Melody, melody, more melody, turnips, and cabbages! ... or, what came after the high Baroque (and Bach). Things had become too complex (apparently) so the pendulum swung back toward something simpler to listen to and understand. Early Music Sources explains how that worked!
Sulpitia Cesis
While reading about music in convents in Italy I came across someone new! Meet Sulpitia Cesis!
For unto us a son is given
In December of 2022 I sang Messiah choruses nine different times in 3 different places. I adored every minute of it. At the time, I was pregnant with Michael and while we knew we were having a boy, we hadn't told anyone yet. That year, "For unto us a child is born" held a special meaning for me - it was like my own little secret. Ever since, I've enjoyed singing "For unto us" and remembering that special year.
Historical Ornamentation Sources
Check out this incredible resource on ornamentation! Primary and secondary sources, musical examples, and more!
Tarquinia Molza
Meet Tarquinia Molza: instrumentalist, singer, poet, composer, and scientist! After receiving the same education as her brothers, she studied astronomy and science, was involved with the Concerto delle donne and the courts in Mantua and Ferrara, and became the first woman given Roman citizenship in 1600! There also may (or may not) have been a thing with Giaches de Wert...
Rachel Baptist
A celebrated Black Irish singer, known for singing works by Thomas Arne, George Frideric Handel, and other popular music from the 1700s... meet Rachel Baptist!
Campra's Requiem
Reflecting on All Saints Day, here's a gorgeous Requiem by Campra, one of my favorite French composers (who used female sopranos rather than boys in his sacred music)!
B minor mass
Looking for some Bach to get your week started? Here's the broadcast of Handel and Haydn Society's B minor mass performance from last April!
What makes performances interesting?
Musicians in the Renaissance and Baroque periods spent considerable effort (and treatise pages) discussing what made performances interesting. What if performing things the way they suggested ... actually did the things they said it would?
Lesser-known?
It's all good and well to program lesser-known works and/or lesser-known composers, but the phrase "lesser-known" does a lot of heavy lifting. It's important to put context around WHY something or someone are lesser-known. Next time you come across that phrase, which of the following things does it mean?
1) someone who didn't have the means/connections of their peers
2) someone who wasn't white/male
3) someone who was awesome but existed at the same time as someone else who was more shiny
4) a work that was cool but not quite as cool as something else
5) a work by someone in groups 1-3
6) a work that kinda sucked and the composer probably wished it wasn't out in the wild
7) a work that had "tricky" instrumentation
8) a work for a particular occasion
9) a work that was too technically demanding to be worth the effort
10) a work that only the composer could love
11) something/someone outside of the western classical music tradition