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She taught the French how to cook
Piffaro's Catherine de' Medici concert
Tom Purdom
Piffaro, Philadelphia’s Renaissance band, provided some good notes for its musical biography of Catherine de’ Medici but overlooked her greatest contribution to civilization. Catherine (1519-1589) fostered the rise of French cuisine when she crossed the Alps to marry the heir to the French throne and brought her Italian cooks with her. Before her arrival, the French apparently lived on roasts and unimaginative stews. I’ve always felt French cooking is a more refined (sometimes over-refined) version of Italian feasting. I was pleased to discover my intuition hadn’t failed me when I encountered this bit of history several years ago.
The evening’s vocalist, making her first appearance with Piffaro, was a soprano with a beautifully clear, natural voice. Shari Alise Wilson opened the program with a call to worship that floated through Chestnut Hill Presbyterian in exactly the way it must have sounded in the cathedrals for which it was intended. (Though I suspect the author of the text— the puritanical Dominican priest Girolamo Savonarola— would have voiced significant reservations about Wilson’s off-the-shoulder gown.)
The best early music specialists combine first-class musical ability with a scholarly knowledge of several centuries of style and performance practice. A good early music vocalist must be endowed with a great voice in addition. Wilson is Piffaro’s best find since the group started working with Laura Heimes about a decade ago.
Her somber Italian period
The program covered three periods in Catherine de’ Medici’s life, a scheme that let Piffaro range across the music of two countries and a spectrum of moods and subjects. The music in the first section came from Catherine’s early years in Italy and included several rather somber religious pieces, since Catherine spent most of her time in a convent. But a stately pavane and four rousing galliards lightened the tone at the end.
Things livened up when she reached France and got to enjoy court songs celebrating romantic gallantry. Three of the songs had to be limited to instrumental versions, in fact, since they couldn’t be translated in a program destined for family audiences. Part Three took in Catherine’s years as queen and queen mother as well as her long struggle to preserve the throne for her sons.
Like all Piffaro concerts, this one included so many individual pieces it would be impossible to describe them all. As always, Piffaro’s musicians kept things moving at a fast clip and made good use of all the families of winds and strings they’ve mastered over the years. Soft harmonious recorders yielded to mixed groups of brass sacbuts and reedy shawns. Lute, harp and flute created lovely, poetic interludes. Tom Zajac took his turn with flute and tabor— that fascinating combo in which he plays a small flute with one hand while he beats a small drum with the other. Suites for raucous galliards provided all the noise and speed any civilized human needs.
The closure was a good example of Piffaro’s adept showmanship. Instead of ending with a big number, with everybody blowing full blast, Piffaro followed the big number with a quiet piece that drew the curtain on a long and historically significant life.
A find in Chestnut Hill
I attended this concert in Chestnut Hill because of a conflict with Piffaro’s Center City performance the previous night. I’ve been to a number of concerts at Chestnut Hill Presbyterian recently. Carless Center City denizens might like to know it’s a comfortable four-block walk from the Chestnut Hill West train station. The church itself is a simple, beautifully maintained hall with great acoustics.
If you take the 6:20 R8 from Suburban Station, you should have time to stop at a neat pizza-sandwiches-and-salad place about a block from the station. If you’re watching your calories, I especially recommend the Tuscan Cobb salad— an appropriate prelude to an event devoted to the Tuscan queen who taught the French how to cook.
The evening’s vocalist, making her first appearance with Piffaro, was a soprano with a beautifully clear, natural voice. Shari Alise Wilson opened the program with a call to worship that floated through Chestnut Hill Presbyterian in exactly the way it must have sounded in the cathedrals for which it was intended. (Though I suspect the author of the text— the puritanical Dominican priest Girolamo Savonarola— would have voiced significant reservations about Wilson’s off-the-shoulder gown.)
The best early music specialists combine first-class musical ability with a scholarly knowledge of several centuries of style and performance practice. A good early music vocalist must be endowed with a great voice in addition. Wilson is Piffaro’s best find since the group started working with Laura Heimes about a decade ago.
Her somber Italian period
The program covered three periods in Catherine de’ Medici’s life, a scheme that let Piffaro range across the music of two countries and a spectrum of moods and subjects. The music in the first section came from Catherine’s early years in Italy and included several rather somber religious pieces, since Catherine spent most of her time in a convent. But a stately pavane and four rousing galliards lightened the tone at the end.
Things livened up when she reached France and got to enjoy court songs celebrating romantic gallantry. Three of the songs had to be limited to instrumental versions, in fact, since they couldn’t be translated in a program destined for family audiences. Part Three took in Catherine’s years as queen and queen mother as well as her long struggle to preserve the throne for her sons.
Like all Piffaro concerts, this one included so many individual pieces it would be impossible to describe them all. As always, Piffaro’s musicians kept things moving at a fast clip and made good use of all the families of winds and strings they’ve mastered over the years. Soft harmonious recorders yielded to mixed groups of brass sacbuts and reedy shawns. Lute, harp and flute created lovely, poetic interludes. Tom Zajac took his turn with flute and tabor— that fascinating combo in which he plays a small flute with one hand while he beats a small drum with the other. Suites for raucous galliards provided all the noise and speed any civilized human needs.
The closure was a good example of Piffaro’s adept showmanship. Instead of ending with a big number, with everybody blowing full blast, Piffaro followed the big number with a quiet piece that drew the curtain on a long and historically significant life.
A find in Chestnut Hill
I attended this concert in Chestnut Hill because of a conflict with Piffaro’s Center City performance the previous night. I’ve been to a number of concerts at Chestnut Hill Presbyterian recently. Carless Center City denizens might like to know it’s a comfortable four-block walk from the Chestnut Hill West train station. The church itself is a simple, beautifully maintained hall with great acoustics.
If you take the 6:20 R8 from Suburban Station, you should have time to stop at a neat pizza-sandwiches-and-salad place about a block from the station. If you’re watching your calories, I especially recommend the Tuscan Cobb salad— an appropriate prelude to an event devoted to the Tuscan queen who taught the French how to cook.
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