La Follia's Musical Moonlighting

James Brown, left, and Scott Horton of La Follia

When you think of the folks who wrote classical music, you probably think of guys in powdered wigs who were court composers or music directors for a church – you know, professional musicians. But this week La Follia, the ensemble that has been playing Baroque music for Austin for a quarter of a century, aims to show that there were a lot more folks writing that music than you think. In the concert Musical Moonlighting, La Follia focuses on Baroque compositions by people who spent their days working in fields other than music.

"The repertoire that we can draw on for any concert is huge," says Stephanie Prewitt, who sings mezzo soprano in the collective ensemble. "We brainstorm every year about what concert themes to use, and I think this one was proposed by our tenor, Chris LeCluyse. Chris loves lute songs by Constantijn Huygens. Huygens was not a professional musician, he was a diplomat. And I think that's what made Chris ask himself what other composers had day jobs."

More than a few did, actually. In addition to Huygens, the program will include pieces by a solider killed in battle, the Mother Superior of a convent, a civil servant, a scientist and, of course, a lawyer. "We have a piece by a woman named Anna Bon who we don't know anything about," says Prewitt. "All we have is three pieces that she wrote in her teens. The fact that she was a woman in that time tells us that, more than likely, she was not considered a professional. We slip in Vivaldi as well. He definitely earned his living as a musician, but he also was a priest."

At least one of the members of La Follia who will be playing the concert has a day job. "Marcus McGuff, who plays our flute, teaches mathematics at Austin Community College," says Prewitt. But make no mistake, this is a group of professional musicians playing instruments you may not have heard of, such as the theorbo, along with ones you have, such as the violin and the harpsichord, and playing a music as intricate and creative as any ever played. "Now, classical musicians as a whole are very strict," Prewitt says, "taking the score as the absolute Bible truth and not messing with it, but that wasn't true in the Baroque. People put things together from context. We often play pieces with whatever instruments we have at hand because they did that, too. It's sometimes improvisatory, it gives you a lot of freedom to create as you go, and that's part of what makes it fun."

La Follia presents Musical Moonlighting Friday, Feb. 17, 8pm, at First English Lutheran Church, 3001 Whitis. For more information, call 680-0733 or visit www.lafollia.org.