Cello Sonatas

PERICOLI CELLO SONATAS Federico Bracalente cello Nicola Procaccini harpsichord Pasquale Pericoli (2nd half of the 18th century) We know very little about the life of Pasquale Pericoli. There is evidence that Cello Sonatas he was in Sweden between 1752 and 1757, working for a company run by the brothers Angelo and Pietro Mingotti, engaged in producing operas in the theatres of Stockholm. The musicians involved also included the Bolognese composer Francesco Sonata No.1 in B flat Sonata No.4 in F minor Antonio Uttini, and his wife, the singer Rosa Scarlatti, who was the daughter of 1. I. Allegretto 4’04 10. I. Allegretto 4’05 Alessandro Scarlatti’s younger brother, Tommaso. Other biographical hints are to 2. II. Cantabile 5’03 11. II. Siciliana. Cantabile 3’09 be found in the only extant edition of works by Pericoli: the Sonate sei a violoncello 3. III. Spiritoso 3’30 12. III. Allegro 1’39 e basso o sia cembalo (Six Sonatas for cello and harpsichord) that feature in this recording. Published by Lelio Della Volpe in Bologna in 1769, there are two versions Sonata No.2 in C Sonata No.5 in G minor of the volume that differ as regards the frontispiece and the dedication. In one of 4. I. Allegro 2’52 13. I. Allegretto 5’16 them, which bears no dedication, Pericoli declares that he is a “Neapolitan from 5. II. Cantabile 2’01 14. II. Cantabile 3’32 Lecce”, meaning that he was born within the kingdom of Naples. In the other 6. III. Allegretto a modo 15. III. Allegro 2’06 edition there is a dedication to the “Conte di Dietrichstein”, in other words to Karl di Cembalo 2’28 Johann von Dietrichstein-Proskau-Leslie, who happened to be in Italy in 1769 in the Sonata No.6 in A retinue of Emperor Joseph II. It may well be that Dietrichstein and Pericoli had met Sonata No.3 in E flat 16. I. Allegro 3’42 earlier at one of the theatres where the Mingotti company was engaged; possibly in 7. I. Allegretto Cantabile 3’56 17. II. Largo 2’37 Copenhagen, where the two brothers organized a theatre season between 1753 and 8. II. Largo 2’54 18. III. Allegro 2’24 1756, which coincided with the period in which Dietrichstein was also present in the 9. III. Allegro 2’25 city as the Austrian ambassador. From the early years of the 1700s, the cello was particularly popular in Naples, adding considerably to the wealth of instrumental music that has come down to us. Federico Bracalente cello Although this fortunate heritage largely consists Sonatas and Concertos, there are also arias for one or two cellos obbligato in the works of Alessandro Scarlatti and Nicola Procaccini harpsichord Giuseppe Vignola, and in the cantatas of Leonardo Leo and George Frederic Handel. The Neapolitan cello tradition comprises compositions by a wide range of musicians, including Rocco Greco, Francesco Paolo Supriani (or Scipriani), Francesco Alborea (although some doubt surrounds the few works attributed to him, we know from Quantz and Locatelli, among others, that during his own lifetime Alborea was widely admired as a composer and cellist), Leonardo Leo, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi and Nicola Fiorenza. Within this sphere an important role was also played by Domenico differs. Close analysis of the individual movements of the Sonatas also reveals Marzio Carafa, Duke of Maddaloni, who was not only a keen amateur cellist but also unexpected complexity, both as regards the formal structure and the expressive a patron and supporter of the art. Leo explicitly dedicated his Concertos to him, and mood and stance. The first movements always comprise two parts, with modulation Pergolesi, who was chapel master in the nobleman’s household, would clearly have to the dominant or the relative major key in the first part and a return to the main had his patron in mind when composing a Sinfonia for cello. key in the second. Within this framework, however, the great variety of forms is Because Pericoli’s biography is so patchy, it is impossible to establish whether surprising. In Sonatas 1 and 3, for instance, there is no recourse to thematic support or not he was in direct contact with the Neapolitan musical world. Granted, with in the developments pertaining to the definition of key, especially the passage to the the exception of Nicola Fiorenza, the composers mentioned above all belong to the dominant in the first part and the symmetrical return to the tonic in the second. By generation that preceded Pericoli. Yet the latter’s melodic style so clearly reflects contrast, in other Sonatas the subject can also serve, to a greater or lesser degree, as a the tradition of the Neapolitan masters that it seems reasonable to assume that means for underlining harmonic development. he had first hand knowledge of the circles in which they had moved. That said, The second movements tend to be Cantabile, an indication that is specified for four however, Pericoli is always far removed from slavish imitation, to the extent that of the six Sonatas, with cello parts that are almost voice-like in melody. The formal two of his Sonatas (ns. 3 and 5 in the 1769 edition) were long attributed to Luigi characteristics vary, such that the central section may resemble an opera aria, or Boccherini, a hypothesis that has been largely disproved on stylistic and chronological adhere more closely to the true sonata style, as in the case of Sonata 1. grounds. Pericoli handles the cello in a manner that differs considerably from that By the same token, the last movements also embody a wealth of disparate of Boccherini, to add to which the style of the two Sonatas in question is in keeping solutions. Some seem hark back to a period prior to the mid 1700s: the third and fifth with the other four belonging to the same volume. Moreover, the fact that the same Sonata, for example, through the use of counterpoint; or the third movement of the two sonatas also appear in a manuscript compilation of 12 sonatas said to be by fourth Sonata, though not by means of counterpoint, but rather through the handling Boccherini proves little in terms of attribution since the claim of authorship only of melody and structure. In other Sonatas, however, the composer experiments with appears at the beginning of the collection. different forms within the framework of the nascent sonata form. The six Sonatas of the 1769 printed edition all adopt the traditional framework of All in all, Pericoli’s six Sonatas embody a moment of fundamental development three movements, with a slow central section preceded and followed by rapid ones in the history of music: the passage towards what, a decade later, was to become (Allegretto or Allegro). The persistence of this formal structure is counterbalanced the fully-fledged classic style. In these works the distinctive traits of the sonata style by the variety of pitch and tone: each of the six Sonatas is written in a different (the use of subjects to underline the various moments of harmonic development, and key (B flat major, C major, E flat major, F minor, G minor, A major), such that the of diversion through modulation to increase tension before the recapitulation) are keynotes form an ascending scale that links up the individual sonatas in an overall already possible, but not mandatory, since they can coexist with features that belong tonal configuration. The tonal relationships between the movements of the individual to an earlier age of musical expression. In this sense the Sonata n. 4 is emblematic, Sonatas are also very varied: in two cases the slow central movement is in the because its first movement is arguably the most “classic” of all the Sonatas, whereas subdominant key of the first movement, whereas in the other four this relationship the second and third movements definitely hark back to a bygone period: an Aria in the guise of a Siciliana, distinctly reminiscent of Neapolitan music of the previous di musica strumentale, in particolare Sonate e Concerti, mentre arie con uno o due generation (Pergolesi and Leo, first and foremost), and a severe Allegro that is also violoncelli obbligati si ritrovano sia nelle opere di Alessandro Scarlatti e Giuseppe redolent of the early 18th century. Vignola, sia nelle cantate di Leonardo Leo e Georg Friedrich Händel. La letteratura © Mauro Amato violoncellistica napoletana ha come prima testimonianza un filo conduttore che passa Translation by Kate Singleton attraverso le opere di Rocco Greco, Francesco Paolo Supriani (o Scipriani), Francesco Alborea (del quale ci sono rimaste pochissime opere di incerta attribuzione; la sua statura di esecutore e compositore è però unanimemente riportata dalle testimonianze coeve, tra le quali quelle di Quantz e Locatelli), Leonardo Leo, Giovanni Battista Conosciamo molto poco della vita di Pasquale Pericoli. Tra il 1752 e il 1757 egli è Pergolesi e Nicola Fiorenza. Riguardo alle composizioni per violoncello di Leo e segnalato in Svezia, in una compagnia operistica che rappresentò diverse opere nei Pergolesi (i Concerti di Leo e la Sinfonia per violoncello di Pergolesi) va rimarcato il teatri di Stoccolma. La compagnia, i cui impresari erano i fratelli Angelo e Pietro ruolo di Domenico Marzio Carafa, duca di Maddaloni, mecenate e cultore di musica, Mingotti, comprendeva tra gli altri il compositore bolognese Francesco Antonio nonché dilettante di violoncello. I Concerti di Leo sono esplicitamente dedicati al duca Uttini e sua moglie, la cantante Rosa Scarlatti, nipote di Alessandro in quanto figlia di Maddaloni, ma anche la Sinfonia di Pergolesi è chiaramente legata all’esponente del fratello minore di quest’ultimo, Tommaso.

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