1:00 pm Friday, September 4, 2015 Aquatic Park Center, 890 Beach St.

Ted Rust, — Viva Knight, piano Dolci by the Bay No. 58: Versailles, Madrid, Leipzig

Variations on La D'Espana Marin Marais (1656-1728) Theme — Gently provocative — An elegant dance — On tiptoe, cheekily — With intrigue — The chattering gossips whisper together — With conspiracy — In the gardens at midnight — Riding around the paddock — Proudly strutting home — Theme

Marin Marais, a noted and a virtuoso performer of the da gamba, was employed for most of his life by the court of Louis XIV, the monarch who unified in the 17th century, creating the first European nation-state. At the peak of his career, Marais was appointed Musicien du Chambre du Roi, whose job each day was to improvise intimate bedtime music in King's bedroom (chambre). These nine variations on La Folia, a popular song at the time, comment slyly on the affairs and intrigues of the courtiers at Versailles. He published them in 1701.

Sonata in D Major (1685-1757)

Domenico Scarlatti was born into a musical family of Naples in the same year as Bach and Handel. His career as a composer of and oratorios took him to Rome, London, Lisbon and eventually to Madrid, where he worked for the royal family and composed the 555 short keyboard sonatas for which he is best known. His sonatas were very inventive, using harmonies and melodies derived from Spanish folk music and unconventional schemes for modulating to remote keys.

Sonata in G Minor (1685-1750) Andante — Siciliano — Presto

Bach probably wrote this sonata during the 1730s for the Collegium Musicum Leipzig, a music club founded by his friend Telemann which met in private homes, public plazas and coffee shops. The score creates distinct musical lines that proceed simultaneously, usually one line in the treble part and three in the keyboard, including a bass line that equals the importance of the treble instrument's and could be doubled by a or . This sonata is one of his few that contains a fully realized keyboard part rather than a bare line.

NEXT CONCERT: MENDELSSOHN AQUATIC PARK, SEPTEMBER 11