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> Home > Dominguez Hills Dateline - November 15, 2004

La Mer Consort: "Ears" to the Good Olde Days

Elizabeth Zuehlke, director of the La Mer Consort, has no illusions about the uninitiated listener. For over 25 years, her ensemble of musicians has charmed South Bay audiences with their unique brand of Renaissance and baroque compositions from the 16th and 17th century.

“What I always say is that you have to turn your ear back about 400 years,” she quips.

The La Mer Consort performs on reproductions of period instruments, which are the forerunners of today’s modern orchestra. Early music instruments such as the shawms, dulcian, krumhorns and sackbutts evolved respectively into what are now known as oboes, bassoons, bagpipes and trombones, and similarly, are played in soprano, alto and bass. While many of the instruments can be found in specialty shops and catalogs, an avid Renaissance musician may have to build their own version of a hard-to-find piece.

Burckhard Mohr, professor of English and linguistics, has been a member of La Mer since the early 70s. His enthusiasm stems from his childhood in Germany, when every child learned to play the recorder in elementary school. Mohr, who plays the bass recorder, discovered the group upon his arrival at CSUDH.

“Most people think of the recorder as a child’s instrument, but in the Renaissance and baroque periods, recorders played all the music that is played on flutes today,” he notes.

The La Mer Consort is comprised of approximately 25 members, who play at various churches, schools, wedding and Renaissance fairs. Zuehlke, who can play all the instruments, taught a class for Beach Cities Adult School on early music. The Consort’s repertoire includes compositions by Michael Praetorius, Orlando Lassus and Jacob Handl (no relation to Georg Frideric Handel). The multi-talented members of the group will also present choral compositons of the period.

“People who haven’t heard that kind of music, it takes them a bit to get used to it because the sound is quite different from modern instruments,” says Mohr. “These are fairly rough kinds of instruments and the harmonies are not always what you expect from classical music, since [the compositions] are earlier than that.”

For the adventurous ear, the La Mer Consort will present its 8th performance at CSUDH on Tuesday, November 23, at 8:00 p.m. in LaCorte Hall, Recital Hall, A-103. Admission is free. For more information, contact David Champion, emeritus professor, Music Department, at (310) 243-3901.

Pictured above, Burckhard Mohr, professor of English and linguistics, and Elizabeth Zuehlke, director, La Mer Consort;
photo courtesy of Burckhard Mohr

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Last updated Friday, November 12, 2004, 1:28 p.m.,by Joanie Harmon