impromptuSF

Jean-Paul Jones - Countertenor

Jean-Paul resides in San Francisco where he primarily works as a singer and music educator.  While living in his native Los Angeles he had the pleasure of performing with groups such as The Al McNeal Jubilee Singers, Los Angeles Master Chorale and L.A. Opera Chorus. Since moving up north he has appeared as Texas/Emcee in Cabaret with SF Playhouse, Sam in Crazy for You Bay Area Musicals, Vadime in Mata Hari West Edge Opera, Victor in Cabaret Cinnabar Theater, Jamie in Last Five Years Moonlet Theater and Ensemble in No No Nanette 42nd Street Moon. JP currently teaches jazz at Ruth Asawa School of the Arts in San Francisco.

Meave Cox - Oboe

Meave is an avid orchestral and chamber musician in the Bay Area. She earned her B.Mus. from the Boston University School of Fine Arts, where she primarily studied with Robert Sheena, as well as her MM from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she was a student of Eugene Izotov and the late Bill Bennett. She has performed with many of the Bay Area's regional orchestras, and also frequently appears at Stanford University and other Bay Area venues. Meave particularly enjoys performing with opera companies, and of late has appeared with Livermore Valley Opera, West Bay Opera, and Opera Cultura.

Texts

Agnus Dei - B Minor Mass

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant us peace.

"Scherza infida" from Ariodante

Synopsis: Polinesso tries to convince Ariodante that Ginevra does not favor Ariodante and instead is in love with him. Ariodante doesn't believe him. However, Ariodante then sees Dalinda coming out of the private apartments of Polinesso disguised as his love, Ginevra. Despairing, he attempts suicide but is stopped by his brother Lurcanio. Ariodante then sings of his unhappiness and despair. (from the aria database)

E vivo ancora?
E senza il ferro,
oh! Dei! che farò?
Che mi dite, o affanni miei?

Scherza infida in grembo al drudo,
io tradito a morte in braccio
per tua colpa ora men vo.

Mà a spezzar l'indegno laccio,
ombra mesta e spirto ignudo,
per tua pena io tornerò.

Am I still alive?
And without a sword,
Oh! Gods! what will i do?
What about me, my worries?

But, to break this shameful snare,
as a sad shadow and naked spirit,
I will return to punish you.

O quam tristis from Stabat Mater

O quam tristis et afflícta
fuit illa benedícta,
mater Unigéniti!

O how sad and sorely distressed
was that Mother, highly blest,
of the sole-begotten One.

"Nell’orrido Albergo" from Cessate, Omai Cessate

Nell’orrido albergo,
ricetto di pene,
potr`o il mio tormento
sfogare contento,
potr`o ad alta voce
chiamare spietata
Dorilla l’ingrata,
morire potr`o.

Andr`o d’Acheronte
su la nera sponda,
tingendo quest’onda
di sangue innocente,
gridando vendetta
ed ombra baccante
vendetta far`o.

In this horrible refuge,
sheltering from my pains,
I shall be able to give vent
to my grief,
to call out:
’Dorilla heartless and ungrateful’, and to die.

I’ll go to the gloomy banks of Acheron,
staining that stream
with my blameless blood,
crying for revenge
and, like the shade of a Bacchante,
I will take my revenge.

Notes

Oboe Concerto in D minor BWV 1059R

Bach's Oboe Concerto in D minor BWV 1059R is a reconstruction based on a Harpsichord concerto, of which, only the first nine measures are extant. Fortunately, Bach reused his music frequently and a complete movement with a nearly identical Symphonia starts the Cantata "Geist und Seele wird verwirret" BWV 35. This cantata also provides the third movement of this oboe concerto.

Depending on how you count, J. S. Bach wrote up to 16 keyboard concertos, some with written for as many as four harpsichords. These are believed to almost all be rewrites of concertos written for other instruments written earlier in Koethen.

The first the movement in Italian style is rather lengthy and develops the thematic material extensively and features many arpeggios and runs. Because this is a reconstruction, it is unclear how many of these notes would have been in the original Oboe Concerto and performer is left to pick and choose what notes of the original organ part

The second movement is a mystery. Because we have neither the keyboard concerto, nor does the source cantata for the other two movements contain a slow, lyrical section typical of the form, performers will borrow the opening movement from Bach's cantata "Ich steh mit einem Fuß im Grabe" BWV 156. The movement is originally written for Oboe in F major. It is often taken out of context and given the title "Arioso" -- fitting nicely with the theme of this concert

The third movement of the oboe concerto returns back to BWV 35 with the opening to the second part of the cantata. The quick dancelike movement is a virtuosic showcase for the soloist featuring unending arpeggios passed back and forth between the soloist and the rest of the ensemble

L'estro Armonico

Vivaldi's collection of 12 concertos is his opus 3 in 1711, following two collections of violin sonatas. The term translates 'Harmonic inspiration,' though the novelty expands far beyond its harmonic innovation. The collection of twelve works consists of four collections of three concertos, the first is for four violins, the second for two violins and the third for solo violin. With the exception of the four seasons, which were written six years later, this collection contains the violin concertos you are most likely to have heard. This is especially the case if you are within earshot of a Suzuki Method violin student.

The two selections today are of the four violin and two violin sort. In them you can hear how melodic lines are deemphasized and the harmony modulations provide part of the excitement. In the slow movements it is almost entirely about the harmony. The other part of the excitement is the quick passage work passed off between the violins and sometimes the cello.

Vivaldi wrote music for the Pieta in Venice, which was both an orphanage and a church. Visitors would come from afar to be serenaded by the young girls in the orphanage playing these concerti. Scholars have noted how these pieces are great educational pieces, where students can learn to imitate the style they just heard in the other parts as they are passed around.

La Stravaganza

Vivaldi published La Stravaganza in 1716, also as a collection of twelve works, though these are all for solo violin. They are dedicated to Venetian nobleman Victor Delfin, who had been a violin student of Vivaldi's. These works are significantly less played than the concertos from L'estro Harmonico -- but are well worth the time to discover. They provide a contrast to the previous opus with large melodic sections appearing through both fast and slow movements. Something to note in the last movement of Op.4 / No. 1 that the tutti section lasts for over half the brief movement, giving the soloist one brief flourish before the movement wraps up.