20 August 2023, 7 p.m. Kretinga Franciscan church

Organ solo recital by Lorenzo Ghielmi (Italy)

In the Baroque period, many Italian composers wrote for the organ. The most famous was certainly Girolamo Frescobaldi, who was appointed as the organist of St. Peter's in Rome when he was only 30 years old. His fame extended long after his death, to the extent that even Johann Sebastian Bach made a copy of the “Fiori musicali,” the last collection composed by the Italian maestro.

Bernardo Pasquini, born near Florence, found his fortune in Rome, where he became the accompanist of the famous violinist Arcangelo Corelli. Corelli's reputation spread throughout Europe, and his music even reached as far as South America, where Domenico Zipoli, a Jesuit sent on a mission to Paraguay, encountered it. The Jesuits spread sacred music among the American Indians and taught them how to play and craft instruments. The Sonata by Zipoli includes some violin passages by Corelli adapted for the organ by Zipoli.

The figure of Bernardo Storace is shrouded in mystery. As an organist in the city of Messina, Sicily, all documents relating to his life were destroyed in the great earthquake that devastated the city in 1900. Only one book, printed in Venice, survives in a single copy.

The style of Giovanni Battista Sammartini and Giuseppe Gonelli's sonatas leans towards the classical style, with simplicity of melodic lines and a reduction of harmonic complexity. Their music is pleasant and immediate, serving as a model for Mozart and the generation of musicians that contributed to the birth of the classical style.

PROGRAM

Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583–1643)

                        Toccata 

                        Canzon dopo l’ epistola

                        Toccata per l’Elevazione

                        Due Gagliarde (from “II Libro”)

Bernardo Pasquini  (1637–1710)

                        Variazioni per il paggio tedesco

                        Toccata con lo scherzo del cucco

Bernardo Storace (1600–1664)

                        Balletto 

                        Battaglia

Domenico Zipoli (1688–1726) 

                        Canzona in sol minore      

                        Sonata in re minore (Preludio, Allegro, Adagio, Allegro)

Giovanni Battista Sammartini  (1701–1775)

                        Sonata

Giuseppe Gonelli (1666–c.1740)

                        Sonata F-dur / Sonata in fa maggiore

Lorenzo Ghielmi

Lorenzo Ghielmi has devoted himself for years to the study and performance of Renaissance and Baroque music. He is one of the most successful interpreters of Bach’s organ and harpsichord works.

He gives concerts all over Europe, Russia, Japan, Korea, and the Americas and has made numerous radio recordings and an extensive discography with labels such as Passacaille, Winter & Winter, Harmonia Mundi, and Teldec.

Lorenzo Ghielmi has published a book on Nicolaus Bruhns, as well as papers and studies on organ-building of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and on the interpretation of works by Bach and other composers from the Baroque period.

He teaches organ, harpsichord, and ensemble music at the Civica Scuola di Musica di Milano. From 2006 to 2015, he served as Professor of Organ at the Schola Cantorum in Basel.

Lorenzo Ghielmi holds the position of titular organist of the Ahrend organ at the Milanese basilica of San Simpliciano, where he performed the complete organ works by J.S. Bach.

He also serves as a jury member in numerous international organ competitions and is invited to give lectures and masterclasses at prestigious musical institutions.

Furthermore, he has supervised the construction of several new organs, including the grand instrument of the Tokyo Cathedral.

In 1985, Lorenzo Ghielmi was among the founders of the Giardino Armonico. In 2005, he started the ensemble La Divina Armonia, with which he has given concerts at many European and Japanese festivals.