R. L. PEARSALL
Lay a Garland
ANTHONY HOLBORNE
The Honey-Suckle
Galliard
The Night Watch
JONATHAN BATTISHILL
Amidst the myrtles
JOHN STAFFORD SMITH
Blest pair of sirens
ANTHONY HOLBORNE
Pavan-Bona Speranza
Galliard-The Tears of the Muses
ANTHONY HOLBORNE
Heigh Ho Holiday
The Feast of Love
The Fairie Round
AGOSTINO STEFFANI
Stabat Mater
(Danish text below)
Our first concert reflects England's discovery of Early Music during the period 1720-1820, when composers studied Renaissance music and wrote imitation madrigals, and presented them at a society in London called the Academy of Ancient Music. The first president of this society was the Italian composer Agostino Steffani, (who never set foot in England, but was revered as one of the finest living composers in Europe (after Handel). One of his last works, which he regarded as his masterpiece, was the 'Stabat Mater' for voices and strings, this rarely heard work is the centre-piece of this concert. We begin however with a sequence of early 19th-century glees and madrigals of the kind performed at the Academy of Ancient Music, alternating these with English Renaissance dances by Anthony Holborne. The glee—a kind of partsong— was a purely English invention, admired by Haydn during his London years, and we will be presenting a selection of these throughout the festival.
2021 Theatre of Voices Festival slår dørene op til åbningskoncert med et program for både stemmer og orkester. Dirigent Paul Hillier holder helst til i Vestsjælland, men kommer fra England, hvor man har en lang tradition for ’underholdende herresang’ i de berømte ’clubs’ og andre sammenkomster. Musikken kaldes ofte ’glees’ og kan bedst sammenlignes med ’studentersangernes repertoire’ – fædrelandets sørgmodige sange om kærlighed og død. Her har Hillier udvalgt en lille håndfuld, der kan synges af Theatre of Voices 8 sangere – krydret med små orkesterstykker fra 1600-tallet. De spilles af vores strygere i TOV Band, der alle spiller på barokinstrumenter.
Sangere, strygere og orgel slutter af med den italienske Agostino Steffanis Stabat Mater, om Maria der stod ved korsets fod. En alvorlig tekst i storslåede toner. Agostino Steffani var beundret af de engelske glee-komponister, som brugte ham som forbillede for mange af deres kompositioner. Italienske madrigaler var højeste mode i England, og Steffani blev udnævnt til formand for The Academy of Ancient Music i London.
De små engelske korsange løber som en tråd gennem dette års festival – tilsat danske perler af C.E.F. Weyse og Fr. Kuhlau.
Theatre of Voices
-Else Torp
-Kate Macoboy
-Laura Lamph
-Miles Lallemant
-Paul Bentley-Angell
-Nils Greenhow
-Danny Purtell
-Andrew Mahon
David Bendix Nielson, organ
Mathias Friis Hansen, percussion
Fredrik From, violin
Jesenka Balic Zunic, violin
Rastko Roknic, viola
Marie Becker, viola
Mikkel Schreiber, viola
Hanna Loftsdottir, cello
Paul Hillier, artistic director
Produced in collaboration with:
Hørbygaard Gods
Statens Kunstfond
Holbæk Kommune
William Demant Fonden
Lemvigh-Müller Fonden
Koda Kultur