First Period (9:30-10:45 a.m. Saturday and 1:00-2:15 p.m. Sunday)
Adrian Willaert: Latin Motets meet Neapolitan Songs, with Rainer Beckmann Intermediate to upper intermediate recorders. Known for his masterful integration of the contrapuntal Franco-Flemish style into Italian music of the 16th century, Adrian Willaert played an important role in the development and dissemination of many different genres. This class will focus on two of these distinct repertoires, sacred motets and secular songs in the Neapolitan style. Explore, play and enjoy lively and rustic canzone villanesca alla napolitana in combination with glorious, richly textured motets in four parts.
My Secret Garden: Nature in Chansons, Madrigals & a Motet of the 16th (& 21st) Centuries, with Wendy Powers Upper intermediate to advanced recorders. Among the most sensuous areas of secular Renaissance polyphony are musical settings of descriptions of the natural world, perhaps related to the humanist belief in knowledge through observation. Latin motets in Mary’s honor based on the Song of Songs often see her in a garden. Texts describing the natural world often contrast the beauty of nature with the narrator’s personal grief. Subtle, sometimes chromatic, gorgeous. Works by Lassus, Sermisy, Monteverdi and others.
Telemann: A Fantasia and a Duet with Tish Berlin. Advanced recorders Telemann’s fantasias for flute/violin are some of the most rewarding and challenging pieces in the Baroque wind player’s repertoire. Telemann’s duos range from the classic High Baroque to the more modern Rococo style and become increasingly more challenging with time. We’ll delve into fantasia I for flute and a duet from Telemann’s 1752 publication, working on the technical challenges as well as digging deep into the structure and harmonic underpinnings of the pieces.
Second Period (11:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. Saturday and 2:45-4:00 p.m. Sunday)
The Spanish Renaissance, with Tish Berlin Intermediate to upper intermediate recorders. Discover the tangy counterpoint and rhythms of Spanish tientos (Cabezon), villancicos (Juan del Encina, others), and motets (de Silva, Morales). No one does the contrast between sacred and secular like Spain!
The English Guise: Early Renaissance Music of Dunstable, Du Fay, Binchois & co. with Wendy Powers Upper intermediate recorders. A brief survey of the early 15th-century revolutionary Continental adoption of the English love of sweet thirds and sixths. Gorgeous melodies and rich harmonies demonstrate why Du Fay and others fell in love with English music and you will too.
What were Charpentier and Purcell both up to in 1680? An Investigation, with Rainer Beckmann Advanced recorders. The popular 16th-century practice of making music together on consorts of viols or recorders continued well into the 17th century, especially so in England and France. Towards the end of that century, Marc-Antoine Charpentier in Paris and Henry Purcell in London took advantage of this tradition, and their intimate knowledge of the music related to it, when composing two fascinating works in the exact same year of 1680! This class will investigate how Charpentier's Concert pour quatre parties and Purcell's Fantasias in four parts, written at very different points in each composer's career, differ from each other and might nonetheless relate. Described as "perhaps the earliest genuine French Baroque suite of dances," Charpentier's Concert seems to be more forward looking while Purcell's fantasias very much appear to be studies in the contrapuntal style of previous generations of English composers, designed with a twist. Originally intended for consorts of four viols without continuo, both sets of pieces sound beautiful and work well on recorders.
Third Period (2:00-3:15 Saturday only)
Early Music of the Black Diaspora: Lusitano, with Wendy Powers Intermediate to upper intermediate recorders. Vicente Lusitano (ca. 1520-ca. 1561) was an African-Portuguese composer, theorist, and teacher, who, until recently, was best known for winning a famous 1551 debate with theorist Nicola Vicentino. In recent years, however, his lovely motets (including his highly chromatic Heu me Domine) and a madrigal have been drawing attention from performers and audiences. Come discover some gems from an overlooked Renaissance composer of color.
Sacred and Secular Songs of the 15th Century: The Glogauer Liederbuch with Rainer Beckmann Upper intermediate recorders. The Glogauer Liederbuch, the oldest known set of part-books from central Europe, contains 292 sacred and secular songs and instrumental pieces. Assembled around the year 1480, the songbook's mostly anonymous compositions are thought to have entertained musical amateurs of a small monastic community in Lower Silesia. This class will focus on the colorful mix of polyphonic songs in the Glogauer collection which originated in various European countries.
Ludwig Senfl: A Motet and a Tenorlied, with Tish Berlin Upper intermediate to advanced recorders. Ludwig Senfl (1486 to ca. 1543) was a master of melody and rhythm in both his sacred and secular works. Born in Switzerland, he worked at the court of Maximillian I. He was a student of Heinrich Isaac, and his works include elements of Franco-Flemish style. We'll play one of his tenorlied (secular song built around a pre-existing tune), many of which interweave two or more tunes with wonderful imitative counterpoint. We'll also enjoy his De Profundis clamavi, a gorgeous five-part motet.
Fourth Period (3:30-4:45 p.m.) Class on Saturday only
¡O celestial medicina! Francisco Guerrero's Eucharistic Villancicos with Rainer Beckmann Intermediate recorders. Francisco Guerrero's celebrated collection Canciones y villanescas espirituales (1589) includes a true trove of charming villancicos carefully organized by subject matter and according to the church year. This short class will explore two eucharistic villancicos suitable to be performed at Corpus Christi or during Communion. Catchy tunes and vibrant rhythms are guaranteed! This class period will include some work on the multi-choir pieces by Monteverdi and Guerrero that will be performed at the end of the day on Sunday with the viols, lutes, and chorus.
Desperate Fate: A Song’s Secular and Sacred Journey, with Wendy Powers Upper intermediate recorders. The Italian song Fortuna desperata, possibly by Busnois, was remade as the basis of new secular vocal and instrumental works by Josquin, Isaac, and Senfl and Masses by Josquin and others. A garden of polyphonic styles grew from this single musical seed.
Art of Fugue by J. S. Bach: The Fusion of Sacred and Secular with Tish Berlin Advanced recorders. We’ll explore one of the contrapuncti from Bach’s monumental work on the fugue. These untexted pieces, all based on the same theme in D minor, create a wordless prayer to the divine presence in music. This class period will include some work on the multi-choir pieces by Monteverdi and Guerrero that will be performed at the end of the day on Sunday with the viols, lutes, and chorus.
