Micrologus; Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute (BPI)

81-24 BAROQUE PERFORMANCE INSTITUE

To most of you, the initials BPI may mean nothing, but to musicians in the Cleveland area, and increasingly across the country and even around the world, BPI stands for Baroque Performance Institute. It's an institute concerned with the performance of baroque music, which takes place at Oberlin, Ohio, near Cleveland, each summer.

And I'm especially privileged to have with me two guests on the show today to talk about this. The first is Catharina Meints, who's well known in Cleveland as a performer with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Cleveland Baroque Soloists, and the Oberlin Baroque Ensemble; and also, a very distinguished guest, Professor August Wenzinger, recording artist, soloist, conductor, one of the co-founders of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, the Conservatory of Music in Basel, Switzerland. Cathy, let me ask you, first of all, how did the idea for the Baroque Performance Institute get started?

MEINTS: I think the beginnings of it were when my husband, James Caldwell, and I first went to a master class that Mr. Wenzinger had been teaching in Saratoga Springs, New York, and we were studying viola da gamba, and we were so impressed by his teaching. We thought we really wanted to have him come again to someplace in the United States. At that point, we moved to Oberlin, Ohio, where my husband started teaching. The facilities there were so wonderful for a summer institute. We thought it was really a perfect place to have such a festival. So we got things rolling.

DUFFIN: Professor Wenzinger, you've been very active as a recording artist and soloist in Europe for a long time. How did you come to North America in the first place and get involved with this institute?

WENZINGER: In fact, I come very early to North America, in ’53. Already I was teaching for a whole term at Harvard University, you know, the gamba and also performance practices. And the next year in Brandeis University, then there was a great gap. And in ’67 I came to Saratoga Springs, which Cathy Meints just mentioned, and then Bob Conant called me and we met with Caldwells and with many other musicians of this country. And since then I returned once or twice a year for concert tours, and since ’71 every summer for the BPI. So this is now the 10th year for the BPI, an anniversary, a special one.

DUFFIN: Yeah, I think before we go on, we'll listen to some music, and the first piece we'll hear is the Caprice from the Suite in G for three bass viols, by Marin Marais. Could you tell us something about that?

MEINTS: We chose this for a sentimental reason. It was the very first piece that we played on the first concert ever at the BPI.

[MUSIC: The Caprice from the Suite in G for three viols and continuo, by Marin Marais]

I'd like to hear a little bit about the other members of the faculty for the Baroque Performance Institute.

MEINTS: The basis of the faculty is the Oberlin Baroque Ensemble, plus Mr. Wenzinger. We've all been teaching at Oberlin for quite a few years now, and this is Bob Willoughby, Lisa Crawford, Marilyn McDonald, James Caldwell, and myself. Other people we bring in from Europe. Max von Egmont teaches voice; Penelope Jensen, who's well-known to Cleveland audiences; Michael Lynn from Oberlin; James Weaver from the Smithsonian. In fact, quite a few people from the Washington—from the Smithsonian Chamber Players come to the BPI in the summertime.

DUFFIN: The next piece is a Quantz trio sonata—two movements from the Quantz trio sonata in C for transverse flute and recorder. And the performers are?

MEINTS: Robert Willoughby on flute, Michael Lynn on recorder, Lisa Crawford on harpsichord, and James Caldwell on viola da gamba.

DUFFIN: All members of the faculty of the Baroque Performance Institute.

[MUSIC: The first and second movements of Johann Joachim Quantz’s Trio Sonata in C Major for transverse flute and recorder, performed by members of the Baroque Performance Institute.]

DUFFIN: What about the students at BPI? Where did they come from and what sorts of musical levels are they at?

WENZINGER: They are welcome from all countries and of all levels. Of course, as teacher we like the more advanced, but the others are also welcome.

DUFFIN: Do the students prepare performances during the course of the workshop?

WENZINGER: Yes, yes. Every week we have a student concert which sometimes takes four or five hours because we have so many!

DUFFIN: Marathons! The next piece we're going to hear is a recitative from a cantata by Graun: O Dio Fileno. What can you tell us about it?

WENZINGER: It's a great cantata. Graun was composer at Berlin, and he had there very, very good singers in the opera, and also very good orchestra and a very good viola da gamba player, Christian Hesse. It's a very virtuoso cantata for both soloists—for the singer and the viola da gamba player. And I can perhaps mention I copied this cantata already in ’36 in the Library of Berlin, at a time when there was no microfilm, and no photographs, and we had to go to the library and copy it by myself.

DUFFIN: So without doubt, you were involved in one of the first performances in more recent times?

WENZINGER: Sure, sure, sure.

DUFFIN: The recitative from the cantata O Dio Fileno by Graun, performed by members of the faculty of the Baroque Performance Institute.

[MUSIC: Penelope Jensen, soprano, and August Wenzinger, viola da gamba, assisted by members of the faculty of the Baroque Performance Institute in a performance of the recitative from the cantata O Dio Fileno, by Graun.]

DUFFIN: Now, each year for the last three years, I think, the faculty at BPI has produced a recording, and the repertoire has always been different. How have you chosen the repertoire for performance each year?

WENZINGER: Because the period of baroque music is so great, it’s better for the teaching and also for the concert programs to choose, each year, a special topic.

MEINTS: The first year was the 250th anniversary of Marin Marais’ death in 1978. So we did a complete recording of Marin Marais.

DUFFIN: We have time for one more selection, and it's going to be La Pucelle by Couperin. And what's this?

MEINTS: This is the first part of a suite of François Couperin, called La Française. It's a sonata, almost Italian in style. And the performers on it are the Oberlin Baroque Ensemble, which is the backbone of the BPI faculty in any case.

DUFFIN: La Pucelle from La Française by François Couperin, performed by members of the Oberlin Baroque Ensemble.

[MUSIC]

DUFFIN: La Pucelle, the first movement from the suite La Française by François Couperin, performed by members of the Oberlin Baroque Ensemble, who also are members of the faculty of the BPI. The BPI has been going now successfully for ten years. What are its aims now?

MEINTS: All along we've had two goals primarily. One is to be a sort of a “Marlboro of Early Music,” where professional musicians in the early music field get together and have a wonderful time playing together. And indeed, the concerts are really high points in all of our careers because, for one reason, the audiences are extremely ready to listen to us. And the other main goal is to improve the quality of the people in the whole country that are playing early music—to have people become technically better on their baroque instruments.

DUFFIN: You've been listening to a program featuring music from the Baroque Performance Institute at Oberlin, Ohio, and my guests have been Catharina Meints and August Wenzinger.