Yale Baroque Ensemble les gouts-rĂŠĂźnis
Sonatas from the French and Italian Baroque robert mealy Director music of Bach Corelli Couperin Geminiani Handel Purcell Vivaldi
Robert Blocker, Dean
march 28, 2010 · 4 pm Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall
Yale Baroque Ensemble Robert Mealy, director Benjamin Charmot & Katherine Hyun, baroque violin Daniel S. Lee, baroque violin & viola Laura Usiskin, baroque cello Avi Stein, harpsichord
Arcangelo Corelli 1653-1713
Trio Sonata, Op. 3, No. 12 Grave/Allegro – Vivace – Allegro/Adagio – Allegro – Allegro from Sonate a tre, opus 3 (Rome, 1689)
Henry Purcell 1659-1695
Sonata No. 7 in four parts, Z. 808 Vivace – Largo—Grave—Canzona—Allegro from Ten Sonata’s in Four Parts (London, 1697)
Arcangelo Corelli
Sonata in D major for violin and harpsichord, Op. 5, No. 4, “La Folia” from Suonati a violino e violone o cimbalo (Rome, 1700)
George Frideric Handel 1685-1759
Trio Sonata, Op. 5, No. 4, HWV 399 Allegro—A tempo ordinario—Passacaille—Gigue— Menuet from Seven Sonatas or Trios, Op. 5 (London, 1739) intermission
Johann Sebastian Bach 1685-1750
Sonata No. 2 in A major, BWV 1015 (ca. 1715-22) Dolce – Allegro – Andante un poco – Presto
As a courtesy to the performers and audience members, turn off cell phones and pagers. Please do not leave the theater during selections. Photography or recording of any kind is not permitted.
les goûts-réünis The Reunited Tastes Sonatas of the French and Italian Baroque
Francesco Geminiani 1687—1762
Sonata in B-flat for cello and continuo, Op. 5, No. 4 (1746) Andante/Allegro moderato—Grave—Allegro
François Couperin 1668-1733
Le Parnasse, ou L’apothéose de Corelli (1724) I. Corelli at the foot of Mount Parnassus asks the Muses to welcome him amongst them. II. Corelli, enchanted by his favorable reception at Mount Parnassus, expresses his joy. He proceeds with his followers. III. Corelli drinks at the source of Hippocrene. His followers proceed. IV. Corelli’s exaltation at drinking at the waters of Hippocrene. V. After his exaltation, Corelli now falls asleep; his followers attend with some very quiet music. VI. The Muses wake Corelli and place him next to Apollo. VII. Corelli gives thanks.
Antonio Vivaldi 1678-1741
Trio Sonata in D minor, Op. 1, No. 12, RV 63, “La Follia” from Suonate da camera, opus 1 (Venice, 1705)
program notes by Robert Mealy
chamber sonatas did not survive. (Based on the bookbinding budget at Cöthen, Christoph Wolff estimates that around 350 cantatas, serenatas, and sonatas have been lost – and that’s a conservative estimate.) To remedy this, I have taken the one violin and harpsichord sonata that fits perfectly as a trio sonata and rearranged it for two violins and continuo. The Sonata in A major, BWV 1015, is one of Bach’s more ingenious sonatas: its second Our opening example of Arcangelo Corelli’s movement is a full-blown concerto, complete work, taken from the third of his four with ritornellos, while its third movement is a magisterial sets of trio sonatas, is one of his strict canon between the two upper parts. more extravagant sonatas, with brilliant, concerto-like writing for both violins and The role of the cellist in the early eighteenth continuo. We follow this with one of Henry century was largely one of dependable continuo Purcell’s ingenious sonatas, written in imitation player, holding down the bass line for the more of the “fam’d Italian Masters:” in this trio, you glamorous soloist. To balance things out, we can hear Purcell take on not only Italianate hear a cello sonata by Francesco Geminiani, a virtuosity, but also the dancing elegance of the student of Corelli’s who ended up in London French style as well as a certain native English as a colleague of Handel’s. Ever the rustic charm, all rendered in his own supremely entrepreneur, Geminiani published his Op.5 confident and immaculate part-writing. sonatas simultaneously for violin and for cello. These sonatas are characteristic of Geminiani’s Corelli’s “La Follia” is the last work in his digressive style, exploring a wide variety of volume of solo sonatas. This extended fantasy motifs with elaborate ornamention and on a popular ground bass becomes a battle of embellishments. wits (and madness) between treble and bass. Our first half ends with one of Handel’s more Bach and Handel’s great French contemporary, expansive pieces of musical architecture, a trio François Couperin, was consciously the sonata (enriched by a contemporary viola part) inheritor of his country’s great musical which includes theatrical music from his tradition. He was also very much aware of the Parnasso in Festa and Il Pastor Fido, as well as ballet new developments in other parts of Europe. music from his early Hamburg opera Alcina. Much of his later work was devoted to creating a goûts-réunis (a reunited style) that would In comparison with Handel and Corelli, Bach bring together the best of French elegance and produced surprisingly few trio sonatas, Italian virtuosity. To close his 1724 collection of judging by what has come down to us — but chamber works, Couperin included a tribute we must remember that many of Bach’s to Corelli, paralleling an apothéose he had Today’s program is a celebration of the trio sonata in the early eighteenth century and the many different national languages it could speak. In contrast with the experimental “new music” of early 17th-century composers (the focus of the YBE’s fall concert) this new music of the eighteenth century is beautifully proportioned, a kind of serene architecture in music.
yale baroque ensemble Robert Mealy, director
previously composed for Lully. In this pocket chamber drama for two violins and continuo, Corelli comes to Parnassus, drinks of the inspiring waters of Hippocrene, falls asleep (the occasion for the classic sommeil of French baroque opera), and finally is welcomed to Parnassus by Apollo himself. Couperin’s writing is consciously Italian, but with a thick French accent: note the elaborately melismatic ornaments of the top lines in the opening movement, laid out against a classic Corellian walking bass. In the preface to his Treatise of Good Taste in the Art of Music, Geminiani mentions discussing Corelli’s “La Follia” with the composer, “and heard him acknowledge the Satisfaction he took in composing it, and the Value he set upon it.” Antonio Vivaldi, the younger Venetian violinist, paid tribute to this popular work in his Opus 1 set of trio sonatas, which closes with his own highly theatrical variations on La Folia, here arranged for two violins, viola, and continuo by Daniel Lee.
The Yale Baroque Ensemble is a new postgraduate string ensemble dedicated to the highest level of study and performance of the Baroque repertoire. Its members go through an intensive one-year program of study, immersing themselves in the chamber and solo repertoire from 1600 to 1785. The program is designed for modern players to develop virtuosity and fluency in historical styles and to allow the participants to find their own eloquent voices on baroque instruments. Through coachings and individual lessons, participants learn to read early notation, develop a familiarity with primary source material and treatises, and become fluent with improvisation in various styles. The ensemble prepares and performs a series of concerts together during the year.
One of America’s leading historical string players, Robert Mealy has been praised for his “imagination, taste, subtlety, and daring” (Boston Globe); the New Yorker described him as “New York’s world-class early music violinist.” He has recorded over 50 cds on most major labels, ranging from Hildegard of Bingen with Sequentia, to Renaissance consorts with the Boston Camerata, to Rameau operas with Les Arts Florissants. Mr. Mealy has appeared at music festivals from Berkeley to Belgrade, and from Melbourne to Versailles; he has also performed with the Mark Morris Dance Group and accompanied Renée Fleming on the David Letterman Show. In New York he is a frequent leader and soloist with the New York Collegium, ARTEK, the Clarion Society, and Early Music New York. Since 2004, he has been concertmaster for the distinguished Boston Early Music Festival
artist profiles
Orchestra, leading them in their Grammynominated recordings of Lully’s Thésée and Psyché and Conradi’s Ariadne. He is a member of the medieval ensemble Fortune’s Wheel, the Renaissance violin band the King’s Noyse, and the 17c ensemble Quicksilver. Mr. Mealy is a professor of music at Yale, where he directs the Yale Collegium and teaches courses on rhetoric and performance; for a decade previously, he directed the Harvard Baroque Orchestra. In 2004 he received Early Music America’s Binkley Award for outstanding teaching at both Harvard and Yale. Violinist Benjamin Charmot is currently a member of the Yale Baroque Ensemble, a postgraduate program under the guidance of Robert Mealy. He received his Master’s degree from the Yale School of Music in 2009 with Syoko Aki, where he was a winner of the Yale Chamber Music Competition. A 2006 “Premier Prix” graduate of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris as a student of Régis Pasquier, Benjamin also won first prize at the Academie Internationale de St. Jean de Luz, where he has been a frequent performer. He has appeared at numerous chamber music festivals in France, including Le Festival de l’Orangerie de Sceaux with pianist Jean François Heisser, Festival d’Arles, Journées Ravel de Montfort L’Amaury, and Le Festival Européen Jeunes Talents. In 2006, Benjamin toured in Japan with Ensemble Nymphéas and violist Bruno Pasquier. He has also recorded for France Musique and performed live on Radio France. He has been guest concertmaster of the Orchestre National de Lorraine, concertmaster of Forum Sinfonietta, and performed regularly with the Orchestre National d’Ile de France.
Violinist Katie Hyun received her Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music, studying with Ani Kavafian. She received her master’s degree from the State University of New York in Stony Brook, where she studied with Pamela Frank, Ani Kavafian, and Philip Setzer, and her bachelor’s degree under Aaron Rosand and Pamela Frank at the Curtis Institute of Music. Katie has performed as a soloist with the Houston Symphony, Dallas Chamber Orchestra, Concerto Soloists Orchestra in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Up Close and Musical. Winner of the Philadelphia Orchestra Albert M. Greenfield Student Competition, she has also won the Stony Brook Concerto Competition, Aspen Academy Orchestra Concerto Competition, Music Academy of the West Concerto Competition, Concerto Soloists Young Artists Competition, the gold medal in the Houston Symphony League Competition, and the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition. Katie has appeared on the television program Good Morning Texas and on NPR’s Prairie Home Companion. She collaborated with bassist Edgar Meyer at the Laguna Beach Chamber Music Festival and participated in his Carnegie Hall Workshop. She has attended Encore School for Strings, Kneisel Hall, Music Academy of the West, Aspen, Taos Festival of Music, Music@Menlo, Yellow Barn, and Masterclass at Apeldoorn. Daniel S. Lee performs as a violinist, violist, and conductor in period and conventional performances in repertoire ranging from the 12th to 21st centuries. Following his Carnegie Hall debut in 1999 as a soloist with Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, he has appeared as a recitalist, chamber musician, and guest concertmaster
throughout the New York tri-state area. From the podium, he has worked with instrumentalists and singers, as well as dancers as the music director of the Albano Ballet, and has been the artistic director of the Sebastian Chamber Players and the choir director of the New Haven Korean Church. He has received his degrees from the Juilliard School and Yale University studying with Stephen Clapp, Ani Kavafian, and Jesse Levine. He is currently a graduate teaching assistant at University of Connecticut, where he is pursuing his doctoral studies as a student of Theodore Arm, and a visiting fellow in early music at the Yale School of Music under the guidance of Robert Mealy.
degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Southern California and is the recipient of a Fulbright scholarship for study in Toulouse.
Laura Usiskin’s musical interests are diverse, spanning early to contemporary music and solo to orchestral playing. Since coming to Yale, she has participated in many early music productions and ensembles, including Collegium Musicum, the New Haven Oratorio Choir and Orchestra, and the Yale gamba consort Temperaments. In June she gave her premiere performance of the Bach unaccompanied cello suites. Miss Usiskin is also a lover of chamber music, with performances in such New York venues as Alice Tully » www.danielslee.com Hall, Weill Hall, Zankel Hall, Merkin Hall, Miller Theatre, BargeMusic, Steinway Hall, and Avi Stein teaches harpsichord, vocal repertoire, many others. Her leadership and orchestral and chamber music at Yale University and is the abilities have been recognized throughout her music director at St. Matthew & St. Timothy career, notably as sitting principal cellist on Episcopal Church in New York. The New York Juilliard’s 2006 USA orchestra tour. She is also Times described him as “a brilliant organ soloist” a member of the New Haven Symphony. in his Carnegie Hall debut. Avi has performed throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, In May, Miss Usiskin finished her doctoral and Central America. He is an active continuo coursework at the Yale School of Music. She accompanist who has played with many graduated cum laude from Columbia in 2005 ensembles such as the Boston Early Music Festival with a Bachelor of Arts in Neuroscience and Orchestra, the Baroque Orchestras of Los Behavior and from Juilliard in 2006 with a Angeles, Seattle, and Indianapolis, and the Master of Music. Her cello studies began at age Warsaw, Toulouse, and Indianapolis Symphony five with Gilda Barston of the Music Institute of Orchestras. He has also conducted a variety of Chicago and continued with Richard Hirschl ensembles, including the recent debut of the of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Wendy OperaOmnia company in a production of Sutter of the Bang-on-a-Can All-stars, Fred Monteverdi’s Coronation of Poppea and a series Sherry of the Juilliard School, and Aldo Parisot called the 4x4 Festival featuring many of New of Yale University. York’s best baroque musicians. Avi is currently finishing his doctoral studies in organ and harpsichord at Indiana University. He holds
upcoming
http://music.yale.edu box office 203 432-4158 concerts & media Vincent Oneppo Dana Astmann Monica Ong Reed Danielle Heller Elizabeth Martignetti operations Tara Deming Christopher Melillo piano curators Brian Daley William Harold recording studio Eugene Kimball Jason Robins listen live to select performances streamed from Sprague, Sudler, and Woolsey Halls at music.yale.edu/media
March 31 boris berman, piano Sprague Hall | Wed | 8 pm Tickets $11-20 | Students $6 The Horowitz Piano Series presents artistic director Boris Berman performing Debussy’s complete Préludes. media sponsor • wshu 91.1 fm
April 1 new music new haven Sprague Hall | Thu | 8 pm Featuring guest composer Tom Johnson (‘61BA, ‘67MM), plus music by Robert Honstein, Andy Akiho, Feinan Wang, Richard Harrold, and Sam Adams.
April 6 voices of american music Sprague Hall | Tue | 8 pm Tickets $20-28 | Students $14 The Chamber Music Society presents a tribute to the Oral History of American Music project at Yale, featuring music and interview footage of Ives, Ellington, Copland, Cage, Reich, Blake, and Zwilich. With alumni, faculty, student, and guest artists.
Robert Blocker, Dean