2012: Monteverdi and Schütz
GMMEV's inaugural concert series included secular choral and vocal music of Claudio Monteverdi, mostly from his later books of madrigals, and sacred choral and vocal music of his student Heinrich Schütz, from the Geistliche Chormusik of 1648 and Kleine Geistliche Konzerte of 1636.
Follow this link to our live performance on VPR, hosted by Walter Parker
Follow this link to our live performance on VPR, hosted by Walter Parker
2013: Double-Takes
Our second annual concert series presented three performances of sacred choral and vocal music from the Baroque period. The program included three motets by Johann Sebastian Bach and works by Schütz, Schein, Scheidt, Franck, and Bach’s cousin, Johann Christoph Bach. “Double-Takes” refers to the pairings of two composers who chose to set the same text. In most cases, the pairing includes one setting for small ensemble and a second setting for double chorus. Follow this link to our live performance on VPR, hosted by Walter Parker. |
2014: Il Pastor Fido
For our third annual concert series, we returned to the Italian madrigal. Late in the 16th century and into the 17th century, a play called "Il Pastor Fido" (The Faithful Shepherd), written by Giovanni Battista Guarini in the early 1580s, inspired hundreds of madrigal settings by composers of the time. We focused on just three of these: Claudio Monteverdi, Heinrich Schütz, and Sigismondo D'India. The complicated plot, involving a "love pentagon", and evocative text, provided these composers with plenty of material to explore the text-painting techniques that achieved full flower at the turn of the 17th century. Five singers, accompanied by theorbo, present some 15 madrigals, some stand-alone and some part of larger works, that span the full extent of the play from Act I scene i to Act V scene ix. 
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2016: Lamentations and Lute Songs
The 2016 program of GMMEV featured the Lamentations of Jeremiah by Thomas Tallis, considered to be one of the great masterpieces of the Renaissance era. This work, spanning some 17 minutes of music, expresses the longing for Jerusalem through gorgeous harmonies and the warm sonority of five low voices: alto, two tenors, baritone and bass. The singers were joined again by lutenist Doug Freundlich from the Boston area to perform a series of lute songs in English and Italian, complementing the choral texture of the Lamentations.
2017: The Queen's Delight: Elizabethan Music for Voice and Recorder
The 2017 program of GMMEV featured the three famous masses of William Byrd and recorder music by Byrd and his contemporaries. Byrd, a favorite of Queen Elizabeth, composed masses for three, four, and five voices. GMMEV performed the entire 5-voice mass and portions of the 3- and 4-voice masses, as well as the gorgeous motet Ne irascaris, Domine. The Far and Away recorder ensemble performed lively pieces by Byrd, Hilton, Morley and others to complement the sacred texts of the masses and motet.
2018: Henry, Francis and the Virgin
The 2018 program of GMMEV featured choral music and lute songs from the 16th century, including composers who lived during the reigns of Henry VIII and Francis I. Sacred choral works by William Cornysh, John Taverner, and Jean Mouton were complemented by secular works by composers such as Sermisy, Newark, Ashton, Davy, and Henry VIII himself.
2019: Music of Love and War: Monteverdi and Schütz
Returning to its roots, the seventh anniversary program of GMMEV was devoted to the two masters of early baroque vocal music: Claudio Monteverdi and Heinrich Schütz. The program drew on the exquisite madrigals from Monteverdi's Eighth Book and sacred works from Schütz' Symphonia Sacra Part II. Highlights included Hor che'l ciel e la terra and Altri canti di marte, each with six voices, two violins and continuo. For the first time, GMMEV included violinists, and we were extremely pleased to have Jesse Irons, originally from Berlin, VT, and his wife Emily joining us for this program. They are both highly accomplished musicians based in the Boston area with leading roles in the internationally-acclaimed ensemble, A Far Cry.