Keyboard Conversations:
Music of Mozart & the Bach Sons

Featuring fortepianist Sylvia Berry, this program explores Mozart’s orchestral music in arrangements sanctioned by himself or fashioned by his student Hummel. On this intimate scale, the works’ conversational, sociable nature is especially apparent.

We pair a Mozart overture & concerto with an overture by Johann Christian Bach and one of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s last compositions, a quartet with a similarly conversational idiom that suggests his awareness of musical developments in Vienna.

NIGHT MUSIC
Karen Dekker, violin
Steven Zohn, flute & co-director
Heather Miller Lardin, double bass & co-director
with
Sylvia Berry, fortepiano
Aniela Eddy, violin
Amy Leonard, viola
Ellen Exner, oboe

Keyboard Conversations:
Music of Mozart & the Bach Sons

Featuring fortepianist Sylvia Berry, this program explores Mozart’s orchestral music in arrangements sanctioned by himself or fashioned by his student Hummel. On this intimate scale, the works’ conversational, sociable nature is especially apparent.

We pair a Mozart overture & concerto with an overture by Johann Christian Bach and one of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s last compositions, a quartet with a similarly conversational idiom that suggests his awareness of musical developments in Vienna.

Tickets not required; pay what you can

Suggested donation: $30 general, $20 senior, $10 college student, 18 & under free.

NIGHT MUSIC
Karen Dekker, violin
Steven Zohn, flute & co-director
Heather Miller Lardin, double bass & co-director
with
Sylvia Berry, fortepiano
Aniela Eddy, violin
Amy Leonard, viola
Ellen Exner, oboe

While in the service of Prince Nikolaus Esterházy, Haydn composed almost 200 works for his patron to play on the baryton. This instrument resembles the viola da gamba but includes an extra set of sympathetic strings that can be plucked by hand. We place the oft-overlooked baryton at the center of a program that includes duos and trios by Haydn, his Esterházy colleague Andreas Lidl, and the “Swedish Mozart” Joseph Martin Kraus.

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Featuring Karen Dekker, violin and viola; Eve Miller, cello; Heather Miller Lardin, baryton; and Steven Zohn, flute

When Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach wrote in 1775 that Telemann "raised me out of the baptismal font," he may very well have meant that in both a symbolic and literal way. You see, Telemann was Emanuel’s godfather, and fulfilled that role extensively throughout Emanuel’s life. Join Night Music in an intimate and colorful program that explores Telemann as The Godfather with works by The Godson and J.G. Janitsch.

Pre-concert lecture by Dr. Ellen Exner (The Philadelphia Orchestra) at 6:15

Program:

Georg Philipp Telemann: from "Quatuors Parisiens" TWV 43 A1

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: Trio Sonata in a minor, Wq 148

Johann Gottlieb Janitsch: Quadro Sonata in c minor

CPE Bach: Rondo for solo keyboard

CPE Bach: Oboe sonata in G minor, Wq 135

Pay what you can: Suggested donation $30 general admission, $20 senior, $10 student. Tickets required: click here

Performers: Leon Schelhase, Harpsichord, Priscilla Herreid, Oboe, Karen Dekker, Violin / Viola, Steven Zohn, Flute, Heather Miller Lardin, Viola da Gamba / Double bass

Night Music kicks off its 2023–24 season (“Generations”) with three chamber works spanning the entire eighteenth century. We commence our journey in Vienna with Mozart’s beloved Eine kleine Nachtmusik, jump back in time to Leipzig for a passionate string quintet from Telemann’s university days, and finally leap forward to London for Haydn’s magnificent Symphony No. 98, as sensitively arranged by Johann Peter Salomon. You’ll be surprised and delighted at how these very different works complement each other.

With guest artists Evan few, violin; Amy Leonard and Fran Berge, violas; and Eve Miller, cello
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PROGRAM:
Telemann, Sonata in E minor for two violins, two violas, and continuo, TWV 44:5
Mozart, Eine kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525
Haydn, Symphony No. 98 in B-flat major, arr. Salomon for flute and string quintet

“A Subtle Aroma of Romanticism: Music by Felix Mendelssohn and Louise Farrenc”, with guest Andrew Willis

• Felix Mendelssohn, Trio in D minor for flute, cello, and piano, Op. 49

• Louise Farrenc, Quintet in A minor for violin, viola, cello, double bass, and piano, Op. 30

This event takes place in the Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion of the Kislak Center on the 6th Floor of the Van Pelt Library. Featuring the Department of Music's 1846 Érard piano.

6 PM: Refreshments
6:15 PM: Pre-concert talk
7 PM: Concert (sans intermission)

Registration is requested: click here to register.

“Parlor Tricks: Music for a Viennese Salon”. Music of Haydn, Kraus, and Dittersdorf. This event is free.

Since its inception, opera’s extravagant sets, over-the-top costumes, and legendary superstars have kept the genre wildly popular. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century music lovers who couldn’t get enough of opera’s expensive thrills brought it into their homes on a smaller scale through arrangements of overtures and arias, operatically-inspired instrumental music, and theatrical cantatas or “Singspiels” such as those on our program by Michael Haydn (Der Bassgeiger zu Wörgl) and Thomas Arne (The Morning). We also introduce our own arrangement of Mozart’s concert aria “Per questa bella mano” for bass and obbligato double bass. 

With guest singers Laura Heimes and Graham Bier

This event is "pay what you wish", but you must RSVP.

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Early Classical music for home entertainment both personal and celebratory centered around the lighthearted divertimento. With no set form or instrumentation, divertimenti ran the gamut from intimate duos to miniature orchestra: think of Mozart’s ‘Eine Kleine Nachtmusik’, often performed as a string quartet but equally successful in an expanded ensemble. Symphonies were often arranged and published for home performance, as in Salomon’s version of Haydn’s “Surprise” symphony for flute and strings. Smaller works for less conventional, even whimsical combinations – as in Dittersdorf’s charming duo for viola and bass – were surprisingly common. While the flexible string quartet’s expressive capabilities and efficiency ultimately led it to dominate home musicales, it climbed there on the shoulders of the divertimenti that preceded it. 

** Please note: Diversions & Distractions is presented as part of the PhilaLandmarks Concert Series.  

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This concert will also be performed on the Early Music at St. James series in Lancaster, PA on Friday, November 17 at 7:30 PM. For more information click here.  

Musical improvisation and pre-planned, notated music that simulated improvisation remained in vogue throughout the eighteenth century. The main locus of improvisatory style was the fantasia, a genre epitomized by Telemann’s solo instrumental works for solo flute, violin, and viola da gamba and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s keyboard works. Our program is built around three fantasias: two by Telemann, and one by the younger Bach, who was his godson and namesake. Alternating ensemble pieces bring the solo instruments in dialogue with one another and explore the fantasia’s influence on other genres.

With guests Francesca Brittain, fortepiano, Sarah Cunningham, viola da gamba, and Margaret Humphrey, violin

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