PHILADELPHIA, PA. Tempesta di Mare, Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra, continues its 20th Anniversary Season with A 1000-Guilder Tune: musical alchemy from baroque Moravia.
Inspired and named for its central instrumental piece, “1000-Guilder Sonata”, by Philipp Jacob Rittler, the program celebrates scores from him and two other notable composers — Pavel Josef Vejvanovsky and Giovanni Valentin. All three worked and performed at the court of Habsburg prince-bishop and music connoisseur, Prince Karl II of Liechtenstein-Castelcorn. The music survived in his chateau archives in the Moravian town Kroměříž, where Tempesta co-founder and co-artistic director Richard Stone transcribed them from their manuscripts for modern-day performance.
Tempesta di Mare will perform in their Chamber Player formation, which for this concert includes 2 trumpets, 3 recorders, 2 violins, 3 violas, cello, violone, theorbo, guitar and organ.
Three in-person performances of A 1000-Guilder Tune will take place in December:
Friday, December 3, 7:00 pm – Wilmington DE
Saturday, December 4, 8:00 pm – Chestnut Hill
Sunday, December 5, 4:00 pm – Center City
A 1000-Guilder Tune will also be recorded live and produced in HD audio and video for the optimal online experience. The filmed version of the project will be available on-demand, starting December 20 through January 19, 2022.
The seventeenth-century Bishop of Olomouc, Prince Karl II of Liechtenstein-Castelcorn, (Olomouc is a city in the modern-time eastern Czech Republic) was tasked with the responsibility of rebuilding and restoring the Moravian region following the devastating aftermath of the Thirty Years War. Being a music-collector, Prince Karl II considered cultivating music, particularly so in the Moravian town of Kroměříž, as part of his reconstruction efforts. Thus, assembled a spectacular ensemble to which he appointed Moravian-born trumpeter and composer, Pavel Josef Vejvanovský. Vejvanovský was one of the greatest trumpet virtuosos of his age and known for his most compelling pieces characterized by folk idioms and brass writing, the very same aspects that shape the whimsical theme of A 1000-Guilder Tune.
A 1000-Guilder Tune draws inspiration from its central score, “1000-Guilder Sonata,” a piece of instrumental music possibly in reference to the popular Brothers Grimm tale, The Pied Piper of Hamelin. That story tells the historical account of the 1284 rat infestation of Hamelin. As the story famously goes, the town’s leadership contracted the services of a colorfully dressed and travelling piper to solve the problem. The magical piper led the rats away with his enchanted instrument per the agreement. When the piper returned to collect his negotiated fee, a thousand guilders, the townsfolk refused. In retaliation, the piper used his spellbinding pipe again to commit his most famous act: leading the town’s children away and ensuring that they were never seen again.
There is perhaps a different association to Olomouc which Rittler references in his piece: in the late thirteenth century agents from the then-archbishop of Olomouc recruited young inhabitants of Hamlin and other Central European towns to colonize his Moravian archdiocese. There are more details to this fascinating story on our Blog (Blog post: A “Thousand-Guilder” Tune?).
TEMPESTA DI MARE PHILADELPHIA BAROQUE ORCHESTRA & CHAMBER PLAYERS
Fanfare magazine has hailed Tempesta di Mare for its “abundant energy, immaculate ensemble, impeccable intonation, and an undeniable sense of purpose.” Led by directors Gwyn Roberts and Richard Stone with concertmaster Emlyn Ngai, Tempesta performs baroque music on baroque instruments with a repertoire that ranges from staged opera to chamber music. The group performs all orchestral repertoire without a conductor, as was the practice when this music was new. Tempesta’s Philadelphia Concert Series, noted by the Philadelphia Inquirer for its “off-the-grid chic factor,” emphasizes creating a sense of discovery for artists and audiences alike. Launched in 2002, the series has included over 35 modern world premieres of lost or forgotten baroque masterpieces, leading the Inquirer to describe Tempesta as “an old-music group that acts like a new-music group, by pushing the cutting edge back rather than forward.” Its supporters include the Pew Charitable Trusts, the William Penn Foundation, the Presser Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
In a marketplace dominated by European ensembles, Tempesta is the only American baroque music group to record for the prestigious British-based Chandos label, where it has released 13 titles, including first recordings and premieres. Live performances have been broadcast nationally on SymphonyCast, Performance Today, Sunday Baroque and Harmonia. Tempesta di Mare’s concert recordings are distributed worldwide via the European Broadcasting Union, the world’s foremost alliance of public service media organizations, with members in 56 countries in Europe and beyond.
Tempesta’s international appearances have included the Prague Spring Music Festival, the Göttingen Handel Festival, the Mendelssohn-Remise Berlin and the International Fasch Festival in Zerbst. Notable North American presenters have included the Frick Collection, the Oregon Bach Festival, Abbey Bach Festival, Whitman College, Cornell Concerts, the Yale Collection, the Flagler Museum, and the Indianapolis Early Music Festival. In spring 2016, the orchestra performed on the Miami Bach Festival. A four-concert orchestral Germany tour is scheduled for 2022.
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For further information, image or interview requests please contact Candace Herbert, (215) 755-8776, candace@tempestadimare.org.
For further information about Tempesta di Mare | Philadelphia Baroque Orchestra, please visit http://tempestadimare.org.
Tickets:
Preferred: $39.00
General Admission and On-Demand*: $29.00
Student (w/ ID): $0.00
*Pay-what-you-can options available for On-Demand streaming
Performance Information:
A 1000-Guilder Tune: Musical alchemy from Baroque Moravia.
In-Person:
Friday, December 3, 2021 – 7:00 pm
Immanuel Highlands Episcopal Church, 2400 West 17th Street, Wilmington DE.
Saturday, December 4, 2021 – 8:00 pm
Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill, 8855 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia PA.
Sunday, December 5, 2021 – 4:00 pm
Arch Street Meeting House, East Room. 320 Arch Street, Philadelphia PA.
On-Demand:
Monday, December 20, 2021 @ 7:00 pm; streaming On-Demand through January 19, 2022. Virtual Concert Hall.
Visit the How to View Tempesta Concerts webpage to stream on computer and mobile devices. https://tempestadimare.org/concert-viewing-details/
Program:
- Vejvanovský:
- Intrada con altre arie à 10 in C
- Sonata Natalis à 9 in C
- Intrada and Ingressus à 9, from “Balletti per il Carnevale” in C
- Rittler:
- 1000 Guilder Sonata à 6 in D minor
- Intrada and Gigue, from Balletto à 7 in C
- Aria villanesca à 8 in F
- Valentini:
- Romanesca à 3 in B flat
- Sonata pro tabula à 9 in C
- Sonata à 5 in D minor
FIND OUT MORE:
Learn about the hamlet of Kroměříž and the impressive music collection in the library of the Archbishop’s Palace through Richard Stone’s firsthand account on our blog: https://tempestadimare.org/blog/an-introduction-a-czech-christmas/
Blog Post about Tempesta’s 20th Anniversary Season by Anne Schuster Hunter: https://tempestadimare.org/blog/dancing-with-those-who-brought-you-happy-20th-anniversary-tempesta/
