Among
the composers most well known to classical
music lovers are probably not Ferdinando
Carulli (1770-1841) or Fernando Sor
(1778-1839), even though combined they
account for more than works for the guitar.
But therein lies the reason, perhaps, that
they aren’t better known: The guitar has (as
far as Classical Music is concerned) always
been something of the ugly stepsister
amongst the instruments. In its upcoming
concerts, Musical Offering, Ltd., hopes to
give the classical guitar its due.
The Italian-born Carulli took up the guitar
when he was in his 20s and once converted,
sought to develop the guitar as a
first-class classical instrument. To this
end, he had to study on his own and even had
to largely self-publish his compositions. In
his quest to popularize the guitar, Carulli
didn’t mind borrowing well known tunes from
his famous predecessors—case in point being
his Variations de Beethoven, Op. 169, which
is itself a set of variations Beethoven
composed (Op. 66) to the aria “Ein Maadchen
oder Weibchen” from the opera Die
Zauberfluute by Mozart. Musical Offering
performs this work as well as Carulli’s
Nocturne in D Minor, Op. 131. The
Spanish-born Sor didn’t become quite the
guitar-exclusive composer that Carulli was,
however he is remembered today chiefly for
more than 100 works he composed for the
instrument that remain a vital part of the
guitar repertory. Sor’s various rondos,
divertimentos, polonaises and fantasies are
similar to those of his near-contemporary
Carulli, but Sor deliberately composed works
intended for beginners as well as a
decidedly more challenging set of works
aimed at the accomplished guitarist. Musical
Offering performs Sor’s Fantaisie, Op. 54.
Niccol Paganini (1782-1840) is known as the
greatest violin virtuoso who ever lived, and
his compositions largely reflect upon that
career, but he dabbled in other instruments
as well, including the guitar. A
particularly potent blending of both
instruments can be found in his 1808 Grand
Sonata in A Major for Guitar & Violin, Op.
Posth. 35, in which—perhaps surprisingly—the
guitar part is raised to a level equal to or
even above that of Paganini’s beloved
violin. In a unique segment of the Romanza,
he turns the tables as the guitarist assumes
a lovely, melancholic tune while the
violinist is called upon to pluck the
violin’s strings in accompaniment! Musical
Offering’s artistic director and
accomplished keyboardist Joan Parsley is
joined for this concert by Cuban-born
classical guitarist Rene Izquierdo, and
guitarist Elina Chekan of Minsk, Belarus.
Izquierdo earned his Master of Music and
Artist Diploma from Yale University, and is
presently professor of classical guitar at
Wisconsin State University in Milwaukee. He
won the JoAnn Faletta International Guitar
Competition in 2004. Chekan directs the
Pre-College Division’s Guitar Program at
UW-Milwaukee, and also attained her Master
of Music
This concert of rare works for classical
guitar takes place on March 15 and 16 at 157
N.87th St., Wauwatosa. For tickets and more
information please call (414) 258-6133. The
concerts are preceded by an opening Jause
(Viennese reception).
Press Clippings
Press Release: Ensemble Musical Offering's Mirabel Quartet Program takes a twist
Archive: Champions of the Classical Guitar
Archive: Musical Offering rings in the New Year with Bach and Sons
Archive: Beethoven, both mini and mighty
Archive: 2007-'08 SEASON ‘Home girl’ Parsley back at it with more hausmusik
Archive: Wauwatosa home will play host to Biedermeier hausmusik
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Ensemble Musical Offering's Mirabel Quartet Program takes a twist
MILWAUKEE, WI, MAY 8, 2008……..Necessary changes have been made in Ensemble Musical Offering’s Mirabel Quartet concert slated May 17 and 18 at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music and the Wauwatosa home of Artistic Director, Joan Parsley.
Due to an emergency health-related situation with first violinist Martha Perry, the original program, which included Haydn’s “Sunrise” Quartet, has been canceled and the program has changed as well as dates slightly altered for the performance. The new program will be within keeping of its Germanic nature, however.
The Ensemble will now play a program of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven on May 18 at the home of Artistic Director Joan Parsley. The new program includes a Haydn Piano Trio in F major, Hob.XV No. 6, Mozart’s violin sonata in E minor written shortly after the composer’s mother died in Paris, and Beethoven’s WoO 32, E-flat major duo subtitled “Duett mit zwei obligaten Augenglaasern ” (with two pairs of obbligato eyeglasses) as well as Haydn’s F minor Variations for fortepiano. Beethoven’s duet is scored for viola and cello. The sub-title refers to the spectacles both Beethoven and his cellist needed to wear to perform the work!
Musicians are William Bauer, violin and viola, Debra Lonergan, cello and Joan Parsley, fortepiano. All will perform on instruments from the Classical period.
“Martha’s illness comes at a much unexpected time in her life as well as the life of the Ensemble.”
We are hoping she will be able to play with us next season and we will know that very soon. We ask that our patrons keep her in their thoughts and prayers.”
With the change in program and musicians, the May 17 concert has been canceled at the Wisconsin Conservatory in order to more fully prepare for the May 18 concert. Those patrons holding tickets for May 17 will have three options:
1. They may use tickets for May 18 if seats are available by calling Musical Offering at 414-258-6133;
2. May 17 tickets will be honored at a concert of the patron’s choice on the Ensemble’s 2008-2009 season which will be announced shortly;
3. They may ask for a ticket refund to be processed in the mail.
Tickets are $35 for Adults and $26 for fulltime students. The May 18th concert’s traditional Jause, a hearty, but no necessarily heart-healthy Viennese reception, begins at 4:00 at 157 N. 87th Street, in the Ravenswood sub-district of Wauwatosa. The concert begins promptly at 4:30 PM. Take Exit 306 North to Hawthorne Ave. to enter the Ravenswood sub-district which the Parsley home may be found.
For more information, contact Musical Offering at 414-258-6133.
Archive: Champions of Classical Guitar
Posted: March 17. 2008
By JOHN JAHN
Sheperd Express
Classical Preview
Archive: Musical Offering rings in the New Year with Bach and Sons
WAUWATOSA, WI, December 14, 2007
Musical Offering Ltd., Milwaukee’s producer of early music, will bring in the New Year with concerts featuring the music of J.S. Bach (1685-1750) and son in two Hausmusik performances on Saturday, December 29 and Sunday, December 30 at 4:00 PM. The concerts, including a holiday reception, will be held at 157 North 87th Street in Wauwatosa, WI, the home of Artistic Director Joan Parsley.
Ensemble Musical Offering’s musicians for the third concert of the 2007-2008 season include mezzo soprano Cornelia Beilke, harpsichordist/fortepianist Joan Parsley and violoncellist Debra Lonergan. (see Attached bios.)
According to Parsley, “What would the world be without Bach?” Over the years, Musical Offering Ltd. dba Milwaukee Baroque produced the five-year American Bach Project held at All Saints’ Cathedral in downtown Milwaukee where the ensemble was Artists-In-Residence. This concert, however, features more of the intimate chamber music for solo voice with continuo as well as for solo keyboard itself.
Most of the works will be taken from JS Bach’s 1725 Anna Magdelena Notebook, the composer’s Christmas Oratorio as well as CPE Bach’s Character Pieces and his 30 Geistliche Lieder. Both a secular as well as sacred program, the audience will have an opportunity to hear some of J.S. Bach’s best known and most loved compositions he wrote and/or collected and gave to his second wife, Anna Magdelena as a tribute of the composer’s admiration for her. The collection also includes works by other composers such as ,”Bist du bei mir” (BWV 508) written by J.S. Bach’s colleague, Gottfried Heinrich Stoeltzel, but often attributed to JS Bach himself. Parsley will perform French Suite BWV 812 that was copied by Anna Magdelana and included in the collection, other Preludes (BWV 846/1) as well as the Aria from the Goldberg Variations (BWV988/1).
Beilke will add her voice to the Aria di Giovannini, Willst du dein Herz mire schenken (BWV 518) and the Air, So oft ich meine Tobackspfeife (BWV 515 b). In addition, the recitatives and arias for mezzo from JS Bach’s Christmas Oratorio will be performed.
As the trio moves forward in time, the music of CPE Bach (1714-1788) will be showcased in his Character Pieces for fortepiano and sacred vocal literature, Geistliche Lieder, which portrays songs for Christmas, the New Year, The World at Court, and Evensong written by the eminent German theologian, philosopher and writer of the day, Christian Furchtegott Gellert. (Furchtegott=God fearing!!) In 1751, the University of Leipzig appointed Gellertg Associate
Professor of Poetry, Rhetoric and Morals: he owed the appointment to his fame as a writer of fables and is said to have over 500 students at the time. Goethe noted that Gellert’s moral teaching was the “foundation of German ethical culture.” Needless to say, Gellert was among the most well-read authors of his time.
Ticket reservations for the New Year’s weekend event are $35. It is recommended to reserve in advance as seating is limited. Reservations may be made by calling 414-258-6133 or by e-mail to musical.offering@yahoo.com. Checks made payable to Musical Offering Ltd. may be mailed to the office at 157 N. 87th Street, Wauwatosa, WI 53226. Musical Offering’s website at www.musicalofferingltd.org gives details of the season and the organization
Archive: Beethoven, both mini and mighty
By TOM STRINI
Journal Sentinel music critic
Posted: Dec. 8, 2007
A re-creation of a little five-octave Stein fortepiano, circa 1780, stood beside a mammoth Steinway grand Saturday afternoon at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. Steven Lubin played Beethoven on both, clattering on the Stein and booming on the Steinway.
Musical Offering, the presenting organization, had hoped to have Lubin play on a middle-ground instrument, a six-and-a-half-octave Graf fortepiano, of the type that Beethoven would have known in the 1820s. But all parties were skittish about shipping it on icy roads from Minneapolis.
Lubin, who built his considerable reputation on period keyboards, was fine with that. He said he was pleased to play Beethoven's Sonatas Nos. 21, 22 and 23 on the modern grand. He thought Sonata No. 21 ("Waldstein") an especially good fit for the Steinway, though such instruments did not exist in 1804, when Beethoven composed the piece.
"This sonata is why modern pianos were invented," he said, exaggerating only slightly.
Lubin explained that the "Waldstein," the starting gun of Beethoven's Middle Period, holds a key place in music history. Its wide-ranging key plan broke with tradition and opened the door to the musical Wild West that was Romanticism. Lubin's furious, explosive performance, as much as his analysis, made the theory stick.
Beethoven often went wild in one piece and colored well within the lines in the next. Lubin played the two-movement Sonata No. 22, gentle and subtle compared with No. 21, to demonstrate that tendency. He played it on the Steinway, then repeated a good bit of it on the Stein. It does fit the smaller instrument, in both compass and spirit. On the Stein, No. 22 sounded like a bright and modest throwback to the 1780s or even to Baroque practice.
Had he attempted the forward-looking No. 23 ("Appassionata") on the Stein, he would have pounded it into kindling. This is big music for a big piano, and that's how Lubin played it. A memory lapse in the finale barely reduced the power of his muscular reading.
Lubin's remarks carried almost as much weight as his playing. He is an engaging, massively informed lecturer, and he speaks in common-sense terms that anyone can grasp. I learned a lot, and you will, too, if you attend the repeat performance at 4 p.m. today or the "Breakfast with Beethoven" event at the conservatory at 10 a.m. Monday. Call (414) 258-6133 for tickets and information.
Archive:
2007-'08 SEASON ‘Home girl’ Parsley back at it with more hausmusik
By TOM STRINI
Journal Sentinel music critic
Posted: June 12, 2007
Joan Parsley resuscitated her Musical Offering last year by staying close to home. Really close.
She decked out her Wauwatosa home in Biedermeier style, with a nod toward the Milwaukee Art Museum’s spectacular Biedermeier show.
She hosted programs of hausmusik, the stuff that dedicated amateurs played in middle- and upper-class households and that professionals played in home salons starting in about 1820.
Parsley was so pleased with the hausmusik series that she’s putting on a second year of it, titled "A Little More Hausmusik: Chamber Music in 19th Century London, Vienna and Paris."
One program will take place at the Wisconsin Conservatory; the rest will be in Parsley’s home or other private homes to be arranged. All programs will begin at 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. The address is 157 N. 87th St., just off I-94 (Exit 306) in Wauwatosa.
• On Oct. 28 and 29, Ensemble Musical Offering will play music by Mozart. The program includes the Quartet in C KV 285B (Anh. 171) for Flute, Violin, Viola and Violoncello; the Sonata in C for Flute and Clavier, KV 14; the Piano Trio in E, KV 542; and "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik." The ensemble comprises Paul Jacobson, flute; Gesa Kordes, violin; William Bauer, viola; and Debra Lonergan, cello. All will play instruments authentic to the Classical period.
• Fortepianist Steven Lubin, an important Beethoven scholar and interpreter, will give an all-Beethoven recital on Dec. 8 and 9. He will play on a reproduction of a Viennese 6 ½-octave Graf fortepiano, built by Rod Regier and on loan from The Schubert Club collection of St. Paul. Beethoven took ownership of just such an instrument in 1825. Lubin will play Sonatas opus 53 ("Waldstein"), 54 and 57 ("Appassionata"). On the morning of Dec. 10 at a time to be determined, Lubin will give a lecture demonstration and master class.
Lubin’s events will be held in the intimate concert hall of the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, 1584 N. Prospect Ave., with seating arranged around the player and the instrument. The conservatory fits the hausmusik idea; the conservatory building began life as a private residence.
• At 4 p.m. on Dec. 29 and 30, contralto Cornelia Beilke and Parsley, alternating between fortepiano and an Italian harpsichord, will present music from the Bach family circle, including selections from C.P.E. Bach’s Character Pieces and art songs.
• The guitar had quite a vogue in Vienna in the 19th century, and the instrument lends itself to the hausmusik aesthetic. On March 15 and 16, classical guitarist Rene Izquierdo and Parsley will play music by Beethoven and guitar virtuoso Ferdinando Carulli (1770-1841). Repertoire includes Carulli’s Variations on Beethoven, based on Beethoven’s Variations opus 66, in turn based on "Ein Mädchen oder Webchen" from Mozart’s "Die Zauberflöte."
Izquierdo is a member of the music faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he has played several successful recitals.
• The Mirabel String Quartet, a spinoff of Ensemble Musical Offering, will play a Beethoven/Haydn program May 17 and 18. The Mirabel comprises violinists Allison Edberg and Martha Perry, violist William Bauer and cellist Debra Lonergan.
THE DETAILS
A subscription to all five events is $160, a 20% discount on single ticket prices
To subscribe, send a check, payable to Musical Offering Ltd., to 157 N. 87th St., Wauwatosa, WI 53226. Write "subscription" on memo line of the check and enclose a note indicating a preference for Saturday or Sunday seating. Subscribers are allowed to mix days.
Single tickets are $35, except for the Lubin recital, which is $50. Tickets to events in private homes must be purchased in advance; tickets will not be sold at the door.
Traditional European desserts, coffee, green tea and a pre-concert lecture will be part of each concert. The lecturers and topics are to be announced. For more information, call Musical Offering Ltd. at (414) 839-6195, e-mail musical.offering@yahoo.com or visit www.musicalofferingltd.org.
Copyright 2007, Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved.
Archive: Wauwatosa home will play host to Biedermeier hausmusik
By TOM STRINI
Journal Sentinel music critic
Posted: Oct. 25, 2006
Joan Parsley, late of the Historical Keyboard Society, Musical Offering and Milwaukee Baroque, is back after a 2 1/2 -year layoff from the concert business.
This time around, she's keeping it close to home - as in her residence, 157 N. 87th St., Wauwatosa.
Parsley is presenting, hosting and playing in a series inspired by the Biedermeier decor show at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Parsley and her husband, German-culture expert Sy Kreilein, have had their hallway, dining room and living room (or Wohnzimmer, auf Deutsch) decorated in Biedermeier chic a la Vienna circa 1830 for the series.
In those days, every Austrian household from the middle class up had a piano, and musical soirees were common. That's the sort of event Parsley is after in "In Harmony: At Home with Biedermeier," which opens Saturday and runs through Dec. 31.
All programs will begin with a traditional Viennese Jause, afternoon coffee with sweets (from Alterra Coffee Roasters and George Watts Tea Shop). Lecturers Kimberly Redding, Carroll Dittrich and Kreilein, in rotation throughout the series, will speak on life and culture of the Biedermeier era.
Period instruments
Parsley has always been interested in period instruments. For this series, she's providing her own copy of a Viennese Stein fortepiano, and she's borrowed an 1810 "giraffe" upright piano from Rita Bucheit Antiques of Chicago. The guitar was a favored instrument of Biedermeier hausmusik; luthier Neal Ostberg has lent an 1810 Martin with the slender body shape typical of early 19th-century Viennese guitars.
Some local players
Some of the players on the series, starting with Parsley herself, are locals. But she has gone beyond Wisconsin for some headliners, including the noted scholar-keyboard player Steven Lubin of New York, the Mirabel String Quartet from St. Louis and classical guitarist Nathan Wysock of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y.
Mozart and Schubert will no doubt be on the bill, but so will composers common in that era but rare today: Fernando Sor, Mauro Giuliani, J.K. Mertz and Francois-Adrien Boildieu, for example.
Copyright 2006, Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved.