Wednesday, October 23, 9:30pm
Santa Luzia Church
La Superba - The Awakening of the Cello
Diana Vinagre, baroque cello
João Vaz, organ
Bartolomé de Selma y Salaverde (ca.1595-ca.1638)
Susan[n]a [un jour] pasegiata [à] Basso solo
Giovanni Battista Vitali (1632-1692)
Bergamasca
(Partite sopra diverse sonate per il Violone)
Anonymous (Italy, 17th century)
Aria [Bergamasca] with variations
(Ms. 964, District Archive of Braga)
Domenico Gabrielli (1659-1690)
Ricercar 7 per violoncello solo
Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643)
Toccata per l'Elevatione (Messa degli Apostoli)
(Fiori musicali, 1636)
Canzona settima a Basso solo "detta la Superba
Domenico Gabrielli
Sonata à violoncello solo, con il suo basso continuo, in A major
Grave
Allegro
Largo
Presto
Giuseppe Maria Jacchini (c.1663-1727)
Sonata for Cello and Bass Continuo, op.1, no. 7
Grave
Prestissimo
Adagio - Aria Presto
Bernardo Pasquini (1637-1710)
Partite sopra l'aria della Folia da Spagna
(Ms. 964, District Archive of Braga)
Domenico Gabrielli
Sonata à violoncello solo, con il suo basso continuo, in G major
Bass - Adagio - Presto
Allegro
Largo
Presto
Throughout the 17th century the bass instrument of the violin family, which today we know as the cello, went through a long process until it reached its final form and conquered a place as a solo instrument: the presented program intends to tell the story of this transition. During the 16th and 17th centuries, there is still no instrument with defined characteristics, and several sizes, tunings and nomenclatures coexist. Throughout this period, the cello, or violin bass, was used as accompaniment for instrumental and vocal groups, and shared the same solo repertoire with other instruments of low register, such as the bassoon, the trombone, and the viola da gamba, usually in the form of canzones or diminuitions generically indicated for solo basso. It is in this tradition that the works by Selma y Salaverde (c.1595-c.1638), Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643), and Giovannimaria Vitali (1632-1692) included in the program are inserted. In the case of the first two authors these are works based on songs, while Vitali's Bergamasca is part of a set of variations on dances for violone and bass published by the author. What characterizes this repertoire is, above all, the fact that it is based on already existing material, which serves as a starting point for an instrumental exercise, usually with a view to highlighting the virtuosity of the performer. Only in the last quarter of the 17th century does the first repertoire for cello as a solo instrument appear. The key event in this process is the appearance of gut strings covered with metal fittings, which took place around 1770 in the Bologna region. Until then, gut strings alone were very long, which gave rise to large instruments. The metallic coating of the strings allowed, since the density of the material was greater, the length of the strings to be shorter, enabling smaller instruments that allowed for greater technical dexterity: the cello acquires the measurements it maintains to this day. The first virtuosos of the instrument, based in Bologna, were also the first composers of idiomatic literature for the cello. The names of Domenico Gabrielli (1651-90) and Giovannimaria Jacchini (c.1663-1727) stand out. Gabrielli was the author of the first work for solo cello, a set of 7 Ricercari dated 1689, as well as several sonatas for cello and bass, and Jacchini was the author of several sonatas for cello and bass. This repertoire, characterized by a style of great formal freedom and improvisatory character. From Bologna to the rest of Italy and then to Europe, the dissemination of the cello and its adoption as the bass instrument of choice would occur very quickly, leading to the appearance, already in the 1720s, of the most emblematic work of the period and of the entire cello repertoire, the suites for solo cello by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).
Diana Vinagre
Participants
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After completing her studies at the National Superior Academy of Orchestra in Lisbon, she joins the Royal Conservatory of The Hague in the Department of Ancient Music and Historic Performing Practices in the class of baroque cello of Jaap ter Linden. At this institution he completes his Bachelor's degree and then his Master's degree, with distinction. Since dedicating himself to the practice of historical cello, he has collaborated as a free-lancer with various ensembles: the Orchestra of the 18th Century, New Dutch Academy, B'Rock, Orchestra of The Age of Enlightenment, Irish Baroque Orchestra, Holland Baroque Society, Al Ayre Español, Divino Sospiro, Forma Antiqua and the Casa da Música Baroque Orchestra. She plays regularly under the direction of Enrico Onofri, Laurence Cummings, Mark Elder, René Jacobs, Vladimir Jurowsky, Simon Murphy, Bartold Kuijken, Christina Pluhar, Elizabeth Wallfisch, Alfredo Bernardini, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Frans Bruggen, Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Alexis Kossenko, Chiara Banchini. In 2007 she was selected to join the European Union Baroque Orchestra and has performed as soloist on several occasions. She has made several recordings with Divino Sospiro, Sete Lágrimas, Wallfisch Band, European Union Baroque Orchestra, Forma Antiqua. Besides his activity in several European countries, he is the first violoncello of the Orquestra Barroca Divino Sospiro. In 2009 he founded the Ensemble Bonne Corde that specializes in eighteenth-century repertoire, with the cello as a starting point. |
Diana Vinagre|
João Vaz studied in Lisbon with Antoine Sibertin-Blanc and in Zaragoza with José Luis González Uriol. Besides his regular studies he attended courses with teachers such as Edouard Souberbielle and Joaquim Simões da Hora, acquiring a deep interest in Early Music. He also holds a PhD in Music and Musicology, with a thesis on Portuguese organ music from the beginning of the 19th century. Having developed an intense international career, he is frequently invited to play in prestigious organ festivals, as well as to teach in interpretation courses and to join juries in international competitions. His interest in Portuguese music is reflected in his many CD recordings (most of them on historical Portuguese organs) and in his musicological work (articles and music editions). He currently teaches at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa. He is artistic director of the Madeira Organ Festival and of the concert series that takes place on the six organs of the Basilica of the National Palace of Mafra (for whose restoration he was permanent consultant) and on the historical organ of the Church of São Vicente de Fora in Lisbon (an instrument he took over in 1997). |
João VazNotes about organ
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According to the registers of expenditures for the years 1839 and 1841, there were payments to singers and organists, which allows us to assume that the Church of Santa Luzia already had a pipe organ, probably very old, which was replaced with the arrival of the instrument from the extinct Convent of São Francisco. This second organ was acquired in 1834; however, it was only moved to the church of Santa Luzia in 1842, and Father Joaquim António Português wrote in the Factory Book, on January 15th of that year, an extra amount to pay for its definitive transport to the church: "50,000 réis that I gave to the one who looked after the organ of S. Francisco for this parish because he had not received it and the organ builder Fr. António das Dores had died. During the 20th century, this instrument was subjected to numerous maintenance interventions, whose expenses were paid at times through donations from various parishioners. According to the register of the Factory Book, on December 20th 1902, the organ was repaired for the sum of 300$00 (réis ?) at the expense of Mr. Augusto Camarrinha, resident in Pará (Matos 1996: 44); in 1936 and 1940, 320$00 and 150$00 (escudos) were spent, respectively, for another two repairs of the instrument. Between 1950, when the floor and choir were being repaired, and 1963, a new but inadequate intervention was carried out by the master António Gomes Jardim, a native of Ribeira da Janela. It was not possible to identify the builder of the organ. Manuel Valença describes it as an "English-made Positive organ with very peculiar characteristics - a single manual, with seven stops and three stops, considered, in its kind, one of the best in the Diocese", and Christopher Kent, professor at the Music Department of the University of Reading, England, records its manufacture in England, dating it, according to the inscription found on the pipes, from 1815-1820. He adds that it is "one of the famous organs, like some others of the same factory and period, that exist in England." It was restored in 2013 by organ maker Dinarte Machado. Manual (GG, AA, C-f''') |
