A program focused on Vlad the Impaler, the 15th century Romanian prince on whom Bram Stoker based his Dracula, would seem to be a rather unlikely subject for an early music concert. But that’s exactly what will be in store for the audience when Salt Lake City’s Utopia Early Music and Cançonièr, a San Francisco Bay Area early music ensemble, combine forces Monday to close out the Westminster Concert Series for the season.
Chris LeCluyse
“It’s a program that Cançonièr does,” explained Utopia co-founder Chris LeCluyse. “They’ve graciously let us sing backup vocals.”
It’s not going to be another run of the mill early music program, Utopia’s other co-founder, Emily Nelson, promised. “You’re not going to say, ‘Oh no, not another one of those historical music concert,’” she said.
“What’s so cool about it is that Cançonièr likes to combine music from western Europe with that from the Balkans, Transylvania and other areas,” LeCluyse added.
The program doesn’t really just revolve around Vlad the Impaler, LeCluyse said, although the “centerpiece of the program is a 15th century German ballad about Vlad, in which he’s depicted as a tyrant on the level of Herod and Nero.” And other pieces on the program will have direct references to him.
Emily Nelson
“It’s mood music,” Nelson said. “The goths will be happy,” she joked.
But the entire program isn’t just doom and gloom. There will also be Italian and French dances; Byzantine court and church music; folk songs; and the Lamentation for the Fall of Constantinople, a motet by Guillaume Dufay, the most famous and significant composer of the 15th century.
“The fall of Constantinople was momentous from the European perspective,” LeCluyse said. “It was devastating. It sent ripples throughout Europe. It was certainly something that would have been commemorated in music.”
Europe in the 15th century was much more cosmopolitan than one would imagine. LeCluyse said there were many popular tunes that found their way around the continent and were sung in the language of the region. “One of the cross cultural pieces we’ll be doing is a Hungarian lament of the Virgin Mary. The words were set to a melody that was well known all over Europe and sung in different languages.”
Nelson said the concert will be atmospheric. “It’s going to be spooky, cool and gothy.” LeCluyse added that it’s going to surprise people how vibrant musical life was throughout Europe, and not just in the well known musical centers of Italy, France, England and Germany. “I think the concert will capture that.”
And with so much to offer the concert should have something for everyone, not just goths. “The program has a wide range of music and broad appeal,” LeCluyse said, “and it’ll give a sense of the cultural traditions in Europe, especially in eastern Europe.”
- CONCERT DETAILS:
- What: “The Black Dragon: Music from the Time of Vlad Dracula,” with Cançonièr and Utopia Early Music
- Venue: Vieve Gore Concert Hall, Westminster College
- Time and Date: 8 p.m. May 12
- Tickets: $15 general, free for students with ID
- Phone: 801-832-2457
- Web: www.westminstercollege.edu/cultural_events