Passacaglia in D minor, BuxWV 161
Dieterich Buxtehude

With its repeating bass line and subtle unfolding, Dieterich Buxtehude’s Passacaglia in D minor is a musical meditation. Like many musicians in 17th century Europe, Buxtehude worked primarily as a church musician, and he practiced a spirituality influenced by numerology and the cosmos. Originally for organ, the D minor passacaglia is broken up into four different sections, each changing key. Within each section, there are seven variations on a seven-note ostinato. Historians believe that the four sections may be inspired by the four phases of the moon, which were illustrated on a clock at the back of the church where Buxtehude worked.

Serenade in C minor, K. 388
W.A. Mozart

In a letter dated July 27, 1782, Mozart wrote to his father that he was writing a piece of Nacht musique (night music), a designation typically given to music for evening social events. While historians are unsure about the exact chronology of the Serenade in C minor, most likely it is the work mentioned in Mozart’s letter. The manuscript, however, shows that Mozart ultimately titled the work Parthia (partita) before changing his mind again and inscribing Serenada (serenade).

Mozart’s difficulty in classifying the Serenade in C minor speaks to its weight. Dramatic, profound, and at times even ominous, the piece proceeds more like a symphony than like party music. Particularly notable are the third movement, an ingenious canon, and the fourth movement, a virtuosic theme and variations.

The 1780s were the heyday of Harmoniemusik, small wind bands employed as entertainers by arts patrons like Habsburg Emperor Joseph II, Viennese noble Prince Schwarzenberg, and music connoisseur Prince Aloys Joseph Liechtenstein. The Serenade in C minor, scored for pairs of oboes, clarinets, horns, and bassoons, was likely written for one of these Harmoniemusik patrons. WindSync performs an arrangement by bassoonist and conductor Mordechai Rechtman, who used both the original score and Mozart’s own quintet arrangement for strings as references.

Pastoral Suite
Jean-Philippe Rameau

Himself an arranger and theorist, Jean-Philippe Rameau would have happily joined in the practice of creating wind quintet adaptations of his works, as WindSync has done with these movements here. Each short piece is taken from one of two sources: the Pièces de clavecin, or pieces for keyboard, and the score to the opera Les Boréades. The title “Pastoral Suite” is not Rameau’s but rather refers to his depiction of natural elements like bird calls, pastures, and weather patterns in the music.

The Pièces de clavecin were composed during Rameau’s early career as a teacher of the keyboard, and besides being useful pedagogical pieces, they formed the basis for his harmonic style. The most successful pieces from these books were later rewritten into Rameau’s works for opera, his most lasting legacy.

Rameau composed his final opera Les Boréades in 1763 at the age of 80. The story, based on Greek mythology and Masonic symbols, is a marriage plot involving a conflict between the gods of the winds. Practically begging to be adapted for wind instruments, the dances from Les Boréades are performed by characters including the Seasons, Zephyrs, and Subterranean Winds.

Apollo
Marc Mellits

Marc Mellits is one of the most performed living American composers, enjoying hundreds of performances throughout the world every year. His music is eclectic, all-encompassing, and colorful. Mellits often constructs his pieces as sets of short, contrasting movements that explore a single subject. His unique musical forms alternate driving rhythms with soaring lyricism.

WindSync commissioned Mellits in 2019 to write Apollo, a piece commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing. Apollo comprises seven short movements that present a kaleidoscopic view, from the famous phrase “One small step…” to the geography of the moon, the mythology behind cosmic bodies, and scenes from the composer’s own childhood.