[Begin Theme Music]

Welcome to Harmonia…I’m Angela Mariani. Before recorded sound, one of the primary ways we enjoyed music was by making it ourselves. Whether you’re sitting at the clavichord after a morning of sewing or joining a few friends for a recorder consort reading session, playing music together in private rooms has long been popular. So, after you’ve enjoyed your supper and a glass of port, pick up a lute and sing some tunes. This hour, we’ll explore soft sounds for small spaces. Plus, our featured release is Regina Angelorum. Organist Manuel Schuen leads Ensemble Vox Archangeli in sacred music for large spaces by Hans Leo Hassler. 

[Music to fade]

MUSIC TRACK
Two Lutes with Grace
Marc Lewon (lute), Paul Kieffer (lute)
Naxos 2020 / Naxos 8.573854
Gilles de Bins dit Binchois
Tr. 11 Comme femme disconfortee (4:55)

Gilles Binchois’ “Comme femme disconfortee” performed by lutenists Marc Lewon and Paul Kieffer with vocalist Grace Newcombe.

[*Music to fade]

Unlike the massive sound of a concert piano or the overwhelming power of some cathedral organs, the clavichord holds a different power. The instrument is small, portable, and immensely intimate. Many clavichords sit atop a table. The instrument produces sound when the player presses a key, which is connected to a tangent blade. The tangent strikes a metal string, woven through with felt. Here’s a Fantasie by Charles Racquet, played on clavichord.

MUSIC TRACK
Mersenne's Clavichord
Terence Charleston, clavichord
Divine Art 2015 / Naxos DDA25134
Charles Racquet
Tr. 10 Fantasie (7:06)

Fantasie by early seventeenth-century French composer, Charles Racquet performed on clavichord by Terence Charleston.

Many composers and performers made music in small spaces for wealthy patrons. Theodore Steffkin [Diettrich Stoeffken], a viol player and composer, regularly played in private spaces for a privileged  audience, including the Chapel Royal for the British monarchy, and Charles the II’s Private Musick. Let’s hear two dances from Steffkin’s Suite in D Minor for viola da gamba.

MUSIC TRACK
Suites for Solo Viol (Dunford)
Jonathan Dunford, viola da gamba
Universal Classics 2008 / Naxos 00028946558621
Diettrich Stoeffken
Tr. 2 Suite in D Minor, II. Allemande (5:00)
Tr. 5 Suite in D Minor, III. Sarabande – Double (3:25)

Jonathan Dunford, viola da gamba, performed two dances—Allemande and Sarabande—from Theodore Steffkin’s suite in D Minor.

[Theme music begins: Ensemble Alcatraz, Danse Royale, Elektra Nonesuch 79240-2 / B000005J0B, T.12: La Prime Estampie Royal]

Early music can mean a lot of things. What does it mean to you? Let us know your thoughts and ideas. Contact us at harmonia early music dot org, where you’ll also find playlists and an archive of past shows.

You’re listening to Harmonia . . .  I’m Angela Mariani.

[Theme music fades]

:59 Midpoint Break Music Bed:
Mersenne's Clavichord
Terence Charleston, clavichord
Divine Art 2015 / Naxos DDA25134
Anon., Arr. Terence Charleston
Tr. 2 Prelude sur chacun ton [16th century] (arr. T.R. Charlston for clavichord) (excerpt of 4:06)

(fades out at :59)

Welcome back. We’re going soft this hour, exploring music for smaller venues.

Sometimes, we want to share our small musical space with one or two other artists. The sound of the lute draws us in—the clear pluck of its soft strings demands our silence. Once at a solo lute concert, an audience-member was so enveloped in the sound of a solo lute, that when she went outside, she found the sounds of the city streets to be deafening. In renaissance Milan, Joan Ambrosio Dalza was a virtuoso lutenist and composer. His published music is purposefully accessible and would have been played by amateurs and professionals alike. We’ll hear music for two lutes by Italian lutenist and composer Joan Ambrosio Dalza.

MUSIC TRACK
Two Lutes with Grace
Marc Lewon (lute), Paul Kieffer (lute)
Naxos 2020 / Naxos 8.573854
Joan Ambrosio Dalza
Tr. 23 Saltarello (2:45)
Tr. 24 Piva (version for 2 lutes) (1:59)

Saltarello and Piva by Joan Ambrosio Dalza. Lutenists Marc Lewon [Le-VON] and Paul Kieffer performed on their 2020 Naxos Release, Two Lutes with Grace.

Duets are most welcome in small spaces. One type of popular duet in Telemann’s day was the canonic sonata. In these, two players start the same melody at slightly different times. One player begins and the second player starts to play a few notes later, indicated by the composer. We’ll hear Telemann’s Canonic Sonata No. 6 performed on two transverse flutes.

MUSIC TRACK
Flutes of a Feather (vol. 1)
Leighann Daihl Ragusa (traverso), Joshua Romatowski (traverso)
Leighann Daihl Ragusa (2020) / Amazon Music
Georg Philipp Telemann
Tr. 9 Sonata No. 6 in E-Moll TWV 40:146: I. Allegro (1:52)
Tr. 10 Sonata No. 6 in E-Moll TWV 40:146: II. Affettuoso (2:07)
Tr. 11 Sonata No. 6 in E-Moll TWV 40:146: III. Allegro (1:29)

Sonata No. 6 by Georg Philipp Telemann. Leighann Daihl Ragusa and Joshua Romatowski performed on transverse flutes.

Now, let’s move from small spaces… to large churches. Our featured recording is Regina Angelorum, sacred music by Hans Leo Hassler. While studying in Venice, Hassler befriended Giovanni Gabrieli—and both Hassler and Giovanni studied with Andrea Gabrieli. Hassler’s sacred music is representative of the immersion in the polychoral tradition he experienced while in Italy. Here is the Credo from Hassler’s Mass for Eight Voices, published in 1599.

Regina Angelorum
Ensemble Vox Archangeli / dir./organ Manuel Schuen
Gramola Records 2022 / Naxos Gramola99256
Hans Leo Hassler
Tr. 20 Missa octo vocum, Credo (5:55)

The Credo from Hans Leo Hassler’s Mass for Eight Voices. Ensemble Vox Archangeli was led by organist Manuel Schuen.

Ensemble Vox Archangli was founded in 2010 and comprises core members of the vocal ensemble at St. Michael’s Church in Vienna. Led by organist and singer Manuel Schuen, the ensemble focuses on sixteenth-century sacred vocal music. They sing works by Hassler, Victoria, and Palestrina for both functional, liturgical use as well as for public concerts. Next, we’ll hear Hans Leo Hassler’s “Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary,” music for Marian devotion, performed by Ensemble Vox Archangeli. 

MUSIC TRACK 
Regina Angelorum
Ensemble Vox Archangeli / dir./organ Manuel Schuen
Gramola Records 2022 / Naxos Gramola99256
Hans Leo Hassler
Tr. 4 Litaniae Lauretanae (10:24)

“Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary” by Hans Leo Hassler. Ensemble Vox Archangeli performed on 2022 Gramola Records release Regina Angelorum.

Let’s hear one more piece of Marian Devotion, “Beata es, virgo Maria” from Hassler’s Sacred Cantatas, published in 1591.

MUSIC TRACK 
Regina Angelorum
Ensemble Vox Archangeli / dir./organ Manuel Schuen
Gramola Records 2022 / Naxos Gramola99256
Hans Leo Hassler
Tr. 3 Beata es, Virgo Maria (3:02) [Cantiones sacrae de festis praecipuis totius anni]

“Beata es, virgo Maria” by Hansl Leo Hassler. Ensemble Vox Archangeli was led by Manuel Schuen, on this week’s featured recording Regina Angelorum.

[Fade in theme music]

Harmonia is a production of WFIU and part of the educational mission of Indiana University.

Support comes from Early Music America: a national organization that advocates and supports / the historical performance of music of the past, the community of artists who create it, and the listeners whose lives are enriched by it. On the web at EarlyMusicAmerica-dot-org.

Additional resources come from the William and Gayle Cook Music Library at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

We welcome your thoughts about any part of this program, or about early music in general. Contact us at harmonia early music dot org. You can follow us on Facebook by searching for Harmonia Early Music.

The writer for this edition of Harmonia is Sarah Huebsch Schilling.

Thanks to our studio engineer Michael Paskash, and our production team: LuAnn Johnson, Wendy Gillespie, Aaron Cain, and John Bailey. I’m Angela Mariani, inviting you to join us again for the next edition of Harmonia.

[Theme music concludes]