Collegium Musicum to Play Early Music Nov. 5

by Richard Veit

Baylor University's Collegium Musicum ensembles-conducted by Christine Getz, lecturer in music history-will present a program of early music and literature at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5, in Roxy Grove Hall. Collegium Musicum is comprised of The Medieval-Renaissance Consort and The William Casey Baroque Ensemble.
Getz holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Evansville, a master's degree from Southern Illinois University, and a doctorate from the University of North Texas. She has been a member of the Baylor faculty since 1990.
The Medieval-Renaissance Consort will open the program with an anonymous 16th-century depiction of warfare "La Bataille." This ensemble will play eight anonymous selections from the thirteenth century, including six from the collection known as the Bamberg Codex. Two pieces by the 14th-century Italian composer Jacopo da Bologna also will be heard. The first half of the concert will close with the anonymous sixteenth-century "Tourdion."
Assisting The Medieval-Renaissance Consort will be a pair of soprano soloists from the School of Music, Emily Stanton and Jennifer Scarcella.
Readings by Dr. Thomas Hanks, professor of English, from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales will be interspersed with the music. Hanks will read "The Knight," "The Prioress," "The Squire," "The Wife of Bath" and "The Parson."
Following intermission, The William Casey Baroque Ensemble will take the stage to perform "Balletto di Capitani" by Austrian composer Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (1623-1680) and George Frideric Handel's Concerto Grosso, Op. 6, No. 1, which dates from the year 1739. Featured instrumental soloists will be Emily Singley and Noel Martin, violins, and Brian Towndrow, cello.
This concert by Collegium Musicum is free and open to the public. For more information, call the Baylor School of Music at 755-3991.