This is a season of anniversaries. The 40th of our San Francisco Early Music Society has just passed. This coming year, 2016, marks the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death. How appropriate that the next concert in our 2015–16 season features the acclaimed Baltimore Consort—itself celebrating its 35th anniversary this year—for a program of music for Shakespeare’s plays. Performances take place the weekend of November 20–22 (Saint Cecilia’s Day!) in Palo Alto, Berkeley, and San Francisco.
There are hundreds of references to music in the Bard’s works. His plays include directions for incidental music—dances, intradas, martial music, and more. They also sometimes call for specific songs. Shakespeare himself authored some of their lyrics, which were set by contemporaneous composers. In other cases, he incorporated popular songs well known to his audience. Baltimore Consort’s program will include music for ten plays, including Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, A Winter’s Tale, As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Henry IV, and Merry Wives of Windsor. The music will range from sad, sweet songs to broadside ballads, sprightly jigs, and incisive galliards. Some favorite hits on the program include “It Was a Lover and His Lass,” “Full Fathom Five,” “The Willow Song,” and “The Mad, Merry Pranks of Robin Goodfellow.”
Since 1980, the Baltimore Consort has shown the world the popular appeal of Renaissance music. They model themselves after a “broken consort,” the mixed ensemble of winds, bowed and plucked strings which was a favorite dance band during the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The addition of Danielle Svonavec’s silvery soprano voice gives this exquisite consort the ability to cover a huge range of popular song as well as instrumental works. With over a dozen CDs and frequent appearances on radio shows such as St. Paul Sunday and Performance Today, it is no surprise they were recognized as Top Classical Crossover Artist of the Year by Billboard magazine. Their programs always are varied, upbeat, and enlightening.
This will be an evening of lovely, lively songs and dance tunes, a wonderful introduction to early music for first-time concert-goers, and a must for lovers of Shakespeare who want deeper insight into his plays and his world.
SFEMS presents The Baltimore Consort on Friday, November 20, 8:00 p.m., at First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto (please note our new Palo Alto venue!); Saturday, November 21, 7:30 p.m., at St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Berkeley; and Sunday, November 22, 4:00 p.m. at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in San Francisco. Order tickets online or call the SFEMS box office at 510-528-1725.
The Baltimore Consort has provided excellent notes for this concert. Read more about the Consort’s instruments, the role of music in Shakespeare’s plays, and about the context for the works they will perform.
