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Join Us For Our 2022-2023 Season! |
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Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players “This was music-making of a very high order” Fred Kirshnit, The New York Sun |
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Why the name Jupiter: When Jens Nygaard named his orchestra Jupiter, he had the beautiful, gaseous planet in mind—unattainable but worth the effort, like reaching musical perfection. Many, indeed, were privileged and fortunate to hear his music making that was truly Out of This World. Our Players today seek to attain that stellar quality.
View Our Printable Calendar and Ticket Order Form (pdf) Take a look at our guest artists for this season. |
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Join us for our next concerts...
Monday, February 6 ♦ 2 PM & 7:30 PM Tickets: $25, $17, $10 ~ Reservations advised Hyunah Yu soprano Paolo Bordignon harpsichord Abigel Kralik violin Hina Khuong-Huu violin Fiona Khuong-Huu violin Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt viola Bethany Hargreaves viola Mihai Marica cello Kebra-Seyoun Charles double bass Vadim Lando clarinet Dietrich BUXTEHUDE Trio Sonata in Bb Major BuxWV 273 • [1684] The Trio Sonata is one of 21 extant chamber works that were “the avant-garde of their day, written in the new stylus phantasticus with emphasis on expression, virtuosity and excitement, incorporating otherwise unusual progressions, hidden ornaments, ingenious turns and embellishments within the music [Francis Knights].” It offers a glimpse of the musical world of late 17th- and early 18th-century Lübeck and its talented pool of gifted amateur string players, as the considerable demands of the music suggest that they had to practice their violins and gambas seriously to achieve the required virtuosity. Buxtehude (c1638–1707) is considered the greatest composer of the mid-Baroque period. Both his birth place (Denmark or Germany) and birth date are uncertain, and nothing is known of his early youth; but it is assumed that he was taught music by his father, who was an organist in Helsingborg and Helsingør. In 1688, Buxtehude was awarded the coveted position of organist at St. Mary’s Church in Lübeck, where his fame rose to such heights that musicians from northern Germany came to meet him and attend his concerts. Handel, at age 18, visited him in 1703, and in 1705 the 20-year-old Bach walked from Arnstadt some 250 miles to see him. Both young men hoped to succeed the master at Lübeck, but marriage to one of his daughters was a condition that was unacceptable to both. Handel stayed for only a day, Bach for 3 months “to comprehend one thing and another about his art.” Buxtehude’s official duties as organist were to provide chorales and other musical interludes for every service, and to act as treasurer, secretary, and business manager of the church. Beyond these obligations, he also composed for public occasions—festivals and for the marriages and funerals of the great merchant families of the city. One of his greatest contributions was his establishment of “Abendmusik” in 1673—late afternoon concerts of instrumental and vocal music at St Mary’s Church held annually the five Sundays before Christmas. They were said to be extraordinary and the pride of Lübeck; their tradition continued into the 19th century. Buxtahude wrote mostly organ music and vocal music, comprising chiefly of church cantatas in a variety of forms, as well as chamber music; most of his harpsichord music has been lost. The survival and preservation of Buxtehude’s works is thanks largely to his friend and colleague Gustav Düben, the organist and court music director in Stockholm, who compiled one of the most important collections of music manuscripts of the 17th century. Johann Sebastian BACH 4 Arias The Bach cantatas may be regarded as sacred offerings in sound. Most of the church cantatas date from his first years as Cantor at Leipzig’s St Thomas Church (1723–1729) and director of church music in Leipzig. The 200 or so surviving sacred cantatas were written at the punishing rate of almost one a week, recycling existing pieces and creating new ones. While they relate to liturgical texts mainly reminding the congregation of their mortality and earthly failings, Bach also offered the faithful a musical foretaste of the comfort and joy of eternal salvation. His earliest cantata was written in 1707 when he moved to Mühlhausen, and the last in 1745. In addition, Bach composed 50 or more cantatas—sacred cantatas for functions like weddings or Ratswahl (the inauguration of a new town council), music for academic functions of the University of Leipzig at the Paulinerkirche, and secular cantatas for anniversaries and entertainment for the nobility and society, some of them Glückwunschkantaten (congratulatory cantatas) and Huldigungskantaten (homage cantatas). ~ “Bete aber auch dabei” (“But you should also pray”) from the cantata Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit (“Prepare yourself, my soul”) BWV 115 • 1724 Composed during his second year in Leipzig for the 22nd Sunday after Trinity, the Cantata was first performed on 5 November 1724. It is based on a hymn by Johann Burchard Freystein (1695), which expands a single theme related to the Gospel: be prepared by awareness and prayer for the arrival of the Lord. ~ “Die Schätzbarkeit der weiten Erden” (“The valuables of the world”) from the cantata Ich bin in mir vergnügt (“I am content in myself”) BWV 204 • 1726 The secular “moral” cantata was written for an unknown occasion. The text, adapted from a libretto by Christian Hunold, is one of the most subjective and introspective of any that Bach set. Bach and Hunold’s collaboration lasted from 1718 to 1720, the year before the librettist died, and well before the cantata appears to have been composed. The work looks inward within the human psyche, exploring notions of personal demeanor, attitudes, and the search for spiritual solace and inner peace. ~ “Jesus soll mein erstes Wort” (“Jesus shall be my first word”) from the cantata Gott, wie dein Name, so ist auch dein Ruhm (“God, as Your name is, so is also Your praise”) BWV 171 • 1729 Written for New Year’s Day and the Feast of the Circumcision, the aria was most likely first performed the 1st of January. The librettist Picander fashioned his text from Luke 2:21, which refers to the naming of Jesus when he was circumcised. The music was taken from the secular cantata from 1725, Der zufriedengestelite Äolus—the text about the gods of classical antiquity suited New Year’s Day just as well. The energetic, beautiful aria has a lovely violin obbligato and florid accompaniment. ~ “Auch mit gedämpften, schwachen Stimmen” (“Even with subdued, weak voices“) from the cantata Schwingt freudig euch empor (“Soar joyfully on high”) BWV 36 • 1731 Composed for the first Sunday of Advent, the beginning of the Lutheran church year, the music is drawn from 3 cantatas—BWV 36a, 36b, and 36c—for celebratory secular occasions (birthday and congratulatory). "Auch mit gedämpften, schwachen Stimmen," the final aria—the best one—is a delicate little beauty Giuseppe Antonio PAGANELLI Concerto for Chalumeau • 1733 Before this concerto, the chalumeau was used as one of the concertizing instruments in the genre of “concerto grosso”—two by Johann Valentin Rathgeber were published in 1728. Paganelli’s Concerto was written in Venice or Augsburg. In 1732–1733 and 1742–1743 he had staged 6 operas in Venice, making his debut as an opera composer with La casita di Leone, imperator d’Oriente. In 1733 he also appeared as harpsichordist with the opera troupe of Antonio Maria Peruzzi in Augsburg, displaying his skills as a virtuoso at musical gatherings there. Born in Padua, Paganelli (1710–1763) came from a respectable family and presumably had a good education, having been called a “virtuoso dilettante di Padova.” Reports that he studied with Tartini have not been substantiated. He traveled widely as his operas took him to Prague, Rheinsberg, Brunswick, and elsewhere; and he worked at various German courts, including that of Margravin Wilhelmine of Bayreuth, where he was director of chamber music from 1737 to the end of 1738. He died in Madrid. The chalumeau (forerunner of the clarinet) is variously called salamuri (in Venice), salamoni, salmò, salmoè (by Vivaldi), and clareto. The instrument was used in Germany, Italy, and England. The earliest evidence of the instrument in Germany is from an inventory record dated 1687 from the Hofkappelle of Duke Heinrich of Saxe-Römhild. It documents that a set of four chalumeaux were purchased from Nürnberg, where the woodwind maker Johann Christoph Denner had his workshop. Johann Adolph HASSE Sinfonia in G minor Op. 5 No. 6 • published [1740] Hasse was the most admired composer of opera seria in Italy and Germany for several decades, and was the favorite composer of Metastasio, the leading Italian librettist of the period. François-Joseph Fétis (the Belgian musicologist and a most influential critic of the 19th century) observed that few composers have been as famous and hugely popular as Hasse and yet as quickly forgotten. He left a large body of work (operas, and sacred and instrumental music) gathering dust. His music’s main hallmarks are melodic beauty and formal balance, and his opera overtures influenced the development of the symphony, especially in northern Germany. Johann Gottlieb GRAUN Concerto in C minor for Violin and Viola da Gamba WV A:XIII:3 • [mid-1700s] Graun’s own playing and music was much admired in his day, although Charles Burney (the English music historian) reported that some sour voices complained of the length of each movement being “more immoderate than Christian patience can endure.” Musicologists today praise him as a great composer, albeit an unrecognized one. The New Grove Dictionary further states that “his concertos are a landmark in the history of that form between Bach and Mozart, unusually specific in distinguishing between ‘chamber’ and ‘full’ orchestral resources, and profiting especially from his thorough exploitation of the solo violin idiom.” The most talented of 3 Graun brothers, Johann Gottlieb (1702 or 1703–1771) studied violin and composition and sang in the boys choir in the Kreuzschule in Dresden, from childhood through adolescence. He also studied with Vivaldi’s pupil Johann Georg Pisendel and, for a short time, with Giuseppe Tartini in Padua. Employed as concertmaster in Merseburg, he taught Bach’s eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann. In 1732, after other appointments, he joined the musical establishment of the future Frederick the Great, at Ruppin and then at Rheinsberg, before the latter’s accession to the Prussian throne in 1740. In Berlin, he was appointed concertmaster of the new opera orchestra, established by the King. A prolific composer, Graun’s works number nearly 100 symphonies, 80 concertos, trios, and solo sonatas. His interest in the viola da gamba probably began during his time at Merseburg in the 1720s, when he met the gambist and violinist Johann Christian Hertel. His attachment to the instrument, however, was sealed by the virtuoso Ludwig Christian Hesse, who played Graun’s concertos. Hesse became a leading figure in the musical entourage of the Berlin court, where he worked alongside Graun from 1740 until 1761, presumably the period from which the majority of the 27 known gamba works date.
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Monday, February 20 ♦ 2 PM & 7:30 PM Tickets: $25, $17, $10 ~ Reservations advised Chelsea Guo piano Nathan Meltzer violin Maurycy Banaszek viola Oliver Herbert cello Gabriel Polinsky double bass Sooyun Kim flute Roni Gal-Ed oboe Vadim Lando clarinet Karl Kramer horn Eleni Katz bassoon Elfrida ANDRÉE String Quartet in D minor • 1887 The Quartet was first performed in 1895 at the Women’s Exhibition from the Past and Present in Copenhagen—designed for women from Nordic countries to demonstrate their advancement in the arts and culture, education, and employment. Considered a great success, the expo was the first of its kind in Europe. Not only was the Quartet composed by a woman, it was performed by 4 women string players recruited from various parts of Scandinavia. In 1909, Andrée made a version to include a double bass, entitled Sommarminnen från Bjurslätt (“Summer memories from Bjurslätt”). The work could now be played as a string quartet, string quintet, or string orchestra. Andrée (1841–1929) was given an excellent liberal arts and music education by her father, the town physician in Visby. She then studied composition with Ludwig Norman at the Royal Music Academy of Stockholm from 1859 to 1861, and later with Niels Gade in Copenhagen. An advocate for women’s rights, her motto to her dying day was “The elevation of womankind.” In the last years of her life she supported women’s suffrage, and composed the Suffrage Cantata for the women’s suffrage convention in Stockholm in 1911. Andrée was a trailblazer and broke many barriers in her native country, attaining several firsts in Sweden as a woman. She was the first woman organist to graduate from the conservatory, and the first woman church organist. She and her father fought for 4 years to overturn a law prohibiting women from becoming church organists. Beginning in 1861 she played for two churches in Stockholm; and in 1867, at age 26, she won the post of organist at the Gothenburg Cathedral, surpassing 7 men in a unanimous vote. The position is one of the most prestigious music jobs in Sweden; she retained it till she died, shortly before her 88th birthday. She was, in fact, the first woman cathedral organist in Europe. Andrée also was the first woman composer. Her earliest extant compositions date from age 7. Currently, 135 works have been documented, including an opera, symphonies, cantatas, masses, chamber music, piano music, and lieder. Her music reflects diverse stylistic influences, from the ideals of the Leipzig school and the Scandinavian nationalism of her day (gleaned from her teachers Norman and Gade) to Wagner and Debussy. In 1879, Andrée gained another first with her induction into the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. And when she became the first woman conductor, this was a consequence of just trying to get her own pieces performed well; regardless, her efforts were applauded by her colleagues and the press. In 1897, after she was put in charge of the Labor Institute’s popular concerts in Gothenburg, she organized over 800 concerts with low ticket prices, and often conducted the orchestra in the mixed programs. Andrée surmounted other hurdles as a woman as well. One concerned publishing her music, which caused her sometimes to submit her work under the name Monsieur E. Andrée. Another involved orchestra and choir members attempting boycotts of rehearsals of her cantata Snöfrid. In addition, when her Second Symphony premiered in 1893, she was not permitted to acknowledge the standing ovation from the stage, and the conductor would not permit an encore. At the time of her music studies, when she took a course in telegraphy, she became the first woman certified telegraphist. Again, she and her father fought to change the law banning women from this occupation. What a woman to overcome all these challenges! Louise FARRENC Nonet in Eb Major Op. 38 • 1849 A review of a recording by Gramophone regarded Farrenc as “an unfailingly inventive composer, and one of great wit and charm. … [The Nonet contains] brilliant part-writing and delightfully original combination of instruments.” Completed in February 1849, a private performance was played in the salons of Madam Sophie Pierson-Bodin in December. Its public premiere followed on 19 March 1850 during a soirée at the Salle Érard, featuring violinist Joseph Joachim, who was already famous at age 19. The hugely successful premiere gave rise to both Farrenc and the Nonet’s popularity, which she used as leverage in her successful request for equal pay for her teaching position at the Paris Conservatoire. Farrenc (1804–1875) was a descendent of a long line of royal artists (including several women painters) and a sister of the award-winning sculptor Auguste Dumont. The piano prodigy studied with Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Ignaz Moscheles, who was Mendelssohn's teacher. At age 15, she added composition to her studies at the Paris Conservatoire—with Anton Reicha. Her early piano music, written in the 1820s and 1830s, was praised by Schumann. Of her Air russe varié, he felt that “one must fall under their charm, especially since a subtle aroma of romanticism hovers over them.” By 1842, having established a rock-solid reputation, she was appointed professor of piano at the Conservatoire, where she taught for 30 years. Farrenc was the only woman musician at the Conservatoire in the 19th century to hold a permanent chair of this rank and importance. Evidence of her excellent teaching is reflected in the high percentage of her pupils graduating with the Premier Prix. Her 30 Etudes also became compulsory study for all piano classes in 1845. The New Grove Dictionary concludes that “she merits recognition as a pioneering scholar and a forerunner of the French musical renaissance of the 1870s.” Dora PEJACEVIC Piano Trio in C Major Op. 29 • 1910 Pejačević (1885–1923) was a composer, violinist, pianist, actress, and patron of the arts. Born in Budapest, she descended paternally from a distinguished noble family. Her father was a “ban” (viceroy) and her mother, the Hungarian Countess Lilla Vay de Vaya, was her first piano teacher. Growing up in her parents’ castle in Našice, she received a comprehensive education through private lessons and was fluent in 6 languages, but was largely self-taught in music. She traveled to Germany, Bohemia, and other European countries, and met the leading artists and intellectuals of the day, including Rainer Maria Rilke whose poems she later set. Early in life, armed with a strong will, she rebelled against the constraints of aristocratic life, and nursed soldiers as a volunteer during World War I. The horrors of war reinforced her determination to live a simpler, more selfless life. She married a military officer in 1921, and died in 1923 at age 38 after giving birth to her son. True to her beliefs, she asked that others remember her after her death by making donations to musicians in need. She also refused to be buried in the family crypt and requested that her tombstone bear only her name “Dora” and the words “Rest now.” The film Countess Dora (1993), directed by Zvonimir Berković, is a fictionalized story of her life. As to her thoughts on composing, Dora wrote: “When I’m floating off into this invisible world of my most personal and inner thoughts, only then do I become my real self. And then, in that heavenly, distant seclusion of the feelings, which is in itself some kind of ecstasy, comes a sense of liberation of a type that is realised when a composition is created. And that is how I should answer people who ask me: ‘What are you really doing when you are composing?’ But who would understand such an answer? It always seems to me that I betray my own soul when I reply to this pointless question like some average, realistic person should do. Sometimes I just say, ‘It’s hard to explain,’ which is perhaps the best answer.”
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Jupiter 2022 - 2023 Season Tickets: $25, $17, $10 ~ Reservations advised Please visit our Media Page to hear Audio Recordings from the Jens Nygaard and Jupiter Symphony Archive Concert Venue:
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Like our Facebook page to see photos, videos, Jupiter in the News ConcertoNet
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As promised, here are the videos of John Field’s Divertissement No. 1 and Sir Hamilton Harty’s Piano Quintet. Fortuitously, our Jupiter musicians had the good sense to record the rehearsal in an impromptu decision, literally minutes before pressing the record button. Pianist Mackenzie Melemed (replacing Roman Rabinovich at the last minute) learned the music in 2 days! Bravo to him. Both works are Irish rarities that were scheduled for the March 16 performances which had to be canceled because of the coronavirus epidemic. Even though the entire program could not be recorded because of technical issues, we are pleased to be able to share with you the 2 musical gems. Enjoy.
John FIELD Divertissement No. 1 H. 13 We thank the University of Illinois (Champaign) for a copy of the Divertissement music. Mackenzie Melemed piano
Sir Hamilton HARTY Piano Quintet in F Major Op. 12 Andrew Clements of the Guardian proclaimed the beautiful Quintet “a real discovery: a big, bold statement full of striking melodic ideas and intriguing harmonic shifts, which adds Brahms and Dvořák into Harty’s stylistic mix, together with Tchaikovsky in some passages.” There’s folk music charm as well, reminiscent of Percy Grainger—notably in the Scherzo (Vivace) with its folksy quirks and nonchalance, and the winding, pentatonic melody in the Lento. Our gratitude to the Queen’s University Library in Belfast, Northern Ireland, for a copy of the autograph manuscript of the music. Much thanks, too, to Connor Brown for speedily creating a printed score and parts from Harty’s manuscript. Mackenzie Melemed piano I Allegro 0:00 | ||||||
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Jupiter featured on Our Net News American program opener on March 18, with grateful thanks to Michael Shaffer of OurNetNews.com for recording the matinee concert, and making available the Horatio Parker Suite video for our viewing pleasure. Horatio Parker Suite in A Major, Op. 35, composed in 1893 Stephen Beus piano
More video from this performance can be viewed on our media page |
Jupiter on YouTube NEW YORK CANVAS : The Art of Michael McNamara is a video portrait of the artist who has painted iconic images of New York City for more than a decade, capturing the changing urban landscape of his adopted city. Our Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players provide the music from Brahms’s Piano Quartet in G Minor, underscoring the inspiration the artist has drawn from Jens Nygaard and the musicians. Michael was also our Jupiter volunteer from 2002 to 2010. Here is a video of the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players performance of the Rondo alla Zingarese movement:
The producer-director, Martin Spinelli, also made the EMMY Award-winning “Life On Jupiter: The Story of Jens Nygaard, Musician.” For more information, visit our media
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“Some great musicians get a statue when they pass away. Some get their name imprinted on the roof of a well-known concert hall. But the late conductor Jens Nygaard has a living tribute: an entire ensemble of musicians and a concert series to go along with it... It is one of the city’s cultural jewels... In the end, if Mr. Nygaard was known for anything, it was unmitigated verve. That’s what the audience regularly returned for, and that’s what they got Monday afternoon. To have a grassroots community of musicians continue to celebrate Mr. Nygaard with indomitable performances like these week after week, even without the power of world-famous guest soloists, is proper tribute. And with more large orchestras and ensembles needing more corporate sponsorship year after year, I, for one, hope the Jupiter’s individual subscriber-base remains strong. New York’s musical life needs the spirit of Jens Nygaard, and Mei Ying should be proud she’s keeping it alive.” Read the complete article on our reviews page. |
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MeiYing Manager All
performances, except where otherwise noted, are held at: Copyright © 1999-2023 Jupiter Symphony. All rights reserved.
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