These days, we think nothing of getting onto an airplane and flying across the ocean for a vacation. This past year I traveled to Europe on three separate trips (Amsterdam, Austria, Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany, England and Switzerland) and I’ve just booked my 2019 travels with again three trips to Europe (England, Greece, and Norway).
But for people in the time of Georg Philipp Telemann, his trip to Paris was considered a trip of a lifetime. According to Anne Schuster Hunter, who writes a blog for the chamber ensemble, Tempesta di Mare:
“It wasn’t just an item on the bucket list, Telemann’s visit to Paris. It was a victory lap.
In 1737, Georg Philipp Telemann, who at age 56 had never left Germany—or extremely near environs— anytime in his life, finally went traveling. He r.s.v.p.’d “yes” to a group of French musicians who’d been inviting him and made the big trek from his home base in Hamburg, up between the North and Baltic Seas, to Paris. Eight months later, after a triumph-filled sojourn, he headed home “full of pleasure from it and in hopes of returning,” as he wrote later.”
Tempesta di Mare’s Chamber Players salute Telemann’s big Paris adventure and the music that brought it about with Paris Quartets. They’ll play three chamber works that predate the famous trip, from his Quadri (Quartets) of 1730, and two of the Nouveaux Quatuors (New Quartets) from 1738, during it. Together, they give us a feel for the moment, one we all dream of, when we receive approval from the people we admire the most. Would that we all had a Paris Quartets in our lives.
This weekend Early Music Hawaii will present Tempesta di Mare, based in Philadelphia, in a concert called “Holiday in Paris: Music of Telemann and his French hosts,” on Saturday, November 10th at 7:30 pm at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu. The program will be repeated the next day at 3:30 at the Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity in Kona on the Big Island.
If you go to the group’s website, you’ll see that they bill themselves as:
CONVERSATIONAL. EXTROVERTED. EMOTIONALLY PROVOCATIVE.
To experience Tempesta is to experience nonstop discovery of repertoire both in and outside the canon: groundbreaking, modern rediscoveries, essential music by forgotten composers, overlooked works by famous composers, and even famous works by famous composers revealed in new ways.
Tempesta di Mare is named after a concerto by Antonio Vivaldi. Translated to mean “storm at sea,” Tempesta di Mare reflects the composers’ view of instrumental music as a vivid, rhetorical craft, capable of conveying emotional drama to its listeners. The orchestra performs self-led—no conductor—just as they did when the music was new.
As a board member of Early Music Hawaii, I design the season brochure, individual postcards for concerts, and layout each program—you can get a sneak peek of this weekend’s concert here. Tempesta di Mare members who are coming to Hawaii include Gwyn Roberts (flute), Richard Stone (theorbo), Emlyn Ngai (violin), Lisa Terry (viola da gamba) and Adam Pearl (harpsichord).
Just yesterday I received an email from Karin Brookes, executive director of Early Music America, who wanted to introduce herself to me. She said that she has been reading this blog for several months (!), and in yesterday’s post about Tempesta di Mare, she wondered whether Gwyn Roberts was going to be my houseguest, as she is active on the Early Music America board. Why, yes, she and her husband, Richard Stone, will be my houseguests from tonight through Sunday! Karin said that Gwyn is doing great things in Philadelphia, but also at Peabody, “where the early music program is growing by leaps and bounds.”
Here is a video interview with Gwyn Roberts and Richard Stone on what makes the ensemble tick:
I look forward to their concert! Tickets may be purchased online or at the door.