April 9, 2016, 8:00PM Baruch Performing Arts Center, with a pre-concert talk by Lynette Bowring at 7:15pm

Composers:

Giovanni Battista Fontana (1589–1630)

Bartolomé de Selma y Salaverde (1595–after 1630)

Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583–1643)

Biagio Marini (1594–1663)

Dario Castello (First half of 17th Century)

Ignazio Albertini (?–1685)

Johann Jakob Froberger (1616–1667)

Heinrich Biber (1644–1704)

Arvo Pärt (born 1935)

Capriccio Stravagante was the title of a wild piece of music written in Dresden in 1627 by the Italian violinist composer Carlo Farina. It is written for 4 parts and portrays the sounds of a cat, a military drum, a dog, Spanish guitar, a hen, etc. and pushes the limits of violin technique of the time by requiring slides, plucks, playing two strings at once, and using the wood of the bow for special effects.

Farina’s Capriccio Stravagante is not on this program, as it requires too many instruments, but this extravagant caprice characterizes the fascinating symbiosis of the Italian and German styles. Beginning with a portrayal of the northern Italian early baroque style, Repast’s program works its way northward through Innsbruck, Salzburg, and Vienna, featuring music for violin, dulcian (the early bassoon), cello and harpsichord.

The second half of the program includes a substantial work by Heinrich Biber, one of the greatest violinists of his time and arguably a direct descendant of Carlo Farina’s in the genealogy of violin technique. Biber’s F Major sonata on this program is at once meditative and audacious. We end the program by offering a modern “response” to Biber’s meditation: the Fratres of Arvo Pärt played here on baroque violin, baroque cello, and harpsichord. Pärt, an Estonian composer who’s music reflects his deep religiosity and his love of early music, composed this piece for the 1980 Salzburg Festival.

Amelia Roosevelt, baroque violin

Stephanie Corwin, dulcian

Katie Rietman, baroque cello

Gabe Shuford, harpsichord

Preconcert talk by Lynette Bowring, violinist and PhD musicology candidate at Rutgers University