Music from English Court Masques

 Date: Friday, April 12, 2024

Time: 8 pm, followed by a reception 

Location: Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art 338 Lighthouse Avenue Staten Island, NY 10306 Bus: 54, 74, and 84 buses and the #15 SIM express bus 

Tickets: $15 Purchase online at https://www.tibetanmuseum.org/event-details/music-from-englishcourt-masques-with-collectio-musicorum OR at the door 


 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, March 6, 2024 

The English Court Masque was the most extravagant theatrical event of its time. Evolving during the 16th century, it reached its climax in productions at the court of King James I and his successors in the 17th century. Wildly elaborate and focusing on praising the monarch, these theatrical extravaganzas featured both professional and amateur performers, and combined florid poetry and music with sumptuous scenery and costumes. 

It is not possible to resurrect masques in the 21st century; too much source material has disappeared. However, enough music has survived to present a concert of selections from several of them, and that is what Collectio Musicorum, under the direction of its artistic director Jeff S. Dailey, will do on Friday, April 12th. Dr. Dailey, joined by tenor Alex Longnecker, gambist Patricia Ann Neely, and lutenist Christopher Morrongiello, will perform highlights from four 17th -century masques — Lord Hay’s Masque, The Masque of Beauty, The Masque of Queens, and The Masque of Oberon. 

The Jacques Marchais Museum provides a suitably exotic setting for this music. Constructed in 1947 to imitate a Himalayan temple, it will be illuminated by candlelight to evoke the luxurious surrounding of the Stuart court. In her 2022 book, The Buddha and the Bard, author Lauren Shufran draws connections between Buddhist teachings and Shakespeare’s plays. While she acknowledges that Shakespeare did not reference Buddhist texts in his works, she points out that he drew upon problems of the human condition, and that the Buddha did the same. This concert, unlike Collectio Musicorum’s last performances, will not contain texts by Shakespeare, but will focus, instead, on lyrics by his younger colleague, Ben Jonson, who wrote the poem eulogizing Shakespeare in the First Folio. Jonson, the principal masque writer of the early 17th century, was also a convicted murderer, who avoided hanging through a legal technicality. He was also a prolific annotator of the human condition. The music for these masques is by a variety of composers, including Robert Johnson, Thomas Campion (who also wrote some of the texts), Thomas Lupo, and Alfonso Ferrabosco. 

Dr. Jeff S. Dailey, a longtime friend of the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art, has been displaying his collection of Himalayan musical objects at the Museum since 2021. In April 2024, part of his collection will be exchanged with new objects and instruments never before seen by the public. This performance celebrates this collection update. Collectio Musicorum celebrates 10 years of concerts this year, and is pleased to return to Staten Island, the location of its first performance. About the Ensemble Collectio Musicorum, Inc. is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt corporation whose mission is to present the best possible performances of music from the earliest of times. Founded by Dr. Jeff S. Dailey, it presents concerts and workshops focusing on music that is not heard anywhere else. Collectio Musicorum is a member of Early Music America and the New York Opera Alliance. Further details may be found here: https://collectio-musicorum.blogspot.com/ Music 

Director Jeff Dailey studied musicology and theatre history at New York University where he received his PhD in 2002. He is an active instrumentalist, musicologist, conductor, and stage director. His publications include studies of Medieval and Renaissance music and theatre, Eugene O’Neill, Beowulf, Donizetti, and Gilbert and Sullivan. He has been president of the Greater New York Chapter of the American Musicological Society since 2008. Now retired as a college professor and administrator, Dr. Dailey devotes his time to researching the musical cultures of the Himalayas. 


For further information or to set up an interview: Call (917) 796–6112 or Email: drjsdailey@aol.com Website: https://collectio-musicorum-upcoming.blogspot.com/ ### Media services provided by: Gotham Early Music Scene, Inc. 340 Riverside Drive # 1-A, New York, NY 10025 www.gemsny.org

 

Four hundred years ago, in 1623, a book was published in London that changed the course of history.  Shakespeare’s First Folio, published seven years after his death, contains many plays that would have been lost if this book never appeared. 

In this, the quadricentennial anniversary of what has been called the world’s “most influential book,” Collectio Musicorum will perform music from the First Folio, from plays that were first published there and which would have been lost forever if this book had never appeared.

Songs and dances from As You Like It, Macbeth, The Tempest, and other plays are on the program.   The performers include Chad Kranak, Alex Longnecker, Christopher Preston Thompson, singers; Christopher Morrongiello, lute; Patricia Neely, viola da gamba; Jeff Dailey, recorder. 

The concert will feature some music from manuscripts in the Drexel Collection of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, which is right across the street.  Joseph Drexel donated his rare collection of 17th century English Music to the precursor of the NYPL in the 19th century.  New York City is indeed a rich resource for the study of Shakespeare.  There are more copies of the First Folio here (6 in the NYPL, 2 in the Morgan Library) than in London (which only has 5).

The concert will take place on Friday, October 27th at 8 PM at Good Shepherd-Faith Presbyterian Church, 152 West 66th Street, New York, NY 10023.  It is easily accessible to the #1 subway.  Admission is free. 

Highlights from the concert will be performed on Thursday, October 26th at St. Malachy’s Chapel, 239 West 49th Street in Manhattan at 1:15.  This concert is also free. 



Edipo Tiranno--Free Performance on May 20, 2022 


 Collectio Musicorum will present Andrea Gabrieli's Edipo Tiranno from 1585 on Friday, May 20, 2022 at Christ and St. Stephen's Church, 120 West 69th Street in Manhattan. The performance starts at 8 PM and is free. 

 Edipo Tiranno was written for the inauguration of the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Italy, in 1585. This was the first indoor theatre built in Europe in over 1000 years. The theatre still stands, and is known for its permanent scenery, which also dates from this first production and shows the streets of ancient Thebes--the setting for this play. This was Andrea Gabrieli's last composition--he died soon after its performance. While he is not as famous as his nephew--Giovanni Gabrieli--he was well regarded in his lifetime and held the prestigious position of music director at the Cathedral of San Marco in Venice. His music for Edipo Tiranno, to a text by Orsatto Giustiniani who based his work on Sophocles' play, was only performed twice before it disappeared from public view.

Also on the program are some works from ancient Greece--including a chorus from Euripedes' Orestes.

In addition to Gabrieli's setting of Sophocles, the concert also includes performances of the choruses fromt he play in English by the CAI Speech Choir. 

The Festival Chorus of Collectio Musicorum will be conducted by artistic director Dr. Jeff S. Dailey.

Note that all attendees must show proof of Covid-19 vaccination to enter the church and wear masks during the performance.

Musicians from Collectio Musicorum will perform music by Robert Johnson, the "heretic priest," and a few other early Scottish composers at the Gotham Early Music Scene's Midtown Concert Series on Thursday, October 10th, at 1:15 PM.  Now in its 22nd year, the Midtown Concert Series concerts takes place just about every Thursday afternoon in the chapel at St. Bartholomew's Church, 50th Street and Park Avenue.

Here's the program:


Dum transisset sabbatum……………………………………………………….…..Robert Johnson
I give you a new commandment…………………………………………………....Robert Johnson
Two Scottish branles………………………………………………………...……...Thoinot Arbeau
Defiled is my name…………………………………………………………………Robert Johnson
The beggar’s meal pokes……………………………………………………..……..James VI
O eternal God…………………………………………………………….…………Robert Johnson
Scotch cap—Edinburgh Castle…………………………………………………..…John Playford
Domine in virtute tua………………………………………………………………..Robert Johnson

Collectio Musicorum
Nathaniel Adams, tenor
Amanda Sidebotton, soprano
Padraic Costello, countertenor
Jeff Dailey (director), recorder, bass
Andrew Padgett, bass, percussion

Admission is Free

Collectio Musicorum (“Collection of Music”) presents a concert of music from Scotland, dating from the twelfth through the eighteenth centuries.  It takes place at Christ and St. Stephen’s Church, 120 W 69th St, New York, NY 10023, on Friday, October 18th at 8 PM.  Admission is Free.


Much of the program is devoted to music by Robert Johnson, a priest and reformer, who was forced to flee Scotland due to his reformed religious views.  A prolific composer, his music has recently been edited by Dr. Elaine Moohan as part of the Musica Scotica series.  This music has never before been performed in the United States. 

Also among the pieces on the program are works from the twelfth century, when the northern portions of Scotland were under the control of Scandinavian kings, including one of the earliest examples of medieval polyphony, a hymn to St. Magnus the Martyr, who was martyred in 1115.  Music by Mary, Queen of Scots, and her son, James VI, will also be heard, as well as music by Roderick Morison, also called “The Blind Harper,” who lived at the turn of the eighteenth century. 

The performers include singers Amanda Sidebottom, Padraic Costello, Nate Adams, and Andrew Padgett; harpist Christopher Thompson and lutenist Christopher Morrongiello, all under the direction of Collectio Musicorum’s artistic director, Dr. Jeff S. Dailey.



          In 1850, Giuseppe Verdi began composing an opera based on a contentious play that was banned in France.  Victor Hugo’s Le Roi S’amuse featured a licentious ruler who did whatever he wanted, including seducing women and killing their husbands, and who did so without worrying about any consequences. 
          But Verdi’s opera was not complete fiction.  The title character in Rigoletto was based on a real jester, Nicolas Ferrial, called Triboulet, who lived from 1479 to 1536.  The sumptuous Renaissance setting of the opera influenced the composer, as did music from that time period.
          Collectio Musicorum (“Collection of Music”) presents highlights from Verdi’s opera alongside music of earlier composers, including Tromboncino, Monteverdi, Attaingnant, Sermisy, Gonzaga, Jannequin, Rossi, and others who are less well known, including the single surviving piece by the mysterious French composer Abel. 
          The performance takes place on Friday, May 17th at 8 PM at Christ and St. Stephen’s Church, 120 W 69th St, New York, NY 10023. Admission is free.  The church is accessible--there are no stairs between the performance space and the street.


This is a portrait of Triboulet, born Nicolas Ferrial, created c. 1550 by Jean Clouet.


Join the musicians of Collectio Musicorum on Friday, October 12th at 8 PM at Christ and St. Stephen's Church for a most unusual concert of music by composers who have one thing in common--their names start with the letter P.

Perotin, Piero, Pelissier, and Pergolesi are just some of the composers represented.  As with most Collectio concerts, the bulk of the music has never been heard in the US before.  Included on program is a short opera by Purcell based on a biblical excerpt.

The church is located at 122 W 69th St, New York, NY 10023 and the concert is free.  



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