Perspectives  |  Into the Baroque

Vivaldi's Four Seasons: From Venice to Helsinki

SPONSORED BY DR. SARA N. JAMES

Noted music historian Tim Carter (UNC-Chapel Hill) provides a broad perspective from which to consider Vivaldi's ever-popular Four Seasons concertos. He is joined by Finnish violinists Minna Pensola and Antti Tikkanen, sharing impressions and recollections of their Four Seasons performances from SMF 2015. 

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Bach's Twin "Tombeaux" of 1727

SPONSORED BY DON HAYNIE & TOM HAMLIN

Music historian Jon Gibson has a particular interest in 17th and 18th century music, and his understanding of related musical forms and genres brings special insight to Bach's sacred works. In this Perspective, Jon reveals connections between Bach's Trauerode and the aria "Komm, süsses Kreuz" from the St. Matthew Passion, both composed in 1727, and the broader tradition of musical memorials or tombeaux.

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What is a Fugue? (or, Never Be Clever for the Sake of Being Clever...)

SPONSORED BY ANNE SILLS AND LIZA DELZELL

What is a fugue? How does it work?  Partly an intellectual exercise, partly a technique for creating musical texture, the fugue continues to amaze (or confuse?) listeners. Staunton Music Festival artistic director Carsten Schmidt sits down at the harpsichord to explain and demonstrate the basic principles of what has made fugue so attractive to composers over the past 500 years.

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Ritual and Meaning in Handel's Theodora

SPONSORED BY DAVIDSON PERRY-MILLER

In 2019 Staunton Music Festival presented Handel's late masterpiece, the oratorio Theodora, a work filled with superlative music and layers of dramatic meaning. In this Perspective, stage director Timothy Nelson reflects back on his conception for the production of Theodora as well as the magical combination of people and events that brought the performance to fruition.  

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