Music Box

April 16, 2023

Janneke Hoogland, cello

Cathryn Wilkinson, piano and organ

Prelude

 Sonata for Viola da Gamba in D major, BWV 1028……Johann Sebastian Bach

I. Adagio

II. Allegro

III. Andante

IV. Allegro

 

Offertory

Humoresque, Op. 7……Antonín Dvorák

 

Postlude

“La Primavera” (Spring) from The Four Seasons……Antonio Vivaldi, arr. S. Drummond Wolff

 

A Viola da What d’ya Call It?

S. Bach wrote solo and ensemble music for every instrument available in his native Germany, including various string instruments outside of the more traditional violin family. These included the lute, the viola d’amore, violino piccolo, violoncello piccolo, violone, and the viola da gamba. Bach originally created the D Major Sonata as one of three to be performed on the viola da gamba, which was far more popular than the cello in the 16th and early 17th centuries. The instrument had six strings, compared to the cello’s four, and frets like the guitar.  The construction of the bow and strings produced a more intimate sound.  The performer holds the instrument between the knees, like a cello and this is why it has the Italian name, da gamba, meaning from the legs. The variety of moods and musical inventiveness in Bach’s sonatas for viola da gamba make them still popular today.  Even after nearly 3oo years, the music is beautiful as adpated for the cello with its more robust tone and wider expressive range.

Welcome, Janneke Hoogland, cello.  A Bay Area native, Janneke  graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and later earned a masters degree in cello performance from The Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. She performed for over twenty years with the Rochester Philharmonic and was professor of cello performance, chamber music, and string methods at Houghton College and Roberts Wesleyan College.  Currently she is the cello coach for Youth Music Monterey and maintains a private music studio on the beautiful Monterey Peninsula.