EarlyMusicNews.org

A new kind of songbook emerged in the later fifteenth century: personalized, portable, and lavishly decorated. Five closely related chansonniers, copied in the Loire Valley region of central France c. 1465-c. 1475, are the earliest surviving examples of this new genre.

The international workshop in Thoiry, France (2010 February 19-26) is directed to all instrumentalists of the “Baroque” orchestra, beginner and experienced musicians, as well as modern instrumentalists wishing to learn about the practice and interpretation of Renaissance music and pre-classical Baroque. It is also directed to singers interested in the same repertoire.

Change can be good. It certainly was for David Daniels. After studying at Cincinnati College's Cincinnati Conservatory of Music as a tenor, he switched to the highly unlikely vocal category of countertenor as a graduate student at the University of Michigan.

“With its tricky ‘orientalist’ connotations, Singspiel-originating spoken dialogue, not to mention the problem of finding five outstanding singers who can cope with the considerable demands of the solo roles (and the commercial challenge presented by the need to pay a chorus who sing barely a few bars of music), Mozart’s Die Entführung aus den Serail does not receive as many stagings as it deserves.

The discovery of a previously unknown score of a flute concerto by Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) in the National Archives of Scotland has been announced. Andrew Woolley, Research Fellow at the University of Southampton, has identified the score of 'Il Gran Mogol' as a lost part of series of four ‘national’ concertos by Vivaldi. The manuscript score (GD40/15/54/2) is in the hand of a copyist, and is among the family papers of the Marquesses of Lothian, an important collection that was purchased by the National Archives of Scotland in 1991.

Easy Dances for Renaissance Lute,  selected from sources in the  Leipzig music library.

35 easy dance pieces for Renaissance Lute. Music for lute does often come in form of complete lute books from the period, but sometimes music is found bound together with totally different books. From these  appendices we have made this edition: from an appendix of Leipzig Ms II.66. and Leipzig II.5.32b. Expect enjoyable dance pieces that are not difficult to play. French tablature / Renaissance tuning (Euro  20.-)

Restoration Theater (in brief)

In 1660, Charles II was crowned King of England. The country had been in a political and parliamentary dictatorship for many years, and had now been restored. Hence, a new chapter in English history called the Restoration. It wasn’t just the restoration of the monarchy, however, but the return of a culture that had been shut down during the dictatorship, such as public theaters.

In sports they say, “Winning isn’t the most important thing—it’s the only thing.” In the theater, getting the show on the boards out front is the key.

All else is, if not irrelevant, subservient: the look, the style, the star, the archival accuracy. You can pull any strings you like; just get out there and dance. Or sing.

In a season bursting with Messiahs, the Clarion Music Society celebrates the holidays with a repeat performance of its popular Bach for Christmas concert, which sold out in December 2008. 

On Wednesday, December 15th, young Early Music maestro Steven Fox once again conducts the Clarion Choir together with the period-instrument Clarion Orchestra and an outstanding group of soloists in Bach’s celebratory Cantata No. 133 ‘Ich freue mich in dir’, and the 2nd and 5th Cantatas from the Christmas Oratorio, ‘Und es waren Hirten’ and ‘Ehre sei dir, Gott, gesungen.’  The concert, which takes place at Park Avenue Christian Church (1010 Park at 85th Street), features soloists Sherezade Panthaki, soprano; Melissa Attebury and Virginia Warnken, altos; Oliver Mercer, tenor (Evangelist); Daniel Mutlu, tenor; John Boehr, baritone, and Douglas Williams, bass.

This recording represents in a sense the accomplishment of René Jacobs’s Mozartian enterprise: after showing us another way of looking at the Da Ponte trilogy and taking a profoundly innovative approach to the two great opere serie (Idomeneo and La clemenza di Tito), he has now set out to harmonise the multitude of viewpoints exposed more or clearly in Die Zauberflöte, ranging far beyond its Masonic rituals and mixture of dramatic genres. As a result, Mozart’s most ‘nocturnal’ work is illuminated as if by . . . magic.

(SEATTLE, WA) Early Music America (EMA) and Naxos will collaborate on a competition for early music soloists and ensembles, whose prize is a debut commercial CD recording, which will be produced and marketed by Naxos. EMA and Naxos hope to promote the career development of emerging early music artists and the philosophy of historically informed performance by offering to the public a CD of the highest quality.

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra

Concerto grosso ... Vivaldi’s Four Seasons ... “Pre-classic” music — these terms are probably enough to send a seasoned classical music fan running for the hills. They tend to conjure up advertising soundtracks, bargain basement recordings, and, above all, generic interpretations. But put this repertoire in the hands of expert interpreters and a seasoned period-instrument orchestra, and it soon becomes apparent why 18th-century audiences were hungry for orchestral repertoire by the bucket load. 

For its 2010-2011 season, Les Délices’ founder and artistic director Debra Nagy has once again dug deep into her imagination and created three unique programs that are a sure bet to enthrall Northeast Ohio lovers of early music. Since the group’s founding in 2006, Les Délices has quickly established a reputation for polished, expressive, and dynamic performances of masterpieces and little-known works from the French Baroque. And each season the ensemble brings together artists who share a passion for this beguiling yet seldom heard repertoire. Their performances on period instruments allow them to explore a rich tapestry of tone colors, and the group's name conveys their approach to the music of this era: a delight, a fine delicacy, sumptuous, and exciting. 

Command of the Duke of Chandos to 1717, these sacred vocal pieces are representative of Handel's genius in this field.

The nuns hope the album will help people 'find peace'

An order of Benedictine nuns has signed a major record deal with the company behind Lady Gaga, it has been revealed.

The Nuns of the Abbaye de Notre-Dame de l'Annonciation, from France, won a global search of more than 70 convents across Europe, the US and Africa.

Haydn’s L’isola disabitata is ideally suited to the modern taste for chamber opera. This is Haydn for those who think they don’t like his operas or even baroque form.

Written in 1799, just before the three best known operas, L’isola disabitata is enjoying a major revival all of its own, thanks to the 2007 edition used at the Young Artists production in the Linbury Studio at the Royal Opera House, London. It’s short, snappy and there are no high male voices. 

The Boston Early Music Festival is proud to announce the release of its latest Opera CD, Charpentier's Actéon, one of the first operas presented in the BEMF Chamber Opera Series. The CDs will arrive just in time for the upcoming annual chamber opera, Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, on November 27 and 28.

Dear Customers,

Marian Hannah Winter's 'The pre-romantic ballet' is one of the major source books for this fascinating period. Published in 1974, with over 200 illustrations, it soon went out of print and is now a very rare book - second-hand copies are being offered on the internet for up to GBP150.00. We have recently discovered a small cache of almost new copies, just showing very slight signs of aging, and are happy to offer these for just GBP40.00 Stocks are very limited, so don't delay.

Countertenor Daniel Taylor is a world-class vocalist who’s worked with many early music ensembles. His 2006 ATMA label recording with the Theatre of Early Music explores German 17th- and 18^th-century repertoire through the vocal music of Buxtehude, Schütz, J.S. Bach, and E.T.A. Hoffmann.

Entitled “Lamento,” the recording is an ideal showcase for Taylor’s beautiful and expressive voice. His performance of Buxtehude’s Jubilate Domino is especially memorable.

Visit the Handel House Museum -- Events at a Glance website

 If you have time, please visit the ever so busy concert schedule of the Handel House Museum. A little something for everyone.

VisiSonor will premiere two exciting new productions during the upcoming weeks. 

Applications are now being invited for this prestigious competition which takes place at the York Early Music Festival in July 2011.

The competition provides a major boost to young professional careers, offering the winners opportunities for touring, recording and broadcasting.  In 2011 the Master of Ceremonies will be Elizabeth Wallfisch, who is joined by a panel of judges that includes some of the world’s finest early music specialists.

Salon/Sanctuary Concerts presents “The Pergolesi Project”, a weekend festival on October 30 and 31 celebrating the 300th anniversary of the Neapolitan composer who died at the age of 26.  Listeners will have a special chance to hear recent discoveries obtained from the Fondazione Pergolesi Spontini in Jesi, the composer’s birthplace, as work continues in Italy toward a National Pergolesi edition.  Among the discoveries is a sacred cantata, La Maddalena al Sepolcro.

Early music has considerable postmodern appeal for recorder virtuoso Piers Adams and his group, Red Priest. The 17th- and 18th-century audiences for whom Baroque composers wrote, as Adams describes them, were quite laid-back, and at odds with what later became conventional concert decorum.