Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) lived in Venice and earned his living teaching at the Ospedale della Pieta, a foundling home for girls.  His duties, in addition to teaching the violin, consisted of organizing the spectacular concerts presented by the Ospedale.  For these concerts Vivaldi composed hundreds of concerti which ultimately gained him an international reputation as a composer, and which helped crystallize the concerto form throughout Europe.  Although smaller in number than his solo concerti, Vivaldi explored the idiom of the “chamber concerto”, where instead of a “ripieno” or “back-up band” the soloists themselves function as the orchestral “tutti” and then take turns playing the solos.  These works are in the traditional three movement mold (fast-slow-fast) with the middle movement typically allowing a certain freedom for improvisation.  In the concerto we present tonight, this movement will be familiar to many because of its resemblance to the slow movement of the “winter” concerto from the Four Seasons.

The Carols on tonight’s program all date from between 1500 and 1700 (thus some predate the theoretical beginning of the Baroque period and belong in that historical period known as the Renaissance).  These works come to us in a variety of sources, and we have chosen to “orchestrate” them, using our baroque instruments, according to our tastes, attempting to capture the “affect” of each piece in an appropriate manner.  Similar performing decisions have been made regarding texts and number of verses, since there are no definitive answers as to the authenticity of any particular version. A recurring characteristic of these carols is the harmonic feature of the drone commonly associated with the bagpipe or musette-instruments that evoke the images of shepherds that have come to be identified with Christmas.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) needs no introduction to any of us.  We all have our favorite Bach works and each of us has different reasons for regarding him as one of history’s greatest composers.  It is interesting to note, however, that this universal acclaim was not accorded Bach during his lifetime, and that he spent most of his career (and made perhaps his most significant contributions) as a church composer at Saint Thomas’ Church in Leipzig, where he composed a cantata for each Sunday of the year.  It is from this body of works that we choose the arias to close the first half of this evening’s concert.  These works were never intended as “concert” pieces, but rather as part of a religious observance (Bach saw himself as a true “servant” of God) and although only one of the three arias is specifically about Christmas, all share in the spirit of love and devotion that is associated with this holiday. “Bereitet die Wege” (from the Christmas Cantata 132) is an exuberant aria that features a solo part for oboe d’amore filled with 16th-note runs. The text states “Make ready the pathways And make ev’ry byway In faith and in living Now smooth for the Highest, Messiah shall come!”  “Süsser Trost, mein Jesus kommt” (from Cantata 151-written for Christmas) states “Sweet comfort, my Jesus comes, Jesus is now born.”  It is a gorgeous lullaby, sung “instrumentally” at first by the oboe d’amore, crowned with a flowing flute obbligato representing the holy spirit.” In “Mein Glaubiges Herze” (from Cantata 68), the text speaks of “My believing heart, be glad, sing, make merry, for thy Jesus is near.”  The aria begins with a virtuosic obbligato for solo cello and when the soprano is finished, the cello is joined by oboe and violin for a fully worked out “quartet” movement which brings the aria to its joyous conclusion.

Michel Corrette was a church organist for most of his long life, but that doesn’t begin to give an idea of his indefatigable and multifaceted activities on behalf of French music.  He was the author of countless treatises and tutors for just about every instrument played in his time, from the flute to the double bass.  He was a leader in furnishing simple music to bourgeois homes and in supplying brilliant concerti for the burgeoning public concert business.  In short, he was France’s leading “popularizer” of music.  Perhaps his best known works were his “Concerto Comiques”, in which the tunes all Paris hummed–many of them first heard at the Opera Comique (hence the name)–were paraphrased in vivaciously embellished instrumental settings.  In a similar vein is a group of six compositions entitled “Symphonies en Quartuor contenant les plus beaux Noëls François et Etranger avec des Variations”.  The work we perform tonight includes many of the most lovely and most recognized French carols of the period, along with their dazzling variations.

The French, with their attraction to all things pastoral and their predilection for dance music, made an especially colorful contribution to this literature. We close our program with several musette settings and rigaudons interspersed with French Christmas carols, or noëls. The musette was a type of French bagpipe that gave rise to an entire genre of pastorally evocative pieces that were very popular in the 18th century. The Rigaudon was a quick and lively dance, originally from Provençe, danced by “peasants and sailors,” according to Johann Mattheson. French noëls, some lively, some serious, were meant not only to tell the Christmas story, and to give insight into the events leading up to the birth of Jesus, but also to provide moral instruction. Thus, in “Grâce soit renduë,” the text informs us that Adam put us in danger of eternal damnation by eating the apple, but God sent us salvation in the form of His son. “Vous qui désirez sans fin” tells us that God will always listen to our songs of praise and is always ready to pardon our sins. “Chrétiens qui suivez l’église” shows the importance of being a practicing Christian. This grand closing group of interwoven vocal and instrumental pieces is designed to show a French 18^th -century Christmas in all its facets: dances, poignant melodies, pastoral elements, and an exquisite moral rendering of the Christmas story.

AULOS ENSEMBLE, with JULIANE BAIRD, SOPRANO

7:30 pm, Tues., Dec.. 11, 2007
Christ Church Cathedral
1117 Texas Avenue

In Dulci Jubilo

Concerto in D major, RV 94                                Antonio Vivaldi
  Allegro-Largo-Allegro
    
Traditional Carols
  "In Dulci Jubilo"
  "Coventry Carol"
  "Shepherds Shake off your drousy Sleep"
 
Arias from the Cantatas                                    J. S. Bach
 "Bereitet die Wege, bereitet die Bahn!" (BWV 132)
  "Süsser Trost, mein Jesus kommt" (BWV 151)
  "Mein Glaubiges Herze"  (BWV 68)
 
INTERMISSION
 
Traditional Carols
  "Es ist ein Rose"
  "Greensleeves"
  "When Christ was born on Earth"
 
4ème Symphonie de Nöel                                     Michel Corrette
  Moderato-Adagio-Allegro    

"Vous qui désirez sans fin"                                Traditional
 
Musettes from Les Fêtes d'hébé                             Jean-Phillipe Rameau
 
"Chrétiens quie suivez l'église"                           Traditional
 
Rigaudons from Les Fêtes d'hébé                            Rameau
 
"Grâce soit renduë"                                        Traditional
 
Nöel Provencal                                             Corrette

NOTE EARLY START TIME!  

7:30 p.m., Tue., Dec. 11, 2007
Christ Church Cathedral  
1117 Texas Avenue

Join us for a special holiday reception in the Great Hall following the concert!

Tickets:  713-432-1744

Christopher Krueger, flauto traverso
Marc Schachman, baroque oboe
Linda Quan, baroque violin
Myron Lutzke, baroque cello
Arthur Haas, harpsichord
with
Julianne Baird, soprano

Houston Early Music’s holiday offering, In Dulci Jubilo, features a return visit by New York’s Aulos Ensemble with soprano Julianne Baird at 7:30 pm, Tuesday, December 11, 2007 at Christ Church Cathedral, 1117 Texas Avenue.  Ms. Baird and the ensemble (baroque violin, cello, harpsichord, baroque flute and oboe) will perform vocal and instrumental works from the 16th to 18th centuries. In addition to traditional carols, the program includes arias by J.S. Bach, French noëls and a concerto by Vivaldi.

Julianne Baird has been hailed as “one of the most endearing of early music singers” (Pittsburgh Tribune ). She maintains a busy concert schedule of solo recitals and performances of baroque opera and oratorio. With over 100 recordings to her credit on Decca, Deutsche Gramophone, Newport Classics and Dorian, Ms. Baird is considered one of America’s most recorded women.

Formed in 1973 by five Juilliard graduates, Aulos Ensemble was one of the first American “original instrument” ensembles. Its accomplishments over the past four decades have given it preeminence in the early music movement.  The New York Times has described the playing of the ensemble “authentic Baroque performance at its best.”

Tickets are $30 for general admission, $25 for seniors, $10 for students, under 15 free. Tickets may be purchased at the door or by calling 713-432-1744. 

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• Aulos Web Site
• Discography
• Sound Samples

History

Formed in 1973 by five Juilliard graduates, THE AULOS ENSEMBLE was at the forefront of a movement that was to capture the imagination of the American listening public. In 1978 with the release of their recording, “Masterpieces of the High Baroque”, AULOS‘ reputation for exhilarating performances informed with scholarly insight was firmly established. In those groundbreaking years, the group’s innovative programming featured a blend of flute, oboe, violin, cello, and harpsichord, later adding a viola da gamba. With its conservatory based training, Aulos brought an uncompromising standard of excellence in performance that resulted in invitations from virtually all of this country’s major chamber music presenters. This exposure helped create a new audience awareness for the rich rewards of this repertoire performed on “period instruments” and comments such as “scintillating”, “virtuosic”, and “authentic baroque performance at its best” from America’s most respected music critics.

In the 1980’s, AULOS began two projects that brought the joy of its music-making to an ever- widening public and for the first time attracted international critical attention. The group’s first recording for the Musical Heritage Society, “Original Telemann” was released in 1981 in connection with the composer’s tercentenary, and was universally hailed as one of the most accomplished and significant observances of the Telemann year, receiving the “Critic’s Choice” award of High Fidelity/Musical America Magazine. Since then, the Ensemble has released over a dozen CDs on the same label, including 2- CD sets of Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi, as well as the complete “Essercizii Musici” of Telemann on 5 CDs. This discography is unique among American “period-instrument” chamber groups.

AULOS‘ other project in the ’80s was the establishment of its own concert series at home in New York City. This series featured collaborations with guest artists from Europe and America who had made major reputations in this field. These collaborative concerts, exploring a highly unusual repertoire that was impossible to perform in other contexts, provided its New York audiences with cutting edge performances as well as giving the Ensemble members vital artistic stimulation. Among the stars of the “original instrument” movement that appeared with the Ensemble in those years were harpsichordists Trevor Pinnock and Albert Fuller, violinists Jaap Schroeder and Stanley Ritchie, cellist Anner Bylsma, oboist Michel Piguet, and vocalists Jan de Gaetani, Bethany Beardslee, Charles Bressler, and Julianne Baird.

The 1980’s also saw the beginnings of what has become a wonderful tradition for New York concertgoers–the AULOS “Christmas Concerts” in front of the Neapolitan Christmas Tree at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. These concerts, described by the New York Times as “one of the most charming musical celebrations of the season” have been given annually in the magical setting of the Medieval Sculpture Court and have featured a variety of guest artists. A recording of one such program, entitled “A Baroque Christmas” and featuring the soprano, Julianne Baird, was recorded for MHS/ Musicmasters and is available to millions of people throughout the world through the Metropolitan Museum Catalogue. The popularity of these concerts and the recording encouraged AULOS to begin to offer them on tour, bringing the special affinity of this repertoire and the seasonal festivities to audiences throughout the country. Over the past seasons the eminent American vocalists Dawn Upshaw, Sanford Sylvan, and Derek Lee Ragin are some of the artists who have appeared with AULOS in these presentations.

In the 1990’s AULOS began expanding its repertoire to include “one on a part” performances of some of the best known and favorite baroque Suites and Concerti, including the Bach 5th Brandenburg Concerto and the Concerto for Oboe and Violin as well as Vivaldi’s concerti The Four Seasons. These programs, referred to as “The Baroque Big Band”, are performed with from 8 to 10 artists. An all-Bach CD, part of the continuing discography on MHS, features the Ensemble in this configuration. Additionally, AULOS began giving numerous master classes and lecture-demonstrations in 17th and 18th-century performance practice at colleges and universities throughout the country. With its members serving on faculties of various schools of music and institutes specializing in historically informed performance, the Ensemble is responsible for training a new generation of American early music performers. AULOS concerts are frequently broadcast by National Public Radio from venues such as The Frick Collection in New York, Live at WolfTrap, and the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Most recently, its instrumental Christmas program, “Joyeux Noel” was heard throughout the country repeatedly on NPR’s “Performance Today“.

Now, in its 4th decade, AULOS continues to explore new projects and develop outlets for its music-making. The 2006-7 season saw its first presentation of Handel’s masque Acis and Galatea, done in a version approximating the size of the composer’s vision for the piece—5 singers and 8 instrumentalists without a conductor—and it was a huge hit with presenters, audiences and critics. The New York Times wrote “In all, it was an utter delight”. The Ensemble has developed a true chamber orchestra program as well, featuring Handel’s complete Water Music in a performance with between 17 and 23 players. Where appropriate, AULOS has created residencies in which the group and its guests teach and coach young professionals and then join them in these performances. And 15 years after the release of their Christmas CD from the Metropolitan Museum, the Ensemble and Julianne Baird collaborated on In Dulci Jubilo, a recording featuring much of the new material uncovered in those many years of Christmas concerts. This CD was released in the fall of 2006 to critical acclaim, and is the beginning in a new series of recordings in an affiliation with Centaur Records. Next is AULOS’ unique version of two of Rameau’s wonderful opera suites, Les Indes Galantes and Les Fêtes d’hébé, based on suggestions of the composer in ’short-score’ manuscripts which will be the first recording ever done in this chamber ensemble setting. It is scheduled for release in the fall of 2008.