I went to see the Cantate Burlesque concert, which was an early music ensemble on the 29th of March 2019 at UBC. The concert was held during the noon hours in the Barnett Hall of the music building. This concert was an opera style performance featuring the guest artists Lucy smith singing soprano and Jacob Gramit singing baritone. The performance consisted of two main pieces namely the Concerto in D major by Lionardo Leo (1694-1744) and the Cantate Burlesque BWV 212 by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
The Concerto in D major by Lionardo Leo was primarily encompassed with string instruments. The ensemble consisted of 4 violins, one cello and one harpsichord. The harpsichord revived in the 16th century was a main feature in music during the Baroque era, providing this piece with a clear, easily distinguished melody. The tune starts of at a moderate pace and slows down for a short while in the middle. Its as though it consists of three movements as there are brief pauses in between the piece that has an air of silence. Majority of the sections use a polyphonic instrumental structure consisting of the different string instruments at different pitches creating a contrasting sound.
The second piece performed was the Cantate Burlesque BWV 212 by Johann Sebastian Bach. This section was in the form of opera, popular during the baroque era. The piece began with a classic instrumental overture, which was common during the 17th century for the implementation of which JS Bach was well known. I felt a sense of dramatic irony while watching the rest of the opera as it combined a comedic sensation with extreme dramatic exaggeration, which was a common style in the late 17th and early 18th century known as the opera Buffa, which we studied in the classical music era section of our class. This style became increasing popular during the Baroque era so we can see why it was incorporated by one of the most iconic musicians of the time. The piece starts out with a fast pace instrumental composition, which eventually advances to full aria and then a recitative. The entire piece goes back and forth between these two forms of expression, which were a common practice in the opera seria genre that came into existence in the baroque era. The traditional nature of da capo aria in which the first section comes full circle and is repeated toward the end is quite clearly visible in JS Bach’s composition. Lastly the recitative sections, which sounded like dialogue, helped me follow the narrative of the performance.
Overall since this is the first ever opera I attended and genuinely enjoyed I feel it was successful in opening up a new avenue of interest for me. This was primarily due to the previous knowledge we encountered in the course that allowed me to deconstruct the performance and understand the movements on stage. I could also clearly see JS Bach’s style of composition due to the thorough analysis encountered in class. Also the instrumental music that accompanied the soprano and baritone voices was melodic and set the expectations of a movement, giving the audience a clearer picture.