August 12, 2019.From the 17th century to the 20th.This week we’ll commemorate three 17th century composers, Biber, Porpora and Greene, but will skip the ones born in the 18th (Salieri), 19th (Godard and Pierne) and the 20th (Ibert and Foss) centuries.Heinrich Ignaz Biber is the oldest of the three, he was born on August 12th of 1644, 375 years ago.On the musical timeline this places Biber between Dietrich Buxtehude and Johann Pachelbel (or, going outside of Germany, between Jean-Baptiste Lully and Arcangelo Corelli).Germany wasn’t as musically developed as, for example, Italy, so the period during which Biber was active (he died on May 3rd of 1704) may be considered Early to Middle Baroque.Biber was a violin virtuoso (you can read more about Biber here), and his main opus was The Rosary Sonatas, a set of 15 sonatas for violin and continuo, which are usually played on a harpsichord or an organ; (sometimes the violin is accompanied by a small string ensemble).The final piece of the cycle, Passacaglia, is for the violin solo.The sonata cycle is also known as Mystery Sonatas – we don’t know the real name of it, as the title page of the only manuscript copy, kept in the Bavarian State Library, has been lost.The Rosary Sonatas were completed somewhere around 1676 but were first published only in 1905.The sonatas are organized into three cycles, following the standard Catholic “15 Mysteries of the Rosary”: five Joyful Mysteries, five Sorrowful Mysteries and five Glorious Mysteries.In the manuscript, each sonata is preceded by the appropriate engraving.The first cycle (The Joyful Mysteries) starts with the Annunciation (Sonata 1), following by the Visitation, the Nativity, the Presentation of the Infant Jesus in the Temple and ends with The Finding in the Temple (“After three days they found him in the temple”).Here’s Sonata 2, The Visitation, performed by the ensemble Musica Antiqua Koln under the direction of Renhard Goebel.
Nicola Porpora was 42 years younger than Biber (he was born on August 16th of 1686, one year after Bach and Handel) and lived in a very different world than the provincial Biber: born in Naples, he traveled around Europe, was accepted at the courts of the greatest monarchs and competed with non other than George Frideric Handel.In 1729 Porpora was invited to London by a group of nobles who wanted to set up an opera company to compete with Handel’s Royal Academy of Music.Porpora was appointed the music director of “The Opera of the Nobility”; he hired Senesino, the great contralto castrato, formerly Handel’s favorite who had fallen out with the composer and quit the Academy.Later Porpora hired the even more famous Farinelli.Unfortunately, none of this could save the company: it declared bankruptcy after the 1733-34 season; Porpora stayed in London for three more years working for other opera houses and then returned to Italy.Porpora is famous as an opera composer and also as a music teacher: among his students were Farinelli and Franz Joseph Haydn.Here’s an aria Alto Giove from Porpora’s opera Polifemo.It was premiered in London on February 1st of 1735 in King's Theatre, Haymarket.The countertenor Philippe Jaroussky is accompanied by the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra under the direction of Paul Dyer.
The English composer and organist Maurice Greene was born on August 12th of 1696.Here’s his famous setting of Psalm 39, Lord, let me know mine end.It’s performed by the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral with Stephen Farr on the organ.
Biber and more, 2019
August 12, 2019. From the 17th century to the 20th. This week we’ll commemorate three 17th century composers, Biber, Porpora and Greene, but will skip the ones born in the 18th (Salieri),
19th (Godard and Pierne) and the 20th (Ibert and Foss) centuries. Heinrich Ignaz Biber is the oldest of the three, he was born on August 12th of 1644, 375 years ago. On the musical timeline this places Biber between Dietrich Buxtehude and Johann Pachelbel (or, going outside of Germany, between Jean-Baptiste Lully and Arcangelo Corelli). Germany wasn’t as musically developed as, for example, Italy, so the period during which Biber was active (he died on May 3rd of 1704) may be considered Early to Middle Baroque. Biber was a violin virtuoso (you can read more about Biber here), and his main opus was The Rosary Sonatas, a set of 15 sonatas for violin and continuo, which are usually played on a harpsichord or an organ; (sometimes the violin is accompanied by a small string ensemble). The final piece of the cycle, Passacaglia, is for the violin solo. The sonata cycle is also known as Mystery Sonatas – we don’t know the real name of it, as the title page of the only manuscript copy, kept in the Bavarian State Library, has been lost. The Rosary Sonatas were completed somewhere around 1676 but were first published only in 1905. The sonatas are organized into three cycles, following the standard Catholic “15 Mysteries of the Rosary”: five Joyful Mysteries, five Sorrowful Mysteries and five Glorious Mysteries. In the manuscript, each sonata is preceded by the appropriate engraving. The first cycle (The Joyful Mysteries) starts with the Annunciation (Sonata 1), following by the Visitation, the Nativity, the Presentation of the Infant Jesus in the Temple and ends with The Finding in the Temple (“After three days they found him in the temple”). Here’s Sonata 2, The Visitation, performed by the ensemble Musica Antiqua Koln under the direction of Renhard Goebel.
Nicola Porpora was 42 years younger than Biber (he was born on August 16th of 1686, one year after Bach and Handel) and lived in a very different world than the provincial Biber: born in Naples, he traveled around Europe, was accepted at the courts of the greatest monarchs and competed with non other than George Frideric Handel. In 1729 Porpora was invited to London by a group of nobles who wanted to set up an opera company to compete with Handel’s Royal Academy of Music. Porpora was appointed the music director of “The Opera of the Nobility”; he hired Senesino, the great contralto castrato, formerly Handel’s favorite who had fallen out with the composer and quit the Academy. Later Porpora hired the even more famous Farinelli. Unfortunately, none of this could save the company: it declared bankruptcy after the 1733-34 season; Porpora stayed in London for three more years working for other opera houses and then returned to Italy. Porpora is famous as an opera composer and also as a music teacher: among his students were Farinelli and Franz Joseph Haydn. Here’s an aria Alto Giove from Porpora’s opera Polifemo. It was premiered in London on February 1st of 1735 in King's Theatre, Haymarket. The countertenor Philippe Jaroussky is accompanied by the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra under the direction of Paul Dyer.
The English composer and organist Maurice Greene was born on August 12th of 1696. Here’s his famous setting of Psalm 39, Lord, let me know mine end. It’s performed by the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral with Stephen Farr on the organ.