|
||||||||||||||||||||||
Main Concert Series at Unity Church - 3 | The Sonata Project - 1:The Early Violin SonataThe first in a series of four recitals, featuring two leading Canadian artists, and highlighting the development of the Sonata form through the ages. This first programme features early Italian and German violin sonatas with basso continuo: Cima, Frescobaldi, Marini, Montalbano, Schmelzer, Muffat, Biber, Senaillé, Couperin, and de Mondonville.
Tickets for each concert at $33 (students & seniors $3 discount) are also available by phone from the office of Early Music Vancouver, and also from Sikora’s Classical Records, from Kestrel Books, or from Tickets Tonight: 604 684-2787 or www.ticketstonight.ca. Rush Seats for Students with valid ID on sale for $10, at the door only, from 7:00 pm on the evening of the concert. This concert is included in our “Bring a Youth for Free” programme.
The Sonata Project 1:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
The earliest sonatas were short instrumental pieces, often comprising several movements (movement in this case in the literal sense of changing tempo, not separate stand-alone sections as in later music), and many early sonatas didn’t specify instrumentation but only number of players, or, in the case of a solo sonata (meaning for one instrument and continuo) would be titled ‘a soprano solo’, meaning to be played by any treble instrument, usually recorder, cornetto or violin. Likewise, the continuo instruments were rarely specified, although some scores specify ‘a violone o organo’, meaning with a bowed bass instrument or keyboard. Through the first half of the 18th century, the trio sonata (two treble instruments and basso continuo) became the predominant chamber music form. At the same time, some composers such as Couperin and Mondonville experimented with adding other instruments to accompany solo harpsichord pieces. J.S. Bach most notably transformed the trio sonata into a duo sonata form by giving the second treble part to the right hand of the harpsichord in his sonatas for violin and obbligato harpsichord. This idea of the primary role of the harpsichord with the violin as an accompanying instrument remained, as indicated somewhat absurdly by the fact that Beethoven’s Op. 12 sonatas were first published as Sonate per il clavicembalo o forte piano con un violino. By the time of the composition of the sonatas of Mendelssohn, Schumann and Brahms the instruments’ equal roles were obvious.
Programme I
– the early violin sonata – In this programme, the choice of pitch is particularly arbitrary. There was no pitch standard in Europe in the 17th century, and indeed the pitch varied tremendously from one place to the next, and even within one place. In Venice’s San Marco cathedral there were in fact two pitches, the lower one of which was A = 440 hz, same as is largely in use today, and was used for the congregational music-making. The instruments for chamber music at San Marco were tuned a semitone higher at A=465, an almost unthinkably high pitch nowadays, and producing a very bright, clear and tense sound. During this same period, the pitch at the Paris Opera, and also incidentally in the south of Italy, was A=392, a full tone below modern pitch. We are using A = 415, mid-way between, a most terrible compromise really, but a practical one, also as this is the almost universal pitch used for modern day performances of baroque music on period instruments. In this programme we do not include some of the important pillars in the repertoire, such as the sonatas by Castello, Leclair and Corelli (whose Op. V sonatas signalled a major development in violin technique), preferring to include wonderful and less well-known music by their contemporaries, including Mondonville and Veracini, as well as some other important works in the history of the violin sonata. We start the programme at the beginning of violin sonata history with the earliest of sonatas written specifically for violin and bass. Indeed this sonata by Giovanni Paolo Cima is considered by some to be the first great masterwork of 17th- century violin music. Cima is also credited with being the first composer to publish trio sonata music. A contemporary of Monteverdi and Frescobaldi, he was the leading musical figure in Milan in the early 1600s. As one of the most important early keyboard composers, Girolamo Frescobaldi’s influence extended to the music of his pupil Froberger and to Purcell and Bach. From 1608 he was, off and on, organist at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. He contributed a number of innovations in music, including being one of the first to incorporate tempo changes within one piece, as described in the prefaces to some of his keyboard works. He also composed the earliest known Chaconne and Passacaglia for keyboard. The sonata for violin and spinettina is particularly interesting in that it includes an independent part for the harpsichord right hand, suggesting that it might be a reworking of a piece originally for two treble instruments and continuo. Biagio Marini, born in Brescia (like the violin used in tonight’s performance), traveled a great deal; he occupied posts in Brussels, in Neuburg an der Donau and Düsseldorf, as well as in Venice, Padua, Parma, Ferrara, Milan, Bergamo, and Brescia. He married three times and had five children. He is particularly noted for his contributions to string writing, incorporating double and triple stops, slurs and tremolo effects for the first time. He was also one of the first to use scordatura tunings in violin music. Bartolomeo Montalbano, like Marini an important contributor to the development of violin technique, spent the larger part of his life as a Franciscan monk at the San Francesco monastery in Bologna, although he made trips to Rome, Palermo and to Venice, where he died. The intriguing title of this piece, ‘Il Geloso’, simply refers to its dedicatee, Girolamo Geloso. Schmelzer, Biber and Muffat are linked by the presence of their music in the collection of the bishop of Kromericz. In addition, Biber studied for a time with Schmelzer. Johann Schmelzer spent most of his life at the Hapsburg court. He was one of the leading violinists of this day and the most important Austrian composer; his collection of violin sonatas was the first such work published in the German-speaking lands. Most of these sonatas take the form of a set of variations on a ground bass, fully exploring all the violinistic possibilities. He died in Prague, where the Austrian court had moved to avoid the plague. The ‘Annunciation’ by Schmelzer’s pupil Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber is the first of Biber’s set known as the ‘Mystery’ Sonatas, a set of sixteen pieces based on the mysteries of the holy rosary. In these sonatas, Biber made a thorough exploration of the possibilities of scordatura tunings (retuning the strings of the violin in unusual ways), to symbolically reflect the subject of each ‘mystery’, and to explore the many unusual sonorities that result. The ‘Annunciation’, the first sonata in the set, and the final Passacaglia, are the only ones to use normal tuning. Georg Muffat was the universal European musician: born of Scottish descent in Megève in the Savoy region of what is now France, he considered himself German. He traveled widely and exposed himself to many different musical traditions. He studied initially in Paris with Jean-Baptiste Lully, later describing the Lullian style in his writings, then studied law, settled in Vienna for a time, went to Prague and then to Salzburg, where, like Biber, was employed by the archbishop. Around 1680 he went to Italy, studying organ with Pasquini (a pupil of Frescobaldi) and also meeting Corelli, another great innovator for the violin. The sonata on this programme is his only work for violin and continuo, and typically incorporates French and Italian styles, beginning with a French overture-like opening followed by a fugal section. François Couperin’s Concerts Royaux appear with the indication that they are harpsichord pieces which can also be played with a flute or a violin or an oboe, being thus one of the first examples of a work for keyboard with an accompanying treble instrument, a form which ultimately developed into the duo sonata. These pieces were originally played at the court of Louis XIV, hence the title Royaux. Jean Joseph Cassanea de Mondonville, born in Narbonne in southeast France, spent most of his life in Paris, occupying the most important posts including director of the Concert Spirituel and superintendant of the Chapel Royal. His opera Titon et L’Aurore was held as the model of French opera practice in the Guerre des Bouffons, the infamous squabble between promoters of French and Italian musical styles that preoccupied the French intelligentsia in the 1750s. Not only was Mondonville a virtuosic violinist, but he was an important innovator as a composer for the violin. He made the first extensive study of the possibilities of violin harmonics in his set of sonatas Les sons harmoniques (1738), and the set of Op. 3 from which tonight’s sonata is taken are among the earliest examples of sonatas where the harpsichord and violin are given equal roles (despite being titled for harpsichord with violin accompaniment). Fifteen years later he reworked these sonatas as a set of Sinfonies for string orchestra with oboe and bassoon, where it is made clear that the original violin and the right hand of the harpsichord are equal voices, thus being important companions to Bach’s sonatas, to be heard on the next programme in this series. Francesco Maria Veracini, although his travels took him to London, Venice and Dresden, remained firmly attached to his native city of Florence. During his employ at the Dresden court, Veracini famously leapt from a third-story window after being humiliated by his rival Pisendel at the court. It is also said that the violinist Tartini withdrew from performing for a time in order to learn to match Veracini’s bowing style. Veracini wrote three sets of violin sonatas, the last of which is a reworking of Corelli’s Op. V set. The Sonate academiche are so called, not because of a conservative style, but because they show the full range of the composer’s abilities and exploit the possibilities of the violin and its player to the full. The final sonata in the set is remarkable for including both a Passacaglia and a Chaconne (Italian and French forms with the same triple-time dance origin), as well as a Fugue, and the whole piece is based on the same simple chromatic theme, whilst still incorporating a great deal of variety through skilled use of a full range of violinistic possibilities. Veracini also includes detailed instructions to the performers, including swells on certain notes and indications as to bowing. — Marc Destrubé |
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
A native of Victoria, Marc Destrubé is equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician, concertmaster or director/conductor of orchestras and divides his time between performances of the standard repertoire, particularly music of the 20th century, on modern instruments, and performing baroque and classical music on period instruments. He has appeared as soloist and guest director with symphony orchestras in Victoria, Windsor and Halifax as well as with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Lyra Baroque and Portland Baroque Orchestra, and he led the Belgian ensemble Anima Eterna in acclaimed recordings of the complete Mozart Piano Concerti with Jos van Immerseel. A founding member of the Tafelmusik Orchestra, he has appeared with many of the leading period-instrument orchestras in North America and Europe including as guest concertmaster of the Academy of Ancient Music and of the Hanover Band. He is first violinist with the Axelrod String Quartet, quartet-in-residence at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., where the quartet plays on the museum’s exceptional collection of Stradivari and Amati instruments. He has also performed and recorded with L’Archibudelli (Vera Beths, Jurgen Küssmaul, Anner Bijlsma) and is a member of the Turning Point Ensemble in Vancouver specializing in 20th century music and new music. As a concertmaster he has played under Sir Simon Rattle, Kent Nagano, Helmuth Rilling, Christopher Hogwood, Philippe Herreweghe, Gustav Leonhardt and Frans Brüggen. He is co-concertmaster of Brüggen’s Orchestra of the 18th Century with whom he has toured the major concert halls and festivals of Europe, North America, Japan and Australia, and most recently directing the orchestra for two concerts at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. He was concertmaster of the CBC Radio Orchestra from 1996 to 2002, and of the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra. He was artistic director of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra from its founding in 1991 until 2007, and was responsible for commissioning works for the orchestra from a number of Vancouver-based composers, as well as instigating other innovative projects such as a program of French baroque and First Nations dance and music. He has also directed several Modern Baroque Opera productions, including the premiere of Peter Hannan’s 120 Songs for the Marquis de Sade . A highly-respected teacher, he gives annual classes at international academies in Mateus (Portugal) and Vancouver. He has also been an invited teacher at the Paris, Moscow and Utrecht Conservatoires and at Indiana University and the Macphail School, and has presented children’s concerts at the Cité de la Musique (Paris). His recording of Haydn Violin Concertos on the ATMA label has been praised by the Strad Magazine (London) for the “stylish solo playing..., individual yet unselfconscious” and by Whole Note Magazine (Toronto) for its “bold and daring solo playing”. He has also recorded for Sony, EMI, Teldec, Channel Classics, Hänssler, Globe and CBC Records as well as being broadcast regularly on the CBC. He lives in West Vancouver with his wife and two children.
Alexander Weimann is one of the most sought-after ensemble directors, soloists, and chamber music partners of his generation. He has traveled the world as a member of the ensemble Tragicomedia; as a frequent guest of ensembles such as Les Boréades, Cantus Cölln, Freiburger Barockorchester, Tafelmusik, and the Gesualdo Consort; and as musical director of Les Voix Baroques and Le Nouvel Opéra. During the 2008 season he led the Portland Baroque Orchestra in Handel's Messiah, conducted the Pacific Baroque Orchestra on a tour of Canada and the USA, and performed Bach's Harpsichord Concertos as soloist with Les Violons du Roy. Both the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra regularly invite him to play as soloist. After working as an assistant conductor at the Amsterdam, Basel, and Hamburg opera houses, he directed his own productions of Pergolesi's La Serva Padrona with the Freiburger Barockorchester; Pepusch's Beggar's Opera at the Palace Theatre in Gotha; Handel's Orlando Furioso at the Teamtheater in Munich; Telemann's Passion oratorio Seliges Erwägen at the Europäischen Wochen (European weeks) festival at Passau; the parody opera Capriole d' Amore at the 2004 Händelfestspielen in Halle; Caldara's Clodoveo (in 2005) and the multipart opera event Mozart à Milano (in 2006), both of which were Canadian-German co-productions mounted at festivals in Montreal and Vancouver, and at the Sanssouci Palace Theatre in Berlin; and, for the Vancouver Early Music Festival, Handel’s Resurrection (in 2007), Rameau’s Pygmalion (in 2008), and Purcell’s The Faerie Queene (in 2009). Weimann can be heard on some 100 CDs and, frequently, on the radio in many countries. He made his North American recording debut with the ensemble Tragicomedia on the CD Capritio (Harmonia Mundi USA), and won worldwide acclaim from both the public and critics for his 2001 release of Handel's Gloria (on the Canadian label Atma Classique). Volume 1 of his recordings of the complete keyboard works by Alessandro Scarlatti appeared in May 2005. Critics around the world unanimously praised it, and in the following year it was nominated for an Opus prize as the best Canadian early-music recording. Volumes 2 and 3 of the complete Scarlatti works will be released shortly. In 2007, his recording of Buxtehude's Membra Jesu with the Montreal-based ensemble Les Voix Baroques won an Opus prize, and was nominated for a Juno Classic Award. In 2007 he directed Caldara's oratorio Clodoveo, and both conducted and performed as fortepiano soloist with the German ensemble Echo du Danube in the first recording of concertos by Wagenseil. In 2008 he added to his solo outings by recording Bach's Clavierübung II. He also released a CD of Handel oratorios with the celebrated soprano Karina Gauvin. Weimann was born in 1965 in Munich, where he studied the organ, church music, musicology (his M.A. thesis was on Bach's recitatives), theatre, medieval Latin, and jazz piano. He was supported by the Bavarian Radio Council, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), and a Cusanuswerk grant for the highly talented. In addition to his studies, he has attended numerous master classes in harpsichord and historical performance. To ground himself further in the roots of western music, he became intensively involved, over the course of several years, with Gregorian chant. In 1997, his group Le Nuove Musiche won first prize at the Premio Bonporti music competition in Rovereto. From 1990 to 1995, Weimann taught music theory, improvisation, and jazz at the Munich Musikhochschule. Since 1998, he has been giving master classes in harpsichord and historical performance practice at institutions such as Lunds University in Malmö and the Bremen Musikhochschule, and also at North American universities such as Berkeley (University of California), Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, McGill in Montreal, and Mount Allison in New Brunswick. Since 2007 he has been conducted the opera production at the Amherst Early Music Festival. For several years, he has been teaching early music performance practice to voice and instrumental students at the Université de Montréal, as well as conducting the Baroque opera that is produced there once every two years (the 2007 production was of Monteverdi's Poppea). Singers of note, such as those with the Atélier Lyrique Montréal and other opera studios, seek his services as a vocal coach. Recently, Alexander Weimann has returned to jazz; he has played piano on several CDs, and in a video clip for CBC Showcase. After some years in Berlin, he now spends as much time as possible with his family — which so far includes two children as well as several pets — in his adopted home, Montreal, and is active in both his kitchen and his garden. |
Marc Destrubé
Alexander Weimann