ARTEMANDOLINE Giovanni Pietro Sesto Da Trento (18Th Century) ITALIAN BAROQUE SONATA DI MANDOLINO MANDOLIN SONATAS Library of Congress Washington 17
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ITALIAN BAROQUE MANDOLIN SONATAS ARTEMANDOLINE Giovanni Pietro Sesto da Trento (18th century) ITALIAN BAROQUE SONATA DI MANDOLINO MANDOLIN SONATAS Library of Congress Washington 17. Larghetto 1:52 18. Allegro 2:29 Abbate Ranieri Capponi (1680–1744) 19. Larghetto 4:53 SONATA XII 20. Allegro 2:00 Biblioteca del conservatorio di Firenze 1. Largo 2:08 Francesco Piccone (1685–1745) 2. Allegro nobile 2:59 SINFONIA PER LA MANDOLA 3. Fuga 2:05 Biblioteca del Conservatorio di Milano 4. Scherzo pastorale – Allegro moderato 4:13 21. Allegro 2:01 22. Largo 1:53 Niccolò Susier (1679–1766) 23. Giga 0:55 SONATA PER MANDOLA 24. Minuetto 1:27 Library of Congress Washington Tracks 1-20: World premiere recordings / Weltersteinspielungen 5. Adagio 1:15 6. Allegro 1:33 7. Gavotta 2:16 Total Time: 55:40 8. Giga 2:17 ARTEMANDOLINE Nicola Romaldi (1680–1740) Juan Carlos Muñoz, baroque mandolin / Barockmandoline * SONATA PER MANDOLA (solo, T. 1-4, 9-12, 21-24) Collection Santini Diözesanbibliothek Münster Mari Fe Pavón, baroque mandolin / Barockmandoline * 9. Adagio 2:41 (solo, T. 5-8, 13-16, 17-20) 10. Allegro 2:47 11. Largo 1:12 Manuel Muñoz, baroque guitar / Barockgitarre 12. Allegro 1:31 Ulrik Gaston Larsen, theorbo / Theorbe Oleguer Aymamí, cello / Violoncello Abbate Ranieri Capponi Jean-Daniel Haro, double bass & violone / Kontrabass & Violone SONATA VIII Ralf Waldner, organ & harpsichord / Orgel & Cembalo Biblioteca del conservatorio di Firenze * Baroque mandolins by Alfred Woll after Plesber, Milano 1769 13. Largo 2:58 and after Antonio Vinaccia, Napoli 1767 14. Allegro assai 2:00 15. Affettuoso 4:01 16. Allegro assai 2:02 he works that are featured on the present recording were all written respects the composition and to ensure that the continuo is as appropriate as pos- during an extremely fertile period in the history of the mandolin. sible. Our rehearsals were notable for their high degree of experimentation, and Complex and varied, the Baroque age set out to explore new means we were obliged to change some of our choices in order to explore alternative pos- of expression and, first and foremost, novel timbres. The inventive sibilities. The chosen tone colours have not been left to chance since our goal was inquisitiveness of Baroque musicians took them in the direction of to ensure that these sonatas gained in both novelty and freshness. The continuo Tthe subtlest of sonorities, and no sound was more subtle than that of the man- has allowed us to introduce numerous variations in terms of colour through the dolin. This was a time when aesthetic concerns were dominated by research into use of harpsichord, organ, violoncello, theorbo and guitar. The guitar is accom- tone colour and into achieving greater and greater refinement. panied by the organ, producing a ravishing combination that will astonish some listeners with its sheer unusualness. The noun sonata derives from the verb sonare (to sound) and is the opposite of can- tata, from cantare (to sing). The sonata emerged in the course of the seicento as a The term mandola is first found in Florence in 1589 on the occasion of the festiv- new form of music involving various instrumental groupings, including the solo ities marking the marriage of Ferdinando I de’ Medici to Christina of Lorraine. sonata for a melody instrument and continuo and the trio sonata for two treble For this occasion Girolamo Bargagli wrote the intermedio La Pellegrina. The word instruments and continuo. By the second half of the seventeenth century this mandola was equally widely found in Rome and Bologna at the end of seventeenth particular instrumental style was already firmly established thanks to its Italian century. Anyone researching the etymology of the word will find several expla- forebears, whose successors continued to demonstrate their mastery until well nations. In his treatise Del sonare sopra il basso of 1607, Agostino Agazzari explains into the eighteenth century. In selecting the mandolin sonatas to include in the that the word mandola was used to describe a variant of the mandore and of the present release, we were instantly struck by the high quality of their writing and pandora. Similarly, Alessandro Piccinini, writing in his Intavolatura di liuto, which by the variety and sheer celebratory joyousness of these works. They draw their was published in Bologna in 1623, noted that in France the mandolla was a popular vitality from their use of contrasting movements, which are marked by changes instrument but that it was there called the mandore. However, he went on, it was of both character and tempo. one and the selfsame instrument. In an article published under the title of “The Italian Mandolin and Mandola” in Early Music in October 1981, the eminent his- Formally speaking, these mandolin sonatas developed in extraordinarily free torian of plucked string instruments, James Tyler, argues convincingly that the ways. Our voyage takes us through a fissured landscape with points of interest of word mandore means the same as the Italian mandola. greater or lesser duration and contrastive intersections, leaving the listener both astonished and surprised. Sudden changes of metre and improvised passages over To sum up: the mandolin has several different names – leutino, mandola, arman- pedal points offer the performer a chance to engage in a tremendous freedom of dolino or simply mandolino. These terms varied according to individual regions interpretation. The musical figures are explored through the timbral possibili- and even individual composers. Legion were the works written for this family ties that the mandolin has to offer. The frequent recourse to bass motifs in the of instruments: in Florence, the earliest and most illustrious exponents of the form of an ostinato favours a way of playing that is both inspired and creative mandola after 1597 included Matteo Caccini, Carlo Arrigoni, Agnolo Conti, Fer- and similarly showcases the performer’s interpretative skills. The use of tone dinando Conti, Niccolò Susier, Nicola Romaldi, Niccolò Ceccherini and Giovanni colours becomes one of the most powerful means of expression in the performer’s Battista Gigli, while the next two centuries were likewise to bequeath to us a armoury of techniques. In relation to the varied articulatory possibilities, not to large number of concertos and sonatas for mandolin and continuo. mention changes in tempo and nuance, it is possible in music to recreate affects and emotions that performers can represent and interpret, in that way clearing a This is a phenomenon that went hand in hand with developments in instru- direct path to the hearts of their audiences. ment-making at this time, developments associated with the names of Mat- teo Nisle, Lorenzo Filzer and the Ferrari family. A new peak of perfection was These sonatas are compositionally innovative not only by dint of their impressive achieved by instrument makers such as Antonio Stradivari, David Tecchler, power of invention but also by virtue of their metrical proportions and the reg- Giuseppe Presbler, Giovanni Smorsone and Benedetto Gualzatta in Rome and ularity of their accents, which are so well organized that they further underline Cremona, encouraging the publication of numerous sonatas for the mandolin. the structural clarity of the phrases in question: the whole of the musical argu- An inventory of the holdings of the workshop of Gasparo Frei in 1627 lists 250 ment is guided by a permanent concern for variety, for flexibility and for expres- instruments, many of which were mandolins. At the same time, twenty-two sive force combined with the use of tonalities chosen for their great expressive mandolins are itemized in another inventory cataloguing the holdings of Lorenzo power. Through our interpretative choices we aim to achieve a sense of unity that Filzer in Rome. In his drawings of body patterns for the instrument, Stradivari defined the mandola as an instrument with a medium-sized almond-shaped body Filippo Dalla Casa, Ludovico Fontanelli, Giuseppe Vaccari and Antonio Tinazzoli. that was a kind of soprano lute, while a mandolino was the same instrument In Bologna, it was even said that the archlute was a better continuo instrument but with a smaller body. Stradivari’s mandolin designs are currently housed in for accompanying the mandolin. the Stradivari Museum in Cremona. Twelve different models may be found here. Both of the two most influential branches of the Medici family were famous for The mandolin initially had only four courses of double strings, a number pro- their patronage of the arts, a patronage that extended to several different coun- gressively increased to five and then six. They were tuned in thirds and fourths: tries. The city of Florence was at the very heart of much of the western musical g–b–e’–a’–d’’–g’’. These strings are attached to the bridge, which is itself glued tradition. Starting out from the Sinfonie, intermedi e concerti of the brilliant Cris- to the soundboard. This was the instrument that we nowadays know as a man- toforo Malvezzi (1547–97), the mandola went on to feature in numerous other dola and/or mandolino. It could be played either with the fingers like a lute or works, most notably Alessandro Scarlatti’s cantata A la battaglia, pensieri, Anto- with a plectrum made from the feather of a goose, peacock or pheasant. Even nio Caldara’s Cantata pastorale eroica, Malvezzi’s madrigal O qual risplende nube and crow’s feathers and cherry wood were used. The earliest manuscript sources of Johann Adolf Hasse’s opera Achille in Sciro. A highly varied repertory of sonatas works for the mandola were written in Italian tablature and are essentially made for mandolin and continuo and of concertos developed in the capable hands of up of accompaniments for dances performed on a Spanish guitar.