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the future of a chicago tradition
THE FUTURE OF A CHICAGO TRADITION David Douglass at theNewberry A CHICAGO’S Newberry Consort for over 20 years, David Douglass was both ecstatic and unruffled as he prepared to take over its directorship in July 2007. His excitement was revealed in the passionate way he talked about programming and performing and in his revelation that the position of musician-in-residence at the Newberry Library, with traditional benefits and security, is – in spite of Douglass’s preeminence in the field of early string perby Judith Malafronte formance – his first steady job in 31 years. In addition to his enthusiasm, Douglass also has a perceptive and businesslike manner, the result of a varied career as performer, ensemble director, Early music is making headlines in Chicago with a new director of the Newberry Consort, the premiere of a period instrument orchestra, and an active support group coordinating a host of events David Douglass MEMBER OF editor, record producer, and scholar. The Newberry Library – a worldclass, open access private institution whose rare musical holdings include the Capirola Lute Book, a 15th-century codex containing the ars subtilior piece “La Harpe de melodie” illustrated as a harp whose strings hold the notation, and one of only two known copies of the folio score of Jacopo Peri’s 1600 opera Euridice – sponsored early music concerts even before the creation of the resident consort in 1986. That year, Mary Springfels was appointed to run the new ensemble and establish a regular concert series. In spite of the current downtrend in arts support, the library remains committed to the Newberry Consort and its activities, regarding these as essential to the institution’s mission statement. “There are not many situations in the US like this,” Douglass states. “There is a wonderful attitude here. Everyone wants the consort to succeed, and I get the feeling that if I asked the library’s new president for help, he’d roll up his sleeves and say, ‘What would you like me to do?’ I just couldn’t ask for more support.” Douglass is cheered, taking this as a signal for what he calls “an upcoming golden era.” In fact, change is in the air all over Chicago’s early music scene, as the venerable oratorio society Music of the Baroque now includes one performance per year on period instruments, and a new ensemble, The Baroque Band, Early Music America Fall 2007 39 The Newberry Library was founded in 1887 as a public library by a bequest of Walter Loomis Newberry, a businessman and prominent citizen who had been an active book collector and president of the Chicago Historical Society. Public education has been part of the institution's mission from its very beginning. The Newberry Consort’s programs are based on research in musical, historical, and literary works in the Newberry’s collections. 40 Fall 2007 Early Music America under the directorship of Garry Clarke, made its debut in May 2007. An umbrella organization, Early Music Chicago, has arisen to support and coordinate events of interest to locals and beyond. In his keynote address at EMA’s 2006 national conference in Berkeley, California, Douglass spoke eloquently of the necessity of “persuading audiences that it is worth the effort to listen harder for the nuances of historical performance” and enumerated three principles – creativity, diversity, and cooperation – that have guided his career and outlook. These principles will increasingly come into play as Douglass assumes his new position. Legacy Crediting Springfels for influencing his programming mindset, Douglass nevertheless intends to expand and enlarge upon her work. He candidly admits that the first concert he played with the ensemble was “three hours of the most technically difficult and obscure music ever written, and it told us all right from the start, both the performers and the audience, that Mary Springfels would take few prisoners. In that program and others to follow I learned a valuable lesson: that it was OK to challenge your audience.” For Douglass, this was a creative change from what he assumed was the only successful formula for early music: popular, varied programming featuring loads of exotic instruments, along the lines of the New York Pro Musica, the Waverly Consort, and the Boston Camerata. Even the Musicians of Swanne Alley, the brokenconsort ensemble that existed from 1975 until 1995, and in which Douglass played, continued this tradition. Despite their tight Elizabethan focus, Swanne Alley offered, in Douglass’s words, “an ever-changing array of instrumental colors in alternation with voices to incorporate as much variety as possible.” During his tenure with the Newberry Consort, Douglass has gained valuable experience on a number of instruments, including viols, violins, violas, all sorts of Medieval strings, recorder, and crumhorn – not to mention voice – and from his unique position within the ensemble, he has viewed the ups and downs of audience support. He noticed the continued shrinking and lack of diversity in the consort’s audience and has prioritized addressing this situation. “I have to appeal to the core audience with programs of the highest quality and inventiveness, but I also have to reach out to the uninitiated, those who might stay away because of lack of awareness or from a knee-jerk anti-intellectualism.” How to achieve this diversity? Douglass possesses a savvy awareness of other ensembles on the U.S. scene. “I’ve been so impressed with both Piffaro and Ex Umbris. They keep their audiences in mind and yet have very high standards and goals for the musicology of their programs. After all, the point of the research is to make the programs more effective, not to show people how clever you are or on how much work you’ve done!” He shares with other presenters the desire to make concerts appealing and user-friendly, but he realizes “the danger in alienating your core audience by appearing to be dumbing down. You have to reach out to everyone by having layers available for them to explore to their degree of comfort.” With this in mind, Douglass intends publicity to be geared toward the exciting and moving experiences the audience will have, and he plans to provide a variety of introductory materials, including preview podcasts, that will be available online before each season begins. “I’m also adding a feature,” he notes, “which will take place the weekend before each of the concerts on the series. I’m presenting a seminar, a three-hour lecturedemonstration, about the upcoming “Early music is about the full range of emotions that both connect and separate us from those who lived so long ago and, as a result, put our own lives in perspective.” – David Douglass concert. For those eager to explore further, I’ll present the history and social context of the music and a look into the many issues that one confronts in order to bring the music to the public.” Douglass credits his predecessor with a number of riveting concert ideas. “Mary created many programs that were made especially memorable through the establishment of context – sometimes literary, sometimes simply providing a setting that created the right mood for the performance.” Among the most successful Newberry Consort programs over the years, according to Douglass, was “The Midnight Cabaret of Gaston Febus,” a program that might have been off-putting and foreign were it not for the presentation. For Douglass, the concert was “the extravagant entertainment of a madman, a kind of Medieval Conan O’Brien atmosphere.” Douglass is also proud of the four A New Baroque Band in Chicago In May 2007, after 16 years without a regular period instrument orchestra in town, Chicago can once more claim an orchestra of its own—Baroque Band, founded by British violinist Garry Clarke. Making its debut in May 2007 with three concerts in the Chicago area, Baroque Band’s opening program included Bach’s Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor performed by David Schrader; Handel’s Concerto Grosso in A Minor, Op.6, No. 4; Vivaldi’s Sinfonia in G, Purcell’s Abdelazer Suite, and Albinoni’s Concerto a Clarke Cinque. The concert locations were at the Music Institute of Chicago’s Nichols Hall in Evanston, north of Chicago; Symphony Center in downtown Chicago; and at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Hyde Park, south of the city. Three packed houses witnessed what John von Rhein, music critic of the Chicago Tribune, called “a triumphant debut.” Rhein wrote: “The group has all the right stuff to fill the yawning void created by the demise of The City Musick in 1991. It is doing so with an abundance of style, a crisp esprit de corps, and a palpable affection for its repertory....They presented a Baroque tasting menu that clearly was to everyone’s liking, judging from the thunderous ovations that greeted the performers.” Announcing a full season of concerts for their 2007-08 debut season, Baroque Band also announced exciting partnerships with several of Chicago’s other organizations. They will be ensemble-in-residence at the Music Institute of Chicago, “artistic partners” of the University of Chicago’s Rockefeller Chapel, and will make a home in Chicago Symphony Center’s Grainger Ballroom. The debut concert will be broadcast later in the year by WFMT, which has also promised further air time to the ensemble, and plans are already advanced for the next two seasons. Music director Garry Clarke moved to Chicago in the summer of 2006 and immediately began the process of creating a new period instrument orchestra. Clarke had originally come to Washingon, D.C., as a Vilar Fellow at the J.F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts after performing for many years with some of Europe’s leading period instrument ensembles, including the Academy of Ancient Music, Les Arts Florissants, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. He was also founder and director of The 18th Century Concert Orchestra, a U.K.-based period instrument orchestra. With Baroque Band, Clarke’s goal is no less than to create an internationally recognized period instrument orchestra. “Chicago is the perfect place for a major new orchestra,” Clarke says. “With great players in the city, a responsive community of listeners and supporters, and such a vibrant cultural scene, I really couldn’t believe that there wasn’t already a regular period instrument orchestra here.“ In the 1980s, a concert by Chicago’s then period instrument orchestra, The City Musick, was described by John von Rhein in the Chicago Tribune as a “revelatory performance.” Sadly, in 1991, the orchestra folded, and Chicago has been without a permanent period instrument orchestra ever since. “We are aiming to put period instrument concerts on the map in Chicago and to make them a regular part of the public’s concert-going experience,” said Clarke. “We will give audiences the chance to hear great Baroque works performed at the same high standards they would expect if they were going to hear the Chicago Symphony Orchestra or the Lyric Opera. At the same time, we hope to attract players, students, and scholars to live in Chicago and develop the city into a thriving early music hub.” “Clarke and friends are off to a fine start, and I very much look forward to their packed 2007-08 concert season,” wrote Rhein. For full details, visit the orchestra’s website: www.baroque band.org Early Music America Fall 2007 41 programs he led for the Newberry Consort, ranging from a Burgundian program drawn from one manuscript, Canonici 213, to a William Lawes concert. For each program, he prepared, arranged, and edited everything as well as delivered the pre-concert lectures. In addition, Douglass’s work with a variety of ensembles, especially his own commercially successful group, The King’s Noyse, has given him the business and leadership skills to assemble and run a concert series, work that “brought home the importance of having every conceivable detail in place before the first rehearsal. Plus,” he says, “I’ve had to get the most out of a wide range of budgets, from the small community music series to large oratorios.” Vision With his eclectic interests and outgoing and convivial personality, Douglass seems the right person to expand the Newberry Consort’s identity into Chicago’s arts communities. He has noticed that dance is a big draw, and Chicago’s numerous dance companies have loyal and committed audiences. “But historical dance,” he muses, “is relatively “I have to appeal to the core audience with programs of the highest quality and inventiveness, but I also have to reach out to the uninitiated, those who might stay away due to lack of awareness or from a knee-jerk anti-intellectualism.” – David Douglass unknown. Next season I’ll be including a concert of Spanish dance that I know will be appealing, and this should be a tool to bring new people into the Newberry fold. Since so much of this music is connected to dance, I find that having dancers is a wonderful experience for both the performers and the audience.” In fact, a theatrical flavor will characterize nearly every concert offered by the new regime. A Valentine’s day program will be organized as a trouvère’s “jeu parti,” or debate on love, with a semiContinued on page 61 42 Fall 2007 Early Music America Umbrella Group Supports Early Music in Chicago Over the past two years, the umbrella group Early Music Chicago has presented collaborative member concerts at the Chicago Cultural Center and the Art Institute, broadcast a radio program on WFMT highlighting the concerts of members, and instituted an education initiative with the Chicago Public Schools. These activities have increased the visibility of a vibrant early music community in “the city of big shoulders.” EMC plans to continue the series of collaborative concerts next season with the aim of creating a festival for early music. Organizational members of Early Music Chicago are Ars Antigua, Ars Musica Chicago, Baroque Band, Callipygian Players, Chicago Chorale, Chicago Early Music Consort, The Comic Intermezzo, Divas of Mozart’s Day, Midwest Young Artists, Music Institute of Chicago, Music of the Baroque, Oriana Singers, St. Cecilia Consort, and Spirit of Gambo. Robert Osterlund, an individual member of Early Music Chicago, maintains an active web site that provides a comprehensive list of early music activity in Chicago at www.earlymusichicago.org. A sampling of early music ensembles and programs in and around the Chicago-area: One of Chicago’s “earliest” professional early music ensembles, the Chicago Early Music Consort re-creates the rich and diverse sounds of the late-Renaissance and early-Baroque chamber repertoire. The core ensemble consists of a broken consort of voice, recorders, lute/theorbo, and viola da gamba. Plans for the 2007-08 season include a program of 16th-century chansons, “A Renaissance Christmas,” an all-Dowland program, and the production of a CD. For twenty years Ars Musica Chicago has presented innovative programming with historically informed performances of music from the 9th through the 18th centuries. The Callipygian Players (Martin Davids, director) will celebrate their fifth season with concerts of North German Baroque, early Italian, and French Baroque music. They will perform in Chicago, Wilmette, and Evanston, IL The Chicago Chorale is a 50-voice ensemble of volunteer singers led by Bruce Tammen. Through sensitive and thought-provoking performances, the Chorale seeks to expand the musical appreciation of its audiences as well as serve as an example of the highest choral ideals. The Comic Intermezzo specializes in chamber operas for two or three characters in two acts which were placed between the acts of opere serie during the 18th century. Music of the Baroque, first established in 1972, has grown to become the Midwest’s premiere professional choir and orchestra specializing in the performance of 18th-century music. Music director Jane Glover has introduced period instrument performances into the ensemble’s programming lineup, while continuing to use modern instruments for later repertoire. Divas of Mozart’s Day features Patrice Michaels singing music by Mozart and his contemporaries written for the leading sopranos of the time. The Oriana Singers presents repertoire suitable for small vocal ensemble. The 2007-08 season includes the second in the “Bach and Before” series of concerts, devoted to vocal and instrumental music from the 1700s and earlier. Led by David Schrader, organist, and Thomas Wikman, choirmaster, the music program at the Church of the Ascension performs a complete minor proper (Roman Gradual) every Sunday and Holy Day, relying upon music from the 16th and 17th centuries (Pentecost featured a cori spezzati mass by Victoria and Palestrina’s “Dum complerentur”). Corpus Christi will include a mass by Heinrich Isaac and motets by Schütz, Hassler, Pierre de le Rue, Allegri, and Marenzio. Midwest Young Artists, the largest and most comprehensive youth ensemble music program in the Midwest, collaborates with Ars Antigua to provide exceptional period instrument and historically-informed vocal ensemble experiences for high school music students. In addition, Midwest Young Artists hosts the annual Ars Antigua—MYA Early Music division of the Walgreen’s National Concerto competition. The Music Institute of Chicago has recently added an Early Music Division to its educational offerings. Headed by James Russell Brown, the department includes instruction in Baroque violin, viola da gamba, recorder, natural trumpet, harpsichord, and organ. In September 2007, a new Madrigal Singers group is also being formed under the direction of Alessandra Visconti. Recorder aficionados will want to take note of performances by the St. Cecilia Consort directed by Andrew Fredel while gamba lovers will enjoy performances by Spirit of Gambo led by Phillip Serna. In addition to their regular concert activities held in collaboration with the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Humanities Festival, Ars Antigua, under the direction of Jerry Fuller, will be starting a “virtual” concert series with monthly podcasts beginning in January 2008. Many of these ensembles perform on the concert series Early Music at the Byron Colby Barn which is beginning its sixth season in a 19th-century barn located in Grayslake, a northern suburb of Chicago. While the series exists to support the local early music scene, it also features touring artists as well. “Eternal life, untold riches and a complete set of Performers’ Facsimiles... it shall be so, O Master! (You know, some enthusiasts choose the Performers’ Facsimiles first...)” . PF . PERFORMERS‘ FACSIMILES When the genie gives you just three wishes Join Early Music America today! Early Music America is North America’s non-profit service organization for early music. Serving performers, presenters, instrument builders and audience members. To become a Member or make a Contribution, call 206.720.6270/1-888-SACKBUT, visit www.earlymusic.org, or mail to: Early Music America, 2366 Eastlake Ave. E, #429, Seattle, WA 98102 USA ENJOY THE BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP IN EARLY MUSIC AMERICA. JOIN NOW! Individual $55 Senior $45 Student $30 Family $65 Overseas $65 Instrument Makers $65 Organization, by income: To $100,000: $100,001-$200,000: Over $200,000: $85 $125 $150 Yes, I would like to become a Member or make a Gift to EMA: ___________________________________________________________ Name ___________________________________________________________ Organization ___________________________________________________________ Address ___________________________________________________________ City, State, Zip ___________________________________________________________ Phone E-mail ___________________________________________________________ VISA/MC # Exp. Date MAKE A GIFT TO EARLY MUSIC AMERICA! Your support helps us serve the early music community. Benefactor ($1,000+) Supporter (under $100) Patron ($500-$999) My gift will be matched by my Sponsor ($350-$499) employer(please include form) Friend ($200-$349) Early Music America is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. 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Recorders & accessories Jean Allison Olson 1604 Portland Ave. St. Paul, MN 55104 651.644.8545 www.honeysucklemusic.com [email protected] 44 Fall 2007 Early Music America MUSIC ETCHED IN TIME 2007-2008 SEASON October 19 & 20, 2007 November 9 & 10, 2007 December 1 & 2, 2007 February 22 & 23, 2008 April 4 & 5, 2008 Performances in Wilmington and Lewes,Delaware For more information: (302) 594-4544 www.brandywinebaroque.org David Douglass at the Newberry Continued from page 42 staged version of Adam de la Halle’s music offerings with special events, such playlet Le Jeu de Robin et Marion as a as a historically accurate staging of centerpiece. Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale on its 100th Douglass takes pride in one especially anniversary. Although this event won’t successful result of his commitment to take place until 2018, Douglass already community outreach: “Our Christmas knows it will take that long to arrange concert will be heard in St. Clement special funding, find the right Church in Lincoln Park, a beautiful singer/actor/dancer, and make the sets Byzantine interior with a fabulous based on Picasso’s originals. acoustic. They have a wonderful Taylor Running the immensely successful and Boody chamber organ, which opens King’s Noyse, Douglass says, “taught me up so much repertory we have yet to that early music is about the wonderful explore. The church has given tremenintellectual adventures we all take when dous support in the use of the sanctuary we listen or perform. It’s about feeling and access to their mailing list.” Douthe full range of emotions that both glass is clearly amazed at the result of a connect and separate us from those who few simple inquiries he made. “Through lived so long ago and, as a result, put our this collaboration, there is a good chance own lives in perspective. I feel my youth we will double or triple our audience, as an obsessive AM radio listener and and then it is my job absorber of pop culture to make sure they have “Since so much of this music laid some important an experience that will groundwork for me to is connected to dance, bring them back.” I find that having dancers be able to feel what Among other approach will help me is a wonderful experience changes under Douto connect with my for both the performers audience. I can spot the glass’s leadership will and the audience.” be the makeup of the hooks, and I think each – David Douglass ensemble itself. repertory has them. Whereas the core They’re there for the group included countertenor Drew same reason they exist now, and Minter and soprano Ellen Hargis, in respecting that fact and using it is addition to Springfels and Douglass, even historical.” with additional specialist performers As he so powerfully articulated in his brought in as necessary, the new memkeynote address, “there is the danger bership will be even more fluid, with a that if we fail to go beyond the superfilarge pool of players combined as need- cial, we run the risk of alienating audied. Douglass has established a vocal con- ences with the message that they’ve sort, the Newberry Singers, made up of heard it all. There isn’t much choice five local vocalists who were handpicked except to delve deeper, accept the with the expert advice of Douglass’s responsibility of constantly learning, wife, Hargis, who will be the resident changing, growing, and giving attention soprano. Minter’s collaboration will con- to the subjective details of what we play, tinue as both singer and stage director in rather than just the objective ones.” future projects. Douglass is poised to take the Newberry One theme throughout Douglass’s Consort, and Chicago’s early music plans is the notion that early music is scene, to a new level. more than just various special repertoires A member of the Yale faculty, Judith Malaspanning the centuries. He notes that all fronte has sung at the Tanglewood Festival, Boston Early Music Festival, and Utrecht Early music requires a historically informed Music Festival and is a frequent guest artist approach, and is excited by the rich with a number of ensembles. She is active as a holdings in the Newberry’s collection. freelance writer on musical subjects. One idea is to expand the usual early BqpmmpÖt!Gjsf!Ñ!Uif!Dmfwfmboe!Cbsprvf!Psdiftusb Kfboofuuf!Tpssfmm-!Nvtjd!Ejsfdups ÓMfe! cz! b! csjmmjbou! nvtjd! ejsfdups! boe! ibsqtjdipsejtu-! 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