Volume 21 Issue 1 - September 2015

and interesting concert repertoire that doesn’t get performed very
often. Her concert series with Tafelmusik, taking place October 1 to 4,
and 6, is no exception. She and the group will be playing a Geminiani
follia, as well as Jan Dismas Zelenka’s wind-rich (but nevertheless
very queasy sounding) Hypochondria. Vivaldi and Telemann, respectively,
will round out the program with two pieces the group is playing
for the first time – Il Proteo, o il mondo al rovescio, and the misleadingly
titled La Bizarre (with the exception of the last movement, it
doesn’t sound that strange).
Anne Boleyn: If you’re more in the mood for something a bit
less maniacal, the Musicians in Ordinary have a chamber concert
September 25 featuring music sung and enjoyed by one of the most
famous women in English history.
Anne Boleyn was just a girl when she was sent from England to the
Netherlands and France in order to be trained to be a lady-in-waiting
for the English court. Part of her education was in music, and she
was familiar with, and very likely performed, the works of some of
the most influential composers of the time. In particular, Boleyn had
the work of Josquin des Prez (1450-1521), widely considered to be
the greatest composer of the early Renaissance, in her collection, and
his compositions will be featured in the Musicians’ concert. Soprano
Hallie Fishel and lutenist John Edwards will be joined by a group of
four singers for an 8pm concert of vocal music and dances for solo lute
at Father Madden Hall in the Carr Building at St. Michael’s College.
If you’re also interested in some of the history behind how Anne
Boleyn found herself studying music in the Netherlands, consider
showing up early for an edifying pre-concert lecture by Deanne
Williams, author and associate professor of English at York University.
And if you’re really a history geek (or binge-watched The Tudors
way too much), you might want to check out the history colloquium
organized that day by the Centre for Renaissance and Reformation
Studies at the University of Toronto, based around the discovery
of this manuscript and what it tells us about music in Europe in
Boleyn’s time. You can find information on the colloquium at their
website, crrs.ca.
TEMPO: If you’re not content to simply listen to baroque music and
would like to actually try playing it, you should learn about TEMPO.
The Toronto Early Music Players Organization is a group devoted to
making early music accessible to amateur musicians who want to
learn to play early music repertoire, and they have brought in lutenist
Lucas Harris to coach their first workshop of the 2015/16 season.
Harris is an excellent choice to coach amateurs – aside from being
a professional lute player of the first rank, he’s also a coach for the
Toronto Continuo Collective and an experienced choral conductor
besides. No word on what they’ll be playing yet, so be prepared to
sight-read, I suppose. If you’re at all interested in playing with the
group, the workshop is at the Armour Heights Community Recreation
Centre on Sunday, September 13 from 1:30 to 4pm. To participate, go
to their website (tempotoronto.net), fill in the application form and
show up with an instrument and a music stand. And have fun.
Going public: Finally, I should mention one new feature of
this season that I haven’t seen before. Some of the top players in
Tafelmusik will be giving lectures in their various areas of expertise
over the next few months. It’s a natural outgrowth of period performance
– most early music specialists have traditionally studied musicology
alongside their studies in performance practice. As a result,
there are many early musicians who have a wealth of knowledge to
share about music history. This month, the Toronto Public Library will
feature Christopher Verrette lecturing on the origins of the symphony
in the 17th and 18th centuries at the North York Central Library on
September 23 at 7pm. Verrette is an intelligent player with a wide
knowledge of instrumental playing and a lifetime of experience
playing early symphonic repertoire, so it should be quite interesting to
to hear what he has to say on the subject.
David Podgorski is a Toronto-based harpsichordist, music
teacher and a founding member of Rezonance. He can
be contacted at earlymusic@thewholenote.com.
I FURIOSI
BaROqUe enSemBle
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