Auser Musici

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Auser Musici is a period instrument ensemble centered in Pisa that specializes in early music repertory from the Tuscan region of Italy.

Pisa Comune in Tuscany, Italy

Pisa is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the city of over 91,104 residents contains more than 20 other historic churches, several medieval palaces, and various bridges across the Arno. Much of the city's architecture was financed from its history as one of the Italian maritime republics.

Early music music until the baroque

Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1760). Early music is a broad musical era in the history of Western art music.

Tuscany Region of Italy

Tuscany is a region in central Italy with an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants (2013). The regional capital is Florence (Firenze).

Contents

History, Mission, and Activities

The ensemble was founded in 1997 by the flautist Carlo Ipata and has performed throughout the continent of Europe, especially in Italy, as well as in the United States. Its concerts feature vocal and instrumental works composed in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, frequently including selections from the series Tesori Musicali Toscani, a collection of early music published in Pisa. The home concert venue of Auser Musici is located in the Teatro Giuseppe Verdi of Pisa. The ensemble is named for an ancient river of the Pisan region.

Europe Continent in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere

Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. It comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia.

United States federal republic in North America

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.

Auser Musici has released recordings continuously since the year 1998, presently under exclusive contract with Hyperion Records. In 2010, its recording of flute concertos by Neapolitan composers was singled out by the International Record Review as an Editor’s Choice. [1]

Hyperion Records is an independent British classical record label.

Flute musical instrument of the woodwind family

The flute is a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening. According to the instrument classification of Hornbostel–Sachs, flutes are categorized as edge-blown aerophones. A musician who plays the flute can be referred to as a flute player, flautist, flutist or, less commonly, fluter or flutenist.

Concerto musical composition usually in three parts

A concerto is a musical composition generally composed of three movements, in which, usually, one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra or concert band. It is accepted that its characteristics and definition have changed over time. In the 17th century, sacred works for voices and orchestra were typically called concertos, as reflected by J. S. Bach's usage of the title "concerto" for many of the works that we know as cantatas.

The principal singers who perform regularly with Auser Musici are the sopranos Maria Grazia Schiavo and Elena Cecchi Fedi and the baritone Furio Zanasi. The organization is administered under the direction of Piero Torrigiani and Pierpaolo Corradini.

A soprano[soˈpraːno] is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) =880 Hz in choral music, or to "soprano C" (C6, two octaves above middle C) =1046 Hz or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody. The soprano voice type is generally divided into the coloratura, soubrette, lyric, spinto, and dramatic soprano.

Maria Grazia Schiavo Italian classical soprano

Maria Grazia Schiavo is an Italian classical soprano who is particularly known for her performances of music from the baroque period. She has performed with major opera houses in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, and has appeared in concerts throughout Europe.

A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice types. Originally from the Greek βαρύτονος (barýtonos), meaning heavy sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C (i.e. F2–F4) in choral music, and from the second A below middle C to the A above middle C (A2 to A4) in operatic music, but can be extended at either end. The baritone voice type is generally divided into the baryton-Martin baritone (light baritone), lyric baritone, Kavalierbariton, Verdi baritone, dramatic baritone, baryton-noble baritone, and the bass-baritone.

Auser Musici maintains a reciprocal relationship with Musica Toscana of Louisville, Kentucky, another organization devoted to the promotion of music from the Tuscan region of Italy.

Musica Toscana, Inc., was a nonprofit cultural, educational, and musicological organization located in Louisville, Kentucky, that promoted the musical heritage of the Tuscan region of Italy. It was founded in 1999 under the leadership of the musicologist Robert L. Weaver, a retired faculty member of the University of Louisville. Musica Toscana was headed by Margaret M. Guarnieri after 2007. As of 2012, the organization ceased operations. It maintained a reciprocal membership with the period instrument ensemble Auser Musici of Pisa, Italy.

Louisville, Kentucky City in Kentucky

Louisville is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 29th most-populous city in the United States. It is one of two cities in Kentucky designated as first-class, the other being Lexington, the state's second-largest city. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, located in the state's north and on the border with Indiana.

Recordings

Francesco Barsanti (1690–1775) was an Italian flautist, oboist and composer. He was born in 1690 in the Tuscan city of Lucca, but spent most of his life in London and Edinburgh.

Antonio Brunelli was an Italian composer and theorist of the early Baroque period.

Luigi Boccherini Italian composer and cellist

Ridolfo Luigi Boccherini was an Italian composer and cellist of the Classical era whose music retained a courtly and "galante" style even while he matured somewhat apart from the major European musical centers. He is best known for a minuet from his String Quintet in E, Op. 11, No. 5, and the Cello Concerto in B flat major. The latter work was long known in the heavily altered version by German cellist and prolific arranger Friedrich Grützmacher, but has recently been restored to its original version.

See also

Flute
Historically informed performance
Baroque music
List of early music ensembles

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References

  1. ↑ See International Record Review (April 2010) with these comments from the reviewer: “…Ipata’s playing is impeccable in both technique and style. His tone is neither whispy and reticent, as characterized by some baroque flautists; I assume the ornamentation in the lovely middle movement of the Jommelli concerto is by him and not written by the composer. If so, it is among the most impressive examples I have heard a soloist perform. The members of Auser Musici play their period instruments with Mediterranean sparkle and wit …”; an issue of Gramophone (April 2010) features these remarks: “…the performances are a delight. What with Ipata’s liquid tone and secure virtuosity, and the brightness, nimbleness and transparency of the one-to-a-part strings of Auser Musici (excellently captured by the recording), this unassuming but funny and attractive music has surely achieved its finest hour.” ).
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