Please click on a heading for detailed program and venue information.

• July 23, 2008
  O Tuneful Voice: Songs of Love and Loss from the Age of Enlightenment
  Presented by the Trinity College Summer Chamber Music Series
  Sudie Marcuse, soprano
  Sylvia Berry, fortepiano
   
  The "Age of Enlightenment” refers to an eighteenth century intellectual movement that celebrated scientific research and individual freedom. This new thinking allowed the rising middle class to enjoy cultural activities that previously were available only to the aristocracy. A boom in music publishing and instrument building enabled middle class families to bring music into their homes, and eventually most well-to-do young ladies were expected to be able to sing and play a keyboard instrument. In addition, a slowly emerging equality between the sexes allowed female performers and composers to concertize and publish their works. This program features songs by female composers such as von Paradis and Brillon de Jouy, alongside those of their male contemporaries Haydn and Mozart, whose works were often inspired by their female friends, students, and colleagues.
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• June 21, 2008
  The Roman Connection: Italian Influence on Classical Style
  Presented by the Connecticut Early Music Festival
  Boston Hausmusik
   
  
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• June 20, 2008
  The Roman Connection: Italian Influence on Classical Style
  Presented by the Danforth Museum of Art
  Boston Hausmusik
   
  Though we usually associate classical style with music composed in 18th-century Vienna, many aspects of it have their roots in Italy. Boston Hausmusik (Sylvia Berry, fortepiano; Abigail Karr, violin; Kate Bennett Haynes, cello) explore these aspects in works by Lodovico Giustini (1685 - 1743), the first composer to publish sonatas specifically for the piano, and their manifestations in “Hausmusik” by J. C. Bach, Boccherini, Clementi, and Beethoven.
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• April 6 and 7, 2008
  A Journey through the Beginnings of German Art Song
  Clara Rottsolk, soprano
  Sylvia Berry, fortepiano
   
  
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• March 13, 2008
  The Many Faces of Mozart
  Presented by The Oberlin College Alumni Association
  Sylvia Berry, fortepiano
   
  
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• October 20, 21, 22, 25, and 26, 2007
  The Many Faces of Mozart
  Presented by the Cambridge Society for Early Music
  Sylvia Berry, fortepiano
   
  The music of Mozart is embedded within our consciousness: play the themes from Eine kleine Nachtmusik or the “Rondo alla Turca” and most people will know them. But how well do we really know Mozart? This program seeks to give a more rounded picture by juxtaposing works which aren’t often heard with favorites such as the Sonata in F major (K. 332) and the Sonata in A major (K. 331), which concludes with the famous “Rondo all Turca.” Lesser-known works include the tempestuous Modulating Prelude, which gives us a fascinating glimpse of Mozart as an improviser, the astounding Eine kleine Gigue in G major, and the utterly heartbreaking Rondo in A minor. Mozart was above all a consummate dramatist, and this program shows him at his theatrical best in works suffused with passion and joy, tragedy and comedy.
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• September 23, 2007
  A Journey through the Beginnings of German Art Song
  Presented by the Goethe Institut, Boston
  Clara Rottsolk, soprano
  Sylvia Berry, fortepiano
   
  This program offers a fascinating look at the evolution of German Lieder, from C.P.E. Bach’s Gellert Lieder of 1757 to Schubert’s early masterworks of 1814-16, when he composed some of the most definitive settings of Goethe’s poems. Along the way we’ll encounter the exquisite jewels that are Mozart’s contribution to the genre, as well as the practically unknown yet seminal Lieder of Reichardt, Zelter, and Zumsteeg. Goethe regarded Reichardt as “the first to make my lyrical works known to the general public through music, in a serious and steady manner.” Zelter, a pivotal figure in Germany’s musical life, was a close friend of Goethe and set many of his poems. In this program we well hear his “Margarethe,” which uses the same text from Goethe’s Faust as Schubert’s “Gretchen am Spinnrade.” The lieder and ballades of Zumsteeg were a direct influence on Schubert, who reportedly “could revel in these songs for hours on end.”
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• June 16, 2007
  The Height of Expression: Keyboard Music of Haydn, C.P.E. Bach, and Mozart
   
  Join Sylvia Berry at the Boston Early Music Festival Fringe Series for a program featuring works full of wit, joy, romance, and tragedy.

  “A musician cannot move others unless he too is moved. He must of necessity feel all of the affects that he hopes to arouse in his audience, for the revealing of his own humor will stimulate a like humor in the listener.”

  —Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, from Part 1 of Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments (1753)

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• June 12, 2007
  Chamber Music of Mozart
   
  Join Boston Hausmusik at the Boston Early Music Festival Fringe Series and hear some of Mozart's most beloved chamber music. Presented in conjunction with The Rosetta String Trio, who will play a program of brilliant yet rarely heard Beethoven trios. Refreshments will be served between the two concerts.
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• January 13, 2007
  Rare Beauty: Chamber Music by Mozart, Wanhal, and Beethoven
  With special guest Eric Hoeprich, historical clarinet
   
  This program largely features works that have unusual instrumentation, such as Beethoven’s whimsical Duet for viola and cello "With obbligato eyeglasses" (WoO 32) and Mozart’s delightful Trio for piano, clarinet, and viola ("Kegelstatt", K. 498) Beethoven’s Trio for piano, clarinet, and cello (Op. 11) breaks the piano trio mold by substituting the violin with clarinet, creating altogether new textures, while Vanhal’s light-footed Sonata for piano and clarinet is one of the earliest models of this instrument combination. Mozart’s Sonata for piano and violin in G major (K. 379) is a mercurial work which is unusual within its genre.
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• September 15.16, 2006
  Boston Hausmusik’s Mozart 250
  Program IV - Music for Two and Three: Violin Sonatas and Piano Trios
   
  On February 1, 1764, Leopold Mozart wrote to his wife from Paris, "Four sonatas by Mr. Wolfgang Mozart are now being engraved. Imagine the sensation that they will cause, with a title-page saying that they are the work of a seven-year-old child." This program opens with the sparkling Sonata in C major, K. 6, the work that effectively launched Mozart’s career as a composer of chamber music.

  In 1778 Mozart again published violin sonatas in Paris. Significantly, he issued this grand set of six sonatas (K. 301-306) as his Opus I. These works, while still "accompanied keyboard sonatas," forged new paths in the genre, elevating the violin above its often subservient role to create true chamber music. Tonight we’ll hear the beloved Sonata in e minor, K. 304, and the ebullient Sonata in A major, K.305.

  The two piano trios on the program were written after Mozart settled in Vienna, one of the greatest musical capitals in the world at this time. He was profoundly inspired by this city’s musical environment; he was surrounded by first-class musicians and avid music-lovers, and these mature masterworks bear testimony to that inspiration.

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• Wednesday, June 21, 2006
  Midsummer's Eve Concert
   
  Enjoy a wonderful concert in the 1806 mansion at Gore Place. Fortepianist Sylvia Berry returns with a wonderful program featuring the 1821 Broadwood & Sons pianoforte. Don't miss this great opportunity to enjoy classical music performed on a period instrument in an historical setting. Seating is limited: reservations required.
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• April 7, 2006
  Mozart at the Keyboard
   
  "I am a Composer, and I was born a Kapellmeister... I would rather, as it were, neglect the Clavier than Composition. For the Clavier is essentially a sideline for me, but, thank God, a very strong sideline." Thus wrote Mozart to his father on February 7, 1778. Yet, despite his occasional ambivalence towards his life as a virtuoso keyboardist, he left a wealth of music for the piano that has been richly treasured. This recital highlights the incredible diversity of Mozart’s works for the piano, featuring three sonatas, the Fantasy in d minor, and a beloved set of Variations.
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• February 24.25, 2006
  March 5, 2006
  Boston Hausmusik’s Mozart 250
  Concert III - Mozart the Innovator
   
  While there is some debate as to whether Mozart was the first to compose works for two players at one keyboard instrument, it is certain that he and his sister popularized the genre during their European travels. The piano quartet does seem to have been virtually invented by Mozart, and his two masterful works in the genre went on to serve as models for composers such as Schumann and Brahms.
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• January 27.28, 2006
  February 5, 2006
  Boston Hausmusik’s Mozart 250
  Happy Birthday to Mozart!
   
  A delightfully varied program of chamber music, lieder, and the chamber version of the Piano Concerto in C major, K. 415. Will also feature readings from Mozart’s letters, illuminating his incredible candidness and lively sense of humor.
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• Wednesday, December 14, 2005
  In Celebration of the English Piano!
  A Holiday Concert played on the 1821 Broadwood at Gore Place in Waltham, MA.
   
  Enjoy a wonderful concert in the 1806 mansion at Gore Place as fortepianist Sylvia Berry performs works inspired by the English piano.
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• November 18.19.20, 2005
  Boston Hausmusik’s Mozart 250
  Mozart at the Keyboard
   
  "I am a Composer, and I was born a Kapellmeister... I would rather, as it were, neglect the Clavier than Composition. For the Clavier is essentially a sideline for me, but, thank God, a very strong sideline." Thus wrote Mozart to his father on February 7, 1778. Yet, despite his occasional ambivalence towards his life as a virtuoso keyboardist, he left a wealth of music for the piano that has been richly treasured. This recital highlights the incredible diversity of Mozart’s works for the piano, featuring three sonatas, the Fantasy in d minor, and a beloved set of Variations.
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• Saturday, June 18, 2005
  Lachen und Weinen: The Laughter and Tears of Three Viennese Masters
   
  A program of solo piano music by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven which explores the comic and tragic elements found in these works.
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• Friday, April 15, 2005
  Haydn and the Ladies of London: An Evening of Chamber Music Inspired by English Women
   
  Songs, Folksongs with Piano Trio, Sonata in C major, Hob. XVI: 50, and Piano Trio in G major ("Gypsy"), Hob. XV: 25