Houston Early Music

NEWS RELEASE

Houston Early Music              
Who:   LUCIDARIUM

When:   4:00 p.m.
Sunday, May 4, 2008

MUSIC AND POETRY OF THE JEWS OF RENAISSANCE ITALY

Houston Early Music will present the acclaimed Italian ensemble Lucidarium in a performance of La Istoria de Purim: Music and Poetry of the Jews of Renaissance Italy on Sunday, May 4.  The program, which won the European Association for Jewish Culture award for musical creation in 2004, is a reconstruction of the soundscape that would have accompanied a typical Northern Jewish Italian family through the liturgical year and life cycle. It combines sung poetry in Giudeo-Italian, Yiddish and Hebrew, traditional liturgical and paraliturgical music, and the lively songs and dances that would have been used to celebrate life’s transitions. The performance will be at First Unitarian Universalist Church, 5200 Fannin, at 4:00 p.m.

Founded in 1991, Lucidarium specializes in medieval and early Renaissance music with a special emphasis on unknown or little-known repertoires. The combination of meticulous preparation and creativity, which has opened up new perspectives in historical performance practice, has brought both popular and critical acclaim to the ensemble.  Lucidarium has toured extensively throughout Europe and North America and has performed in most of the important European early music festivals, including: Festival van Oude Muziek (Utrecht,) Festival Divina Musica Musica e Poesia a San Maurizio (Milan) and Freunde alter Musik Basel. Recently the ensemble won an unprecedented second EAJC award, as well as a grant from the Rothschild Foundation, for the creation and recording of Ain neues Lid, a project dedicated to the music of the German-speaking Jews from the 16^th century.

There will be a preconcert talk at 3:00 p.m. by Avery Gosfield, Co-director of Lucidarium.

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. 

Houston Early Music is funded in part by grants from the City of Houston

through Houston Arts Alliance.

Gloria Moretti: voice

Viva Biancaluna Biffi: voice, viola d’arco

Enrico Fink: voice, narrator

Avery Gosfield: recorder, pipe and tabor

Marco Ferrari: recorder, dulcian, shawm, double flute

Francis Biggi: viola da mano, viola da penna, cetra, colascione

Massimiliano Dragoni: hammer dulcimer, percussion

PROGRAM

Prayer for the Removal of the Torah from the Ark (En Kamokha/Shema Israel)

Les Caterines / La Cara Cossa (La Folia)

Dos lid fun der sreyfe in Venedig

Anello

All Creatures in Heaven and on Earth (Kol Berue)

Bofo-Bukh

Buovo d’Antona

Moresca (sull’ Aria d’ottava)

Ishena at ani geor venodad

Tu dormi, io veglio e vo perdendo i passi

Tu dormi, io veglio a la tempesta e vento

Pass’e mezo a la bolognesa    

Saltarello a la bolognesa

Songs for the Celebration of Purim

   La Cansonetta di Purim

   La Istoria de Purim io ve racconto Moresca (sull’ Aria d’ottava)

   Meghillat Esther                 

Songs for the Celebration of Passover

    Ma Nishtana/Avadim Hainu

    Fuggi, fuggi, fuggi (Il Ballo di Mantova)               

    Khad Gadya / Un Caprett

    Khad Gadya, Khad Gadya                           

Founded in 1980 to perform the instrumental music of Shakespeare’s time, the Baltimore Consort has explored early English, Scottish, and French popular music, focusing on the relationship between folk and art song and dance. Their interest in early music of English/Scottish heritage has also led them to delve into the rich trove of traditional music preserved in North America. Recordings on the Dorian label have earned them recognition as Top Classical-Crossover Artist of the Year (Billboard), as well as rave reviews elsewhere. Besides touring in the U.S. and abroad, they often perform on such syndicated radio broadcasts as St. Paul Sunday, Performance Today, Harmonia and the CBC’s OnStage. They have also enjoyed many teaching residencies at K-12 schools, as well as at the Madison Early Music Festival and other university engagements. (more…)

Notes on the Program

Today’s concert takes us on a musical journey through the fascinating intercultural history of late 15th century Spain. For nearly eight centuries, Muslims and Christians lived together on the Iberian Peninsula through alternating periods of peace and conflict. There were large Jewish communities in the Christian kingdoms of Castille, Aragon, and Navarre, as well as in the Moorish caliphates of al’Andalus. Paintings from the court of Alfonso X depict Christian, Jewish, and Arabic musicians playing together. (more…)

PROGRAM

Morena me llaman Anonymous Sephardic
Avrix me galanica Anonymous Sephardic

La Spagna Anonymous 15th c.
Recercada La Spagna (Trattado de Glosas, 1553) Diego Ortiz
Danza Alta (Cancionero de Palacio, ca.1505) Francisco de la Torre

¿Qu’es de ti, desconsolado? (Cancionero de Palacio) Juan del Encina (1468-1529)
Levanta, Pascual (Cancionero de Palacio) Encina
Ora baila tú (Cancionero de Palacio) Anonymous
Calabaça, No sé, buen amor (Cancionero de Palacio) Anonymous

(more…)

NOTES ON THE PROGRAM

All medieval music is glimpsed from a great distance, but no repertory is so hard to see as that of  England in the middle ages. Where France had a tradition of lyric song that lasted long enough for thousands of songs to be enshrined in manuscripts, the music we have from England of the same period is scattered and faint: much was destroyed when the monasteries were taken over by the state in the Renaissance, and much more has suffered from the ravages of time. What has come down to us, though, speaks in astonishingly vivid voices.

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Mirie it is                                                             c.1225
Instrumental                                                        traditional Scottish tune
Edi beo þu hevene queenë                                  pre-1300
 
Ave celi regina virginum                                      14th century
Ave mundi rosa          
 
Estampie from Robertsbridge Codex                       c.1360
 
Ar ne kuth ich sorghe non                                    c.1270
Fuwëles in the frith                                              c.1270
Man mei longe him liues wene                             pre-1250
Bryd one brere                                                     c.1300
Solaris ardor romulis                                            mid-14th century
 
The hymns by St. Godric                                     c.1215
            Criƒt and ƒainte Marie
            Sainte Marie virgine
            Sainte Nicholaes
 
Worldes bliƒƒ, have god day                              c.1280
Virgo salvavit                                                      14th century
 
Stand wel moðer under rode (dialogue)              early and mid-14th century     
English dance                                                     arr. Kammen/Mealy
On Yooles night (carol)                                      mid-14th century
 
Stantipes (14th century dance tunes)                  arr. Mealy/Kammen
In secreit place—text by William Dunbar,          arr.  Kammen
    c.1460–c.1520

Of all the holidays in our western culture, Christmas, more than any other, transcends its religious origins and implications.  It has become for almost all of us a time to celebrate; an opportunity to rejoice.  Thus it is not surprising that Christmas is the inspiration for an unequalled wealth of musical composition, both vocal and instrumental, secular and non-secular. This body of literature spans all periods of musical history, from the Middle Ages to the present.  The “spirit” of Christmas has become such a part of our lives, that the month of December sees easily twice as many concerts as any other month of the year, for the inherent festive quality of music-making has become synonymous with celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.  It is in this “spirit” that we offer “IN DULCI JUBILO”, a concert of vocal and instrumental works from the 16th to 18th-centuries, some with obvious references to the Holiday, others with less direct connections, and one work (Concerto in D major) by Vivaldi , that has nothing at all to do with Christmas and with which we open our program.

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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"

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