This morning, I was listening to Jakub Jozef Orlinski's remarkable new album, Anima Aeterna, which not surprisingly for this gifted young countertenor, features a wealth of Baroque masterpieces. On this album, however, Jakub has drawn from the music of Baroque composers who, for lack of a better phrase, have been left by the side of … Continue reading Interlude: At the side of the road
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Baroque Music VI: Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736)
And now, another composer who died too young. Giovanni Pergolesi died at 26, but his music was truly mature and sublime. Deeply influential both in his time and in later centuries, Pergolesi was a major influence on composers from J.S. Bach (who was 25 when Pergolesi was born) to Stravinsky. Bach famously incorporated Pergolesi’s Sabat … Continue reading Baroque Music VI: Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736)
Baroque Music V: Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725)
When we think of the great musical families in history, Strauss and Bach loom large. But one of the earliest family dynasties in music history arose in Naples during the middle Baroque Period: the Scarlattis. While Domenico Scarlatti's fame would eventually exceed that of his pater familias, I would argue that Alessandro remains one of … Continue reading Baroque Music V: Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725)
Interlude: A Happy Accident
As we are wrapping up the Renaissance with Monteverdi breaking from the strict Palestrina mode of composition, I am editing future entries on Jean-Philippe Rameau, whose 1722 treatise, Traité de l'harmonie réduite à ses principes naturels, set forth the rules that would govern composition for the better part of the next 200 years. And, as … Continue reading Interlude: A Happy Accident
A Gertus History of Music 