Tag: virtuosity

Some of the best concertos for multiple instruments were not called ‘concerto’ at all. Instead they take the form of a sinfonia or sonata or ouverture that opens a vocal composition, constructing the sonic tableau for the first scene, whether that scene is staged or unstaged. The church music of Johann Sebastian Bach provides many […]

Arcangelo Corelli’s music was the first in European history to go viral. This was caused by the wide dissemination of his twelve violin sonatas—a collection first printed in 1700 and republished in more than forty editions in the eighteenth century alone—that built on the popularity of his earlier collections of trio sonatas. His concertos published […]

These lyrics, from Come, ye sons of art, away, the birthday ode for Queen Mary of 1694, are an exhortation to use instruments overtly and powerfully — as Henry Purcell himself demonstrates in his setting. That prescient call would have struck home for its modernity, doubtless more than we can appreciate today. Strike the viol! […]

Handel’s metaphysical sunrise, ‘Eternal source of light divine’, with its shimmering, breathtaking beauty, is my best choice of music for today, 20 January 2021, when the USA wakes to the new dawn of the beginning of the new presidential term. People of goodwill throughout the world are welcoming the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala […]

Music sometimes addresses music itself: our love for it, our need of it, how it affects us, and how we respond to it — pertinent issues for each of us individually. One of the best examples of this is Hail! Bright Cecilia of 1692, an ode for St Cecilia’s Day (22 November), written by the […]

Opera is often about love — its pleasures, its pain and its predicaments. Some of the most special moments are the rare duet-arias, where the solo honours are shared equally between two virtuoso singers. Typically the two characters, having fallen in love (at first sight, of course), express their happiness together and/or desire for each […]

Music is regularly a target for satire, especially when a tradition of public performance that from too-frequent exposure invites ridicule. But, like satire of other kinds, to work well and hit home it needs to possess both its own integrity and a hook of familiarity that makes its target recognizable. One of the best instances […]

For Thursday of Holy Week. This is the fifth post in a series for Holy Week and Easter Day, 2020. Peter’s three-times denial of knowing Jesus, in the hours after Jesus had been arrested and was being interrogated, is one of the most affecting and deeply personal parts of the Passion story, confronting us individually. […]

For Wednesday of Holy Week. This is the fourth post in a series for Holy Week and Easter Day, 2020. Isaiah 53:3: He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.Isaiah 50:6: He gave his back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: […]

For Tuesday of Holy Week. This is the third post in a series for Holy Week and Easter Day, 2020. Psalm 51, one of the penitential psalms sometimes referred to as simply the Miserere, is frequently said or sung during Lent in both Roman Catholic and various Protestant traditions, notably as part of Tenebrae services […]

Vox Luminis, performing in Auxi-le-Château in 2012. In these days and weeks many people are weeping, especially from heartbreak over the loss of loved ones, friends and colleagues as the COVID-19 epidemic increasingly takes many lives in many countries — in many cases lives cut short in their prime and before their time. For each […]