Seize the Moment! A Musical Treasure Trove 2020-21 virtual cOncert series revealing lOst musical gems frOm acrOss cOuntries and cOntinents MUSICIANS OF THE OLD POST ROAD • 2020-21 SEASON 1 Christmas Potpourri Saturday, December 12, 2020, 7:30 EDT, Online Noëls pour les instruments, H. 534 and 531 Marc-Antoine Charpentier Les Bourgeois de Châtres• Où s’en vont ces gais bergers (1643-1704) Joseph est bien marié • Or nous dites Marie • A la venue de Noël Une jeune pucelle • Les Bourgeois de Châtres O che nuovo stupor Francesca Caccini (1587-after 1641) Noël Étranger Louis-Claude Daquin (1694-1772) Como aunque culpa Manuel de Zumaya (c.1678-1755) Noëls, H. 531 Charpentier O créateur Laissez paître vos bêtes Vous qui desirez sans fin An Hymn for Christmas Day John Christopher Smith (1712-1795) Die Schlittenfahrt (The Sleigh Ride) Leopold Mozart Intrada • Sleigh Ride • The Young Lady Shivering with Cold (1719-1787) The Ball Begins (Menuett) • End of the Ball (rondo) • Sleigh Ride Deck the Hall With Boughs of Holly Traditional Welsh Jessica Petrus, soprano Suzanne Stumpf, traverso; Sarah Darling and Jesse Irons, violins Marcia Cassidy, viola; Daniel Ryan, cello Olav Chris Henriksen, theorbo and English guittar This concert is funded, in part, by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. and Boston Financial Management. MUSICIANS OF THE OLD POST ROAD • 2020-21 SEASON 2 Program Notes This program is a sampling of festive seasonal rediscoveries from composers across two continents, in- cluding instrumental French noël settings, arias from Italy, Mexico, and England, and Leopold Mozart’s playful musical Sleigh Ride. Marc-Antoine Charpentier is notable among French Baroque composers for the quantity, variety, and quality of the works he composed for the Christmas season. Written for both sacred and secular occasions, these include six of his 34 Latin oratorios, several motets, two pastorales, his famous Messe de Minuit, and ten instrumental noël settings. Charpentier’s noël settings, composed in the 1690s, owe much to the French dances of the period: Gavotte, Bourée, and Minuet. His settings show refined con- trapuntal mastery and variety in instrumentation. Here, he achieves colorful contrasts by utilizing vari- ous trio combinations in juxtaposition to the full ensemble. This program presents all of Charpentier’s surviving instrumental noël settings. Francesca Caccini was the daughter of composer Giulio Caccini, who is credited with the invention of the spoken style of singing called recitative. Francesca was highly regarded as a singer and composer in her day and is the first woman known to write opera. The text of her strophic aria O che nuovo stupor describes the wonder of the discovery of the birth of the Savior. Louis-Claude Daquin was a brilliant organist who served many churches and cathedrals in Paris, including Sainte-Chapelle, the Chapelle Royale, and Notre-Dame Cathedral. Noel Étranger (foreign noël) is from a collection of noël settings originally written for organ. On the title page of this collec- tion, it is stated that they may be played on other instruments. Our use of flute, violin, and cello pro- vides a variety of instrumental color combinations for this virtuosic work. Manuel de Zumaya was a highly-respected composer native-born to Mexico who was maestro at the Mexico City and Oaxaca cathedrals. His evocative cantata Como aunque culpa uses the harmonic pro- gression of a descending scale in the bass line, coupled with an upwardly spiraling repeated melody in the trebles. Its text is about the coming of Christ to repair the damage to mankind brought on by the fall of Adam. An Hymn For Christmas Day is a charming strophic aria published in John Arnold’s 1765 collection “Church Music Reformed.” Its approachable style is not unlike those in secular English songbooks of the period, with frequent interjections of instrumental “symphonies” set in alternation with the tune- ful vocal part. Although chiefly remembered as the father and educator of W. A. Mozart, Leopold Mozart was a respected composer (especially of church music), author of an influential violin treatise, and deputy Kapellmeister to the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg. His programmatic Die Schlittenfahrt was written around 1755 and describes through music a sleigh journey to a fancy ball and back home. It is one of several colorful character pieces he composed, including the Peasant Wedding and the Toy Symphony, all of which were probably written for specific occasions and call for unusual instruments. The program concludes with the beloved holiday tune Deck the Hall. Of Welsh origin, this tune did not originally have words, but was used as a vehicle for improvisation by the famous Welsh harpists. This performance will reflect that origin by featuring improvised phrases played by ensemble members alternating with the “Fa la la” phrases played by the full ensemble. —SUZANNE STUMPF AND DANIEL RYAN MUSICIANS OF THE OLD POST ROAD • 2020-21 SEASON 3 Musicians of the Old Post Road, Inc. Musicians of the Old Post Road is a chamber music ensemble specializing in the period instrument performance of music from the Baroque, Classical, and early Romantic periods. The group includes players of a variety of wind, string, and keyboard instruments. The organization’s mission is to increase the availability of high-quality period instrument performances to diverse audiences and communities, and to stimulate and educate through creative musical programming and outstanding repertory. The ensemble takes its name from its acclaimed concert series, founded in 1989, which brings chamber music performances to venues in cities and towns along the original route of the old Boston Post Road, the first thoroughfare connecting Boston and New York City beginning in the late 17th century. Sites for the concert series have included historic meetinghouses, mansions, museums, and public halls offering the architecture, acoustics, and ambiance appropriate to the music. Described as “one of the discoveries” of the 2001 early music festival in Regensburg, Germany, Musicians of the Old Post Road has been captivating audiences in the U.S. and abroad with its exciting programming and virtuoso performances. The ensemble specializes in offering a dynamic and diverse repertory that includes “rediscovered” works that have been lost to audiences for centuries. Winner of the 1998 Noah Greenberg Award from the American Musicological Society, Musicians of the Old Post Road has also received programming awards from Chamber Music America and the US– Mexico Fund for Culture. The ensemble has toured in Germany, Austria, Mexico, and has appeared at festivals and on concert series in the U.S., including the Boston Early Music Festival Concert Series, the Indianapolis Early Music Festival, and the Connecticut Early Music Festival, among others. The ensemble was in residence at Dartmouth College in April 2005. In 2006, the group was featured on WCVB television’s Chronicle in a segment that focused on the history of the old Boston Post Road. The ensemble’s discography encompasses seven recordings that have been praised in the U.S. and abroad, including their most recent, Earthly Baroque (Centaur, 2017). All of the group’s CDs contain previously unrecorded works. In an effort to make its performances and research activities more widely available, the ensemble has expanded its online presence. In 2009, it launched OPR Editions, a series of printed and downloadable sheet music editions of rediscovered works. The ensemble’s website also offers audio and video podcasts, articles, program notes from past concert seasons, and recordings of concert excerpts. Committed to the music education and enrichment of young people and to reaching diverse audiences, Musicians of the Old Post Road pursues a variety of community outreach initiatives. The ensemble has brought programs and performances to inner-city and MetroWest students, elderly groups, rural audiences, hospice residents, correctional facilities, and retirement communities. MUSICIANS OF THE OLD POST ROAD • 2020-21 SEASON 4 Board of Directors Beth Sulak, President • Mary Briggs, Vice President John Carey, Treasurer • James Moran, Clerk Gail Bucher • Thomas Hollocher• Marilyn Kucharski Directors Emeriti Eric Hall Anderson, Charles Hall, Susan Vogel, Ruth Westheimer, Dorothea Widmayer Artistic Directors Daniel Ryan & Suzanne Stumpf The Ensemble Suzanne Stumpf, flutes • Sarah Darling, violin • Marcia Cassidy, viola Daniel Ryan, cello • Michael Bahmann, harpsichord and fortepiano The Ensemble DANIEL RYAN, co-Artistic Director and cellist, has played with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Il Complesso Barocco (Venice and Innsbruck), the Camerata Academica of Salzburg, and many ensembles in the Greater Boston area such as Boston Cecilia, Handel & Haydn, Boston Baroque, and Favella Lyrica, with whom he appeared on the Bank of Boston Emerging Artists Celebrity Series. With the Boston-based group Renaissonics, he was featured on NPR’s Sound and Spirit program in 2005 and released a CD for WGBH radio. While attending Boston University, he studied cello with George Neikrug and pursued historical performance through course work at the Longy School of Music. He later studied with Christophe Coin at the Sommerakademie in Innsbruck. Also an accomplished player of keyboard instruments, Daniel has been awarded the Associate Certificate of the American Guild of Organists and is Music Director at First Religious Society in Carlisle. He has coached chamber music at Harvard University and Wellesley College, where he held the position of Instructor of Early Keyboard for many years. He has also given carillon recitals across New England. He has recorded for Centaur, Titanic, Meridian, and Koch. SUZANNE STUMPF, co-Artistic Director and flutist, has performed with numerous chamber and orchestral ensembles including the New York Bach Ensemble, Boston Cecilia, Handel & Haydn, and Boston Baroque, with whom she has appeared as soloist. She has toured in Germany and Austria with I Vari Flauti and has served as guest principal flutist for the Montreal Baroque Orchestra. She also performed at the Yellow Barn Music Festival, where she worked closely with John Cage.