Program:
Jean-Féry Rebel - Sonata No. 6 in B minor for violin and basso continuo
Marin Marais - Les Voix Humaines for solo violin
Georg Muffat - Sonata in D Major for violin and basso. continuo
intermission
Paul Mortilla - Comedìa (commissioned with support from Chamber Music America)
I. Luna
II. Mercury
III. Speech Canon I
IV. Venus
V. Sol
VI. Mars
VII. Jupiter
VIII. Saturn
IX. Speech Canon II
X. The Starry Sphere
XI. The Crystalline Sphere
XII. Primum Mobile, Empyrean
Ensemble Affect
Pauline Kempf, violin
Erik Andersen, cello
Sun Chang, harpsichord
Friction Quartet:
Otis Harriel, violin
Kevin Rogers, violin
Mitso Floor, viola
Doug Machiz, cello
Cara Gabrielson, Soprano
Kindra Scharich, Alto
Eric Dudley,Tenor
Ryan Bradford, Baritone
Program Notes
Ensemble Affect presents in today’s program the development of the French and German instrumental repertoires during the Baroque era. Until the mid-17th century, pure instrumental music was mostly undervalued – its function was to solely accompany dancers and singers. However, with the increasing influence of Italian composers living abroad and the beginning of concert life in Paris, the term “sonata” started to take root among elitist audiences, meaning a solo piece “that is sung” on an instrument.
Jean-Féry Rebel, along with Elizabeth Jacquet de La Guerre and François Couperin, was an avant-garde composer writing in the Italian style, a revolutionary act according to some French philosophers. Although labelled “sonata”, the present work for solo violin and basso continuo - written and published around 1700 - carries French movement titles and follows a structural binary organization.
Just like Rebel, Marin Marais worked closely with Jean-Baptiste Lully at the royal court of Versailles. He was the leading French composer of music for the bass viol and wrote five books of ‘Pièces de viole’ with basso continuo between 1686 and 1725. Today’s piece, ‘Les Voix Humaines’ (The Human Voices), is an arrangement for solo violin from his second book published in 1701. The expressiveness of this work, despite its high virtuosity, exposes the finest features of Marais’ writing.
To close this program, Ensemble Affect’s musicians revisit the only violin sonata ever written by Georg Muffat. A cosmopolitan musician, young Muffat had first studied and worked in France during Lully’s time, then moved to Prague, Salzburg and Italy to finally settle in Passau, Germany. His violin sonata is his earliest identified work written in 1677 when he moved to Prague. A single movement piece with internal contrasting sections, the work exposes clear German stylistic elements. The slow Adagio placed in the center of the work displays outstanding enharmonic harmonies that render the Muffat violin sonata a memorable piece of modernity.
From Paul Mortilla:
Comedìa ascends from the Earth, through all the sphere's of Heaven, meeting back with the original Divinity from which all things emanate, a brilliant Rose that is propelled by Love. In the present day, these older 'maps of the universe' are seen as erroneous, showing a geocentric cosmos, when in fact, these were not maps of the physical universe, but of the soul. These heavenly spheres call into question our idea of being and location.
The text comes primarily from Paradiso, Medieval poetry of Dante Alighieri's Comedìa. Alongside it are texts by my friend Jordan Lenchitz, who composed a 'post-post-ironic retelling of Dante's Inferno', as well as selections from the Apollo 11 mission assembly language used to program the guidance computer (as well as some Shakespeare which the code references), as this was a literal 'journey to the moon'
The music is eclectic, strange, at times uncanny , perhaps boring, or irritating, but so are the pangs of the soul on the quest for enlightenment, and thus I've tried to embody that here through the medium of sound.
This piece is one of the greatest joys of mine to perform and to work on. Paul has done an incredible job writing a truly original piece that ties together so much classical music history in one masterpiece. One thing that Paul does not mention in his description of the piece is the amazing way in which it is constructed. I will spend just a while describing it to add to his beautiful concept. When we think about western classical music and music notation we often think of tuning as a fixed. You learn that you are either “in” tune or “out” of tune. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Tuning has changed throughout history and what we now think of as “in” tune, e.g. a piano being tuned, is actually perfectly out of tune. To play something purely in tune is to play with “just intonation”. Just intonation relies on perfect ratios to tune more than one pitch with another. This system does not fit into one octave easily, so we have had to make adjustments - like the adjustments we make when tuning a piano. I use quotations because there is the matter that tuning is quite subjective to each individuals ears. Paul has written this piece in extended just intonation which is a system of tuning that doesn’t rely on the fixed notes of a piano but instead uses the infinitely expressible pitch that singers and string players can achieve on their instruments. This gives the impression throughout the piece that we are travelling to even more distant lands than may be possible with a more standard tuning system.
-Otis Harriel
Lyrics
Comedía Libretto
assembled by composer
I. Luna
dietro al mio legno che cantando varca,
tornate a riveder li vostri liti:
non vi mettete in pelago, ché forse, perdendo
me, rimarreste smarriti.
L'acqua ch'io prendo già mai non si corse;
Minerva spira, e conducemi Appollo,
e nove Muse mi dimostran l'Orse.
lucida, spessa, solida e pulita, quasi adamante
che lo sol ferisse
[You all] behind my singing vessel
Return to see your quarrels again:
Do not put yourselves in the lurch, for
perchance Losing me, you would remain lost.
The water that I take already never ran;
Minerva breathes out, and lead me Apollo,
And nine Muses show me the Bears.
Luminous, dense, solid, and unblemished As a
diamond wounded by the sun
BURNBABY TC PHASCHNG # GROUP 4
RESTARTS HERE
OCT 04024
CAFZERO IN DVTOTAL
TS DVTOTAL TS DVTOTAL +1
TC BANKCALL BANKCALLED EVEN
FROM ITS
CADR P40AUTO SET UP RETURN
PROPERLY
B*RNB*B* EXTEND
DCA TIG # STORE NOMINAL TIG
FOR
# EXTIRPATE JUNK LEFT
# P40AUTO MUST BE
# OWN BANK TO
# "IT WILL BE PROVED TO THY FACE
THAT THOU HAST MEN ABOUT THEE
THAT
# USUALLY TALK OF A NOUN AND A
VERB, AND SUCH ABOMINABLE
WORDS AS NO
# CHRISTIAN EAR CAN ENDURE TO
HEAR."
(above text is from the AGC assembly code from the Apollo 11 launch sequence ‘BURN_BABY_BURN’, which
also references Shakespeares Henry 6, Act 2, Scene 4)
II. Speech Canon I:
I finally understood
That opinions and thoughts meant nothing
that acts alone were the only true purveyors
of life and society
(text from Maroon by Jordan Lenchitz, a ‘post-post-ironic retelling of Dante’s Inferno)
III. Mercury
del lume che per tutto il ciel si spazia noi
semo accesi; e però, se disii
di noi chiarirti, a tuo piacer ti sazia
Beatrice:
“Dì, dì, sicuramente, e credi come a dii”
Io veggio ben sì come tu t’annidi
nel proprio lume, e che de li occhi il traggi,
perch’ e’ corusca sì come tu ridi;
Of the light that through all the heavens
sweeps We are kindled; and therefore, if thou
desirest Of us to enlighten thee, at thy
pleasure
Beatrice:
"Say, say, surely, and believe as you say"
I well see how thou dost nestle
In thine own light, and that of thine eyes thou
drawest, For 'tis as coruscating as thou
laughest
IV. The Copper Sphere, Venus
E come in famma favilla si vede,
e come in voce voce si discerne, quand’ una è
ferma e altra va e riede
A spark is seen within flame
as a voice is separated from a voice within
Being resolute, one comes and goes
V. Sol
Beatrice:
“Ringrazia, ringrazia, il Sol de li angeli, ch’a
questo sensibil t’ha levato per sua grazia.”
Give thanks, give thanks, the Sun of the
angels, to where, by his grace, raised thee to
behold
O orzchis Ecclesia, armis divinis praecincta,
et hyacinto ornata, tu es caldemia stigmatum
loifolum et urbs scienciarum. O, o tu es etiam
crizanta in alto sono, et es chorzta gemma.
(text by Hildegard von Bingen in her lingua ignota, direct translation unknown.)
VI. Mars
O sanguis meus, o superinfusa gratia Dei,
sicut tibi cui
bis unquam celi ianua recluse?
O my blood, O grace of God poured into you
To whom was Heaven's Gate ever opened
twice, as to you?
VII. Jupiter
Già si godeva solo del suo verbo quello
specchio beato, e io gustava lo mio,
temprando col dolce l’acerbo;
Beatrice:
“Muta pensier; pensa ch’i’ sono persso a colui
ch’ogne torto disgrava
Already enjoying only his word
That blissful mirror, and I tasted
Mine, tempering with sweetness the unripe;
Beatrice: Change your mind: Know I am
close with Him who lifts the burden of every sin
VIII. Saturn
E quella non ridea; ma
Beatrice: “S’io ridessi, tu ti faresti quale fu
Semelè quando di cener fessi
‘ché la bellezza mia, che per le scale de
l’etterno palazzo più s’accende com’ hai
veduto, quanto più si sale,
And that one did not laugh; but
Beatrice: ‘If I laughed, thou wouldst be as
Semelè was When of ashes thou didst make
For my beauty, which through the stairway Of
the eternal palace is more enkindled
As thou hast seen, the more it ascends
IX. Speech Canon II:
I’ll probably miss you really soon
(text from Maroon by Jordan Lenchitz, a ‘post-post-ironic’ retelling of Dante’s Inferno)
X. The Starry Sphere
Oh Bëatrice, dolce guida e cara! Ella mi
disse: “Quel che ti sobranza è virtù da cui
nulla si ripara”
Oh Beatrice, dearest sweet guide She spoke to
me: This power that bewilders you has no
remedy
O orzchis Ecclesia, armis divinis praecincta,
et hyacinto ornata, tu es caldemia stigmatum
loifolum et urbs scienciarum. O, o tu es etiam
crizanta in alto sono, et es chorzta gemma.
(text by Hildegard von Bingen in her lingua ignota, direct translation unknown.)
XI. The Crystalline Sphere
“Al Padre, al Figlio, a lo Spirito Santo”
cominciò, “gloria!” tutto ‘l paradiso,
sì che m’inebrïava il dolce canto.
And the all of paradise, was intoxicated with
this sweet song "To the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit, be all Glory."
XII. Primum Mobile
Ne la profonda e chiara sussistenza de l'alto
lume parvermi tre giri
di tre colori e d'una contenenza
e l'un da l'altro come iri da iri
parea reflesso, e 'l terzo parea foco
che quinci e quindi igualmente si spiri
O luce ettema che sola in te sidi, sola
t'intendi, e da te intelletta
e intendente te ami e arridi!
In the deep and clear subsistence
Of the high light seem to me three revolutions
Of three colors and of one content
And one from the other, as rainbow from
rainbow Appeared reflexed, and the third
seemed fire, Which whence and thence is
likewise poured forth
O ethereal light, that alone in thee thou art,
Alone dost thou understand, and by thee
intellect And understanding you love and
smile!
XIII. Empyrean
Bios
Friction Quartet, lauded for performances described as "terribly beautiful" (San Francisco Classical Voice), "stunningly passionate" (Calgary Herald), and "exquisitely skilled" (ZealNYC), is dedicated to modernizing the chamber music experience and expanding the string quartet repertoire. The quartet achieves its mission by commissioning cutting-edge composers, curating imaginative concert programs, collaborating with diverse artists, and engaging in interactive educational outreach.
Friction made their debut at Carnegie Hall in 2016 as participants in the Kronos Quartet Fifty for the Future Workshop. They returned in March of 2018 to perform George Crumb’s Black Angels as part of “The 60’s” festival and their performance was described as, “one of the truest and most moving things I’ve ever heard or seen.” (Zeal NYC)
Since forming in 2011, Friction has commissioned 43 works for string quartet and given world premiere performances of more than 80 works. They developed the Friction Commissioning Initiative in 2017 as a way to work together with their audience to fund specific commissions. The $14,000 raised to date has helped Friction commission a total of 12 new works, including six by young composers between the ages 16 and 21. They were awarded a 2019 Intermusic SF Musical Grant to develop a participatory educational program with composer Danny Clay that is designed to be accessible and sensory-friendly. The project is slated to premiere in the Fall of 2020 at the Pomeroy Recreation and Rehabilitation Center in San Francisco. Friction’s past grants include a grant from Chamber Music America that was used to commission a piano quintet from Andy Akiho, which debuted in November 2016, as well as project grants from Intermusic SF and Zellerbach Family Foundation supporting special projects involving the performance of commissioned works.
While Friction has garnered international attention as commissioners and interpreters of new music, they are also devoted to performing masterworks of the string quartet repertoire at the highest level. They won Second Prize in the 2016 Schoenfeld Competition, they were quarter-finalists in the 2015 Fischoff Competition and placed second at the 2015 Frances Walton Competition
Friction has held residencies at the New Music for Strings Festival in Denmark, Interlochen Arts Camp, Lunenburg Academy of Music in Nova Scotia, Napa Valley Performing Arts Center, Old First Concerts, San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music, and was the first ensemble in residence at the Center for New Music.
Friction Quartet is dedicated to building new audiences for contemporary music through interactive musical enrichment programs. They are participating for the third consecutive year in the San Francisco Symphony’s Adventures in Music program, visiting over 60 public schools annually. They are Ensemble Partners with Young Composers & Improvisors Workshop, workshopping and premiering new works written by young composers in the Bay Area. They have also given presentations at Oakland public schools through KDFC’s Playground Pop Up program. In collaboration with Meridian Hill Pictures, they created a short documentary, titled Friction, that profiles their early educational outreach in Washington DC’s Mundo Verde Public Charter School. Their presentations regularly utilize Doug’s adventurous arrangements of Pop songs alongside excerpts from standard string quartet repertoire to help young audiences build connections to musical concepts.
Friction appears on recordings with National Sawdust Tracks, Innova Records, Albany Records, Pinna Records, and many independent releases. They released their full-length debut album, resolve, in 2018 through Bandcamp. Friction has appeared on radio stations such as NPR, KALW, KING-FM, and KUT, among others.
Friction’s video of the second movement of First Quartet by John Adams was named the #2 video of the year in 2015 by Second Inversion. John Adams shared this video on his own homepage and called it “spectacular.” Their video for Andy Akiho’s In/ Exchange, featuring Friction and Akiho, was also chosen by Second Inversion for their Top 5 videos of 2016. The video was also featured on American Public Media’s Performance Today.
Friction Quartet takes risks to enlarge the audience’s understanding of what a string quartet can be using arrangements of pop music, digital processing, percussion, amplification, movement, and additional media. Their multimedia and interdisciplinary projects have received critical acclaim. In 2017 they produced Spaced Out, an evening-length suite of music about the cosmos that utilizes surround sound electronics and includes a Friction Commission written by Jon Kulpa. The San Francisco Classical Voice called it “accessible, yet surreal.” No matter where their musical exploration takes them, they never lose sight of the string quartet’s essence– the timeless and endlessly nuanced interaction of four analog voices.
Ensemble Affect is a string band based in both San Francisco and Chicago, specializing in historically-informed-performance otherwise known as HIP. Group members live nation-wide, forming a web of opportunity to bring the thrilling music created in the Baroque, Classical, and Renaissance periods to many locations across the country in addition to our two home cities. Ensemble Affect is devoted to providing accessible, engaging, and affordable opportunities to experience historical performances.
Established November 2019. We formed Ensemble Affect to create a conduit to explore our love of historically-informed performance, and to provide Chicago with another resource to experience early music. The first concert, “Eine Kleine Bachmusik,” was held in Evanston, Illinois to a packed house at Vail Chapel. We were overjoyed and overwhelmed by the positive feedback from our community, and quickly began rehearsals for our next concert, held in February of 2020. After its success, we began working toward incorporating the group as a nonprofit, setting up professional recording sessions, building a board, and planning future seasons. Of course we did not know that in a month everything would be put on pause.
After a long hiatus, we emerged in fall of 2021 having perhaps fewer concerts under our belts than we had hoped to perform in two years, but still with an officially established non-profit arts organization and multiple exciting prospects in the works.
The following four years have seen immense growth in not just our own music making but also in the audiences we’ve reach and the program we have created. Spring of 2023 saw the beginning of our chapter on the west coast, introducing our music to the San Francisco Bay Area with “Music from the Habsburg Court” in Burlingame and Half Moon Bay. The following year brought “Dance in Venice,” introducing dance music from Venetian composers not only to the Bay Area but also to the community of Walla Walla, Washington, thanks to our first university residency at Whitman College.
The 2024-25 season has been our most ambitious one yet. Ensemble Affect saw the realization of many years’ planning in distinct programs held in Chicago and San Francisco. Our Dance in Venice program, from the 23/24 season, gained new meaning with a collaboration with pmdance company in Chicago, as well as a unique pantomime for the children of Northbrook Library. Additionally, EA performed for the Landowska Harpischord Society of Chicago, and our ever-popular Baroque Flow program made a return in Uptown.