Music: Sun Feb 28

 

Music as the “language of the heart” is a popular trope, although it’s useful to remember that the art form’s capacity to embody human emotion was not always viewed as its primary virtue. With the development of opera at the turn of the 17^th century, the composer Claudio Monteverdi wrote about a “seconda prattica” (a second—or “new”—practice) in music, in which the dictates of harmony and voice leading would take a back seat to textual expression. Throughout the 17^th and 18^th centuries, composers developed increasingly stylized ways to signal emotional “affects”—the outward manifestations of feelings, like grief, heroism, joy, jealousy, and others. At first, music was said to have become subservient to language, but, in time, composers realized that music’s ability to convey meaning and drama enabled it to function independently of words; hence, the evolution of purely instrumental musical forms during the same time period. This morning’s musical selections date from the time period in question; each work would have been understood to embody a singular state of the soul. Read on for programming details, and stay tuned for introductory comments.

Centering Music: Adam Kent, piano
La Visionaire

                                    François Couperin (1668-1733)

 

Opening Music:
Sonata in D Major, Hob. XVI:37

            I. Allegro

                                    Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

 

Musical Meditation:
Adagio in F Minor

                                    Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1739-1799)

 

Interlude:
Sonata in C# Minor, Hob. XVI:36

            I. Moderato

                                    Haydn

 

Parting Music:
Sonata in D Major, Hob. XVI:37

            III. Presto

                                    Haydn