We might only think of music from the Baroque period as being full of pomp and opulence, but here are five things you probably didn’t know about baroque music…

1. Music printing began in Venice

The City of the Doges may have seen the very first printed score in 1501 from Ottaviano Petrucci’s press, but it was in mid 18th century Germany that modern music publishing took off in the 1750s with Breitkopf of Leipzig.

2. Copyright didn’t really exist

Basically, anyone could arrange, copy or print someone else’s music at any time. Handel did this all the time taking pieces of Stradella, Muffat or Keiser and passing them off as his own – it was even seen as a form of flattery.

3. There were no conservatoires

Some of the most gifted musicians grew up in schools for orphans or abandoned children. The 17th century Ospedale della Pietà for girls even had Antonio Vivaldi as the violin teacher and choir master.

4. Opera was a baroque invention

The first opera was Euridice by Peri and was given to celebrate the wedding of Marie de’ Medici and Henry IV of France in October 1600. Monteverdi was among the guests.

5. The oboe was also a baroque invention

The French composer, Lully couldn’t find a sonorous enough instrument to accompany the violins. So the Hotteterre and Philidor families were commissioned to create the Oboe which quickly took off all over Europe.

Discover even more about Baroque music in our festive programme of Christmas music performed by the Oxford Bach Soloists and Blenheim Singers conducted by Tom Hammond-Davies.

A Baroque Christmas

Saturday 14 December 7.30pm
St. Michael’s Church, Broad Street, Bath BA1 5LJ

Corelli Christmas Concerto
Handel Messiah (excerpts)
Praetorius Es ist ein Ros entsprungen
Carbonelli Violin Sonata VIII
Bach Magnificat (excerpts)
Purcell Behold, I bring you glad tidings
Bach Air on a G string BWV 1068
Bach Wachet auf – Zion hört die  Wächter singen BWV 140/4
Handel Messiah – For Unto us a Child is Born
Bach Wachet auf – Gloria sei dir gesungen BWV 140/5

Tickets £5 – £20 available online – click on button below.

Bath Recitals brings us another fantastic festive offering this Christmas with A Baroque Christmas as the final concert of 2019.

Conductor, Tom Hammond Davies returns with a programme of Christmas Baroque music performed by the Oxford Bach Soloists and Blenheim Singers. This brings the 2019 programme from Bath recitals to a seasonal close with this wonderful seasonal celebration of music.

Choral music at the highest level’ 
Augsberger Allgemeine

The Blenheim Singers will join forces with the Orchestra of the Oxford Bach Soloists for this wonderful concert.

Playing on period instruments and working with the next generation of talented young vocalists and instrumentalists, this promises to be a wonderful programme of music by some of the great composers of the Baroque age.

A Baroque Christmas

Saturday 14 December 7.30pm
St. Michael’s Church, Broad Street, Bath BA1 5LJ

Corelli Christmas Concerto
Handel Messiah (excerpts)
Praetorius Es ist ein Ros entsprungen
Carbonelli Violin Sonata VIII
Bach Magnificat (excerpts)
Purcell Behold, I bring you glad tidings
Bach Air on a G string BWV 1068
Bach Wachet auf – Zion hört die  Wächter singen BWV 140/4
Handel Messiah – For Unto us a Child is Born
Bach Wachet auf – Gloria sei dir gesungen BWV 140/5

Tickets £5 – £20 available online – click on button below.

We find out more about Bath Recitals’ wonderful programme on offer from the prizewinning Marmen Quartet on 5 October …

The next concert in the Bath Recitals Chamber Series 2019 presents repertoire for the String Quartet rooted in the classical age with music by the grand masters of the String Quartet: Haydn, Beethoven and Mozart.

These are juxtaposed against a mercurial work by the great 20th century Hungarian composer György Ligeti inspired by the Quartets of Bartók – in fact, it has even been referred to as ‘Bartók’s seventh string quartet’.

‘Performing is all about communication. It’s telling a story and I feel the Marmen are dedicated to this ideal’
Peter Cropper (Lindsay Quartet)

Haydn 
String Quartet in B flat major

Joseph Haydn wrote a staggering sixty-eight string quartets – and effectively invented this hugely popular genre in the process. He was often referred to as ‘the father of the string quartet’ and his works are considered a milestone in the history of musical composition which was to define the medium for the next 200 years.

Beethoven 
String Quartet no 11 in F minor op 95

If Haydn and Mozart created the String Quartet, Beethoven could be said to have taken it to the next level of mastery. He was also impacted by the political events surrounding him at the time – Napoleon had invaded Vienna just before he wrote his 11th quartet – yet Beethoven stayed on in the city complaining that the dictator had gone too far.

Ligeti 
String Quartet no 1 ‘Metamorphoses Nocturnes’

Born in 1923, György Ligeti has been described as ‘one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century’. Restricted in his musical style by the authorities of Communist Hungary, it was only when he reached the west in 1956 could he fully realise his passion for musical exploration and experimentation.

Mozart 
String Quartet in G major K387 ‘The Spring’
Mozart was so impressed by the string quartets of Haydn that he wrote a set of six quartets in 1782 and dedicated them to Haydn. Writing a total of 23 quartets, Mozart;’s uniquely spontaneous approach to composition imbues all his works witty an engaging freshness that was nothing short of radical.

Marmen Quartet
Saturday 5 October, 7.30pm
St. Michael’s Church, Broad Street, Bath BA1 5LJ

Tickets: £5 to £20 – available online by clicking on the button below

Haydn
String Quartet in B flat major
Beethoven
String Quartet no 11 in F minor op 95
Ligeti 
String Quartet no 1 
Metamorphoses Nocturnes
Mozart
String Quartet in G major K387 
The Spring

Kindly supported by:

Comparing some of musical history’s greatest masterpieces to a misshapen pearl might seem strange to us today, but that is how the term ‘Baroque’ was born…

To the critics of the nineteenth century, the music of Bach and Handel’s era sounded overly ornamented and exaggerated. Taking the term from the Portuguese word barroco, or ‘oddly shaped pearl’, the rather derogatory term baroque has been widely used ever since to describe one of the richest and most diverse periods periods in Western European music.

The Baroque period ran from around 1600 to 1750 and marks a time of great artistic innovation, strong perfumes, and gentlemen with luscious locks.

During this age, music was seen as a form of communication, paintings were filled with dramatic effects of light and shadow, and even bathing was considered dangerous.

Alongside some of the great names in painting, sculpture and architecture with the likes of Bernini and Rembrandt stood several towering figures in musical composition.

Three of these will be represented in Bath Recital’s next blockbuster concert on 24 August with 1,000 years of Baroque.

Handel, Bach and Scarlatti were all born in the same year 334 years ago in 1685. Times three make just over 1,000 year of fantastic Baroque music from this extraordinary trio of composers:

• Born in the German city of Halle, Handel was invited to London by the Hanovarian King George I where he became famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos.
   
• Generally regarded as one of the greatest composers in Western music, Bach was certainly one of the most prolific German composers, organists, harpsichordists, violists, and violinists of the Baroque Era.
   
• Domenico Scarlatti was an Italian composer who spent much of his life in the service of the Portuguese and Spanish royal families.

A THOUSAND YEARS OF BAROQUE

Saturday 24 August, 7:30pm
St Michael’s Broad Street, Bath

George Frederic Handel
Eternal Source of Light Divine
Excerpts from Messiah
Water Music Suite No 3
Waft her Angels through the Skies from the opera Jeptha

Johann Sebastian Bach
Coffee Cantata
Excerpts from Easter Oratorio
Final Chorus from Cantata no 181

Domenico Scarlatti
Salve Regina

Bath Recitals takes us to the glittering world of Handel, Bach & Scarlatti as part of its 2019 Baroque Series this August featuring some of the greatest musical names of the age.

But why A Thousand years of Baroque?

Find the answer at the bottom of this newsletter!

The Chorus & Orchestra of the Oxford Bach Soloists make a welcome return to Bath with their conductor Tom Hammond-Davies in August. Playing on period instruments and working with the next generation of talented young vocalists and instrumentalists, the Oxford Bach Soloists bring a wonderful programme of music by Handel, Bach and Scarlatti.

“Absolutely perfect in every way… spiritual sounds to stir the heart and soul.”
Oxford Mail

Uplifting music by GF Handel

Born in the German city of Halle, Handel was invited to London by the Hanovarian King George I where he became famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos.

Eternal Source of Light Divine
Excerpts from Messiah
Water Music Suite No 3
Waft her Angels through the Skies from the opera Jeptha

Fabulous music by JS Bach

Generally regarded as one of the greatest composers in Western music, Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist of the Baroque Era.

Coffee Cantata
Excerpts from Easter Oratorio
Final Chorus from Cantata no 181

Spiritual music by Domenico Scarlatti

Italian composer who spent much of his life in the service of the Portuguese and Spanish royal families. In some ways he was ahead of the other two as one of the few Baroque composers to transition into the classical period.

Salve Regina

A THOUSAND YEARS OF BAROQUE

Saturday 24 August, 7.30pm
St. Michael’s Church, Broad Street, Bath BA1 5LJ
Tickets £5 – £20 Available online – click on button below

And why A Thousand Years of Baroque?

Handel, Bach and Scarlatti were all born in the same year -1685. This is 334 years ago so times that by three and we have (just over) 1,000 year of fantastic Baroque music from this extraordinary trio of composers!