Nees MARrin Jensen WHEN IS A SOLO SONATA NOT A SOLO SONATA? CORELLI’S OP. V CONSIDERED IN THE LIGHT OF THE GENRE’S TRADITION Corelli's Op. V was published for the first time in Rome in 1700 with the composer's dedication to the princess Sophie Charlotte of Hannover, Elec- tress of Brandenburg, dated the first of January. She was married to the elec- tor Frederic of Brandenburg, on whom was bestowed the ttle «King in Prus- sia» the following year. No direct relations seemed to have existed between Corelli and Sophie Charlotte, but we know that she was one of «the clever women» of the Hohenzollem dynasty and that she was a keen supporter of the human sciences and arts What is supposed to be the first issue of Op. V is a richly decorated score edition, engraved by Gasparo Pietra Santa, with the front page designed by Antonio Meloni and engraved by Girolamo Frezza and with the title page to part 2 engraved by P. Cerzini (Fig. 1a-c);! two other similar ptints also came out in 1700 in Rome and Bologna,? and in the same year appeared the first Dutch and English editions. The front-page illustration (Fig. 1a) is an allegory with Minerva protecting the escutcheon of the electress and look- ing fondly upon a music book in the same format as Corell’s Op. V; in the background stands the temple of Minerva. The music book is presented to | Among seve facie eons of Op. V1 rer 0 the ne published by Archioa mas cu, Horne, Sudo po edn see 197 (Colne det 2). Fo rhe biegrapie information, see C. SsxT0N, Babliografis delle mares rnumentale dana stampat i Hala foal 170, Frense Ouch 199268 inthe felling abort a Stored ith I 1700s: and Hy, Mas, Die Chelona der Werk Arcaco Cn Colonna Cos log, Aro Vol Vera, 980 th loving aerated gs CONV wth page ol ty amber died), pp, 172173, 1 Cle. ao A. Cavicen, Contrbut ala blografia 4. Corel, Lede Ieloeee det 170 dope Guna rstnpe de 11 Fert, Rosa dl Commune TBelpp. 9.7, and C. Savon, Sono 51 Gino a or) led ttn dal pee af Cc ¢ 139 gl Some not, scales Hina Mast I, 15, pp. 979389, © Seto I, 1700 and 1708 bib nd COW 172-3, 2-4[NIELS MARTIN JENSEN Fig. le her by a humbler goddess (Harmonia?) or one of the muses (Es sess t ak for he acaepemonof the rie whin the sacra so that a concord can be established between the sciences, the letters and the aris ~ a concord characterized in the person of the elecress according to Co- reli's dedication. In the right comet two puti caress the instruments that the composer has prescribed for the performance of his Op. V. The first of the title pages says Parte prima. Sonate a violino ¢ violone 0 cimbalo (Fig. 1b), and alter the fist six sonatas the second title page appears. Parte seconda. Preludi,allemande, correnti, gighe, sarabande, gavotte e folia Fg. 1c). It is remarkable how few alterations the title of Op. V underwent in the numerous reprints during the next century. According to CoWV there are only two examples ofthe designation «solos» up to 1740 and one reprint which specifically acknowledges the thorough-bass: an edition by Walsh & Hare in London from c. 1711 has XII Sonatas or Solo's for a Violin a Bass Violin or Harpsicord (his is the one with «ye Graces to all ye Adagio's and other places where the Author thought propers).° Another reprint by Walsh > CoWV 177,14 (CORELLI'S OP. V CONSIDERED IN THE LIGHT OF THE GENRE'S TRADITION PARTE PRIMA SONATE A VIOLINO E VIOLONE 0 CIMBALO DEDICATE ALL ALTEZZA SERENISSIMA ELETTORALE DI SOFIA CARLOTTA ELETTRICE DI BRANDENBVRGO PRINCIPESSA DI BRVNSWICH ET LVNEBVRGO DYCHESSA DI ‘PRVSSIA E DI MAGDEBVRGO CLEVES GIVLIERS BERGA STETINO POMERANIA CASSVBIA E DE VANDALT IN SILESIA CROSSEN BVRGRAVIA DI NORIMBERG PRINCIPESSA. DI HALBERSTATT ‘MINDEN E CAMIN CONTESSA DI HOHENZOLLERN E RAVENSPVRG RAVENSTAIN LAVENBVRG E BVTTAV OPERA QVINTA Fig tb. from 1740 says XII Solos for a Violin with a Thorough Bass for the Harpsicord or Violoncello with the additional information: «These Solos ate Printed from a curious Edition Publish’d at Rome by the Author». Otherwise the reprints keep the original wording sonate a violino e violone o cimbalo or just sonatas or opera quinta.® All of the reprints up to approximately 1740 came out in score except for one edition from Roger in Amsterdam around 1716 that ‘was published in two partbooks, one for the violin, the other for the cello «pour la Commodité de ceux qui jouent de la Viole de Gambe ou de la Basse».” Tn the first edition of Op, V the sonatas are numbered in succession from 1 to 11, and La Follia with 23 variations brings the collection to an end. The title pages give us no information about the date and place of publication, and + GoWV 181, 26. 5 COWV 174, 5. © COWV 179, 1819, * GoWV 178, 17.NIELS MARTIN JENSEN PRELVDIL ALLEMANDE CORRENTE GIGHE SARABANDE GAVOTTE E FOLLIA Fig Ic. although the bass is figured, the titles do not specifically mention a basso con- tinuo not do they have anything like a voce sola or just solo attached to viokino. However, the ttle page offers another kind of information. Itis beyond doubt that we should read the designation violone o cimbalo literally: o meaning ‘or’ and not ‘and’; that means, with the option of performing these sonatas either with a violone ot a harpsichord together with the violin® ~ unless we should put a comma after violone, saying that they were to be performed either as string duos or on the harpsichord, This may be a far-fetched interpretation, but as a matter of fact, in an English manuscript Corelli's sonatas in score are bound together with harpsichord sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, Durante, G. Muffat, Pasquini and others.® And there were precedents in the Italian tra- * Inthe onging debate abot ‘vclne‘violonel' and ‘double bas ~ the terminology and the ype of inrument~ Stefano La Via bs pointed to silres and ifernces beeen ‘clone ind oneal’ Rome inthe times of Corel, and pare of his study is based on iconographic Seurce, among them the font page of Coes Op, s0e8 LA Via, Violoe'e‘lonela« Rome Tempo di Coe in Sad corellant 1, pp. 163-194, ep. pp- 177-17 CoV 185, 17. ‘CORELLI’S OP. V CONSIDERED IN THE LIGHT OF THE GENRE'S TRADITION ition, t00, as regards such a choice of ensemble or keyboard performance: Cazzati's Op. XXX, published in Bologna 1662 in score with a partbook for a second violin ad libitum, has as its title Correnti, e ballett per sonare nella spinetta, leuto, 0 tiorba; overo violino, e violone, col secondo violino a benepla- «ito;}® and Pietro Degli Antonii’s score with Ballet, correnti, & arie diverse, Op. IIL, Bologna 1671, is scored for violin and violone & anco per suonare nel- la spinetta, & aleri instromenti To cite one further case, even if the Ballett, correnti, gighe, e sarabande da camera by Pietro Degli Antonii’s brother Gio- vyanni Battista, printed in score in Bologna 1677, says on the title page a vio- lino, e clavicembalo 6 violoncello, the composer specifies in his dedication that these small ballett’ are per violino, 6 spinetta.® But the designation violone o cimbalo on the title page of Corell’s Op. V is now normally (if not unanimously by musicians) interpreted as the choice of a bass violin or a harpsichord: Such a choice had become a well-established tradition in collections with instrumental music since the late 1660s, especially in Bolognese and Modenese circles among composers such as G.B. Vitali and G.M. Bononcini. Examples are numerous and without exception we find this optional scoring in collections with music da camera: sonatas, dances, arias, trattenimenti, etc." Corelli's Op. V is printed in score, that is, in double-staff notation with a figured bass-line. If you were to perform these sonatas simply as duos for vio- lin and cello without the realization of the thorough-bass you would have am- ple support for this option as far back as the beginning of the seventeenth century in Italy."* The ritornellos of Monteverdis Scherai musicali and some of Salamone Rossi's instrumental pieces with a melodically independent bass-line sound entirely satisfactory without a thorough-bass realization. In the instrumental pieces by Rossi the bass-part seems to have a double function being both a melody instrument that could participate in the melodic inter- play and an instrument that should play «con piene, & soavi consonanze».!* "© Sartor 1, 1662 " Sartor I, 167 ® Sarton I, 167Ta "8 For G.B, Vita, se eg, Sartor’ I, 1667, 1668, 1682c, 1683e, 1684b, 1685} for G.M. Bo noncini, see Sartor, 16694, 167, 1, 167. All of these have one partbook fo violone o sp. 4 On the CD Novalis 150 128-2, Carli, 12 sonat a volinoe violone ocibalo op. 3, the Trio Yeracn’ (Joho Holloway, David Watkin, Lars Ulrie Mortensen) tries out all three possiblies of pr. formance practice of Op. V: Violin and violoncello, violin and harpsichord, and harpsichord soo. "All of the the four books with instrumental music by Rosi inching the ro setings, have only one partbook forthe bas instrument. The fist book (Seon I, 16070) bas the designations[NIELS MARTIN JENSEN Giovanni Battista Buonamente published collections with three-part sona- ‘tas and dance music in 1626, 1629, and 1637" that are pure string trios with an unfigured bassline for a bowed instrument. And around the middle of the century we find the musico, et sonatore di violino, et di violone at the court of Mantova Francesco Todeschini publishing his Op. I, Corrent, gagliarde, bal- Lett, et arie with two capticci da sonare con un violino solo e col basso se piace and two capricei da sonare a basso solo, col vialino se piace without continuo."” Giovanni Maria Bononcini’s Op. IV from 1671, Arie, correnti sarabande, ‘ighe, & allemande,!* uses the same instrumentation as Corelli's Op. V and bears on the title page the indication a violino, e violone, aver spinetta. How- ever, the partbook for the violone or harpsichord advises that «si deve avver- tire, che fara miglior efetto il violone che la spinetta per essere i bassi pitt pro- pri delluno, che del!'altra»,"® and the manuscript copy of the partbook for the bass in the Biblioteca Estense”® has no figures. ‘Among the manuscript holdings of the Biblioteca Estense there are also two unpublished collections by Vitali: one is entitled Sonate [..] a violino ¢ basso, which has two partbooks, including a nearly unfigured partbook ditrrone o alto éstromento da corpo; the second book (Sartori I, 1608h) su cittarone; the third (Sarton, 1613k, LH, 1625a) and fourth book (Sartor I, 1622) um ebitarrone,o air stromento st, mile AGOSTINO AGAZzARE does not mention the chitarrone in his small teatise Del sonare sopra basso com tut stroment e della lro nel concerto. Siena, 1607, but he classifies the theocbo both san instrument of foundation and of omamentation (p. 3); and in letter attached to A. BaNcHTER, Conclusion! net swono del organo, Bologna, 1609, from where the quotation inthe text above is ta keen, he places theorbo and chitarvone onthe seme feating. Cir. the discussion ofthe function and performance of Rona’ base-parts in T. Boncix, The Performance ofthe Basso Continuo in Italien Berogue Music, Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.MI, Research Press, 1987 (Studies in Musicology, 90); pp. 31:54; P. ALLs00, The lili ‘Tro’ Sonata, Oxlord, Clarendon Press, 1992, pp. 107-11; and BP Hawi, Slomone Ross, Jewith Musician in Late Renaitsence Mantua, Oxford Univesity Press, 1599, pp. 159-163. Ross's instrumental musi is published in a cecal edition, ed. by D. Hartén §, Roset, Complete Works, IX-XII, American Institute of Musicology, Neubausen, Hinsser Verlag, 1995 (Corpus memurablis musica, 100) 16 Il quarto libro de varie sonate ..} per sonar con due violin, & un baso di vol, Venice, 1626 (Sartor Lil, 1626d) I quinta libro de varie sonate [..] per sonar con du volin, & un basso di vila. Venice, 1629 Sartori Fl, 16294) Ista libro di sonate[.] are, due violin, & bas di viola, da brazzn. Venice, 1637 (Sartori Tl, 1637), Five sonatas from If quarto libro are ed. and publ. by B. Allsop as n.5a in the New Orpbeus Editions, Italian Sevententh Century Instrumental Musi, Chapel Downs House, Crediton, Deven (England), 1993. Sartor EL, 16506, '8 Sartori, 1676. 18 One should bear in mind tha the wolone will produce a berter effect than the spinets, since the bees ae more sporopat othe former than the late Insument> The anion taken ftom P. Auisop, The Role ofthe Stringed Bass aso Continuo Instrument in Italian Seventeenth Century Insiramental Music, «Chee (Journal ofthe Viole da Gamba Society) United Kingdom, VIN, 1978-79, pp. 3137: 37 20 EMOe, MUS F 108. CCORELLI'S OP. V CONSIDERED IN THE LIGHT OF THE GENRE'S TRADITION for the violone;2" the other collection bears the title Partite sopra diverse so- ‘ate, and it, t00, is two-part string music for violin and violone that has no continuo figures at all in the bass-part.”* Finally, in the many unpublished \ibri by Giuseppe Colombi in the Estense library we find a varied selection of music for one unaccompanied string instrument, and for two and three strings without a thorough-bass. And here we may also note his libri 15-20 with pieces for solo violin without accompaniment, his first book with so nate e toccate a violino e basso with two partbooks and no figuration,** and his book 13 with Brandi diversi a violino e violone, which are duos for strings without a basso continuo. ‘However, a performance of Corelli's Op. V for violin and cello with the realization of the figured bass is certainly also a possibility. Recent research has brought to light much evidence that bears witness to the fact that the cello about 1700 was also considered, to be a chordal instrument and that the pos- sibilities of chordal playing on the cello are considerable. According to David ‘Watkin: «[t]he possibilities (..] fall into two categories: the lateral description cof harmonies by the addition of arpeggios and passing notes or figuration; and the simple addition of chords and double-stopping».* In the last decades of the seventeenth century in Italy music for the cello and the technique of playing the instrument were in a state of rapid development. Composers like Giovanni Battista Degli Antonii and Giuseppe Maria Jacchini published ‘unaccompanied pieces for the instrument. In Domenico Gabriell’s and Giuseppe Colombi’s manuscript collections in the Estense library we find ri- cercars, along toccata, dances and ostinatos for violone solo. The cello virtuo- so came to the fore. In 1715 J-F.A. von Uffenbach visited Italy and wrote of Jacchini (who in the 1690s published two collections including music for vio- 21 LMOe, MUS F 1250. The bass part has two pages with chorough-bass figures which may be an indication forthe vilone to play chord 2 LMOe, MUS E 244. 23 LMOe, MUS F 284,285, 286, G38, 99,97. Cft, the wor ls of Colomb’ instrumental mu sicin JG, SUS, Giuseppe Colonbi's Dance Music or the Estense Court of Duke Francesco Il of Mo ‘dena, in Marco Uccelint Ati del Convegno Marco Uceelini da Forlimpopoi ela sua music’, ed by ‘M.Carac Vela and M, Toffetsi, Laces, ibresia Musicale Italian, 1999 (Strument dell rcees mus. tale, 3), pp, 141-182; 143-145, See al J.C, SUESS, The Instrumental Music Manuscripts of Ginseppe Colombe) Modena: A Preliminary Report on the Now Dance Muse for Solo Violin or Violone, in Ser tonto mesplorto, At del Il Convegna internazionale alla musica in area lomburdo-padans del seolo XVM, ed. by A. Coleani, A. Luppt, M. Padoan, Como, A.MLS., 1993, pp. 387-409. 3 EMOe, MUS E 34, 2 EMOe, MUS F 282. 2 D. Warnan, Corelli's op. 5 sonatas: Violino e violone o cimbalo’?, «Barly Music», XXIV, 1996, pp. 645.663: 654[NIELS MARTIN JENSEN Joncello solo)” that he was an excellent virtuoso on a simple bass or violon- cello and famous in all Italy?* Connected with the question of instruments and musicians necessary for performing Corell’s Op. V arises the problems of genre as regards his eleven sonatas, To which genre do they belong according to their musical structure, brought to life in a well-considered performance? Are they solo sonatas as they are often labeled (as in the first paragraph of Henry Mishkin's article ‘on The Solo Violin Sonata of the Bologna School” and in Franz Giegling’s in- troduction to the volume with Die Solasonate in Das Musikewerk-seties)? ° Or are they duo sonatas primarily for violin and violone as Peter Allsop claims in his excellent book on Corelli and his music?" During the first half of the seventeenth century a composer writing instru- mental pieces @ una (ie. compositions for only one melody instrument and a +bas30 continuo) faced the problem of working out the relationship between the continuo part and the melody voice. To do this he had a number of op- tions. He could give the thorough-bass an independent linear shape in order to create tension through long, stepwise passages: Ex. 1B, MARINI, Sonata tere variata peri! violio solo, m. 89-95, from Sonate [..J, Op. 8 1625). Vt me) He could let the thorough-bass take part in imitative interplay with the mel- ‘ody instrument: 2 Cli Sartor I, sa, at. al 1695 and 16976. 2% Cir. E. Prausswen, Die musikalichen Reicen des Herm von Uffenbach, Cassel and Basle, Birenreter-Verlg, 1549, p. 73: and the preface to GM. JaccHiN, Sonate a vtoino violoncello € «side el pecan ean ret by Vachss, Blogs, For, 2001 (Bibi Frescobaldi’s collection seems to be a turning point in the history of the solo sonata. With its contra- puntal texture in the sonatas for a soprano instrument and basso continuo, the reworking of the basso per organo towards a harmonically oriented basso con- tinuo in the sonatas for a bass instrument and bass0 continuo, and the expres- sive instrumental affett ofthe stile moderno, Frescobaldi's collection is a sum- mary and an exploration of many of the possibilities of the few-voiced sonata genre up to his time. The collection was pethaps planned as a secondo libro, but rumed out to be a heavily revised edition of the two issues of his first book of canzonas from 1628, I! primo libro delle canzoni a una, due, tre, € quattro voci.* Janus-headed it looks both to the past and to the future. As a composer of solo sonatas Frescobaldi studied the few works of his predeces- sors and then summed up the important features of the genre. There were only a few composers whose production of solo sonatas come close to Frescobaldi’s in quantity: Innocentio Vivarino, Gabriello Pulit, To- maso Cecchino, Biagio Marini, — and Giovanni Battista Fontana, too, if we include his posthumous collection of Sonate from 1641.°° ‘The organist from ‘Adtia, Innocentio Vivarino, published eight solo sonatas in his Primo libro de motetti in 1620. These are short pieces that are characterized by a typical use of motivie dialogue between the solo instrument and the basso continuo (cE Ex. 2). This use of motivic interplay gives Vivarino’s sonatas a more qua- si-polyphonie structure in comparison with the canzonas of Frescobaldi. Fre- scobaldi did not take this kind of structure and shape as a model, nor did he ce Eps doteion du 20 Jana 105 5 tt 3 oh pgs of, i collection e ms: ly more vento, ct. G.Faesconalt, Opere comple, VIL I pri lire Sensont Lil ed by E Duby, Minn, Sv Zerboni, 2002 Monament! mse lot, 22,1, pin. 2 Sartor 1, 16H hasan incomplete able of contents > Sato ll 1628 (score) and j(paibooks): the 1628collections is included in the tal edition by Er Datel, ef note 32 3S Sarton ll, 1641. 26 Sarton I, 15204 CORELLI'S OP. V CONSIDERED IN THE LIGHT OF THE GENRE'S TRADITION adhere to the brilliant and concertato-like solo sonatas in the stile modero, ‘This latter style of sonata was cultivated by Marini, Castello and Fontana, and we begin to find traces of it around 1620 in the comnetto player Giovanni Martino Cesare’s collection Musicali melodie." Gabriello Pulit’s Fantasie, schersi, et capricei da sonarsi in forma di can- one, con un violino solo overo cometto, Op. XIX, of which only the partbook for violin or cometto is extant in a reprint from 1624,** is the first printed collection known to us that exclusively contains solo music for the violin. Even if Pulitis’s violin music seems to be non-idiomatic pieces of modest di- mensions that are cast in the traditional repetitive canzona-form, the appear- ance of his Op. XIX is nevertheless decades ahead of the two prints that are normally considered to be the first extant collections with nothing but solois tic violin music on Italian soil: Marco Uccellini's Op. V from 1649 and Gio- vanni Antonio Leoni’s Op. III from 1652, ‘The composer who came closest to Frescobaldi in his conception of the relationship between a melody-part and a bass-part was Tomaso Cecchino. He published seven solo sonatas in his Cinque messe a due voci in 1628.” In some of them we find the abandonment of the duo sonata-structure in fa- vor of a genuine solo sonata-type."® This means the use of a texture that ~ in- stead of emphasizing virtuoso concertato-elements or the static, harmonic function of the basso continuo — stresses a well-balanced relationship between che melody-part and the continuo, which in spite of its opening motivic inter- slay with the melody instrument in most of the sonatas also has a melodic and rhythmic vigour of its own: Bx. 4—T. Ceccuino, Sonata sesta, m. 1-7, from Cinque messe, Op. 23 (1628). +) etm) 2 Sartori I, 1621b, 38 Cli, Sartor I, 1624. © Sartor I, 16286, 40 The last ofthe eight sonatas efor two soprano instruments and basso continuo, ci. Stor, 16286.[NIELS MARTIN JENSEN But not all contemporary composers thought that way. In 1617 Biagio Marini published his Op. I, Affetti musical, containing sinfonias, canzonas, sonatas, balleti, arie, brandi, gagliarde and correnti for one, two and three instru- ments." Of the two sinfonias @ uno, «La Orlandina» has a basso se piace. Through this optional melody bass it obtains a duo structure in two of its sec- tions. A comparison with the duo sonata «La Ponte» from the same collection makes the difference between a real melody bass in a two-part sonata and a asso se piace quite obvious: the bass-part of the sonata @ due is fully inte- grated into a two-part texture, The only genuine solo piece in Marini's Affetti ‘musicals the sinfonia «La Gardana», which has a slow moving continuo-bass below a more brilliant solo part for the violin or comnetto, ‘The title of Matini's Op. I, Affett? musicali, attests to the composer's at- tempt to give to the few-voiced instrumental music in the stile moderio the same emotional expression which characterized vocal monody of the time.** “Although Marini has no text to cling to and interpret, his use of the instruments in an idiomatic manner with all their technical possibilities enables him to bring the new instrumental medium to an equally high level of emotional expression and to transplant the affeti of vocal monody to instrumental music. In the five solo pieces of his Op. VIII, published in Venice 1629 with the preface dated Neuburg 1626, Marini’s occupation with the solo sonata for the violin reached its apex as regards technical virtuosity."? Of the five pieces, four are sonatas and one capticcio intended for violino solo and theie titles bear wit- ness to Marini’s inventiveness and technical demands including double- and triple-stopping, scordatura and rapid passages in semi- and demisemiquavers: Sonata d’invenzione, Sonata variata, Sonata per sonar con due corde and Caprio. cio per sonare con tre corde a modo di lira, The basso continuo is present in these pieces, but is subordinate to the virtuoso display that may or may not be influ- enced by Marini’s acquaintance with contemporary German violin music. 4 Sartor ll, 167. Anew ete eiton is B. Mann, Aft Musial, Opera Pri, ed by F. Pipemo, Nan, SuiniZasbon, 1990 (Monsen musical alias, 13) An iluminating dscusion ofthe meaning of aft canbe found in F.Pipemo's introduc: tion to his editon of Marn's Op. I, pp. visa (fe. note 4), 1A secenly published etal eon of Op VII x B. Maun, Sonate, sifoie]. Oper vin (1¢23) 2b by Nt. Zon, Milan Suvi Zeon! 2008 (Monument ruse an, 23). Thomas 1B Duin ied the fou snats for solo lin th a ferent antciption of the scondatar in B. Manne, tong Sonata rom Opus 1 ed Ope 8, tenscrbed snd ed, by Th D. Dunn, continuo ten WG Ma, WARE 191 (Coleg Nasco Ya Une, Si vol ¥ See P, ALLSOP, Vilinitic Vio in tbe Seventeenth Century: lan Supremacy o Ato- German Hegemony? Saptari, I, 199, pp. 239-258 CORELLI'S OP. V CONSIDERED IN THE LIGHT OF THE GENRES TRADITION Although Marini’s sonata production continued beyond the middle of the cen- tury with his Op. XXII (1655), no solo sonatas occur in his later collections. In the preface to his first book of Sonate concertate in stil moderno, first published in Venice 1621 and reprinted 1629,4° Dario Castello had explained what he meant by the designation i stil moderno: MP parso, per dar satisfatione a quelli che si deletterano di sonar queste mie so- nate, avisali; che se bene nella prima vista li pareranno dificil; ruttavia non si per- dino d’animo nel sonarle pit d'una volta: per che faranno prattica in esse, ¢ allhora esse si renderano facilssime: perche niuna cosa @ difficile a quello che si diletta: de- chiarandomi non haver potuto componerle pi facile per osservar il stil moderno, ho- za osservato da tutti Castello included only two solo sonatas in his pioneering two books with so- natas in stile moderno. They are both found in the beginning of book two from 1629 and are printed in score with two staves in the partbook for the asso continuo, Apart from introducing the opening motives in some of the sections, the basso continuo is a typical harmonic foundation with many sus- tained whole and half notes below a melody instrument in a virtuoso show- picce. However, the two sonatas pose questions as regards the performance of the Basso continuo. In both sonatas the bass-line is unfigured as is the bass in the continuo-score to the last sonata (n. 17) for two violins and two cornet- tos. All of the other sonatas in the continuo partbook have figures for a thor- cough-bass realization. Is the thorough-bass to be harmonized according to the uuppet voice in the score, or could it be that the continuo-player in his accom- paniment should double the solo instrument?” 1 Soni, Lil. The 162 edn was eared ing the Sco Vea an he ill ns Caz cot Aes, Ss Fp ad in Sonatas and Canzonas 1621-1635, Lucca, Libreria Musi 2, 19% quote fram ine pectic othe ede nt sco eon of Calas eee.” 1 forthe benef of toe who wil ake pear in lying my sna ben my x Sono is tht ev ifthe may ee ete Si yl ont xe i i hy ct me han oe bene by in Pct! hs ta te 2 Nain i rin sep ims Tc ac athe compa tobe moray played Tahu ont te mde, wick new kes so econ ss 1 The usin is dscised in W. AP an Vin Maso he Senet Cetry 1. Binkley Heomtnyton ad Indianapolis Thane Unt Pic, 190, pp 9738, Sta 6 Publ in D Cannio, Sele Snas,fleed by ESaleage Fed, Reduces WEAR Ea SS 197 en ees oe Ma of be ete En 820 pp. er fea nt red BC nay Se (Clandor Mant ofthe Secrteont Contry Hi). ns Lense Pre Mei Eton, 1958[NIELS MARTIN JENSEN ‘When Giovanni Battista Fontana’s only book with sonatas for one, two and three instruments came out in Venice 1641, its author had probably been dead for about ten yeats.4® Thus this repertory, including six sonatas for solo violin and basso continuo, belongs to the first formative decades of sonata pro- duction in northern Ttaly. The six solo sonatas bear some resemblance to the ‘concertato style and to the innovations of the stile modemo represented by composers like Marini and Castello, but the chythmic drive and wel-balanced structure of the continuo-bass and its interplay with the solo part in many places give these pieces a strong affinity to a duo sonata structure. The heyday of the solo sonata in the first half of the century occurred in the course of the 1640s. In 1645 Giovanni Antonio Bertoli published nine so- natas for solo bassoon «...] ma che puonno servire ad altri diversi Stromenti, ¢ delle quali anche le voci possono approfittarsi»,"° which was printed in score with the basso continuo on the lower staff as a slow-moving harmonic founda- tion.®° In the same year Gasparo Zannetti published an important tutor for the violin, I! scolaro.** Marco Uccellini’s Op. V, Sonate overo canzoni, ap- peared in 1649 with all but one piece being sonatas for solo violin, and in 1652 Giovanni Antonio Leoni produced a collection made up entirely of solo sonatas, thirty-one in all, entitled Sonate di violino a voce sola, Op. IIL-®* These are but a few of the most remarkable publications during the hectic years of sonata production. ‘When Uccellini published his Op. V in 1649, several collections of his in- strumental music had already appeared, among them dances for solo violin 1639 and 1642. Uccellini’s total output makes him one of the most prolific ‘composers of instrumental music in 17""-century Italy. In 1645 he published his Op. IV, which contained six sonatas for solo violin among other solo pieces, and by this time the solo sonata had gained a considerable length. The many virtuoso sections and the technically demanding violin part make 48 An available modem edition is G.B, FoNtaNA, Sonatas for One, Two, and Three Pert with Basso Continuo, ed. by Th. D. Dunn, Madison, WI, A-R Editions, 2000 (Recent Researches in the Music ofthe Baroque Era, 9) “© sao] but which are also suitable for other instruments and even for voices, 5 Composition’ musical di Gio: Antonio Berl fate per sonare col fagoto solo [..}, Venice, 1645; Sarton I, 1645e. 51 Sarton I, 1645e. Cl, D.D. BovDe, The Hitory of Violin Playing fom its Origins to 1761 and its Relationship t0 the Violin and Violin Music, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1965, p. 154 asin. 2 Sartor ll, 1652b, The article by E. McCaicxaRn, The Roman repertory for violin before the time of Corel, Early Musico, XVUL, 1990, pp. 363-573, clarifies the wrong numbering ofthe so- hnaas in the print and inclides a transcription of the ist sonat, ‘CORELLI'S OP. V CONSIDERED IN THE LIGHT OF THE GENRE'S TRADITION Uccellini’s Op. V real solo sonatas and the violinist the protagonist compared to the continuo player; but a genuine duo structure in some of the sections in these sonatas with the violin and the basso continuo sharing the motivic ma- terial on an almost equal footing counterbalances the virtuosity and assimi- lates traits from both Castello and Fontana:*? Ex. 5 ~M, Ucceiuant, Sonate seconda, m. 121-126, from Sonate overo canzoni, Op. 5 (1649). oF 676 Little is known about Giovanni Antonio Leoni who worked and published his instrumental collection in Rome. Perhaps his and Frescobaldi’s common Ro- man background explains why his sonatas seem to be connected to the can- zonas of Frescobaldi. It appears as though the Roman composers of instru- mental music shared some remarkably conservative features. Even if we find both modern ornamentation and affett in a sonata by Leoni, his compo- sitional style contrasts strongly with those of Marini, Castello, Fontana and Uccellini. ‘Compared to the steadily increasing publications with instrumental mu- sic from the second half of the century in Italy, the number of collections exclusively dedicated to the solo sonata as this scoring was understood in the first half of the century may seem scanty. In table 1 are listed the titles of printed collections between 1649 and 1699 by Italian composers as far as we know of them. All are scored for violin and basso continuo. Some were issued in partbooks ~ these are Uccellini’s Op. V, Leoni’s Op. III, Degli Antonii’s Op. IV, Viviani’s Op. IV and Veracini’s Op. Il - and others were printed in partitura: ° Che M. Voce, Sonate over canon da farsi 2 kino sol, e basso continuo, Over una, aby 9 Wi US, Opens on edo Lace Lib Ee, 200 an he ae Bix, Le Sonat ner Conon (1689) d Marc eel L pring rca dl sont via sol, in Marco Unltd onoepo Marco clin da Forimpopot eas mre by M. Cs tac Velo and M. Toft, Laces Liberia Misa Tetons, 1999, pp 31-72.[NIELS MARTIN JENSEN ‘Tanue 1 - Collections entirely with solo sonatas by Italian composers 1649-1699 ‘Marco Uccellini ‘Sonate over canzoni da farsi @ violino solo, basso cont ‘uo, Opera quinta, Venice 1649 (2 vols: Canto, Pattura) Sonate di violino a voce sola. Libro primo, opera tera Rome 1652 (2 vols: Violino, Parttura) Giovanni Antonio Pandolfi Mealli Sonate @ siolino solo, per chiesa e camera. Opera teraa Innsbruck 1660 (1 vel. (Partita) Giovanni Antonio Pandolfi Mealli Sonate &vialino solo, per chiesae camera. Opera quarta, Tnnsbruck 1660 (1 vol. [Partitural) Angelo Berardi Sinfonia vilino solo. Libro primo, opera seta. Bolo- gna 1670 (1 vol: Partitura) Sonate a violino slo con il basso continuo per Forgano. ‘Opera quarte. Bologna 1676 (2 vols. [Violino] .{Orgenol) Giovanni Bonaventura Viviani __Sinfonie(..] per violino solo. Opera quarta. Rome 1678 (2 vols: Violino solo, Organo 0 gravicembalo) Suonate a violino solo col basso continuo per Vorgano. (Opera quinta. Bologna 1686 (1 vol. (Parttura)) Antonio Veracini Sonate da camera a volino solo. Opera seconda. Modena [ca 1695] (2 vos. Violino solo, Cimbalo d violone) Giovanni Antonio Leoni Pietro Degli Antonii Pietro Degli Antonii Perhaps more interesting, however, are collections with an instrumenta- tion that is similar to or identical with Corelli’s Op. V with the option of a bowed o a keyboard instrument for the bass-part. Among these are: G.M. Bononcini’s Op. II (1667),°° Sonate da camera, e da ballo with spinetta 6 vio- Tone; Pietto Degli Antonii’s Op. I(1670)** a violino e violone d spinetta; G.M. Bononcini’s Op. IV (1671)"" a violino e violone, over spinetta, all with one partbook for violone or spinetta; and Giovanni Battista Degli Antonii’s Op. III (1677)°* @ violino e clavicembalo @ violoncello, printed in parttura. ‘The appearance from the late 1650s and onward of the increasing number of collections with the option of «violone o spinetta» and the like for the bass- part seems to signify a shift in the function of the thorough-bass. It seems to be a shift from a primarily harmonic and rhythmic accompaniment to a bass- part with a more pronounced double function, fluctuating between its origi- nal réle as a harmonic and rhythmic foundation and its participation and in- Another edition of Op. IV was published inthe same yea in Venice ws Caprice armonic, da cies, e da camera, ft. Sarton II, TBE and I, 1678e. 5 Sartor I, 16574. 58 Sartor I, 16706. % Senor, 16TIe. Sartor J, 16770. CCORELLY'S OP. V CONSIDERED IN THE LIGHT OF THE GENRE'S TRADITION tegration in the motivic and contrapuntal interplay in a two-voiced texture. This fluctuation or double function often takes place within the very same sec- tion or movement, so we are left to wonder when we have a solo sonata and when a duo sonata. Peter Allsop is certainly correct, when he «observes the not insignificant fact that [Corelli's Op. V] are duo sonatas for violin and violone»;** but what then are Legrenzi’s sonatas 4 due for violin and viola da brazzo (ie. violoncel- Jo) from his Op. X, La Cetra, in which a basso continuo is added together with the violin and the cello in many places to make up a three-part texture? Are both Corelli's and Legrenzi’s sonatas to be considered as duo sonatas? Are we to classify sonatas with one or two bass-parts, one of them being a basso con tinuo, according to the linear (.¢. melodic/contrapuntal/soloistic) function of the parts involved (as did most Seicento composers), or shall we simply let the number of parts decide whether we have a duo or a trio sonata? Let us take an ‘example from a collection for one melody instrument and thorough bass with no ad libitum possibilty: the beginning of the Sonata prima from Pictro Degli (1676), vedi es. a p. 228.5" This piece exemplifies the séle of the bass-part in a two-voiced texture scored for solo violin and thorough-bass (in Degli Antonii’s case an organ). We find a slow introduction with the violin as the dominating part above a slow-moving bass. Two bars before the Aria posata and the change of time signature, the semiquavers in the bass create both a conclusion and a bridge passage to the next section, in which violin and organ, now on equal footing, share in an almost canonic beginning of the aria.® This testifies to the fact that in collections with sonatas for a solo instrument and basso continuo from the second half of the century one seldom finds such an ‘old-fashioned’ dif- ference between the upper part and the bass as is the ease in Leoni’s sonatas, Op. OL. P. Ausoe, Arangelo Corel: New Ombeus of Our ime, p. 120 f Sg The ndrenel Maco Glen Leen La Ct Sate dt uta ‘ment Ebro guatir,opas 10, 1673, ed. by 8. Bois, = MA, award Daiversiy Pres, 1992 (Harwrd Publican in Mace, 17) pp. 1631 " wv 61 Sat T, 1676 wit a incomplete tide page. © Another way of ceeting an introduction where it unfolds ae a pride over pedal points in ‘he bas canbe sen inthe esining ofthe first sonst of Cares Op. Wandin some of te sontas from Bartlomeo Laurent’ Suonate per camera & volo, evolocell J. Op 1 (691) (se sonata Ted by. Allsop in B. Laon, Sonate per Camera Nox 7-12, Chapel Downs Howse, red ition, Devon (England, 1993 (New Orpbus Eons aia Soententh Contry Insnamentl Ma se, 6), pp. 1-2 Se ao Lona lot 1701-edtion, ed by F. Giegling from a ndweten copy es CA Landi, Die Violnsonsen, Mold 1701, Wioterhus, Amadeus, 1981 (Pmaen musa,[NIELS MARTIN JENSEN Ex, 6~P, DEGLI ANTONI, Sonata prima, m. 1-26, fram Sonate avilino solo com il basso continuo ‘er Forgano, Op. 4 (1676). e ESS The ttle of this paper is meant to convey more than a superficial allusion to titles such as David Boyden’s When Is a Concerto not a Concerto® ot Neal Zaslaw’s When Is an Orchestra not an Orchestra. Questions like these reflect 6 The Musical Quarterly», XLII, 1957, pp. 220-252. + aBiaaly Musin, XVI, 1988, pp. 483-49. ‘CORELLY'S OP, V CONSIDERED IN THE LIGHT OF THE GENRE'S TRADITION some of the fundamental problems music historians have to face when they are dealing with ambiguous concepts and terminologies such as ‘genre’ and ‘scoring’ in order to establish a unity out of diversity. A ‘genre’ may be under- stood as a repertory of music with certain characteristics of style, scoring, so- cial function, etc. that separate it from other repertories, It cannot be given a definition once and for all. Often we run the risk of defining instead of de- scribing and interpreting such a repertory, which is part ofa historical process where birth, change, decline and fall take place. If we broaden our view in order to look for the “idea of a genre’, as William S. Newman did in his monu- ‘mental work on the history of the sonata idea (which he based on the coining of a term), not much is left to unite such a repertory through the ages, and much relevant material is left out because of the terminological bias For those who in recent times have dedicated some of their research to Italian instrumental music of the seventeenth century, there has been a great satisfaction to realize a certain order and consistency in this repertory as re- gards contemporary terminology and genre — a consistency which eatlier his- torians seemed to have failed to notice. But this consistency, which is to be found in the contemporary musical sources, must not be extended beyond the historical facts, and it is my present view that this consistency seems to fall apart when we examine the Italian solo sonata in the second half of the Seicento within the repertoires of few-voiced instrumental music. The term ‘solo sonata’ is a later term not to be found in any musical sources of the period known to me. Designations like @ voce sola ot solo attached to an instrument in titles, tables of contents, partbooks and partituras were used, However, in Corelli's Op. V we find no such designations; we are only told that these are sonatas for two instruments in a two-voiced texture where harmonies can be supplied according to the figures of the bass-part. Are we mislead by the consistency we find in designations such as @ 1, a 2, a 3 in the repertory from the first half of the century to think that the same consistency exists in the following decades, too? Given that we do not find any unaccom- panied sonatas for one instrument in the printed collections from the second half of the century, should we then limit the use of the term ‘solo sonata’ to pieces in which the composer has designated one of the instruments solo, a voce sola, etc.? Or should we talk of ‘accompanied solo sonatas’, where there is one melody instrument and an accompanying instrument designated basso continuo, basso continuo per Vorgano etc.? And if the bass-line of such a con- tinuo-instrument in a sonata is contrapuntally integrated into a two-voiced texture, how do we distinguish such a sonata from those for two instruments with options of the bass-part like Corell’s Op. V? Are the latter duo sonatas and the former solo sonatas? And what can analysis contribute? What is[NIELS MARTIN JENSEN ‘more integrated! and ‘less integrated, and when is the bass-part reduced to a mere accompaniment? Perhaps we have better give up rigid genre terms like ‘solo sonata’ and ‘duo sonata’ when we are dealing with this few-voiced repertory in this spe- cific period of Italian instrumental music, that is, the last decades of the seven- teenth century. Peter Allsop, an expert of Italian instrumental music of the seventeenth century, felt himself forced to put both ‘trio'sonata and ‘solo’so- nata in inverted commas in his books on the Italian trio sonata and on Corelli, but how long can we do with genre terms in inverted commas? Perhaps we sometimes have to abandon the concept of unity in favour of the acceptance of diversity. ‘CORELLI'S OP. V CONSIDERED IN THE LIGHT OF THE GENRE'S TRADITION Discussion Autsop: I believe firmly that we do have distinct genres, and that’s why I believe that the very concept of the duo sonata for two treble instruments and continuo is quite different from that of two treble instruments, melodic bass instrument and con- tinuo. It was treated so. And furthermore, [believe that this sort of difference is even :more pronounced in the relationship between the solo sonata and the duo sonata for violin and melodic bass. I think that composers saw them as totally different gentes and that is what Corelli meant when he wrote to Laderchi wha had asked him for a sonata for violin and lute. Corelli wrote back saying that he had never done anything like that before because all of the sonatas that he had written were for the violin alone, but that he would set about composing for violin and lute in which the two parts would be equal. And when he eventually sent that, he sad, “the lute part will just go with the violone”. I believe that was the origin of the duo sonata of Opus V. I believe that the whole history of the solo sonata is virtually unknown to us for the simple reason that it was impossible to publish it using movable type, as the Italians did, That is the whole point. In Buonamente’s letters he says quite cleatly that he is writing solo sonatas, but none have survived because he simply couldn't publish them. We therefore have two histories: a history of the violin sonata as published and something else that we are never going to know because it was never published. JENSEN: One thing struck me in your book that may be in accordance with your view upon Op. V as duo sonatas: You said in your book that they are primarily for violin and violone (or violoncello). You mean, then, that he intended them seconda- rly for violin and harpsichord. Wy do you have that priority fortwo seemingly equal options? ‘AutsoP: Yes, I do think Corel’ first option is for violin and violone. I have to tell you on a recent recording of Op. V I was consulted about that, and I said that I ‘thought the unaccompanied performance was probably the most usual one. Then, on this particular performance, the cellist decided that he was going to realize the con- tinuo, But when you look at the sonatas that don’t give the option for keyboard per- formance, like the Laurenti’s Op. 1 (1691), they don’t have figures. You only put the figures if you want to sell it to both markets. Corelli, of eourse, had ties to Laurenti. I think that violin and violone was really the first option, LinDGREN: Did you say that the violone is « double bass? Jensen: No, I didn’t say that it was a double bass. I agree with the view of Ste- phen Bonta that at the time of Corelli it was more like a violoncello.Perer WaLis CONSTRUCTING THE ARCHANGEL: CORELLI IN 18"CENTURY EDITIONS OF OPUS V Corelli's Op. V violin sonatas have probably never been out of print. ‘They went through an exceptional number of editions in the 18 century. For the past few decades, however, it has been the 1710 Estienne Roger print that has dominated musicians’ imaginations.' This, as the pirated ‘Walsh version of the following year put it, «has y* advantage of haveing y° Graces to all y* Adagio's and other places where the Author thought prop- em Peter Allsop observes that «in present-day performances the Roger and ‘Walsh editions have almost usurped Corell’s own ‘urtext’ version as pub- lished by Pietra Santa»? Right from its first appearance, however, the ‘Roger’ graces provoked scepticism. The note in Roger's 1716 Catalogue inviting the curious to inspect the relevant correspondence proves that.* The most vehement expression of ‘Lam grateful to the Musikwiasenschaftliches Seminar der Ruper-Karls-Universitit io Heidel. ‘berg for permission to reproduc lis. 1, 1 the Brits Library fr fig, 2 and 4, and ro the National Portraie Gallery for ig. 3-In the following notes, editions of Corelli Op. V are identiied by thee numbers in Répertaie international des sree: musicales Einzeldracke tor 1800 vol, Kasse, Bi- Teateter, 1972; and in HJ. Mae, Die Uberliferang der Werke Arcangelo Coe: Catalogue rason- nn, Cologne, Arno Volk Verlag, 1980. "A. Consus, Sonate a violin [.) oisitme edition ou fom a join er agréemens des adaio de agua compo ar Mr A Cre. comme i es oe, sera, Eeae Rapes, tir), TRISM C3812; Catalogue Resoné 11 2 Ip, XII Sonat's or soe’ fra violin, «bas wiolin or bapscord compos by Arcangelo Corel, ‘is fifths pers, London, Joho Walsh & John Hare, (1711, (RISM C3816, Catalogue Raioné 14, ile age. 5B, Ausor, Arcangelo Corll: New Orpheus of Our Times, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1999, p. 135. The it eltion of Op. V refered to ere is Sonate walino e violne ocbao, Rome, Gasparo Pica Sana, 1700. + cThose who are curious to see M. Coreli’s original together wit his letters written on tis subjeec may view them atthe Roger establishment». The full entry in the Roger catalogue reads 2 follows: «40. Corel Opera Quinta, noweleeition gravée du méove Format que les qutte pre Imiersouvrages de Corel, avec ls agréments marquez pour ls Adagio, comme Mr. Corll veutPETER WALLS disbelief came from Roger North: «vpon the bare view of the print any one would wonder how so much vermin could creep into the works of such a mas- ter. [.-] Judicious architects abominate any thing of imbroidery upon a struc- ture that is to appear great, and trifling about an harmonious composition is no less absurd>.® Like most, I have long been fascinated by the Roger graces as a model for embellishing Italianate Adagio movements in general and Corelli in particular. In this essay I have tried to develop a stronger sense of how large (or other- wise) the graced editions loomed in 18'"-century musicians’ imaginations in the hope that this would help explain the contemporary resistance to accept- ing their authenticity or value ~ a resistance that is so at odds with our own age's apparent enthusiasm. I should stress that this is about trying to under- stand 18%-century attitudes to Corelli. It will not, unfortunately, bring us any nearer to verifying Roger's claims in respect of the Adagios to have known «chow he plays them» («comme il les joue>) or how he wanted us to play them («comme Mr Corelli veut qu’on les joue>). ‘The image of Corelli spontaneously elaborating his slow movements goes hand in hand with that of the artist transported into another world evoked by Frangois Raguenet (and explicitly identified with Corelli by Raguenet’s Eng- lish translator): [a] the Imagination, the Senses, the Soul, and the Body itself are all betray'd into a genetal Transport. [..] The Artist himself, whilst he is performing it, is seiz’d with an unavoidable Agony, he tortures his Violin, he racks his Body; he is no longer Master of himself, but is agitated like one possest with an irresistable Motion.* Neal Zaslaw reminds us that this is, in fact, a fopas applied to one musi- cian after another through history and that there is «another fopos that could be documented; Arcangelo Corelli as archangel.” In other words, opposed to the image of the possessed spirit is that of the dignified classicist who under- stands form, harmony, counterpoint, and beauty. (te) CCORELLI IN 18°. CENTURY EDITIONS OF OPUS V Fig, Tile peo Ope git de Aree Corl a, Choe Massard dela Tour, Something similar ~ though less elegant — was going on in England. The first John Walsh edition, which was advertised for sale in August 1700, copies both the principal and secondary ttle pages and the dedicatory letter from the otiginal edition. Walsh’s principal «Parte Prima» title page is a messy imita- tion of Pietra Santa’s careful engraving with a tell-tale English ‘h’ in the given names of both Corelli and his dedicatee (Fig. 2).!* When Walsh reissued this edition in 1701, he added the Meloni frontispiece copied (very exactly) by PP. Bouche. This plate was then adapted as the title page to William To- pham’s Six Sonatas or Solos, for the Flute (1701).'* As with the Massard edi- ttes with «Sonata Prima» cs incading the quinly-speled «Sonate Secunde, .} Dice» fete tdelecnes Med devel ills tou Cts cg i alin oT he 0 Se con mpd ae, te ot, QUsMt C3800, See WC, Sams, Boga of he Mad Works Pld by Jobe abd Burt eas 499120 Londen The Bopp Seay, Toa pp G31PETER WALLS PARTE PRIMA SONATE A VIOLINO E VIOLONE. - O CIMBALO | DEDICATE ALL, ALTEZZA SERENISSIMA FLECTORALE: DI SOFIA CHARLOTTA ELECTRICE DIBRANDENBURGO, ‘PRINCIPESSA DI BRUNSWICIL ET LUNEBURGO, EDL NAGDEHURGO,CLYVES,GIULIERS, BERGA, STETINO, POMERA- MIACASSUDIAE DEVANDALI IN SILESIA,C ROSSENDI 'SSA DIALHERSTATT, MINDEN, Fig, 2~ Title page to Sonate a vilino ¢violoneo cimbalo da Archangelo Corelli (London, John Wash, (1700). tion, Walsh’s publication communicates something of the prestige of the frst edition of these long-awaited Corelli sonatas. Estienne Roger’s first edition (advertised about the same time as the ‘Walsh) shares the oblong quarto format and the exact pagination. The sense of prestige this time is communicated most strongly in the dedication to «Monsieur Jacob Klein, Famous Dancing Master of Amsterdam. («{...] In fact, Sir, I believed that the work of someone so distinguished in music as M, Corelli would be very suitable for someone as distinguished in dancing as you arex).1° and 21 (a. 0), and Plate 6, Tam grateful w Dr Richard Hadi for drawing my attention to Wali's te ofthe Bouche engraving "s «Monsieur Ayant toujours cherché Vocesion de pouvoir vou marqur Festime que fay pour yeste personne Te cingugme ouvrage de Monica Corll ul went de parse mince # ‘ous i exmoignerpubliquement. Ea eft Monsieur ay cre qu'un ouvrage dun bomme sus dix Ting dan a Musique que Test Monsieur Carli, powoit tees bien convene 2 un homame aus di- ting dans la Dane qoe vous Testes [Jo ‘CORELLI IN 18%.CENTURY EDITIONS OF OPUS V Roger's «second edition» followed in 1708. The «third» edition — the one with the agréments for the adagio movements ~ followed hard on the heels of Pierre Mortier’s «new» edition that he claimed to have been «put in better order and corrected of a large number of mistakes»..” Roger was clearly on to a good thing. The graced «third edition» of Op. V was quickly pirated by John Walsh (as already noted) and by Mortier (who had the audacity to call his the «4"* edition [...] [which is] more correct than its predecessors»).!® Roger's (graced) edition was reissued by his son-in-law (with a Roger & Le Cane imprint) about 1723, But that is the last we see of the «agréments (..] composed by Mr. A. Corelli as he plays them». Roger kept the unoramented Op. V in print. His 1712 Catalogue adver- tised an edition that was «quite newly corrected with ultimate exactness with- out having left in any mistakes in the figuring of the bass line, engraved in score but without the embellishments». This edition reappeared with the Ro- ger & Le Cine imprint c1723 (and was advertised in exactly the same terms in Le Céne’s 1737 Catalogue).*! These two catalogues (1712 and 1737) offered ‘customers the choice between two different editions of Op. V ~ one «sans» the other «avec les agrémens».2? ‘A new English strand of Op. V editions seems to have begun about the same time as, or very shortly after, the Roger/Walsh decorated versions. These are publications with an engraved portrait of Corelli as a frontispiece. This story, however, does not start with Op. V. The John Walsh and John Hare "7 Te my knowledge this isthe firs edition to number the vaitions in the Fall '8 See Catalogue ratsonné 12 (RISM C 3815). «Quatre Edition (..] Cete Edition est pls CCorrecte que les précélentesm. It was an tis edition that Chrysander based his Joachim and CA sander ‘urtext edition of 1890. "8 c1716 Roger published an edition of the Sonate «vioino e violoneo cimbao in pats «ou lon a grave la Base & le Dessus chacun a Part pour la Commodité de ceux qui jouent de la Viole de Gambe ou de la Basse. Rudolph Rasch pointed out 19 me that this edition was produced as a com: ion ro Rogers edn in pas of Opp. L1V pom ofacnte purchaser binding al te fing Violin and violone parts togetber). In Chapter 4 («What's the Score?) of Histor, Imapintion and the Performance of Music, Woodbridge, Boydell, 2003, I consider the relationship berween publics tion format and actual we in performance inthis repertory. Male, Ths ve rab ih ae wh ge ction 1708, Sx Cope and? (RISM C 3808), described inthe Roger Catalogue of 1712 a8 «Corelli opera Quinta, tout nouvellement avec Te derniere tans méme y avoir Inissésucanes faites de chilies dans la Basse continue, gravée en partion mais san ls agréments>. 2 See Catalogue rixonné 23 (RISM C 3808), 7 Compare the entries 22 and 23 in the Catalogue raisonnéPETER WALLS edition of the Op. I Sonate a ire included (as the advertisement in the Post ‘Man put it) «(..] the Author’s Effigies from a copper plate». At the foot of this engraving the information is given that «H. Howard pinx. W. Sherwin sculp».* In other words, the engraver William Sherwin has worked from the painting of Corelli by Hugh Howard, an Irish portrait painter who had gone with the Duke of Pembroke to Italy in 1696. There, according to Sir John Hawkins, he was commissioned by Lord Edgcumbe (who was studying with Corelli) to paint a portrait of his illustrious teacher. Since Howard returned to England in 1700, he must have completed his original portrait somewhere be- tween 1697 and 1699, though he went on to paint two other versions of the picture (one of them, at leas, after he had left Italy) 25 Of these three versions, two depict Corelli from the waist up and holding a music manuscript, and this image was beautifully copied in a mezzotint by John Smith (Fig. 3) that bears the inscription “H. Howard ad vivum pinxit...” (“Hugh Howard painted from life”). Smith's mezzotint was in turn copied by William Sherwin and then by various other engravers."* As Marx points out, the music in Corell’s hhand transforms a portrait pure and simple into a genre piece: Corelli as mu- sician, like Haussman’s portrait of Bach or Hudson's of Handel.” ‘We might note here ~ as others have observed before ~ that the Howard portrait depicts a sophisticated 18"-century gentleman of noble bearing and a rather serene (I hesitate to say angelic) expression. The versions that have mu- sic in the hand of the composer, reinforce the sense that this is a representa- tion of a leamed musician, while a Latin epigraph at the foot of the Smith mezzotint (and repeated by William Sherwin) feeds in another persistent to- 2 Catalogue raisonné, p. 6. 24 This engraving is reproduced as Plate 2 in P, ALso®, Arcangelo Corel 2 "The National Port Gallery in London geste following informason about Howard's por tes of Covell “af kegth portal by Hugh Howard inthe calleeson of the National Galery of re {and Dubls ace 90,779 petal copy of the porta by Carlo Marat formerly inthe colton of the Earl of Mount Egcabe, Orbe versons in collections of te Royal Calle of Masi, London, he Royal Sosy of Muscans, Landon, and te Fauly of Msi, Oxford”: Seep pg.ong kl lieimellonsmth3 ap. The Oxford Ma Faculty version of the Hovard pot he only version that iS wid Kn win the mscological community) reproduced a the ronspiece wo the Catalogue ‘some. Since comping te present ey, Thave writen an ate (tobe published in Ent Mane SV, n 3; November, 2007 examining te relationship benween the three Floward portraits and in parca, pining othe musa iificinesof the Naonl Galley of Irland version 2 The Orford Music Faeuly version i ¢chestup porcait and lacs the music manuscript. “The National Porat Gallery in London ists Jeatios ofthe John Smith mezztint on is webte isc note 25 above. {The EG, Hausman and Thomas Hudson examples ae given by Marx (Catalogue uzonn . 61), bur the genre wes well esablched by Corlis ie and numerous cali: instances could be ied ‘The self porta of Nicholas Lanier ~ alo inthe Oxford Music Faulty ~ is just one of many. CCORELLI IN 18. CENTURY EDITIONS OF OPUS V REANEONS (DREZE le é Fig, 3 — Arcangelo Corelli: mezzotint by John Smith after Hugh Howard.PETER WALLS pos — that of Corelli as Orpheus incarnate in modern times (a conceit that seems to have begun with Angelo Berardi in 1689): ‘We believe now that Orpheus has departed the abode of the Underworld and dwells on Earth in this shape and form: the divine Orpheus himself is open to view, so long as under his worthy authority a Briton skilfully composes modes or strikes the strings, and allows him every praise and his well-deserved honouts.”® Orpheus, asa classical deity, is a kind of first cousin to the archangel that Co- relli was inevitably compared to (thanks to his parents’ preference in Christian names). Both conceits imply an apotheosis (an idea that was further devel- oped by Frangois Couperin in Le Parnasse, ou Vapothéose de Corelli Pats, 1724). None of this sits very easily with the distorted countenance and rolling eyeballs that Raguenet and his translator claimed to have encountered. This portrait - complete with music manuscript — enters the Op. V pub- lishing history with Richard Meares’ 1712 edition.” This volume features a differently engraved copy of the Corelli-as-musician portrait that this time is credited to T. Cole. (A miniature and unintentionally comic version of this engraving appears in a lozenge at the top of the edition’s title page.) ‘The Meares edition had considerable currency. It was reissued by Benja- min Cooke in c1735, John Johnson c1754, and Preston & Son towards the end of the 18" century, All of these publications use the same plates. They even retain the telltale misspellings on the title page («Violono» and «Co- relle») and all conclude with an acknowledgement that «the Whole [was] En- graven by T: Cross» (Fig. 4). In 1740 Walsh brought out an edition of Corelli's XII Solos for a violin. This edition also carries a copy of the Howard portrait (plus music), this time engraved by a Mr van de Gucht (presumably Gerard Vandergucht) - a plate that first appeared in Walsh’s Score of the Four Operas, Containing 48 Sonatas Compos'd by Arcangelo Corelli Van de Gucht’s Corelli looks to the right 2 “Liguis Infemas, iam Credimus Orphea Sedes | Et eras habia, bus sub imagine for ne Dis pats pos Orpen dan oman Sgn Ane motor fg vel ore mle ttramgue | Agnes Late inetsgue Baranns honors” Tanition by Bete Gaisford, Wie tori Uniertyof Wellington. For Berd se Alison, Arcrgeo Coral, p.40- 1 Sonate a Vielin Vilonoo Cinbalo da Arcangelo Corl da Fusgnono, London, ichard Meares, 1712, (RISM C3823; Catalogue nasonné 16) 9° XII Sole for lin with «thorough bus for the bars o ilo, 2 GB Ll 39. b The Score ofthe Four Opes, Containing #8 Sonatas Compos'd by Arcangelo CCORELLL IN 18. CENTURY EDITIONS OF OPUS V SONATE # =< | GA7: Cy 1 | a Tulno chino olinta Y | DA ‘ARCANGELO CORELLE: DA ape fe 5 Tufignano OPERA 2VINTA Sur te. Trim, Grind for and Sold by Benjamin Cooke, at the Golden Glasp-in Nor flreet.fovent Garden aire ee ree cf a r 2 Fig. 4 ~ Sonate a Violino e, Violono 0 Cimbalo da Arcangelo Corelli da Fusignano (London, Benjamin Cooke, 1735)PETER WALLS and has the music in his right hand ~ suggesting that this engraving may have been copied from Cole’s (since it must derive not just from a left-looking ‘model but from one that has Corelli holding music). The 1740 Walsh edition hhas a note on the title page saying that «these solos are printed from a curious dition publish’d at Rome by the author». This might be read as a claim for reasserting the importance of an Urtext version over his own interpretative edition (with embellishments), The editions with the Howard-derived frontispiece are interesting; they project an image of elegance and learning. Meares went into the market with an Op. V devoid of graces very shortly after the 1711 Walsh graced edition. ‘And Walsh’s response indicates that he was not prepared to miss out on any traction that his competitors might have gained from this approach, In the later 18" century, what I described earlier as a third category (or sub-category of the ‘archangel’ fopos) comes more sharply into focus. Corel was regarded as the master who had laid the foundations for really polished violin playing and who, a century after his heyday, was still capable of provid- ing students with the basis of a sound violin technique and an understanding of the best practice in relation to figured bass, harmony, and compositional structure. This view of Corelli had always been there, of course. The expecta- tion that he had (or claimed) authority in compositional matters underlies the rather squalid debate over parallel fifths with the Bolognese Accademia in the late 1680s. Iti, however, explicit in the editions that appeared in Naples and Venice in the 1790s. The following statement appears at the foot of the title page of Antonio Zatta and sons’ Venetian edition of c1790: The above sonatas are the most famous and renowned among such as have been. brought into the light for being very useful and necessary for forming a perfect per- former whether it be on the harpsichord, violin, violoncello, or double bass. It is for such a purpose that they were composed by that famous author and then adopted as essential by ll the nations of Europe, acclaiming Corelli with one voice and with im- partial justness as the Master of Masters.>2 or or Vin on as NB. The it nd Ted Opes ig Congo Vel and sea Bass, a the Variation being but little, they are put on the same Steve for the (ponte ay odin “These Compositions es they ae now Printed in Scr, ae of get adoantge to all Students and Practitioners in Musick, they alio make compleat Lessons for the Harpsichord. The whole Revis'd and Cony Coneced by De. Pepa 1 Le Sone suddte sono le pit celeb ernamate fia quntecmmparvero for ala ice, per ete sine, ener forma un peo Soooatore nto Conbal, ced Visio, CCORELLL IN 18°.CENTURY EDITIONS OF OPUS V Something of the same impulse seems to lie behind Clementi’s New Edition of Corell’s Twelve Solos [..] to which a simple method is adopted for failtating the reading of the tenor clef: ‘The Archangel and the Perfect Pedagogue fopoi seem to come together in the extended preface that Jean-Baptiste Cartier attached to his «Quinziéme Edition» published 1800." Cartier’s perspective is unashamedly evolutionary (seeing Pierre Gaviniés as a worthy bearer of the mantle handed down from Corelli. Here are just a few sentences: Coreli appeared and his genius discovered in the violin all the resources that the art could draw from it, assigned to it for all time the place that it has kept, that is to say, the first place. Its he who learned the true position of the hand and the manner ‘of using the bow with dexterity and grace. Ic is he who founded the fist school ofthe violin from which emerged the Tartinis, Locatellis, Geminianis, Somis, and folowing them the famous artists of our times [...] Corelli has not only promoted the art of performance, but has further contribu- ted much to the perfection of composition. ‘His brilliance’, says a noteworthy writer, “his knowledge, his taste are such that his discoveries have assured him a place forever ‘among the most distinguished geniuses that have influenced the progress of his art. His fame has no boundaries. Several theoretical writers have drawn from his music as from an overflowing spring, and they have taken from it examples that they have always acknowledged as his’. In fact, what could be greater, broader and at the same time more natural than his Adagios; what more coherent or more tasteful [senti?] than his Fugues; what more naive than his Gigues! It is hard to know what to admire more - the natural movement of his bass lines, or the purity of his style, or the order- liness of his modulations, or the beauty and simplicity of his motifs! (...] If the num- ‘ber of editions of a work demonstrate its worth, then the excellence of this opus ‘would be demonstrated, since this is the fifteenth (..1°° Viton, Contabbass [se Atle ppt fuono compose dl deo celcbre Awore, «come Teccunie dl dato studio ada da tute Nasion& Earopa,chiamando ad una woce Cre Masa de ac con parle pst. 3 Landoo, 800 (RISM C3840) 34 XI Sonate Violon seal et Base, par Arcangelo Corel da asionano, OucoreV. Quinceme Eton. Par. Cater Aut dea Dison dos Eke de Vilo De AP. Ca ° Cel par eon gee ai dcouran tots eszources que Tat pout en tit, gnc amas la place ll conserve dep puoi ls nstrumens de manque ete a promi, Cost ll ula cas ls vesiabl pasion dela main el mane de weer de chet Tec desir et ase prace, cet lula ones premiere (sel Ecole da von de ct école sont sont ls Tarn, es Local ks Golan, es Sorc pat utes ches artes de wos our fl Corelli 2, non seulement servi l'art d’éxécuter, mais encore contribué beaucoup au perfection- rnemeot dea comport, Son gi, tun aster enable, scence, som got nl que x = avers ont sur ajamais une place des pus diinguees ar sgn gon i sur les prot de son arts enommée tp Je bore; piers aut theorgues om pus dans stPETER WALLS ‘Adagios that are «broad» and «natural», a style that is «pure», and motifs that are beautiful in their simplicity: none of this seems to recognize that the art of spontaneous embellishment might be one of Corelli's remarkable virtues. ‘This was written at the dawn of the 19% century, but it gives eloquent voice to a view that has some continuity right through the 18" century, True, the anti-ornamentation strand in the publishing history is largely non-Italian (associated with publishers in England, Holland, and France), but then so too is the evidence of written-out embellishment for Corelli so- natas, Moreover, as far as printed sources are concerned, the emphasis on embellishment is also relatively short-lived, surfacing around 1705 and effee- tively disappearing by about 1716 (with the reprints of the 1710 Roger edi- tion). ‘Alongside this we should give due weight to the initial scepticism, the con- temporary and explicit maintenance of alternative editions «sans agréments», and the general predominance of editions that present a more serene view of the composer ot, atleast, of editions that ignore the possibility of transform- ing the violin line in the Adagios into something more elaborate. The images of Corelli explored here (archangel, pedagogue, and pos- sessed spirit) are all supported in parallel strands of external fact and anec- dote. Here, I want to focus on some of that as it relates to the anti-embellish- ment view. First, Charles Bumey’s reporting what an English traveller had told him about the annual Corelli memorial services held in the Pantheon: During many years aftr his decease, there was a kind of commemoration of this admirable musician in the Pantheon, by a solemn service, consisting of pieces selected from his own works, and performed by a numerous band, on the anniversary of his funeral, A solemnity which continued as long as his immediate scholars survived, 10 conduct and perform in it. The late Mr. Wiseman, who arrived at Rome before the discontinuance of this laudable custom, assured me that his works used to be per- musique comme dans une source abondante, et en ont rapporé des exemple qu’ls ont toujours mca del Blt, de pl ru ha a pe ee de pi nr ‘que ses Agadio! quot de plus svt et de mieux sent que ses Fugues! quoi de plus naif qu ses Giguet! ‘on ne sat ce qu'on doit admirer le pls ou de le marche naturelle et savante de ses basses, ou de rete de son syle, on de la regularté de ses modulations, ou de la beauté et de la simplicté de ses Frotifs! Mais je mvarréte et me contente de renvoyer le lecteur & Touvrage ui-méme, avec d'aucant plus de raison que je sense mon insuffisance pour exprimer ce que éprouve d'admiration pour es belles productions. Sle nombre d’édiions d'un ouvrage prouvoit se bonté, excellence de ce- Thct serait démontée, car vic la quinziéme (J ‘CORELLI IN 18°. CENTURY EDITIONS OF OPUS v formed on this occasion, in a slow, firm, and distinct 7 hs n tinct manner, just as they were writ- teo, without changing the passages i the way of embellishment. And thi, i i tbls was the way in which Corl hie coed to ay thea ne PO Burney (or perhaps Wiseman) seems committed to the idea th i him- sel, and certiny Corali's students, would have played without cbeliah ment. He goes on, in fact, as to attribute i 2 works to the fact of their unembellished aoa See Sir John Hawkins repeats the Pantheon anecdote.>* But Hawkins also narrates another about a supposed encounter between Corelli and Nicolas ‘Adam Strunck. This story would have Corelli participating in the construction of the idea that, as an artist, he exhibited the qualities implied by his given name, Arcangelo, After demonstrating his considerable prowess on the harp- sichord, Strunck 7 took up the violin, and began to touch it in a very careless manner, upon which rel remarked that he hada very ood bowhand, and wanted nothing but baat become a master of the instrument; at this instant Strunck put the violin out of tune, and, applying it to its place, played on it with such dexterity [..] that Corelli cried out in broken German, ‘Tam called Arcangelo, a name that in the language of my country signifies an Archangel; but let me tell you, that you, Sir, are an Arch-devil’ 2? If, as Hawkins asserts, the Strunck story starts with Walther it f . must have ori- ginated about 1730. And it persisted: Frangois Fayolle repeats it in 1810 where it is preceded by yet another elegant engraving of the composer: In conclusion: there were parallel and opposing tradit and opposing traditions of performan in the 18" century. Nowadays the options seem to have narrowed. Few von % C. Bower, A General Histor of Masi rom the Eanes Azs nt by F Meret Loon GF 155 Now Yor, Done, oT ep 2 ‘The painness and simplicity of Corel have given longer to his works, which can always t= mln ns ye Ses oot a WD ces istry of tbe Science and Practice of Music z sure reer eat een nt stant. The dominant impresion that is given by Hats’ secount of Corll ina 19 ime hoh Hevne makes pec treo he enapenel oloom od i they provoked, and mentions the Raguenet description of Corel, scenes sep Geel Hioy p.676,Thrs pts ooo be xr ea snr neon ts er gel and det wi perce a taking lace ot more o es these ne Fans © PJM, Favouts, Notices sur Corll, Tarn, neni MEAG Nate er Con, Tein, Gavi, Pagan et Voi Pais, ImpineiPETER WALLS linists claiming to be historically informed would have the nerve to play the Adagios unadorned — yet it is clear that a fair proportion of 18""-century mu. sicians concluded that that was exactly the tight thing to do. The fact that we seem to have so privileged one strand in performance history over others brings me (somewhat reluctantly) to acknowledge the strength of Richard ‘Taruskin’s argument that HIP is a modernist phenomenon in which we em- brace performance features that chime with our own preconceptions and pre- ferences wl noringotes.Tn «The Modem Sound of Early Music» Tar. writes Lu] as we are all secretly aware, what we call historical performance is the sound of now, not then, It detives its authenticity not from its historical verisimiliude, but from its being for better or worse a true mirror of late-twentieth-century taste, [.] So forget history. What Early Music has been doing is busily remaking the music of the past in the image of the present (necessary because we unfortunately have solitle use for the actual music ofthe presen), ony alin the present by some other name Let's hope that’s not the case. Interestingly, Taruskin is complaining here about what he saw as an unhistorical reluctance on the part of early music performers to improvise. It could surely be argued that improvising (or ap- pearing to improvise, which is pretty much the same thing) would have of fended more listeners in the 18 century than playing Corelli's Adagios uns- domed. As so often, history does not prescribe. It teases us with possibilities. But to performers with open minds, that might well translate into an expand- ing range of ways in which being historicaly-informed has the potential to st malate the imagination. 4 R Tamusen, Tex and Act, New York & Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1995, pp. 16 and 162. This chapter originally appeared in 1990 a 8 Now York Times ancl CCORELLE IN 18.CENTURY EDITIONS OF OPUS V Discussione PrpEmNo: A proposito della questione della preferenza pet la versione non orna- rmentata degli Adagi. Noi ovviamente non sappiamo come Corelli suonasse questi ‘Adagi: non ci sono rimaste testimonianze purtroppo. Riallacciandomi anche a que- stioni di origine estetica e culturale che sono state toccate ieri, osservo che un tipo ‘di musica arrcchita di abbellimenti era un tipo di musica che non doveva rientrare nelle estetiche dell’ Arcadia. Essa infatti si pone contro quegli eccessi che in Italia ven- igono definiti generalmente ‘barocchism, naturalmente in campo letterario in prima Sstanza e stotico-aristico in seconda istanza. Possiamo assumere che i musicisti, so- prattutto quelli pid colt, aderissero a questo tipo di istanze e se questo @ vero, pos- siamo immaginate relativamente alle grammatiche musicali, che Vornamentazione po- tesse essere un elemento di esuberanza ‘barocchistica’ non gradita agli ambienti arcadici romani, Solo sulla base di questo posso immaginare che Corelli potesse ese- ‘guire i suoi splendid Adagi senza bisogno di sedurre Pascoltatore con Varrcchimento delPabbellimento. Le edizioni citate sono tutte dell’Europa del Nord, sono tutte di ‘epoche pienamente settecentesche, dunque sono tutte di epoche sostanzialmente “lassicistiche”. Allora a me pare che si possa fare un collegamento tra le prassi edi- torial ed esecutive da un lato, e dall'altr, a lvello di estetica e di cultura, col concetto generale di “classcismo”, concetto che comunque # familiare anche alltalia dell epo- ca arcadica, Questo atteggiamento qui segnalato della preferenza di Adagi non orna- rmentati mi pare di poterlo definire un atteggiamento esteticamente “classcistico”; cd lascia supporre che anche a Roma ci fosse questa tendenza ~ chia che proprio que- sto sia stato uno dei motivi per cui Corelli veniva cos! apprezzato — in contrapposi- zione ai sicuramente numerosi strumentisti meno capaci di sedurre il pubblico con Ja composizione, ma soprattutto con l'esecuzione particolarmente brillante. Secondo questa prospettiva, Corelli sembrerebbe dunque assumere la posizione di un “pre- classico” per aver preferito in prima istanza pli Adagi non omamentati come alcune, se non molte, edizioni posteriori sembrano dimostrare. ‘Warts: One of the things that struck me about your paper yesterday isthe way it chimed with the Roger North comment: it does actually suggest an association be- tween not decorating things in the extreme and a kind of classical appreciation. So, I think that kind of aesthetic link is there. All was realy trying to doin this paper ‘was to understand the resistance to those things, not to deny the whole performing tradition that is quite obviously there in performing Corelli, So 1 am very interested in ‘what you had to say about that kind of aesthetic ambience and the way it explains a kind of resistance to it. Something else I found interesting is this: I was given the assignment of writing the Ttalian section of the omaments article for the revised New Grove, and the frst thing I came up agninst is what I describe asa policy of reticence, Actually the Italian aesthetic seems to have been that itis wrong to start spelling ornamentation out. IfPETER WALLS you need it spelled out then you shouldn’t be in this business. This means within the editing tradition that having unembellshed adagios would not necessarily mean, in Italy anyway, that you expect them to be played in that way. However, I do think in the English tradition, as it goes on, that there is the implication of unembellished playing, particularly when you get these funny anecdotes being enshrined in literature that are very much against embellishment. ‘AutsoP: I'd like to say that my reading is that Roger North was not against gra- cing, but against the writing out of gracing. He is quite clear when he says that itis the hardest thing to pen the manner of artificial gracing. That is what he was against, Concerning continuo accompaniment, there is important evidence about the lack ‘of such accompaniment in seventeenth-century Italian instrumental music that I came across in my most recent work on Giovanni Battista Buonamente. I argue conclu- sively in my Buonamente book that al the surviving works of Buonamente were writ- ten for the Viennese court and probably for specific performance. They are for ‘gam- ba’ not for ‘cello’ and they are unaccompanied, that is without continuo. Ina letter of 1627, Buonamente wrote to his patron, the Prince of Guastalla, Cesare Gonzaga, that he was enclosing two sonatas, one on the Romanesoa and the other on La Scatola. Then he says: “Sometime later I am going to sit down and write a keyboard part for them, but at the moment, please, play them unaccompanied, which is how T in- tend them”, And he adds: “the keyboard part will add greater harmony”. That tells you the exact relationship between unaccompanied performance and the keyboard part presume that they are the two works that are included in Buonamente’s 1637 set, which was published when he was in Assisi. And yet, the keyboard part was never printed. Now, it is almost beyond doubt that Buonamente’s teacher was Salomone Rossi, and Rossi’ trios are some of the only early music that has no keyboard conti- ‘nuo part. Therefore, I believe that there was a tradition, a Mantuan tradition for un- accompanied playing, Tracing this tradition further, I am almost 99% sure that Uc- cellini was pupil of Buonamente, The first surviving collection of Uccelin, his Op. I is remarkable among Italian prints for having no keyboard continuo part, although there isa figured part, which is also a bass part, which is extremely unusual. Uccellini later moved to Modena, so when you see these unaccompanied parts in Modenese composers of the next generation, you see that there might have been the tradition stretching right from Salomone Rossi. Uccelini actually borrows one of Rossi's pieces in his Op. IV. It is very striking, so I am absolutely certain that Buonamente taught Rossi’s music to Uccellini Also when you get Bononcini in Modena, itis so clear in his ari that he included a part for spinetta but in actual fact the bass part is for vio- Jone and they are better played on the violone. So there was already a strong tradition in that area for unaccompanied performance, and that was what Corelli inherited. LINDGREN: The only correction to what Peter said is about the Raguenet’s book. ‘twas published in 1702 and then reprinted in London. And I think it was Stoddard (CORELLI IN 18%.CENTURY EDITIONS OF OPUS V Lincoln who first attributed the translation to Gallia. The reason he did that is be- cause Galliard translated Tosi's 1723 treatise in 1742, which was a long way after 1708/9. And in 1710 there is a biography of the tragedian Thomas Betterton by CChaeles Gildon and there is a comment that says that the notes in the Raguenet «re by Senior Haym. They can only be by Haym because it was somebody who ‘vas in Rome. And these comments about Corelli, whatever it says in the footnotes under Raguenet, were probably written by someone who knew Haym very wel! ‘Wants: This is very interesting. Thank you. ‘Manin: A short question mainly for Peter, but also perhaps other experts of Op. YV-can shed some light here. I recently found a print copy of Op. V in a Spanish ar- chive in the Malaga’s Cathedral in the south of Spain. ‘The first page is the Sonata I (we don’t have the frontispiece, we don’t have preface, we don’t have anything but music). I have compared that with.the facsimile edition of the Rome 1700 edition snd they are absolutely identical. Because I haven't gotten myself very much into the whole technical process of music printing, I don't know whether we can assume that the Malaga copy is one of the copies of the Rome 1700 edition, or whether is it possible that someone got the Rome edition and produced a new edition from it, ex- sctly reproducing the original edition. ‘WALLS: It is quite striking that a number of different newly engraved editions do try to mimic the exact pagination of the original. This is quite interesting because the point came up this morning about how practical (or not practical) the original print is, Tknow from using the facsimile that the original edition is very carefully planned because you can always turn pages in it. The only exception is the Folia, which is of course too long, but even there I think there are only two spots where it woulda’t be feasible to have a tiny pause to turn the page. ‘GanrmaNw: It’s true. Both the Walsh edition and the Roger edition (I have not consulted the French edition) are, what I call, copies. They are copied stave by stave, line by line, measure by measure. They have the same slurs, the same figures. They have everything the same. ‘Mann: It is absolutely identical? GantmaNn: No, because you can distinguish them by their engraving styles. JENSEN: Could it be that the same copperplates were used by Roger in Amster- dam? GarrMann: They were still in Cores estate when he died, 1 See below, p. 476,PETER WALLS Canett: Volevo riprendere il discorso di Franco Piperno con il quale per la volta non mi trovo d’accordo. In realta, 2 verissimo che virtuosismo ed eccessi sicuramenteestranei alo spitito dell Arcadia, perd Vornamentazione deve essere siderata non solo qualcosa “di pit”, cosi come nei secoli successivi ¢ stata conside. rata, ma qualcosa di virtuosstco, in ei il virtuoso siusciva a dimosteare la sua stragn- inaria capaci, Piutosto eral principale veicolo, come documentano i molt tata dellepoca (non solo quelli di Geminiani, ma anche di Tartini, ad esempio), perché Ja musica strumentale potesse avere un significato, Cosi nei primi due trattati di Ge. rminiani sul good taste era semplicemente legato alla espressione, agli affetti. Dun- «que ogni particolare abbellimento in un particolare luogo esprimeva rabbia,timore, etc..Esistono varie interpretazioni di tutto questo. O Geminiani parla fuori dal coro {e questo & sempre possibile), oppure i suoi trattati sono una importante fonte per capire anche nei periodi precedent ilsignificato che i compositori davano alle “gra zie”, cioé agli abbellimenti. Mica TaLsor «FULL OF GRACES»: ANNA MARIA RECEIVES ORNAMENTS FROM THE HANDS OF ANTONIO VIVALDI ‘A written-out improvisation is almost a contradiction in terms. Whatever is truly improvised does not outlive the performance in which it occurs and therefore has no need of a notated state. However, a less strict interpretation of the concept of improvisation can tolerate the existence of a narrow border strip separating the territories of improvised and composed music. Its inhabi- tants are specimens of improvisation fixed in notated form either for didactic purposes or in order to create the aural illusion of improvised performance by aping its mannerisms ~ thus sparing the performer the need to invent music con the spot. In extreme cases, as we know from the examples of Beethoven and Rossini (and the same may have been true, earlier, of J. Bach), writ ten-out embellishment ~ or ‘gracing’, to give it its traditional English name ~ can be used by the composer as a device to pre-empt genuine improvisation and thereby to secure a greater degree of control over the outcome. However, ‘once embellishment enters the realm of notation, it becomes subject to the same ordinary compositional processes as the rest of the music, and by virtue of this ceases to be merely ornamental. Perhaps it was this transformation of the transient and incidental into the permanent and integral to which Johann ‘Adolph Scheibe took greatest exception in his criticism of Bach's style. ‘Most surviving samples of gracing for the violin dating from the earlier part of the eighteenth century occur in manuscripts that did not achieve wide circulation, These passages must have served different purposes, depending on the situation, Some were doubtless written down as reminders for expert players who preferred (as many players still do today) not to construct the whole of an improvisation ex novo. Others were destined for their pupils, in- troducing them not only to the traditional style of such improvisations but 1 JA, Scam, Der entische Musicus, 14 May 1737, pp. 46-47(ICHAEL TALBOT also to technical devices such as the unmeasured tirata that were almost a pe. culiarity of that idiom within Italian music. ‘On two notable occasions, however, improvisational practice as it related, to the art of gracing an adagio for the violin achieved the status of being set down in print and thereby made accessible to the untutored general public, Significantly, both publications appeared in northem Europe, where, since the Italian style was non-indigenous, its techniques of improvised embellish. ‘ment could not so easily be transmitted by informal methods. The first and best-known instance is that of the special edition of Corelli's Op. V violin sonatas (with the plate number 40) brought out in Amsterdam by Estienne Roger in 1710. In this engraved edition the two slow movements of the first six sonatas — those in ‘da chiesa’ style all present their violin parts con two staves: the lower stave gives the violin part in its original, plain form; the upper stave an ornamented version of the same line. Roger had already produced two editions of Coreli’s violin sonatas ~ the earliest in 1701, a year after the original edition had appeared in Rome. He was pethaps induced to bring out this new edition, with its conspicuous ‘added value’, by the price ‘war that was then raging in Amsterdam between himself and Pierre Mortier, whose own edition of Corelli's Op. V had appeared in May 1709. In the advertisement for the ‘graced’ Op. V that appeared in the Amster- damsche Courant on 22 May 1710 the collection was billed (translating from the Dutch) as «Corelli opera guinta with ornaments to show how an adagio should be played that have recently been composed by Corelli for the purpose of publication»? The title page of the edition goes a litle further by claiming that the ornaments represent what Corelli himself played («comme il les joue»). However, the description of the edition in Roger’s catalogues issued during the period 1712-1716 reverts to the more plausible proposition that the ornaments were composed for the benefit of purchasers of the edition rather than as a record of the composer’s own practice. This is followed by an interesting detail: to convince the sceptical, Roger invites his customers to inspect at his shop the originals of the graced versions and his correspon- dence on the subject with the composer: L..1 nouvelle édition gravée [...] avec les agrémens marquez pour les adagio, comme ‘Mr. Corelli veut qu’on les joue, & ceux qui seront curieux de voir original de Mr. Corelli avec ses lettres écrittes [sic] a ce sujet, les peuvent voir chez Estienne Roger. 2 Corel opera quins met maniere hoe men d‘Adagio moe spelen door Corll onangs secon poneert om ged te werden>, Transcribed in F- LESURE, Bibliographic ds edtions musclr publes par Esionne Roger ef Michel. Chals Le Cone (Amsterdam, 16961745), Pat, Heupel, 1999, p48 > Transcribed from the 1716 etalogu in F. Lesuse, op. cit, p. 4 “FULL OF GRACES»: ANNA MARIA RECEIVES ORNAMENTS Until quite recently the authenticity of the embellishments has not been ta- ken seriously by most scholars. However, a series of studies by Rudolf Rasch has provided forceful arguments for tilting the balance of doubt in Corelli's favour. Rasch points out that in 1710 Corelli was still alive and could easily have disputed the claim, damaging Roger's reputation." As Rasch later showed in a revealing article, the fact that firm arrangements were made be- ‘ween Roger and Corelli for the publication of the latter’s Concerti gross, Op. VI, argues for a previously harmonious relationship.® Also, the entrust: ing by Corelli of a new composition (for such one may almost call the em- broidered version) directly to the Amsterdam publisher conforms perfectly to the emerging trend among Italian composers of instrumental music (such as Vivaldi, for his Op. III, and Albinoni, for his Op. VD), which it may even have inaugurated.® To Rasch’s arguments I cai add a couple of my own. The advertisement inviting callers to the shop to verify the evidence for Corelli’s authorship does not have the look of a mere bluff, and the consistency and high quality of the embellished versions bespeaks a master composer. One may hypothesise an origin for the new edition of Corelli's Op. V as follows. Embroiled in his struggle for market share with Mortier, Roger con- ceived a plan that would simultaneously relaunch his publication of this strongly selling work, restore his prestige (damaged by imputations against the elegance and accuracy of his editions) and open up a new niche within the market: that of violinists, professional as well as amateur, who wished to lea the craft of embellishment alfitaliana but had no opportunity to do so save through the study of notated examples. He wrote to Corelli, asking for sample embellishments for the slow movements. Corelli was willing to ob- lige, terms were agreed, and the result we know. Example 1, the first twelve bars of the second Adagio of the third of Co- rell’s ‘solos’, will remind the reader of this refined style. Exactly the same didactic function, albeit with relevance for London in 1762 rather than Amsterdam in 1710, is present in the collection of twelve graced adagios entrusted by the Milan-based violinist Carlo Zuccati to the publisher Adolf Hummel (most likely, a relative of Burghard Hummel and Jo- “©. Rasas, Arcangelo Corel om het jae 170, in De comocende 1700, Deel 3: De hunsen, by A. Kluckhuh, Ureht, Bureau Stuium Generale, 1991, pp. 932: 23, 5 On the publication of Op, VI, sx In, Corli's Contract: Notes on the Publication History of te Concert posi» Opea seta [1714 ebjdocsit van de Koninklhe Verenigng voor Neder landse Mi XLVE, 1996, pp. 83-16. ‘ ta Bs 64 ireangelo CorMICHAEL TALBOT Ex. 1 Cosi in) —~ ooo set hann Julius Hummel, the well-known continental music publishers). The title page says everything: ‘Tue true Metuon of PLAYING / an Adagio / Made Easy by twelve Examples / First, Ina plain Manner with a Bass / Then with all their Graces / Adapted for those who study the / VIOLIN / Composed by / Carlo Zuccati / OF MILAN / Loxbon Printed for é sold by A. Hummell at his Music Shop facing Nassau Street in King Street S Ann’s Soho [1.17 7 Advertisements forthe Method, which was priced at 4silings, appeared inthe Public Ad sere o 8 22 and 2 Mach 172, Te ile pe waned i the example in the Rowe Eibray, Kings College, Cambridge Hummel pistes were Iter acquired by Robert Bremner, ‘tho rested the Method with a new impint FULL OF GRACES»: ANNA MARIA RECEIVES ORNAMENTS Zuccati (1704-1792) was a second-generation member of the Corelli ‘school’, one of his teachers having been the latter’s former pupil Gasparo ‘Visconti. His single published set of violin sonatas (Milan, ca. 1747), to which the lessons learned from study of the graced adagios in the True Method can appropriately be applied, offers in effect supercharged versions of the formu- Jac used for the ‘church’ sonatas in Corelli's Op. V. As Corelli (via Roger) had done, Zuccari presents the ornamented and plain versions on separate staves, at once facilitating comparison between them and aiding co-ordination with the bass. Example 2, the opening of the eleventh adagio, gives a sample. Although, as one would expect, the stile galante has left its mark on both the plain and the graced versions, the extent to which the Corellian inheri- tance remains intact is remarkable. Quite clearly, an unbroken tradition of gracing adagios has successfully been maintained through the decades. The force of this tradition can be demonstrated most convincingly if an intermediate link mid-way between Corelli and Zuccari is inserted. It is the purpose of this paper to provide one from an unexpected source: the violin concertos of Antonio Vivaldi. The chosen example, unparalleled in Vivaldi’s Ex.2. ul wsurviving music on account of the purity and consistency with which it imple- ‘ments the Corellian techniques of improvised (or quasi-improvised) ormamen- tation, reveals an unexpected side to the Venetian composer as well as supply- ing valuable raw material for a comparative study of the graced adagio. FULL OF GRACES»: ANNA MARIA RECEIVES ORNAMENTS, In general, Vivaldi is not especially known either for the ornamental detail in his slow movements or for the opportunities he gives the performer for its insertion, A recent exhaustive study of his slow movements by Rebecca Kan concludes: Unlike Bach, who occasionally took written-out ornamentation to extreme de- grees, Vivaldi adopted a more restrained approach. He chose to conform to the tra- dition of his Italian forbears: the Adagio generally assumed a simple outline, with the odd ‘discretionary embellishment’ inserted intermittently.® This ‘discretionary embellishment’ is what I have elsewhere called, when speaking of Albinoni, by the name of the ‘semi-ornamented” style.® Kan de- scribes Vivaldi very aptly as «speaking, as it were, on the performer's behalf in these brief spurts of quick notes. The ‘restrained approach’ to which she refers arises in large measure from Vivaldi’s fondness for regular patterning, which is evident in melody and accompaniment alike. When a melody is pat- termed in relatively short note-values, it upsets the symmetry to introduce ex- tensive ornamentation, and, besides, the usable gaps between notes are few. When the accompaniment is patterned (a classic instance is the opening of the slow movement of the «Spring» concerto, RV 269), lavish melodic embel- lishment is inadvisable, since it risks disrupting the rhythmic co-ordination between melody and accompaniment and obscuring what may be an interest- ing musical discourse in its own right. As Kan correctly observes, where Vi- valdi frequently does introduce written-out embellishment is in reprises of the main theme, where he prefigures, so to speak, the verinderte Reprisen of early classical instrumental music."® But these examples are already moving out of the orbit of improvisational practice, with which we are concemed here, Te should come as little surprise that the Vivaldian counterpart to the or- namented Corelli adagios comes in a work written for a pupil. This was Anna Maria (ca. 1795/6-1782), the principal violinist at the Ospedale della Pieta in Venice. It was she who took the solo part in concertos from at least the early 1720s up to 1737, when, on promotion to the rank of maestra di coro, she * R. Kan, The Concerto Adagios of Antonio Vieald, unpublished Ph.D. diss, University of Li- verpool, 2002, p. 37. M, TaLuon, Tomato Albinoni: The Venetian Composer and His World, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1990, p. 156, 10 R. Kan, The Concerto Adagis, cit p. 377(MICHAEL TALBOT passed on this responsibility to her colleague Chiara (1718-1796: also known 4s Chiaretta)."" Among the fragments of the repertory of the Pieta that survive in the Conservatorio Statale di Musica «Benedetto Marcello» in Venice is a partbook bearing Anna Maria's name that contains the principal violin part for thirty-one concertos dating approximately from the years 1723-1726. This falls within a period, 1723-1729, when Vivaldi was regularly supplying the Pieti by special contract with two concertos a month, ‘The thirtieth of the parts contained in the volume is for RV 581, a concerto for solo violin and two string orchestras («in due corin), already well known from the autograph score in Turin, where the work is labelled «Con{cerlto in due Cori pler] la S[antissi}ma Assontione di Mfaria] V[ergine]»."* The con- certo appears to have been written originally for the composer to play: a caden- za in the first movement of the Turin source takes the soloist up to g’””, a pitch that only he, i seems, could reach. In the version of the part copied into Anna Maria's partbook this ultrahigh passage disappears, and there are many further changes of detail in the two fast movements (the first preceded by a slow intro- duction). The most extraordinary change comes, however, in the central slow ‘movement. This is cast in Vivaldi’s favourite ‘frame ritornello’ form. The ot- chestra ~ here, a ‘double’ orchestra ~ plays an initial and a concluding ritornel- lo, Sandwiched between them is an extended solo with a simple bassetto ac. companiment that, in the present movement, occupies bars 15-48, In scoring and style this is indistinguishable from a sonata adagio and therefore exactly comparable with the adagios by Corelli and Zuccari already discussed. As it ap- Pears in the Turin score, this movement, a Largo in 3/4 metre, has the charac. ter of a chaconne. Init ‘solo’ portion the bass (on fist violins) moves in regular crotchets, with hints of basso ostinato treatment, while the violin line uses alla Arancese dotted thythms freely and has the ‘patterned’ quality that, at frst sight, would make extensive embellishment an unlikely proposition. When we turn to the partbook, however, we discover that the part has dissolved, from beginning to end, into the kind of tracery familiar from the examples already discussed ~ only, pethaps, with even more fantasy and elaboration, seh For hn ign of Ae Masi eh th ty in New Ge 20, a. Thi pack hoje of etd decinicn nd ais Taso, Ann Ma’ arthook in Muah en den sonecanachen Oped Resoesoron oe bk eee bender et Seo Onin ts Has Seat Be tops eh nit of te wn ea nee 208 7 in which they entered Anna Maria's repertory, ts helimark Venice, Comsevatons Seale Siu ee Meco ets Samet Ets, Godino 4B 8-6 FULL OF GRACES»; ANNA MARIA RECEIVES ORNAMENTS ‘Who was responsible for setting down these arabesques? Unlike some of her fellow figlie di coro, Anna Maria is not known to have been a composer, and this graced version is certainly not the work of an unpractised hand. One can only conclude that, as with the alterations in other movements, this con- version was made by Vivaldi himself. Perhaps the extravagance of the embel- lishment, which occasioned its setting down in notation, was intended to match the festive character of the work, Pethaps the ornamented version ‘was meant to serve as a model for Anna Maria to follow in the future. Either way, the result is something quite unique in Vivald’s oeuvre: a comprehen- sively graced adagio. Example 3 presents the opening of the solo section. To form the example, the ornamented solo line in Anna Maris’s version has been placed above its plain version in the Turin score."* A consideration of the three examples, dating in their finished form from 1710, 1726 and 1760, respectively, will enable us to establish the commonal- ities of the Ttalian tradition (more precisely: the Corellian tradition) of gracing an adagio, as wel as identifying the peculiarities of Vivaldi’s practice belong- ing to his idiolect. Let us first imagine that we had the task of producing, within the frame- work of modern terminology, a set of written guidelines, based on observa- tion, for would-be ‘gracers’ to follow. These might look like thi 1. Construct the solo part as a single line. Do not use chords, ple stopping), and limit severely the use of broken-chord shapes. 2. Retain the original notes as the scaffolding upon which the omamen- tation is erected. Two licences are permitted: (a) to displace individual notes shythmically, and (b) temporarily to exchange a note or short group of notes for one(s) occupying a different position within the same chord. 3. Fill in the gaps between the original notes with shorter note values, moving in a predominantly linear (scalewise) fashion, Such ‘inessential’ notes as passing notes, auxiliary (neighbour) notes and appoggiaturas are the basic ingredients, but these may be mixed, for variety and effect, with changing notes and notes échappées (both of which introduce wider intervals). Slur the groups of shorter notes in order to maximise the legato effect. ic, multi- 14 The solo is transcribed complete in M. TaLpor, Ansa Maria's Parthook, cit, and aso in ©. Founts, Le langage violintique d’Anionio Vivaldi, plague tournante de la virtwosté aw début ‘du XVUIF tide, unpublished Mémoire de Maire, Universit Lumiere Lyon TL, 2002/03, pp. 132 134, As the solo proceeds, is omateness becomes increasingly extravagant, culminating in & cadenza over a pedal-note, The «Anna Maris» version of RV 381 is recorded on WDR CDX 79605 by Giuliano Carmignola (violin) with the Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca.MICHAEL TALBOT “

Potrebbero piacerti anche

• Testo Del Melodramma

  

  Documento17 pagine

  Testo Del Melodramma

  Marco Cosci

  Nessuna valutazione finora
• Casa Editrice Leo S. Olschki S.R.L. Il Saggiatore Musicale

  

  Documento4 pagine

  Casa Editrice Leo S. Olschki S.R.L. Il Saggiatore Musicale

  Marco Cosci

  Nessuna valutazione finora
• Ditzionàriu Universale Rubattu

  

  Documento1.850 pagine

  Ditzionàriu Universale Rubattu

  Marco Cosci

  0% (1)
• • Riviste
  • Podcast
  • Spartito
• Brahmsdoppelpiano

  

  Documento44 pagine

  Brahmsdoppelpiano

  Marco Cosci

  Nessuna valutazione finora
• 7462-Article Text-7339-1-1-20190718 PDF

  

  Documento24 pagine

  7462-Article Text-7339-1-1-20190718 PDF

  Marco Cosci

  Nessuna valutazione finora
• Melo Saggi Traviata

  

  Documento12 pagine

  Melo Saggi Traviata

  Marco Cosci

  Nessuna valutazione finora
• Carmen, La Novella Di Prosper Mérimée - Sempre Libera

  

  Documento7 pagine

  Carmen, La Novella Di Prosper Mérimée - Sempre Libera

  Marco Cosci

  Nessuna valutazione finora
• 7617 23035 2 PB

  

  Documento14 pagine

  7617 23035 2 PB

  Marco Cosci

  Nessuna valutazione finora
• 9451 Articolo 28160 1 10 20171230 PDF

  

  Documento9 pagine

  9451 Articolo 28160 1 10 20171230 PDF

  Marco Cosci

  Nessuna valutazione finora
• Jstor 2

  

  Documento5 pagine

  Jstor 2

  Marco Cosci

  Nessuna valutazione finora
• Scie 31.10.2017 Area10

  

  Documento111 pagine

  Scie 31.10.2017 Area10

  Marco Cosci

  Nessuna valutazione finora