Les Muffatti

The orchestra Les Muffatti was created in 1996 in and around the Brussels Conservatory by a group of twelve idealistic musicians who wanted to ensure that the Baroque repertoire for string orchestra was sufficiently addressed in their education. The members agreed to work on several projects per year, inviting a different music director for each one.

When the group began to realize that its potential as a steady ensemble was growing quickly, and each member had specialized in Baroque strings, they decided, by the end of 2003, to present Les Muffatti to the public and give it a more official character. The group attracted new members and began to look for a regular music director, settling on Peter Van Heyghen, an internationally recognized specialist in performance practices of Renaissance and Baroque music. In June 2004, the ensemble performed its debut concert in Brussels under his direction.

Les Muffatti was promptly noticed by several concert organizers, and immediately invited to present concerts at the Concertgebouw in Bruges, the Handel Akademie in Karlsruhe, the Aqua Musica festival in Amsterdam, the festival Musica Antiqua Bruges, the Holland Oude Muziek festival in Utrecht, the Musica Sacra festival in Maastricht, and the Bozar concert series in Brussels.

Catherine

Catherine is a feminine given name. For the history of the name Catherine, see Katherine. The nicknames include Catie, Caty, Cate, Cathy, Cat, Kitty, Erin, and others.

Notable people with the given name include:

Nobility

Literature

Niccolò Jommelli

Niccolò Jommelli (Italian: [nikkoˈlɔ jomˈmɛlli]; 10 September 1714 – 25 August 1774) was a Neapolitan composer. He was born in Aversa and died in Naples. Along with other composers mainly in the Holy Roman Empire and France, he made important changes to opera and reduced the importance of star singers.

Biographical information

Early life

Jommelli was born to Francesco Antonio Jommelli and Margarita Cristiano in Aversa, a town some 20 kilometres north of Naples. He had one brother Ignazio, who became a Dominican monk and helped the composer in his old age, and three sisters. His father was a prosperous linen merchant, who entrusted Jommelli to study music under Canon Muzzillo, the director of the Aversa cathedral choir.

As he had shown talent for music, Jommelli was enrolled after in 1725 at the Conservatorio di Santo Onofrio a Capuana in Naples, where he studied under Ignazio Prota, and alongside Tomaso Prota and Francesco Feo. Three years later he was transferred to the Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini, where he was trained under Niccolò Fago, having Don Giacomo Sarcuni and Andrea Basso, as second maestri, that is, singing teachers (maestri di canto). He was greatly influenced by Johann Adolph Hasse, who was in Naples during this period. After completing his studies he began work, and wrote two opere buffe, L'errore amorosa in early 1737 and Odoardo in late 1738. His first opera seria, Ricimero re di Goti, was such a success in Rome in 1740 that work was immediately commissioned from him by Henry Benedict Stuart, the Cardinal-Duke of York.

Nisi Dominus (Handel)

Nisi Dominus is a setting of the Latin text of Psalm 127 (Vulgate 126) by George Friederic Handel. The name of the piece comes from the first two words (the incipit) of the psalm, and it is catalogued in the composer's complete works as HWV 238. It was completed by 13 July 1707, and is one of a number of works he composed in Italy. It is most likely that Nisi Dominus was first performed on 16 July 1707 in the church of Santa Maria in Montesanto, Rome, under the patronage of the Colonna family.

In the concluding doxology, Handel writes for eight voices in a double chorus and (uniquely in his output) a double string orchestra.

A typical performance lasts almost 12 minutes.

Movements

The work has the following movements:

See also

External links