Dedication to Mattheus Lestevenon from Sonatas Op. 1 (1744) Netherlands Music Institute, the Hague
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Dedication to Mattheus Lestevenon from Sonatas Op. 1 (1744) Netherlands Music Institute, The Hague Furor Musicus at the Lutherse Kerk, Hilversum (© Christiaan de Roo) 2 3 PIETER (PETRUS, PIETRO, PETER) HELLENDAAL ROTTERDAM 1721 - CAMBRIDGE 1799 Pieter Hellendaal was born in Rotterdam in 1721. While little is known about his family’s circumstances and background, tax records indicate that the family was not particularly well off. His father, Johan Hellendaal, was registered as being a pastry baker, but he changed his profession to candlemaker when the family moved to Utrecht in 1731, where it was registered under the name of Hellendael. UTRECHT, 1731 -1737 In 1732, at the tender age of ten, Pieter was appointed as organist of the Nicolaïkerk in Utrecht, on condition that his father Johan would assist him. While this suggests that his father was also a musician and may even have been Pieter’s teacher, there is no actual historical evidence to support this surmise. The churchwardens’ resolu- tions include instructions dating from 1732, presumably specially drafted for young Pieter. Besides giving a precise description of the organist’s duties, they also include instructions for the use of the church’s Gerritsz organ. For instance, the smaller the congregation, the fewer stops he was required to use. Despite his youth, Pieter earned the same salary as his predecessor. Nicolaïkerk in Utrecht (drawing Pierre van Liender, 1756) Het Utrechts Archief collection, catalogue number 37465 4 5 His father Johan Hellendaal apparently knew a lot about organs, as he carried is evident from the first edition of the sonatas for violin and continuo opus 1 and out some repair work to the organ in 1732. The receipts show that he regularly the added privilege of 14 February 1744, granting Hellendaal the right to publish fixed ciphers, restored keyboards and had also supplied two new front pipes. The his own music and guaranteeing his intellectual ownership. The sonatas were restoration work carried out by Johan was the prelude to more extensive renova- dedicated to Signor e Signora Lestevenon, Signor da Berkenroode e Stryen. tions intended to considerably improve the instrument’s condition. A statement In the elegant script of the acknowledgements, Hellendaal most respectfully made by Pieter in April 1733 reveals that the organ suffered major damage when dedicated the first fruits of his labour to this benefactor, who had enabled him to a gravedigger attempted to steal tuff stone from the church. In the archives there study the violin under Tartini’s guidance. The scion of a wealthy family, Mattheus is no record of his salary having been paid in that year; presumably he was simply Lestevenon held various major posts in Amsterdam and was town secretary at the unable to carry out his function due to the restoration work and the damage to the time that he supported Hellendaal. Locatelli also dedicated six sonatas to him, so organ. That same year he unsuccessfully applied for the post of organist of the it would seem that Lestevenon was a highly regarded music lover. Marekerk in Leiden. In 1737 Pieter voluntarily resigned from his position in Utrecht, possibly in con- nection with the family moving to Amsterdam. The reasons behind the relocation are unknown; however, this decision was to have a major influence upon Pieter’s musical career. AMSTERDAM AND PADUA, 1737 - 1743(?) Until Pieter’s arrival in Amsterdam there is no mention in historical records of the fact that he also played the violin. It is tempting to assume that Pieter was in contact with Pietro Locatelli, who lived and worked in Amsterdam from 1727 until his death in 1764, but this is purely speculative. We know that Hellendaal studied the violin with Giuseppe Tartini in Padua sometime between 1737 and 1744. This 6 7 GIUSEPPE TARTINI (Pirano (currently Piran, Slovenia) 1692 - Padua 1770) In his day Tartini was one of the most influential violinists in Europe. He was born in 1692 in Pirano, a city that is nowadays part of Slovenia. In his early years he took violin lessons from a certain Giulio di Terni, who was later to study the violin with Tartini, in a reversal of their roles. It is thought that he also studied composi- tion with the Czech composer Bohuslav Cernohorsky. The story goes that Tartini only seriously began to study the violin after hearing Francesco Veracini perform in 1716. He is said to have been so impressed by his violin playing and, above all, by his bowing technique that he left the opera orchestra where he played, shutting himself up in a room, according to Charles Burney, ‘in order to study the use of the bow in more tranquillity, and with more convenience […].’ Between 1728 and 1743 numerous violin sonatas and concertos composed by Tartini were published by Le Cène in Amsterdam; it is possible that Hellendaal become acquainted with Tartini through these publications. Tartini began his school in Padua in about 1727. It was known as the Scuola delle Nazioni (the School of the Nations), as it attracted students from all over Europe. He taught violin and composition; students generally spent about two years studying with him. The Maestro delle Nazioni combined artistry, technical capacity and a systematic approach. Of his many students a number went on to attain great fame, such as Graun, Pugnani and Nardini. Tartini made a point of devoting much care and attention to his teaching: in 1737 he accepted just nine students and thought that even this was more than he could manage. The fact that Hellendaal succeeded in obtaining a place as Tartini’s student is thus cer- Giuseppe Tartini (1692-1770) 8 9 tain proof that he must have been an extraordinary violinist. Tartini’s violin school RETURN TO AMSTERDAM placed great emphasis on expression in the right hand; in his celebrated 1760 It is not known exactly when Hellendaal returned to Amsterdam, however the letter to the violinist Maddalena Lombardini, he advised her that her principal Amsterdamse Courant of 9 November 1743 announced that Hellendaal would give practice and study should be confined to the use of the bow in general, so that a concert in the Herberg de Zon inn in the centre of Amsterdam on Wednesday she would be able to master it in every situation. 13th November. It mentioned that he had taken up residence in the house of the surgeon Paul Prin. This was followed by announcements for a number of concerts Numerous copies of material later known as Tartini’s Regole per arrivare a saper in various inns. These were mostly events featuring a variety of musicians, with ben suonar il Violino spread throughout Europe, in particular the sections on Hellendaal performing in various roles, as illustrated by an advertisement dated ornamentation. These copies were probably based on notes made by Tartini’s February 1744 to ‘all the Music Lovers in Amsterdam: Mr Hellendaal, former students. The first official edition of the sections on ornaments was published in disciple of the great Tartini […] will play the first violin, […] a delightful solo of his France, after Tartini’s death. It was not until 1958 that chapters in the Italian lan- own composition […] and a pastorale by Tartini’ during a concert in the ‘t Wapen guage emerged, found in a collection of 18th-century manuscripts from Tartini’s van Embden inn. In those days the practice of giving public concerts in halls was circle, which was acquired by the University of California, Berkeley. Presumably still in its infancy. Such halls were mostly owned by private societies, who made this was material collected for study purposes, possibly for Tartini’s own school. them available for performances. Often these were society concerts that were only Interestingly, besides numerous anonymous works, many of them on ornamen- open to a private circle of subscribers. tation, this collection contains many compositions by Tartini and his students, including nine copies of sonatas from Hellendaal’s opus 1 and 2. So it seems In the meantime Hellendaal’s father Johan Hellendaal had passed away. According likely that Hellendaal had already composed the sonatas in Padua, especially to the Amsterdam city chronicler Jacob Bicker Raye, he was murdered in 1742, considering that opus 1 and 2 appeared in print relatively soon after he returned while acting as advocate in divorce proceedings on behalf of the wife of a dancing to the Netherlands. master he was acquainted with. In order to silence him, the dancing master arranged for somebody to poison him, in the hope that he would lose his memory as a result. However, this undertaking proved more difficult than expected, and in the ensuing scuffle Johan was murdered with an axe. His already mutilated body was then hacked into pieces and strewn across various canals and gardens. 10 11 In May 1744 Hellendaal married Elisabet Prin, daughter of the above-mentioned that fell vacant, as a lead-up to these positions. He was granted permission to Paul Prin. Five children were born of their marriage, two in the Netherlands (one replace the organist of the Pieterskerk; however, his name does not appear in the died at birth) and three in England. In February 1745 an announcement was salary records, possibly he received no payment for his services. Hellendaal also published, stating that ‘Six Sonate a Violino solo e Basso Opera Prima com- made various other attempts to obtain a fixed post and thus achieve a secure posed by P. Hellendaal are available for purchase at his home in Amsterdam for financial and social position, but to no avail. Newspaper reports from the time the sum of four florins.’ The violin sonatas opus 2 must have been published fairly reveal that Hellendaal continued to give regular performances.