Brandywine Baroque: Bold and Beautiful

I have been lucky enough to attend a good portion of the Brandywine Baroque’s annual Dumont Concerts two years in a row. These concerts are a weekend-long celebration of harpsichord music, played by noted international performers. The unbelievable musicianship is almost a shock to experience in this beautifully refurbished barn, nestled in Delaware’s pristine countryside. Flintwoods is the only place in the world with two restored harpsichords by Dutch builder, Ioannes Ruckers. There are a total of eight harpsichords in the collection; however, the Dumont instrument, after which the series is named, was being repaired.

Davitt Moroney returned again this year to perform at the opening concert, and spoke about “mean tone” tuning during the lecture. “Mean tone” tuning is unlike the well-tempered tuning to which our modern ears are accustomed. Instead of using the harmonics of octaves and fifths, this system relies on the relationships of perfect thirds. My friend Barbara, a concert pianist, and I struggled to find a way to describe his perfect execution of Baroque timing: “It isn’t the rubato, it isn’t the Luftpause; somehow, each note is placed exactly where it should be.”

Moroney and Brandywine Baroque Founder Karen Flint sat down together at the 1635 Rucker harpsichord to play Nicholas Carleton’s Praeludium and a Verse. Only one part of the manuscript survived, so Moroney created his portion, slipping in some interesting educational tidbits for his audience. Though I missed the Saturday lectures, I learned something about the tuning, and why the thirds are tuned according to the key of the piece. It was fascinating to hear a passage sound wonderful on one instrument and almost dementedly sour on another for which it wasn’t intended.

Flint did a lovely job with the Pieces in D minor by Elizabeth Jacquet de La Guerre. An expert on de La Guerre, Flint treated us to an interesting biographical background on this exceptional composer.

Arthur Haas performed a varied program, beginning with a Prélude by Louis Couperin, the granddaddy of harpsichord composition and scholarship. A portion of his program--pieces by four Italian composers--was performed on the Italian harpsichord, built by Domenicus Pisauriensis. Partite sopra La Monica by Girolamo Frescobaldi simply sparkled on this very “earthy” sounding instrument, which had been tuned with these works in mind. Each note and phrase Haas played was thoughtfully executed, and performed in a joyful, physical way.

Also in attendance was John Phillips, a master harpsichord builder and technician, who tuned the instruments before the concerts and during the breaks. The audience enjoyed watching the speed and precision of his craft during pauses in the program.

See www.brandywinebaroque.org.

Shakespeare Under the Stars

By Guest Blogger, James Kassees

James Kassees is a copy editor and proofreader for local marketing communications firm Aloysius Butler & Clark and has been involved in area theater for more than 30 years. A native Wilmingtonian, James lives in the city with his beautiful wife Barb.

Shakespeare’s As You Like It has everything you could want in a play — banishment, wrestling, romance and, of course, cross-dressing. I n the story, a mean brother wants to kill his uppity younger brother, who stood up to him. So the younger brother, Orlando, flees to the forest of Arden, where he runs into a young shepherd named Ganymede. Only Ganymede is really Rosalind in disguise; she was banished by the mean Duke Frederick, who also banished his older brother, the imaginatively named Duke Senior. Still with me? Also living in the forest are the court jester Touchstone, the melancholy Jaques, and various attendants, wenches and faithful old servants. All good fun to watch — and great fun to perform.

The Arden Shakespeare Gild is presenting As You Like It this summer. Arden, an artsy little hamlet north of Wilmington, was founded in 1900 by Philadelphia sculptor Frank Stephens and his architect friend Will Price. Stephens named the utopian village “Arden” after the forest that everyone flees to in As You Like It, and laid out the outdoor theater before he built his house. He even played Touchstone in an early production. So Arden’s tradition of performing Shakespeare’s works was established right from the start.

In 2000, to celebrate the village’s centennial, the Gild selected As You Like It and set the action in 1900. Now the Gild has decided to do the show every ten years. So here we are — a bunch of engineers and psychologists and realtors who enjoy the challenge and the fun of making Shakespeare’s words come to life. By bringing our different experiences to our characters and to the story, we try to make sure that each production — in fact, each performance — is unique.

Character and story are the main concerns of our director, Mary Catherine Kelley (aka MC). She makes us ask ourselves: What do I mean when I say my lines? What do I want? How do other characters react? And how does what I say and do fit into the overall story? MC’s job is to make sure every line and every scene add up to a cohesive story that draws the audience in and pulls them along to the end.

Come see As You Like It and find out how much fun Shakespeare can be in an intimate little theater nestled in the forest of Arden. Show dates are June 18, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25 and 26.

See www.ardenshakespearegild.org.

Renaissance: Support for Art and Knowledge

Drama, beauty, youth, wisdom, innovation and tradition: The Delaware College of Art and Design (DCAD) has all of this, and more. At the school’s fourth annual gala –the Renaissance – to benefit the scholarship program, DCAD created a lively evening of music, art, entertainment and delicious food. Donors, students, faculty, administrators and art aficionados of all kinds had the chance to mingle and listen to music provided by a lovely quartet.

DCAD is Delaware’s only professional art and design school. As an integral part of the newly revitalized community on lower Market Street, the college is committed to providing scholarships to its students. In order to award more than $800,000 in financial aid next year, the school relies heavily on its patrons and donors. Mr. and Mrs. Iréneé duP. May honorary chairs for the gala evening, have been integral in promoting and supporting the school and all the Arts in the Brandywine Valley.

I enjoyed chatting with the college president, Stuart Baron, about the school and its programs. A painter himself, Baron has overseen the DCAD since July, most recently having been in Baton Rouge, where he spearheaded an effort to get art supplies to students, children and displaced artists who were affected by Katrina’s devastation. His passion – for art itself and for making it available to everyone who wishes to enjoy and create – mirrors and furthers the school’s mission.

DCAD used the Italian Renaissance as a theme for its gala, since it was an era when artists were heavily supported and encouraged by their patrons. Some students wandered about the first floor in togas, preparing to bring to the life the “Last Supper” tableau staged on the back wall of the gallery. Overflowing were banquet-style tables of beautifully arranged loaves of bread, cheese and fruit. Both student and teacher works were for sale during the silent auction. Guests were greeted at the doorway by costumes from OperaDelaware’s Tosca, reminding us of the close relationship design, music and historical studies have with each other, as well as the vital Arts community that has been forged along Market Street in Wilmington.