One might not think so, but there is a lot of variety in baroque music. While George Frideric Handel, J.S. Bach and Antonio Vivaldi are the best known and most performed composers of the period, many of their now neglected contemporaries were writing music of the same high quality.
Gerald Elias
In his 11-season tenure as music director of the “Vivaldi by Candlelight” series, a benefit concert for the Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy, Gerald Elias has tried to offer a glimpse into the richness of the period’s music.
Elias will continue the tradition at this year’s concert, which takes place on Saturday. In addition to two works by the series’ namesake and a major keyboard concerto by Bach, Elias has also programmed music by the lesser known Italian composer Francesco Geminiani and the unknown Portuguese Carlos de Seixas, who lived from 1704-42 and is the youngest of the composers represented at the concert.
“De Seixas isn’t known today because most of his music was destroyed in a church fire some 200 years ago,” Elias said in an interview with Reichel Recommends. On the program is de Seixas’ Concerto in A major for Clavier and Strings, one of only a handful of his works to have survived. “The audience won’t know the piece,” Elias said, “but I think they’ll take to it, because it’s charming and lovely.”
The only other keyboard concerto that will be played is Bach’s Concerto No. 3 in D major, BWV 1054. “It’s best known as the E major Violin Concerto,” Elias said. “Bach later reworked it for harpsichord.”
Mark Kroll
Joining Elias and the Vivaldi Virtuosi for these two works will be Boston-based Mark Kroll, one of the world’s leading performers on the harpsichord and fortepiano. “I’ve known Mark since the late ‘70s,” Elias said. “We’ve never played together, but we’ve talked about it for a long time.”
Besides being a performer, Kroll is also an authority on the baroque and has edited the works of the English composer Charles Avison and the sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti. He’s also recently published a book on the 19th century pianist and composer Ignaz Moscheles. “Mark is a real scholar and an entertaining guy as well,” Elias said.
Kroll will also play continuo for the other works on the program. “Mark consented to do it. He is really terrific.”
The concert includes two sinfonias by Vivaldi (in C major, RV 192a, and in G major, RV 146). “I’ve never heard these before,” Elias said. “They’re written in a very virtuoso style and show off the ensemble.”
An interesting side note is that one of the movements in the C major Sinfonia is actually by Tomaso Albinoni. “Vivaldi took that and arranged it and used it as the last movement of the sinfonia,” Elias said, adding that it wasn’t uncommon in the baroque period for composers to borrow other composers’ music. “In some cases it was considered plagiarism, but for Bach and Vivaldi it was a sign of respect.”
- CONCERT DETAILS
- What: “Vivaldi by Candlelight,” benefit concert for the Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy, Mark Kroll, harpsichord, Vivaldi Virtuosi, Gerald Elias, conductor
- Venue: First Presbyterian Church, South Temple at C St.
- Time and Date: 8 p.m. Dec. 6
- Tickets: $45 reserved seating, $125 sponsorship patron ticket (includes private pre-concert dinner and priority seating selection)
- Phone: 801-832-3270
- Web: http://vivaldi.brownpapertickets.com.