- Time & Date
- 15:00, Saturday, 13. 2. 2010
- Venue
- Hamarikyu Asahi Hall, Tokyo
- Conductor
- Christopher Hogwood
- Soloists
- Naomi Satake (S)
- Mutsumi Hatano (A)
- Hirohisa Tsuji (T)
- Masato Makino (B)
- Choir & Orchestra
- CANNONS CONCERT CHAMBER CHOIR & ORCHESTRA
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- Greetings from the Chairman
- We thank you all for coming to join our 7th Handel Festival Japan (HFJ) today.
- This is the last project (Project 4) in the season of the 250th anniversary of Handel's passing and it is our honor to have an opportunity to welcome Mr. Christopher Hogwood as our conductor for this remarkable event.
- Mr. Hogwood founded the Academy of Ancient Music in 1973, when he made a debut vividly as a flag bearer of "Early Music ", and since then, he has expanded his repertoire to the contemporary music. He has been always one of the most active international conductors and still attracts the major attention from today's music world. Furthermore, he has been conducting research work energetically. A great number of literary work and revising musical scores show his immense contribution to the music world. Amongst of all, Mr. Hogwood is considered as the greatest authority for the Handel's works in terms of both his research and performance.
- For this Project 4, Mr. Hogwood and HFJ have decided to extend our performance of L'ALLEGRO,IL PENSEROSO ED IL MODERATO as a result of consultation. This particular work was composed during the period when Handel was seeking and struggling for a new direction of his theatre works from various point of views. Hence, it became a very unique work which has individual characters and can be classified neither as an oratorio nor an ode. We will take up a challenge to delete the work's third part and instead, will perform "Ode for St Cecilia's Day" following, which certainly admires the transcendental power of music. This performance of two works linked together, as Handel did sometimes, will be the very first challenge in the modern world, since he passed away. It is our great pleasure if you could enjoy this historical performance provided by the world-famous maestro, Mr. Hogwood and HFJ.
- Last but not least, our special thanks go to "JAPAN ARTS FUND" , "The Asahi Shimbun Foundation for the Arts" , "The Kao Foundation for Arts and Sciences" , "The Mitsubishi UFJ Trust Foundation for the Arts" , "The Asahi Shimbun" , "CLASSICA- JAPAN" , "CONRAD TOKYO" , "Akira Kubota Harpsichord Workshop" , "Masaru Ishii(Positive Organ)" , "Zimaku Plus" , "Ikegami Lutheran Church" , "HFJ Support Club : HANDELIAN" and "GEORG-FRIEDRICH-HANDEL- GESELLSCHAFT, Internationale Vereinigung, e.V." for their remarkable support and cooperation.
- Toshiki Misawa
- Chairman
- Committee of Handel Festival Japan
- (Translated by Naoko Oshima)
- Greetings from the Conductor
- HANDEL: L'ALLEGRO, IL PENSEROSO and the ODE FOR ST. CECILIA
- This season is one of special celebration for all Handelians — the 250th anniversary of the composer's death — and I am particularly pleased to be working with the Handel Festival Japan in the final and biggest project of their memorial season. For this occasion we have chosen to recreate an unusual combination of works that Handel himself devised in 1743 (and repeated only once after that), programming the first two parts of L'ALLEGRO and IL PENSEROSO, followed by the ODE FOR ST. CECILIA; by omitting the very 18th-century compromise of IL MODERATO, Handel returned to the original concept of the poet John Milton, and added as a grand finale the words of Dryden in praise of music, which he had set and first performed in 1739.
- It will probably be the first time since Handel's lifetime that this combination has been mounted in public, and we take the opportunity to include a modern premiere of the air "The soft complaining flute" which Handel transposed and rewrote for the contralto Mrs Cibber specially for the 1743 programme; this version has never been published and has been edited specifically for this concert. We all hope that you will enjoy such a unique Handelian celebration.
- Christopher Hogwood
