Viola da Gamba Society of America

Viola da Gamba Society of AmericaGrants in Aid CommitteeI am writing to you to ask if you might help me launch a project that is near to my heart. Inspired by my discovery of a basically unknown treasure trove of music for voices and viols by Samuel Capricornus, 1628- 1665, Hofkapellmeister in Stuttgart, the viola da gamba consort Long Away, a Boston based cooperative of which I am a member, has organized a project which aims to bring to light his beautiful sacred compositions, through a recording. Samuel Capricornus is an important but mostly forgotten Bohemian composer of the middle 17th century, whose music is an important link between early and later German baroque compositions. I have included an article about him in the appendix. We hope to advance this unknown viol repertoire through the best possible interpretation. It is also the first major effort of Long Away to establish a name for itself in the world of Early Music, and the viola da gamba.Long Away is a professional consort of viols that was founded in 2005. Based in Boston, we enjoy playing repertoire both familiar and unexpected. The consort has researched and performed original programs in New England and New York, including concerts for the SoHIP summer concert series, the New England Viola da Gamba Society, the Gamba Gamut at the Boston Early Music Festival, and our own self-produced concerts. We recently received the Silbiger Grant from the Viola da Gamba Society of New England to support performances of vocal music with viols. Long Away has collaborated with the English consort Seven Times Salt, vocal ensemble Sprezzatura, the renowned choir of Church of the Advent, the Harvard Choir, and many other colleagues in the Boston area. Our name is a reference to tempo indications in the music of Orlando Gibbons, beloved composer of English viol consort repertoire.Some of Americas finest early music experts will be singing, and the project will be directed by renowned scholar, early music director and violist da gamba, professor Sarah Mead. The music will be recorded in the Boston area in early February of 2015, by recording engineer Frank Cunningham of WGBH, and edited and produced by Mr. Wolfgang Schfer of Cornetto Verlag in Stuttgart. It promises to be a CD of outstanding excellence, which celebrates a wonderful forgotten part of the history of German music, opening up virtually unknown but important viola da gamba repertoire. Several of the pieces on this recording have never been recorded before.As you can well imagine, the cost of bringing this project off far exceeds our private means. Success depends completely on our ability to raise funds. As arts funding in the USA is almost non-existent, we musicians are having to fend for ourselves, and, we hope with help of the organizations and people that support us. The musicians deserve a decent salary, and we will be asking friends and family to help finance the project through an on-line fundraiser, crowd funding, which we will launch in October. Knowing that we will not be able to meet the total cost of the project, 20.000, in this way, I have personally pledged to pay the musicians, with funds I will need to borrow, and pay off over the course of years. More complete information about the musicians, the project, the budget, Samuel Capricornus, etc. is included in a separate file.Long Away would be very grateful, and greatly encouraged, if the VdGSA would sponsor this project. Your support would mean very much to us, and we in turn would also be happy to reciprocate, in any way possible, and perhaps first by donating a number of CDs to the society. If you need more information, I will be happy to oblige. Thank you so much,sincerely,Anne Legene