The opening of the final chorus of Handel's "L'Allegro" seemed awfully familiar last night during rehearsal... turns out it's the same opening as the chorale tune "Jesu meine Freude"! If you want to hear it, come to Handel and Haydn Society's concerts on Friday and Sunday (and hit me up if you want a discount/comp ticket)!
Hildegard's cookies of joy
Did you know Hildegard von Bingen made cookies?! For happiness?! Tasting History makes an appearance on #EarlyMusicMonday to talk about medieval cookies and Hildegard!
Early Band
In an ideal K-12 music education setting, major ensemble options are choir, band, or orchestra. But in the professional early music world, it's mostly just choir or orchestra. Where's the band?
Mendelssohn's Bach Revival
Mendelssohn gets a lot of credit for reviving interest in the music of Bach. So... what did he actually do? And what does that mean for the rest of us who try to revive music from hundreds of years ago?
Story of Dido
Purcell wasn't the only composer to set the lament of Dido, Queen of Carthage! Read more about the story and the setting by Josquin des Prez here!
Handel and Jennens
Handel's "Messiah" is beloved now (especially this time of year), but when it first premiered the librettist, Charles Jennens, was so irritated with what Handel had done that he swore he would not give him another libretto. Read more about the relationship between Handel and Jennens here!
Early notation
There's always something new (or in this case old) to discover!
New flute music
New (old) music for flute! I love reading about discoveries of new repertoire, including this collection from Marais!
Musicians of the Tensho Embassy
Kudos to my friends in Lyracle for their excellent research and sensitive handling of this incredible story!
Her Story
I hadn't heard about Anne Louise Brillon de Jouy (and I bet you hadn't either). Let's talk about why!