Celebrating the European Day of Early Music

Besides being the first day of spring and the birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach, 21 March is also the European Day of Early Music. To celebrate, Teatru Manoel is presenting a concert by Vibe (Valletta International Baroque Ensemble) at St Dominic’s Church in Valletta at 8pm with a programme entitled Music at the Court of Kromeriz with works by Schmelzer, Vejvanovsky, Tuma, Rittler and Biber.

The European Day of Early Music is a project piloted by Rema (Réseau Européen de Musique Ancienne / European Early Music Network) which is the only representative for Early Music in Europe. Its aim is to facilitate a collaborative network for its members and to encourage the sharing of information, knowledge and co-operation among its members. The network now boasts a membership of around 75 Early Music organisations from 21 countries. This year it held its annual conference in Malta during the Valletta International Baroque Festival in January.

Early Music spans more than a millennium of music from the Middle Ages to the end of the 18th century. Through concerts, events and happenings taking place simultaneously across Europe, The European Day of Early Music is an important tribute to this historical musical heritage.

The Valletta International Baroque Ensemble (Vibe) brings together leading and up-andcoming musicians who share an infectious enthusiasm for making music, and who seek to breathe life into early music. Their concert on Wednesday, 21 March will be streamed live simultaneously with other similar concerts taking place throughout Europe.

The original manuscripts for the music included on this programme are to this day preserved in the Moravian city of Kromeriz, in what is today the eastern part of the Czech Republic. Following the devastations of the Thirty-Years War, during which much of the city had been destroyed, Carl Liechtenstein- Castelcorn (1624-1695), PrinceBishop of Olomouc, began rebuilding the bishop’s personal palace and gardens in Kromeriz and, as a further essential ornament to his court, formed a small musical ensemble and sought to obtain copies of the newest pieces from the Imperial Hapsburg court in Vienna, Salzburg, and even from Rome.

Many of the sonatas were probably used during the services at the church of St Maurice next to the Prince-Bishop’s palace in Kromeriz. It should be noted, however, that the realms of the sacred and secular were not that distinct in this period. As Schmeltzer wrote in the preface to his Sacro-Profanus concentus musicus in 1662 “this Sacred-Profane Musical Concord thus is collected especially so that it would be able to serve both to the pious worship of the saints and the honest pleasure of mankind, both to arousing piety in church and outside the church by refreshing the human spirit”.

The concert on Wednesday, 21 March at St Dominic’s Church, Merchant Street, Valletta starts at 8pm and is just over an hour long. Tickets can be purchased online at www.teatrumanoel.com.mt, by email bookings@teatrumanoel.com.mt or by calling the Teatru Manoel Booking Office on 2124 6389.