Henry Poller Abdelazer or The Moor's Revenge Vídeos
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2024-03-29
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Henry Purcell Moor Rondeau Bach 1659 1677 1695 1947
00:00 Overture 03:08 Rondeau 04:30 Air no 1 05:57 Air no 2 08:50 Minuet 09:58 Air no 3 13:18 Jig 14:00 Hornpipe 14:43 Air no 4 Edvard Fendler conducting the Vox Chamber Orchestra (1947) Henry Purcell, universally agreed to be the greatest of British composers, wrote prolifically during his short lifetime in a style which is entirely and distinctively his own. The complete edition of his works extends to nearly 20 volumes. The grace of his music and his gift of melody place him in a class where he can be compared with such giants as Bach and Mozart. Although Purcell has been dead for many years, his music has a freshness which remains undimmed when heard almost halfway through the 20th century. Under these circumstances it is hard to understand why it is that today Purcell is almost never performed. The lovely music contained in this set has never previously been available on records. One of the most celebrated of Purcell’ contemporaries was the remarkable authoress, Afra Behn. This lady’ life was nothing if not spectacular; she was involved in melodramatic spy plots and many other celebrated escapades. In 1677 she wrote a play entitled “Abdelazer,” or ‘The Moor's Revenge.’ The new work met with success and 18 years later in 1695 it was revived. For this second production Henry Purcell wrote accompanying music. Shortly after completing this task, the composer died and two years later the score was posthumously published by his widow. When Purcell composed this music he had no idea whatsoever that it would be of interest to posterity; he wrote for the time and place only, with no thought or hope for future recognition of his work. Despite this fact he wrote with consummate mastery so that 250 years later it still excites admiration. Some of the airs included in the Abdelazer Suite are among the most beautiful ever written by any composer. The composer prepared the score with the expectation that no one would ever perform it except under his direction —as was usual in those days: consequently it is entirely innocent of expression marks and only the unadorned notes themselves appear on the printed page. Furthermore, one of the orchestral parts had to be supplied, that of the keyboard instrument. The role of the conductor in bringing it back to performance extends much further than the preparation of the orchestra and the conducting of the actual performance. In the first instance he must make a detailed and thorough study of the score and consider in his mind the almost infinite number of possible variations in tempo and dynamics. He must then decide, with as much knowledge and judgment as possible, which markings to insert in order to recreate, as far as is humanly possible, the composer's original intentions. This, of course, is a job for a musicologist. Edvard Fendler, the conductor of the Vox Chamber Orchestra, has an international reputation not only as a musicologist, but as a specialist in the works of the pre-Romantic masters. Fortunately, he is endowed with a keen sensitivity which is backed by firm scholarship. By his own statement, Mr. Fendler spent several months in working out the dynamic markings which he uses in the present performance. After this was done, still another task remained before rehearsals could begin. The matter is perhaps best expressed in Mr. Fendler’s own words: “A performance in Purcell’s day would be unthinkable without including a harpsichord. The part was supplied in the form of a figured bass. The conductor himself always played the harpsichord and it was expected that he would improvise as the performance proceeded. Today the improvising artist has all but disappeared, to be replaced by the written score. In preparing the Abdelazer Suite for recording, it was necessary for me to assume the traditional responsibility in regards to the harpsichord. Rather than risk improvisation during the actual session, I took what I considered the safer path and composed the part in full beforehand. Without the harpsichord the music would not sound as the composer intended. To this I can only add that I based my creation of the missing part on the technical and tonal resources of Purcell’s day in order to approach as closely as possible the way that the composer himself might have improvised during one of the actual performances of the play.” From the preface of Volume 16 of the complete edition of Purcell’s works the following comment has been extracted: ‘The tunes at all events are not surpassed in vigor by any of Purcell’s compositions of this character.” Here then is a remarkable piece of music by an enormously gifted composer brought back to life by a 20th century musician and scholar for the benefit of a musical instrument, the phonograph, of which the composer never dreamed. When all this has been said, there stands the music itself, the sheer beauty of which is a revelation and a delight to all who hear it. (From the notes to the recording)
Henry Purcell Moor Ferreira Gutiérrez Roldán
extracted with permission from (http•••) La Spagna (on period instruments) conductor: António Ferreira (http•••) / First Violins Pablo Gutiérrez, Irene Benito, Roldán Bernabé, Marta Mayoral, Olexandr Sora Second Violins Víctor Martínez, Beatriz Amezúa, Javier Illán, Ricart Renart Violas Raquel Tavira, Carlos Vizcaíno Cellos Alejandro Marías, Alberto Paulos Bass Silvia Jiménez Harpsichord Yago Mahúgo
Henry Purcell Moor Drury Rondeau Bowen Christopher Hogwood Benjamin Britten Academy Ancient Music 1645 1676 1681 1695 1727 1946 1969 1986 2005 2012
Incidental music ABDELAZER or THE MOOR'S REVENGE (Z 570), by Henry Purcell. 1st performed in London, Drury Lane, Apr 4 1695. Tragedy of Aphra Behn (1676) I. Ouverture II. Rondeau** III. Air (I) IV. Air (II) V. Minuet VI. Air (III) VII. Jig VIII. Hornpipe IX. Air (IV) X. Song for Jemmy Bowen: Lucinda is bewitching fair* Performed by Academy of Ancient Music dir. Christopher Hogwood *Joy Roberts (soprano)/ Notes: The rondeau (not the same as the 18th century rondo) was used by Benjamin Britten as the theme for his set of variations The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (1946). It was also used as the theme of the television series The First Churchills (1969), as the intro song for Intellivision video game Thunder Castle (1986), and may be heard as dancing music at the Netherfield ball in the 2005 production of Pride and Prejudice. The Britten piece is used as a recurrent motif in the 2012 film Moonrise Kingdom. (http•••)/ / / Picture: Judah and Tamar (1681), by Arent de Gelder +••.••(...)).
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