Associate Professor of Spanish Kátia Sherman, Associate Professor of Music Daniel Tacke, and visiting musician Lara Turner performed 18th- and 19th-century pieces written for recorder, harpsichord, and viola da gamba last week in Christ Chapel.

Sophomore Alethia Diener said she spent her Saturday afternoon in the pews of Christ Chapel to listen to the restful sound of the recorder and harpsichord together. 

“I appreciated the slower pace, because it gave me a lot of time to think and reflect on the week,” Diener said.

Tacke gave the history of his harpsichord, which had a red floral design and stood in the center of the stage. 

“It was built in San Francisco in the 1980s, but it is modeled off an 18th-century Parisian harpsichord,” Tacke said. “These ones were usually bigger and painted like this.”

Turner then explained that her viola da gama, which looks similar to a cello, has seven silver gut strings and some with silver coating. Turner’s instrument provided the lower melody while Sherman’s recorder played the upper.

The group performed six pieces all written within the baroque period. Tacke explained why he chose these from among his favorite repertoire. 

“The French baroque style is such an interesting blend of formality and spontaneity — it’s really unlike anything else, and the viola da gamba especially is uniquely suited to capturing the expressive spirit of this music,” Tacke said.

The first piece, “Sonnerie de Sainte-Geneviève du Mont de Paris,” has a melody meant to imitate the church bells of the Paris Pantheon, formerly named Church of Sainte-Geneviève.

The last piece, “Trio in F Major, Essercizii Musici No. 7” by Georg Philipp Telemann, started with a fast vivace movement and slowed down to a mesto tempo. Sherman’s recorder ended the melancholy piece.

After playing, Sherman described what drove her performance.

“The love of music, of playing beautiful music in beautiful places, and with people that think musically, in a way that makes me make better music,” Sherman said. “Playing is always cathartic, and last Saturday was no different.”