Isabella Leonarda (1.620-1704) was a remarkable woman. At a time when female composers were a rarity, she was both prominent and prolific.
Artists: Robert Crowe (Sopran), Sandra Röddiger (Sopran), Emanuele Breda (Violine), Barbara Mauch-Heinke (Violine), Daniela Wartenberg (Cello), Toshinori Ozaki (Theorbe), Sofya Gandilyan (Cembalo)
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Why do we organise an early music festival at Villa Stützel every two years in addition to our already very „early music“ concert programme?
If you ask children why they do this or that, you often get the equally quick-witted and disarming answer „That's it!“ Accompanied by a look as if that were the most natural thing in the world and besides, what a superfluous question!?
We would perhaps add that with the festival we want to offer an experimental platform for new productions within early music. This could be a crossover project like „Baroque My Way“ in the summer of 2022, a modern premiere like Torri's „Abramo“ in the summer of 2020, or the subtle blending of different styles on Fender Rhodes and harpsichord as in "Bach on the Rhodes" by Alexander von Heißen.
Within the framework of our festivals, we present both well-known names - be they composers or artists - as well as new, unusual and perhaps surprising things. And we welcome ideas, criticism and wishes from our guests, because: After the festival is before the festival!
We are delighted to have in Dr. Robert Crowe an artistic director at Villa Stützel who not only has decades of stage experience in all the roles of his vocal subject, but also develops his own productions with great musicological knowledge and the necessary flair.
We at the Villa Stützel are dedicated to producing modern premieres of forgotten works, often by forgotten composers, and especially by women composers of the baroque. Alternately, we also seek to take popular „standards“ of the early music repertory, and to approach them from a new direction, breathing new life into too-comfortable concepts of audience favorites.
In 2019 we celebrated Barbara Strozzi’s 400th birthday with a concert dedicated entirely to her, with a multi-generational, multi-national ensemble.
In 2020, we undertook our first large-scale work, the modern premiere of Munich Hofkomponist Pietro Torri’s 1731 dramatic oratorio Abramo, in Aalen’s beautifully converted, historic factory hall Ostertag. This work was one of the first in history to have been staged, with costumes, action, backdrop, etc., like an opera. It caused much comment, some scandalized, in the Munich of 1731, as well as delighting the Corona-weary audience of Aalen in 2020.
After our success with Barbara Strozzi, we decided to turn our attention to her less well-known, near-exact contemporary (but apparently polar opposite, personality wise), the nun Isabella Leonarda. Her 400th birthday musical celebration at Aalen’s S. Salvator Kirche was one of the last concerts permitted before renewed lockdowns shut down music-making all over Germany. The following summer we recorded a CD of her works—most of which were world-first recordings—which was released on September 2, 2022 on the Toccata Classics (London) label. Distributed worldwide by Naxos.
In the early spring of 2022 we took a new look at Pergolesi’s famed Stabat Mater, reducing the orchestral accompaniment to an historically justified chamber size. We undertook to reinfuse this masterpiece, grown far too stately and respectable by nearly 300 years’ worth of audiences' justified love for it, with the original, fresh, sharp and earthy dances of Pergolesi’s Naples. We framed Pergolesi with two Laments of the Madonna—one by Monteverdi and the other by G. F. Sances.
It is a great pleasure for the Villa Stützel team not only to present early music - but also to have Swabian musicians as guests, together with Ingo Hug and the Aalener Jazzfest to venture a little excursion in the direction of jazz and crossover, or together with the Kammermusikforum in Baden Württemberg to organise a completely classical evening.
We would also like to give young artists from the region a framework to present themselves to the public at Villa Stützel.
In the festive and familiar ambience of our large salon (also known as „Aalen's most beautiful living room“) as well as in the cheerful and friendly atmosphere of our summer park, every concert is unique.
It has always been our concern to support charitable projects.
For many years now, we have been dedicating our benefit concerts to the association Zukunft für Nepal Ostwürttemberg e.V.. The non-profit association was founded by Petra Pachner and Herwig Jantschik from Aalen, who saw the suffering of the children in Nepal during the adoption of their daughter and therefore decided to help rebuild this poor country.
In the meantime, the association runs an orphanage in the Dhading region as well as a dual training facility for young people. Through the cooperation of the Cooperative State University in Heidenheim, companies such as Voith, Logwin Air&Ocean and the carpentry company Emil von Elling on the German side with the Seshkant Foundation and the German Embassy in Nepal, it has been possible over the years to establish a stable and sustainable platform between the two countries and many helping people. On this basis, a Nepali-German aid project is now flourishing that is unparalleled. Starting from the private initiative of a couple from Aalen, a forward-looking cooperation of people from two countries has emerged in the Dhading region, which has already contributed to alleviating the suffering of orphans and to guaranteeing education and thus a future for young people.
Our benefit concerts are not only intended to collect donations for this purpose, but also to make other people aware of "Future for Nepal". We therefore give at least one benefit concert a year with sacred music under the title MUSICA SACRA during Holy Week or Advent. We are very happy about the churches that are always at our disposal, for example St. Salvator in Aalen and St. Martin in Zipplingen. In addition, we organise a benefit concert with secular music, gladly also as an open-air concert in the summer in the beautiful park of Villa Stützel. We are supported by musicians such as Hans Roman Kitterer and Michael Diebold. We are very grateful for this!
Conversely, we are also happy to provide the Villa Stützel as a setting for benefit concerts, for example for the Lions Club Aalen, which has already been our guest several times with concerts to promote young artists from the region.
