Masters of the Baroque

You may use this digital program in the Auditorium. Please use it respectfully and allow your fellow concert-goers to enjoy their concert experience by following these guidelines:

• Please enable Concert Mode at the top of your browser and further dim your screen in your device's settings.

• Place your phone on silent and mute all videos.

• Taking photos or video? Ensure your camera shutter sound and flash are turned off, then, if the conductor's arm is raised, hold it. If it's relaxed, go for it!

• For more information, see Your Concert Experience.

VIOLIN
Semra Lee
Assistant Concertmaster
Alexandra Isted
Principal 1st Violin
Kylie Liang
Associate Principal 2nd Violin
Kate Sullivan
Assistant Principal 2nd Violin
Sarah Blackman
Beth Hebert
Sunmi Jung
Christina Katsimbardis
Andrea Mendham
Lucas O’Brien
Louise Sandercock
Luisa Theis°

VIOLA
Daniel Schmitt
Kierstan Arkleysmith
Rachael Kirk
James Munro

CELLO
Rod McGrath
Jeremy Garside
Nicholas Metcalfe
Fotis Skordas

DOUBLE BASS
Andrew Sinclair*
Christine Reitzenstein

OBOE
Liz Chee

COR ANGLAIS
Jonathan Ryan

BASSOON
Adam Mikulicz

George Frideric HANDEL Judas Maccabaeus: Overture
George Frideric HANDEL Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno: Tu del ciel ministro eletto
George Frideric HANDEL Il delirio amoroso: Un pensiero voli in ciel
Arcangelo CORELLI Concerto grosso in G minor Op.6, No.8 Christmas Concerto

Johann Sebastian BACH Concerto for Harpsichord in D minor BWV 1052
Giovanni PERGOLESI L’Adriano in Siria: Sinfonia
Carl Heinrich GRAUN Cleopatra e Cesare: Tra le procelle assorto
Heinrich BIBER Battalia à 10
Georg Philipp TELEMANN Overture-Suite in G major La Bizarre: Rossignol

Welcome to the Baroque period (1600–1750), a time when urgent news travelled at best 100 kilometres in 24 hours (via post horse), life expectancy hovered around 35 years, and musical life exploded like never before.

At the beginning of the 17th century the complex, multilayered, modal music of the Renaissance began to separate into a prominent melody line accompanied by a continuo—a chordal bass line played by keyboard and bass strings. These developments laid the bedrock for opera, a new form of musical storytelling that would transform Western music forever.

Political and religious agendas were also at play. The Catholic Church’s Counter-Reformation and the competitive extravagance of Europe’s ruling classes added further impetus to the development of overtly ornamental art, music and architecture.

The DNA of opera emerged in Italy (Peri, Monteverdi, Vivaldi), where sung music dramas evolved into staged storytelling involving recitative (semi-sung text), arias (songs emphasising lyrical expressiveness) and choruses. The English and French soon followed, as did George Frideric Handel, who met many of Italy’s leading musicians during his Italian sojourn (1706–1710), quickly assimilating Italian melodic fluidity into his German training.

Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno (The Triumph of Time and Disillusion) (1707) was Handel’s first oratorio—a religious-themed, non-staged counterpart to opera—composed for soprano and ensemble. The libretto by Cardinal Benedetto Pamphili dramatizes a debate between Beauty, Pleasure, Time, and Disillusion. In the final aria, ‘Tu del ciel ministro eletto’ (‘You, elected minister of heaven’), Beauty turns away from Pleasure, offering her heart to God. Her angelic guide is depicted by an ethereal solo violin, played at the premiere by Italian prodigy Arcangelo Corelli. The aria follows the typical da capo (ABA) form, allowing the singer to embellish the returning section with expressive ornamentation.

Il delirio amoroso (The delirium of love) (1707) is another Handel–Pamphili collaboration, however, its Greek mythological text places it in the category of a secular cantata. Chloris dreams that she descends, Orpheus-like, into Hades to retrieve the deceased Thyrsis, who had never returned her love in life. In the opening aria, ‘Un pensiero voli in ciel’, Chloris sings of the ‘fair spirit’ who has robbed her of peace. Handel writes a dazzlingly virtuosic vocal line, again augmented by a delightful violin.

Handel’s career blossomed further in London, where his Italian opera Rinaldo (1711) premiered just a few years later. Handel understood audiences, crafting works that could thrill, console and inspire, as demonstrated by the popularity of his oratorio Judas Maccabaeus (1746). Written to celebrate the Duke of Cumberland’s victory at the Battle of Culloden, the work was performed 54 times during Handel’s lifetime. By this stage, Handel had developed a truly cosmopolitan style. The Overture features distinctive dotted rhythms—a dance-like lilt generated from a long note followed by a shorter one—a quintessentially French trait traceable to Lully and so widespread it appeared in overtures in every corner of Europe.

Giovanni Pergolesi’s ‘Sinfonia’ (Italian overture) for his opera Adriano in Siria (1734) provides an interesting comparison. Abounding in graceful, singable melodies and clear textures, it hints at the dramatic potential Pergolesi would later unleash in his famous Stabat Mater.

Carl Heinrich Graun (1704–1759) was instrumental in developing opera in Germany and was a key figure in the intellectual and artistic circle surrounding King Frederick II of Prussia. Cleopatra e Cesare (1742) was commissioned by the King for the opening of the newly built Royal Opera House in Berlin. Graun recruited singers from Italy for the premiere which explains the vocal acrobatics in the aria ‘Tra le procelle assorto’ (Tossed by the tempests), where Cleopatra, the fabled Queen of the Nile, is as tempestuous as the storm suggested in the lyrics. It is a dramatic and musically satisfying showpiece, particularly when the da capo section returns with requisite dazzling embellishments.

While these new vocal forms were developing, instrumental music was also undergoing profound change. Once again it was an Italian Arcangelo Corelli (1653– 1713) leading the revolution and liberating instruments from their role as mere accompaniment. Corelli’s greatest legacy is his set of Twelve Concerti Grossi, Op.6, written across his lifetime and imitated for decades afterwards. The Concerto Grosso in G minor, Op.6 No.8, known as the Christmas Concerto, was written around 1690 and bears the inscription ‘Made for the night of Christmas’.

The concerto grosso contrasts a small group of soloists—in this case two solo violins and cello—against an ensemble of strings and continuo. Corelli’s music exudes serenity, balance and moderation and the six movements of the concerto unfold with logical flow. There are brisk Vivace sections, an intense Grave, a calm Adagio interspersed with bright Allegro segments, and a short Minuet. The work concludes with a pastoral Largo, with an evocation of the shepherds in Bethlehem on the first Christmas Eve. You can hear a drone suggestive of shepherd’s bagpipes beneath a lilting melody that radiates innocence and peace.

The concerto grosso reached its pinnacle in the high Baroque before being superseded by the solo concerto. Antonio Vivaldi was instrumental in the development of the concerto, writing one for nearly every instrument except for the keyboard. It was Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) who elevated the keyboard from continuo instrument to soloist.

Bach’s Concerto for Harpsichord in D minor, BWV 1052 is the first in a set of eight concertos (BWV 1052–1065) from around 1738, all reworkings of earlier wind or string concertos. Bach’s technically refined writing exploits the full gamut of Baroque expressiveness. This is Bach not as contrapuntalist, but as master of instrumental texture and melodic line.

The opening Allegro, in ritornello form, intersperses a recurring refrain with contrasting material, allowing Bach to flex his dramatic muscle. The running semiquavers in the refrain have a passionate intensity, and the accompanying orchestra drops in and out as Bach scaffolds dynamic contrasts. The energy builds as repeated low Ds in the harpsichord underpin a jazz-like exploration of increasingly dissonant harmonies, generating thrilling tension before the final return of the refrain.

We draw breath in the central Adagio movement, where slow orchestral pulses support the harpsichord as it meanders through a gentle pastoral melody that grows progressively more florid with ornamentation.

The final Allegro is another gallop; the ritornello theme is stated clearly in both hands, and the virtuosic and multi-layered music (Bach leans into familiar contrapuntal territory) has a dark-hued intensity. This concerto set the benchmark and the keyboard hasn’t looked back, dominating the concerto genre for the next 300 years.

The remaining instrumental works on the program include a movement from Georg Philipp Telemann’s Overture-Suite in G major, one of hundreds composed during his prolific career. Written between 1712 and 1721, the suite follows the French model of a stately overture followed by dance movements and earned the nickname La Bizarre for its quirky humour. Le Rossignol (The Nightingale) has infectious energy and simplicity, with a trilling melodic line often played on flute.

The music of Czech-Austrian composer Heinrich Biber (1644–1704) is being rediscovered thanks to the early music revival. Biber was one of the most influential violinists of the late 17th century, however after his death violinists eschewed his fantastical and wild music for the simpler sweeter style of Corelli. His Battalia a 10 (1673) combines Italian virtuosity with German contrapuntal complexity in a vivid depiction of war. The eight-movement work begins with a short Allegro where the string players play col legno, striking the strings percussively with the wood of the bow, followed by ‘Die liederliche Gesellschaft von allerey Humor’ (The Profligate Society of Common Humour), where eight different melodies playing simultaneously depict rowdy soldiers returning from a drinking session.

Two short Prestos bracket the fourth movement ‘Der Mars’ (The March) where bass strings are instructed to weave paper into their strings to imitate the sound of drums. The sixth movement is an expansive Aria which, as its title suggests, features an elegantly expressive melody line in the violin. ‘Die Schlacht’ (The Slaughter) again features col legno bowing to depict the horror of battle, followed by an Adagio ‘Lamento der Verwundten Musquetirer’ (Lament of the Wounded Muskateers) complete with pained, sighing harmonies.

In Battalia Biber integrates operatic drama with instrumental writing in a manner that composers would explore for centuries to come. His extraordinary music foreshadows the program music of the 19th century and even the experimental techniques and polytonality of the 20th, a striking reminder that Western music traces everything to this revolutionary period.

Rosalind Appleby © 2026

George Frideric HANDEL Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno: Tu del ciel ministro eletto

Tu del ciel ministro eletto
Non vedrai più nel mio petto
Voglia infida o vano ardor

E se vissi ingrata a Dio
Tu custode del cor mio
A lui porta il nuovo cor

Tu del Ciel ministro eletto…

George Frideric HANDEL The Triumph of Time and Disillusion: You, elected minister of heaven

You, elected minister of heaven
Will no longer see in my chest
Treacherous desire or vain ardour

And if I lived ungrateful to God
You, guardian of my heart
Bring the new heart to Him

You, chosen minister of heaven...

George Frideric HANDEL Il delirio amoroso: Un pensiero voli in ciel

Un pensiero voli in ciel,
se in cielo è quella alma bella
che la pace m'involò.

Se in averno è condannato
per avermi disprezzato,
io dal regno delle pene
io mio bene rapirò.

Un pensiero...

George Frideric HANDEL The delirium of love: Let a thought soar into the sky

Let a thought soar into the sky,
if in heaven is that fair soul
which robbed me of my peace.

But if he is condemned to hell
because he scorned me,
I from the realm of punishment
my beloved shall rescue.

Let a thought...

Carl Heinrich GRAUN Cleopatra e Cesare: Tra le procelle assort

Tra le procelle assorto
se resta il passaggero,
colpa non ha il nocchiero,
ma solo il vento e’l mar.

Colpa non ha se il frutto
perde l’agricoltore,
ma il nembo che sul fior
lo venne a dissipar.

Tra le procelle assorto...

Carl Heinrich GRAUN Cleopatra and Cesare: If a voyager is drowned

If a voyager is drowned
amid raging storms,
the fault lies not with the helmsman,
but only with the wind and the waves.

And if the farmer loses his fruit,
the fault lies not with him
but with the raincloud
that washed its blossom away.

If a voyager is drowned...

The importance of our giving community is to be valued and congratulated. You are making a difference to what you see on stage - your commitment is a source of constant inspiration for us.

We are proud to acknowledge our donor family, many of whom give to multiple areas and some who wish to remain unnamed.

Thank you.