‘The musical language is so second nature to the Band that its playing has the unbuttoned relish of musicians relaxing in a mother tongue …an incisive verve prevails throughout, buoyed up by a conversational attentiveness that never flags, and ensemble so pin-sharp it merits a safety warning.’ BBC Music Magazine
Today Handel dominates any conversation about English musical life in the eighteenth-century. But it wasn’t always the case. During his lifetime, Handel’s music was often overshadowed by that of native English composers, as well as fellow musical immigrants. Royal patronage, religious intrigue and political sensitivities all played their part in determining what was popular, as well as the need to write music for profit and for the burgeoning domestic music scene. Handel – friends, foes and flattery shows just what was current in Handel’s London, the enthralling reasons these particular pieces of music were heard here, and introduces us to a few of the musical personalities that formed a characterful and colourful part of the music scene.
Tatty Theo, the group’s founder writes: “This concert and pre-concert talk give a wonderful opportunity to delve deeper into the background to this wonderful music, bringing the characters to life through pictures, anecdotes and reportage from the time. My research has revealed some surprising information about London musical life during the first half of the eighteenth-century, centring on a few key personalities, with the heady mix of political intrigue, Freemasonry and religion thrown into the mix.”
Handel – friends, foes and flattery features music by Handel, the Italian-born composers Cervetto, Geminiani, Bononcini and Veracini, and pieces by Handel’s direct English contemporaries Arne and Boyce. An invigorating mix of chamber music provides contrast, with solo sonatas mixed in with trio sonatas, in this case showcasing BSB first violinist Rachel Harris and cellist Tatty Theo.
As the solo sonatas were both written by composers for their own instruments the BSB can bring these particular characters to life, Rachel portraying the fiendishly talented and mad Veracini, and Tatty portraying the esteemed and exceedingly long-lived émigré cellist Cervetto, who worked closely with Handel.
Tatty Theo’s illustrated pre-concert talk (2.15-2.45pm) has been designed to complement the concert, introducing the audience in more depth to the music performed, the characters who would have played it, and its social and historical context.
Top photo: Francesco Maria Veracini
Bottom photo: portrait of Cervetto by Johann Zoffany