Christmas Baroque by Promethean Editions

[01] Sinfonia from Cantata No.142 1:14 Johann Sebastian Bach / Johann Kuhnau

Concerto di Pastorale Op.8 No.6 Giuseppe Torelli [02] Grave – Vivace [03] Largo [04] Vivace

Sinfonia Pastorale Op.2 No.12 Franceso Manfredini [05] Largo [06] Adagio [07] Largo e puntato

Simphonie de Noëls Michel-Richard de Lalande [08] Andante – Trio [09] Allegretto [10] Simphonie

Sinfonia Pastorale Giovanni Ferrandini [11] Allegro [12] Andantino [13] Allegro

Pastorello P.91 Michael Haydn [14] Andante [15] Allegro

5:15 2:08 1:36 1:31

6:17 2:01 1:02 3:14

5:12 1:57 2:15 1:00

8:38 4:24 1:14 3:00

9:22 5:07 4:15

Sinfonia Pastorale Op.4 No.2 Johann Stamitz [16] Presto [17] Larghetto [18] Minuetto [19] Presto

Suite de Noëls François Joseph Gossec [20] Adagio – Siciliana [21] Le Chant [22] Accurrite gentes

12:22 2:56 4:47 1:47 2:52

5:20 1:16 1:54 2:10

‘Pifa’ from The Messiah George Frideric Handel [23] Larghetto

Sinfonia a tre Op.1 No.12 Giuseppe Valentini [24] Largo – Andante e forte [25] Allegro [26] Largo [27] Presto

Total Duration

MMT2043 Digital Stereo Recording B 2002 HRL Morrison Music Trust - 2002 HRL Morrison Music Trust

2:25

9:23 2:45 2:06 2:26 2:06

65:28

Pastoral Christmas Music from the Baroque era

The pastoral tradition in music has had a long and distinguished history dating back to ancient times. It is likely that ancient Greeks wrote pastoral music to accompany poems and dramas. Pastoral elements are encountered in Homerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Iliad. Idylls and other literary works were certainly meant for public recitation and it is assumed that performers would accompany the verse with instruments such as the syrinx â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a kind of flute that had pastoral connotations for the ancient Greeks. The pastoral was also a favourite literary genre during the Renaissance. In fact, by the end of the 16th century it was the predominant poetic style in Italian speaking areas. Pastorals were poems that dealt with shepherds or other rural subjects and quite often had a mythological element. As with the poetry of the ancient Greeks, these poems recounted various idyllic scenes that composers found were ideal subjects for musical treatment. Composers of madrigals used this musical sensibility, generally to assist the depiction of inner moods during monologues. While the style had dramatic limitations it is recognised as being an important forerunner to the art form of opera. During the late 12th century, greater liturgical freedom permitted the singing of popular noĂŤls during midnight mass. In the 17th and 18th century, this freedom also allowed composers to use popular tunes, and to compose new music with pastoral elements for these occasions. Italian composers began to create specific musical

styles for use during Christmas celebrations, notably Christmas Eve, which were eventually taken up by composers throughout Europe. Many of these Italian composers found themselves with a wonderful orchestra at the basilica of San Petronio in Bologna. Concerti and symphonies were played before and during services. For Christmas, these works included pastoral movements. Corelli’s ‘Christmas’ Concerto (Op.6 No.8) is the best known example of this type. Although Corelli had spent his formative years in Bologna, the ‘Christmas’ Concerto was written after he had moved to Rome. These styles also made use of pastoral elements, taking their inspiration from the concept of Christ the good shepherd, and the pastoral tradition where the animals speak on Christmas Eve. These works were performed during the offertory or gradual at Christmas midnight mass. Many pastoral symphonies and concerti grossi represent events based on Luke 2: the announcement of midnight, the appearance of angels, shepherds and their offering of gifts to the Christ child. There were a few common conventions to this style. One of the most readily recognized is the frequent use of a drone bass – usually on the dominant or tonic, which evoke rustic instruments such as various types of bagpipe or hurdy-gurdy.Melodies in this style were generally in triple time – most often in 6/8 or 12/8 and were usually symmetrical in construction. Melodies were often harmonized in parallel intervals – mostly in thirds and sixths. It seems highly probable that these particular features were adopted from the music of

Italian shepherds. Handel derived the ‘Pifa’ from his Messiah from an actual bagpipe tune that he heard in Italy. The imaginative use of wind instruments in many Christmas symphonies further symbolized the playing of reed pipes. Echo effects are a commonly used convention of the style and perhaps allude to echoes of pipes heard in the valleys below. Flutes and oboes were generally used in pairs and this instrumental convention became more prevalent in the later Baroque period. One can hear these Italian pastoral conventions in such late Baroque works as Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. The tradition of pastoral music entered the classical symphony with notable works by many Mannheim composers such as Stamitz. Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral’ piano sonata and his sixth symphony also make use of standard pastoral musical conventions. Composers still continue to use many of these same conventions used in early Baroque music for their Christmas and pastoral settings, albeit at times with a sense of irony or as a neoclassical gesture. While most of these pastoral works were vocal, in the early 18th century pastoral elements were used in concerti grossi and other instrumental forms, such as early symphonies. The ‘siciliano’ is a particular kind of pastoral much favoured by Baroque composers. There is debate amongst musicians and scholars regarding the correct tempi for these works. It is generally assumed that these works were played in a gentle flowing manner, though there is a school of thought that holds that faster tempi, more in the style of a hurdy-gurdy, was

accepted practice. Instrumental music for Christmas written during the 18th century also derived material and musical convention from more popular sources. Since the 15th century the term ‘noël’ has defined a non-liturgical verse usually based on Christmas themes. These verses would have often been sung to plainchant tunes and also popular and rustic tunes of the day. As time progressed, these noëls became more complex and often contrapuntal. During the 18th century, organ composers began writing Christmas music based on popular and rustic tunes of the day. Instrumental composers such as Michel-Richard De Lalande and François Joseph Gossec also took up this trend. Certainly the works by these composers in this recording typify the style of music that a person in the 18th century would expect from a noël. Their wonderful use of wind instruments adds to the immediate popular and rustic appeal of the music. Rousseau in his Dictionary of Music of 1768 writes that noëls are ‘tunes intended for certain canticles which the people sang at Christmas: these types have a rustic and pastoral character consistent with the simplicity of the words and of the shepherds who were supposed to have sung them when paying homage to Christ in the crib.’

Marc Taddei

Sinfonia from Cantata No.142 Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Johann Kuhnau (1660-1722)

[01] In 1714 Bach began an immense artistic programme of regular church music based on the recent practices of the Protestant princely courts. Before this time, he was only able to compose cantatas at irregular intervals. Bach’s stated aim was to realize ‘the ultimate goal of a well regulated church music’. The composer Johann Philipp Keiger developed German Church cantatas in 1700, when he set to music sacred poems by a Lutheran theologian by the name of Erdmann Nuemeister. These works borrowed from Italian secular cantata styles and, with the decision to incorporate a recitative style, the sacred German cantata style of music became highly influenced by opera. Bach decided to write a cantata weekly for every Sunday of the ecclesiastical year, except for the weeks of Lent. The performances of these cantatas in the Lutheran Church became the principal musical composition in the German Mass. The cantatas served as a kind of musical sermon and Bach took a great amount of interest in their performance. The Sinfonia from Cantata No.142, Uns ist ein Kind geboren, has been attributed to Bach though recent musicological investigation suggests instead that Johann Kuhnau is the composer. Kuhnau was one of Leipzig’s most respected professional musicians and composers. He was also one of the most important composers of the German keyboard

suite alongside Froberger and Pachelbel. Kuhnau was also the first composer to transfer the Baroque suite, which was originally a work for instrumentalists, to the keyboard. Bach succeeded Kuhnau as Directoris Chori Musici of the Collegium Musicum in Leipzig. While Bach expressed no interest in Kuhnau’s musical estate, he was certainly familiar with his music as well as that of composers as varied as Corelli, Pachelbel, Froberger, Buxtehude and Vivaldi. Bach felt strongly that he should write all of the music that was performed for Church services. This work – an instrumental Sinfonia in A minor – is a fine example of the late German Baroque musical style and one can understand why the possible mistaken attribution has been handed down to us. This work points directly to the cantatas of Bach and shares many of the same characteristics.

Concerto di Pastorale Op.8 No.6 Giuseppe Torelli (1658-1708) [02] Grave – Vivace [03] Largo [04] Vivace

Torelli is thought to have received his early musical training from Giuliano Massarotti in Verona. Between 1681 and 1684 Torelli moved to Bologna, where he became a violinist of the Accademia Filarmonica in 1684. In 1692 he was elevated to the rank of composer. Like Manfredini, his student, he also studied composition with G. A. Perti. Torelli’s output as a composer consists primarily of chamber and orchestral works and he was an important composer for the trumpet. He was also influential in the development of the solo concerto and the concerto grosso. He spent much of his career in Bologna as a member

of the distinguished musical establishment of San Petronio, where his near contemporary Corelli had once served. This ‘Christmas concerto’ is a concerto grosso which incorporates a pastoral movement recalling the presence of shepherds in the fields near Bethlehem in the Biblical story of the birth of Christ. It was intended as a Concerto da Chiesa (for church use). Torelli’s ‘Christmas’ Concerto, Op.8 No.6 has the ascription ‘con un pastorale per il Santissimo Natale’ (pastoral for the most holy night of Christmas). Scored for two solo violins and cello with string orchestra and continuo, it abandons typical Bolognese counterpoint and is an example of his mature concerto grosso style. Torelli appears to be one of the first composers to specify multiple numbers of instrumentalists on a single string part in print. The ‘Christmas’ Concerto in G minor is written in the typical fast–slow–fast order of the Italian opera overture.

Sinfonia Pastorale Op.2 No.12 Franceso Manfredini (1684-1762) [05] Largo [06] Adagio [07] Largo e puntato

Francesco Manfredini was born in Pistoia in 1684. His father was a trombonist at Pistoia Cathedral. Like Corelli, he studied music in Bologna with Torelli and Perti. He worked intermittently in the great Basilica of San Petronio, with a period seemingly in the service of the ruler of Monaco. He spent the last 35 years of his life in Pistoia as maestro di cappella at the cathedral. His instrumental works belong to the period before his return to Pistoia, written and published in Bologna in the first twenty years of the 18th century. He was a highly prolific composer though only a small amount of his music survives in

published form. Vivaldi admired his music. In three movements, this Sinfonia Pastorale per il Santissimo Natale (Christmas Symphony) is filled with many of the conventions of pastoral music, including gently rocking rhythms and a dramatic use of drone chords.

Simphonie de Noëls

Michel-Richard de Lalande (1657-1726) [08] Andante – Trio (ou s’en vont ces gays bergers) [09] Allegretto [10] Simphonie Michel-Richard de Lalande was the leading French composer of the High Baroque grand motet at the French court. During his 43 years of service at Versailles, starting in 1683, he wrote over 70 ‘grands motets’ and these were highly influential because they were greatly expanded in scope compared with those of his predecessors. He was extremely popular with Louis XIV – so much so that the King personally intervened on Lalande’s behalf on several occasions. The King covered all of the expenses of Lalande’s wedding to his first wife in 1684, and under his patronage Lalande worked initially as a chamber composer at the royal chapel, in 1715, just two weeks before Louis XIV died, he became the first person to individually control the music for the royal chapel. His music was popular until the French Revolution. In 1722 he relinquished three quarters of his chapel responsibilities and was given the title of Chevalier of the Order of St. Michel by Louis XV. This ‘Christmas symphony’ is one of two such works composed by Lalande. Both are settings of traditional French Christmas carols based on popular melodies that were played in the Chapel of the King on Christmas night.

Sinfonia Pastorale

Giovanni Ferrandini (c.1710-1791) [11] Allegro [12] Andantino [13] Allegro Ferrandini began his studies in Venice, later moving to Munich where he entered the music profession. In 1722 he achieved a position as a court oboist with Duke Ferdinand in Bavaria and in the following year was appointed as an oboist to the elector’s court musicians. From 1732 he was chamber composer to Elector Karl Albrecht and in 1737 was appointed director of chamber music. In 1755 he was made Lord High Steward to the Elector and was given a pension that enabled him to return to Padua. In 1771, Wolfgang Mozart visited him in Padua and played to him on the harpsichord. Ferrandini was highly regarded as an opera composer in Munich and wrote the first opera production chosen for the opening of the new Residenztheater in Munich in 1753. Ferrandini’s Sinfonia pastorale per il Santissimo Natale (Christmas Symphony) is delightfully scored for two flutes, strings and continuo. Clearly pastoral in style, the flutes are an unmistakable allusion to shepherds’ pipes while the echo and ‘yodelling’ effects and simple harmonic language employed would have certainly been understood as a representation of the shepherds tending their flocks.

Pastorello P.91

Michael Haydn (1737-1806) [14] Andante [15] Allegro A younger brother of Franz Joseph Haydn, Michael was born in Rohrau, Austria, 14 September 1737 and died in Salzburg, 10 August

1806. In 1745 Michael Haydn entered the choir of the Cathedral of St. Stephen in Vienna, where his brother Joseph had been active as soprano soloist since 1740. By the order of the choirmaster, Joseph was entrusted with the musical education of his younger brother. They were together in the choir for three years. When Joseph’s soprano voice gave out, Michael succeeded him as soloist, remaining with St. Stephen’s choir until 1755. In 1757 he was called to Grosswardein to serve Archbishop Sigismund as choirmaster of his cathedral, and in 1762 he accepted the position of orchestra conductor to the PrinceArchbishop Hieronymus of Salzburg. He later assumed also the duties of organist at the church of St. Peter, at Salzburg, which was presided over by the Benedictines. He subsequently exchanged this position for similar duties at the cathedral. Haydn retained these positions until his death in 1806. As was the custom among composers in his day, and by virtue also of his function as conductor and organist, Haydn wrote in every form of composition, but most of his finest efforts are those based on liturgical texts. His tendency in composing was to unite the characteristics of contemporary masters who wrote for the Church. Among his other instrumental works are thirty symphonies, serenades, marches, minuets, string quartets, and fifty preludes for the organ. Pastorellas are a kind of Church composition found in Central Europe in Roman Catholic areas. There is a collection of Church songs published in 1710 by Pa’l Esterhazy at Vienna in 1711 and the tradition of Esterhazy court composers writing pastorellas continued through to the time of Haydn.

Like the works based on noëls, these pastorellas are considered pastoral because of their allusions to rustic and popular music. Michael Haydn’s Pastorello was written in Salzburg in 1766 and is scored for strings, timpani, and four trumpets – two low (trombe) and two high (clarini). It is in two movements – an Andante and a sprightly Allegro. While most pastorellas were vocal, Haydn’s is purely instrumental.

Sinfonia Pastorale Op.4 No.2 Johann Stamitz (1717-1757)

[16] Presto [17] Larghetto [18] Minuetto [19] Presto Johann Wenzel Anton Stamitz was born in Bohemia in 1717 and died in Mannheim in 1757. He was one of the most important early Classical composers of the symphony. As the director of instrumental music at the Mannheim court, Stamitz was influential in developing the Mannheim orchestra into the most famous orchestra of the time and consequently shaping the future direction of the orchestra and classical symphony as we know it today. In 1754 Stamitz spent a year in Paris, living at the palace of M. de La Pouplinière, whose private orchestra he conducted. During this time he came to influence one of the orchestra’s members, François Joseph Gossec who was later to succeed Stamitz as the conductor of the orchestra. The Sinfonia Pastorale is one the final symphonies the great Mannheim composer Stamitz composed. Like the works of Lalande and Gossec, Stamitz uses a musical theme taken from a popular carol that would have been instantly recognizable to audiences of the time. This pastoral symphony quotes from the old Bohemian Carol, ‘Nesem va’m noviny’ in the finale.

It is likely that Stamitz would have intended this pastoral symphony for secular use rather than specifically for use by the Church. The principal innovation in the symphonies of Stamitz is his consistent use of four movements and for the specific order of the final two movements to be a minuet and trio, followed by a presto. In common with his other late symphonies, the Sinfonia Pastorale employs a pair of oboes and horns in a distinctive and virtuosic manner. During the 1740’s and 1750’s composers began to experiment with a style of opera overture that represented a break with the Baroque style of concerti grossi and became far more ‘orchestral’. Stamitz took this new style and considerably deepened and refined it, utilizing wind instruments in a soloistic manner throughout many of his symphonies.

Suite de Noëls

François Joseph Gossec (1734-1829) [20] Adagio – Siciliana [21] Le Chant [22] Accurrite gentes François Joseph Gossec was born into a Walloon peasant family and as a child revealed considerable musical gifts, including a beautiful singing voice. He began his musical studies at the age of six at the collegiate church of Walcourt. Gossec went to Paris in February 1751 where he secured a position as a violinist and bassist with de la Pouplinière’s private orchestra. During his time as a member of this orchestra, Gossec met Johann Stamitz who was the director from 1754-1755, and through him became acquainted with the latest structural and stylistic innovations of the Mannheim School. In 1755, he succeeded Stamitz as the director of this orchestra. Gossec is noted for his use of wind instruments, which was

considered advanced for the time. In fact, he wrote what is probably the first symphony to include the use of clarinets. The influx of fine wind players into Paris from Germanic and Bohemian countries allowed Gossec to develop a richness of orchestration that was unmatched by other French composers of the day. His Suite de Noëls of 1766 is an interesting amalgam of styles. Based on French noëls, stylistically this work utilizes a Baroque dance form and a sense of dynamic nuance which is derived from the Mannheim school of Stamitz. This suite also incorporates both elements of the Pastoral tradition as well as a more rustic style derived from popular noëls – particularly in the writing for the oboes and horns. As with the work of Lalande, this style of Christmas instrumental work went out of fashion with the French revolution.

‘Pifa’ from The Messiah

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) [23] Larghetto Handel, along with Bach, was one of the greatest of the late Baroque composers. He was also the most famous composer of the late Baroque with a completely international career. His style of composition was to have a profound effect on the newer style of the 18th century that was developing throughout his life. His interest in opera and comparative lack of reliance on counterpoint made him one of the most progressive figures in music. The ‘Pifa’ from his oratorio The Messiah is a classic example

of pastoral writing. It is in triple time and is harmonized in parallel thirds throughout. It is said that the melody for this sinfonia was directly transcribed by the composer from Italian shepherds in the fields. While the middle-class English audience that went to hear this work would have immediately heard the allusions to the pastoral style, it must be stressed that The Messiah, although sacred in topic, was not intended for church use.

Sinfonia a tre Op.1 No.12 Giuseppe Valentini (1681-1753)

[24] Largo â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Andante e forte [25] Allegro [26] Largo [27] Presto Giuseppe Valentini was an important figure in early 18th century Italian music. As both a violinist and a prolific composer of vocal and instrumental pieces, he was one of the most prominent musicians active in Rome from around 1700, achieving substantial success there with his sonatas and concertos. His Sinfonia a tre per il Santissimo Natale (Christmas Symphony) Op.1 No.12 is scored for two violins and continuo. It makes expressive use of suspensions and features melodies harmonised in thirds for much of the time.

the players New Zealand Symphony Orchestra The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra is the country’s leading orchestra and is the flagship of the performing arts in New Zealand. Founded in 1946 it gave its first public performance in March 1947. In 1999 James Judd was appointed its first Music Director. The orchestra gives more than one hundred performances each year, including a major season of symphonic repertoire with international conductors and artists in seven subscription centres. The NZSO gives family and schools concerts, performs at outdoor spectaculars, accompanies opera and ballet productions, records for television, film and radio, and visits smaller centres. It regularly commissions and performs New Zealand music and has a long recording history, which has seen it move into the world market and win many international awards. A highlight of the NZSO’s tours outside New Zealand was a visit to Seville to perform at the 1990 Expo with Kiri Te Kanawa under Conductor Laureate Franz-Paul Decker. Notable recent highlights include performances at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Arts Festival (which featured premières of two works by Gareth Farr), sell-out concerts, and the 2002 performances with James Judd and soloists Vadim Repin (violin) and Steven Kovacevich (piano).

Marc Taddei One of New Zealand’s most dynamic conductors, Marc Taddei is the Music Director of the Christchurch Symphony, Associate Conductor of the Auckland Philharmonia, and Music Director of New Zealand’s premier modern music group, the 20th Century Classics Ensemble. He holds the positions of Head of Orchestral Repertoire Studies and Artist Teacher of Conducting at Victoria University of Wellington. Marc has conducted in Europe and North America, and is a frequent guest conductor with every major professional orchestra in New Zealand. He is noted for his interpretations of the Germanic and late-Romantic repertoire and is a keen advocate of the Second Viennese School. In addition to his work with the 20th Century Classics Ensemble, which has presented the New Zealand premières of many 20th century masterpieces, Marc has also been an advocate of contemporary New Zealand composers.

the artist Dick Frizzell (b.1943) Christmas Pudding, 1987

Dick Frizzell graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Ilam School of Fine Art, University of Canterbury. He began his career as a ‘renegade pop artist’ in the 1970s. His work has always been characterised by a highly skilled handling of paint and an endlessly inventive range of subject matter and styles: faux-naïf New Zealand landscapes, figurative still-lifes, comic book characters and witty parodies of modernist abstraction. His taste is conveniently broad and he has a penchant for fondly remembered and well-worn cliches. There is also in his work a sense of exuberance, ironic humour and a babyboomer nostalgia. An anti-traditionalist, Frizzell often makes a deliberate effort to mix up the categories of high and low art – poking fun at the intellectualisation of ‘high art’ and the existential angst of much New Zealand painting in the art culture of his youth. Frizzell has exhibited since the late 1970s. His works are held in all of the major public and corporate collections throughout New Zealand, and he has completed a number of important commissions. In 1996 a retrospective exhibition of his work, Dick Frizzell: Portrait of a Serious Artiste was toured nationally to all of the public art galleries in the main centres.

Kriselle Baker, Gow Langsford Gallery

credits MMT2042 Digital Stereo Recording B 2002 HRL Morrison Music Trust - 2002 HRL Morrison Music Trust Recorded in the Wellington Town Hall, Wellington, New Zealand, 20 to 22 August, 2002 Producer Murray Khouri, Continuum Recording Engineer Keith Warren, Radio New Zealand Digital Editing and Mastering Wayne Laird, Atoll Executive Producer Ross Hendy Music Notes Marc Taddei Design Mallabar Music Photos Ross Hendy The HRL Morrison Music Trust gratefully acknowledges the support of the following people and organisations in the making of this Compact Disc: Peter Walls, NZSO; Roger Lloyd, NZSO; Neville Brown, Wellington Convention Centre.

HRL Morrison Music Trust The HRL Morrison Music Trust was established in March 1995 as a charitable trust to support New Zealand musicians of international calibre. All funds received by the Trust are used to make recordings, present concerts – both in New Zealand and overseas – and assist artists to undertake projects to further develop their talents. HRL Morrison Music Trust PO Box 1395 Wellington, New Zealand info@trustcds.com More information about other releases by the HRL Morrison Music Trust can be found at the internet site:

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[01] Sinfonia from Cantata No.142 1:14

Johann Sebastian Bach / Johann Kuhnau