When:
April 14, 2019, 3 - 6 p.m.
Where:
First Congregational Church of Los Angeles
540 South Commonwealth Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90020
On April 14th, Los Angeles audiences will have the opportunity to hear the work performed by a world-class ensemble of musicians. The concert honors the memory of the Los Angeles philanthropist, Richard Colburn, who is most often associated with the founding of the renowned Colburn School of Music. A lifelong devotee of classical music, Mr. Colburn attended a transfixing performance of Bach’s masterpiece in the Netherlands, where performing the work was a yearly tradition.
Inspired by the story, Colburn’s descendants decided to import this tradition to the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, the oldest Protestant church in the area. Founded in 1867, the building is constructed in the Gothic revival style -- an apt setting for Bach's gripping illustration of the the events leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion.
Conductor Martin Haselböck, who leads the Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra -- one of the world’s preeminent historical performance ensembles -- joins us to answer a few questions about his career and Bach’s work.
(PTP) What inspired you to become a musician?
(MH) Since I came from a family of musicians, my start was quite inevitable. Music surrounded me constantly in my house; my father was one of the leading organists in our country and all of my siblings became musicians. As a matter of fact, Lukas, one of my younger brothers -- a composer, singer and professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna -- will be one of the singers for our performance in Los Angeles.
(PTP) On a related note, what are some of your earliest impressions of Bach’s music?
(MH) Baroque music has served as a major reason for me to become a musician. I recall organ recitals with Bach’s music streaming through wonderful Baroque churches. As an organist, I had an early start in my career and was able to play on great historic instruments from Bach's lifetime all around the world.
(PTP) You were the Court Organist for Vienna for many years and performed as a soloist under the baton of formidable conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Lorin Maazel, and Riccardo Muti. Do you feel that your extensive experience as an instrumentalist and performer, as well as your collaborations with these conductors, contributed to your current way of music-making?
(MH) Yes, I do. In Vienna, I was always surrounded with some of the best music available. Early experiences, such as playing with the Vienna Philharmonic at age 19, serve as sources of incredible inspiration.
(PTP) What gave you the impetus to make conducting one of your most important musical preoccupations?
(MH) I was trained as an organist, composer and conductor, but the official start of my career as a conductor coincided with the 300th anniversary of Bach's birth in 1985. During that time, I was responsible for a festival during which I performed the complete organ works by Bach. When the director of the famous Musikverein in Vienna asked me to present a few of Bach's orchestral pieces in concert, I formed my own orchestra (Orchester Wiener Akademie). Thus began a trajectory which led to releasing our first commercial recordings in the late 1980s and my conducting major orchestras. I remember that the first pieces we played on tour were the Brandenburg Concertos.
(PTP) In light of the fact that many composers wrote musical settings of the Passion and the Biblical text of Matthew 26–27 in the late 17th century, what makes Bach’s setting so memorable and distinctive?
(MH) Bach's setting of the passion texts represents the climax of his own musical preaching and the culmination of baroque art. Never before or since has so much theological and philosophical content been expressed in a piece of music. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, this piece is one of the eternal masterworks. Today it stands as a symbol for divine inspiration and the incredible power of Bach’s creative mind.
(PTP) What is your favorite moment of the St. Matthew's Passion to conduct and why?
I love the powerful chorus pieces and the arias, both of which impart intense emotional stories to the listener. For me, the most striking moment is the alto aria "Erbarme dich“, in which the singer asks for God’s mercy. At the same time, the solo violin grants consolation and forgiveness.
(PTP) You are a great proponent of historically informed performance. For our readers who may not be acquainted with this approach, could you please briefly explain it as well as why these practices are important to respect in our modern day? Which period instruments will the orchestra be using?
(MH) The most obvious difference is the number of singers used in performance. Bach did not use large choirs. Instead, he employed small groups of singers. Every single vocalist will be a soloist in our rendition of the piece. In addition, all of the string instruments will be played with gut strings (made out of sheep intestines) and baroque bows. You will also hear a viola da gamba, a precursor to the modern cello, and several little known members of the oboe family, like the oboe da caccia and the oboe d'amore.
(PTP) Some relate Bach's innovation in orchestration and his deployment of original instrumental combinations to his expertise in organ registration and combining unusual stops. Do you find that this is true, and if so, do you consider such information when you conduct?
(MH) Yes, I consider such information. I find that Bach’s orchestration is strongly connected to his densely structured concept of the work. Each key in which an aria is set and each tempo indication has a theological meaning. To put it simply, the orchestra is divided in half, from the "divine" world of the string instruments -- which accompany Jesus' words, for instance -- to the "humane" world of the wind instruments. The score of the Passion can be compared to a book which tells the musician new secrets, even after the 30th time conducting it.
(PTP) Tell us a little about the singers you will be working with.
We are using two orchestras for the St. Matthew Passion. Since my beginnings as a music director of Musica Angelica in 2003, it has been my goal to bring some of the best Baroque musicians from both Europe and America together in a performance of this piece. In 2009, we did a tour of the piece which represented 13 performances throughout the US as well as in Mexico, Austria, Germany, Italy, Hungary and Spain. This time, we are presenting just three performances in the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein, the Bellas Artes in Mexico City, and finally in Los Angeles. We are using some of the very best American baroque singers, such as the fantastic Evangelist Zachary Wilder, the alto Reginald Mobley, John Taylor Ward, who will be singing the voice of Jesus, and some of the great young European soloists, like the soprano Theodora Raftis, the famous countertenor Alois Mühlbacher, and baritone Christoph Filler. The ripieno vocalists supporting the soloists are made up of some of the most versatile American singers of Bach's music.
(PTP) Some of our readers may or may not know that the St. Matthew Passion was forgotten until nearly eight decades later, when the young composer Felix Mendelssohn championed the work and reintroduced it to audiences in 1829. Why is it important that listeners attend Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra’s performance on April 14th if they have never experienced the piece before?
(MH) It is true that Mendelssohn brought a forgotten masterpiece back into the limelight, as did Johannes Brahms twenty years later in Vienna.
There are countries like the Netherlands where a St. Matthew Passion performance is an annual ritual attended by large audiences in cities such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Den Haag. Carol Colburn made this performance possible to honor her late father, the philanthropist Richard Colburn, who supported the musical arts in the Los Angeles area. He frequented several performances of the St. Matthew Passion in a church located in Naarden. Whatever your background is in music, I can guarantee that you will leave the First Congregational Church inspired, and maybe even as a changed person.
Isn’t that what we want to achieve through music?
For Tickets and more information please visie at Musicaangelica website.
About the Interviewer
