I started writing music when I was nine. A couple of bourrées and gigues that were basically plagiarized permutations of some French dance movements from Bach's lute suites. Sorry stuff, really. Hey, we all have to start somewhere, but that doesn't mean we necessarily improve!
When I was 12, I'd tried writing a set of concerti grossi that was even more atrocious. I needed help. Then the Internet came along and I found a couple of guys--Giorgio Pacchioni and Michael Starke--writing Baroque music and I asked them for the help I needed. They graciously obliged and, over the course of about two or three years, I was able to learn the rudiments of harmony, Baroque counterpoint, and fugal technique. I'd write a piece, send it to them, and they'd write back with commentary and suggestions to bring everything into line with the old conventions. Pretty cool way to learn and it sure beats working over those textbook counterpoint exercises.
Now I'm part of an assembly of composers who are part of a so-called "Contemporary Baroque Revival." All of us there have, at some point, been criticized for peddling pastiche, being recalcitrant, setting classical music back 300 years, or otherwise engaging in an illegitimate artistic undertaking. Heck, if I write lousy music, tell me so I can improve it! But that doesn't seem to be the criticism. No, the musical "establishment" doesn't like the fact that I'm going against the grain and practicing methods that they believe should have died with Bach and Handel. Purely ideological. To me, music's about enjoyment, not about philosophical principle. Why write music if you don't like what you're writing?
One academic musician accused me of doing something that is akin to book-burning and another told me that I was "wasting [my] talent by confining [myself] to the Baroque style." That may very well be (except the book-burning part is just plain absurd). When I write music, I don't think, "Hey, let's write something Baroque." No, it just comes out that way. It's the musical language that I speak. I don't even think I have any particular talent--maybe a skill, but anyone who is so inclined can develop the same with a little work. A more pertinent question would be, "Why the hell would anyone want to?"
I'm totally open to experimenting with new methods and ideas, but at the end of the day, this is home. And anything else I venture into will necessarily be done from a Baroque perspective. I don't think what I'm doing is at all pastiche--I don't attempt to emulate the style of any particular composer (no more than, say, Handel attempted to emulate Corelli). The fact that my music has a consistently authentic 18th century sound is an incidental matter, a product of understanding and absorbing that musical vocabulary. To that end, I think there's plenty of room for the development of a personal style while adhering to the rigors of Baroque practice and aesthetics, making it completely contemporary and taking it out of the realm of anachronistic freak show.
Thanks for the add, friendship and support, we are honored and glad!... beautiful music!... ...greetings and hugs from Transylvania, the dark but beautiful Dracula's land of wolves!...
Hello, I hope this message finds you well. I am extending an invitation to all my MySpace friends to visit my new site at www. reverbnation. com/christoshatzis, listen to 20 new audio and video tracks of my music (also included in the attached tune widget) and add their email address to my mailing list. Members of the mailing list can also download tracks at that site. Enjoy the music.
Sorry stuff, really. Hey, we all have to start somewhere, but that doesn't mean we necessarily improve!
I absolutely love your humbleness....it shows to me that your music is coming already from the heart and not the desire to be applauded or exalted....I am delighted to come to your site, and as a music lover ( specially barroque) and a choreographer, I find your work deliciously IMPROVED...( improved from what? HAAAAAAAAA)
You know it's funny that Corelli criticised Handel for emulating the Italian style: who's earned more recognition [all respects due to Corelli's pilgrimage]. And Bach was criticized for being pastiche aswell, look at the effect he's had on music, he's the first thing that most musicians think about when the word baroque is heard. I'm quite pastiche aswell, I can't get around French and Italian rococo and baroque architecture, I'm obsessed with it. Keep it up, someone has to be different.
I love your music it's so Bach-esque, the world needs more contemporary baroque composers. I will be a composer of boyante baroque Rameau-esque type music.
It is unfortunate when other musicians discourage you from pursuing the kind of music that sings in your heart. Thank God in the 21st Century, even in the academic music world, there is no longer a propriety on aesthetics. It is heartening to see a young composer devoting himself to his passion unaffected by peer pressure.
I would like to invite you to listen to my FROM THE SONG OF SONGS, a project I just did with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Choir at http://www. cbc. ca/radio2/cod/concerts/20080325tafel. Even though the bookend movements are in a completely different style, the middle movement (Track 28) is paying tribute to the High Baroque style.
