David Schrader the QUINTETS for Harpsichord HARPSICHORD & STRING QUARTET Nos
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Cedille Records CDR 90000 013 FIRST TIME ON COMPACT DISC David Schrader THE QUINTETS FOR Harpsichord HARPSICHORD & STRING QUARTET Nos. 1, 2 & 3 Christopher Verrette & Michael Shelton, violins Peter Slowik, viola John Mark Rozendaal, cello The Keyboard Quintets of Soler Antonio Francisco Javier Jose Soler lation) of 1762, even include a treatise y Ramos was baptized on December on the conversion rates between Cata- 3, 1729. Destined for a career in the lan and Castilian currencies. While the church, in 1736 he entered the choir principles contained in the Llave are school of the great Catalan monas- still recognized as valid, it is well to tery of Montserrat, where he studied note that the modulations were con- with the monastery’s Maestro, Benito sidered radical enough in eighteenth Esteve, and its organist, Benito Valls. century Spain to elicit critical rebut- After becoming Maestro de Capilla, tal, to which Soler himself responded or Music Director, at Lerida circa 1750, with a 1765 tract entitled Satisfacción Soler was ordained to the subdiaconate a los reparos precisos (reply to specific in 1752. He entered the Hieronimite objections). monastery at El Escorial, the large pal- Like Domenico Scarlatti, Soler also ace and college cum monastery estab- enjoyed the patronage of a member lished a century and a half earlier by of the royal family: Prince Gabriel, the King Philip II, taking the habit on Sep- son of Charles III. Soler wrote many tember 25, 1752. Soler became Mae- of his solo keyboard sonatas for the stro de Capilla at El Escorial in 1757, prince, who was also quite likely the upon the death of the incumbent mae- inspiration for Soler’s six concerti for stro, the redoubtable Domenico Scar- two organs and his six quintets for latti. The monastery’s extant records, keyboard and strings. or actos capitulares, note that Soler had an excellent command of Latin, The source for Soler’s quintets for key- organ playing, and musical composi- board and string quartet is a manu- tion; his conduct and application to script found in the archive for the Mae- his discipline were said to have been stria de Capilla, or Music Directorship, exemplary. at the Escorial. It consists of five note- books which in turn give us the full Soler is known for his theoretical writ- scores and the individual string parts ings, which, in addition to the famous for the quintets. The score for the first Llave de le modulacion (key to modu- quintet is inscribed: Obra primera of Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805), who Quinteto primera con violinos, lived in Madrid from 1769 to 1785, viola, violoncelo y organo o clave after having spent his formative years obligado. in Vienna in the late 1750’s and 1760’s. This would offer a precedent for the Para la Real camara del Serenis- skillful string quartet writing found in simo Señor Infante Don Gabriel Soler’s quintets. The imaginativeness Compuesta i dedicada a su Alteza of Soler’s writing often defies contem- Real por el Fray Antonio Soler. porary parallels, however, suggesting Ano 1776. that Soler may have conceived these quintets with only the most superficial (First work, first quintet with vio- knowledge of classical traditions out- lins, viola, violoncello and obbli- side of Spain. gato organ or [other] keyboard. For the royal chamber of the Most The keyboard parts are composed in Serene Lord Prince Gabriel, com- a style similar to that of the sonatas posed and dedicated to His Royal for solo keyboard. The cleverness, Highness by Father Antonio Soler elegance, and generally mercurial vir- in the year 1776.) tuosity of those sonatas are found the quintets as well. The solo line contains Although Soler is primarily identified many examples of the hand-crossings, with the baroque tradition, his incipi- rapid passage-work, great leaps, and ent classical bent is well favored in rapidly executed ornamentation that these remarkable quintets. Like many typify Soler’s keyboard style. Although of Soler’s later sonatas for solo key- this recording employs a harpsichord, board, the quintets are multi-move- the scores indicate that a chamber ment pieces. While Soler does not organ was also desirable. The organ follow the standard sequence of move- for which Soler originally composed ments employed by Viennese classi- the quintets seems to have had two cists of the time, the character of the keyboards and several different regis- music itself is largely reflective of the ters, such as regals (buzzy, short-reso- esthetic of the latter part of the eigh- nator reeds) and the flautado, or prin- teenth century. Although this is not cipal register. confirmed, scholars believe that Soler had some familiarity with the work The first quintet, in C major, has five movements. The opening allegretto sages and quick hand-crossings in the is cast in a form reminiscent of a clas- keyboard part abound. sical concerto. The keyboard part is The second quintet is in F major and written to contrast with, rather than has three movements. The first, a love- support the string parts. It also does ly cantabile con moto, is again remi- not enter until after a generous intro- niscent of classical concerto form, with duction played by the strings. The key a lengthy introduction by the strings scheme of a typical classical opening preceding the first entrance of the movement is observed with one slight keyboard. Here the tonic and domi- alteration: the recapitulation is trun- nant hierarchy of the classical style is cated and in an unexpected key; the followed in the normal manner. The tonic key does not reappear until the middle movement is a minuetto which, coda. An andantino in the dominant like that of the first quintet, is marked key of G major follows; in 3/8 time, it allegretto and contains a trio section has the character of a passepied. The for strings alone in the relative minor. next movement, marked allegretto en The finale, marked allegro, is cast in a fuga, is composed in an imitative style complex form. The basic form appears that demonstrates Soler’s excellent to be sonata-allegro, but just as the command of counterpoint. The move- movement seems about to end, it is ment is far from ponderous, however: interrupted by a portion of music aptly its lightness of motion and basically titled divertimento, which takes cadential harmony make it essentially “ ” the form of a minuet in several sec- similar in character to the other, more tions. The divertimento ends on a half- galant movements. The minuetto, cadence, which ushers in a coda that marked allegretto, is in the relative reintroduces the material of the allegro minor (A minor), with a trio section for and concludes the piece with a blaze strings alone in F major. The conclud- of rapid motion. ing allegro is similar to the first move- ment in that the classical key scheme The third quintet, in G major, contains is not respected: the chief modulation five movements, as does the first. Its is not to the expected dominant key opening allegretto is also in concerto- of G major, but to the supertonic of D. type form except that this time, the solo Soler’s delight in writing challenging, instrument makes an early, five-mea- lively music is particularly in evidence sure incursion into the opening “tutti.” in this movement: athletic string pas- The largo that follows is particularly splendid. Its gently-moving, sentimen- tos K. 271 (1777) and 482 (1785), each tal melodies, with their copious orna- time in the finale. Soler’s classicism ments and sighing motives give the is obvious in these works. The date impression of something impassioned, of their composition (1776) and their but also slightly tongue-in-cheek. For intrinsic character make the baroque- me, it conjures the fanciful image of trained composer’s apparently inde- Lurch, the somber-faced butler of tele- pendent grasp of the trends of the late vision’s “Addams Family,” falling in eighteenth century all the more singu- love and expressing his feelings at his lar. While working in something of a chosen instrument: the harpsichord. cultural vacuum, Soler seems to have The following allegro pastorile is in the been aware of the international style form of a minuet and trio. The minuet that makes music labeled “classical” section uses the keyboard in an accom- so easily identifiable as such. panimental manner, while the trio features the keyboard and the strings The solo instrument used in this separately, each body playing its own recording is a harpsichord with two distinct strain. A graceful andantino keyboards built by Lawrence G. Eck- grazioso leads directly into the brilliant stein of West Lafayette, Indiana in finale, marked allegro subito. 1975. It is based on the 1745 Hemsch harpsichord housed in the Boston Throughout the quintets, the writing Museum of Fine Arts. In keeping with for both strings and keyboard, though eighteenth century traditions, orna- often technically difficult, is supremely mentation has been added where it idiomatic. The odd-numbered move- seems wanted, and certain trills, turns, ments make consistent use of the tutti- and such like have been added or solo form typical of classical concertos. deleted, where appropriate, to produce While the instruments do play together the best musical results. The tuning of much of the time, the contrast between the harpsichord is a modified version keyboard and strings is frequently of the unequal temperament associ- exploited. The final movement of the ated with Thomas Young (c. 1800). second quintet displays a formidable mastery of time with regard to the placement and duration of the diver- — David Schrader timento.