The Program:


Music for the Royal Fireworks by George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Concerto Grosso, Op. 3 No. 4 in G by Francesco Geminiani (1687?-1762)
Battalia by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644-1704)
Orchestral Suite in D (BWV 1068) by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
When I am Laid in Earth from Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell (1658?-1695)
Furibondo spira il vento from Partenope by G.F. Handel
Lascia ch'io pianga from Rinaldo by G.F. Handel







The BSO's March 22 concert takes place a day after the 324th birthday of one of history's most beloved composers, Johann Sebastian Bach. All five of the composers on today's program worked in the Baroque period, from the mid-1600s to mid-1700s. Two are giants of the Baroque era: the Germans J.S. Bach and George Frideric Handel. The Englishman Henry Purcell, although lesser known, might have gone on to reach the heights achieved by Bach and Handel had he not died so young. The only Italian on today's program, Francesco Geminiani, was a virtuoso of the violin, while Czech/Austrian composer Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber was considered by many as the finest violinist of the 17th century. As was required by their work circumstances, all five of today's composers were gifted performers as well as brilliant composers.



The Baroque period of music, which spanned the gap between the Renaissance and Classical periods, is characterized by its use of ornamentation, or notes embellishing the melody. It's during this time that opera becomes a well-established and hugely popular form, and the Baroque period even sees some of the early developments of the symphony form, an amalgamation of the Italian overture, concerto grosso and sonata form.



Instrumentation evolves over time; during the Baroque period, even the modern violin family was set up differently and the way they were played was different as well. In the string family, there was a competitive contrast between the more subtle viol family, favored at French court, and the violin family, which evolved to its creative zenith in 17th- and early 18th-century Italy. The styles of play on these instruments washed back and forth.



Composers during the 17th to 18th centuries were well aware of each other; compositions -- and styles -- weren't limited to the geographical bounds of the countries in which they were written. The German Handel studied in Italy and spent most of his professional career working in England, as did the Italian Geminiani. Bach stayed close to his birthplace in Germany; even so, he would become known as the composer who best pulled together the techniques and styles of the day, reaching an unparalleled level of mastery according to many music critics and historians. Music traveled from court to court in continental Europe and from church to church as well, courts and churches being sources of steady employment for both composers and musicians.



Today's program -- the first BSO performance in a number of years to focus entirely on the Baroque period -- offers two orchestral suites with strikingly different sounds, along with arias from three early operas. Punctuating these works are examples of the concerto and sonata forms in their early manifestations. The compositions heard today offer a diverse selection of Baroque works, giving the audience a chance to sample the typical along with the atypical, as well as a centuries-old style of instrumentation that remains compelling today.







Music for the Royal Fireworks by George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)



A huge figure in England in the first half of the 18th century, the German-born Handel was composer to the courts of King George I and II, writing chamber, keyboard and orchestral works, as well as ceremonial works such as Music for the Royal Fireworks. The orchestral suite -- an overture leading into a set of dances -- was commissioned by George II to commemorate the signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle at the end of the War of the Austrian Succession. The king asked for music as spectacular as the show of fireworks that would accompany its performance, and he got more than he bargained for. First played in a public rehearsal, a crowd of more than 12,000, each paying admission, rushed the venue, causing the collapse of a section of the newly erected London Bridge. Six days later, at its official premiere, fireworks caused a fire and pandemonium in the audience. While the suite begins with the stately French Overture style, it has a decidedly martial and celebratory feel, even in its dance movements.







Concerto Grosso, Op. 3, No. 4, in G by Francesco Geminiani (1687?-1762)



Like Handel, Geminiani traveled to England after studying violin in his native Italy -- and like Handel, he was embraced wholeheartedly by the English for his performances, which included an audience before King George I, accompanied by Handel himself on harpsichord. When Geminiani turned to composing, he enjoyed a similar success. His concertos tended toward the 'church sonata' form of Corelli, with whom Geminiani studied -- typically four movements that alternate between slow and fast. His Concerto Grosso, Op. 3, first published in 1733, was among his most popular works; he would revise and reissue it in 1755.







Battalia by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644-1704)



Considered one of the great instrumental composers, Biber is also thought of as idiosyncratic and inventive, with a gift for melody -- and possibly the finest violinist of his age. Unsurprisingly, he's known for his violin music, which often used the unique effects of 'scordatura,' or non-standard tuning. Battalia, which centuries later sounds thoroughly modern, makes use of percussive elements such as striking the strings of the violins with the back of the bow, mimicking the sound of a snare drum by slipping a piece of paper between the strings of a bass -- even stamping the floor and knocking on the body of the instrument. The eight-movement piece is dedicated to Bacchus, god of wine; written in 1673, some historians believe it expressed the composer's feelings about the Thirty Years War, in which mercenary armies laid waste to the countryside near Biber's home in Austria.







Orchestral Suite in D (BWV 1068) by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)



The Baroque style occupies a substantial portion of the music canon in large measure due to J.S. Bach, whose brilliance can perhaps be rivaled but not surpassed. He wrote virtually everything, virtually every form, with one major exception: opera. Partially due to the success of his own sons, he achieved more fame during his day as an organist than a composer. In 1729, Bach was appointed director of the music guild in Leipzig, and it was for the guild that he wrote some of the pieces we associate most with him today, including the Orchestral Suite in D, with the well-known and lyrical second movement, 'Air.' The concept of 'air' or 'breath' in a composition, a relic of French orchestration, is representative of much Baroque music.







'When I am Laid in Earth' from Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell (1658?-1695)



The one opera Purcell wrote in his tragically short career was not only the first true English-language opera, but a work of such stature that it earned him the reputation as England's greatest opera composer. Based on the story of the Trojan hero Aeneas' love for the doomed Queen Dido, the opera contains the gorgeous and poignant lament 'remember me,' a standard of the operatic repertoire. Dido and Aeneas adheres to the standard structure for opera up until the time of Wagner: an introduction; a recitative, which forwards the plot; an aria, which is a melodic solo reflective of a character's emotions; frequently followed by a chorus, commenting on the action.







'Furibondo spira il vento' from Partenope by G.F. Handel



Partenope, first performed in 1730 at the King's Theatre in London, is among 42 operas Handel wrote between 1705 and 1750. (He composed his first, Almira, at age 20.) Based on a 1699 libretto by Silvio Stamiglia, the opera is the complicated story of Queen Partenope of Naples, who is being wooed by two princes while at war with a third. The aria Furibondo spira il vento, or 'Furiously blows the wind,' is an example of the 'rage aria.' At the time, certain keys had become shorthand for certain emotions: D minor to express rage or fury, D major for bravura, among others.







'Lascia ch'io pianga' from Rinaldo by G.F. Handel



Handel's first London opera, Rinaldo, opened in 1711, just one year after he left the continent for England. Between the prosperity of the time, which kept theaters and concert halls open and clamoring for material, and Handel's growing reputation as both a composer and keyboardist, it's no surprise that he found immediate success -- and one that would last 50 years in his adopted city. Set during the First Crusade outside the gates of Jerusalem, Rinaldo is a fantastical love story of the knight Rinaldo and Almirena, who was promised to Rinaldo if the Christian forces prevailed. A wicked cast of characters -- including an enchantress, mermaids, a hermit and 'ugly' spirits -- conspire to keep the two lovers apart throughout most of the story. The aria Lascia ch'io pianga, or 'Let me weep,' is sung by Almirena as she despairs of ever being reunited with Rinaldo.







Notes by Laura Clemons and Dan Allcott
March 4, 2009