FESTIVAL
2016
ATHANASIUS KIRCHER:
MUSIC, SCIENCE AND
NATURAL MAGIC
L’Avventura London
Žak Ozmo director, archlute
Emily Baines recorders
Jim O’Toole violin
Alexandria Lawrence viola
Natasha Kraemer cello
Jean Kelly early and traditional harps
David Gordon harpsichord
with
Grace Davidson soprano
With thanks to our funders:
St George’s Church
Friday 28th October, 8pm
The Behrens Foundation
Event 10
EARLY MUSIC
L’Avventura London ATHANASIUS KIRCHER
BRIGHTON
THE PROGRAMME
THE POWER OF MUSIC
Georg Philipp Telemann 1681–1767
from Orpheus
Niais
C`est ma plus chère envie
THE ELEMENTS
Jean-Féry Rebel 1666–1747
from Les Élémens
La terre et l’eau
Le feu
Tambourin
THE HARMONY OF THE SPHERES
George Frideric Handel 1685–1759
from Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day
The soft complaining flute
BIRD SONG
Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber
1644–1704
from Sonata Representativa
Nachtigal (Nightingale)
CuCu (Cuckoo)
Die Wachtel (Quail)
Jean-Philippe Rameau 1683–1764
from Nouvelles suites de Pièces de clavecin
Suite in G major – minor:
La poule
HEBREW SONGS
Hebrew traditional arr. Ozmo
Song of Moses
Traditional Hebrew tune from
Alexandria, Egypt arr. Ozmo
Sephardic traditional arr. Ozmo
Adio Kerida
INTERVAL
MELANCHOLY
Stephen Storace 1762–1796
The Curfew
RAGE AND WAR
Telemann
from Orpheus
The Furies
Andrea Falconieri 1585–1656
Battalla de Barabaso yerno de Satanas
THE AFFECTIONS
Claudio Monteverdi 1567–1643
from L’incoronazione di Poppea
Addio Roma
THE PROGRAMME
THE MUSIC
THE PLANETS
Johann Heinrich Schmelzer
c.1620–1680
Balletto di 7 pianeti
Athanasius Kircher (1602–1680) was
a 17th-century German Jesuit scholar, a
scientific star of his day, who published
over 40 volumes on a very wide variety
of subjects, including music, geology,
Egyptology, and many others. Today he is
remembered for his Musorgia universalis
(1650), a remarkable work of speculative
music theory which, among other elements,
combines natural science, magic (as a
valid descriptive and analytical discipline),
alchemy, and mathematics to explain
various music phenomena as they were
described in available literature through the
ages. Kircher discusses subjects such as the
cure of Saul’s melancholy by David’s harp,
the story of a Danish king aroused to frenzy
and murder by his courtly musicians, the
cure of the tarantula’s bite, the harmonic
organisation of the human body, the power
of bird song, and many more. Interestingly,
Kircher’s is the first account of the Baroque
‘doctrine of the affections’, according
to which the purpose of music was to
illustrate or imitate various emotional or
affective states; this doctrine was the basis
of early opera, and one of the unquestioned
assumptions of composers such as Bach
and Handel. Tonight we will attempt to
illustrate some of the most memorable
chapters from Kircher’s masterpiece,
including both musical examples from
Musorgia universalis and pieces by
contemporary and later composers who
were likely to have known this work.
THE MAGIC OF THE LYRE
Handel
from Alexander Balus HWV 65
Hark, hark! He strikes the golden lyre
KIRCHER AS COMPOSER
Athanasius Kircher 1602–1680
A paradigm of free composition in all
rhythms
A REMEDY FOR A SPIDER’S BITE
collected by Kircher
Tarantella
THE POWER OF KEY AFFECTS
Johann Pachelbel 1653–1706
Ciaconna in F minor
Ciaconna arr. Ozmo
Recorded by BBC Radio 3 for broadcast in
a future edition of The Early Music Show.
Please ensure that mobile phones are
switched off and keep noise to a minimum
during the performance.
3
THE TEXTS
C’est ma plus chère envie,
De vous aimer toute ma vie;
C’est mon plus doux espoir,
De vous aimer et de vous voir.
THE TEXTS
This is my dearest wish,
To love you all my life;
This is my sweetest hope,
To love you and to look upon you.
The soft complaining flute
In dying notes discovers
The woes of hopeless lovers,
Whose dirge is whisper’d
by the warbling lute.
Now fades the glimm’ring landscape on the
sight,
And all the air a solemn stillness holds,
Save where the beetle wheels his drony flight,
And drowsy tinklings lull the distant fold.
Song of Moses
Here in the lone waste,
Her song let Israel raise,
Unto God unto cloud of glory,
That guideth her all the way;
Adonai, Abraham’s God,
Adonai we praise,
For Thy angel ever is near,
In cloud to shield by day,
In fire by night to cheer,
Pointing still our homeward way.
4
The Curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea,
The ploughman homeward plods his weary
way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
Addio Roma, addio Patria, amici addio.
Adio Kerida
Adio,
Adio kerida,
No kero la vida,
Me l’amagrates tu
Goodbye,
Goodbye beloved,
I don’t want this life,
You filled it with misery.
Tu madre kuando te pario,
I te kito al mundo,
Korason eya no te dio
Para amar segundo.
Your mother, when she gave birth to you,
When she gave you to the world,
She did not give you a heart
With which to love.
Adio…
Goodbye …
Va, buskate otro amor,
Aharva otras puertas,
Aspera otro ardor,
Que para mi sos muerta.
Go look for another love,
Knock on other doors,
Wait for another passion,
Because for me you are dead.
Adio…
Goodbye…
Innocente da voi partir conviene.
Vado a patir l’esilio in pianti amari,
Navigo disperata i sordi mari.
L’aria, che d’ora in ora
Riceverà i miei fiati,
Li porterà, per nome del cor mio,
A veder, a baciar le patrie mura,
Ed io, starò solinga,
Alternando le mosse ai pianti, ai passi,
Insegnando pietade ai freddi sassi.
Remigate oggi mai perverse genti,
Allontanarmi da gl’amati lidi.
Farewell Rome, farewell my country, friends,
farewell.
Innocent, I must depart from you.
I go to suffer exile in bitter tears;
I cross the deaf seas in despair.
The air, which hour by hour
Shall receive my sighs,
Will carry them, in my heart’s name,
To see, to kiss the walls of my country;
And I, I shall remain alone,
Alternately weeping and pacing,
Teaching pity to the cold stones.
Row, now and forever, wicked people,
Distance me from these beloved shores.
Ahi, sacrilego duolo,
Tu m’interdici il pianto
Quando lascio la patria,
Nè stillar una lacrima poss’io
Mentre dico ai parenti e a Roma: addio.
Ah, sacrilegious sorrow,
You prevent me from weeping
When I leave my country,
Nor can I shed a single tear
While I say to my family and to Rome: farewell.
Hark, hark! He strikes the golden lyre
And tells it to his joyful choir,
His Alexander reigns.
Ye docil echoes, catch the sound,
And spread the blessing all around
In sweet harmonious strains.
5
THE PERFORMERS
‘Grace Davidson has one of the most
beautiful and pure soprano voices on earth.’
Eric Whitacre, composer
‘Grace Davidson sings with gorgeous purity
and warmth and hits some extraordinarily
ethereal high notes.’ Classic FM
Grace Davidson is an English soprano who
specialises in the performance and recording
of baroque music. Winner of the prestigious
Early Music Prize whilst studying singing
at London’s Royal Academy of Music, she
has since carved a successful international
career working with the leading baroque
vocal ensembles of our day under the batons
of Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Paul McCreesh,
Philippe Herreweghe and Harry Christophers.
As a baroque soloist, Grace has appeared
on many of the world’s most famous stages,
from Purcell’s Come Ye Sons of Art at
London’s Barbican to his Ode to St Cecilia
and Bach’s Magnificat at the Amsterdam
Concertgebouw and Bach’s St Matthew
Passion at the Lincoln Centre, New York.
Her discography includes a decade of CDs
with The Sixteen, many of which feature her
as a soloist: Handel’s Jephtha (as Angel) and
Dixit Dominus, Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers
and Pianto della Madonna and the Lutheran
Masses of Bach. She is also the soloist for a
recording of Fauré’s Requiem by Tenebrae
and the LSO: ‘Grace Davidson made Pie
Jesu the simplest and most precious of gifts’
(The Times); ‘Grace Davidson’s Pie Jesu is
matchless’ (Richard Morrison, BBC Radio 3
Building a Library).
6
THE PERFORMERS
Grace recently made her debut at Sydney
Opera House performing Max Richter’s
Sleep, which she also recorded for Deutsche
Grammophon. Future performances include
a tour of Bach’s St Matthew Passion
for Philippe Herreweghe and a staged
production of Bach’s St John Passion with
B’Rok Orchestra and stage director Pierre
Audi.
L’Avventura London, founded and
directed by Žak Ozmo, is a period instrument
ensemble dedicated to the exploration of
western musical repertoire from the 16th
to 18th centuries. Through a combination
of brilliant virtuosity, passion, unbridled
dramaticism and an extensive knowledge
of historical performance practice and its
repertoire, L’Avventura London seeks to
bring the joy of a new musical adventure to
its international audiences.
L’Avventura London’s performances have
been featured on BBC Radio 3, American
NPR, Canadian CBC, Radio France,
Australian ABC Classic FM, German
KulturRadio and MDR Figaro, Austrian ORF
Radio Ö1, Belgium Radio Klara, Spanish
Catalunya Radio and Russian Classic FM,
among others; the press has praised the
group for its ‘excellent musicianship’ and
‘an admirable understanding of baroque
performance conventions’ (Gramophone),
and described its performances as
‘engaging, entertaining… an enormous
amount of atmosphere and character’
(Opera News). The majority of L’Avventura
London’s concert programmes are based
on Žak’s original research, his performing
editions and arrangements, and regularly
include modern debuts of forgotten musical
treasures, along with fresh takes on more
familiar and much-loved masterpieces.
L’Avventura London’s appearances include
major festivals across the United Kingdom
(including Brighton Early Music Festival,
Spitalfields Summer Music Festival, York
Early Music Festival, Cheltenham Music
Festival, Petworth Music Festival, Lufthansa
Festival of Baroque Music and Gregynog
Festival, among others) and international
performances as far afield as Brazil.
This exciting chamber ensemble varies in
size based on its current project, and on
occasion expands into a full-size orchestra.
L’Avventura London regularly works with
singers and other guest artists, and consists
of some of the most talented and innovative
musicians from the professional London
early music circle.
L’Avventura London currently records
for Hyperion and Opella Nova Records.
lavventuralondon.co.uk
Žak Ozmo is a music director, lutenist,
and a scholar in historical performance.
He holds a doctorate in Early Music
performance from the University of
Southern California in Los Angeles, and has
completed postdoctoral studies in the same
area from the Guildhall School of Music and
Drama in London.
Hailed by Classical Music magazine as
an ‘expert on early plucked instruments’,
Žak has performed as a continuo player,
chamber musician and as a soloist across
Europe, North America and Asia on the
archlute, theorbo, renaissance lute, and
baroque guitar. His performances include
engagements with some of the world’s
finest ensembles, while currently much of
his energy is devoted to developing and
performing with his period instrument
group L’Avventura London, in addition to
his appearances as a guest director with
period orchestras and opera companies
internationally. Upcoming and recent
projects include musical direction of concert
performances with Concerto Köln, the Irish
Baroque Orchestra and the Toronto Consort,
as well as fully-staged opera productions
with Opera Memphis and Bury Court Opera.
His current project as a solo lutenist is
a multiple-CD solo recording of equallytempered music by Vincenzo Galilei for
Hyperion Records (volume 1 was released in
February 2016).
In addition to his busy performing schedule,
Žak frequently presents his research at
conferences in Europe and North America,
while his writings on historical performance
practice have been translated into French,
German, Spanish and Korean, and appear in
some of the leading journals and magazines
in the field.
zakozmo.com
7
Sunday 6th November, 7.30pm
All Saints Church, Hove
FAIREST ISLE AND FOULEST
WEATHER
The BREMF Players
Alison Bury leader
The BREMF Singers
John Hancorn director
Penelope Appleyard and Angela Hicks sopranos
Edward Edgcumbe countertenor
James Way tenor
James Newby baritone
Featuring a stellar line-up of young vocal soloists, including recent
Kathleen Ferrier Award winner James Newby, this programme of English
baroque music explores the theme of our somewhat tempestuous
climate. The BREMF Players, comprising some of the finest period
instrument players in the country, will be led by Alison Bury in a suite
of music from Matthew Locke’s 1674 incidental music to accompany
Shakespeare’s play The Tempest – BREMF’s contribution to the
Shakespeare 400 celebrations! The programme will be completed by
a range of excerpts from Henry Purcell’s 1691 ‘dramatick-opera’ King
Arthur, including the famous ‘frost’ scene which is said to have been
inspired by the famous ‘frost fairs’ held on the River Thames in the 1680s.
8