebourne , Festival with LPO. English Concert, Dunedin She is in demand as a Consort, Florilegium and the Early soloist and chamber musician, Opera Company. recorded the Villa Lobos Concerto At the Royal Academy of Grosso and performed concertos Music she studied baroque oboe by Albinoni, Bach, Haydn, with Katharina Spreckelson, and Mozart, Martinu and MacMillan. earlier at the Royal Northern Upcoming highlights College of Music with Tony include the Strauss & Mozart Robson. She plays on a copy of a concertos, recitals with Gamal Stanesby oboe made especially for Khamis (pianist), and a world her by Richard Earle. premiere concerto performance, On modern oboe she has composed by Joshua Borin. Oboe Amy Roberts

12 atriona leads a varied Enlightenment and English career as a modern and Baroque Soloists. Cperiod instrument As a soloist Catriona is a bassoonist and keen educator, with former Countess of Munster and recent highlights including her Handel House Talent artist and solo performance on BBC Radio has also given several concerto 3 ‘In Tune’ and premiering a new performances, most recently the work by Toby Young with Navarra Mozart concerto with Academy of String Quartet. St Mary le Bow. Catriona is in demand as Catriona is a passionate an orchestral bassoonist, playing chamber musician, playing at guest principal with orchestras festivals and venues nationwide such as London Philharmonic such as Wigmore Hall, Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Bridgewater Hall and Ryedale Orchestra and RTÉ Symphony Festival. Orchestra and she also performs As a baroque bassoonist with leading period instrument she is a member of Ensemble ensembles such as Florilegium, Molière and Convivio. Orchestra of the Age of Bassoon Catriona McDermid

ean Heath performs music conductors such as regularly on harpsichord and Christophe Rousset, Laurence Sorgan across the UK and Cummings, Robert Howarth and further afield in locations stretching Christian Curnyn as well as with from Vancouver to Beijing. well-known performers including A former student of the Emma Kirkby and Margaret Royal Academy of Music and the Faultless. University of Cambridge, he was Despite the coronavirus closely associated with St Andrews restrictions he has given several for several years as ‘keyboardist in performances this year, including in residence’, accompanying the the past month a staged production chapel choir for its services, tours, of Handel’s in Saluzzo, Italy, broadcasts and recordings. and performances with Opera dei Although he performs a Lumi in Newcastle. wide repertoire spanning several centuries, Sean is most comfortable playing harpsichord continuo and has done so under leading early Harpsichord Sean Heath

13 BATH RECITALS 2021 SEASON

The Albany Trio The Orchid & its Hunter

Saturday 16 October, 7.30pm St Michael’s Church, Bath

The Albany Trio's programme includes a piece they commissioned in 2015 from composer Judith Bingham plus Beethoven, Turina and Dvořák.

Passamezzo Old Christmas Returned

Saturday 15 December, 7.30pm St Michael’s Church, Bath

A seasonal programme following the calendar from Advent to Candlemas and showing how Christmas was celebrated, banned and restored in 17th Century England.

Tickets for all events are now on sale via bathrecitals.com