Literature and music commingled pleasingly in the most recent
Pegasus Early Music concert, given last Sunday afternoon at Downtown United
Presbyterian Church. The program, “Pepys’ Pajamas,” was inspired by the
Restoration-era diarist Samuel Pepys (1633-1703).
An ambitious politician and general man-about-London, Pepys
kept a diary for less than a decade (1660 to 1669). But it was a lively decade,
including the restoration of Charles II, the Great Fire of London, and an
attack of plague, all of which he described vividly. Pepys also oversaw a
lively household, was visited by attacks of ill health, and spent a great deal
of his free time at the theater and listening to and playing music — or as he
spelled it, “musique.”
Hence this concert, which presented a Pepys playlist: an
extremely satisfying array of music and composers referred to by Pepys,
performed by him, and in one case written by him. Pegasus’ whimsical title
played off Pepys’ frequent sign-off to his diary entries: “and so to bed.” (And
the whimsical title of this review plays off the pronunciation of his last
name: “Peeps.”)
I could listen to this stuff all night, particularly in
performances as pointedly graceful as this. The music is gracefully melodic and
often infectiously rhythmic, seldom straying too far from its roots in folksong
and dance. The use of period instruments gives the music a delicate, elusive,
slightly melancholy quality. Added all up, it does sound “English,” even when
it was influenced by French and Italian music.
The concert also offered a
musicological discovery, in the form of two sonatas by Henry Butler, a
virtually unknown composer; we don’t even know when he was born, though he died
in 1652 and his career included service to the Spanish court — where he was
called Don Enrico Butler. This composer’s music has been unearthed from English
manuscripts by a local musicologist, Elizabeth Phillips. The two sonatas heard
here were pleasant discoveries, particularly the melodic F major sonata, which
featured some elegant give-and-take between violinist Boel Gidholm and viola da
gambist Lisa Terry.
The musicians for “Pepys’ Pajamas” were uniformly excellent.
Laura Heimes is an ideal singer for this repertoire, with a clear voice and
diction; whether bawdy or whimsical, each song received the right approach.
Christa Patton showed her talents not only as a harpist (particularly in a
“Paven” by William Lawes), but also as a bagpiper, playing an instrument with a
softer, sweeter tone than any bagpipe I’ve heard before (thank goodness).
Patton and lutenist Deborah Fox, often playing in tandem,
gave plenty of sparkle and imagination to the realization of the harmonies (the
composers often gave melody and bass lines, with only indications of the
harmony in between). Fox, who is Pegasus’ artistic director, also wrote the
informative program notes, including copious quotations from the very quotable
Pepys.
The viola da gamba, a predecessor of the cello, was Pepys’
own instrument (he often practiced it before bedtime). Had Lisa Terry been
around in 1660’s London, Pepys would have run to take lessons from her. This
instrument sounds excruciating if it is not played well, but Terry plays it very well, with virtuosic bowing and
fingering and a lovely mellow tone. Pepys would probably have also enjoyed a
few violin lessons from Boel Gidholm, who balanced her own virtuosity with a
modest charm. All the women performing in this utterly pleasurable concert
brought a delicious sense of style to the music, along with musicological
know-how.
This article appears in Nov 5-11, 2014.
