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Jeannette Sorrell plays and conducts the first concert of the Baroque and Wine Series on October 28 & 30.

Though George Frideric Handel was born in Germany and achieved fame as a composer there as well as in Italy, he spent the bulk of his life in England, writing operas, oratorios and instrumental music. At the time of his death, he was celebrated as a beloved English composer and given the honor of a state funeral at Westminster Abbey.  

Before moving to London in 1712, Handel served as music director for Prince George, the Elector of Hanover. As part of this position, he was given a generous travel stipend and used these funds to go to England, where his operas were all the rage. When he was granted a second trip to England, Handel left again, this time for good, leading a disgruntled Prince George to fire him from the Hanover post. After the death of Queen Anne, the German prince — who was the closest non-Catholic relative to the queen — ascended to the throne as King George I; Handel’s former employer was now his king.  

The public was not thrilled with their new ruler and there was even an unsuccessful rebellion to overthrow him. To win more favor with the public and portray a positive image, the king’s advisors suggested a royal procession up the River Thames during the summer of 1717. Handel was asked to compose music for the occasion and a band of 50 musicians was hired to accompany the king and his entourage on the journey. No autographed manuscript of Water Music survives, and it is now widely accepted that the original music is a set of three suites, each in a different key and featuring different instruments. Handel’s use of horns in the F major suite marked the instrument’s first appearance in an English orchestral setting. Trumpets and woodwinds were also relied upon to boost the sound in the outdoor setting. The movements are based on French baroque dance styles and evoke a cheerful and buoyant energy. The king enjoyed this new music so much that he requested it be played three more times during the evening’s dinner and the return trip down the Thames. Water Music was an instant success and remains Handel’s most popular instrumental work to this day.  

La Folia, by Antonio Vivaldi, is based on the popular baroque ground-bass pattern known as folia. The pattern originated in the traditional dance music of Portugal, where girls would perform a “folly,” or mad dance that grew in intensity until the girls collapsed in a state of frenzy. The folia chord progression was used by many baroque composers, including J.S. Bach and Handel, who would create variations based on the harmonic line that moves from minor to major and back to minor with dramatic flourish. After the initial theme in a slow triple meter, a set of variations gathers speed with dazzling virtuosity. Moments of calm ease the tension before the one-movement sonata builds up again to a wild conclusion. Vivaldi wrote La Folia as a trio sonata for two violins and continuo. Jeannette Sorrell’s arrangement in the style of a concerto grosso allows for a larger ensemble to join in the boisterous activity.  

Johann Nepomuk Hummel was a piano prodigy who spent his childhood touring the courts of Europe, much in the way that Mozart had before him. He later followed in Haydn’s footsteps as the music director of Prince Esterházy’s court in Hungary. He was also a contemporary of Beethoven, whose immense genius overshadowed the talented Hummel throughout his life. Though Hummel wrote extensively for the piano and was famous for his brilliant improvisations at the instrument, he is best known today for the Concerto in E major for Trumpet and Orchestra. Written in 1803 for Anton Weidinger, the trumpet soloist for the Vienna Court Opera, the concerto featured the newly invented keyed trumpet, which allowed for a wider range of pitches and a stronger lyrical ability. The elegant opening movement is full of fanfare, while the second movement features an expressive melody with aria-like qualities. The finale kicks off at high speed and is a joyous race to the finish line. 

By the time W.A. Mozart wrote his opera Idomeneo at the age of 25, he had already been performing, composing and touring as a professional musician for two decades. In 1780, the young Mozart was eager to leave his hometown of Salzburg and hoping to gain independence with a full-time position that would offer stability and a higher stature in society. Though it was not a permanent job offer, Mozart was commissioned by Karl Theodor, Elector of Bavaria, to write an opera and travel to Munich to oversee its production. This marked the first time that Mozart embarked on a trip without a chaperone and proved to be a turning point in his life. After the production of Idomeneo, he relocated to Vienna, the center of European musical culture, where he lived and worked for the last decade of his life.  

The story of Idomeneo is based on an ancient myth. Idomeneo, the king of Crete, has survived a storm at sea and vows to thank Neptune by offering the first person he meets on shore as a human sacrifice. This turns out to be his own son, Idamante. In the original story’s ending, the father becomes insane and fulfills his promise to the gods by killing his son. Mozart, however, revised the text and ended his opera with the triumph of reason and love. Following in the tradition of the French Baroque style, 18th-century operas often had ballets inserted into the action. Mozart employed this convention with his usual mastery of musical language. The Ballet Music is a rich tapestry of color and contrast. There is a grand Chaconne with an episode-and-refrain pattern, which likely featured the full ballet troupe in the refrains and solo dancers in each episode. The classic baroque dance forms of passepied, gavotte and passacaglia also appear in the ballet, full of the drama and elegance of Mozart’s genius.  

Catherine Case © 2022