In furore iustissimae irae…
Antonio Vivaldi: Amor Sacro (Motets)
Selection of Antonio Vivaldi’s solo-motets.
Sung by the amazing German coloratura soprano Simone Kermes.
Played by the Venice Baroque Orchestra under the Italian conductor, organist, harpsichordist, and scholar Andrea Marcon.
Entertainment! Have fun!
German with English subtitles
**IMPORTANT**
As you probably know, the art world is having a really rough time during this pandemic. The royal opera house might even be suspended for a while. In order to help these artists who right now don’t get any money and might even be very close to their last penny, you can donate. We enjoy their art every day of the year. Here’s a time to show support and respect.
For more info check out the video directly on YouTube.
Well, we have a thing for Italian at the moment, ever since we posted Rossini’s Barbiere. So here’s another opera sung in Italian, and with subtitles, too!
Conducted by Riccardo Muti
Teatro alla Scala, 1987
Don Giovanni: Thomas Allen
Il Commendatore: Sergej Koptchak
Donna Anna: Edita Gruberova
Don Ottavio: Francisco Araiza
Donna Elvira: Ann Murray
Leporello: Claudio Desderi
Masetto: Natale De Carolis
Zerlina: Susanne Mentzer
A light (and short) bit of entertainment for a warm summer Sunday
Romanian Youth Orchestra conducted by Cristian Mandeal
Some people say that Joseph Haydn composed the Toy Symphony, others that it was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s father Leopold. Truth be told, I don’t care much who wrote it: It’s a wonderful little piece of music, light and full of joy, one way or another.
So enjoy!
Performed by the Purcell Quartet
1. Sonata in B flat major, Op. 2/1, BuxWV 259
2. Sonata in D major, Op. 2/2, BuxWV 260 7:28
3. Sonata in G minor, Op. 2/3, BuxWV 261 19:24
4. Sonata in C minor, Op. 2/4, BuxWV 262 30:00
5. Sonata in A major, Op. 2/5, BuxWV 263 37:10
6. Sonata in E major, Op. 2/6, BuxWV 264 45:59
7. Sonata in F major, Op. 2/7, BuxWV 265 55:17
Performed by the Purcell Quartet.
In the video: An Elegant Company Playing Music by Dirck Hals (1591-1656)
Featured an old engraving of the city of Lübeck, where Buxtehude died. Today, the city lies in the northernmost German province of Schleswig-Holstein, but when Buxehude lived there, the Free City of Lübeck belonged to the Holy Roman Empire.
Weber had a significant impact on composers of the Romantic period, particularly in Germany.
Emi Ferguson, Flute
Julian Schwarz, Cello
Peter Dugan, Piano
LIVE (8/4/16) from pianoSonoma Festival, Schroeder Hall, Green Music Center at Sonoma State University, California
Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (1786 – 1826) was a Romantic German composer, conductor, pianist, guitarist and critic.
‘Don Giovanni’ is generally regarded as one of Mozart’s supreme achievements and one of the greatest operas of all time, or so they say. See if you agree.
Complete opera with English subtitles
Zurich, 2001
Don Giovanni – Rodney Gilfry
Leporello – László Polgár
Donna Anna – Isabel Rey
Don Ottavio – Roberto Saccà
Donna Elvira – Cecilia Bartoli
Zerlina – Liliana Nikiteanu
Masetto – Oliver Widmer
Commendatore – Matti Salminen
Conductor – Nikolaus Harnoncount
Director – Brian Large
Music – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto – Lorenzo Da Ponte
Country – Switzerland
Chamber music is on the menu today.
1. Concerto Primo in G major 0:00
2. Concerto Secondo in D major 10:13
3. Sonata Prima in A major 20:52
4. Sonata Seconda in G minor 32:31
5. Première Suite in E minor 43:34
6. Deuxième Suite in B minor 1:01:45
Performed by the Freiburger BarockConsort.
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681 – 1767) was a largely self-taught German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. His contemporaries considered him to be one of the leading German composers of the time, and compared him favorably both to his friend Johann Sebastian Bach, who made Telemann the godfather and namesake of his son Carl Philipp Emanuel, and to Georg Friedrich Händel, whom Telemann also knew personally.
The featured image shows the Telemann bench in the Polish town of Żary, located in the east of the historic Lower Lusatia region, in the borderland with the Silesian lowlands and Greater Poland, in other words, close to Germany’s eastern border. Telemann lived and worked in Żary for four years, from 1704 to 1708.
Johann Joseph Fux (1660 – 1741) was an Austrian composer and court musician of the late Baroque era.
Vox Luminis & Scorpio Collectief
Vox Luminis:
Zsuzsi Tóth, Sara Jäggi, Elke Janssens, Maria Bernius – soprano
Barnabás Heygi, Jan Kullmann – alto
Olivier Berten, Robert Buckland – tenor
Matthias Lutze, Lionel Meunier – bass
Scorpio Collectief:
Veronika Skuplik, Stefano Rossi – violin
Johannes Frisch – tenor violin
Josue Melendez, Frithjof Smith – cornett, cornett muto
Simen van Mechelen, Claire McIntyre – trombone
Carles Cristobal – bassoon
Matthias Müller – violine
Kris Verhelst – organ
Recorded during Utrecht Early Music Festival 2014 on 7 September 2014 in TivoliVredenburg.
J.J. Fux was employed by three successive emperors, Leopold I, Joseph I and Karl VI. Not sure for whom of the three he wrote this requiem, but Leopold I was surely the one among the three that supported music the most.
Here’s something light for the first Sunday in 2020.
12 Kammersonaten (1717)
Toke Lude Christiansen : Traverse flute
Jesper Bøje Christensen : Harpsichord
Sonata I in D major 0:00
Sonata II in G major 11:38
Sonata III in A major 20:24
Sonata IV in D major 28:28
Sonata V in G major 35:47
Sonata VI in E minor 44:27
Händel, Telemann, Buxtehude – many big names are connected with northern Germany (Hamburg in particular) and Baroque music. So is Johann Mattheson’s (1681 – 1764), native of Hamburg, diplomat, composer, writer and close friend of Georg Friedrich Händel’s. Mattheson is mainly famous as a music theorist and wrote abundantly on performance practice, theatrical style, and harmony of the German Baroque.
The harpsichord was a very popular instrument at the time, although it might take modern ears some time to appreciate it. Enjoy!
Denney Home Place 