Juilliard415 Performs Telemann and Handel

The Juilliard415's lunchtime recital at Holy Trinity Church ran longer than usual yesterday in a program that featured not only works by Telemann and Handel but those of lesser known composers as well.  There was an even an improvisation in the Baroque style by two talented Juilliard graduate students.

The program opened with Sonata Decimasesta and Sonata Decimaterza from Sonate Concertante in Stil Moderno, Libro II (1629) by Dario Castello.  Both works were arranged for two violins, two cellos, double bass and harpsichord.  There was an ongoing interaction between the violins that was quite engaging while the other instruments served mostly to provide the continuo.

This was followed by Sonata Decima from Prothimia suavissima (1672) by Antonio Bertali.  Born in Verona, Bertali spent most of his life in Vienna where he was appointed court kapellmeister.  His greatest musical contribution lay not in his chamber works, however, but in opera.  It was he who established the tradition of opera seria in Vienna where it was to flourish until the era of Mozart and Da Ponte.

The next work was an improvisation by Juilliard415 members Melanie Williams on flute and James Kennerly playing harpsichord.  This was an interesting experiment that provided to the audience some idea how Baroque musicians might have improvised centuries ago during their own performances.  Before beginning, the harpsichordist gave an explanation how he and the flautist meant to proceed and what the "ground rules" were.  The improvisation was in three parts listed in the program as Prelude, Ground Bass and Gigue.  The result was enjoyable and the students deserve credit for having pulled it off so well.

Next came Telemann's Trio Sonata in G minor, TWV 42:g5, from Essercizii Musici (c. 1739).  Telemann was, of course, during his lifetime one of the most famous composers in Europe.  He knew Handel personally and was a friend of Bach and godfather of C.P.E. Bach.  Nevertheless, his personal life was tumultuous and it was only through the intervention of friends that the composer was saved from bankruptcy after his second wife accrued huge gambling debts while at the same time conducting an illicit affair with a Swedish military officer.  The Essercizii Musici is considered Telemann's finest collection of chamber music and clearly shows his ability as a composer of trio sonatas.

The Telemann was followed by two works, Sonata seconda in E minor and Sonata prima in G minor, from VI sonate à Trè, Op. 5 (1736) by Pietro Antonio Locatelli.  After having trained as a violinist in Rome, where he possibly studied under Corelli, Locatelli became a wandering musician traveling through Italy and Germany.  He was also something of a dandy - biographer Albert Dunning writes of a performance Locatelli gave in Berlin before Frederick William I where it was his diamond-studded attire that drew the most attention.  In 1729 Locatelli arrived in Amsterdam where he spent the remainder of his life giving violin lessons and private performances.  It was there that the present work was published.  What was most notable in this work was the unusual arrangement of instruments - two flutes, bassoon and harpsichord.

Then came an early secular cantata by Handel, Mi palpita il cor, HWV 132b written while the composer was resident in Rome during the period c. 1706-1710.  The work is generally agreed to be a revision of HWV 132c; in the present version, the oboe replaces the flute as the solo instrument.  The program notes describe this piece as a type of salon work to be performed at informal social gatherings.  But it may later have had other uses as well.  In Handel as Orpheus: Voice and Desire in the Chamber Cantatas, Ellen T. Harris has suggested this work may be one of the ten "pedagogical" cantatas that Handel employed more than a decade later when teaching keyboard to Princess Anne in London.  

The program closed with the Trio Sonata for Oboe, Violin and Continuo in D minor by Josep Pla.  According to the program notes, Pla traveled with his older brother, oboist Joan Baptista, throughout Europe.  The two performed together at a number of prestigious venues and may have shared joint authorship of many of their compositions.