What Is Ars Antigua?

Ars Antiqua of Rochester was a performing ensemble which, over a period of ten years, mounted a remarkably rich repertoire of musical theater.  Its meticulously researched programs offered a unique synthesis of the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods.  Each Ars Antiqua production was a  lavish recreation of a particular cultural moment in history representing, through music and drama, an important idea, tradition, development, or the influence of an important individual across the social and cultural currents of the 12th through the 18th Centuries.

Ars Antiqua in the early 1960s, photographed by Lou Ouzer. Left to right: Masako (Machi) Toribara (Professor Emeritus of voice). Myrta Knox (MAS '54), Joyce Castle (MM '66), Madeline Ingram (BM '45), John Ingram (x '61), John Braund, Gordon Gibson, Dorothy Amarandos (BM '46, MM '47), Alvin Fulton (BM '52, MM '53), Ralph Jackno (MB '59, MM '61), Francis Bundra (MM '57), Carol Bundra (x '56).

Ars Antiqua in 1964 from an article in the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle

Ars Antiqua photographed by Louis Ouzer

Ars Antiqua as a Path-Breaker and Productions Extraordinaire

Second only to Noah Greenberg’s world renowned Pro Musica performers, the Rochester Ars Antiqua ensemble was one of only two groups in America ever to perform on instruments authentic to the Renaissance and Baroque periods, a fact which gave the ensemble a distinctive period “sound.” 

Ars Antiqua photographed by Heinrich Tamar

In the early 1960s, Ars Antiqua’s productions were path-breaking, offering an unparalleled synthesis of history and the arts through the employment of costume, dance, setting and narration.  The kind of music that one heard at an Ars Antiqua concert had been covered with a veneer of dust for 200 years.  During the decade of the 1960s, the concert-touring group (the only one of its kind in those days) of instrumentalists, singers, actors and dancers performed 22 original concert productions of material from the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods of history.

The group’s first presentation at the Memorial Art Gallery was received with great enthusiasm because they were more or less pioneers in the performance early music and were considered so different at that time. 

How It All Began

The Ars Antiqua Renaissance Performers of Rochester, New York was long the dream- child of Dorothy Purdy Amarandos.   A cellist and viola da gambist, who earned a Master’s Degree in Music History and a Performer’s Certificate on the cello from the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester, Ms. Amarandos’ interest in pre-Bach music was stirred when she did her master’s thesis on the viola da gamba, an early musical instrument.  From that point on she had her eye on the fulfillment of a dream and her vision never dimmed. 

Ars Antiqua poster from 1962 Buffalo, New York performances.

Ars Antiqua poster from 1962 Rochester, New York performances.

Ars Antiqua Program from a performance in Syracuse, New York

While it was Ms. Amarandos who struck the spark, she is quick to insist that the project never could have come about without the devotion of the entire ensemble and the aid of many Rochesterians.

From its early beginnings as the Rochester Singers and Players, a small instrumental and vocal ensemble, Ars Antiqua’s performances grew to include period dancing, dramatic excerpts from such writers as Shakespeare, Dante, and Moliere, medieval church dramas, and even a short opera or two- all in historically accurate costumes and surrounded by appropriate art from the Memorial Art Gallery Collection.

Ars Antiqua As Total Experience

Ars Antiqua aimed to provide its audiences with a total immersion in the senses as well as sounds of the chosen period.  Many performances were complemented with extravagant banquets of food prepared from recipes of the period accompanied by elaborate, printed menus.  Subscribers to the Ars Antiqua Society, Inc. were treated to regular newsletters dense with historical information on the political, religious and social contexts of the music and arts showcased in the season’s selections. 

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