Programmes ARS ANTIQUA AUSTRIA – Gunar Letzbor for season 2022/23
Sensational Passion Find The first known Catholic Passion composition in German!
It is a sensational find in two respects that Gunar Letzbor came across in the magnificent library of St. Florian Abbey near Linz: a Passion by the composer and Augustinian canon Franz Josef Aumann (1728-1797)!
For not only did Letzbor discover a fantastically expressive work in this Oratorio de Passione Domini Nostri Jesu Christi – and after all, it's not like Passions from the early classical period are found very often these days – but in addition it is probably the only Catholic Passion composition in German language from this time, that we know of so far.
But the 75-minute work is also unusual in another respect: this Passion music does not recount the Passion of Christ, but rather begins after the crucifixion of Jesus. It juxtaposes atmospheric images and spiritual reflections that emotionally process the inconceivable. Even the sinner cannot escape this grief, his heart softens and he weeps for the death of Jesus Christ. And all this in German – a real novelty in Catholic church music of the time!
In recent years, research has been able to prove that shorter German Passion music was very often presented outside the walls of monasteries. For example, on Fridays during Lent, parts of the Passion story were illuminated musically in parish or branch churches, thus bringing the faithful emotionally closer to the suffering and death of the Lord with the help of the local language and the power inherent in music. Often, a sort of large picturesor stage settings were set up in addition, in which the singers played music as if in a theatre, so that a kind of total work of art was created.
The great Aumann Passion from St. Florian, on the other hand, was probably performed on Good Friday. The music is reminiscent of compositions by C.P.E. Bach or also Haydn's »Seven Last Words of the Saviour on the Cross«: daring harmonic turns intensify the expression, impressive choral movements and complex fugues draw imposing atmospheric pictures of the immense suffering of Christ and the faithful.
Gunar Letzbor and ARS ANTIQUA AUSTRIA have rediscovered this piece after centuries of oblivion and – in association with an extraordinary group of singers – they want to prove to today's audience that this work has lost none of its appeal for music lovers all over the world over the last 250 years.
ARS ANTIQUA AUSTRIA: Federico Fiorio – Soprano
Alois Mühlbacher – Altus
Markus Miesenberger – Tenor
Alexandre Baldo – Bass
7 instrumentalists
Gunar Letzbor – artistic direction
Price: 11.400,- Euros, plus travel and hotel
Please don't hestitate to contact us for possible follow-up dates, which will reduce the price to 10.000,- Euros. Various performances are already planned for Holy Week 2023 (from 2 April 2023).
The great duel Amandus contra Amadeus: music by Ivanschiz and Mozart
It was quite a surprise, when Gunar Letzbor discovered, that Lambach Abbey contains several chamber music works by Amandus Ivanschiz (1727-1758) that were completely forgotten for centuries. When Gunar took a closer look at them, however, they turned out to be masterpieces and musical gems that absolutely deserve to be heard and admired again after 300 years, for they need not fear comparison even with similar works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart!
As Gunar knew very well, though, travelling musicians were often passed from one monastery to the next in former times, and indeed: he also found several compositions by the Lower Austrian Pauline monk Ivanschiz in the neighbouring monastery of Kremsmünster – chamber music at its best.
In the meanwhile the researcher and musician has recorded some of these wonderful pieces with his ensemble ARS ANTIQUA AUSTRIA – and would now like to present them to a larger audience in concert. And what could be more natural than to juxtapose the music of Ivanschiz with that of his contemporary Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart?
The programme includes divertimenti, sonatas and concertini by both composers. And we promise: Given the quality of Ivanschiz's works, the listeners in the hall will have a hard time distinguishing what is Mozart and what is Ivanschiz: the merry guessing party can begin – Gunar Letzbor will moderate the debate with great pleasure...
ARS ANTIQUA AUSTRIA:
Gunar Letzbor – violin and direction
Nina Pohn – violin
Markus Miesenberger – viola
Jan Krigovsky – violone 8'
Price: 3.900,- Euros, plus travel and hotel
Feel free to contact us about possible follow-up dates, which will reduce the price.
Listen here to a piece from that programme: Amandus – or Amadeus...?
Bach at home The great solo project by Gunar Letzbor
Johann Sebastian Bach can probably be taken as an example of those composers with whom every musician sooner or later deals in detail. Sooner, because his music simply fascinates and forms the basis for so much else – later, because his compositions are so demanding from a technical and musical point of view that one can return to them again and again, discovering a new facet each time, developing a new approach.
Gunar Letzbor, too, has studied the work of this grand master again and again, and one result of this preoccupation is a series of six programmes grouped under the title Bach at home.
In combination with Bach's partitas and sonatas for solo violin, Letzbor presents in this series highly attractive works by Bach's contemporaries, above all by Georg Philipp Telemann, but also, for example, by Austrian composers such as Johann Paul von Westhoff, Johann Joseph Vilsmayr or from the Nogueira Manuscript.
Gunar Letzbor – violin
Price: 3.000,- Euros, plus travel and hotel
Feel free to contact us about possible follow-up dates, which will reduce the price.
Enjoy here the Allemande from Bachs Partita in d minor on our YouTube channel.
»Von Ehrenruef« Johann Heinrich Schmelzer to melt away
Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (1623-1680) can rightly be regarded as the founder of the Austrian violin school, and his compositions bear witness to an extraordinary talent for this string instrument, which was relatively new in art music at the time. The composer developed a rich palette of new expressive possibilities and bowing and fingering innovations for the violin, thus elevating it to the rank of an art instrument with great public appeal.
His collection of violin sonatas soon aroused admiration throughout Europe and became the model for many composers of the following generation. Particularly his chamber music captivates with a pronounced sense of tonal variety, contrasting affects and virtuosic demands on all the instrumentalists involved.
His employer, Emperor Leopold I, also appreciated his small- and large-scale church and vocal music. He sought his musical advice – also with regard to his own imperial compositions – elevated him to the peerage in 1673 and bestowed upon him the epithet »Von Ehrenruef«. In 1679, Leopold even appointed the composer as Court Kapellmeister – as the first non-Italian of the Baroque era!
Gunar Letzbor and his ensemble ARS ANTIQUA AUSTRIA have long wanted to present this fascinating composer in detail, and so they recently recorded a CD with his Sonatae unarum fidium, which is dedicated to Schmelzer's work for violin chamber music – and was wildly acclaimed by the critics (a review by BR Klassik can be found) here).
Now, of course, the ensemble would like to introduce Schmelzer to the concert-goers as well, and with this not only trace a fascinating period of violin history, but also present the versatility and richness of colour of this fantastic music in all its manifold facets.
Please don't hestitate to contact us for possible follow-up dates, which will reduce the price.
Explore here the wonderful atmosphere of Schmelzer's Sonata IV in audio. Or here on our YouTube channel.
Rosary Sonatas – revisited Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber's most mystical music in a new interpretation
It was in September 1996, when seven enthusiastic musicians who had come together around violinist Gunar Letzbor to form the ensemble ARS ANTIQUA AUSTRIA, met in the Austrian picture-book town of Hallstadt to record one of the most impressive and fascinating cycles in music history: Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber's 15 Sonatas on the 15 Mysteries of the Rosary and the concluding Passacaglia. And one of the most technically demanding cycles at that: very fast, virtuoso passages, an enormous ambitus, double stops and a separate system of scordaturas for each sonata still limit the number of musicians who are able to play these pieces in an adequate manner.
Gunar Letzbor und ARS ANTIQUA AUSTRIA were able to do so – and thus a CD was produced at the time which is still considered a reference recording of these works by many friends of violin music.
Nevertheless, after Gunar Letzbor had played these sonatas hundreds of times in concerts and had thought about them again and again, he came to the conclusion that he had even more to say about them today, after 23 years: »After listening to the old recording again after a long time, I was amazed at how beautifully and inspired we had made music back then. But I also had the feeling that at that time we had not yet understood the work itself from within, but had only celebrated its outer beauty. So the desire slowly arose to record the Rosary Sonatas a second time. Nevertheless I hesitated. It must really make sense to follow up a successful and good recording with another interpretation. But when Michael Sawall of the Pan Classics label asked me some time ago to consider a second recording of the Rosary Sonatas, I began to prepare a new recording«.
Thought – done. In 2020, the new recording of the Rosary Sonatas was released. And it has, in short, become great!
Not only more mature and deeper in its approach to the music, but also technically even more sovereign and effortless in the virtuoso passages and movements. And of course you can hear that ARS ANTIQUA AUSTRIA has been playing together for more than three decades now – a period of time in which an almost somnambulistic security and familiarity in the interplay between the musicians has become established.
In addition, Hubert Hofmann's new research results on the so-called Salzburg lute continuo were incorporated into the work, which fundamentally questioned previous performance practice and opened up a whole new world of sound for the listener.
Of course, the musicians would now like to perform the cycle more often in concert, taking all these new findings into account, in order to show as wide an audience as possible where the decades of study of Biber's beautiful music have led them.
ARS ANTIQUA AUSTRIA: Gunar Letzbor – violins and direction
Hubert Hoffmann – theorbo
Jan Krigovsky – violone
Erich Traxler – organ
For the sonatas IV, X and XIV:
Salzburger Lautencontinuo:
Hubert Hoffmann – lute
Lee Santana – chitarra attiorbata
Daniel Oman – colascione
For this programme we can offer different casts: from 3 up to 6 musicians.
Price (for 6 musicians): 6.000,- Euros, plus travel and hotel
Please don't hestitate to contact us for possible follow-up dates, which will reduce the price.
Enjoy an impression of the new CD with the Praeludium from Sonata 1here.
Here you can convince yourself of the effect of the Salzburg lute continuo, with an Aria from the Sonata 14.
And listen here to the impressive Passacaglia on our YouTube channel.
Splendor Austriae Splendour and devotion united: Biber and Aufschnaiter
»Of the violinists of the last century«, wrote the 18th century music historian Charles Burney, »Biber seems to have been the best, and his solos are the most difficult and imaginative that I know of the period«.
But unlike many other violin virtuosos, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber also wrote numerous sacred choral works, which were often performed with unusually large cast due to the architectural possibilities offered by his working place, the Salzburg Cathedral.
Born in Wartenberg, Bohemia, Biber worked in Graz and Kremsier before his Kremsier employer sent him to Innsbruck in 1670 to buy instruments for the chapel there – but the composer never returned. Without permission – let alone dismissal from Kremsier – he decided to stay in Salzburg, was recruited as a violinist by the archbishop there, promoted to deputy Kapellmeister in 1679 and Kapellmeister in 1684; a position he held until the end of his life.
He wrote his Missa Alleluja in 1698 and on the Kremsmünster title page it says: »Missa Alleluja a 36 voci, 8 voci concerti, 8 voci ripieni, 2 Violini, 3 Viole, 6 Trombe, I Timpano, 2 Cornetti, 3 Tromboni, I Tiorba, Organo con Violone dal Sign. Biber, sub. P.[ater] T.[heodorich] B.[eer] 1698«.
Benedikt Anton Aufschnaiter was born in Kitzbühel and received most of his musical training in Vienna, where he also worked at the imperial court for several years, writing mainly instrumental music. In 1705 he succeeded Georg Muffat as Kapellmeister at the Passau court, where he worked until his death in 1742. Here Aufschnaiter composed mainly sacred music; more than 300 works by his hand have survived
One of these is the vesper psalm Memnon sacer ab Oriente, his opus 5, which was published in Augsburg in 1709. And although the scoring of this piece is not quite as overwhelming as that of Biber's Missa Alleluja, the psalm, too, is an excellent example of the tendency of the rulers of the Baroque era to present themselves as splendidly as possible through the music played at their court.
Thus, in this programme Ars Antiqua Austria not only offers two pieces of music that had been unjustly forgotten for centuries, but which are also among the most exciting compositions of their time and highly impressive for both baroque audiences and modern listeners!
Ars Antiqua Austria: 4 Soloists of the St. Florianer Sängerknaben – soprano 1 and 2 Markus Forster – altus 1
Alois Mühlbacher – altus 2
Markus Miesenberger – tenor 1
Bernd Lambauer – tenor 2
Gerhard Kenda – bass
21 instrumentalists, 9 singers
Gunar Letzbor – artistic direction
Price: 36.500,- Euros, plus travel and hotel
Enjoy the live recording ob Biber's mass from the Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht 2014 here on our YouTube channel.
Ostinato Variety in constant iteration
The ostinato model, i.e. the constant repetition of a bass motif over which a wide variety of upper voices delightfully concertise, has inspired countless composers from the earliest days of Western art music to today's pop music to create astonishing works – especially for the violin, which is so versatile and virtuosic: the possibilities of variation are endless and offered composers the opportunity to exhaust all the technical possibilities of the string instrument. In addition, however, this form also enjoyed great popularity among listeners of every era, since the pieces, for all their harmonic comprehensibility, usually require fantastic virtuosity on the part of the respective interpreters.
This programme by Gunar Letzbor shows in works by Biber, Arnold, Schmelzer, Bertali, Mealli, Vilsmayr and others how varied and imaginative the Austrian composers of the Baroque period were in their use of this ostinato model and how inspiring this form was for them. Some of these pieces were even performed by Gunar Letzbor for the first time in modern times, so visitors to this concert can expect to make one or two genuine new discoveries!
In addition, the programme presents various options for the tonal realisation of the basso continuo (organ, harpsichord, violone, theorbo, baroque guitar, colascione), whereby the instrumentation with the recently rediscovered model of the Salzburg lute continuo (three lutes in different sizes) promises a very special sound experience.
ARS ANTIQUA AUSTRIA: Gunar Letzbor – violin and musical direction
Hubert Hoffmann – theorbo
Jan Krigovsky – violone
Erich Traxler – organ
For this programme we can offer different casts: from 3 up to 6 musicians.
Price (for 6 musicians): 6.000,- Euros, plus travel and hotel
Please don't hestitate to contact us for possible follow-up dates, which will reduce the price.
Listen here to a wonderful example of such an Ostinato-composition: the Ciaccona A major by Johann Heinrich Schmelzer.
Ars Antiqua Austria, the ensemble of new Baroque music, was founded 1989 in Linz by Gunar Letzbor, with the intention of introducing audiences to the roots of specifically Austrian baroque music played on period instruments.
The music performed at the imperial court in Vienna during this era shows influences of the many Crownlands: Elements of Slavic and Hungarian folk music mingle with alpine sounds and all this can easily be detected in the art music of the period, too. Thus the Austrian sound also reflects the temperament and character of the Austrians of that period – a unifying element in the melting-pot of so many different cultures: the joie de vivre of the South, Slavic melancholy, French formality, Spanish pomp and the Alpine character of the German-speaking regions.
The core of Ars Antiqua Austria comprises 8 musicians directed by Gunar Letzbor. The number of players though is often augmented or reduced, according to the repertoire.
During its early years Ars Antiqua Austria gave numerous concerts while researching the achievements of Austrian baroque composers in depth. Thanks to Gunar's unflagging commitment, many works received their first performances in modern times.
Enthusiastic reviews welcomed CDs of music by Weichlein, Biber, Conti, Viviani, Mealli, Arnold, Caldara, Aufschnaiter, Vilsmayr, Vejvanovsky, Schmelzer, Muffat and of course J.S.Bach. Several of these CDs were awared with prices and distinctions.
In 2000 Ars Antiqua Austria started a cycle of concerts in the Vienna Konzerthaus on the theme of Austrian Baroque music. In the meanwhile they also have a series in the Brucknerhaus Linz and the Salzburg Museum. Beginning in 2001 the ensemble is playing a leading part in a concert series with more than 90 concerts called »Sound of Cultures – Culture of Sound« in Vienna, Prague, Bratislava, Cracow, Venice, Ljubljana, Mechelen, Budapest and Lübeck.
Recent tours have taken the ensemble to the Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht, Festival de la Musique Baroque at Ribeauville, Berlin Festival of Ancient Music, Festival Printemps des Arts at Nantes, Tage Alter Musik Herne, Folles Journées de Nantes, Musée d'Unterlinden Colmar, Monteverdi Festival Cremona, Festival Baroque du Sablon, Salzburger Festspiele, Festival Bach de Lausanne, Bologna Festival, Concerti della Normale Pisa, or Resonanzen Wien.
Gunar Letzbor, the founder of Ars Antiqua Austria, studied composition, conducting and violin at Linz, Salzburg and Cologne. His encounters with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Reinhard Goebel ignited a deep passion for period instruments and performance practice, led him to perform extensively with Musica Antiqua Köln, the Clemencic Consort, La Folia Salzburg, Armonico Tributo Basel and the Wiener Akademie.
As a soloist as well as with Ars Antiqua Austria, Letzbor has made numerous recordings, including several world premieres. Many of these CDs have received major record awards, including the Cannes Classical Award and Amadeus' Disco dell'Anno. Particulary remarkable was his world's premiere recording of the Sonate for violin solo by J.J.Vilsmayr and J.P.Westhoff.
Letzbor has performed at virtually every major baroque music festival or concert stage in Europe and beyond, from Vienna to Berlin, from Paris to Rome, from Amsterdam to Prague; furthermore he is a widely respected teacher, giving masterclasses all over Europe.
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It is a sensational find in two respects that Gunar Letzbor came across in the magnificent library of St. Florian Abbey near Linz: a Passion by the composer and Augustinian canon Franz Josef Aumann (1728-1797)!
It was quite a surprise, when Gunar Letzbor discovered, that Lambach Abbey contains several chamber music works by Amandus Ivanschiz (1727-1758) that were completely forgotten for centuries. When Gunar took a closer look at them, however, they turned out to be masterpieces and musical gems that absolutely deserve to be heard and admired again after 300 years, for they need not fear comparison even with similar works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart!
Johann Sebastian Bach can probably be taken as an example of those composers with whom every musician sooner or later deals in detail. Sooner, because his music simply fascinates and forms the basis for so much else – later, because his compositions are so demanding from a technical and musical point of view that one can return to them again and again, discovering a new facet each time, developing a new approach.
Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (1623-1680) can rightly be regarded as the founder of the Austrian violin school, and his compositions bear witness to an extraordinary talent for this string instrument, which was relatively new in art music at the time. The composer developed a rich palette of new expressive possibilities and bowing and fingering innovations for the violin, thus elevating it to the rank of an art instrument with great public appeal.
It was in September 1996, when seven enthusiastic musicians who had come together around violinist Gunar Letzbor to form the ensemble ARS ANTIQUA AUSTRIA, met in the Austrian picture-book town of Hallstadt to record one of the most impressive and fascinating cycles in music history: Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber's 15 Sonatas on the 15 Mysteries of the Rosary and the concluding Passacaglia. And one of the most technically demanding cycles at that: very fast, virtuoso passages, an enormous ambitus, double stops and a separate system of scordaturas for each sonata still limit the number of musicians who are able to play these pieces in an adequate manner.
»Of the violinists of the last century«, wrote the 18th century music historian Charles Burney, »Biber seems to have been the best, and his solos are the most difficult and imaginative that I know of the period«.
The ostinato model, i.e. the constant repetition of a bass motif over which a wide variety of upper voices delightfully concertise, has inspired countless composers from the earliest days of Western art music to today's pop music to create astonishing works – especially for the violin, which is so versatile and virtuosic: the possibilities of variation are endless and offered composers the opportunity to exhaust all the technical possibilities of the string instrument. In addition, however, this form also enjoyed great popularity among listeners of every era, since the pieces, for all their harmonic comprehensibility, usually require fantastic virtuosity on the part of the respective interpreters.
Ars Antiqua Austria, the ensemble of new Baroque music, was founded 1989 in Linz by Gunar Letzbor, with the intention of introducing audiences to the roots of specifically Austrian baroque music played on period instruments.
Gunar Letzbor, the founder of Ars Antiqua Austria, studied composition, conducting and violin at Linz, Salzburg and Cologne. His encounters with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Reinhard Goebel ignited a deep passion for period instruments and performance practice, led him to perform extensively with Musica Antiqua Köln, the Clemencic Consort, La Folia Salzburg, Armonico Tributo Basel and the Wiener Akademie.