ARTEK at St. James' Episcopal Church, March 12, 2009
'"I'll Never See the Stars Again" - An Evening of Love and Betrayal'
was the name ARTEK gave to this presentation; it might have been
subtitled 'Love in the 1600s', or - perhaps - 'Love as Seen
(was it also experienced?) by Monteverdi'. There was a series of
13 of Monteverdi's madrigals, interspersed (except between Nos. 5 & 6)
with instrumental music of the late 1500s to the early 1600s. That
made the program easy to follow, and particularly so in this case,
because the breaks were not always otherwise obvious. There were five
singers: Jessica Tranzillo, soprano; Barbara Hollinshead, mezzo-soprano;
Philip Anderson and Michael Brown, tenors, and Peter Becker,
bass-baritone; and four instrumentalists: David Swenberg (theorbo),
Charles Wenberg (lute and guitar), Jackson native Lisa Naef Terry
(viola da gamba), and director Gwendolyn Toth (harpsichord). The
different madrigals used different combinations of singers, and some
were sung a capella.In like fashion the instrumentalists played
in various combinations. The music was highly polished, and done so
confidently that the singers and players both could put their full
attention on higher aspects of performance, especially expression.
Indeed the singers - in period costumes - also acted, with embraces,
kisses, knowing looks, smiles, frowns, flirting, and even the sharing
of a bottle of wine, so that one could imagine just a bit of operatic
flavor, a sort of Renaissance multi-media event!.
The themes included love-at-first-sight ("I saw a lovely lady..."),
two couples in love ("He has not a gentle heart who does not burn for
love"), infidelity and desertion ("Love, love, where is the fidelity
that the traitor swore?"), and desire ("Lovely golden tresses"), to
name a few. Monteverdi's genius lay in his ability to match the music
to the emotion, hence the music varied from cheerful and lively to
morose, using different tempos and major and minor modes (including
one repeated passage typical of the Phrygian mode: la-sol-fa-mi, or:
a minor, e minor, d minor, E major). In like manner the instrumental
pieces, some by Monteverdi, also were well-matched to their places
among the madrigals.
Once again the Mississippi Academy of Ancient Music has outdone itself,
this time with the help of the Millsaps College Heritage Program. And
ARTEK was superb - when they played Jackson a few years ago, there was
hope that they would return, and now that they have, that hope is still
alive for the future!
- Glenn A. Gentry