Baroque Wake UpImagine my surprise when I opened

my copy of the Summer 2009 EMAgand discovered Thomas Forrest Kelly’sMusings (page 6) about Sunday Baroque,the radio program I have hosted andproduced for nearly 22 years!

Thank you to Professor Kelly for lis-tening to Sunday Baroque and for bringingit to the attention of our fellow EMAsubscribers. WGBH in Boston is one ofapproximately 90 stations around thecountry introducing its listeners to Sun-day Baroque’s wide variety of music frombefore c.1750. We are passionate aboutshowcasing the wonderful variety ofrecordings our friends and colleagues aremaking. Through Sunday Baroque’s broad-casts, more than a quarter million listen-ers across the U.S. are exposed to thesetalented musicians every week, withmany more online listeners from aroundthe world.

Professor Kelly suggested an elegantdefinition of early music: “beautifulmusic well performed.” I enthusiasticallyagree! That’s been the heart and soul ofmy programming philosophy all theseyears, and it has been a successful for-mula for introducing countless listeners– both novice and knowledgeable – to aworld of music they’ve never experi-enced before. And I want to reassureProfessor Kelly that a great opportunityis not being missed at all. Quite the con-trary – Sunday Baroque is flourishing at atime when some classical radio stationsare forced to reduce their hours or,worse, change formats altogether. Moreand more radio stations are discoveringthat Sunday Baroque welcomes listenerswith the delightful “dancing rhythms”Professor Kelly spoke of so fondly. Theprogram has become a lifeline allowingmany stations to retain classical pro-gramming, attract listeners, and reinforcetheir programing schedules with anappealing mix that encourages listenerloyalty and support.

I’m grateful that Professor Kellymade the extra effort to examineplaylists and consider the program more

comprehensively once he was rested,rather than form an opinion based solelyon a sliver of the program heard whilejet-lagged and fresh off the plane. I real-ize that there’s no value in quibbling overindividual performances; music is sub-jective and highly personal, and everyonewon’t like everything all the time. Andafter all, few have the advanced degreesand high level of scholarship of a Har-vard professor; many people are hearingthis music – even Albinoni’s “dreaded”Adagio – for the first time. And that’sOK, because it opens the door for them to enjoy and appreciate music byOrlando Gibbons, for example.

Other than to clarify that there is no“theme music” for the program at all(neither Classical nor Baroque) and thatthere are four (vs. three) hours a weekavailable to stations for broadcast, I’mpleased by the conclusions ProfessorKelly ultimately drew at the end of hiscolumn. It is a challenge, a deeply grati-fying challenge, to provide four wonder-ful hours of Baroque music every week– a labor of love that is richly rewardedin the steady stream of enthusiastic listener feedback.

Thanks very much for giving SundayBaroque some consideration.

Suzanne BonaSunday Baroque

www.SundayBaroque.org

Some longtime early music loversmay dread hearing the Albinoni Adagiofor the gazillionth time, but a listener

Early Music America Fall 2009 3

Early Music America Board of Directors

PresidentRonald Cook

Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLPVice Presidents

Thomas Forrest KellyHarvard UniversityAngela Mariani

Harmonia, Altramar, Texas Tech UniversitySecretary

Deborah MalamudNYU

Assistant SecretaryRebecca BaltzerUniversity of Texas

TreasurerJeffrey BarnettDorsal Capital

Asst. Treasurer and President-ElectRobert A. JohnsonBuchanan Ingersoll P.C.

Barry BauguessTrumpet

Marie-Hélène BernardHandel and Haydn Society

Robert BirmanLouisville OrchestraChristopher Bone

ActuaryBernice Chen

Boston Early Music FestivalRobert Cole

Cal PerformancesPablo Corá

The Concord EnsembleSusan HellauerAnonymous 4Valerie Horst

Amherst Early MusicDavid Klausner

University of TorontoAlexandra MacCracken

Ensemble GaudiorMichael McCrawIndiana UniversitySarah Mead

Brandeis UniversityGene Murrow

Gotham Early Music SceneDebra Nagy

Case Western Reserve UniversityCharlotte NewmanArts Administrator

Rachel Barton PineViolinist

Jordan SramekThe Rose Ensemble

Charles Q. SullivanEarly Music Now

Laurence B. SutterFriendFinder Networks, Inc.

Lee TalnerRadiologist, University of Washington

Christopher ThorpeComputer Scientist

StaffExecutive DirectorMaria Coldwell

Membership DirectorSally Mitchell

Advertising ManagerPatrick Nugent

readerforum

Speak Up!Early Music America maga-zine welcomes your com-mentary. Please include yourname, city of residence, e-mail address, and phonenumber with all corre-spondence. Send to: Reader Forum, Early MusicAmerica, 472 Point Road, Marion, MA 02738;fax: 508-748-1928; or editor@earlymusic.org.Early Music America magazine reserves the rightto edit letters for clarity, style, and length.

4 Fall 2009 Early Music America

new to our genre or a young personbeginning an exploration of musicalgenres may be captivated by its beauty(on modern or historical instruments)and motivated to seek out more earlymusic. Chances are such new potentialfans won’t be attending a lecture or con-cert, but they might be scanning theradio dial. Host Suzanne Bona’s inclu-sion of Billboard top-10 artist Paul Gal-braith’s rendition of a Bach sonata onhis eight-string guitar was informed,delightful, and shrewd. Galbraith’s sensi-tive music-making has received ravereviews from major publications aroundthe world (see www.paul-galbraith.com/engl/imprensa.htm). His development ofa new eight-stringed instrument withEnglish luthier David Rubio based onthe Renaissance “orphereon” is whollywithin the tradition of instrument build-ing and experimentation characteristic ofour genre. Imagine all the garage- orindie-band guitarists who are fascinatedwith Galbraith’s widely-known work andwho might follow his lead into theBaroque and Renaissance repertoire.(And I’ve heard theories about hiddenmusical messages in music from estab-lished and respected scholars that werefar screwier than that attributed to Galbraith).

Gene Murrow, Executive DirectorGotham Early Music Scene, New York, NY

Graupner in ErrorI’d like to take this opportunity to

correct a few errors in my article onChristoph Graupner (Summer 2009,page 45). The year 2010 will see severalcities around the world honoring the250th anniversary of Graupner’s deathwith concerts, opera performances,workshops, and CD recordings. Graup -ner’s career in Darmstadt lasted fromabout Easter Sunday 1709 (not 1710, asthe article suggested) until his death in1760. I am currently preparing a com-plete edition of the orchestral suites andsymphonies that will celebrate the 300thanniversary of Graupner’s appointmentas the Darmstadt Hofkapellmeister onJanuary 28, 1711. I sincerely apologize

for confusing these anniversaries in myarticle. Also, Dr. Oswald Bill is currentlyresearching and preparing the thematiccatalog of Graupner’s vocal works. Manythanks to Geneviève Soly for graciouslybringing these points to my attention.

Kim Patrick Clowtelemann@gmail.com

ED. NOTE: A corrected version of this articleappears at the www.earlymusic.org web site.

Photo CreditsThank you for the attention given to

the Cambridge Consort tour of Japanthis summer in the last Sound Bytes(Summer 2009, page 11). In the materialsI sent you, I forgot to mention that thephotographer of our publicity photo isTeresa Tam. I hope she can be creditedin the next issue.

Tatiana DaubekCambridge Consort

ED. NOTE: The psychedelic viol on the cover of the Summer 2009 EMAg was adapted with filters in Corel Photo-Paint from a photograph by Jonnie Maunder(www.jonniemaunderphotography.com) posted on a “Viols in Our Schools” page(www.violsinourschools.org/about.html) main-tained by Dr. Phillip W. Serna, a member ofthe Chicago Early Music Consort and otherarea ensembles. Mr. Serna’s instrument is aLu-Mi seven-string bass viol made in 2006 by Wang Zi Ming, and his bow was made by Emmanuel Begin.

READERforum

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