The Forgotten Baroque: Masterworks from the 17th Century
Date: Sat, May 17th 2008Additional Time Info: 8:00 p.m.
External Link: Event Website
Related Series: The Bach Sinfonia 2007-2008 Season
Event Tags: Music Performances
Location: Woodside United Methodist Church
Featuring solo artists Jennifer Ellis Kampani, soprano, Barbara Hollinshead, alto, Tony Boutté, tenor, and Sumner Thompson, bass
Heinrich Ingaz Franz von Biber
Stabat Mater (modern premiere)
Salamon Rossi
Motets and Psalms from Hashirim Asher Lish'lomo ("The Songs of Solomon")
Giacomo Carissimi
Historia di Jephte
In this very special concert, The Bach Sinfonia will present the modern premiere of Biber's Stabat Mater. Daniel Abraham, music and artistic director, has edited the composition from manuscripts that survive in Salzburg where Biber was Kapellmeister from 1684 until his death in 1704. The concert also offer the rare opportunity to hear Rossi's radiant polyphonic Hebrew motets and psalm settings from Hashirim Asher Lish'omo (1623), his important offering of choral compositions for the standard Jewish liturgy. Carissimi's beautiful oratorio, one of the first pieces in its genre, depicts the story of Jephte, who pledges to sacrifice his only child as an offering for victory in battle. The dramatic musical imagery of Jephte and his daughter's plight includes battle scenes, songs of triumph, painful parting, and a final, stirring, mournful chorus filled with anguish and lament.