Events Archives - Musica Transalpina https://musicatransalpina.org/category/events/ LA's newest baroque ensemble. Tue, 23 Apr 2024 05:27:41 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.2 https://musicatransalpina.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/cropped-240px-Mensural_c_clef_06.svg_-32x32.png Events Archives - Musica Transalpina https://musicatransalpina.org/category/events/ 32 32 In voce tubæ: Venetian music for Ascension https://musicatransalpina.org/2024/04/06/venetian/ https://musicatransalpina.org/2024/04/06/venetian/#respond Sat, 06 Apr 2024 01:05:24 +0000 https://musicatransalpina.org/?p=530 "God is gone up with a merry noise: and the Lord with the sound of the trumpet"! Celebrate the sounds of Ascension with a mesmerizing performance of Venetian polychoral music from the dawn of the Baroque, including Giovanni Gabrieli's Omnes gentes à 16. (published in 1597), one of the earliest extant works written for such enormous forces (calling for four separate choirs!) Alongside this masterpiece, we are presenting Giovanni Croce's equally impressive Missa super Iubilate Deo à 16. vocibus – also for four choirs – and apparently written at the request of Archduke Ferdinand (future Emperor Ferdinand II.) who met Croce whilst at Venice in 1598. This large-scale composition survives in manuscript form in the Graz Chorbuch, and is receiving its first American performance – and very possibly its first modern performance anywhere – by our Ensemble on Thursday May 9, 2024 at 7 P. M.

These massive compositions imply spectacular instrumental accompaniment, and we are taking full advantage of the opportunities presented by these extraordinary works to include a plethora of period brass, wind, and stringed instruments alongside the virtuoso vocal passages that characterize Venetian liturgical music from this period. Don't miss this unique opportunity to experience the beauty of Ascension through music!

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The Return of the Bucentaur to the Molo on Ascension Day by Canaletto

Ascension was one of the most important holidays during the golden age of Venice, when the Doge would officially consecrate Venice to the sea by throwing a wedding ring into the lagoon. This ceremony was followed by solemn liturgical celebrations at the abbey church of San Nicolò la Lido with elaborate musical accompaniment, and it was concluded with a huge fair in S. Mark’s Square that was famous throughout Europe for its splendor & opulence.

Musica Transalpina seeks to recreate the Mass as it could have been celebrated on Ascension for the Doge and his court on Saturday May 11, 2024 at 7 P. M.  We are proud to present enormous polychoral works from Venice written at the dawn of the Baroque, including Giovanni Gabrieli’s Omnes gentes à 16. (published in 1597), one of the earliest extant works written for four separate choirs.  Alongside this masterpiece, we are presenting Giovanni Croce’s equally large Missa à 16. super Iubilate Deo, apparently written at the request of Archduke Ferdinand (future Emperor Ferdinand II.) who met Croce while at Venice in 1598.  This enormous mass setting survives in manuscript form in the Graz Chorbuch, and is receiving its American première – and quite possibly its very first modern performance anywhere – by our Ensemble on Saturday May 11 at the parish church of S. Vincent de Paul:

621 West Adams Boulevard,
Los Angeles, CA 90007.

While this event is free of charge & open to the public, we encourage our patrons to donate in increments of $20 ($40, $60, &c.).  You are also welcome to wait until the conclusion of our performance and drop your donation off on your way out!  Please reserve your spot at whatever price works for you at the following link:

VenetianMusic.Eventbrite.com

This concert is offered in loving memory of Paul Ty Isley III.

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]]> https://musicatransalpina.org/2024/04/06/venetian/feed/ 0 Music of the Holy Roman Empire https://musicatransalpina.org/2024/02/07/habsburg/ https://musicatransalpina.org/2024/02/07/habsburg/#respond Wed, 07 Feb 2024 00:18:09 +0000 https://musicatransalpina.org/?p=489 The post Music of the Holy Roman Empire appeared first on Musica Transalpina.

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The coronation of Joseph II. at S. Bartholomew’s Cathedral in Frankfurt (1764), school of Martin van Meytens. 
Courtesy of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

Musica Transalpina is proud to present the following three programs in partnership with Ss. Peter & Paul this Spring: 

1. Venetian influences at the Habsburg Court

On Thursday March 28, Musica Transalpina once again explores its namesake: the phenomenon of Venetian-style sacred music making its way over the Alps.

We shall feature works from two important collections intended to appeal to the Austrian court: Monteverdi’s Gloria in excelsis Deo à 7. & Credidi à 8. from his immensely influential collection of sacred works, Selva morale e spirituale, published at Venice over the years 1640 and 1641 and dedicated to the Holy Roman Empress Eleonora Gonzaga, and Rigatti’s Magnificat con Istromenti à 7., likewise published at Venice in 1640 and dedicated to the Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand III.  These works preserve an opulent style which was quickly falling out of style in Italy, but which was still very much in demand at the Austrian court, which delighted in pomp and which favored an older, more grandiose style.  The fact that these two collections call for such large vocal & instrumental forces imply a court orchestra, rather than the reduced performing forces that remained in Venice following the devastating plague of 1630-1631.

Additionally, we are including an offertorium by Polish composer Mikołaj Zieleński, who was important for assmiliating the Venetian compositional idiom and helped spread polychoral musical composition in Northern Europe. Interestingly, his Offertoria were published at Venice in 1611, the capital of music publishing at the time.

Reserve your free spot at: https://VenetianMusic.eventbrite.com

2. Franco-Flemish polyphony at the Spanish Court

On Friday March 29, Musica Transalpina explores the rich & complex music of the Spanish Renaissance.

While the Holy Roman Empire included Spain & her territories in the personification of Emperor Charles V. – arguably the most powerful man who ever lived – his dramatic abdication in the year 1556 so that he could retire to a monastery divided the Holy Roman Empire into two branches: the Spanish Empire was given to his oldest son Philip, while his brother, Ferdinand, was given control of the Austrian Branch, which consisted of the the original Holy Roman Empire.  Both branches of the House of Habsburg became inseparably linked through dynastic alliances.

Charles V. not only united Europe politically, he also quite directly standardized musical composition throughout the continent by bringing his renowned Flemish Chapel along with him on campaign.  In addition to the elaborate polyphony of these Netherlandish composers such as Gombert and Manchicourt, we are presenting the first modern performance of a recently-rediscovered Passion setting that Fray Miguel de Guerau composed for King Philip IV.’s Good Friday observances at the famous El Escorial palace complex, which doubled as a monastery.

Reserve your free spot at: https://SpanishRenaissance.eventbrite.com

 

3. Coronation Music from Salzburg & Vienna

On Saturday March 30, Musica Transalpina presents the pinnacle of its Holy Week music series, consisting in large-scale ceremonial music for the courts of Vienna & Salzburg. 

We are proud to present the first modern performance of Antonio Bertali’s Missa Consecrationis à 26. vocibus, which was likely composed for one of the many coronations that Emperor Leopold I. underwent in the 1650s.  You may recall that exactly one year ago we performed the mass from his Imperial coronation of 1658, Bertali’s Missa Sancti Spiritus.  The Missa Consecrationis was possibly written for Emperor Leopold’s coronation as king of Hungary or Bohemia, and it exceeds the Missa Sancti Spiritus in size & instrumentation.  It is even larger by one voice than Muffat’s monumental Missa in labore requies that we performed in August of 2023.

Salzburg was technically a free city within the Empire, led by an independent prince archbishop.  The prince archbishops during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were famous for their musical patronage, with the last prince archbishop, Hieronymus von Colloredo, being best remembered as a patron of the Mozart family.  The prince archbishops had a symbiotic relationship with the  Emperor, and the musical establishments of both courts were comparable in splendor, with Salzburg arguably cultivating a more impressive music program than even the Chapel Royal.  In addition to Bertali’s Missa Consecrationis that was written for the royal court, we are performing an anonymous Magnificat from Salzburg in twenty parts, as well as two large offertoria, possibly by Salzburg kapellmeister Abraham Megerle, intended for Salzburg Cathedral’s Easter observances.

Reserve your free spot at: https://Habsburg.eventbrite.com

 

Image drawn from The Coronation of Charlemagne by Raphael, painted 1516-1517, and located in the Room of the Segnatura in the Apostolic Palace at the Vatican.

Music of the Holy Roman Empire

March 28, 29, & 30 at 12 noon.

Ss. Peter & Paul Church
515 West Opp Street
Wilmington, CA 90744.

Additional parking can be found at: Ss. Peter & Paul Grammar School:
706 Bay View Ave,
Wilmington, CA 90744

All performances are free of charge, but we welcome donations in lieu of ticket purchases – you may find us on Venmo @Transalpina.

 Please note that parking is limited, but additional parking can be found at the parochial school situated a quarter of a mile away from the church. 

On Saturday March 30th, we encourage patrons to arrive closer to one o’clock, when the music is set to begin.

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]]> https://musicatransalpina.org/2024/02/07/habsburg/feed/ 0 [more] Colossal Baroque https://musicatransalpina.org/2023/11/01/austrianbaroque/ https://musicatransalpina.org/2023/11/01/austrianbaroque/#respond Wed, 01 Nov 2023 19:00:19 +0000 https://musicatransalpina.org/?p=441 The post [more] Colossal Baroque appeared first on Musica Transalpina.

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Presenting a second program of Austrian Baroque

Following the resounding success of our inaugural concert, Musica Transalpina is proud to satisfy a newfound demand for this opulent sacred repertoire with even more music in the so-called Colossal Baroque style — this time from Lambach Abbey in Upper Austria — on Wednesday, November first at seven o’clock in the evening at Ss. Peter & Paul church in Wilmington, California.

This event is free & open to the public, but we deeply appreciate donations in lieu of ticket purchases at the link below :

AustrianBaroque.eventbrite.com

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]]> https://musicatransalpina.org/2023/11/01/austrianbaroque/feed/ 0 Mexican Baroque Vespers https://musicatransalpina.org/2023/10/11/mexicanbaroque/ https://musicatransalpina.org/2023/10/11/mexicanbaroque/#respond Wed, 11 Oct 2023 19:00:41 +0000 https://musicatransalpina.org/?p=406 The post Mexican Baroque Vespers appeared first on Musica Transalpina.

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On Saturday November 11, 2023, Musica Transalpina is proud to present Vespers music from viceregal-era archives as part of a celebration of Hispanidad on the occasion of the 372nd birthday of Mexican literary genius Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz — “the tenth muse”.  Lecture at 6 P. M. by Rev. Hugh Barbour, O. Præm. with a performance of Mexican Baroque Vespers music following at 7.30 P. M. at Ss. Peter & Paul church in Wilmington, California. 

This event is free & open to the public, but donations in lieu of ticket purchases are deeply appreciated.  Please reserve your spot at the following link:

MexicanBaroque.eventbrite.com

This performance is made possible in part by a generous donation from Professor Juan Antonio Tavarez.

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]]> https://musicatransalpina.org/2023/10/11/mexicanbaroque/feed/ 0 Music Commemorating the Naval Victory at Lepanto, 1571 https://musicatransalpina.org/2023/10/07/lepanto/ https://musicatransalpina.org/2023/10/07/lepanto/#respond Sat, 07 Oct 2023 13:00:00 +0000 https://musicatransalpina.org/?p=280 The post Music Commemorating the Naval Victory at Lepanto, 1571 appeared first on Musica Transalpina.

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On October 7, 1571, the Holy League’s out-numbered naval fleet famously triumphed over the militarily superior Turkish navy at Lepanto.  Immediately after the victorious news reached Venice, Mass was sung in St. Mark with great splendor. Contemporary witness Rocco Benedetti talks about the concerti divinissimi, which combined both church organs along with various other instruments and singing, in an outpouring of divine harmony:

[…] they made the most divine concerts, as one or the other organ sounded together with all kinds of instruments, and of voices, keeping together the same tempo and the same tone, which truly seemed as if the cataracts of celestial harmony have opened up, and she [harmony] poured forth from angelic choruses.

The opulence of the celebrations which followed this epic sea battle were unprecedented, and historians such as Iain Fenlon argue that the grandeur of the art & music which ensued were a prefigurement of the triumphalist & politically-charged Baroque æsthetic which would emerge in just a few short decades.
On Saturday October 7, 2023, the Feast of Our Lady of Victory, Musica Transalpina commemorates this historic event with celebratory music which was composed before & after this legendary battle which helped shape the course of European history.
Concerti divinissimi: Compositions commemorating the naval victory at Lepanto in 1571.

Ss. Peter & Paul church in Wilmington, California

Saturday October 7, 2023 at 1.30 P. M.

Many thanks to Raphael Zendejas for making this performance possible.

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]]> https://musicatransalpina.org/2023/10/07/lepanto/feed/ 0 Colossal Baroque: Music of 17th Century Salzburg https://musicatransalpina.org/2023/08/27/colossal/ https://musicatransalpina.org/2023/08/27/colossal/#respond Sun, 27 Aug 2023 16:00:56 +0000 https://musicatransalpina.org/?p=269 The post Colossal Baroque: Music of 17th Century Salzburg appeared first on Musica Transalpina.

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Musica Transalpina, a new, professional ensemble dedicated to baroque sacred music, offers their first public performance on Sunday, August 27 2023 at 3 P. M. at St. Mark’s Church in Newport Beach.

This inaugural concert features large-scale choral works in the so-called “Colossal Baroque” style by Muffat, Biber, Kerll, and Megerle which are seldom ever performed in America.  These towering compositions are scored for enormous vocal and instrumental forces, including Muffat’s only surviving vocal work, his Missa in labore requies, written in 24 independent parts distributed across five (5) separate choirs.

Musica Transalpina is a professional vocal & period instrument ensemble dedicated to the research & historically-informed performance of baroque liturgical music.  Musica Transalpina is incorporated as a 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit corporation, and all donations are wholly tax-deductible. 

Colossal Baroque: Monumental compositions from 17th-Century Salzburg
St. Mark’s church
2200 San Joaquin Hills Road
Newport Beach, CA 92660
Suggested Donations: $40 • $60 • $80
Tickets may be purchased at Colossal.BrownPaperTickets.com

We are committed to making this performance affordable to all.  The above ticket prices are merely guidelines, but you may pay as much as you are able –– please contact us directly at Admin@MusicaTransalpina.org to reserve your spot at a price that works for you. What matters most is that you support us by your presence and by spreading the word!

This performance is made possible by a generous grant from the Colburn Foundation.

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]]> https://musicatransalpina.org/2023/08/27/colossal/feed/ 0 Imperial Coronation Mass, 1659 https://musicatransalpina.org/2023/04/15/imperial-coronation-music-1659/ https://musicatransalpina.org/2023/04/15/imperial-coronation-music-1659/#respond Sat, 15 Apr 2023 12:00:57 +0000 https://musicatransalpina.org/?p=307 The post Imperial Coronation Mass, 1659 appeared first on Musica Transalpina.

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We are absolutely thrilled to present the following program of exquisite church music from the seventeenth century, most of which has never before been heard in America––truly the rarest of the rare. What makes this repertoire so extraordinary is that, unlike most music that was sent to be published and marketed to a wide audience, many of the following compositions were written for special occasions and were never meant to be heard again. We are elated to be able to bring them back to life.

On Thursday April 6, 2023 we have programmed some rather spectacular compositions from Counterreformation-era Poland, which was awash in cosmopolitan music-making due to the efforts of the refined and very devout King Sigismund III. Vasa, who created one of the most elite musical establishments in all of Europe.

On Friday April 7, 2023 we are excited to première two commissions composed for our ensemble by world-famous baroque music expert Elam Rotem, alongside the St. John Passion by Orlando di Lasso. Despite being written by the most widely-published composer of the Renaissance, the St. John Passion was intended for the private Good Friday observances of the ruling House of Wittelsbach in Bavaria, and as such, comes to us in a manuscript (and not printed) source.

On Saturday April 8, 2023 we are performing music by Venetian composers working at the Habsburg court. Since they were kept so busy with their royal duties, the Habsburg kapellmeisters seldom ever published their music, but we are inestimably fortunate that the Bishops of Olomouc in Moravia and the Benedictines at Kremsmünster Abbey in Austria tirelessly made copies of the priceless compositions that were being written for the Hofkapelle. The highlight of this programme is the first American performance of the Missa Sancti Spiritus by Antonio Bertali, written for the coronation of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I. in 1659. We are also performing a Magnificat by Bertali’s predecessor, Giovanni Valentini (who was also a student of the famed Giovanni Gabrieli), and a grand Easter motet by Valentini’s predecessor, Giovanni Priuli.

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]]> https://musicatransalpina.org/2023/04/15/imperial-coronation-music-1659/feed/ 0 Cavalli: Messa Concertata, 1656 https://musicatransalpina.org/2023/03/25/cavalli-messa-concertata-1656-2/ https://musicatransalpina.org/2023/03/25/cavalli-messa-concertata-1656-2/#respond Sat, 25 Mar 2023 21:13:55 +0000 https://musicatransalpina.org/?p=300 The post Cavalli: Messa Concertata, 1656 appeared first on Musica Transalpina.

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On Saturday March 25th at 7 P. M., Musica Transalpina will present Francesco Cavalli’s Messa Concertata from his Musiche Sacre concernenti, published at Venice in 1656. This mass displays many characteristics of sacred music of the 1640s, and bears a striking resemblance to Monteverdi’s setting of the Gloria published in his famous Selva Morale e Spirituale of 1641. Indeed, Cavalli—who was immensely important for the development of opera—was Monteverdi’s assistant at S. Mark’s Basilica, and this Mass demonstrates a keen sensitivity to the meaning of the text along with the rich partwriting and sudden shifts in texture between soloists & ripienists that became fashionable as the polychoral style started to condense towards the middle of the seventeenth century. As Cavalli succeeded Monteverdi after the latter died in 1643, this gives us an idea of what a complete mass by Monteverdi in the concertato style would have sounded like.

Musica Transalpina baroque ensemble is a 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit corporation dedicated to the serious research & performance of baroque sacred music. Our events are always free & open to the public. Please consider a tax-deductible donation to support world-class performances of seldom-heard sacred masterpieces from the Counterreformation.

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]]> https://musicatransalpina.org/2023/03/25/cavalli-messa-concertata-1656-2/feed/ 0 Royal Wedding Music, 1666 https://musicatransalpina.org/2023/01/04/royal-wedding-music-1666/ https://musicatransalpina.org/2023/01/04/royal-wedding-music-1666/#respond Wed, 04 Jan 2023 05:35:53 +0000 https://musicatransalpina.org/?p=205 The post Royal Wedding Music, 1666 appeared first on Musica Transalpina.

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Royal Wedding Music

Date

Friday February 17, 2023

Location

Ss. Peter and Paul parsh church

515 West Opp Street

Wilmington, CA  90744

Musica Transalpina will proudly present Heinrich Schmelzer’s Missa Nuptialis which was composed for the royal wedding of the Infanta Margaret Theresa of Spain to the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I. in 1666. The Infanta’s wedding to the Emperor was one of the most splendid ceremonies of the baroque era, whose lavish festivities––including pyrotechnics upon her entrée into Vienna, costly productions like Antonio Cesti’s opera Il pomo d’oro and Schmelzer’s famous horse ballet that the Emperor himself performed in––lasted for nearly two years. These celebrations were warranted because this union cemented Habsburg hegemony which, if an heir were produced, would ensure lasting peace following the devastation of the Thirty Years’ War.

In continuing with our tradition of historically-informed performances of baroque sacred music in liturgical settings, Musica Transalpina will help recreate the wedding Mass as it would have been heard by the select audience invited to witness this intimate 17th-century royal ceremony.

 

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]]> https://musicatransalpina.org/2023/01/04/royal-wedding-music-1666/feed/ 0 Biber: Requiem ex F con terza minore, ca. 1692 https://musicatransalpina.org/2023/01/04/bibers-requiem/ https://musicatransalpina.org/2023/01/04/bibers-requiem/#respond Wed, 04 Jan 2023 04:03:26 +0000 https://musicatransalpina.org/?p=170 The post Biber: Requiem ex F con terza minore, ca. 1692 appeared first on Musica Transalpina.

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Requiem Memorial for Pope Benedict XVI

 

Requiem ex F con terza minore

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber

 

Date

Thursday January 5 at 7 P. M.

 

Location

Ss. Peter and Paul Parish Church

515 West Opp Street

Wilmington CA 90744.

 

One of the most immediately identifiable legacies of Pope Benedict XVI., which continues unabatedly even after his pontificate, is the profound effect he had on serious liturgical music. Known more for his rigorous academicism than for his artistic inclinations, he was a gentleman of refined musical sensibilities and discriminating taste.

While a single polyphonic motet might have seemed out-of-place in a church service two decades ago and a choral mass movement would have been unthinkable, Pope Benedict XVI. promoted a high standard of musicianship which has reintroduced choral music into churches, and not only in concert settings. This he justified by clarifying that the choir doesn’t sing instead of the congregation––as the detractors of choral music alleged––but the choir can be delegated to sing on their behalf. Stefan von Kempis, a well-connected insider from the German language department of the Vatican Radio, had the following to say: “When Benedict took over, it was with some reputation for artistic awareness, helped by the association with his brother, who was famous in Germany for his work with the Domspatzen choir. And he made it known that he wanted to invigorate the Vatican’s musical life, which he’s doing.”

The remarkable thing about this Pope was that he was a great proponent of the Church’s full classical music tradition, not interpreted narrowly in terms of simple Roman plainchant and austere Renaissance polyphony, but broadly, in the grand Central European tradition in which he was raised and which Musica Transalpina is dedicated to bringing to the United States.

Pope Benedict recounted the enthusiasm with which he and his brother would listen to masses by Mozart & Haydn performed at their village church for special occasions. He believed that there was a deep spiritual & psychological value in “baroque masterpieces” and concerted mass settings because they can help the faithful contemplate the joy of the the Faith by their confidence and brillo.

Click here to read Pope Benedict’s touching comments following a performance of Mozart’s Requiem. 

 

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