Lisa Marie Lawson,
violin, viola and Music Director
Robin Fisher, soprano
Cathie Apple, traverso
Laura Rubinstein-Salzedo, Naomi Rogers-Hefley, Shannon Houston, violins
Kim LaSavio, viola
Michael Lawson, cello
David Wells, bassoon
Ryan Enright, harpsichord and organ

Link to Performers' Biographies

 

The Program:

G. P. Telemann: Concerto No. 2 for Four Violins in D major
Adagio-Allegro-Adagio-Allegro

Laura Rubinstein-Salzedo, Naomi Rogers-Hefley,
Shannon Houston, Lisa Marie Lawson, violins

 

A. Vivaldi: Bassoon Concerto in A minor
1. Allegro

David Wells, Bassoon soloist

G. P. Telemann: Concerto à 4 in D major
1. Adagio
2. Allegro

Cathie Apple, traverso
Laura Rubinstein-Salzedo, violin
Lisa Marie Lawson, viola
Michael Lawson, cello

 

A. Vivaldi: Trio Sonata "La Follia"

Lisa Marie Lawson, Laura Rubinstein-Salzedo, violins
Michael Lawson, cello
Ryan Enright, harpsichord and organ

 

Vivaldi: Laudate Pueri: Sit nomen Domini, RV 600

Robin Fisher, Soprano
Laura Rubinstein-Salzedo, Naomi Rogers-Hefley, violins
Lisa Marie Lawson, viola

Corelli: Concerto Grosso Op. 6 No. 4 in D major
Adagio - Allegro
Adagio
Vivace
Allegro - Allegro

Lisa Marie Lawson and Laura Rubinstein-Salzedo, violin concertino
Michael Lawson, cello concertino

 

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Notes on the Program

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) – Concerto for Four Violins in D major TWV 40:202

Georg Philipp Telemann was the most successful and prolific German composer of the late Baroque period. In his exceptionally long and active life he wrote almost every genre of music imaginable.

Telemann had no formal music training but educated himself by studying scores of great masters while he studied languages and science at the University of Leipzig. While he was there, he gained great popularity as a musician, and formed the Collegium Musicum in 1702.

Telemann wrote the Concerto for Four Violins in the midst of the storm of popularity of Vivaldi’s concertos. Telemann traveled widely in Europe, bringing back to Germany the Italian concert form. Incredibly prolific, he composed over 100 concertos, although he claims to have had no special affection for the musical form. The Concerto for Four Violins is a three-movement work senza basso, without orchestra and without continuo. Johann Adolph Scheibe (1708-1776), editor of one of the earliest journals of music criticism, criticized Bach’s excessive artfulness and tendency to overelaborate inner parts. He found Telemann’s tuneness, harmonic directness, and simpler accompaniments more natural and appealing. Telemann’s most important musical position was that of music director of the churches in Hamburg from 1720 until 1767, the position that his godson C.P.E. Bach assumed upon his death.

 

Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741) - Bassoon Concerto in A minor, RV 499

Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice, the son of a professional violinist at St. Mark’s. He held the position of violin teacher at the Ospedale della Pieta, a girl’s orphanage in Venice, from 1703 to 1738, also taking on the post of “maestro de concerti”. In this position he wrote over 400 concertos to be performed by his students at weekly Sunday concerts. By 1709 his concertos were famous throughout Europe and Vivaldi soon spent much of his time traveling. He was a highly virtuostic violinist, applying this virtuosity to his concertos which heavily influenced violin technique as well as the concerto form.

Vivaldi’s thirty-nine solo concerti for bassoon make up more than ten percent of his solo concerto output, and rank second only to violin in number. None of them were published during his lifetime, and they survive only in the collection of the composer’s manuscripts that was rediscovered in the 1920s. Two of these concerti bear dedications: one to Count Wenzel von Morzin of Prague (whose orchestra included a virtuoso bassoonist named Anton Möser), and the other to a Venetian bassoonist named Giuseppe Biancardi. It has long been supposed that the remaining concerti were intended for virtuosic young women bassoonists at the Pio Ospedale della Pietà. But, frustratingly, there is only circumstantial evidence that this might have been the case. Whoever played these works originally must have been virtuosic; the A minor concerto on today’s concert (RV 499) demonstrates the technical prowess that Vivaldi regularly demanded from his bassoonist(s). This is clearly demonstrated in the outer Allegros, which each contain rapid scalar and arpeggiated passagework. For tonight's performance we perform the first Allegro.

 

Georg Philip Telemann (1681-1767) – Chamber Concerto in D major TWV 43:D4.

For tonight's program we perform two movements of the chamber concerto written for flute, violin, viola, and continuo. It bears the form of a sonata de chiesa, and has distinctive Italian elements throughout the movements. Rich counterpoint in the upper three voices begin the opening adagio. The following allegro opens with an Italianesque theme, which enters one low voice at a time in Germanic fugal style.

 

Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741) - Trio Sonata "La Follia," RV 63

Although Vivaldi is wildly popular today for his concertos, his first effort, Opus 1, was a book of trio sonatas dedicated to Annibale Gambara, a Veronese nobleman. These works, published in 1705, are most certainly a tribute to Corelli, whose five collections of sonatas, published from 1681 to 1700, defined the form. Vivaldi's works won the disapproval of conservatives such as English composer Charles Avison, who was to condemn Vivaldi’s works as “only a fit Amusement for Children; nor indeed for these, if ever they are intended to be led to a just Taste in Music.” Though less well-known than his hundreds of Concertos, his sonatas display an equal proficiency and charisma.

The Follia variations are written on a well-known tune, probably of Portuguese origin, dating from the early sixteenth century. The piece opens with a theme (adagio) followed by 19 variations of 16 bars each, all of them in the key of D minor, in both the slow and the fast movements. Vivaldi alternates beautifully lyrical variations with sets of energetic displays of virtuosity, shared equally between the two upper melody instruments and the basso.

 

Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741) - Laudate pueri "Sit nomen Domini", RV 600

For centuries Vivaldi’s fame as an instrumental writer overshadowed his vocal output. Although the students at the Pieta were less known for their concerted choral singing than their orchestral playing, Vivaldi composed many sacred vocal works for the Pieta and over 40 operas, which were performed throughout Italy. Laudate pueri, one of his earliest vocal works, is a Vesper Psalm, written in 1715. "Sit nomen Domini" is a single movement from the larger work.

Translation: Laudate pueri "Sit nomen Domini" Psalm 112

Blessed be the name of the Lord
From this time forward, forever and ever.

 

Arcangelo Corelli (1653 – 1713) – Concerto Grosso in D major, Op. 6 No. 4

Roger North spoke of Corelli’s works, “wch are to ye musitians like ye bread of life.” Corelli was the founder of a Roman school whose influence touched practically every violinist in Europe. He had widespread fame as a composer and was the teacher of Geminiani, Locatelli, Veracini, and Somis, who taught Leclair. His works were published repeatedly throughout Europe and were seen as models of style for their purity and poise. Although the twelve concerti grossi were published in 1714, some of them must have been composed thirty years earlier, according to the testimony of Georg Muffat, but Corelli, continually polishing, was unwilling to publish them until his death, leaving instructions for their publication in his will. His opus 6 concerti grossi resemble trio sonatas with orchestral reinforcement and echo effects. In many ways the concerto grosso was the precursor of the solo concerto, as it was the opposition of a solo trio against an orchestra. The Concerto Grosso we hear tonight is in chamber sonata form, with alternating dance-like movements.

 

The harpsichord played on tonight's program was built by Dale Fjerstad
and generously donated to Sacramento Baroque Soloists

 

Sacramento Baroque Soloists thank the following donors to the 2020-21 Season!

Esterhazy
($500-999)

Fantastic Fund
of the Sacramento Regional Community Foundation
Peter Doyle
Margaret and Al Geelhaar
AJ Watson

 

La Poupliniere
($249-499)

Bruce Donehower
Mary Carol Gustafson
Claudia Kirkpatrick
Stuart & Vana Lott

 

Brandenburg
(up to $249)

Merry Benard
Laurel Benedetti
Randy Berka
Judy Brush
Michael Dazey & Linda Carter
Krishna Chaturvedula
Dennis & Susan Cook
Andrew Crawford
Lorraine Crozier
Fred Deneke
Ajit de Silva
Phyllis Ehlert & Dennis Blegen
Patricia Garcia
Lorraine Barr & Neil Glick
Linda & David Gordon
Roberta & Steven Gould
Meg Halloran
James R Hargrove
Nannette Henderson
Ashley Hill
David Hill
Olivia Huff
Charles Johnson
Elizabeth Johnson
Frances Jones
Steven Kloose
Walter, Linda, & Anna Koochoo
in memory of Carolyn Booker
Katherine LaForge
Kristen Lee
Leland & Esther Lee
Heidi McLean
Paul Mercurio
Marcia Mooney
Bonnie Mintun
Rothgarn-Moore Family
Tomoko Murata
Jerome Oddo
Carol Paris
Molly Penberth
Kathy Perez
Ingrid Tracy Peters
Emily Piltch
Alasdair Porteus
Meda Rebecca
Doug MacPherson & Goli Sahba
Vicki & Bob Schaevitz
William Senecal
Steven Smith
Fran Spitale
Mark & Daria Stoner
Gay Tanner
William Taylor
Shaunda Thomas
Allyson Trethewey
Pamella Vaugn
Chris & Sandy Whetstone
Alice Williams
in memory of cellist Kurt Behnke, COVID victim
James Wilson
Lisa Woodard-Mink
Ondine Young
Larry Zeagler

 

Sacramento Baroque Soloists thanks our dedicated volunteers 2020-21:

Artistic Director: Michael Lawson

Board of Directors: Nancy Finch, President
Michael Lawson, Vice President and Treasurer
James Moses, Secretary
Stuart Lott
Denise Maclachlan
Dan Sackheim

Graphics: Scott Olling
Audio and Video Recording: Cameron Lawson
Concert Managers: Bill Senecal (St. Paul’s)
Concessions Manager: Anndrija Long
Volunteers:
Michelle Cordova
Kathy Davis
Peggy Geelhaar
Richard Kennedy
Sharon Kennedy
Jay King
Vana Lott
Doug Mattes
Patricia Altschul Moses