A North German Organvespers for the Feast of St. John the Baptist Saturday, June 15, 5 p.m.

Saturday, June 15th at 5 pm, First Lutheran Church

A Boston Early Music Festival Fringe Event

Canto Armonico reprises its successful Organvespers from the Early Music Festival week of 2011, now in a setting for the feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist which falls on June 24th. To be held at First Lutheran Church, the program is structured like a German vespers service from the Hamburg area in the late 17th century. The feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, like the feast of St. Michael at the end of September, marked the end of a fiscal quarter in much of Germany, and enterprising church music directors could reserve funds to supply more elaborate music for those feasts, bringing in professional singers and instrumentalists to augment the regular choral and organ music in the churches and cathedrals. Thus the long Pentecost season, lasting from June to the end of November, could be distinguished by two festal dates.

We also celebrate the 350th anniversary of the death of Heinrich Scheidemann, highly regarded organist of the St. Catherine’s in Hamburg and former student of Sweelinck whose compositions for the organ chorale introduced an expressive, virtuosic ornamentation style embraced by his followers across northern Germany.

Canto Armonico is pleased to present this program as a fringe event during the Boston Early Music Festival, with music ranging from chant to polychoral motets. We will be joined by an instrumental consort of recorders, gambas, theorbo and harp, and the unique Opus X Richards & Fowkes organ, one of the finest instruments in the world for the rendering of 17th-century German repertory.

Vespers Music by Canto Armonico

Jakob Handl: Emitte Spiritum
Michael Praetorius: Der heil’ge Geist von Himmel kam
Michael Praetorius: Komm, heiliger Geist
Heinrich Schütz: Becker Psalm 111: Ich will vom Herzen
Hieronymus Praetorius: Jubilate Deo

The New Carpathian Consort Presents

“From East to West”

This BEMF Fringe concert is co-sponsored by the Cultural Council of the Hungarian Government and the First Lutheran Church of Boston

The New Carpathian Consort presents its debut BEMF fringe concert on Friday June 14, at 11 a.m. at First Lutheran Church of Boston 299 Berkeley St. Tickets are $10 and $5 for students and seniors. The concert is recorded and CD’s can be purchased in advance for $10 at the door.

This concert is made possible by a grant from the Hungarian Cultural Council and the support of First Lutheran Church of Boston. This exciting program will explore Hungarian vocal and dance music from the 17^th-18^th centuries and rarely performed Western vocal music of the time. The first half of the program will include songs by Horváth Palóczi (Ötödfélszáz énekek), selections from Harmonia Coelestis by Prince Paul Esterházy, early recruiting dances by George von Apponyi, songs about László von Árpádház, Hungarian songs by Bálint Balassi, Dances from the 1670 Vietoris Codex and keyboard music from the 1694 Starck Codex. The second half will explore influential vocal genres by Giovanni Castoldi, Claudio Monteverdi, Tommaso Bernardo Gaffi and Jean Baptiste Morin.

Members of the Carpathian Consort are:

Emese Pászthy-Kovács, soprano (Budapest, Hungary)

Ágnes Kállay, cello (Budapest, Hungary)

Bálint Karosi, harpsichord, organ (Boston, MA)

Audrey Fernandez-Fraser, soprano (Boston, MA)

Heloise Degrugillier, recorders (Boston, MA)

Friday April 19th at noon.

Please join us for a memorial service for the victims and their families this Friday at noon.

Dear Friends of Music at FLC
Please join us for Easter services tomorrow at 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. Our Easter music selection this year will include a rarely-performed Bach Cantata BWV 145 for Easter on period instruments, and Vaughan Williams’ Easter from Five Mystical songs with Bradford Gleim as out soloist. Our Easter Hymn selections include “I know my Redeemer Lives” and lot more, that will be accompanied by an orchestra including timpani and trumpet, flute oboe, clarinet strings, harpsichord and organ and descants sung by the FLC choir.
Easter breakfast at 9:30 a.m.
I hope to see you all there!
Balint
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ich_lebe,_mein_Herze,_zu_deinem_Ergötzen,_BWV_145

This charming, free and clever presentation has become a new tradition at First Lutheran Church where children and adults can learn about the pipe organ and it’s repertoire in a fun and accessible way. Continue reading →

Many thanks to the singers of the Schola Cantorum, a small ensemble which has been fortifying the 8AM worship with a wide range of vocal works, mostly of the 17th to 19th centuries. Here the singers are pictured in action from Sunday February 24th include Audrey Fernandez-Fraser, Claire Shepro (alto), Jerome Fung (tenor) William Hawley (bass). Like the First Lutheran Church choir, this group is composed of all volunteers and has brought a high degree of musicianship and dedication to the worship life of the congregation.

Listen to the quartet’s fine rendition of Henry Purcell’s Funeral Sentences here.  

The Schola rehearses with Balint Karosi, inbetween jokes. photo credit: Georgia Kuss

Audrey Fernandez-Fraser, Clare Shepro (hidden) Jerome Fung, William Hawley and Balint Karosi. Photo Credit: Georgia Kuss.

On February 18, 2013  First Lutheran Church’s celebrated its 174th birthday. On this day in 1839, First Lutheran was recognized by both houses of the Massachusetts Legislature and is the oldest Lutheran Church in New England. Here’s a bit more about the congregation’s history.

For the occasion, Balint Karosi improvised a trio and postlude on the Anniversary Hymn. It was commissioned for First Lutheran’s 150th anniversary and written by Theodore Beck.

Trio Improvisation on the Anniversary Hymn

Fugue on the Anniversary Hymn

While we’re marking anniversaries, February 18th was also the 467th anniversary of Martin Luther’s death in 1546.