Thomas Linley Jr Ode on the Fairies, Aerial Beings & Witches of Shakespeare
This was Solomon's Knot's second collaboration with the Bern-based baroque orchestra, Les Passions de l'Ame, following Telemann's Die Tageszeiten in March 2015. For the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare death, we took part in our own spate of 'bardolatry', and performed Thomas Linley Jr's Ode of 1776 in his honour. The piece and its slightly bonkers text by French Laurence is very much part of the 18th-century cult of Shakespeare, as well as the cult of Milton, who seems to have had a stronger influence over the language of the libretto itself.
Linley was an exact contemporary of Mozart, and met him whilst living in Italy. For the Ode's choruses he draws inspiration from Purcell and Handel, but the arias are much more modern, with resonances of Gluck, Mozart and J.C. Bach. The writing is fresh and energetic, with arias for the soprano characters 'Fancy' and the 'Spirit of Avon' (performed by Linley's sisters at the premiere), as well as a bass 'Fearful Observer' as the witches come out in the second part. The final chorus of the work calls for 'another Shakespeare' to crown Britain with his genius. After a fatal boat accident at the age of 22, Thomas Linley Jr was sadly not destined to answer this call himself.
The eight singers of Solomon's Knot share the solo arias and perform the work from memory.
Project repertoire & personnel
Thomas Linley Jr (1756-1778) - A Lyric Ode on the Faires, Aerial Beings & Witches of Shakespeare
2 sopranos ~ 2 altos ~ 2 tenors ~ 2 basses
4 violins ~ 2 violas ~ 1 'cellos ~ violone ~ 2 flutes ~ 2 oboes ~ bassoon
2 horns ~ 2 trumpets ~ timpani ~ harpsichord
Performances
May 2016: Kultur-Casino, Bern, Switzerland
May 2016: Eglise Saint-François, Lausanne, Switzerland
May 2016: Dreieinigkeitskirche, Regensburg, Germany (Tage Alter Musik Regensburg)
Linley was an exact contemporary of Mozart, and met him whilst living in Italy. For the Ode's choruses he draws inspiration from Purcell and Handel, but the arias are much more modern, with resonances of Gluck, Mozart and J.C. Bach. The writing is fresh and energetic, with arias for the soprano characters 'Fancy' and the 'Spirit of Avon' (performed by Linley's sisters at the premiere), as well as a bass 'Fearful Observer' as the witches come out in the second part. The final chorus of the work calls for 'another Shakespeare' to crown Britain with his genius. After a fatal boat accident at the age of 22, Thomas Linley Jr was sadly not destined to answer this call himself.
The eight singers of Solomon's Knot share the solo arias and perform the work from memory.
Project repertoire & personnel
Thomas Linley Jr (1756-1778) - A Lyric Ode on the Faires, Aerial Beings & Witches of Shakespeare
2 sopranos ~ 2 altos ~ 2 tenors ~ 2 basses
4 violins ~ 2 violas ~ 1 'cellos ~ violone ~ 2 flutes ~ 2 oboes ~ bassoon
2 horns ~ 2 trumpets ~ timpani ~ harpsichord
Performances
May 2016: Kultur-Casino, Bern, Switzerland
May 2016: Eglise Saint-François, Lausanne, Switzerland
May 2016: Dreieinigkeitskirche, Regensburg, Germany (Tage Alter Musik Regensburg)