March | Mozart: Sacred and Profane

Seattle Opera Star Tess Altiveros will appear with the Bremerton WestSound Symphony!

From the 1950's and into the 1980's, every hotel had a band in residence. Often, this was a Jazz quartet that performed all the latest popular hits with melodies that patrons would recognize, from Elvis in the 50's to the Beatles in the 60's and 70's, and all the latest Broadway show tunes. 

      Back in the 18th Century, every king, duke, viscount, and anyone with even a tiny castle, also had a resident band. This was known as "Harmoniemusik." Harmoniemusik was a wind octet with two oboes, two clarinets, two horns, and two bassoons that performed arrangements of all the latest popular operas. When a successful opera premiered in Vienna, Prague or other Central European cities, the greatest tunes from the opera would enter the repertoire and be performed by the Harmoniemusik in every castle within a couple of weeks. A number of these arrangements still exist in European libraries

     Josef Triebensee (1782 – 1846) was an oboist, a composer, and in his younger years, the leader of one Harmoniemusik ensemble. His arrangement of all the great tunes from Don Giovanni was found in the Prague Conservatory Archives some years ago.

For this concert, imagine that you are an honored dinner guest at a beautiful European castle and the musical portion of the evening's entertainment includes tunes from Mozart's latest hit opera. We have enhanced the festivities by inviting wonderful vocal soloists to join the ensemble and sing excerpts from Don Giovanni. As mentioned previously, we have a last-minute surprise with one of the great stars of Seattle opera, Tess Altiveros, joining us for several of Mozart’s arias. 

    After intermission, imagine that we move into the chapel to hear the Bremerton Symphony Chorale sing Bach's sacred motet, Der Geist hilft unsrer Schwachheit auf, usually rendered in English as The Spirit also helpeth us. 

     Now, perhaps we are back in the Castle’s great reception hall. If the owner were Haydn’s patron, the Hungarian Count Esterhazy, he might have invited local folk musicians to perform a bit of typical Hungarian music. The Magyar Dance, by Music Director Alan Futterman, includes the slow, placid, atmospheric sounds of night music, contrasted with the frenetic rhythm of a Hungarian Running Dance.

    Finally, the instrumental star of our evening will be the 2025 Junior Winner of our Young Artists Competition; Ruth Harvey will perform the Finale of Camille Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto #1. This is an early work by a talented youthful composer performed here by a talented youthful performer. Don’t miss it!