By Nancy Plum
The Dryden Ensemble continued its season this past weekend with a concert commemorating the 400th anniversary of English composer John Dowland’s death and the birthday of Austrian Franz Schubert. Featuring soprano Clara Rottsolk and lute and guitar specialist Daniel Swenberg, as well as Lisa Terry playing viola da gamba and cello, Saturday afternoon’s program at Princeton Unitarian Universalist Congregation brought together music of two of music history’s greatest songwriters. The Dryden performers focused their attention on Dowland’s early 17th-century vocal and instrumental works, which are currently enjoying a revival in music circles. The Lieder of Schubert as accompanied by guitar are heard less often than those with piano but were quite popular in the early 19th century.
The collection of John Dowland published in 1604 as Lachrimae consisted of a number of stately “pavans” as well as other adapted dances. Scored for soprano, lute, and viola da gamba, the seven Dowland songs presented on Saturday afternoon showed both the composer’s melodic gifts and his own virtuosic lute expertise embedded into his pieces. Swenberg and Terry opened the set with a long introduction to “Flow my Tears.” Swenberg well brought out the intricate lute passages with clarity, supported by Terry’s uncomplicated but solid accompaniment. Rottsolk sang the somber text with a crystal-clear tone, building intensity with each verse. Rottsolk has sung with orchestras worldwide — particularly extensively with early music ensembles — and she demonstrated a solid command of the repertoire for this program. She did not have to over sing to fill the space of the church, and the three instruments consistently fit together well.
Most of the texts chosen by Dowland were arranged simply, with one note per word, and many of these songs were melancholic in nature. One exception was the chipper “Behold a wonder here,” in which Rottsolk displayed melodic ornamentation while effectively communicating the optimistic text to the audience. “His golden locks” was in the style of a “galliard,” a courtly dance which, combined with words, evoked Elizabethan England. The solo soprano lines often included off-beat rhythms, and Rottsolk cleanly executed the delicacy of certain phrases.
The Dryden Ensemble interspersed Dowland’s vocal selections with instrumental pieces featuring Swenberg and Terry. “Adew” was particularly sorrowful, while “Semper Dowland semper dolens” (the composer’s own humorous self-observation that if it’s “always Dowland,” it’s “always mournful), was strophic, with each verse showing increasingly complex lute writing.
Franz Schubert’s settings of Lieder for guitar and voice were significantly influenced by the pre-eminent Viennese guitar-making Stauffer family, whose influence is still felt today through revered Martin instruments. For Saturday afternoon’s performance, Swenberg brought two guitars — a 19th-century French-style instrument and a Viennese period guitar. Both had more than the six strings we see today, with scroll-shaped headstocks housing the tuning pegs. As Swenberg explained, the upper strings produced a familiar guitar sound while the lower strings were more closely related to the 18th-century theorbo. Throughout the 10 selections representing Schubert and his contemporaries, Swenberg maintained solid control over both guitars, providing rich accompaniment to Rottsolk’s effortless singing and well complementing Terry’s lyrical cello passages.
Schubert was one of the greatest melodists in music history, and each of the eight songs presented gave Rottsolk great opportunity to make the most of text and phrasing. The Lieder were often strophic, with voice and instruments intricately connected, and always telling a story. The vocal range of these songs was higher than the Dowland pieces, allowing Rottsolk’s voice to soar on key words. Rottsolk also was able to expressively take time for stylistic rubato effects at ends of phrases and easily changed character among songs. The light-hearted “Sei mir gegrüsst” was optimistic, while “Trost in Tränen” showed varied moods among the numerous couplets of text. In both the “Nocturnes,” Terry played sweet and poignant cello melodies against Swenberg’s precise guitar lines. Closing with a Schubertian tribute to Hungarian wine, the three musicians brought a bit of musical warmth to a very cold winter afternoon.
The Dryden Ensemble will present its final concert of the season on Friday, March 6 at 7:30 p.m. at Princeton’s Unitarian Universalist Congregation. This program, “The Most Faithful Companion: Lute and guitar trios of the 17thcentury,” will feature music for Renaissance and baroque lutes, as well as baroque guitars. Ticket information can be found at drydenensemble.org.