The month of November has included for me two concerts that featured Western music of the 17th Century. This is music of the early baroque. Until most recently this kind of repertoire was only the expertise of a small minority of connoisseurs. Just like the Colt revolver (the Peacemaker) made easy killing readily available and it sort of evened the playing field, now YouTube has given us at least 30 versions of Antonio Bertali, Claudio Monteverdi, Tarquinio Merula, Francesca Caccini, Giovani Girolamo Kapsperger, Andrea Falconieri, Arcangelo Corelli,Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, etc of a chiacona (chaconne and many other spellings) which filled the no-radio airways of the 17^th century. If you have never heard this 17th century chiacona before you will find it surprising that most of them induce you to want to dance and clap and if you are not careful you just might spend a whole night looking for them on YouTube as I did recently.

Stephen Stubbs

It all began for me when I heard Arcangelo Corelli’s Opus 5 Folia played by Monica Huggett on violin. Mitzi Meyerson on harpsichord, Sarah Cunningham, cello and Nigel North on archlute, theorbo and guitar. I discovered a tune, perhaps rampant in the 16^th century that was “covered” by all sorts of composers in Europe including Folias collected by an Englishman called John Playford. I heard this Folia or ground (and we shall soon find out that a ground is simply the English word for chiacona, chaconne, etc). This ground I heard in a delightful CD Apollo’s Banquet with David Douglas on violin, Paul O’Dette, theorbo and Andrew Lawrence-King, harps.

I will write about two concerts. One was Early Music Vancouver’s Sunday (November 9) concert Monteverdi’s Songs of Love and War at the Orpheum Annex, Seymour and Robson, and the other Stile Moderno’s Friday concert Light and Dark held at the lovely chapel of St. Andrew Wesley’s Church on Burrard and Nelson.

Reginald L. Mobley

In the former, not too well hidden I heard two grounds or chacones and in the latter the concert ended with Antonio Bertali’s Chiacona.

Some nights ago I thought of that Penthouse Magazine short story that I read in the late 80s about a group of LA music promoters who came up with the idea of bringing in something new from the past to inject with a jolt the music scene of the city. They hopped on a time machine and brought back baroque composer and harpsichord virtuoso Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757). Their plan did not go as planned. Scarlatti discovered the Moog synthesizer and dropped out. He was last seen playing with a rock band. 

Tekla Cunningham, Catherine Webster, Elizabeth Reed, Stephen Stubbs

I thought about going to the 50s and bringing back Gerry Mulligan and his pianoless quartet. By eliminating the piano from the standard jazz quartet, piano, a sax, a bass and drums and adding a trumpet it imposed an uncommon stress and obligation on the sax and the trumpet (later the trombone). This idea shook up the jazz world.

I don’t know how fresh Mulligan’s quartet would sound in comparison to what is now considered to be jazz. Perhaps Mulligan would find YouTube’s samples of 17 century baroque music tempting and he and his baritone sax would drop out and join Stile Moderno’s trio of lute, violin and viola da gamba.

Tuning the baroque harp

 As far-fetched as that might sound I discovered that in that 17^th century in which baroque music seemed to follow a formula, a priest, Claudio Monteverdi decided to shake it up a bit. This is better explained below. It also clues me in as to why Dutch-born Arthur Neele, violin, Natalie Mackie, viola da gamba and Konstantin Bozhinov, archlute call their trio Stile Moderno.

Seconda pratica, literally "second practice", is the counterpart to prima pratica and is more commonly referred to as Stile moderno. The term "Seconda prattica" was coined by Claudio Monteverdi to distance his music from that of e.g. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Gioseffo Zarlino and describes early music of the Baroque period which encouraged more freedom from the rigorous limitations of dissonances and counterpoint characteristic of the prima pratica.

Stile moderno was coined as an expression by Giulio Caccini in his 1602 work Le nuove musiche which contained numerous monodies. New for Caccini's songs were that the accompaniment was completely submissive in contrast to the lyric; hence, more precisely, Caccini's Stile moderno-monodies have ornamentations spelled out in the score, which earlier had been up to the performer to supply. Also this marks the starting point of basso continuo which also was a feature in Caccini's work.

In the preface of his 5th Book of Madrigals (1605) Monteverdi announced a book of his own: Seconda pratica, overo perfettione della moderna musica. Such a book is not extant. But the preface of his 8th Book of Madrigals (1638) seems to be virtually a fragment of it. Therein Monteverdi claims to have invented a new “agitated” style (Genere concitato, later called Stile concitato) to make the music "complete/perfect" ("perfetto").

Gerald Drebes: ‘‘Monteverdis Kontrastprinzip, die Vorrede zu seinem 8. Madrigalbuch und das Genere concitato‘‘, in: Musiktheorie, Jg. 6, 1991, p. 29-42.

Stephen Stubbs and Maxine Eilander

  
So in the Early Music Vancouver concert Pacific Music Works (Seattle) Tekla Cunningham and Linda Melsted, violins, Elizabeth Reed, viola da gamba, Maxine Eilander, harp and harpsichord, Stephen Stubbs, lute and Direction, Catherine Webster and Danielle Reutter-Harrah, sopranos, Reginald Mobley, countertenor, Ross Hauck and Aaron Sheehan, tenors and Douglas Williams, bass I found out how Monteverdi shook up the establishment. The lyrics to his pieces brought and almost hyper reality to the idea of war and love and in one piece Chiomo d’oro, sopranos Catherine Webster and Danielle Reutter-Harrah performed a rousing chaconne-like work that thinly disguised that the words were about a most pleasant sexual orgasm! This work would have perhaps caused Monteverdi’s bête-noir Luigi Palestrina to inform friend Pope Julius III to intercede and excommunicate Monteverdi who happened to be a priest.

 Of Monteverdi soprano Catherine Webster (who sang solo in a beautiful rendition of Monteverdi’s Et e pur dunque vero) conveyed this to me via e-mail:

I'm quite sure I owe my interest in early music to Monteverdi's "Lamento della Ninfa" .  It was played in my college music history course and I couldn't believe what I was hearing.  The passacaglia is such a powerful yet simple device, and I don't think I'd heard true dissonance or language expressed that way - and there were instruments I didn't recognize!  A few years later I saw my first live performance of the Vespers (it was an EMV production!) and could hardly sit in my seat.  I love seeing the music on the page; much of it is quite easy to hear even in the layout:  the "battle" music actually looks like it sounds, with its generally triple time and declamatory style.  Then there are these rich extended cadences in a more renaissance style that seem to be from outer space:  the last section of "Hor che'l ciel" is breath-taking and actually an extremely sophisticated example of modernized madrigal word- features a solo singer with solo violin (most have two treble instruments).  I think Monteverdi really intended the violin to reflect - and guide - the psychological state of the singer.  painting.  Monteverdi was convinced that his new style could truly depict the words and emotions of the poetry so that the listener felt physically moved - and if the performance is great you'll hear a visceral reaction from the audience!  In the solo piece "Ed e pur dunque vero" I did with Tekla on violin, there were moments I found difficult not to gasp, move somehow or melt into oblivion - the musical motives seem to mirror the effect of emotion on the physical self.  It's quite a progressive piece, and the only 17th-century one I know of that

Besides the wonderful ground (chaconne-like performance of Chiomo d’oro) I particularly enjoyed Ego flos campi which featured the fabulous Boston-based countertenor Reginald Mobley. Even when all singers were in unison in some of the other works I could hear his voice separately. Mobley besides being a countertenor of note, likes to shock the establishment with his own personal stile moderno involving always wearing spats and in this later occasion a most startling facial hair arrangement. Via e-mail Mobley sent me the following explanation:

Reginald L. Mobley

You asked me to say a little something about the beard?

Frankly, there's not much to it. I've always had an interest in sculpting facial hair. It's been my most frequent form of self expression. From lightning bolts, to tiger stripes, to even a spiral, my face has served as a mobile canvas with my own hair as its medium. It just so happened that I've gone through a Wonder Woman Renaissance recently. It all culminated with me dressing as a sort of WW inspired "Wonder Boy" for Halloween. The beard reflects the Eagle that adorns her breastplate. Since I haven't had time to hide and let my beard grow out, I've chosen to keep it for a while.

~Reggie

Early Music Vancouver’s Songs of Love and War was performed in the intimate and brand new Orpheum Annex, around the corner from the Orpheum. The space with its raised seating and smallish room affords a good view, wonderful acoustics and an intimate place for music that might have at one time have been performed to a select audience of potentates. That we are now able to listen to this exciting music (new to me and new to just about anybody else) in Vancouver says something about that axis of goodness that is Portland, Seattle and our fair city. All three cities have virtuoso performers that specialize in the baroque period. The three have joined forces to bring us as of now music that aches to be listened to by anybody who might be tired of the conventional repertoire, heretofore offered. 

Next Early Music Vancouver Concert December 21

A case in point is Stile Moderno. In Friday’s performance at St Wesley’s most of the composers featured were new to me. My 12 year-old granddaughter Lauren who has been playing the violin (by her own choice to my amazement) for four years was all ears as she sketched on her sketch book. I had prepared her for the last piece, Antonio Bertali’s Chiacona by telling her that she would want to stand up to dance. What really helped her appreciate it was lutenist Konstantin Bozhinov’s approach which was much like a rock guitarist’s. Somehow the startling new music of the 17^th century (with some of those odd right wrong notes) was made more relevant by the smiles of the performers who were having with us a splendid time. 



I cannot stop here without pointing out that I absolutely hate the accordion. It seems that some years ago accordion player Bozhinov, had his own road to Damascus moment and suddenly became interested in the lute, archlute and theorbo.  These three instruments, depending on whom you talk to are all the one and the same or not. Ray Nurse, who makes these instruments was Bozhinov’s mentor and we can only thank him from saving us from the bellows. I happen to know that a virtuoso violinist in the audience also had his moment on the road to Damascus and he/she, too abandoned the accordion for the better instrument.

Stile Moderno - Arthur Neele, Natalie Mackie, Konstantin Ruslanov Bozhinov

At the end of the concert Lauren wanted to see the sheet music. She looked at the above by Antonio Bertali and told me, "I can read this but if I read it as fast as I can I would not be able to  play any of it." Time will tell if Lauren will pursue the violin but I know that just by being able to read music she has added a new dimension to her ability to think. She also told me she was looking forward to the next Stile Moderno concert.

Christina Hutten the multi instrumentalist ( harpsichord, piano and organ) who is helping out at Early Music Vancouver (she is an able harpsichord tuner) and who is getting her doctorate at UBC School of music sat down to play the beautiful not so little organ of the St. Andrew Wesley's chapel. We were all impressed and only wonder if Stile Moderno might not just fit in that instrument in a future concert.

Stile Moderno