Encores
Messe à l’usage des Paroisses, pour les Festes Solemnelles, 1690 François Couperin Plein chant du premier Kyrie, en Taille
Premier Livre d’Orgue, Suite du Deuxième Ton, 1710 Louis-Nicolas Clérambault Flûtes (1676–1749)
Caprice sur les grands jeux
Boston Early Music Festival Vocal Ensemble
Film by Gildas Boclé
Mireille Lebel, Alcina
Colin Balzer, Ruggiero
Cecilia Duarte, Melissa
Hannah De Priest, Nola Richardson, Megan Stapleton, Teresa Wakim, soprano
Filmed with the support of the town of Saint-Michel-en-Thiérache, and thanks to the support of ADAMA and the Festival of Early and Baroque music of the Abbey of Saint-Michel-en-Thiérache.
Mindy Ella Chu, Kameryn Lueng, mezzo-soprano
David Evans, Brian Giebler, Kyle Stegall, tenor
Michael Galvin, Douglas Williams, bass-baritone
Notes on the Program
Daniel Fridley, bass
When the Boston Early Music Festival invited me to create a filmed organ recital, mentioning it would be welcome if it could contain some reference to women musicians, I immediately though of the Messe pour les convents de Religieux et de Religieuses by François Couperin. We know that the daughter of François Couperin, MarieMadeleine, was organist in the abbey of Maubuisson, close to Pontoise—at a time, of course, much later than the composition of the mass by a young prodigy only twenty-two years old. We also know that his cousin Marguerite-Louise, in addition of being a distinguished singer, was also a harpsichord player: she possibly also played the organ, as was usual at a time when the two instruments were so closely related. Without imagining the mass written for her—she was after all very young in 1690—it is not absurd to think of it being played by a woman organist. It was, at any rate, an excellent pretext to go deep into this superb music.
Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Ensemble
two Suites in order to select one of them, I was constantly thinking of the single Suite published by Pierre Dumage in his book of 1708. The form is strictly identical—it is therefore also obviously a Magnificat—but the quality is decisively more intense and purer.
Robert Mealy, concertmaster
Julie Andrijeski, violin
Sarah Darling, violin & viola
David Morris, lirone & viola da gamba
Christel Thielmann, viola da gamba & recorder
Laura Jeppesen, viola da gamba
Kathryn Montoya, recorder
I believe it will be interesting to hear, sequentially, the colored intimacy, so powerfully inventive, of the Messe des couvents, and the warm and lyrical grandeur of the Suite by Dumage, obviously intended for the festes solemnelles. This juxtaposition will also allow listeners to appreciate the rapid evolution of French musical style during these years of great fecundity.
Héloïse Degrugillier, recorder
Maxine Eilander, Baroque harp
Michael Sponseller, harpsichord, organ & regal
Paul O’Dette, lute & Baroque guitar
Stephen Stubbs, chitarrone & Baroque guitar
W Double-manual German harpsichord by Allan Winkler, Medford, Massachusetts, 1989, X after Fleischer, property of the Boston Early Music Festival.
To continue this program, I first though of adding one of the Suites by Louis-Nicolas Clérambault. First, the form and character of its pieces allows one to think it was first conceived to accompany the Magnificat—a liturgy for the Holy Virgin. In addition, Clérambault was organist in Saint-Cyr: a convent of women, founded by Madame de Maintenon. However, his tenure there began in 1714; the music had been published in 1710. By re-reading the
W Michael von Clemm Continuo Organ by Henk Klop, 2006, X courtesy of the Memorial Church, Harvard University. (Boston performance only.)
The organ of Saint-Michel-en-Thiérache is perhaps the only one of relatively great size (a grand huit pieds with sixteen-foot bourdon and four keyboards) that survives intact from the time of Louis XIV, preserved without alteration or denaturation. The perfect balance of sounds allows a great variety of registrations in very pure combinations, magnified by the clear and warm acoustic of a splendid place. Above all, this instrument communicates a seduction, a profoundly inspiring charm, that words cannot easily describe. This opportunity to make such splendid music sound in Saint-Michel was a great pleasure. h
W Italian “Nuovolone” triple harp (after the painting La familia del artista Brera) X by Claus Henry Hüttel, Düren, 2023, property of the Boston Early Music Festival.
W Continuo organ by the Klop Workshop, The Netherlands, 2003, X provided by Baroque Keyboards. (Mahaiwe and Caramoor performances only.)
W Regal by Meloni & Farrier Organbuilders, New York, 2017. X (Mahaiwe and Caramoor performances only.)
—Frédérick HaasFESTIVAL CONCERT
Rameau, works by Johann Sebastian Bach (English Suites, Goldberg Variations, concertos, The Well-Tempered Clavier, partitas), François Couperin, Domenico Scarlatti, and others.
A Tribute to Anne, the Princess Royal and Handel’s favorite pupil
Erik Bosgraaf, recorder
Frédérick Haas performs as a soloist worldwide on the harpsichord and fortepiano in addition to directing Ausonia, the ensemble which he co-founded with violinist Mira Glodeanu, the purpose of which is to give birth to original musical projects.
Francesco Corti, harpsichord
French harpsichordist Frédérick Haas’s passion for the harpsichord started in early childhood and he began playing at the age of twelve. He studied the harpsichord, organ, and musicology at Paris and Amsterdam, and was enriched by regular contact with important original instruments and the workshops of harpsichord builders and restorers, and at master classes.
Frédérick Haas has been the professor of harpsichord at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels since 1997. An original harpsichord by Henri Hemsch, 1751, and a fortepiano by Ferdinand Hofmann, Vienna, ca. 1785–1790, have been entrusted into his care.
Sonata in C major George Frideric Handel for Recorder and Basso Continuo, HWV 365 (1685–1759)
Larghetto — Allegro — Larghetto — A tempo di Gavotta — Allegro
In 2015, Frédérick Haas founded the publishing organization Hitasura Productions, a platform for the free deployment of his future projects.
Sonata terza in G minor Count Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer for Recorder and Basso Continuo (1692–1766)
At the age of twenty-six, he recorded his first solo album, dedicated to the harpsichord suites by Jean Henry d’Anglebert. His discography, regularly acclaimed by the
Grave — Allegro — Sarabanda. Grave — Giga presto
Suite in D minor for Harpsichord, HWV 428 Handel
In 2018, as Producer for national broadcasting company France Musique, Frédérick Haas was the artistic coordinator of the project Scarlatti 555, which presented all 555 of Scarlatti’s keyboard sonatas. h
Prelude — Allegro — Allemande — Courante — Air & Double — Presto
Sonata in G major, Op. 9, No. 7 Jean-Marie Leclair (l’aîné) for [Voice] Flute and Basso Continuo (1697–1764)
Andante — Allegro ma non tanto —
Aria. Affettuoso; Altro — Giga. Allegro moderato
Sonata seconda in G minor Van Wassenaer for Recorder and Basso Continuo
Grave — Allegro — Adagio — Giga presto
Sonata in B minor Handel for Voice Flute and Basso Continuo, HWV 367a
Largo — Vivace — Furioso — Adagio — Alla breve — Andante — A tempo di menuet
Johann Christian Schickhardt for Recorder and Basso Continuo (ca. 1681–1762)
Sonata in E major, Op. 30, No. 7
Allegro — Siciliano — Allegro — Allegro — Giga — Allegro