Lutenist Hopkinson Smith Performs at the Fabbri Mansion Tonight

Salon/Sanctuary Concerts presents Hopkinson Smith on lute in "Dowland's Europe: The Winds of Change" tonight, November 7th at 7 p.m. in The Library of the Fabbri Museum, 7 East 95th Street. For reservations, call 1 888 718-4253 or go to www.salonsanctuary.org. Tickets $25 - $100.

One of the foremost lutenists of our time, Hopkinson Smith, will perform a recital of Dowland and his contemporaries in the exquisite 15th century library of the Fabbri Mansion.

PROGRAM:

Robert Ballard (works primarily from the Premier Livre de Luth, Paris, 1611)

Entrée de Luth

Courante de la Reyne

Branles de Village

Entrée

Courante

Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger (1575-1641; works primarily from Il Primo Libro de Lauto, Rome, 1611)

Toccata 7

Gagliarda 12

Arpeggiata

Toccata 6

Corrente 7

John Dowland (1563-1626)

(works from the Varietie of Lute Lessons, London, 1610 and manuscript sources)

Dowland in Germany
Pavin by the most magnificent and famous Prince Mauritius,

Landgrave of Hessen
Fantasie by the most famous Gregorio Huwet of Antwerpe

Intermission

John Dowland

Three Feminine Portraits

The Right Honourable Lady Clifton's Spirit

Mignarda

Lady Hunsdon's Allmain

Lachrymae Pavin

Fantasie

Eight-course lute made by Joel van Lennep, New Hampshire, USA, 2002.

Born in New York in 1946, Hopkinson Smith graduated from Harvard with Honors in Music in 1972. The next year he came to Europe to study with Emilio Pujol in Catalonia and Eugen Dombois in Switzerland. He then became involved in numerous chamber music projects including the founding of the ensemble Hespèrion XX. Since the mid-80's, he has focused almost exclusively on the solo repertoires for early plucked instruments producing a series of prize-winning recordings for Astrée. These feature Spanish music for vihuela and baroque guitar, French lute music of the Renaissance and baroque, early 17th century Italian music and the German high baroque.

The recording of his lute arrangements of the Bach solo violin Sonatas and Partitas, released in the year 2000, has been universally acclaimed by the press. Gramophone magazine called it "the best recording of these works on any instrument". A Dowland recording, out since early 2005, won a Diapason d'Or and was called 'wonderfully personal' in a review in the New York Times. A recording with music from the world of Francesco da Milano, was awarded a Diapason d'Or de l'Année (the French equivalent of a Grammy award) in November 2009 and has been called "the first recording to do justice to Francesco's reputation." A CD with the first three Bach 'cello Suites played on the German Theorbo was released in early 2013 and has also won a Diapason d'Or.

Mr. Smith has performed and given master classes throughout eastern and western Europe, North and South America, Australia, Korea and Japan sometimes combining the life-style of a hermit with that of a gypsy. In 2007 and 2009, he gave concerts and workshops in Palestine under the auspices of the Barenboim-Said Foundation and the Swiss Arts Council. In 2010, he received the music prize from the Italian Region of Puglia with the inscription "maestro dei maestri, massimo interprete delle musiche per liuto dell'antica Europa Mediterranea". He teaches at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.

Notes on the Program

The beginning of the baroque era was a period of extraordinary creativity in the music of different parts of Europe. A new emphasis on the natural rhythms of language brought profound changes to vocal and instrumental repertoires alike. The year 1611 saw the publication in Paris and Rome of books of lute music that already clearly showed these new directions in France and Italy: Robert Ballard's Premier Livre and theLibro Primo d'Intavolatura di Lauto by Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger.

At the center of Ballard's repertoire are his Courantes. With rhythmic grace and melodic freedom, they show the beginning of the French 'style brisé' through suggestive polyphony where different voices move alternately and create a transparent filigree texture of great elegance. Prelude-like 'Entrées' and folk-inspired Branles will round out the picture of his oeuvre.

In sharp contrast to this we have the style of Kapsperger, who was of noble German origin but born in Venice and a central figure of Roman musical life. He wrote highly expressive Toccatas with wide swings of mood-sometimes violent, sometimes intimately touching-and always fascinating. These will be complemented by dance movements with virtuoso diminutions. The essence of Italian exaggeration, flamboyance and the broadest range of color mark his style.

The third figure in the program is John Dowland whose Varietie of Lute Lessons was published in London in 1610. Dowland spent time in both France and Italy and went on to develop his own style with occasional continental influences: diminutions divided between voices in the French style and the Italian penchant for chromaticism. But he was above all himself with the unique lyrical depth and melancholy of his Pavans and the theatrical dynamism of his lighter dances and his musical character portraits of royalty and members of the court.

With works taken primarily from these three collections, the program will not only show great variety in the lute publications of 1610 and 1611, but also illustrate the beginning of national styles that were to continue into the 18th century.

The Fabbri Mansion was built between 1914 and 1916 to serve as the town residence of Edith Shepard Fabbri, a great granddaughter of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, and her husband, Ernesto Fabbri, an associate of J. Pierpont Morgan. The House was designed by Grosvenor Atterbury, an American architect and town planner trained at L'Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, noted for the 1908 restoration of New York's City Hall. The interior decoration, however, was executed by Egisto Fabbri, Ernesto Fabbri's brother, who incorporated Edith Fabbri's collection of Italian Renaissance and Baroque furnishings and architectural fragments into his designs. Egisto Fabbri, well versed in the historic aspects of Italian architecture, helped design and decorate the House when it was built. Whole sections of original wood ceilings and the wood paneling of the historic library were transported in two ships from Italy through U-boat infested waters during World War I, and the House was designed and constructed to contain them.

The structure's outstanding architectural feature is the library, a treasure built in the 1400's for the Ducal palace in Urbino, Italy. The Library boasts a beautifully painted coat of arms, dated 1605-1607, on the vaulted 25 foot high ceiling. There is a monumental fireplace, exquisite paneling, a balustrade gallery, and even a secret passageway.

Founded by Artistic Director Jessica Gould in 2009, Salon/Sanctuary Concerts offers the special chance to hear pre-Romantic music in intimate venues that complement the historical context of the repertoire. Pleased to present special projects that cast alight on historical issues throughthe prism of music, Salon/Sanctuary takes pride in many special interdisciplinary performances featuring luminaries from the worlds of opera, theater, film, and dance. The series has garnered critical praise for its innovative programming, and continues to attract a diverse audience for its path breaking offerings.

Photo of Hopkinson Smith by Vico Chamla.

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