Archives – 2012/2013 Season

We will open our first season with a concert by Cynthia Miller Freivogel, violinist and leader of the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado. She will play sonatas by Telemann. Cynthia is currently living in The Netherlands.

Cynthia Miller Freivogel received a BA in musicology at Yale University and an MM in violin performance at the San Francisco Conservatory. She performs on both modern and period instruments. In addition to being the leader and concertmaster of the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado, Ms. Freivogel has played most recently with Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra with Ton Koopman, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (San Francisco), American Bach Soloists, and the Handel & Haydn Society (Boston). She has been a member of chamber ensembles including the recently formed Belcher Trio; Brandywine Baroque in Wilmington, Delaware; Magnificat Ensemble; and Voices of Music, which has made numerous videos you can find on Youtube.

Ms. Freivogel has long been dedicated to the performance of the string quartets of Haydn and his contemporaries on period instruments. She was a founding member and second violinist of the Novello Quartet and a founding member of the Coriolan Quartet (Boston). Ms. Freivogel has performed at the Boston Early Music Festival, the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder, as well as at Tanglewood, San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival, the State Orchestra of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Apollo’s Fire, Portland Baroque, American Russian Young Artist’s Orchestra, and Amerus Chamber Players. Ms. Freivogel studied principally with Camilla Wicks, and Marylou Speaker Churchill, and is a dedicated and certified Suzuki teacher.

Program notes

Music for solo instrument without bass (as it is notated in the baroque era) or unaccompanied (as we commonly called it today) is all about illusion. The great baroque cellist, Anner Bijlsma, put it this way, “you are like the puppet master, in control of all of the character …. but underneath the theater, there are still only two legs.” To say that a piece of music is for violin “with out bass” actually means something particular in the baroque era. Telemann’s music, much like that of jazz, was deeply rooted in the bass line, and the harmonies that result from that bass. The fantasies for solo violin are no less dependent on the bass line compositionally, the title means only that there is not a separate person playing that line. The challenge for composing solo violin music, is to create the illusion that that the bass line, the harmonies, and all of the different characters are on stage all at once. At the same time, the joy of experiencing a performance of solo piece is the thrill of knowing that one person is doing it all.

MATTHEW DANE AND FRANK NOWELL

This program will feature music of the Baroque for viola and viola d’amore plus harpsichord. We are excited to present pieces by the master J. S. Bach alongside fascinating ones by lesser-known composers Attilio Ariosti and William Flackton. While Ariosti was Italian by birth, both he and Flackton composed the pieces we will perform in Flackton’s native England. Ariosti was an early player and advocate for the viola d’amore, an exotic instrument of at least twelve strings whose intimate, resonant voice attracted many composers of the time- including Bach. The sonata for viola and harpsichord by Flackton is one of a set of four he wrote for the express purpose of “establishing a higher Veneration and Taste for this excellent, tho’ too much neglected Instrument.”

Program

Two Preludes – Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750)
      From Suite #4 in E-flat Major, BWV 1010
      From Suite #2 in D Minor, BWV 1008

Sonata in G Major, Op. 2 #6 – William Flackton (1702-1793)
      Adagio
      Allegro
      Minuets 1 & 2

Lezione #6 in D Major – Attilio Ariosti (1666-1729)
      A Tempo Giusto
      Corrente
      Giga
      Rondeaux

Sonata in G Minor, BWV 1029 – J.S. Bach
      Vivace
      Adagio
      Allegro