Beethoven: Mass in C & Piano Concerto 3

Of few composers can it be said that through them, and them alone, the art of music became completely transformed.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) is such a composer. He represented a break with all the old concepts of what music should be and with the methods by which these concepts should be realized. Beauty of sound, balance and symmetry of structure, attractive lyricism for its own sake, even the expression of deeply felt emotion—all this is no longer that toward which Beethoven directed his means. He not only had to speak that which was in his heart; he also had to give voice to the beliefs and ideals that governed his life. He was a son of the Enlightenment. The new ideas of freedom and the rights of man sweeping across Europe, with Voltaire and Rousseau as their leading voices, sound loud and clear in Beethoven’s music. The world was aflame with the spirit of Revolution, its fires kindled in France. The “I”—the creative personality—was asserting itself more strongly than ever. “I must write,” Beethoven said, “for what weighs on my heart, I must express.” Everywhere in Europe, wherever genius spoke, such words were now being heard. 

Join the Ama Deus Ensemble at the Kimmel Center for a program of exciting, emotional and uplifting music of the master. Maestro Valentin Radu will play the Concerto No. 3 for Piano ("Empress"), the Ama Deus Ensemble orchestra and chorus will perform the wonderful Mass in C major, Op. 86 (Missa Brevis).

April E-Newsletter. Rossini & Mozart

The Mozart Requiem and the Rossini Stabat Mater are connected historically (or perhaps hysterically)…so the young Richard Wagner would have us believe!

It is no secret that Richard Wagner (1813-1883) had a rocky and unrequited relationship with the artistic high society of Paris. As a hot-headed young man in his mid to late twenties, from late 1839 to 1842, he lived in Paris in impoverished fashion. To make a living, the young, undiscovered composer wrote articles for magazines, arranged the operas of others for publication and completed his own, unperformed, third and fourth operas: Rienzi and Der fliegende Holländer.

Fast forward about seventeen years to November of 1859. We find Wagner has returned to Paris as a well-established composer. It was during this sojourn that he faced the debacle of the March 1861 performances of Tannhäuser. This infamous fiasco, which resounds throughout musical history, came at the hands (and cat-calls!) of the haughty bon vivants of the Jockey Club. Wagner had the audacity to compose a ballet to be danced in Act I of Tannhäuser; but the Jockey Clubbers demanded it be in Act II so as not to spoil their dinners—and/or assignations with the ballerinas! Wagner got his way, but the Jockey Club booed him out of the opera house and out of Paris.

Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868), on the other hand, had wonderful relationships with both the cultural elite and denizens of theatrical amphitheaters. It seems that Rossini was feted everywhere he went; his musical works were generally adored and one of his nicknames was “The Italian Mozart.”

VoxAmaDeus teams up with Main Line School Night

Presenting a Maestro Radu lecture series and
intimate afternoon soirée concerts with “live notes”

Baroque Titans: Bach and Handel

Lecture: Essentials and Secrets
 –Wednesday April 2 at 7:30-9:00 PM
Enjoy a discussion of Bach - quintessentially cerebral and pious, and Handel - the flamboyant court musician of the Kings of England. Essentials and fascinating “kitchen” secrets about what made them tick and so different from each other, yet both in the service of the great western civilization trove of eternal treasures. Lecture, questions & answers, and musical examples.
$15

Concert: Sunday Afternoon Soiree
- April 6 at 4:00-5:30 PM
An intimate musical journey, featuring works of Bach & Handel, reminiscent of what might have taken place in the music room of “Castle Somewhere” on a sunny Sunday afternoon over 300 years ago. Baroque instruments. Enchanting violin, warm mellow oboe and exciting harpsichord, with “live notes” by the Maestro.
$20

All events held at
Creutzburg Center
260 Gulph Creek Rd
(in Harford Park)
Radnor, PA 19087

Baroque Venetian Masters: Vivaldi and Corelli

Lecture: Essentials and Secrets-Wednesday June 4 at 7:30-9:00 PM
Enjoy a discussion of the passionate and very colorful Venetian Masters Vivaldi and Corelli - serving dukes, cardinals and popes. Essentials and fascinating “kitchen” secrets about what made them tick and so different from each other, yet both in the service of the great western civilization trove of eternal treasures. Lecture, questions & answers, and musical examples.
$15

Concert: Sunday Afternoon Soiree
- June 8 at 4:00-5:30 PM
An intimate musical journey, featuring works of Vivaldi & Corelli, reminiscent of what might have taken place in the music room of “Castle Somewhere” on a sunny Sunday afternoon over 300 years ago. Baroque instruments. Sparkling flute, exhilarating trumpet and exciting harpsichord, with “live notes” by the Maestro.
$20

Sign up now!

Tickets available in advance or at the door.

The Ides of March ~ Camerata Ama Deus ~ Baroque Instrument Orchestra

The Ides of March: the name given by the ancient Romans to the mid-point of the month of March. Despite its association with the slaying of a certain would-be emperor, The Ides of March, as celebrated by the Camerata Ama Deus, will be a joyful reminder that spring is in the air, that  a new season of rebirth is at hand. Join the Camerata Ama Deus chamber orchestra, performing on period instruments, for an evening of lively Baroque masterworks guaranteed to evoke sunshine and warmth—and no more snow!

The concert will begin, appropriately, with “Spring” from Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Composed in 1723, The Four Seasons (Le quattro stagioni) is Antonio Vivaldi's best-known work, and is among the most popular pieces in the classical music repertoire. The work is a set of four violin concertos, the texture of which is varied with each concerto, each resembling its respective season. Vivaldi’s plan was that each movement would establish a certain mood, against which narrative events could then play out. When it came to the detail of those occurrences—barking dogs, drunken dancers, buzzing insects—Vivaldi delivered elegance and originality where other composers had barely moved beyond crude animal-noise clichés. In addition, Vivaldi provided verbal instructions to the players: In “Spring” he asks the solo violin to play like “il capraro che dorme” (the sleeping goatherd) and the viola like “il cane che grida” (the barking dog).

February E-Newsletter: Renaissance Candlemas concert

Renaissance Candlemas concert: Beautiful music in a beautiful cathedral space

Friday, February 7 at 8 PM

Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter & Paul

Buy tickets here

CANDLEMAS – A Midwinter Holiday

The word Candlemas is derived from the Middle English word candelmasse, in turn descended from Old English, candelmæsse, built on the words candel + mæsse (candle+mass = candle-feast). The word Candlemas appears in English usage before the twelfth century. The spelling Candle Mass has also been used.

Candlemas is an ancient Christian feast day, also known as the Feast of the Purification of Mary, or the Feast of the Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple. It occurs on February 2, forty days after Christmas, and commemorates Mary’s submitting herself to ritual purification after the birth of her son Jesus, in accordance with Mosaic Law. It also commemorates the meeting with the aged priest Simeon, who, upon seeing Mary’s infant son, proclaimed him as the “Light to the gentiles.” Because of this, the feast has always involved a celebration of light. The most famous of the customs—and the one from which the feast gained its common name—is that of the blessing of, and procession with, candles.