SONATAS FOR VIOLIN AND BASSO CONTINUO WRITTEN BY BRITISH COMPOSERS IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY MAGDALENA KOSTKA Dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Cardiff University School of Music June 2014 ii Abstract The sonata for violin and basso continuo was one of the most popular instrumental genres in early eighteenth-century Europe, as is clearly evident from the numerous works by Italian, German and French composers of the period, whose contributions are widely known and documented. Violin sonatas by British-born composers of the period, on the other hand, have largely been neglected by scholars and performers and no systematic examination of this repertoire has thus far been conducted. The present thesis attempts to contextualise this rich and fascinating repertoire and view it holistically. It aims to contribute substantially to knowledge about the British violin sonata during the period and enhance our understanding of its function, content, dissemination and performance. Fifteen collections of sonatas for violin and continuo written by British-born composers in the first half of the eighteenth century have been selected for detailed analysis. These works have been examined from two different perspectives: as social phenomena and as aesthetic objects. Following relevant introductory materials contextualising the research, the first part of this thesis presents biographical accounts of the selected composers, their careers and musical environment, and the circumstances surrounding the publication and distribution of their sonatas. In Part II the sonatas under scrutiny are analysed in terms of their external designs and internal forms, tonal scope, and harmonic and melodic vocabulary, as well as their technical demands. Technical discussion focuses on issues such as range requirements, position-work and shifting, fingering, bowing, articulation, embellishment, dynamics, and chordal playing. iii Acknowledgements I should like to thank my Ph.D. supervisor, Professor Robin Stowell, and the School of Music, Cardiff University, for all the support I have received during my doctoral studies. Professor Stowell’s musicianship and enthusiasm for scholarship were most inspiring. I am profoundly grateful for his invaluable suggestions, many profitable discussions, and his painstaking reading of drafts. My sincere thanks also go out to musicians and scholars who offered their opinions on various aspects of this research, or in some way helped me along the way; these include Dr David Beard, Dr Keith Chapin, Professor Rachel Cowgill, Dr Sara Hill, Dr David Humphreys, Claire Holden, Professor David Wyn Jones, Simone Laghi, Dr David Ponsford, Dr Anthony Pryer, and Dr Charles Wilson. Professor Simon McVeigh’s perceptive comments, expressed in the viva voce examination, were also extremely beneficial in achieving a final version of this thesis. Staff from the following libraries and archives have been most helpful, often far beyond the normal service to readers: the British Library, Cardiff University Music Library, the Library and Museum of Freemasonry (London), the Gloucestershire Archives, Cambridge University Library, the National Library of Scotland, Archivio Storico Vicariatus Urbis (Rome), and the Library of the Royal Conservatory of Music, Brussels (Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Bruxelles). I wish to thank the Arts and Humanities Research Council for the three years of financial support which enabled me to pursue this study. Finally, a special word of thanks is due to Mervyn Clarke for his continual encouragement, support and optimism. This thesis is dedicated to him. iv Contents Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii List of abbreviations vi Introduction 1 Part I Chapter 1. The violin sonata before 1700 18 The origins of the violin sonata 18 The sonata and violin technique in Britain before 1700 23 Chapter 2. Composers and centres 39 London 40 Edinburgh 52 The English Provinces 58 Dublin, Paris, and Rome 66 Chapter 3. The publication and dissemination of violin sonatas 80 Part II Chapter 4. Formal issues 111 The sonata cycle 112 The individual movements 124 Dances 167 Tonality and harmony 189 Melody 226 Chapter 5. Violin technique 249 Range 250 Left-hand technique: shifting, positions, and fingering 253 v Multiple-stopping 276 Right-hand technique: bowing and articulation 283 Embellishments and dynamics 307 Conclusion 331 Appendix A. Musical examples 335 Appendix B. Transcriptions of source material 375 Appendix C. Analytical diagrams 385 Bibliography 416 vi Abbreviations AcM Acta Musicologica Burney Charles Burney, A General History of Music from the Earliest Ages to the Present Period (1789) (London, 1776-89), ed. Frank Mercer, 2 vols. (New York: Dover Publications, 1935) EM Early Music Grove7 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie, 2nd edn, 29 vols. (London: Macmillan, 2001) GSJ The Galpin Society Journal Hawkins John Hawkins, A General History of the Science and Practice of Music, 5 vols. (London, 1776), Novello, 1853; repr. edn, 2 vols. (New York: Dover Publications, 1963) IRASM International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music JAMIS Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society JAMS Journal of the American Musicological Society JM Journal of Musicology JMT Journal of Music Theory MB Musica Britannica MGG Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, ed. Friedrich Blume, 17 vols. (Kassel: Bärenreiter-Verlag, 2002) ML Music and Letters MQ The Musical Quarterly MT The Musical Times PMA Proceedings of the Musical Association PRMA Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association RMARC Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle Wilson John Wilson (ed.), Roger North on Music: Being a Selection from his Essays Written During the Years c.1695-1728 (London: Novello and Company, 1959) vii LIBRARY SIGLA Great Britain GB-Ckc Cambridge, Rowe Music Library, King’s College GB-DRc Durham, Cathedral Church, Dean and Chapter Library GB-En Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland, Music Department GB-Lbl London, British Library GB-Lcm London, Royal College of Music, Library GB-Ob Oxford, Bodleian Library GB-Och Oxford, Christ Church Library United States of America US-NH New Haven (CT), Yale University, Irving S. Gilmore Music Library The Julian calendar was used in Britain until 1752, which means that after 1582, when Pope Gregory XIII instituted the Gregorian calendar, dates in British sources were eleven days behind those on the Continent. In this thesis all dates are cited exactly as they appear in the sources. 1 2 3 4 5 The system employed to indicate different octaves is as follows: C1 C c c c c c c : Under this system the notes of the violin tuning are thus represented as g d1 a1 e2. Minor keys are identified by lower-case letters or Roman numerals (c, d, or i, ii, etc.), major by capitals or upper-case Roman numerals (C, D, or I, II, etc.). Individual movements of cited works are indicated by lower-case Roman numerals (Sonata No. 4/i, etc.). 1 INTRODUCTION The sonata for violin and basso continuo was one of the most popular instrumental genres in early eighteenth-century Europe, as is clearly evident from the numerous works by Italian, German and French composers of the period, whose contributions are widely known and documented. Violin sonatas by British-born composers of the period, on the other hand, have largely been neglected by scholars and performers. No comprehensive and systematic examination of this repertoire has ever been conducted. Those studies that survey either the sonata or British chamber music as a whole do not cover British violin sonatas in any depth.1 The aim of the present thesis is to fill this gap in violin sonata research, and trigger a revival of interest in these works. The time frame chosen begins in 1700 with the publication of Croft’s sonatas, and ends with the last collection of Festing’s sonatas, issued in c.1750. The year 1700 is also significant because it marks the beginning of a new era in the history of the violin sonata. On 1 January 1700 Arcangelo Corelli’s twelve Sonate a violino e violone o cimbalo Op. 5 were first published in Rome. Publication in London then followed in August, the first of Corelli’s works to be printed in Britain. His earlier compositions ‒ trio sonatas Opp. 1 (Rome, 1681), 2 (Rome, 1685), 3 (Rome, 1689), and 4 (Rome, 1694) had already been circulating in Britain in manuscript copies and Continental prints. The Op. 5 sonatas immediately achieved astonishing success, reaching over fifty reprints by 1800.2 They became the exemplary model for contemporary musicians, and a mainstay of the violinist’s repertoire. In early eighteenth-century writings Corelli’s solo and trio sonatas 1 Sometimes the term ‘British violin sonatas’ is used in this thesis. The adjective ‘British’ can be interpreted in various ways: as an indicator of geographical area (political-administrative), and/or of the composer’s identity, or of some characteristic traits, stylistic and formal qualities. Here the term ‘British sonatas’ means works written by British composers, active either in Britain or abroad. 2 Peter Allsop, Arcangelo Corelli: ‘New Orpheus of our Times’ (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 120. According to Allsop, this set ‘may claim to have been the most commercially successful volume of music ever to have been published’ (p. 120). 2 are raised to classical status par excellence,3 and their enormous popularity at the time in Europe was without precedent in the history of music. As Charles Burney noticed, Corelli’s works ‘have contributed longer to charm the lovers of Music by the mere powers of the bow, without the assistance of the human voice, than those of any composer that has yet existed’.4 The reverence for Corelli was particularly strong in Britain, where he was treated almost like ‘an archangel of music’ and his works ‘continued in favour’ longer than in Italy or in any other part of Europe.5 In 1710 Roger North remarked that ‘It [is] wonderfull to observe what a skratching of Correlli [sic] there is every where – nothing will relish but Corelli’.6 The decision to study this particular period of history was also based on other factors.