December 16, 2009
Mr. Handel and Herr Telemann -
Two Old Friends
John Burkhalter and Donovan Klotzbeacher
Musicians
Minutes of the 13th Meeting of the 68th Year
President George Hansen called the meeting to order at 10:15 a.m. The invocation was led by George Folker. Minutes of the December 9, 2009 meeting were read by Don Edwards. Two guests were introduced—Roz Goldberg was introduced by Janet Wolinetz and Terry Grabar was introduced by Claire Jacobus. Mr. Hansen announced the death on December 14 of emeritus member John Friedmann. A period of silence was held in his memory. Bruno Walmsley updated members on the Old Guard’s website and asked all to make sure that their email addresses are correct. The next meeting of the Old Guard will be held on January 6 and will include a hospitality period beginning at 9:30 a.m. Hugh Price, visiting professor at the Woodrow Wilson School and former director of the Urban League will present on “Urban School Reform.”
Because of the late arrival of our featured performers, Mr. Hansen asked for a volunteer to tell a (preferably) funny story, preferably with a holiday theme. After an eight-second delay, Nick Van Dyke responded by telling of a family Christmas celebration in France during which he was asked to be Santa Claus. He accepted, but while walking around the compound, the cord holding up his red pants broke, after which his grandson amused everyone by elaborately describing the color and design of Nick’s underpants.
Ah, by now the harpsichord had arrived and we began the featured part of the meeting. Claire Jacobus introduced John Burkhalter, an early music specialist who studied under Daniel Pinkham at the New England Conservatory of Music and Frans Bruggen at Harvard. He is the artistic director of Practitioners of Musick, and early music ensemble specializing in the music of England, Ireland and Colonial America. Burkhalter also performs with other ensembles and advises various organizations concerning period music. He played the baroque English flute (today called the recorder). Accompanying him on the harpsichord and also playing independently was Donovan Klotzbeacher who studied organ at the University of Minnesota and Westminster Choir College. He is an active keyboard player with the Practitioners of Musick and other organizations and serves as director of music at Cranbury Presbyterian Church.
Burkhalter and Klotzbeacher entitled their program, “Two Friends,” referring to the relationship between George Frederic Handel (1685-1759) and Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) or, Burkhalter said, maybe “2-1/2 Friends” because a composition by J. S. Bach (1685-1750) was also included in the program. Handel and Telemann knew each other from an early age and Telemann made a special trip to Halle to meet Handel when Telemann was about 20 and Handel 16. Their friendship was maintained throughout their long lives, continuing while Handel was in England and Telemann was in Hamburg where Telemann was director of the Hamburg Opera and presented many Handel operas. Bach never met Handel, but admired him. Bach was a competitor of Telemann’s when both sought the job of Kapelmeister in Leipzig. Telemann won the job, but Bach shortly thereafter received the appointment when Telemann left for Hamburg.
The performances we heard were mostly of Handel’s works, especially works transcribed from operas, but also including excerpts from his two most famous instrumental works, “Water Music” and “Music for the Royal Fireworks.” All were delightful, epitomizing the Baroque style, with minimal dynamic variation, but much ornamentation and rhythmic interest and usually in the typical ABA form. Some were airs or “fragments,” while others were sonatas of usually three movements in the fast/slow/fast tempo format. Burkhalter’s soprano and alto recorder playing was accurate and varied in many subtle and appropriate ways. Of the two players, he filled well the role of solo instrument with the harpsichord as accompaniment. Occasionally, when the alto recorder was in its lower register, its volume was a bit overshadowed by the harpsichord. This was not the fault of the harpsichordist, because he has no control over the volume of his instrument since it is plucked by mechanical means. Incidentally, despite being carried in from the cold with no pre-performance tuning, the harpsichord seemed to these ears to be perfectly in tune. In his solo playing, Klotzbeacher, in an excerpt from Handel’s “Radamisto,” illustrated the “pathetic” style, even though the harpsichord is not the best instrument for this purpose. (The human voice would be better, and was used in the original composed by Handel.) The harpsichord, with its strong rhythmic capabilities, was more apt in a transcription of a march from “Scipio.”
The works presented were interspersed with interesting and piquant comments by Mr. Burkhalter. He noted the practice of making transcriptions available for various instrumental combinations virtually contemporaneously with the production of new Handel operas. Thus one could not only see and hear the opera, but could also play excerpts at home, pubs or elsewhere. He also noted Telemann’s practice of including single movements of sonatas in succeeding editions of his music so that one would have to purchase several numbers of the series before he could play the complete sonata. Finally, Burkhalter commented that the fireworks music of Handel, composed to celebrate the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle of 1748, actually fizzled at the premier because of bad weather, but the dress rehearsal was heavily enough attended to cause a traffic jam of carriages attempting to reach the rehearsal site.
All-in-all the performance was delightful in both music and commentary and the attendees, in fewer numbers than usual, were clearly entertained, stimulated and amused by what they heard.
Respectfully submitted,
Bruce LaBar
Because of the late arrival of our featured performers, Mr. Hansen asked for a volunteer to tell a (preferably) funny story, preferably with a holiday theme. After an eight-second delay, Nick Van Dyke responded by telling of a family Christmas celebration in France during which he was asked to be Santa Claus. He accepted, but while walking around the compound, the cord holding up his red pants broke, after which his grandson amused everyone by elaborately describing the color and design of Nick’s underpants.
Ah, by now the harpsichord had arrived and we began the featured part of the meeting. Claire Jacobus introduced John Burkhalter, an early music specialist who studied under Daniel Pinkham at the New England Conservatory of Music and Frans Bruggen at Harvard. He is the artistic director of Practitioners of Musick, and early music ensemble specializing in the music of England, Ireland and Colonial America. Burkhalter also performs with other ensembles and advises various organizations concerning period music. He played the baroque English flute (today called the recorder). Accompanying him on the harpsichord and also playing independently was Donovan Klotzbeacher who studied organ at the University of Minnesota and Westminster Choir College. He is an active keyboard player with the Practitioners of Musick and other organizations and serves as director of music at Cranbury Presbyterian Church.
Burkhalter and Klotzbeacher entitled their program, “Two Friends,” referring to the relationship between George Frederic Handel (1685-1759) and Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) or, Burkhalter said, maybe “2-1/2 Friends” because a composition by J. S. Bach (1685-1750) was also included in the program. Handel and Telemann knew each other from an early age and Telemann made a special trip to Halle to meet Handel when Telemann was about 20 and Handel 16. Their friendship was maintained throughout their long lives, continuing while Handel was in England and Telemann was in Hamburg where Telemann was director of the Hamburg Opera and presented many Handel operas. Bach never met Handel, but admired him. Bach was a competitor of Telemann’s when both sought the job of Kapelmeister in Leipzig. Telemann won the job, but Bach shortly thereafter received the appointment when Telemann left for Hamburg.
The performances we heard were mostly of Handel’s works, especially works transcribed from operas, but also including excerpts from his two most famous instrumental works, “Water Music” and “Music for the Royal Fireworks.” All were delightful, epitomizing the Baroque style, with minimal dynamic variation, but much ornamentation and rhythmic interest and usually in the typical ABA form. Some were airs or “fragments,” while others were sonatas of usually three movements in the fast/slow/fast tempo format. Burkhalter’s soprano and alto recorder playing was accurate and varied in many subtle and appropriate ways. Of the two players, he filled well the role of solo instrument with the harpsichord as accompaniment. Occasionally, when the alto recorder was in its lower register, its volume was a bit overshadowed by the harpsichord. This was not the fault of the harpsichordist, because he has no control over the volume of his instrument since it is plucked by mechanical means. Incidentally, despite being carried in from the cold with no pre-performance tuning, the harpsichord seemed to these ears to be perfectly in tune. In his solo playing, Klotzbeacher, in an excerpt from Handel’s “Radamisto,” illustrated the “pathetic” style, even though the harpsichord is not the best instrument for this purpose. (The human voice would be better, and was used in the original composed by Handel.) The harpsichord, with its strong rhythmic capabilities, was more apt in a transcription of a march from “Scipio.”
The works presented were interspersed with interesting and piquant comments by Mr. Burkhalter. He noted the practice of making transcriptions available for various instrumental combinations virtually contemporaneously with the production of new Handel operas. Thus one could not only see and hear the opera, but could also play excerpts at home, pubs or elsewhere. He also noted Telemann’s practice of including single movements of sonatas in succeeding editions of his music so that one would have to purchase several numbers of the series before he could play the complete sonata. Finally, Burkhalter commented that the fireworks music of Handel, composed to celebrate the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle of 1748, actually fizzled at the premier because of bad weather, but the dress rehearsal was heavily enough attended to cause a traffic jam of carriages attempting to reach the rehearsal site.
All-in-all the performance was delightful in both music and commentary and the attendees, in fewer numbers than usual, were clearly entertained, stimulated and amused by what they heard.
Respectfully submitted,
Bruce LaBar