Celestini c. 1600 Harpsichord, House Concert

Dear Friends,
On Sunday afternoon February 27 at 3 pm, please join me for a house concert featuring a trip into the amazing sonic world of early 17th-century Venice! Norman Sheppard has completed an elegant Italian-style harpsichord modeled on an original c.1600 instrument by Celestini. If you’re interested in iconography, check out the oil painting (above) of thirteen year old Mozart sitting at a Celestini harpsichord in Verona Italy in January of 1770–the harpsichord was almost 200 year old when this portrait was painted. You have to look deeply into the shadows above Mozart’s left hand, but Celestini’s name and the date 1583 are there! Of course, what is so cool is that some of Mozart’s keyboard music (particularly the early work that is intended for harpsichord or fortepiano) lights up beautifully on this instrument. There is an energy and lift in the melodic writing that shows just how powerfully influenced Mozart was by the Italian masters.  On February 27 I’ll play Mozart’s delightful Eight Minuets, K. 315g.
The concert will start with a keyboard transcription of Josquin’s Missa de Beata Virgine, in which the two lines are never more than two octaves apart, and yet there seems to be vast realms between. I’ll play selections from some of the earliest collections of keyboard music–which appeared in the early 16th-century–and we’ll explore a magnificent fugue by Giovanni Gabrieli who was music director at St. Mark’s in Venice during the later years of the 16th-century. The centerpiece for the program will be Girolamo Frescobaldi’s epic, story-in-sound Cento Partite Sopra Passacaglia (c. 1635); the emotional range of this work always reminds me of Shakespeare’s King Lear.  I’ll also perform and discuss some of my favorite Sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, who grew up playing instruments with the clarity and tonal range of this Celestini.
Lastly, I’ll describe and demonstrate the expressive palette of the mean-tone temperament we use on this harpsichord. Mean-tone was the Renaissance and early-mid Baroque tuning that allowed for the commonly-used tonalities–such as C, D, F, G, and A–to be in-tune (to-the-stars, it seems to me) in much the same way as an a cappella vocal ensemble. I’ll also discuss the very high pitch level of this harpsichord, around  A=460Hz, which is nearly a 1/2 step higher than standard 20th-c. pitch (A=440), and a whole step higher that commonly-practiced Baroque pitch of A=415.

Norman Sheppard will be at the concert and after intermission he’ll talk for a few minutes about his artistic aims and the process of making this fascinating harpsichord.

Celestini Harpsichord!
House Concert by Trevor Stephenson
Sunday February 27, 3 pm
5729 Forsythia Place, Madison WI

In-person Attendance, audience limited to 25: $40 (concert link included)
We ask that audience members:
1. wear masks
2. have been fully vaccinated and boosted against Covid-19 

Virtual attendance: $25/link; posted February 28 at 11 am; Zoom Q&A Feb. 28 at 7:30 pm
To sign up: trevor@trevorstephenson.com