Love and Perfidy
Ancient Myths in the Works of G. F. Händel and his Contemporaries
Imperial Hall
Jiřská 3/1, Pražský hrad, Praha 1 - Hradčany, 110 00
Artists
Birgit Schnurpfeil, Andreas Pfaff – violin
Ulrike Paetz – viola
Ulrike Becker – cello
Mark Nordstrand – harpsichord
Programme
Alessandro Scarlatti (1660–1725)
Concerto a quattro Nr. 3 in F major
Penelope la Casta (1696): Dove sei, cara mia vita?
Didone Delirante (1696): A un’alma ch’è forte
G. F. Händel (1685–1759)
Triosonata G major op. 5
Armida abbandonata (1707) – selections
J. A. Hasse (1699–1783)
Sinfonia g minor op. 5
Achille in Sciro (1759): No, ingrato, amor non senti
Niccolò Porpora (1686–1768)
Concerto da Camera e minor no. 5
Polifemo (1737): Smanie d’affanno
C. H. Graun (1704–1759)
Britannico (1751): Mi paventi
Concert with intermission.
Expected end of the concert: 21:30.
Annotation
In 1683, one of the most important fresco artists of the 17th century, Fabián Václav Harovník, died in Prague. A few years later, three hundred kilometres away from here, a son was born to the local bonesetter Händel in Halle an der Saale. He was be christened Georg Friedrich and became so famous around the world that his name will forever remain a synonym of musical perfection and invention. Both artists were great lovers of the ancient myth. Harovník painted the ceilings of the Lobkowicz palace with mythological motifs; Händel wove mythical stories into music.
Galatea, Agrippina, Penelopa, Dido, Armida and Alcina are the ancient heroines who will come together under Harovník’s frescoes at the Lobkowicz Palace, accompanied by the eminent German ensemble lautten compagney BERLIN. Their stories of love and perfidy will be sung by the beautiful soprano of Hanna Herfurtner.
The ancient heroines were often abandoned on deserted islands, washed by the immense waters of the sea. Händel, however, was always surrounded by the excellent music of his contemporaries, including operas and cantatas by Alessandro Scarlatti, Niccolo Porpora and Johann Adolph Hasse.
Venue
Imperial Hall
Jiřská 3/1, Pražský hrad, Praha 1 - Hradčany, 110 00
Partners of the concert
With the kind support of the Deutsch-Tschechischer Zukunftsfonds and in collaboration with Lobkowicz Events Management.
Artists
Hanna Herfurtner
soprano
Hanna Herfurtner made her debuts at the Salzburg Festival and at Berlin’s State Opera in 2011, having created the title role in Hans Werner Henze’s opera Gisela! at the Ruhr Triennale Festival the previous year. In 2013, she made her debut at the Theater an der Wien, starring as Nerea in Porpora’s Polifemo, and created the part of A Boy in André Tchaikowsky’s The Merchant of Venice at the Bregenz Festival. In 2014, she performed Polly in Birtwistle’s Punch and Judy at the Berlin State Opera.
Her operatic repertoire includes Tytania in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Fraate in Handel’s Radamisto, La Musica in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, Mme Silberklang in Mozart’s Der Schauspieldirektor, Olympia in Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann and Adele in Strauß’s Die Fledermaus.
Hanna Herfurtner has performed with a number of renowned orchestras and ensembles, including the Bochumer Symphoniker, Münchner Symphoniker, Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Wiener Symphoniker and Wiener Philharmoniker, in collaboration with distinguished conductors such as Michael Boder, Roland Kluttig, Oksana Lyniv, Christopher Moulds, Erik Nielsen, Steven Sloane, Patrick Summers, Christian Thielemann and Sebastian Weigle.
Lautten Compagney
Lautten compagney BERLIN is one of the most renowned baroque ensembles in Germany. For three decades, the ensemble under the artistic direction of Wolfgang Katschner has enchanted audiences with their infectious joy in music. In their innovative projects they effortlessly translate the musical language of the baroque era to make it more comprehensible to contemporary audiences. Be it as a chamber ensemble or as an opera orchestra, the ensemble is continually crossing boundaries and seeking out encounters with new sounds and other art forms.
The ensemble has received numerous awards for its exciting musical collaborations. For “Timeless”, a CD recording combining early baroque music with works by Philip Glass, lautten compagney received an ECHO Klassik award in 2010. In 2012, the ensemble was awarded the Rheingau Music Prize as a recognition of the ensemble’s creative concert programming.
Lautten compagney is a regular guest at prestigious concert halls and festivals all over Europe, including Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Vienna Musikverein, Rheingau Musik Festival, Handel Festival Halle, Mosel Musikfestival and Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht. Twice a year, Wolfgang Katschner and lautten compagney invite audiences to join them at AEQUINOX, a music festival held annually in Neuruppin, Brandenburg. Since 2014 the orchestra has also been ensemble in residence at the Festival Alter Musik Bernau. Recently, lautten compagney has been repeatedly invited as guest at the Winter in Schwetzingen baroque music festival.
Wolfgang Katschner
lute, artistic leader
Originally a lute player, Wolfgang Katschner established lautten compagney Berlin in 1984, together with Hans-Werner Apel, in order to combine their skills as musicians and organisers with enthusiasm for the rediscovery of the world of early music. Wolfgang Katschner has been invited as guest conductor of orchestras at many operatic scenes all over Germany.
Between 2012 and 2016 he was artistic director of the “Winter in Schwetzingen” concert season in Heidelberg, in the current season he is scheduled to work with orchestras of the opera houses in Bonn, Oldenburg, Nuremberg and others. He also dedicates himself to the formation of the young generation of musicians and teaches, for example, at the music universities in Mainz and Weimar.
