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Post by jk on Nov 11, 2020 4:52:49 GMT -5
Next up is the mysterious Mrs Philarmonica. The German wiki has much more to say about her and her music, so I've taken the liberty of translating the relevant parts online and reproducing the translation below [minimally tweaked for comprehensibility's sake by jk]. So much for keeping these posts compact!! (For selected works by Mrs P see the English wiki linked at the very end.) An anonymous baroque composerUnder the pseudonym "Mrs Philarmonica" hides a late baroque composer whose identity is unknown. She became known in London through two printed editions of a total of twelve trio sonatas (parts I and II), which have been preserved in the British Library, London (call number: g.1032). The publication date of the print is nowhere given, but is estimated to be "around 1715". The life dates of the publisher Richard Meares, a viol player (approx. 1647–1725) are a clue. The female pseudonym "Philarmonica", derived from Greek, should specifically point to a musical background in the sense of an academic training, translated: friend of harmony. One can only speculate about the reason for publishing anonymously. Either the musician herself wanted to hide her name for whatever reason, or someone else organized this print edition during or after her lifetime and did not want to name the author. The question of whether a male composer is hiding behind it should hardly arise, because there was no sensible reason for a female pseudonym for a composer at the time - such as better salability [so that] the considerable costs of printing should be covered. The salutation "Mrs." suggests a married woman, probably from wealthy circles or under the protection of a sponsor who considered her work worthy of being published. The sonatas The twelve four-movement sonatas by the composer "Mrs Philarmonica" are composed for two upper voices ("violins") with accompaniment of a basso continuo (b.c.). On the original cover of the London publisher Richard Meares the b.c. indicated as "violone o cimbalo" (bass viol or harpsichord). However, the continuo part itself is labeled "Organo" (organ). A total of three voices (trio) thus participate in the execution of the sonatas, whereby the b.c., the lowest voice, can be assigned variably so that more than three musicians can participate. The trios show a well-developed, partly virtuoso contrapuntal movement with skilful harmonic developments and suggest a thorough training. For the variable occupation of the b.c. the composer gives a practical example in the first part of the trio sonatas: Instrumentation of the bass partAs can be seen in the modern new edition, the first six sonatas (part I) are not only more virtuosic than the sonatas of the second part, but also show a special feature: the numbered basso continuo (numbered = with numbers for the chords of the harpsichord, the organ or lute) is [embellished] with an additional "violoncello obbligato" part so that two independent instrumental parts can be performed simultaneously [as the b.c.,] the chord instrument harpsichord or organ (left hand bass line, right hand chords) [with] an additional, virtuoso cello or a viol. Corelli's exampleMrs Philarmonica's sonatas all begin with an Adagio or Largo movement based on the model of the Italian Sonata da chiesa by Arcangelo Corelli, which was exemplary in Europe at the time. The Richard [Meares] publishing house has published an edition of Corelli's sonatas [op. 5]. Corelli's example is also referred to by Mrs Philarmonica's designation "violono o (= or) cimbalo". [jk] The piece in the Youtube video is tantalizingly described as "Divertimento da camera … for 2 violins and continuo No 1 in d minor". One of the two solo violins has been replaced by a flute in this performance. The only other instruments I hear are a cello and a harpsichord (the continuo). I have yet to identify this recording (uploaded by cellist Pamela Chaddon) and the painting (which the monochrome picture claims is of Mrs P herself). Possibly to be continued... For completeness' sake, the Spirit of Musicke channel has just this week uploaded three videos of music by Mrs Philarmonica—maybe more is to follow. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs_Philarmonica
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Post by jk on Nov 12, 2020 8:02:57 GMT -5
Few women composers in this thread can have enjoyed such a reversal of fortune in recent years as Julie Pinel (fl. 1710-1737). The singers and instrumentalists of the Boston-based ensemble La Donna Musicale have devoted no less than nine tracks to her on their 2009 album The Pleasures of Love and Libation: Airs by Julie Pinel and other Parisian women. The two examples linked here are "Rossignols vous chantez" (Air sérieux avec accompagnement de flûtes, from Nouveau recueil d'airs sérieux et à boire, 1737) and "Pourquoy le berger qui m'engage"( Brunette a deux dessus). Aaron Sheehan, voice Noriko Yasuda, harpsichord Justin Godoy, recorder Laury Gutiérrez (director), viola da gamba Lydia H. Knutson & Daniela Tosic, voices Ruth McKay, organ & harpsichord Catherine Liddell, theorbo Laury Gutiérrez, viola da gamba en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Pinel
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Post by jk on Nov 15, 2020 6:24:08 GMT -5
I seem to be on my own again (and in charge of a different font). Oh well...
Marieta Morosina Priuli is known just for her volume of Balletti e Correnti. According to this source, "The volume contains five sets of pieces [for three string instruments and harpsichord continuo] paired by key, though not by theme, and eight independent correnti. They are conservative in style." The music seems to have survived but not been recorded.
The far more prolific Camilla de Rossi (who signed her works "Romana", a woman of Roman descent) is well represented by studio and live recordings on YouTube. From part one of her 1710 oratorio Sant'Alessio, this is the aria "Basta sol che casto sia" (You just need to be chaste), sung here by Rosa Dominguez as Alessio's luckless bride (see earlymusicreview.com/camilla-de-rossi-sant-alessio/):
The second example is "Abramo nell'addormentarsi" (Abraham falls asleep) from a second, slightly earlier oratorio Il sacrifizio di Abramo (Abraham's sacrifice, 1708) for tenor voice, two soprano chalumeaux, strings and harpsichord. According to the album's promotional blurb, however, there is only one soprano chalumeau player, Stefano Furini, which leads me to assume that the featured clarinettist, Luigi Magistrelli, is supplying the other voice. My ears tell me that the chalumeau is playing the upper part, which exhibits a slight difference in intonation.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camilla_de_Rossi
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Post by jk on Nov 16, 2020 6:45:46 GMT -5
This post is a mashup of information found at Wikipedia and Grove Music Online, with the inevitable clash of dates: Mlle Guédon de Presles (early 1700s–c. 1754) was a French composer, singer and actress. She may have been the daughter of composer and singer Honoré-Claude Guédon de Presles (who in 1722 sang the part of Mercury in a performance of Lully's Persée at the Palais Royal in the presence of Louis XIV). She spent most of her life in Paris, where she worked at the court theatre as a singer, actress and composer under the name "Mlle Guédon". She performed for the first time at court before Queen Marie in 1748, when she sang in Mouret's ballet Les Sens. She sang regularly in concerts at court, in the chapelle as well as in the musique de chambre, where Honoré-Claude had previously been employed. During the 1740s and '50s, she sang at the Paris Thèâtre de la Reine in secondary roles. Her song "Sans une brillante fortune" appeared in Ballard's Meslanges de musique latine (Paris, 1728); more songs by her appeared during the next four years, alongside those of other women, in anthologies printed in The Hague ( Nouveau recueil de chansons choisies, 1729) as well as Paris ( Meslanges, 1728–32). Between 1742 and 1747/48 the Mercure de France published several of her Airs, making her the first known woman to have a collection of Airs published. [jk] Although at least some of her music would seem to have survived in the above publications, I can find no record (pun unintended) of any of it having been recorded or recently performed. So here's a picture instead. Oreste Cortazzo (1836–1910/12), Concert in the Salon of Louis XV (date unknown):
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Post by jk on Nov 16, 2020 16:26:03 GMT -5
This and the previous video-less entry were originally intended to be a single post. However, there proved to be more online information about "Mlle Guédon" than I expected, so I split them up. Composer and singer Rosanna Scalfi Marcello's life could well have read like a fairytale: "Gondola singer secretly weds Italian nobleman!" Regrettably, the strait-laced moral climate of those days frowned on this disparity of rank (the marriage conditions were flawed anyway) and Rosanna was deprived of her inheritance when her husband, who was nearly 20 years her senior, died of TB after just 11 years of marriage. Three years later, she had slipped from view completely. Her legacy to us is a set of 12 relatively brief cantatas for alto voice and basso continuo, recently published in book-form (a happy ending of sorts; see the wiki link below). The video below conveniently combines the first three (the striking image is from a painting by the 17th-century Dutchman Nicolas van Helt): Cantata no. 1: Io ti voglio adorar Aria: "Io ti voglio adorar" Recitative: "Di non inteso inusitato affanno sento" Aria: "Tu quello sei che primo amai" Cantata no. 2: In questo giorno (at 6:41) Recitative: "In questo giorno e in questa solitaria foresta" Aria: "Quel chiaro e lento rio" Recitative: "Alla mia dura pena" Aria: "Allo sparir del sole" Cantata no. 3: Quand'io miro in oriente (at 18:29) Aria: "Quand'io miro in oriente" Recitative: "Il prato, il colle, il rio" Aria: "Clori ho sempre nel core" Here the alto voice is that of counter-tenor Darryl Taylor, accompanied by Ann Marie Morgan (baroque cello), Deborah Fox (theorbo) and Jory Vinikour (harpsichord): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosanna_Scalfi_Marcello
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Post by jk on Nov 17, 2020 6:00:53 GMT -5
The video below conveniently combines the first three (the striking image is from a painting by the 17th-century Dutchman Nicolas van Helt): Oh that name! After my frantic last-minute attempt to find the correct spelling before the "Last Edit" comment appeared, I discovered there is no correct spelling! You can take your choice from the following: Nicolaes de Helt, Nic. von Held, Nicolaes van Helstocade, Nicolas de Helt Stocade, Nicolaes van Helt Stockade, Nicolaes van Helt Stokade, Nicolaes van Helt-Stocaden, Nicolaes de Helt-Stockade, Nicolaes van Helt-Stockade, Nicolas van Helt-Stockade, Nicolaes van Heltstocade, Nicolaes de Stocade, Nicolaes van Stocade, Nicolaes de Stockade, Nicolas de Helt ( source) -- to say nothing of my own variation found elsewhere. Why all this confusion? Well in those days (at least in NL) names were often passed on by word of mouth and generally led a life of their own. Indeed, before 18 August 1811 many families had got on just fine without a surname at all. On that date, Napoleon Boneparte -- whose French army was occupying the Netherlands -- signed a decree establishing a registry of births, deaths and marriages. Families without a surname were suddenly obliged to pick one! [ source] But I digress. More music coming soon.
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Post by jk on Nov 17, 2020 16:53:28 GMT -5
We haven't had a concerto for harpsichord yet, which makes sense if my approach is as chronological as I intended! Written in 1734, this one seems to have been among the earlier concertos specifically written for the harpsichord. (Back in c. 1713-14 Bach had transcribed for keyboard many Italian and Italian-style concertos written for other instruments by Vivaldi and others, including one by Benedetto Marcello, who was married to Rosanna Scalfi (see yesterday's post). Friederike Sophie Wilhelmine, Princess of Prussia and Margravine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (and a gifted composer) was 49 when she died after a full if not always happy life. The architecture and landscaping in present-day Bayreuth are a lasting legacy of her reign when margravine of that German town. This is Wikipedia’s unusually vivid description (author unknown, of course) of her only known contribution to the genre. It may well be the first harpsichord concerto to be written by a woman: "The obbligato flute part could have been played either by her brother or her husband, as both were flautists (and pupils of Quantz). Each movement takes wing from solid and vigorous openings. There is a stubborn insistence about the first tutti's repeated octave jumps, offset by the buoyancy of its striding sequences. She has a Bach-like flair for phrase extensions, which is also evident in the final gavotte where the solo shadows the orchestra and emerges to take the lead. Some of the ideas in the 34 bar slow movement are more son-of-Bach in style; and in the D minor second gavotte, which serves as a central 'trio' to the first, there is a delicate episode of rather French, languishing descents." Keyboard Concerto in G minor for Cembalo, Flute and Strings - Allegro - Cantabile (at 4:56) - Gavottes I & II (at 9:00) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelmine_of_Prussia (click on Margravine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth)
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Post by jk on Nov 20, 2020 10:06:22 GMT -5
Reading between the lines of the wiki page devoted to Élisabeth de Haulteterre (fl. 1737–68), only vocal works by this French composer and violinist have survived. Maybe the rest of the subscribers-only article at Grove Music Online quoted below has more to say on the subject: "She did not come from La Couture where the Hotteterre family of musicians originated, and there is no demonstrable connection between her and that family. In April 1737 the Mercure de France reported that 'Miss Hotteterre, young lady recently arrived from the provinces, has played [at the Concert Spirituel] several times on the violin various sonatas by Mr Leclair with all the intelligence, vivacity, and precision imaginable'. At the end of 1740 her Premier livre de sonates for violin and continuo appeared in Paris, dedicated to Jean-Marie Leclair l'aîné [the elder, jk]. An 'investigation of bowstrokes for novices' included in this book suggests that she gave lessons on the violin. The publication of her second Concerto à cinq, for four violins, organ and cello, dedicated to Princess Adélaïde, was reported in the Mercure of January 1744." This poster advertising one such Concert Spirituel dates from 17 years after "Miss Hotteterre"'s acclaimed performances: Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia (1723–1787) is far better represented in the surviving compositions department. She seems to have embarked on composing after becoming Abbess of Quedlinburg in 1755. This is her Sonata for Oboe and Organ in F major (date unknown), in a live performance by Birgit Welpmann (oboe) and Anneliese Funke (organ): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Amalia(click on Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia)
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Post by jk on Nov 21, 2020 6:30:46 GMT -5
Well, the previous post was my last in the (hopefully) chronological series plucked from the list of Baroque composers at Wikipedia. Any names added in the future will be ones I accidentally come across as I wend my way through cyberspace (but see below). Please, don't take everything I say in this thread as gospel! Almost all of it has been gathered from occasionally clashing sources and there's no way I can vouch for their accuracy. I plan to start a new, much broader topic called "Women Composers since 1750", which is roughly when the Classical era took over. It won't be chronological and anyone can add to it at any time. All women composers from before the Baroque era (Hildegard of Bingen, anyone?) can be included in the present topic. Caterina Assandra (c. 1590–after 1618) is one such later Baroque discovery. I noticed the name C. Assandra on the album cover in an earlier video and was reminded of someone. I now see she's in the "Baroque composers" list at Wikipedia, so at some point I shall make a note of everyone I've included in this topic and go through that list again to see who I missed first time round. It seems much of Ms Assandra's music has survived. (Her wiki page is worth reading.) Of course, in view of the fact that she died 400 years ago, and considering the political and social upheavals since then, it’s amazing any of it has survived. (Indeed, that holds for everyone in this topic.) This is Duo Seraphim for three voices and continuo, sung here by my latest discovery, the soprano María Cristina Kiehr, accompanied by her Concerto Soave ensemble led by co-founder Jean-Marc Aymes (at the organ, if my ears aren't deceiving me). If it really is for three voices, the other two are handled instrumentally in this performance: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caterina_Assandra
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