November 21, 2021; 3:00pm: “Fantasy and Invention”

On November 21 at 3:00 PM, Courante baroque music ensemble will present a concert of 17th and 18th century chamber music entitled “Fantasy and Invention” at Church of the Messiah, 22 Church St., Woods Hole, MA. Performing on period instruments, the quartet will present a program featuring fantasies, inventions, dances and trio sonatas by Johann Sebastian Bach, Francesco Antonio Bonporti, Orlando Gibbons, John Jenkins, Matthew Locke and Georg Philipp Telemann.

Some of the works in the program are in the Stylus Fantasticus, a compositional style prevalent in the early baroque period and described by 17th century scholar Athanasius Kircher as being “especially suited to instruments. It is the most free and unrestrained method of composing, it is bound to nothing, neither to any words nor to a melodic subject, it was instituted to display genius and to teach the hidden design of harmony and the ingenious composition of harmonic phrases and fugues.” (Musurgia Universalis, 1650)

Admission to the 3 PM concert is by donation, with $20 suggested but all donations welcome. Children and students will be admitted free of charge. Masks are required inside the church.