Un sarao de la Chacona – Tracing the African and Mesoamerican Origins of the Sarabande and the Chaconne

Saturday, 16 November 2024
10:45am CST
State Ballroom

Though the sarabande and the chaconne were stylized sections of courtly suites by Baroque composers such as Scarlatti and Bach, their origins are far removed from any European court, stemming instead from New Spain. In a book about the Spanish colony in 1579, a Dominican friar, Francisco Diego Durán, described the sarabande as a lascivious dance and identified it with the indigenous population. However, at least one surviving song — a villancico for Christmas — links it with enslaved Africans, suggesting that both populations were involved in the creation of the genre. In this program, Ensemble Origo aims to contextualize these origins, showing how a song that mentions the dance was likely performed following Christmas services. The next two sections of the concert trace the printing history of both genres (which were related at one time) from simple guitar strumming patterns that sometimes accompanied voices to the stylized instrumental works adopted by hundreds of European composers in the centuries that followed. The program aims to bring what is known of the genres’ lost—or suppressed—histories to light, thus rethinking Eurocentric notions of these distinctive musical genres, their history, and their trajectory.

In this exploration of the origins of the related genres of the sarabande and chaconne, we aim to reverse the conspicuous erasure of Mesoamericans and Africans from the early history of Western notated music. In the first part of the program, we perform repertoire related to constructions of racial identity, “color prejudice” that abounded in early modern texts as part of the colonization process, and interfaith and cultural contacts during the global early modern period. Importantly, though, several of the villancicos we perform demonstrate the use of complex, African-inspired rhythm and provide the best strains of evidence that we have of African connections to the sarabande and the chaconne. Their performance thus reveals the crucial presence of Africans and Mesoamericans in this music as well as their hitherto overlooked centrality to the history of these genres.

Ensemble Origo is an early music ensemble directed by Connecticut-based musicologist and conductor Eric Rice. Its aim is to present vibrant performances of early music (from the Middle Ages through the baroque) that reflect the context in which the repertory was originally produced and heard; “Origo” is Latin for “earliest beginning,” “lineage,” or “origin.” The ensemble draws on a roster of musicians from Connecticut, Boston, and New York.

(NOTE: The pieces performed as part of this session come from a very specific moment in the history of racial constructs and often contain racial stereotypes and even coarse, sometimes offensive language.  We do not endorse these constructs or language. However, we also cannot avoid these things if we are to bring to light the enormous contribution of Africans. Thus, the approach of Ensemble Origo is to contextualize these works and clearly articulate our goals of decolonization in remarks during our performance.)

Ensemble Origo – Performers

Michael Barrett

Michael Barrett, tenor, is a Boston-based conductor, singer, multi-instrumentalist, and teacher. He serves as music director of The Boston Cecilia. Barrett is also an Assistant Professor at the Berklee College of Music, where he teaches courses in conducting and European music history, and until recently served as Interim Director of the Five College Early Music Program. Michael has performed with many professional early music ensembles, including Blue Heron, the Boston Camerata, the Huelgas Ensemble, Vox Luminis, the Handel & Haydn Society, Nederlandse Bachvereniging (Netherlands Bach Society), Seven Times Salt, Schola Cantorum of Boston, Ensemble Origo, and Nota Bene, and can be heard on the harmonia mundi, Blue Heron, Coro, Naxos, and Toccata Classics record labels. He holds degrees in music (AB, Harvard University), voice (First Phase Diploma, Royal Conservatory in The Hague, The Netherlands), and choral conducting (MM, Indiana University; DMA, Boston University).

Elijah McCormick

Maine native Jennifer Bates enjoys a multifaceted career in the opera, concert, and recital worlds. Recent engagements include the role of Pepik in the New York Philharmonic production of Janeček’s The Cunning Little Vixen and Zemlinsky’s Der Zwerg with the American Symphony Orchestra. She was the featured soloist at the Bach Vespers Cantata Series in New York for ten years. Her European engagements have included Elgar’s The Kingdom with Leonard Slatkin in the prestigious Three Choirs Festival; Haydn’s Creation with Robert Tear at the Dartington International Summer Festival; and Fauré’s Requiem with Sir David Willcocks at Royal Albert Hall. As a recitalist, she has toured Great Britain and Europe extensively and was presented at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Jennifer was a Chamber Music Fellow at the Aspen Festival, a Scholar at the Steans Institute for Singers at the Ravinia Festival, and is on the faculty of Colby College.

Catherine Hedberg

Catherine Hedberg, mezzo-soprano, is a concert soloist and ensemble musician concentrating in early and new music. Recent performances include songs by Nadia Boulanger at Brandeis University, a South Korean tour of Korean art song with the American Soloists Ensemble of National Chorus of Korea, Monochromatic Light (Afterlife) (Tyshawn Sorey) with Trinity Wall Street, A Point on a Slow Curve (Dana Lyn) at Joe’s Pub, and Cilice (Lewis Nielson) with Wavefield Ensemble. She performs regularly with the Handel & Haydn Society, with whom she has appeared as a soloist in works including J.S. Bach’s B Minor Mass, Magnificat, and cantatas, and in a concert of Dowland songs with lutenist Catherine Liddell. She has been a frequent collaborator with the chamber ensemble, Musicians of the Old Post Road, and appears on the ensemble’s recording of Christmas music from 18th-century Central and South America. Catherine is based in New York City and Maine.

Daniel S. Lee

Daniel S. Lee, violin, thrives in the intersection of the arts and spirituality. His work involves redefining the roles of sacred and secular music with regard to their intention, function, and venue. Praised by The New York Times as “soulful” and “ravishing,” he performs as a period violinist and leader with various ensembles throughout the United States and Europe, including his own, the Sebastians. He currently serves as the concertmaster for the Providence Baroque Orchestra (RI) and the resident baroque orchestra at the Washington National Cathedral (DC). He performs on various historical instruments and fosters ongoing collaborative research with luthier Karl Dennis (Warren, RI) and bowmaker David Hawthorne (Waltham, MA). When not traveling and performing, he splits his time between Willard, MO, where he pastors a Presbyterian Church (USA) congregation, and New Haven, CT, where he teaches early music at the Yale School of Music. Born in Chicago and raised in Seoul (South Korea) and in New York City, Daniel is equally (un)fluent in Korean and in English. He identifies himself as ethnically a New Yorker. He enjoys learning different languages and cultures, and is a student of various ancient languages.

Sarah Mead

Sarah Mead is a sought-after teacher of viol and Renaissance performance practice who has performed throughout the U.S. and overseas as far afield as New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Brazil, and the UK. In this country she has performed with ARTEK, Tenet, Emmanuel Music, the Handel & Haydn Society, Pegasus Baroque, Schola Cantorum, and Ensemble Origo. She has served as Music Director of the annual Conclave of the Viola da Gamba Society of America and plans to return to that role in 2025. Her performing editions of historical and original works for viols have been published by PRB Productions, and she edits a quadrennial publication of little-known works for viols for the VdGSA. In 2007, she received the Thomas Binkley Award from Early Music America for outstanding achievement in performance and scholarship for her work with the Early Music Ensembles at Brandeis University, from which she recently retired as Professor of the Practice of Music. Mead is a founding member and musical director of the viol consort Nota Bene, whose recording Pietro Vinci: Quattordeci Sonetti Spirituali was released by Toccata Classics (London) in 2020.

George Lernis

A versatile multi-instrumentalist, Dan Meyers is an enthusiastic performer of both classical and folk music; his credits range from contemporary chamber music, to the Newport Folk Festival, to playing Renaissance instruments on Broadway for Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre Company. He is a founding member of the early music/folk crossover group Seven Times Salt, and in recent seasons he has performed with the The Folger Consort, The Newberry Consort, Hesperus, The Henry Purcell Society of Boston, Early Music New York, Amherst Early Music, The 21st Century Consort, and In Stile Moderno. He enjoys playing traditional Irish music with the bands Ulster Landing and Ishna,and eclectic fusion from around the Mediterranean with the US/Italy-based group Zafarán. He has taught historical wind instruments for the Five Colleges Early Music Program in MA, at Tufts University, and at workshops around the US. Dan holds a Master of Music degree from the Longy School of Music.

Camila Parias

Colombia native Camila Parias, soprano, is a frequent soloist with the Boston Camerata. Parias, whose tone has been praised for its strength and clarity, also collaborates with ensembles such as La Donna Musicale, Skylark Ensemble, and Handel & Haydn Society. Her international appearances include performances in Europe of Borrowed Light with the Boston Camerata. She can be heard on Camerata’s most recent CDs, Free America! and A Medieval Christmas – Hodie Christus Natus Est. Upcoming engagements include concerts with Pegasus, Upper Valley Baroque, and a performance at the Houston Early Music Festival. In addition, she will sing Belinda in Dido and Aeneas with the Camerata, a role she has previously performed. Camila is particularly interested in early music of Spain and the New World. She recently introduced Cantos y Suspiros, an ongoing collaboration with harp and Baroque guitar/theorbo which celebrates seventeenth-century Spanish secular songs. In Bogota, she recorded selections of archival manuscripts belonging to that city’s Cathedral. She holds a B.M. in Vocal Performance from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá and a M.M. in Historical Performance from the Longy School of Music of Bard College.

Eric Rice

Musicologist and conductor Eric Rice is Professor of Music History at the University of Connecticut, where he teaches music history and directs the Collegium. He is the 2019 recipient of Early Music America’s Thomas Binkley Award for excellence in performance and scholarship. He also directs Ensemble Origo, hailed by The New York Times as “a fine, flexible ensemble,” creating concerts and recordings that reflect early repertory’s original context. His books are Music and Ritual at Charlemagne’s Marienkirche in Aachen and Young Choristers, 650-1700, and his articles have appeared in numerous journals. He holds degrees from Columbia and Bowdoin College.

Rozime Lindsey

Acclaimed for his “breezy baritone” (Bachtrack) and voice “perfectly suited to baroque music” (KCMetropolis), Jared Swope sings as soloist and chorister in genres spanning early music, oratorio, contemporary classical works and more. An avid collaborator, he regularly sings with ensembles such as True Concord Voices & Orchestra, Spire Chamber Ensemble, Handel & Haydn Society, Oregon Bach Festival Chorus, Apollo’s Fire, CORO Vocal Artists, Ensemble Altera, Artefact Ensemble, and more. In 2023 he became a founding member of Fourth Wall Ensemble, a chamber ensemble performing works spanning medieval to contemporary compositions based in New York City. He sings liturgically at First Presbyterian Church and the Basilica of St. John the Evangelist in Stamford, CT, with the Yale Consort in New Haven, and appears frequently at St. Thomas Fifth Avenue in New York City, among others. Jared is a recent graduate of Yale University, earning a Master of Music concentrated in Early Music, Oratorio, and Chamber Ensembles. He also holds a Master of Sacred Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Notre Dame, and bachelor’s degrees from Missouri State University in Vocal Performance and Music Education.

Hideki Yamaya

Hideki Yamaya is a performer of lutes, early guitars, and early mandolins based in Connecticut, USA. Born in Tokyo, Japan, he spent most of his career on the West Coast before settling in New England, where he is a freelance performer and teacher. He has a B.A. in Music and an M.A. in Ethnomusicology from University of California, Santa Cruz, where he studied with Robert Strizich, and an M.F.A. in Guitar and Lute Performance from University of California, Irvine, where he studied with John Schneiderman. He also studied with James Tyler at University of Southern California and with Paul Beier at Accademia Internazionale della Musica in Milan, Italy. In demand both as a soloist and as a continuo/chamber player, Yamaya has performed with and for Portland Baroque Orchestra, Portland Opera, Santa Cruz Baroque Festival, Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Los Angeles Opera, Oregon Bach Festival, Astoria Music Festival, Folger Consort, Connecticut Early Music Festival, and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. He is also recognized as an effective communicator and teacher, and has given masterclasses and workshops at Yale University, University of California, Santa Cruz, Montana State University, Oregon State University, and Aquilon Music Festival. A prolific recording artist, Yamaya’s playing could be heard on Profil, hänssler CLASSIC, and Mediolanum labels. His recordings have received glowing reviews from Early Music America, Classical Guitar Magazine, and the Guitar Foundation of America.