Law and DISorder (6/19/25)

Marc Bellassai – Harpsichord

The Inns of Court – Orlando Gibbons (1583–1625)

Lincoln’s Inn Mask; Mask: The Fairest Nymph 

The German Virginal in a Time of Pietism  

Ein guter Wein ist lobenswerdt – Bernard Schmidt the Elder (1535–1592); Fantasia [on Rowland] from Uppsala Ihre Ms. 285 – Franz Tunder (1614–1667); Lucidor einst hüt’t der Schaf from Lynar A1 – ‘M.W.’; Præambulum (10 Jan 1637) – Heinrich Scheidemann (1595–1663); Betrubet ist zu diese Frist (1630); Christ lag in Todesbanden – Georg Böhm (1661–1733)

Dei delitti e delle pene

 from Sonata in C minor: Moderato ~ Allegretto – Baldassare Galuppi (1706–1785)

Sopra la Ribellione di Ungheria (1671) – Alessandro Polietti (d. 1683)

 Toccatina: Galop ~ Sarabande la Sentence ~ La Decapitation – avec Discretion ~ Les Kloches – Requiem eternam dona eis Domine

from Die Kunst der Fuge, BWV 1080 – J.S. Bach (1685–1750)

Contrapunktus VI in stile francese [untitled in ca. 1742–1746 holograph]  

Whew! If a lot of those names are new to you, join the club.

Mr. Bellassai played quite well. Alas, the eleven pieces were very similar, and with the slowing tempo toward the ends of the works, it was hard to tell whether one piece segued into another or whether it was actually the end of the piece.

At one point, when a musical line went all the way down to the lower end of the harpsichord keyboard, he almost fell off the bench PDQ Bach–style (or was it Victor Borge?) before dramatically turning the page. It garnered a few chuckles. Emphasis on few. 

We finally got to the Law and DISorder portion of the concert during the Polietti. In between the Sarabande la Sentence and La Decapitation – avec Discretion, we were asked to All Rise. We did. We were asked to judge – Guilty or Not Guilty?

We had no idea. He pronounced Guilty and proceeded to play the rest of the piece. Why, yes, it was slightly schlocky. But the piece was interesting, as was the Bach that ended the program.

Of course, there was the requisite cell phone that went off before the Bach. It was not mine. 

ConcertMeister

(p.s. I never learned who 'M.W.' was.)