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May 2022 Newsletter
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March 2022 Newsletter
February 2022 Newsletter
Happy February to all!
With the winter months slowly entering their final stretch with recent record snow, freezing rain and sleet, we welcome more sunlight hours and the tapping of Sarasa Co-Director Tim Merton’s maple trees!
If you missed the chance to hear our most recent concert-set, “Music from the Heart: Mitteldeutschland” with the wonderful countertenor Reginald Mobley, you are in for a treat! The concert will continue to stream for another few weeks. It has already garnered many views and much praise. Why not share the link with your Valentine, or some friends, or your colleagues, and of course your family?! It was a special evening of rarely heard 17th-century music from Germany that inspired the genius of Johann Sebastian Bach. Watch below!
©Ula Koska/Beate Bojda
Looking ahead to March, we are turning to Poland’s colorful cultural landscape for our musical inspiration, visiting boisterous Baroque works by Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) and Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (1623-1680), alongside the soulful 2nd String Quartet by the popular 20th-century Polish composer, Henryk Górecki (1933-2010). Despite the many years that separate their eras, all three encountered enough musical ideas “to last a lifetime” (as Telemann wrote) through Poland's rich traditions of folk music, folk dance, and its many distinct regional characters. The program opens with Tomás Luis de Victoria’s sublime call to the world’s miracles in O magnum mysterium.
We are proud that this concert program has been selected by Early Music America as an Early Music Month Project Grantee, with the aim of expanding the reach of early music! Check out the other projects EMA will highlight in March—Early Music Month—here.
Native Realm*
March 4, 2022 Brattleboro Music Center, VT at 7.30pm [tickets: www.bmcvt.org]
March 5, 2022 Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church, Cambridge at 7.30pm
March 6, 2022 Follen Community Church, Lexington at 3.30pm
*Title of Czesław Miłosz’s autobiography
Program:
Tomás Luis de Victoria O Magnum Mysterium (1572)
J.H. Schmelzer Polnische Sackpfeifen à 3 [Polish Bagpipes] (1680)
Telemann Polish Dances from the Rostock Manuscript, TWV 45 (1730’s?)
Górecki String Quartet No. 2, Op. 64 “Quasi una Fantasia” (1991)
Jesse Irons, Miranda Fulleylove, violins; Jason Fisher, viola; Jennifer Morsches, cello
The title of this program, "Native Realm” is taken from the autobiography by Górecki’s highly lauded compatriot, the great poet Czesław Miłosz (1911-2004). Both he and Górecki were indelibly shaped by the complex and difficult history of their native land during the 20th century.
“A Song on the End of the World
By Czesław Miłosz
Translated by Anthony Miłosz
On the day the world ends
A bee circles a clover,
A fisherman mends a glimmering net.
Happy porpoises jump in the sea,
By the rainspout young sparrows are playing
And the snake is gold-skinned as it should always be.
On the day the world ends
Women walk through the fields under their umbrellas,
A drunkard grows sleepy at the edge of a lawn,
Vegetable peddlers shout in the street
And a yellow-sailed boat comes nearer the island,
The voice of a violin lasts in the air
And leads into a starry night.
And those who expected lightning and thunder
Are disappointed.
And those who expected signs and archangels’ trumps
Do not believe it is happening now.
As long as the sun and the moon are above,
As long as the bumblebee visits a rose,
As long as rosy infants are born
No one believes it is happening now.
Only a white-haired old man, who would be a prophet
Yet is not a prophet, for he’s much too busy,
Repeats while he binds his tomatoes:
There will be no other end of the world,
There will be no other end of the world.
Warsaw, 1944
”
St. Valentine’s Day— how do you celebrate? An anonymous Valentine card to your sweetheart? Chocolates? A dozen red roses? Or how about popping open a bottle of champagne?
For those silent film aficionados, we highly recommend Alfred Hitchcock’s Champagne (1928). Its opening sequence demonstrates the king of suspense well in his stride even at the start of his career, approaching visual effects from a completely different angle. The film in its entirety is on Vimeo, linked here. Watch its opening sequence below!
“Music is a pleasure for the saints and for men; it is an act of devotion, but also a symbol of human virtue.”
-Johann Heinrich Schmelzer
January 2022 Newsletter
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU!
Attributed to Joris van Son (Flemish, 1623–1667)
Still Life with Fruit, 1600s
Milwaukee Art Museum
We hope you were able to enjoy a peaceful holiday season, despite the huge skids and brakes the Omicron variant has placed on all of our activities. Most of all, we hope you are safe and healthy!
Thank you for the bountiful donations towards our end of year appeal! Your contributions help make it possible to continue our regular programming, our important outreach work, and streaming our concerts for free on-line. We are extremely grateful.
” I keep writing ‘Stone Age’ instead of ‘Bronze Age’ on all my checks.”
OUR JANUARY IN-PERSON CONCERTS ARE STILL ON!!
Music from the Heart: Mitteldeutschland features the outstanding countertenor, Reginald Mobley.
Concert Dates:
Friday, January 14th, 2022 at 7:30pm - Brattleboro Music Center, VT [www.bmcvt.org]
Saturday, January 15th, 2022 at 7:30pm - Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church, Cambridge
Sunday, January 16th, 2022 at 3:30pm - Follen Community Church, Lexington
Purchase your ticket today: CLICK HERE
* Attendees must provide proof of vaccination or a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours of the event. Masks required.
** We will be streaming this concert on our website starting Thursday, January 27, 2022 at 7.30pm. We will send out a reminder!
Oh la la….FOLLOWING THE FRENCH VOGUE
In the 17th century, German courts followed the French model for its string orchestras, taking their cue from the famous Vingt-quatre Violons du Roi, or the 24 Violins of the Sun-King, Louis XIV and his father Louis XIII. As the diagram above shows, the division of the 5 string groups were as follows: Dessus de violon (violins), Haute-contre de violon (violas in a high tenor range), Taille de violon (violas in a tenor range), Quinte de violon (a five-stringed, middle ranged instrument), and Basse de violon (bass). The French especially favoured the violin family for dancing and ballet music. Some of the works on our January program “Music from the Heart,” follows this tradition of a five-part string band. It allows for a very rich middle range, the sort of warmth of color that Johann Sebastian Bach chose for his Cantata BWV 54, written early in his career in Weimar in 1714. He was surely influenced by one of the leading composers of the late 17th century in central Germany (Mitteldeutschland), Philipp Heinrich Erlebach (1657-1714).
Below is an example of the beautiful sound world of strings in Philipp Heinrich Erlebach’s Air Traquenar from his Ouverture No. IV in d minor. Erlebach’s vast output of music of over 1,000 sacred and secular works was sadly ravaged by a fire in 1735, destroying all but a handful of manuscripts— just 70 remain. We will be playing three pieces from this precious collection, including his motet for countertenor, strings and basso continuo, Trocknet euch ihr heissen Zähren (Dry yourself, ye hot tears).
FROM UTTER DEVASTATION, A RESURGENCE IN MUSIC PROVIDED SOLACE FOR THE SOUL...
Detail from The Battle of White Mountain by Pieter Snayers (1592-1667)
The Thirty Years' War in Europe began in 1618, and continued on such a scale and with such devastation that its like was not seen again until The Great War of 1914. It pitched Catholics against Protestants, Lutherans against Calvinists and Catholics against Catholics across the Holy Roman Empire, drawing in divisive neighbors and lasting for thirty gruelling years, from the Defenestration of Prague to the Peace of Westphalia of 1648. Many more civilians died than soldiers; some say the German lands lost 60% of its population. Despite this horrendous loss of life, the resurgence of music in the second half of the 17th century became the focal point of every village, hamlet, town, and city in Germany— each village boasted an organ and a choir in its churches. This was aided in great part by Lutheranism, whose reformist leader, Martin Luther, placed enormous emphasis on music, and its important role in liturgy. Erlebach and Bach were both devout Lutherans. Needless to say, we all need music to help us contemplate about, believe in and celebrate our common humanity, despite the great horrors of war and conflict around the world.
December 2021 Newsletter
Sarasa Wishes You a Festive Holiday Season!
©2021 Anna von Gwinner www.zwoelfersiebdruck.de
Well, we have made it through another year, despite the continuing challenges that the pandemic throws in our paths. Without your support, the arts would surely languish, and that would be the beginning of a very monochromatic and listless society. With the return of live in-person concerts, we are incredibly thankful and honored to share music with you. We are also delighted to be able to return to our outreach presentations in the youth detention facilities. Our most recent visit (the first since March 2020!) with our November “Kaleidoscope” program was uplifting and worthwhile on every level. The youth seemed especially communicative, positive, and reminded us how vital it is to reach every sector of society. “That piece gave me shivers all over my body,” exclaimed one teen when we performed an excerpt from C.P.E. Bach’s Symphony in C major. We were likewise inspired by their own rap and poetry, and their spontaneous dancing to our music. Self-expression is essential for self-belief and self-worth.
The Importance of Music — from A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas
"Always on Christmas night there was music. An uncle played the fiddle, a cousin sang Cherry Ripe, and another uncle sang Drake’s Drum. It was very warm in the little house. Auntie Hannah, who had got on to the parsnip wine, sang a song about Bleeding Hearts and Death, and then another in which she said her heart was like a Bird’s Nest; and then everybody laughed again; and then I went to bed. Looking through my bedroom window, out into the moonlight and the unending smoke-coloured snow, I could see the lights in the windows of all the other houses on our hill and hear the music rising from them up the long, steady falling night.”
Support live performance and transformative music education in 2022 and beyond!
If you would like to donate towards Sarasa's dual mission of outreach with incarcerated teenagers and programming for our regular public concert series, you can do so today. Every tax-deductible dollar we receive enables us to bring diverse, first-rate live music to our communities. Live music ~ social impact. Thank you!
The Art of the German Christmas Cookie — Springerle
How was the genius of Johann Sebastian Bach born? Music from the Heart: Mitteldeutschland traces some of his gifted predecessors.
Our next program in January 2022 highlights the singular power of music’s solace in times of crisis. With the highly-acclaimed countertenor, Reginald Mobley, we will turn back the clocks to 17th-century Middle Germany. Following the devastation of the Thirty Years’ War — in which nearly 60% of the population perished— music became a focal point in every hamlet, village, town, and city. This blossoming of music was in large part due to Martin Luther’s legacy, where his profound respect and love for music was integral to the Lutheran liturgy. In the words of French musicologist Gilles Cantagrel, "giving citizens music became as necessary as giving them bread to live on; for to these people who were so oppressed, music simultaneously brought comfort, indispensable earthly pleasure, and the spiritual elevation to which they aspired.” We believe music is indispensable for all. In our next program, we will re-discover rarely performed works by Philipp Heinrich Erlebach, Clamor Heinrich Abel, and Johann Adam Reincken— all of whose compositional output was directly linked to J.S. Bach’s musical education, giving him the roadmap in which to tinker with and master his craft. Did you know that of the some 1,000 compositions by Erlebach, only a handful of his works remain, due to a terrible fire in 1735 at the court in Rudolstadt, where he served 33 years as Kapellmeister? Here is an example from his Ouverture No. IV in D minor:
Mark your calendars and purchase your tickets today at www.sarasamusic.org/concerts
Music from the Heart: Mitteldeutschland (works by P.H. Erlebach, C.H. Abel, J.A. Reincken & J.S. Bach)
Friday, January 14, 2022 at 7.30pm Brattleboro Music Center [tickets: www.bmcvt.org]
Saturday, January 15, 2022 at 7.30pm Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church, Cambridge
Sunday, January 16, 2022 at 3.30pm Follen Community Church, Lexington
(Streaming one week later on our website, starting January 23rd at 7pm.)
Check out this beautiful clip of countertenor Reginald Mobley singing “Someone to Watch Over Me.” Mobley joins Sarasa for our January concert!
“Kaleidoscope” is still streaming!
You can still listen to our November “Kaleidoscope” program on our website until January 2, 2022. A colorful program of works for strings by C.P.E. Bach, Purcell, Rimsky-Korsakov and two wonderful world premiers by Li Qi and Mariel Mayz! https://www.sarasamusic.org/streaming-now
Sarasa Ensemble during a rehearsal break in November: with Katherine Winterstein, Zenas Hsu, Marka Gustavsson, Timothy Merton, Jennifer Morsches, and Jason Fisher.
