The night makes people strange - Works by Telemann, Vivaldi, Purcell and others

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Sonate in E minor for 2 oboes, bassoon, strings and b.c. TWV 50:4

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Concerto in G minor „La Notte“, RV 439

Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
Suite from „The Fairy-Queen“ Z 629 (1692)

Jean de Cambefort (1605-1661)
Ouvteture from „Ballet Royal de la Nuict“ (1653)

Marc Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704)
„La Nuit“ from the Grand motet „In Nativitatem Domini Canticum“ H 416

Marin Marais (1656-1728)
„Plainte“ and „Petite Passacaille“ from „Piéces en Trio“, 2nd Suite in G minor (1692)

Georg Philipp Telemann
Concerto in E major for viola d’amore, oboe d’amore, flauto traverso, strings and b.c. TWV 53:E1

L’Orfeo Barockorchester
Carin van Heerden, oboe, recorder & musical direction

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was by no means the first to observe that the night can serve as a profound gateway to hidden thoughts. Even for people of the Baroque era, the night was regarded as a time for reflection, for contemplation, and for bringing worries or joys to the surface. Yet it always seemed to be imbued with a touch of the unreal and the intangible.

Composers from across Europe drew inspiration from this state between dream and reality, creating works that explore the depiction of night, sleep, doom and hope, danger and security. Some of these will be performed in the programme of the L’Orfeo Barockorchester: In his ‘Concerto intitolato La Notte’, Antonio Vivaldi evokes the shudder of darkness and various eerie figures born of the imagination – a work by the Venetian master which, through its abrupt contrasts between stillness and turmoil, brings to life the state between sleep and a startled awakening.

Georg Philipp Telemann, renowned for his extraordinary productivity and artistic inspiration, is represented twice: with an artful sonata composed in the French style and a colourful Italian concerto featuring, amongst other instruments, the viola d’amore — an instrument whose ethereal sound perfectly captures the mood of the evening. We then journey to France itself with the overture from Jean de Cambefort’s ‘Ballet Royal de la Nuit’ – that courtly spectacle of 1653 in which the young Louis XIV first appeared on stage as the Sun King. Marc Antoine Charpentier, in turn, with his heartfelt ‘La Nuit’, bathes the Nativity in both the darkness of night and a gentle light.

Marin Marais, a master of the viola da gamba as well as of French opera, adds a plaintive, deeply personal voice with a ‘Plainte’ from his ‘Pièces en trio’, which meets music of a kindred spirit and mood in ‘If Love’s a Sweet Passion’ from Henry Purcell’s ‘The Fairy Queen’ – set within a realm of fairies painted with sound, dreams and magical transformations.