‘Basically I find the term Early Music not at all interesting’

With a remarkable programme ranging from early Purcell to late Beethoven, Jan Van den Bossche, the artistic leader of the Early Music Festival in Utrecht from 2001 to 2009, presented his last edition of the festival. Coming season he will move on to the Barcelona Early Music Festival. Marianne Broeder interviewed the groundbreaking programme-maker.

For those who thought early music ends with Bach, Jan Van den Bossche, the departing artistic director of the Early Music Festival in Utrecht, is not the right man to deal with. Without any hesitation he included Stravinsky, James MacMillan and Daan Manneke in his programmes. At the most recent festival of 2009 - his last - Beethoven’s late string quartets were performed. According to Van den Bossche, the term Early Music, that originally covered the Renaissance and the Baroque, may easily be extended to the 21st century.
‘As starting-point for a festival the official term Early Music has become inadequate,’ he poses. ‘We now look at music history in a different manner. The boundaries between style periods have become less distinct. Early music performance practice has modern aspects, while performances of modern music are becoming more and more authentic.
The principles of early music performance practice - performances based on the study of sources, with an informed choice of instruments, in the spirit of the time - already reached later style periods a long time ago. Meanwhile, the mainstream principle, the passing on of tradition from teacher to pupil, is losing ground. When Herbert von Karajan performed Pelléas et Mélisande it was incredibly beautiful, but he did not look at Debussy’s manuscript. Nowadays that’s highly unusual.’
According to Van den Bossche, the worlds of early, classical and romantic music have come very close. All the more because nowadays the teacher-pupil tradition has reached early music: ‘Young musicians study with the pioneers of the authentic performance practice: René Jacobs, Sigiswald Kuijken or Jordi Savall.’
Van den Bossche continues to be particularly fascinated by the experiments based on the study of sources. This explains his interest in early music played on modern instruments which were a taboo at the festival for a long time.

Festival for the makers
New since Van den Bossche’s arrival in 2001 is the Artist or Ensemble in Residence, featuring among others Marco Beasley, Ton Koopman and the ensemble L’Arpeggiata. Last festival’s guest was Frans Brüggen with his Orchestra of the 18th Century.
‘I wanted to create a festival not only for the audience, but also for the makers,’ he says, ‘a place where musicians can meet each other, listen to each others’ interpretations and attend symposia together.’
The new approach brought memorable highlights. Looking back Van den Bossche says: ‘ Of course you learn a lot over the years and you get more the hang of putting together a programme, but I still look back with a great deal of sympathy, possibly mixed with nostalgia, at a number of projects from the first festivals I did. I am still impressed by the collaboration with the Early Music Festival in Petersburg in 2003 and the spectacular performances of Tallis’ Spem in Alium on various locations throughout the city of Utrecht, even in the covered shopping mall Hoog Catharijne. Actually, I did have to overcome a certain amount of resistance then: musicians prefer to perform such a piece in a church.
As a programme-maker you should never take the place of the artist, although you do cross the path of the performer. In fact, you are a catalyser, encouraging the musicians without taking important artistic decisions yourself. Often the most ludicrous plans came from the musicians themselves. The double bill Monteverdi-Schoenberg, for example, was an idea of Mike Fentross.
My top year was 2006 because of the 25th anniversary of the festival, because of Cavalli’s L‘Ipermestra – normally opera was too expensive for us – and especially because of the birth of my first child.’

Festival 2009
The last festival commemorated the birthdays of three German-speaking composers: Handel, Haydn and Mendelssohn. According to Van den Bossche, all three composers deserve a reassessment: ‘Handel because many people still think Bach is better, Haydn because of the general underestimation of his genius and Mendelssohn because his distinctly dark, melancholic side has been neglected too much.’ The periods in which these composers resided in England were highlighted, a theme that was complemented by Purcell. Including his  Fantasias which were surprisingly linked to Beethoven’s late string quartets: ‘ Each of them exceptional works  that bear so little relation to their time, that you cannot say whether they look to the future or to the past,’ says Van den Bossche. Phantasm, La Sfera Armoniosa Orchestra, La Risonanza, the Narratio Quartet, Erik Bosgraaf, Kristian Bezuidenhout and Carolyn Sampson were among those that made their appearance.

The future of early music
Coming season  Van den Bossche will move on to the Barcelona Early Music Festival where, unlike at the festival in Utrecht, ‘he can devote himself entirely to the artistic directorship.’ Just before his departure he reflects on the present state of early music - this time in the strict sense - in the Netherlands.
He is hopeful about the musicians. ‘On a European level  one can see the emergence of a new, varied generation,’ he observes. ‘Some go back to the source, others just want to enjoy playing - and there is nothing wrong with that. Of course there are some extremely serious people among them, but they don’t seem to be hindered anymore by the burden of the very beginning of the early music movement. The transition from pioneers such as Gustav Leonhardt, Ton Koopman and Frans Brüggen to the next generation was not as easy. Most likely it was too early for a new generation. Only now do I see musicians with a freer attitude to music. Dogmatism has gone.’
Van den Bossche is less optimistic about the position of early music in the concert hall. ‘Within the marginalisation of classical music in general, early music, which was already a tiny niche, has certainly lost importance,’ he says regretfully. ‘Organisers, directors of concert halls and musicians remain conservative. I’m afraid it will take at least ten more years for the classical music world to find serious answers to the challenge it faces.’

Marianne Broeder

This interview is an edited version of an earlier publication in the radio and television guide the VPRO Gids.