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Philomel and Piffaro do the Hapsburgs and Louis XI
Tom Purdom
The good old days
TOM PURDOM
Louis XIV surrounded himself with musical and architectural grandeur at Versailles, but the day-to-day reality endured by lower-ranking mortals was significantly less glamorous. Outdoor privies filled many of the courtyards. Courtiers stood on their feet from dawn to midnight vying for trivial honors like the right to hold the king’s candle while he put on his nightshirt.
Philomel’s co-director, harpsichordist Bruce Bekker, catalogued some of the highs and woes of Louis’ dream palace in his onstage remarks that punctuated Philomel’s latest concert. Two days later, Piffaro did something similar when it built a concert around a great Renaissance occasion: the 1568 wedding of the Hapsburg Prince Wilhelm of Bavaria to Princess Renata of Lorraine.
Most of the Renaissance and Baroque music we hear today wasn’t performed in front of ticket buying audiences sitting in neat rows. Contemporary musicians can reproduce the instruments and performance styles of the past. But they can’t reproduce the context.
Versailles: My own personal Hollywood
I happen to be a Versailles buff. The courts of the last three Louis constitute my personal Hollywood: a cramped little world peopled with mistresses like Mesdames de Montespand and de Pompadour, intriguing libertines like the Duc de Richelieu and sourpusses like the Duc de Saint-Simon, whose memoirs provide our most detailed picture of Louis XIV’s court. Bekker captured the essence of that scene with some well-chosen examples, and the excerpts from Saint-Simon in the program added more detail.
Some of Philomel’s musical selections were simply French Baroque works that Louis XIV might have heard. Others were more directly related to his life. Louis, as one might expect, liked music that evoked a prettied-up picture of his favorite sport, and the program contained sonatas dubbed La Militaire and La Guerra. The closing suite by Marin Marais came from a collection entitled Trios for the King’s Retirement for Bed, and we can all rejoice in the knowledge that the Sun King advanced to his slumbers serenaded by charming dances, inventive harmonies, and an extensive chaconne.
The sweet sound of a cornetto
Philomel sketched in Versailles with a basic Baroque ensemble: two violins and one recorder, with a harpsichord and viola da gamba to provide the accompaniment. Piffaro celebrated its Hapsburg nuptials with a much larger consort. Piffaro joined forces with a New York viol ensemble called Parthena and ended up with an assemblage that included four viols, five vocalists, two sackbuts (trombones nowadays), a lute and guitar specialist, and the usual assortment of recorders, shawns, and other noisemakers a well stocked Renaissance wind band carries on its travels. A visitor from France, William Dongois, contributed the sweet, penetrating sound of that wonderful melody instrument, the cornetto— a wooden instrument that’s fingered like a recorder, even though it actually belongs to the trumpet family.
The wedding music was composed by a single court composer, Orlando di Lasso, and most of it was just plain gorgeous. Lasso could even write glorious settings for acclamations of the notables written in boilerplate phrases like “Magnanimous prince, duke most protective of fairness.” Piffaro’s selections included music for the church wedding service, lighter stuff about love and lust that was performed during the two-week fête that surrounded the wedding, and a final paean to music that celebrated its subject with harmony and complexity instead of big fanfares and massive outbursts.
The period instrument revival started in the 1890s but it didn’t take off until the 1950s. Period instrument concerts didn’t become a standard part of the concert scene, in fact, until about 25 years ago. The movement is now in the early stages of full maturity, and you could hear the results of that ripening in the uniformly high quality of the musicianship in both these events.
More than just a two-hour concert
At this point I could easily follow the conventional pattern of a review and single out particularly good performances. But that wouldn’t be the real story. The most impressive aspect of these concerts was the combination of knowledge and musical ability the members of both organizations brought to their work.
Most history texts will tell you the Hapsburgs married their way to the top. But how many historians know that a composer named Orlando di Lasso wrote wonderful music for one of those marriages? How many historians could study that music and turn well-chosen selections into a two-hour concert? And play the music themselves?
I knew Louis XIV turned his mundane routines into ceremonies in which he dispensed silly favors to his courtiers. But I couldn’t locate a collection of the music actually played at his bedtime and make a tasteful selection.
The scholar/musicians in organizations like Piffaro and Philomel have developed some rare abilities. And thanks to their efforts, we can overcome some of the restraints of time and glimpse the foibles and accomplishments of our predecessors.
To read responses to this review, click here.
TOM PURDOM
Louis XIV surrounded himself with musical and architectural grandeur at Versailles, but the day-to-day reality endured by lower-ranking mortals was significantly less glamorous. Outdoor privies filled many of the courtyards. Courtiers stood on their feet from dawn to midnight vying for trivial honors like the right to hold the king’s candle while he put on his nightshirt.
Philomel’s co-director, harpsichordist Bruce Bekker, catalogued some of the highs and woes of Louis’ dream palace in his onstage remarks that punctuated Philomel’s latest concert. Two days later, Piffaro did something similar when it built a concert around a great Renaissance occasion: the 1568 wedding of the Hapsburg Prince Wilhelm of Bavaria to Princess Renata of Lorraine.
Most of the Renaissance and Baroque music we hear today wasn’t performed in front of ticket buying audiences sitting in neat rows. Contemporary musicians can reproduce the instruments and performance styles of the past. But they can’t reproduce the context.
Versailles: My own personal Hollywood
I happen to be a Versailles buff. The courts of the last three Louis constitute my personal Hollywood: a cramped little world peopled with mistresses like Mesdames de Montespand and de Pompadour, intriguing libertines like the Duc de Richelieu and sourpusses like the Duc de Saint-Simon, whose memoirs provide our most detailed picture of Louis XIV’s court. Bekker captured the essence of that scene with some well-chosen examples, and the excerpts from Saint-Simon in the program added more detail.
Some of Philomel’s musical selections were simply French Baroque works that Louis XIV might have heard. Others were more directly related to his life. Louis, as one might expect, liked music that evoked a prettied-up picture of his favorite sport, and the program contained sonatas dubbed La Militaire and La Guerra. The closing suite by Marin Marais came from a collection entitled Trios for the King’s Retirement for Bed, and we can all rejoice in the knowledge that the Sun King advanced to his slumbers serenaded by charming dances, inventive harmonies, and an extensive chaconne.
The sweet sound of a cornetto
Philomel sketched in Versailles with a basic Baroque ensemble: two violins and one recorder, with a harpsichord and viola da gamba to provide the accompaniment. Piffaro celebrated its Hapsburg nuptials with a much larger consort. Piffaro joined forces with a New York viol ensemble called Parthena and ended up with an assemblage that included four viols, five vocalists, two sackbuts (trombones nowadays), a lute and guitar specialist, and the usual assortment of recorders, shawns, and other noisemakers a well stocked Renaissance wind band carries on its travels. A visitor from France, William Dongois, contributed the sweet, penetrating sound of that wonderful melody instrument, the cornetto— a wooden instrument that’s fingered like a recorder, even though it actually belongs to the trumpet family.
The wedding music was composed by a single court composer, Orlando di Lasso, and most of it was just plain gorgeous. Lasso could even write glorious settings for acclamations of the notables written in boilerplate phrases like “Magnanimous prince, duke most protective of fairness.” Piffaro’s selections included music for the church wedding service, lighter stuff about love and lust that was performed during the two-week fête that surrounded the wedding, and a final paean to music that celebrated its subject with harmony and complexity instead of big fanfares and massive outbursts.
The period instrument revival started in the 1890s but it didn’t take off until the 1950s. Period instrument concerts didn’t become a standard part of the concert scene, in fact, until about 25 years ago. The movement is now in the early stages of full maturity, and you could hear the results of that ripening in the uniformly high quality of the musicianship in both these events.
More than just a two-hour concert
At this point I could easily follow the conventional pattern of a review and single out particularly good performances. But that wouldn’t be the real story. The most impressive aspect of these concerts was the combination of knowledge and musical ability the members of both organizations brought to their work.
Most history texts will tell you the Hapsburgs married their way to the top. But how many historians know that a composer named Orlando di Lasso wrote wonderful music for one of those marriages? How many historians could study that music and turn well-chosen selections into a two-hour concert? And play the music themselves?
I knew Louis XIV turned his mundane routines into ceremonies in which he dispensed silly favors to his courtiers. But I couldn’t locate a collection of the music actually played at his bedtime and make a tasteful selection.
The scholar/musicians in organizations like Piffaro and Philomel have developed some rare abilities. And thanks to their efforts, we can overcome some of the restraints of time and glimpse the foibles and accomplishments of our predecessors.
To read responses to this review, click here.
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