Grace Notes

Sneak Preview:  Handel’s L’Allegro on April 5 and 6

JO SHUTE

UVB is thrilled to perform one of Handel’s great but lesser-known oratorios – L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato – in April.  Translated as The Cheerful Man, the Thoughtful Man and the Moderate Man, it is a pastoral ode in English based on the poetry of John Milton.  The popular concluding aria and chorus, “As Steals the Morn” is adapted from Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

“L’Allegro is one of Handel’s most consistently inspired and inventive works, and his orchestration is unusually colorful. There are important solos for a wide range of instruments: flute, horn, bells, cello, oboe, bassoon, organ; there is a continuo aria, and even the string writing has more varied coloration than in many of his works. No doubt all this was inspired in part by the imagery in the poetry, as are the wonderful depictions of the cricket on the hearth, the hunt, the warbling bird, “the busy hum of men,” the tongue-in-cheek portrayal of Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, and many other images.”

   – Program Notes by Martin Pearlman, Boston Baroque 

The work calls for chamber choir, orchestra, and four soloists, with the soprano soloist having a prominent role.  Our April concert will feature Amanda Forsythe, a renowned soprano who has often performed L’Allegro in venues around the world. 

The other three soloists are UVB favorites:  Chelsea Helm (soprano), Gene Stenger (tenor), and Paul Max Tipton (bass-baritone).

Amanda Forsythe

American soprano Amanda Forsythe, warmly praised for her performances on both sides of the Atlantic, is a regular soloist with the highly acclaimed baroque ensembles Les Talens Lyriques, the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, the Boston Early Music Festival, the Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Baroque, Tafelmusik, Apollo’s Fire, Opera Prima, Pacific Musicworks, Early Music Vancouver, and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.

Photo Credit: Tatian Daubek