Windsor Symphony Orchestra will present a concert 'Trumpet Glory' with artists John Morris Russell, Conductor, Ross Turner, Trumpet, on Friday, November 2, 2007, at 11:00 a.m. & 7:30 p.m., at Assumption University Chapel. Tickets are $32-$20.
Giuseppe Torelli
Giuseppe Torelli was one of the leading figures of the Bologna violin school, a group of 17th-century composers and performers who worked at the Cathedral of San Petronio in that north Italian city. At the height of his career he appeared as violinist and conductor throughout Germany and northern Italy; his works for trumpet and strings (written in the 1680's) provide some of the earliest examples of ritornello form, the basis of the mature baroque concerto.
George Frideric Handel
Hnadel wrote the twelve concerti of Opus 6 for the publisher J. Walsh of London during September and October of 1739; the works were published by Walsh in April of the following year. Handel's star was definitely in the ascendant; he had made the decisive change from Italian opera to English oratorio: "Saul" and "Israel in Egypt" had already been performed with great success in the early part of 1739;"Messiah", "Solomon" and the other great oratorios would follow in the course of the 1740's, as the composer approached and then passed his sixtieth birthday.
Like its companion works, Concerto no.10 is scored for a solo group (or "concertino") of two solo violins and cello, plus a "ripieno" or full string orchestra. The three principal players divide their time between leading their respective sections of the orchestra and playing the solo passages.
Concerto no.10 is rather unusually structured: it begins with a slow and majestic introduction (in the manner of a French overture) followed by a lively fugue. Then comes a slow triple-time movement labelled"Air," and then three lively movements, the first a gigue-like dance, the second a big ritornello movement (like the first movement of most normal concertos), and the third a gavotte-like dance movement and its ornamented repeat, or "double."
Jeremiah Clarke
Jeremiah Clarke was a younger contemporary of Henry Purcell, born some fifteen years later and dying twelve years later than his famous compatriot—which is to say that he died (in 1707) at around the tender age of thirty-two, evidently by his own hand over a hopeless love affair with a pupil of high rank. Like Purcell he began as a boy chorister and ended up as a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal (the King's own musical establishment), and like Purcell he also served as a cathedral organist. His output was similar to Purcell's—church music, occasional music for court celebrations, and theatre music—although much less of it survives.
The Suite in D for trumpet and strings consists of a series of short movements, mostly marches or dances. Some are in binary form (two sections, each repeated) and some are in rondeau form (a recurring section alternates with contrasting episodes). One of the movements, labelled"The Prince of Denmark's March," will be recognized as the trumpet voluntary formerly attributed to Purcell.
Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell was born into a musical family: his father and uncle were both Gentlemen of the Chapel Royal. Henry began his apprenticeship as a choirboy and later became keeper of the King's musical instruments; at the age of twenty he became organist of Westminster Abbey (his predecessor, John Blow, stepped aside and then, fifteen years later, resumed the post after Henry's untimely death).
For the last six years of his life (1690-95) Purcell devoted himself to writing for the English stage. He produced hundreds of incidental songs and at least five large scores for what are now called "semi-operas." These four and five-act works combined spoken dialogue with elaborate musical scenes: choruses and solo songs, processions, dances,"symphonies" (instrumental passages) to cover scene changes and the like.
Such a work was The Fairy Queen, premiered in 1692 and revived the following year. It was freely based on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, but included some new characters, situations and dialogue. The present orchestral suites provide a fascinating glimpse into what must have been a magnificent evening's entertainment.
William Boyce
William Boyce, organist of the Chapel Royal and Master of the Royal Band, published two sets of orchestral works in the course of his long career: Eight Symphonies in 1760 and Twelve Overtures a decade later. Despite the change of title, both sets consist of overtures that were originally written for stage works or for the large-scale choral cantatas that Boyce regularly produced on state occasions. Most of these works begin with a French overture and continue with two or more dance-like movements in contrasting tempos.
Benjamin Britten
Britten's first acknowledged work (he destroyed a quantity of juvenalia) was written in 1932 when the composer was just eighteen and still a student at the Royal College of Music in London. Originally conceived as a chamber piece for solo winds and strings, the work is usually performed nowadays by small orchestra (with doubled strings). It consists of three short movements.
The first movement is labelled "Poco presto ed agitato;" the second movment is a set of variations marked "Andante Lento;" and the finale is a lively tarantella labelled"Presto vivace." The finale is marked to follow the slow movement without a break. -- www.windsorsymphony.com
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