Çarabanda Anonymous*
La Suave Melodia Falconieri
Corriente
Jácaras Various*
Zarambeques o Muecas Murcia*
Jota Santiago de Murcia (c. 1739)*
Canzon 11 Bartolomé Selma y Salaverde (fl.1638)
Folias Various*
INTERMISSION
Desmayo Anonymous*
Zarabande Gaspar Sanz (c. 1699-1704)*
Cumbée Murcia*
Españoleta Sanz*
Fandango Murcia*
Passacalles Murcia*
Canarios Sanz*
Tarantella Various*
*Arranged by Chatham Baroque
Spanish musicologist José López-Calo remarked, “secular instrumental music in Spain during the seventeenth century constitutes one of the most sad and inexplicable gaps in all of our musical history.” He points out that while there exists a sizeable repertory for solo guitar, harp, and keyboard, there is virtually no surviving ensemble music in seventeenth-century Spain. While his comment is true, it does not tell the whole the story. We know, for example, that other instruments, such as shawms, viols, violins, and percussion played important roles in the musical culture of Spain, often playing together in ensemble. With this in mind, we have adapted a variety of Spanish dances for Chatham Baroque and our guest artists. These unique arrangements demonstrate how music might have been performed by ensembles in baroque Spain using instruments that were available at the time.
The task of arranging various guitar, harp, and keyboard compositions was facilitated by a publication of dances compiled by Maurice Esses, entitled Dance and Instrumental Diferencias in Spain During the 17th and Early 18th Centuries. This book provides examples of nearly 500 Spanish works from which we derived our arrangements. Some of these, such as the Jota, Zarabande, and Canarios, remain faithful to only one source, whereas others, particularly the Marizapalos and Folias are derived from myriad sources, making use of the great wealth of variations on the same dance. Our compositional approach to these works is in keeping with the performance styles of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, which were improvisatory both in varying the tune over repeating bass patterns and in choosing the instruments to accompany the dance.
Much of the surviving instrumental music from seventeenth-century Spain can be loosely categorized as dance music. Dances were divided into two general categories based on social and moral criteria. The word danza was used to describe noble dances of the aristocracy, while the word baile denoted the dances of the lower classes. In his Días geniales o ludicrous (Seville, c. 1626), Rodrigo Caro wrote “the difference between [the baile] and the danza is that in the danza the gestures and movements of the body are virtuous and manly, while in the baile they are lewd and indecent.”
While much of the dance music has survived, sadly the choreographies of the dances have not been preserved; few were expressly notated as they were in France and (to a lesser extent) Italy. Historical accounts describe the erotic nature of some of the dances, so it comes as no surprise that some of them were outlawed. The Zarabande, for example, is said to have been a popular dance which is “merry and lewd because it is performed with movements of the body which are indecent….Although they move with all the parts of their bodies, the arms make most of the gestures while playing the castanets. . .” There are others, however, which fall into a more stylized (and less licentious) form suitable for the courts.
While many of the composers for these dances are anonymous, several important figures stand out. Spanish guitarist Santiago de Murcia may have actually traveled to the New World as two of his surviving manuscripts were discovered only in Mexico. Murcia is also familiar with the newly forming cultural world of the Americas, that was to include native American, African, and European elements. His Zarambeque o muecas shows the athletic and boisterous quality of the African influenced piece. Murcia also wrote one of the first surviving fandangos, which became an important and fiery dance in Spain and Latin America in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. As one spectator remarked, “The sound of the castanets, the supple swaying of the dancers, fill the spectators with ecstasy.”
Gaspar Sanz, a virtuoso guitarist-composer, wrote music that has inspired our arrangements, as well as those of other composers, including the famous guitar concertos by twentieth-century composer Joaquin Rodrigo. Sanz’s publication of music and theoretical writings, Instrucción de música sobre la guitarra española, contains 90 pieces for solo guitar. The book was very popular, at least eight editions appeared over 25 years. Sanz studied in Italy with some of the leading composers of his day, and was familiar with French music as well. Yet his music retains a Spanish character.
Andrea Falconieri is best known today as a composer of solo and trio sonatas although he worked most of his life as a lutenist and guitarist. Born and buried in Naples, Falconieri was employed in many of the major Italian cities and traveled to Spain and France as well. His dance music reflects the Spanish influence of his training, both in Naples and abroad.
In addition to the Spanish dance music, we include a Canzon by Bartolomeo da Selma y Salaverde. Born and educated in Spain, Selma y Salaverde moved to Innsbruck in 1628 where he worked as a bassoonist for the Archduke Leopold. A few years later he moved to Venice. His only collection of works, Primo libro Canzoni, Fantasie et Correnti da suonar a 1, 2, 3, 4 voci con basso continuo, was published there in 1638, the year of his death.
Scott Pauley
Chatham Baroque
Chatham Baroque has been hailed throughout the United States and beyond for its “untamable virtuosity” (Washington Post) and “high energy performances” (Charleston Post & Courier). The Pittsburgh-based ensemble was named as Best New Classical Artist of 1999 by National Public Radio and in 1999 received the Early Music Brings History Alive Award from Early Music America and the Logan Award from Penn State Erie, both in recognition of its innovative educational programming. Chatham Baroque has released six critically acclaimed CDs for Dorian Recordings.
The Musicians of Chatham Baroque
Julie Andrijeski (baroque violin) moved to Pittsburgh to join Chatham Baroque in 1996. In addition to Chatham Baroque’s busy schedule, she maintains an active freelance career, appearing with groups across the country including the New York Collegium, Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, Apollo’s Fire, Cecilia’s Circle and the Seattle Baroque Orchestra, among others. Recently she has served as concertmaster in Handel’s Serse at the Wolf Trap Festival and directed and danced in a French baroque show with The Publick Musick in Rochester, New York. Ms. Andrijeski has taught baroque violin at the Oberlin and Peabody Conservatories as well as baroque dance at Case Western Reserve University. She also maintains a faculty position at the Baroque Performance Institute, a summer workshop in Oberlin, Ohio. A native of Boise, Idaho, Ms. Andrijeski holds a M.M. from Northwestern University and a B.M. from the University of Denver. She is currently a doctoral candidate at Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Patricia Halverson (viola da gamba) holds a doctoral degree in Early Music Performance Practice from Stanford University. After completing her graduate work she spent a year in Holland studying at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. A native of Duluth, Minnesota, Patty teaches viola da gamba privately in the Pittsburgh area. She has served on the faculties of the Amherst Early Music Festival and the Viola da Gamba Society of America’s summer conclave.
Scott Pauley (theorbo and baroque guitar) holds a doctoral degree in Early Music Performance Practice from Stanford University. Before settling in Pittsburgh in 1996, he lived in London for five years, where he studied with Nigel North at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. There he performed with various early music ensembles, including the Brandenburg Consort, The Sixteen, and Florilegium. He has won prizes at the 1996 Early Music Festival Van Vlaanderen in Brugge and at the 1994 Van Wassenaer Competition in Amsterdam. In the USA Scott has performed with Hesperus, Musica Angelica, Apollo's Fire, and The Bottom Line.
Danny Mallon (percussion) holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in percussion from the Mannes College of Music, where he has been a faculty member since 1991. In addition to his three recordings with Chatham Baroque on the Dorian label, he can be heard on Pifaro's new Dorian recording and on "Perigee and Apogee" by composer Beata Moon. He has recently performed with Jordi Saval's period orchestra, "Le Concert Des Nations," at Alice Tully Hall and the Library of Congress; The NY Collegium; AmorArtis Chorus and Baroque Orchestra; and with Paula Robison and Ken Cooper at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. With Chatham Baroque, he has recently performed at the Berkeley Early Music Festival, and on tour in Indianapolis; California; and Kentucky, in Charleston, South Carolina at Piccolo Spoleto and at the Boston Early Music Festival. Danny Mallon has also given recent appearances at the International Festival of Latin American Renaissance and Baroque Music in Bolivia; Pomona College, California; the Festival of Baroque Music in San Louis Potosí, Mexico; and at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
Erika March (baroque violin) earned her Bachelor's degree in Baroque Violin Performance from Indiana University in Bloomington, where she studied with Stanley Ritchie. She has performed with ensembles across the country, including the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, L.A. Baroque Orchestra, the Dayton Bach Society, Tempestra di Mare, and Chatham Baroque. She has also been a soloist on the Music Sources concert series in Berkeley, CA. She is currently finishing her Master's degree at Duquesne University in Violin Performance.
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