Reading, thinking, writing and learning about the past have always been a significant part of Hilary Metzger’s life, but only once she came to Europe to study period instruments did she find a way to connect these pursuits more directly to her performing activities. 

Initially these intellectual discoveries were a source of personal enrichment and experimentation. Later, the ensembles she performs with asked for her scholarly contributions when they embarked on new repertoire. This included work on tempi and phrasings in Brahms’ symphonies for the Orchestre des Champs Elysées, and on instruments, seating plans, fingerings and bowings in music by Dvořák, Janáček and Richard Strauss for Anima Eterna.

Her current area of research focuses on lower string accompaniment practice in secco recitatives of the late 18th and early 19th century, historical approaches she has been able to explore more fully in her concerts as first cellist with Teatro Nuovo (New York, USA) and Opera Fuoco (France). Thanks to a grant from the Orpheus Institute in Ghent (Belgium) in 2020, she is also comparing these older performing traditions to the continuo practices by cellists in over 18 countries today.  

La Gazza Ladra

This excerpt from the end of Act I of La Gazza Ladra, by Gioachino Rossini, demonstrates how recitatives can be accompanied with only cello and double bass, as was often the case in the 19th century. You can follow along with the manuscript score below, which starts at about 22 seconds into the audio recording.

Credits: Elisabeth Rapp, soprano; Carla Nahadi Babelegoto, mezzo soprano; René Veen, tenor; Philpp Kaven, bass; Hilary Metzger, cello; Joseph Carver, double bass; Jonas Everaert, sound engineer.

Recorded at the Orpheus Institute on September 24, 2019.