Period authenticity is key in Atlanta Baroque’s take on Monteverdi masterwork

Those innovations optimize the listening experience, but they also distort the genuine experience: We hear a modernized reinvention of the composition, not the reality of what was heard hundreds of years ago.

For the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, period-accurate authenticity is the name of the game. For 26 seasons, the ensemble has been delivering performances that are as enthralling as they are painstaking in their detail. As the Cathedral of St. Philip artist-in-residence since 2016, the ensemble has become adept at making bold and effective use of the space.

Credit: Photo courtesy of Atlanta Baroque Orchestra

Credit: Photo courtesy of Atlanta Baroque Orchestra

“This will be one of the largest baroque string orchestras that we’ve ever had at the cathedral,” says “Vespers” conductor and St. Philip’s Canon for Music, Dale Adelmann. “All of the instruments that will be used are either original from the 17th or 18th centuries or they’re exact copies.” He goes on to emphasize that the performance will feature all the detailed accoutrements of a baroque-era performance, down to the use of catgut strings.

That attention to detail alone makes the ensemble a compelling concert draw, but “Vespers” is significant in its own right. “It is an amazing piece that changed the history of music,” explains Atlanta Baroque Orchestra Artistic Director Julie Andrijeski. “It was one of the first pieces to be on the cusp of modern music.”

Written in 1610, the composition marked a crucial shift from the Renaissance to the baroque era with its emphasis on solo voices over ensemble. “It’s a transition,” explains Adelmann, “from a style of music where all of the voices are equally important and the lines interweave. It’s accompaniment and solos as opposed to equally important.”

That shift toward soloist-driven music would emerge as a central and ever-evolving feature of classical writing moving forward to such a degree that Andrijeski and Adelmann are both quick to identify it as one of the most important pre-Bach developments in the history of composition. For all that impact, it remains a rarely heard piece from a performance standpoint, with Adelmann saying it’s been about 50 years since “Vespers” was performed in Atlanta.

Credit: Photo courtesy of Cathedral of St. Philip

Credit: Photo courtesy of Cathedral of St. Philip

Nevertheless, Adelmann emphasizes that the work’s appeal goes well beyond its notable historicity and into the dramatic use of the acoustic space. “There are just constant changes of instrumentation and voices in the second half; we even move around the building. There will be constant changes of performing voices and style that really keep the energy up throughout the entirety of the piece.”

That dramatic staging and sonic atmosphere come coupled with a bevy of period instruments. “Some of the fascination will be to see these ancient instruments that you just never have a chance to hear otherwise,” he observes, pointing out the use of sackbuts, cornettos, theorbos, a baroque harp and a continuo organ.

The wide, sprawling sonic palette that is “Vespers” comes from its origin as a job application of sorts for Monteverdi. “It seems most likely that he was looking for a job at the Vatican with the pope or with a member of the curia,” Adelmann says. As such, the work is designed to showcase Monteverdi’s range with elements of every stylistic convention popular in the time period.

The result is a sprawling, labyrinthine epic with much room for interpretation. “Monteverdi is intentionally trying to show off that he is a master of every conceivable compositional style,” Adelmann says. “And so the score is, in many cases, completely vague about who is supposed to do what. And the reason for that is, most likely, so that the piece could be performed by whatever pieces you had on hand.”

With that in mind, Adelmann aims for the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra’s performance to be the grandest possible realization of Monteverdi’s vision.

“It’s been a tremendously huge project,” he says, “but it’s going to be very, very exciting.”

CONCERT PREVIEW

Atlanta Baroque Orchestra: Monteverdi’s “Vespers”

7:30 p.m. March 28 and 3 p.m. March 29 at Cathedral of St. Philip. Advance tickets: $25 general admission, $20 seniors, $10 students, $150 two patron tickets. 2744 Peachtree Road NW, Atlanta. atlantabaroque.org.

Credit: ArtsATL

Credit: ArtsATL

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