Transatlantic: Classical Masters
José Maurício Nunes Garcia, Haydn, Mozart
Academy of Ancient Music, Laurence Cummings, Katherine Spencer, clarinet
Milton Court, 13 March 2025

Nunes Garcia: Overture in D major; Dilexisti justitiam
Mozart: Clarinet Concerto in A major
Nunes Garcia: Tantum ergo
Mozart: Ave verum corpus
Haydn: Notturno in G major
Nunes Garcia: Litany for the Sorrows of Our Lady

The Acadamy of Ancient Music (AAM) continues its Transformation season with the programme Transatlantic: Classical Masters, focusing on the Brazilian composer José Maurício Nunes Garcia (1767-1830) and his heroes Haydn and Mozart. Nunes Garcia was born in poverty in Portuguese Rio de Janeiro to Afro-Brazilian parents, both seemingly the children of slaves, courtesy of their respective slave owners. An early musical talent was recognised, and Nunes Garcia was soon singing in Rio’s cathedral and, by the age of 12, was teaching music and learning keyboard instruments at the homes of his wealthy pupils. He was composing by the age of 16, and just a year later was sufficiently recognised as a music teacher to be a founding signature to the Brotherhood of Saint Cecilia. His wish to take Holy Orders was finally achieved at age 25 after being excused from the requirement to be “free from any colour defect” and becoming the required “estate owner”, courtesy of the father of one of his students. Shortly afterwards, he was appointed as “public music instructor” and set up a free music school for local children in his newly acquired house.

The AAM programme included two pieces from this early period in Nunes Garcia’s life, the Dilexisti justitiam, a tiny little piece that was into the concluding Alleluja’s within seconds, and the concluding Litany for the Sorrows of Our Lady, a multi-section piece lasting about 20 minutes. Shortly after these compositions, in 1798, aged 31, he was appointed Mestre de Capela of the Cathedral, the highest-ranking musical appointment in Brazil, at a salary considerably higher than his predecessor.

The AAM’s concert opened with an Overture dating from 1811, a time when despite the celibacy expected of his calling, Nunes Garcia fathered five children from his very much younger partner. He was also immersing himself in the classical style of his European contemporaries, notably Hayden and Mozart and the early operas of Rossini, a clear influence on this Overture. It was not clear from the programme what it was an overture to, but an operatic or dramatic occasion would not be surprising given the intense mood of the six-minute piece, its dramatic two opening chords leading to a mysterious string passage followed by bustling and then melodic passages enlivened by a pair of delightfully raspy horns and clarinet flourishes. The other Nunes Garcia piece in the concert was a darkly hued Tantum ergo, another tiny (<3′) piece starting with a soprano solo (Zoë Brookshaw) and a prominent clarinet solo, played by Katherine Spencer.

Katherine Spencer, the AAM’s principal clarinettist, was the soloist in Mozart’s well-known 1791 Clarinet Concerto in A (K662), composed for Anton Stadler. She was playing a basset clarinet specially made for this performance, adding several notes to the bottom of the standard classical clarinet, but not as many as the even lower basset horn that Stadler was famed for. As is so often the case with orchestras like the AAM, drawing soloists from their midst always goes down well with the rest of the orchestra. This was Mozart’s last known composition before his death, and it has become one of his best-known pieces, helped by several film-track appearances. The interval was followed by another famous Mozart piece, Ave verum corpus, another short vocal piece, also dating from 1791.

It was followed by Haydn’s genial three-movement 1792 Notturno in G major, a re-orchestration by Haydn of a piece originally written for the King of Naples for his favourite instrument, the curious Lira organissata, a hurdy-gurdy with attached tiny organ pipes as well as strings. The pictured example is from London’s Victoria & Albert Museum.

The problem with programming music by little-known composers is that, without the addition of some big-name composers and popular pieces, few will come to listen. And the problem with adding big-name composers and popular pieces to the music of little-known composers is that it can so easily make it clear why the little-known composer remains little-known. The AAM, despite some commendably adventurous programming, seem to have fallen into traps. Despite the addition of some big-name composers and popular pieces, few came to listen, at least at the Milton Court performance (it had been performed the previous day in their home city of Cambridge). And the choice of pieces by the unfortunate Nunes Garcia really didn’t show him in what I think might be his best light, with two very slight and one very long and awkwardly structured vocal pieces and a similarly short opening Overture. He deserves better programming if he is to become better known. I understand he was a recent BBC Radio 3 composer of the week, which I hope did him more good than this well-meaning but sadly misjudged concert.