The use of cameras or recording equipment during the 

performance is not allowed. Please be sure that cell phones,

pagers, and other electronic devices are turned off.

Please note that late entry or reentry of

the West Building after 6:30 pm is not permitted.

For the convenience of concertgoers the Garden Cafe remains

open for light refreshments until 6:00 pm on Sundays.

Music Department

National Gallery ofArt

Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue NW

Washington, DC

Mailing address

2000B South Club Drive

Landover, MD 20785

www.nga.gov

cover: Hendrick Avercamp, Winter Games on the Frozen River IJssel, c. 1626,

National Gallery of Art, Washington, Woodner Collection, Gift ofAndrea Woodner

C-i'i-lo

The Sixty-eighth Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

2,788th Concert

National Gallery ofArt Chamber Players

Kathleen Trahan, soprano and alto recorders

Alicia Kosack, Baroqueflute

Stephen Ackert, harpsichord

Presented in honor of

Hendrick Avercamp: The Little Ice Age

May 19, 2010

Wednesday, 12:10 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
/^eujtUowt

Program

Performed without intermission

Salamone Rossi (1570-1630)

Sonata duodecima sopra la bergamasca

For two treble instruments and harpsichord

Samuel Scheidt (1587-1654)

Wehe, Windgen, wehe

From Tabulatura Nova (1624)

4.

John Dowland (1563-1626)

What ifa Day

For two treble instruments and harpsichord

V-/o

r-37

William Byrd (1543-1623)

Two Dances for two treble instruments and harpsichord

La Volta

Woolsey’s Wilde

X :o{*

Jan de Macque (c. 1552-1614)

Canzona aliafrancesa

Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643)

Canzona terza detta la Bemardinia

For recorder and harpsichord

Anonymous

Greensleeves to a Ground

For two treble instruments and harpsichord

* ‘‘ 43

Carolus Luyton (c. 1556-1620)

Fantasia

Arranged for two treble instruments and harpsichord

Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687)

Trios pour le coucher du roy

Symphonie

Sarabande

Chaconne

For two treble instruments and harpsichord

John Bull (1562-1628)

Dr. Bull’s Juell

Jacob van Eyck (1590-1657)

Doen Daphne d’over de schoone Maeght

From Der Fluyten Lust-Hof(1649)

For solo recorder

S-.Sf

A

f: 00

Pieter Cornet (c. 1580-1633)

Toccata on the Third Tone

Dario Castello (1590-1658)

Sonata Prima

For two treble instruments and harpsichord

4 :l3

f - If

The National Gallery of Art extends its thanks to the Music Division 

ofthe Library of Congress for the loan ofthe Hubbard and Broeckman

harpsichord used in this concert.
The Musicians

KATHLEEN TRAHAN

A member ofthe flute faculty ofthe University of Maryland, College Park,

Kathleen Trahan is the principal flutist ofthe Annapolis Chorale, the 

Annapolis Chamber Orchestra, the Columbia Pro-Cantare ensembles, and 

the Prince George’s County Philharmonic Orchestra. As a recitalist and

chamber musician she has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center,

the Library ofCongress, and the Phillips Collection, among other venues.

A former pupil of Robert Aitken, James Galway, and William Montgomery,

Trahan is a member ofTrio Solare, a chamber ensemble comprised oftwo

flutes and guitar, which performs an eclectic repertoire using a wide variety

ofmodern, period, and ethnic instruments. Winner ofthe first prize in the 

International Alpha Delta Kappa Competition and the Baltimore Chamber

Music Competition, she is listed in Who's Who in American Music and the

International Who’s Who of Women.

ALICIA KOSACK

Alicia Kosack enjoys a diverse career as a performer on both modern and 

Baroque flutes. She has won numerous honors, including a Maryland State

Arts Council Individual Artist Award and first place in the 2010 Flute Society

ofWashington Adult Artist Competition. An active soloist and chamber

musician, she regularly performs with both the Trelumina Trio and Washington’s Camerata and has performed with the Ash Lawn Opera Festival,

the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Handel Choir of Baltimore, the

Inscape Chamber Orchestra, Opera Vivente, and the Washington Bach

Consort, among other ensembles. She is equally committed to teaching, 

and is currently on the faculties of Bryn Mawr School, Garrison Forest

School, Roland Park Country School, and York College of Pennsylvania.

4

Recipient of a master ofmusic degree from the Peabody Conservatory

and a bachelor ofmusic degree from the Harid Conservatory, Kosack is

currently a candidate for the doctor of musical arts degree at the University 

of Maryland. She served as vice-president ofthe Flute Society of Washington

and was the program chair for the Mid-Atlantic Flute Fair in 2007 and 2008.

STEPHEN ACKERT

Head ofthe music department at the National Gallery ofArt since 2004,

Stephen Ackert studied at Oberlin College, Northwestern University, and the 

Hochschule fur Musik in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He completed his

doctoral studies in organ in 1974 at the University ofWisconsin in Madison.

From 1974 to 1978 he had the unique opportunity to work as a professional

musician in Iran, serving as music advisor and resident keyboard artist

ofthe National Iranian Radio and Television Network. A resident ofthe 

Washington, DC, area since 1979, he has performed on organ, harpsichord,

and piano in many ofits prime venues, including the Kennedy Center,

the National Shrine ofthe Immaculate Conception, the National Cathedral, 

and the German Embassy. In 2007 he undertook his eighth recital tour

ofhistoric concert halls and churches in Germany. His performances in

the current concert season include recitals and lecture-recitals in Milford,

Pennsylvania; New York City; Nyack, New York; and San Antonio, Texas.

5
Program Notes

In the first exhibition devoted to Dutch landscape artist Hendrick Avercamp 

(1585-1634), scenes ofskating, sleigh rides, and outdoor games on frozen

canals and waterways bring to life the lively pastimes ofresidents ofThe

Netherlands in the seventeenth century, which is frequently referred to

as that country’s “Golden Age.” Displayed in the intimate Dutch Cabinet

Galleries, some fourteen paintings and sixteen drawings capture the harsh

winters ofthe period and the activities they made possible. Avercamp—the

first artist to specialize in painting winter landscapes—made the “ice scene”

a genre in its own right. Within these winter scenes is a social narrative as

well: unencumbered by status, all classes formed one community on the ice.

Similarly, Dutch music in the Golden Age enjoyed widespread participation by amateur performers from all walks oflife. Like Avercamp’s paintings,

the songs and the instrumental pieces they inspired are intimate in scale. They 

were commonly played as background music for banquets or as entertainment

in taverns, but also in the context ofhouse concerts. The popularity ofthis

music lasted from the late sixteenth to the early eighteenth century, encompassing the lifetime of Hendrick Avercamp and several generations thereafter.

By the mid-sixteenth century, the southern part ofThe Netherlands,

which eventually became known as Belgium, was an important cosmopolitan

center. Three ofthe composers represented on today’s program—Pieter

Comet, Carolus Luyton, and Jan de Macque—were active in this southern

region. Ludovico Guicciardini (1521-1589), a nobleman from the ducal court

in Florence who chose Antwerp as his second home, wrote: “In Antwerp

one can see at almost every hour ofthe day weddings, dancing, and musical

groups.... There is hardly a comer ofthe streets not filled with the joyous

sounds ofinstrumental music and singing. The majority ofthe people understand grammar and nearly all, even the peasants, can read and write.... An

infinite number, even those that never were out ofthe country, besides their

native language, are able to speak several foreign languages, especially French, 

with which they are most familiar; many speak German, English, Italian, 

Spanish, and others speak languages even more remote.”

6

As the United Provinces in the northern part ofThe Netherlands gained

independence, they became known for their tolerance and became a refuge

and temporary home for victims ofreligious and political persecution. In

fact, the population ofAmsterdam in the early seventeenth century was 

evenly divided between Dutch-bom and foreign-born persons. Two foreignborn composers who studied and worked in The Netherlands were John

Bull and Samuel Scheidt. Bull enjoyed a reputation both in his native

England and abroad as the most gifted composer ofhis generation. In 1613

he became involved in a serious scandal involving adultery. He fled the

country and went to the southern Netherlands, where Archduke Albert

employed him in Bmssels. Bull remained in Brussels and Antwerp until

his death in 1628. Scheidt was born in Halle, Germany, and called it home

except for a brief period (1603-1609) during which he studied in Amsterdam with Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621).

Among the composers whose music is heard on this afternoon’s program, only Jacob van Eyck was native to the provinces that eventually united

to become the Dutch republic. He was born near Utrecht and moved into

that city as a young adult, where he soon became a local celebrity, since he

was one of very few sightless persons to have a public career. He not only 

played the carillon ofthe city hall in Utrecht, but also repaired it and supervised several enlargements and improvements to the instmment. Toward 

the end of his life, he became too weak to manage the carillon, but he

continued to play his recorder every day in the yard of Saint John’s Church

in Utrecht, a central location that was frequented by the townspeople. It is

indicative ofvan Eyck’s place in the heart of Utrecht’s residents that, on the

day of his funeral, bells in the city’s towers rang non-stop for three hours.

Program notes by Stephen Ackert, head, music department,

National Gallery ofArt
Additional Program Notes

National Gallery of Art Chamber Players

May 19, 2010

Italian Jewish violinist and composer Salamone Rossi was a transitional figure between the

late Italian Renaissance period and the early Baroque. In 1587 he was hired as a court musician

in Mantua at the request of Duchess Isabella d’Este and served at her court until 1678. A 

composer of vocal music in a wide variety offorms and one ofthe first composers to write trio

sonatas, Rossi was considered a bold innovator. The thematic material for his Sonata

duodecima is a bergamasca, a lusty sixteenth-century courtship dance. It was performed in two

circles, with the men circling on the outside and the women on the inside. When the melody

changed, the partners embraced, took a few steps together, and then returned to the circles to

start again.

Samuel Scheidt was an important member ofthe first generation ofBaroque composers in

Germany. He distinguished himselfin both keyboard and sacred vocal music, combining

traditional counterpoint with the new Italian concerto style. After studying in Amsterdam under

Sweelinck, Scheidt returned in 1609 to Halle to take the post of court organist to Margrave

Christian Wilhelm ofBrandenburg. He presided over a veritable golden age ofmusic in the

Margrave's court, during which he collaborated with several other composers and organ

builders— Johann Heinrich Compenius (c. 1597-1642), Michael Praetorius (1571-1621), and

Heinrich Schiitz (1585-1872)—who proved to be influential throughout the remainder ofthe

seventeenth century:.

A prolific and original composer of dance, vocal, and instrumental music, John Dowland is

widely considered to represent the most creative time in England’s musical history. In 1580 

Dowland went to Paris as a servant to the English Ambassador to France. In 1612 he secured

an appointment to the Court ofJames I in London. He composed virtuoso music for the

professional musicians ofthe court as well as songs that had universal appeal and popularity.

Bom in London, William Byrd was one ofthe most important composers ofthe English

Renaissance. He wrote in many ofthe forms current in England at that time, including various

types ofsacred and secular polyphony, keyboard, and consort (small ensemble) music. Some

of his music, such as the two examples on this program, was written for dancing. It is hard for

modem audiences to imagine how a harpsichord and two flutes could be heard above the

shuffling feet of dancers, but in the palaces and grand homes ofthe late sixteenth and early

seventeenth centuries in England and The Netherlands, the building material of choice was

wood and even the largest rooms were modest in size compared to those of later eras. This

meant that each instrument had great presence and impact in the room and could easily

communicate the beat to the dancers.
Girolamo Frescobaldi was one ofthe most important composers of keyboard music in the late

Renaissance and early Baroque periods. He was appointed organist of Saint Peter’s Basilica in

Rome ini608, when he was only twenty-five years old. He served in that capacity with brief

interruptions until his death in 1643. The canzona that is being performed today is part of a

mass setting titled Missa sopra La Monica. The canzona, intended to be played after the Credo

and before the Alleluia, was derived from the secular French chanson (song). Much lighter in

character than the rest ofthe mass, canzonas were nevertheless inserted into masses with some

regularity by Frescobaldi and his Italian contemporaries.

Flemish-born organist and composer Jan de Macque spent most of his adult life in Italy,

eventually becoming a leading composer ofthe Neapolitan school in the late sixteenth and

early seventeenth centuries. After working in Rome for about a decade between 1575 and

1585, Macque moved to Naples, where he was employed by prominent members ofthe

Neapolitan nobility, among them the composer Carlo Gesualdo.

The earliest written mention ofthe folksong Greensleeves occurs in a London publication from

1580, but it is believed to have been sung long before that time. Greensleeves to a Ground is

an arrangement by an unknown composer who set it up as a theme and variations over a

“ground,” or repeated pattern. The repeating idea can be a rhythmic pattern, a base line, or

even a complete melody.

Little is known about Carolus Luyton except that he was one of a significant number of

choirboys from The Netherlands who were “recruited” (more likely abducted) to serve as boy

sopranos and altos in the choir ofthe emperor Maximilian II in Vienna. After his voice

changed, Luyton remained in the employ of Maximilian and his son, RudolfII, as organist in

both Vienna and Prague, where the composers Hans Leo Hassler and Jakob Hassler were

among those who wrote music for him to play. After RudolfII died in 1612, Luyton was

among many court employees who were dismissed without pension by his successor. Luyton

was forced to sell his possessions, including his harpsichord, and died in poverty.

Italian-born Jean-Baptiste Lully was hired as court composer at Versailles by Louis XIV of

France in 1653. Thanks to Louis’ recognition ofthe composer’s talent and his influence as

absolute monarch on all things musical as well as political, Lully became the most important

musician in France in the latter half ofthe seventeenth century. Assimilating both Italian and

French styles, he wrote and produced more than twenty operas, all ofwhich were widely

performed and influenced opera composers for some fifty years after his death. The manner of

his death was almost as famous as his life—while rehearsing a newly-composed Te Deum in

1687, he struck and severely injured his foot with the long staff he used for beating time on the

floor. He died of gangrene a few weeks later. His Trios pour le coucher du roy (Trios for the

king’s bedtime) take their name from the ceremonial customs of Louis XIV’s court, which

included providing music as the king was settling in for a night’s sleep.

John Bull was bom to a poor family in Wales, but his path to success and eventual prosperity

opened when he was engaged as a boy soprano in the choir of Hereford Cathedral in 1573. His

skills as a singer, composer, and keyboard player took him to both Cambridge and Oxford,

where he taught for fourteen years. In 1589 he obtained a doctor ofmusic degree from

Cambridge University, the first musician on record to be so honored. (Bull had applied for an

honorary doctorate from Oxford in 1586, but this was denied him, according to the Oxford

records, because “he had met with Clownes & rigid Puritans that could not endure Church

music.”)

Jacob van Eyck was bom blind, but he learned to play and write music and made his living as

a musician, playing both carillon and recorder. He composed some ofthe most important

recorder works and his most famous work is a very extensive collection of solo pieces for the

soprano recorder Derfluyten lusthof(Garden of delights for the flute). It includes folk songs,

dance tunes, psalms, and newly composed songs. The title ofthe piece selected for this

program, Doen Daphne d’over de schoone Maeght, is translated “When Daphne, the most beautiful

maiden.”

Flemish composer and organist Pieter Cornet is the only known composer in a Brussels

musical family that produced many performing musicians throughout the sixteenth and

seventeenth centuries. He was the organist at Saint Nicolas church in Brussels at the Bmssels 

court ofArchduke Albrecht and his consort Isabella, whose enduring claim to fame is that they

commissioned a dual portrait from Jan Brueghel the Elder, which was finished in 1611. Among

Comet’s fellow court musicians in the period 1612 to 1618 was John Bull, a refugee from

England at the time. Comet’s music explores various styles, and his toccatas demonstrate great

imagination and familiarity with English, Dutch, Spanish and Italian musical styles.

Venetian composer Dario Castello specialized in performing on the bassoon and the cometto,

a curved wooden instrument with a mouthpiece like that of a trumpet. He was played an early

yet important part in the transformation ofthe instrumental canzona into the sonata. There is

very little written information about Castello, but it is thought that he was associated with Saint

Mark’s Cathedral in Venice as maestro di capella (director ofmusic). Of his inventive and

musically challenging music, only twenty-nine examples survive.

Program notes by Kathleen Trahan, Alicia Kosack. and Stephen Ackert