Aylesbury Lunchtime Music presents
Flutes and Frets
18 January 2024
Starts: 12:45pm, Doors: 12:15pm
Duration: 1 hour (approx.)
£7 adults on the door (<18s & carers free)
Programme
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1563-1626
Selected songs (Dowland)
i I Saw My Lady Weep ii Can She Excuse My Wrongs iii Time Stands StillJohn Dowland (c. 1563 – 1626) was an English Renaissance composer, lutenist, and singer. He is best known today for his melancholy songs such as “Come, heavy sleep”, “Come again”, “Flow my tears”, “I saw my Lady weepe”, “Now o now I needs must part” and “In darkness let me dwell”. His instrumental music has undergone a major revival, and with the 20th century’s early music revival, has been a continuing source of repertoire for lutenists and classical guitarists.
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Fray Bartolomé de Selma y Salaverde (c. 1595 – 1638) was a Spanish Baroque composer and virtuoso player of the dulcian, a predecessor to the modern bassoon. He was an Augustinian friar who was employed at the archducal court at Innsbruck from 1628 to 1630, and was the son, or possibly grandson, of Bartolome de Selma (d. 1616), luthier to the Spanish royal chapel. His compositions include the Primo libro de canzoni, fantasie & correnti (Venice, 1638), and manuscript vocal works.
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1689-1755
Deuxieme Suite (Bodin de Boismortier)
i Prelude ii Bourrée iii Musette en Rondeau iv Gigue v Rigaudon vi 2e RigaudonJoseph Bodin de Boismortier (1689 – 1755) was a French baroque composer of instrumental music, cantatas, opéra-ballets, and vocal music. Boismortier was one of the first composers to have no patrons: having obtained a royal licence for engraving music in 1724, he made enormous sums of money by publishing his music for sale to the public.
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Robert de Visée (c. 1655 – 1732/1733) was a French lutenist, guitarist, theorbist and viol player at the court of the kings Louis XIV and Louis XV, as well as a singer and composer for lute, theorbo and guitar. A chaconne is a type of musical composition often used as a vehicle for variation on a repeated short harmonic progression, often involving a fairly short repetitive bass-line (ground bass) which offers a compositional outline for variation, decoration, figuration and melodic invention. In this it closely resembles the passacaglia. It originates and was particularly popular in the Baroque era; a large number of Chaconnes exist from the 17th- and 18th- centuries.
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Honoré d’Ambruis is a French composer of the Baroque period, author of airs de cour published in several collections (1685, 1696 and 1702), of which only the first has reached contemporary times. Active during the last quarter of the 17th century and the first years of the 18th century , d’Ambruis was a disciple of Michel Lambert.
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La Gazza Ladra (The Thieving Magpie) is a two act opera by Italian composer Gioachino Rossini. The libretto by Giovanni Gherardini was based on the 1815 comedy La Pie Voleuse by JMT Badouin d’Aubigny and Louis-Charles Caigniez. The story tells of a maid who almost goes to the gallows for stealing silver, before it is discovered that the culprit was a magpie, which had been thieving and hiding items in the church tower.
The opera is best known for its overture, which is notable for its arresting beginning with several consecutive military snare drum rolls. Rossini was a quick writer and he needed to be for this piece. It was reported that the composer was locked in a room writing the overture the day before his semi-seria opera was due to be premiered at La Scala in Milan. He then threw each sheet out of the window to his copyists, who wrote out the full orchestral parts.
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1778-1839
Fernando Sor was a Spanish classical guitarist and composer of the early Romantic era. Best known for writing solo classical guitar music, he also composed an opera (at the age of 19), three symphonies, guitar duos, piano music, songs, a Mass, and at least two successful ballets: Cinderella, which received over one hundred performances, and Hercule et Omphale.
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1921-1992
Libertango is a composition by tango composer and bandoneon player Astor Piazzolla, recorded and published in 1974 in Milan. The title is a portmanteau merging “Libertad” (Spanish for “liberty”) and “tango”, symbolizing Piazzolla’s break from classical tango to tango nuevo.
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1941-2021
“Spain” is an instrumental jazz fusion composition by jazz pianist and composer Chick Corea. It is likely Corea’s most recognized piece, and is considered a jazz standard.
“Spain” was composed in 1971 and appeared in its original (and best-known) rendition on the album Light as a Feather. It has been recorded in several versions, by Corea himself as well as by other artists, including a flamenco version by Paco de Lucía, Al Di Meola and John McLaughlin in the 1980s, and a progressive bluegrass version by Béla Fleck in 1979. A version with lyrics by Al Jarreau, “Spain (I Can Recall)”, appeared on the 1980 album This Time. More recently, Corea had performed his composition as a duo with Japanese pianist Hiromi Uehara. A version of “Spain” was performed by Stevie Wonder at his 2008 Concert in London. The introduction used in the song is from Concierto de Aranjuez, a guitar concerto by the Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo.
Performers
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Flutes and Frets
Flute/Guitar Duo
Flute and Frets present intimate, magnetic performances that exploit the fragility and versatility of their ensemble
Key information for concert goers
When
Every Thursday at 12:45pm (except August & over Christmas). Performances last around 60 minutes. Please enter quietly as there is a noon service in the Lady Chapel.
How much?
Entry is £7 per adult (card or cash), under 18s and carers are free. The price includes a programme. Donations are welcomed to subsidise the larger ensembles.
Where?
Performances are at St Mary’s Church in the heart of Aylesbury Old Town. See directions for further details.
Do I need to book?
No, just turn up. Doors open at 12:15 pm. Make sure you arrive in good time to get a seat.