Bach for More, Forever More

March 21st was J. S. Bach's birthday. I know it sounds dumb, but it's kind of big deal in the classical music world. And since we're in spring now and wedding season is coming up, I thought I'd simply provide a link to a recording of Bach's Wedding Cantata, No. 202, "Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten". It's actually one of three secular cantatas he wrote for the occasion, but this was the one famous enough to earn the name "the Wedding Cantata".

The cantata is a celebration of both spring and love. The piece begins with a series of diminished harmonies suggestive of the lazy departure of winter, then become progressively more lively and colorful. The final aria includes a stately wedding march. It's a fun piece and just the right thing to lift the winter blahs and get you in the mood for spring and the rebirth of the world.

Listen to it for free at magnatune or download it for hardly anything.

And enjoy.

Vivaldi, and Music for Angels and Orphans

I've blogged before about Vivaldi (aka "the red priest) for several reasons. He's one of my all time favorite composers and had such an interesting career. Briefly, he was ordained as a Catholic Priest and then left active ministry to teach and compose full time. He spent most of his career as the violin master at at an orphanage called the Pio Ospedale della Pietà (Devout Hospital of the Mercy) in Venice. The music training program for the young ladies was quite well known and prestigious, and was instrumental in attracting financial support for the orphanage.

I recently heard a performance of Music for the Chapel of the Pieta on my local public radio station. As with so much of Vivaldi's sacred music, it is both joyous and prayerful. The opening of the concerto is particularly interesting in that it is commonly thought that the solo violin represents the presence of the Virgin Mary, with the soprano answering Her in prayer. The whole thing is fairly lightly scored, allowing the performers a lot of leeway in how they interpret the work. The UK based group that performed the work is called "La Serenissima" which means "the most serene." It's a term that has historically been used to describe Venice, Italy, and they specialize in performing the works of Vivaldi. It's a marvelous performance of a very challenging piece.

And even better, the same recording by the same group is available on magnatune.com so you can listen to it for free or download it for practically nothing.

So listen, enjoy, and be uplifted.

Springtime and the Lost Art of Wooing

Anyone who reads this blog regularly has probably realized that I have a strong romantic streak. I also enjoy learning about how different cultures have celebrated love throughout history. One classical standout in the genre of love songs was John Dowling, who lived in Elizabethan England during the late 16th and early 17th centuries.

Sting is such a fan of Dowling that he's actually recorded a CD of his songs, which unfortunately has gotten mixed reviews. There's more about it here. A better alternative would be the CD The Lost Art of Wooing by vocalist Jeni Melia, a very talented soprano with a wonderfully full and expressive style. Dowling was in many ways the first great singer-songwriter and quite revered in his day. The Elizabethan era was a golden age in English history, a period of political stability that supported a flowering of English art, literature and music.

The Elizabethans were also greatly enamoured of love and the celebration of love, to the extent that they had to outlaw the singing of love songs underneath peoples windows as a public nuisance.

Fortunately, in this day and age you can use your computer to stream Melia's fine performance of Dowling and other period love songs for free, or download them for your iPod for a few shillings from magnatune.com.

So listen, enjoy and feel your heart awaken.