The primary focus of our concerts this weekend is the music of Alessandro Grandi, including the modern premieres of the first cantatas from his 1620 collection Cantade et Arie a voce sola. We will also be playing instrumental music by several composers associated with Venice during Grandi’s tenure at St. Mark’s. It turned out to be a wonderful opportunity to re-visit some old "friends" like Cavalli's extraordinary Canzon a 3 from Musiche sacrae, and some music that's "new" to Magnificat.
Though musicologists have speculated that Dario Castello probably worked at St. Mark's and probably played violin and/or cornetto, in fact nothing is known about him beyond his music, which was all published in Venice. The numerous reprints of his sonatas and canzoni as late as 1650 attest to his popularity and influence. We will perform the first of his two part sonatas "in stil moderno" published in 1629.
More is known about ...
The three works in Grandi’s Cantade et Arie a voce sola of 1620 that bear the designation of “cantata” are all constructed using the technique that musicologists now categorize as “strophic bass” cantatas. In its classic form as represented in these pieces, the same bass line is used for each stanza of a strophic poem with varying melodies in the vocal part.
San Francisco Classical Voice posted the following excellent preview by Steven Winn of Magnificat's upcoming concerts featuring the music of Alessandro Grandi. The original post is here.
For anyone who cares about 17th-century music, 2010 is without question a Claudio Monteverdi year. The 400th anniversary of the composer’s ground-breaking and magisterial Vespro della Beata Vergine (Vespers for the Blessed Virgin) of 1610 is a ripe occasion to program the sacred masterpiece of an artist deemed “the creator of modern music” by scholar Leo Schrade.
It’s an opportunity that Magnificat Baroque wasn’t about to miss. The Bay Area ensemble concludes its 18th season with an April 23-25 slate of Vespers concerts.
But before they get there, the troupe is embarked on an unusual and revealing side-trip through Monteverdi territory, with the composer’s lesser-known Venetian contemporary Alessandro Grandi as the destination. To make this journey even more enticing, Magnificat is offering a striking historical contrast ...
In 1620 Alessandro Grandi, published a second edition of his ground-breaking Cantade et Arie a voce sola. The first edition has long been lost. The importance of this collection of secular pieces lies in the very first use of the word “cantata” in a music publication. The multi-sectional structure of these solo pieces lays the groundwork for the sectional organization of the later solo cantata.
Magnificat will perform the modern premieres of the first cantatas from a newly discovered print from 1620. Three cantatas and two settings of sonnets by Alessandro Grandi will be sung by soprano Laura Heimes February 12-14, 2010.
Magnificat's February 12-14 concerts will feature soprano Laura Heimes in a recital of songs, cantatas and motets by Alessandro Grandi. Laura most recently sang with Magnificat in a program of Charpentier divertissements in October 2008. Her first appearances with Magnificat were in September 2005 in a program featuring setting's of Guarini's Il Pastor Fido.
Magnificat audience's will especially remember her captivating performances in the title role of Stradella's La Susanna in 2007. The San Francisco Classical Voice described her performance and the audience's response in glowing terms:
"Soprano Laura Heimes alone was worth the price of a ticket. Her clear, expressive sound often soared beautifully above the ensemble. Her performance of the oratorio's best number, "Da chi spero aita, O Cieli," elicited spontaneous applause from at least one audience member (it could have been a touchdown). Stradella used a lamento bassline for this pivotal dramatic point of the oratorio…"
Praised elsewhere for her ...
