Sylvius Leopold Weiss
DOUGLAS ALTON SMITH Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/em/article/8/1/47/445200 by guest on 27 September 2021
With the 20th-century revival of' Silvius Leopoltl Weiss was 11ot.n in ii~tetc.st it1 ihc lute. haw cu~~tc Btesldu, Silcsia i~luw U't~orbw, editions ol r~lusic and I~io- Poland) on 12 October 1686.4 His t)il,liographical studies 01' many 01' father johann Jakob (21662-1754) its major composers. For Franccsco was a lutenist, as were his younger da Milano, John Dowland, and a brother Sigismund (c 1695- 1737) variety 01' or hers-particularly 01- and perhaps also his sister .Juliana the Renaissance-the groundwork has been laid lor a more thorough
understanding of their life and Drtmrr (I 1730) Reichardt suggests that Silvius works. German 1)aroque lute music, on the other learned to play the lute at an early age from his tather. hand, remains relatively little known. Although it has In the fiftieth year of'his life lr 17361 the great lutenist received some attrntion lrom German scholars (and Weiss answered the question of how long he had I~een recently, lutenists), it has largely been ignored in the playing the lute with 'twenty years'. One of his friends. English-spraking world, where scarcely any studies who knew f0r certain that Weiss already was playing have l)eer~puhlished on any part of this repertory. the lute in his tenth year, wanted to contradict him, Thus many British and American musicians who are hut he interrupted and said, 'True, hut for twenty years l)aroclue specialists are not aware that there is a sig- I was ~uning'.~ nificant Ilody ol' German I)aroclue lute music and have By 1706 Silvius was in the service of Count Karl never. lleartl ol the grt-atrst German lutenist 01' all Philipp of'the Palatinate, who was at the time resident time-Silvius Leopolci Wciss.l in Breslau. A letter of' 5 May 1706, from Elector Wriss oc.c.upies a towering position in the history ol' .Johann Wilhelni ol' the Palatinate (in Diisseldorf) to lute music lor several rrasorls. Most obviously, he IeIt his brother Karl Philipp expresses gratitude to the the largest torpus of music IOr the instrument ol'any latter lor allowing 'your lutenist Weiss' to c-ome and he cornposer in itr history: al)oitr 80 solo partitas and heard at the Rhenish court.6 From this visit stenis dozens of individual (prol)al)ly nlostly orphaned) Weiss' first dated work, a partita in C minor, over partita movements, as well as eleven incotnpkte which Weiss later inscril~edin the copy in the Dresden sonatas arid contertos for lute and other instru- manuscript : 'Anno 11 7016 in Dusseldorl'. Ergo Nostra ment~.~He was recognized by his contemporaries as Giovent~icomparisce' ('our youthful debut').' Two the pre-r~r~irirntlutenist ol his rra, and in the wot-cis ot years later Silvius' I~rotherand tather- were employed Erns~Gottlic.1~ Baron. he (together with his I~rother at the Dusseldorl coi~rt.~ lohann Sigirtnirnd~'l,rought the lute to the highw An occasion 01' considerable importance lor the peak ol pcr.fcc.tion" with his fluent, virtuosic writing. young virtuoso was an invitation to accompany the Weiss' inlliwntc on his lutenist cw~ternporariesis still Polish Prince Alexander Sol~ieskyt 1676- 17 14) to Italy, alrncw cant ire-1). urirc3sc*arthcd. 11ut c an l)r. rrgarcicd as a sojourn that was to last from 1708 until the Prince's c-ot1sit1c.1-al~lr.hlort rignilit-antly, he represents t hc. ( ul- death.9 At that time it was not uncommon fix pro- ruination 01 the late 1)arocpr style of lutc* c-om- rnising German musicians to go to Italy to absort) the position. ant1 rnost ol his ~nirsicranks easily among rhr Italian style: George Frrderick Handel and Johanri litiert cver- \+~-ittet1lor the iris~rirnlent. David Heinic hen, to name only I\W. were in Italy Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/em/article/8/1/47/445200 by guest on 27 September 2021
Performance ofa new serenade by Dresden Kapellmeister Schmidt in a garden theatre, September 1719. Original drawing in the Kupferstichkabinett, Dresden
during part of the same period as Weiss. Presumably probably met Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, the leading Weiss accompanied Prince Alexander in the dual role patron of the musical arts in Rome and head ol the of valet and musician. Academy. Kirkpatrick says of Ottoboni that 'Few Alexander, his mother Queen Maria Casimira (and eminent musicians who came to Rome seem to have probably also their retinue, including Weiss) lived in escaped him'.11 The Ottoboni palace's weekly concerts Rome in the Palazzo Zuccari, a small palace built in of chamber music were well known and well attended. 1593 by the painter Federigo Zuccari near the Piazza Corelli was the director of the performances of con- della Trinita de Monti and the Villa Borghese. Maria certed music and Weiss must surely have heard his Casimira maintained an ostentatious household. In music. Perhaps Weiss had the opportunity to perform the summer ol 1708 she engaged Alessandro Scarlatti at the palace: Baron writes that he 'astonished all the as her composer and music director.10 In January Italians' in Rome.12 1709, the elder Scarlatti returned to Naples, leaving Beyond the musical events produced by Academy the position to his son Domenico, who remained with members there were also public opera performances the Queen until she left Rome in June 1714. Domenico and other musical activities in Rome to which Weiss wrote and conducted performances of seven operas in must have been exposed. He learned at least basic- Maria Casimira's private theatre during these years. Italian, and may have undergone a religious con- Prince Alexander was responsible for staging at least version there, for although he had been born into a one of them, and it can be assumed that Weiss played Protestant family, he raised his children as Catholics theorbo continuo in most or all of them. (and was buried in the cemetery of the Catholic The Scarlattis are doubtless not the only musicians Hofkirche, Dresden). Thus the six years in Rome were to and musical people with whom Weiss had contact in be of lifelong significance for Weiss both personally Rome. Through the Sobieskys, who were both and musically. members of the Academv of the Arcadians, Weiss Upon the untimely death of Prince Alexander in
48 EARLY MUSIC JANUARY 1980 The lirsi |ierf'oriiiaiu"e ol Antonio l.otti's Ira/tnlr ill the lien Dresden opera house. 1719 (|>art oldie marriage lesiivities lor Frederick An^usl II and Maria |ose|iha). Dresden. Kiijilerstich- kaliineli: lliis detail shows the orehesiral lories in< hiding mo theorbos Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/em/article/8/1/47/445200 by guest on 27 September 2021
1714, Weiss returned to Germany. He seems to have the Dresden Hofkapelle. Apart from brief visits to sought employment at the Hessian court in Kassel Vienna, Prague, Leipzig, or other nearby cities, he before becoming lutenist to the Palatine court in remained in Dresden for the rest of his life. Diisseldorf in 1715 or early 1716. In 1717 Weiss per- formed in Dresden for the Elector of Saxony and At this time Elector Frederick Augustus I ('The became unoflicially attached to the Hofkapelle there. Strong') of Saxony, who was also the King of Poland, However, he continued to travel: between February was building the finest musical establishment in and June 1718 he gave weekly concerts in London and even played for the King. On 17 June 1718, the Daily Germany, rivalled in Central Europe only by Vienna. Courant announced the last concert: Between 1714 and 1717 the Elector hired, among Whereas Mr. Weiss intends to go out ol England in a others, the pantalonul Pantaleon Hebenstreit, the little time; These are to give Notice, that during his flautist Pierre-Gabriel Buflardin (Quanta's teacher), Stay in London, he will have an Extraordinary Musical the composer Antonio Lotti, the composer and con- Entertainment at his present Lodgings, at the Wallnut- ductor Johann David Heinichen, the violinist Tree in St. Paul's Church-Yard, against the New Vault Francesco Veracini, and several Italian singers. Most of on the South-Side. Which Entertainment will consist these musicians were intended especially for the new of Theorbo-Lutes, Mandolin, Base Viol, Hoboys, fee. Italian opera company which was to be revived at the on which he had the Honour to play before the court, and for which a large new theatre was built in Emperour, and almost all the Princes of Germany, and 1718-19. of late before His Majesty. To begin To-morrow, at 8 a Clock in the Evening. Tickets to be had at his Lodgings One of Weiss' first tasks as Knmmerlautenut in before and at the Hour of the Consort, at 5s. each Dresden was to accompany the Saxon Crown Prince Ticket. Frederick Augustus II to Vienna. In September of 1718 the Crown Prince travelled to the Imperial court to On 23 August 1718, Weiss was formally inducted into choose as his bride one of the daughters of the late
F.AKI.V Ml'SIC JAM ARVI9S0 19 Emperor Joseph I. His father the Elector sent twelve of even primarily, for his students. Three scribes helped Dresden's finest musicians to accompany him and to the composer copy the manuscript, compiled during demonstrate the high level of Dresden's musical the early years of Weiss' tenure at Dresden (r 1718-24), culture to the Viennese. The group stayed in the and probably these were lute students, either aristo- Imperial capital until March 1719, when the Pope cratic amateurs or bourgeois musicians at the court. himself intervened and chose the elder daughter, In the summer of 1720 the Elector disbanded the Maria Josepha, for ihe indecisive Prince. On at least Italian opera and sent most of the Italians home; the one occasion during this sojourn Weiss probably per- ostensible reason was a heated argument between the formed solos for the reigning Emperor and Empress castrato Senesino and Heinichen, but it is likely that and their court. Baron reports that 'he has had the the opera company had simply proved too expensive. special honor of performing to unusual applause for Thus the glorious operatic era of 1717-19 was short-
13 Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/em/article/8/1/47/445200 by guest on 27 September 2021 both living and ruling Imperial Majesties.' lived, though echoed by a much longer one under The year 1719 and the marriage on 20 August of the Johann Adolf Hasse over a decade later. However, house of Saxony to the Hapsburg family were of the there remained occasional operas, French ballet utmost political significance for Dresden. To cele- music, and concerti (lor instance by the concertmaster brate the union Augustus the Strong staged the most Johann Georg Pisendel and his mentor Vivaldi) to be lavish series of artistic and social events in the history perlonned, so Weiss doubtless continued to play 17 of the city before or since. The Crown Prince and his theorbo continue) regularly until his death. bride returned to Dresden from the Viennese wedding Early in 1722 Weiss' right thumb was nearly bitten ceremony on 2 September, and a great parade pro- off by a visiting violinist named Petit, evidently because ceeded to Pirna, a town some ten miles up the Elbe the latter suspected Weiss of machinations against him from the city centre. Among the persons in the at court. This incident was widely publicized—both welcoming party were six oboists, two watdhom Mattheson and Baron mention it"—but was fortu- players, and three of the finest musicians in the nately without permanent consequences for the Hofttapelle: '. . . the Musicus Pantalon wilh his instru- lutenist. Later that same year Weiss and the Hautist ments, the lutenist Weisse with his instruments, and Bufiardin were invited to Munich to perform in the the Musicus Buffardin with the transverse flute . . .'M At festivities celebrating the marriage of the Crown Prince Pirna the royal party boarded a Venetian pleasure- of Bavaria to the younger daughter of Emperor barge and sailed down the Elbe to Dresden, accom- Joseph I. panied by 15 Dutch yachts. It seems likely that Weiss, On another royal visit Weiss accompanied Elector Buffardin, and Hebenstreit provided 'water music' for Augustus, Pisendel, Buffardin, and Quantz to the the royal couple on the barge. Prussian court in Berlin in 1728. When the Elector The official marriage festivities lasted lor most of returned to Dresden, the lutenist remained for nearly September and continued with a vintner festival in three months. Princess Sophie Wilhelmine, the sister October. The musical high point was the first per- formance of a new opera by Lotti, Teofane, on the evening of IS September. (The new opera house had been inaugurated with his Glove in Argo on 3 September.) A lutenist and theorbist are shown in the orchestra in two contemporary drawings of the per- formance of Teojane; and one of them must surely be
Weiss. An aria in the second act of the opera is accom- hnirt l>\ Weiss in llic \tmmnnmn IM v.i III till !\l lldld -M IIIMIlM. 15 panied by 'Mandolino 6 Arcileuto' —perhaps the aria Dresden. I > AiignM 17 42. 'Clii sa. l.'i itcn
EARLY Ml SIC JAM ARVI9S0 Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/em/article/8/1/47/445200 by guest on 27 September 2021
The Allemande from Weiss' Sitonala per il l.iiilo (Dresden no. 7). This is the composer's autograph and it a|>|>cars to be a presentation copy of Crown Prince Frederick (later King Frederick the Leopold Weiss in all his power. One day Weiss invited Great, well known as an unusually avid amateur Benda and Pisendel to lunch and secretly had Benda's flautist) was a lutenist and would surely have heard violin case brought along. In the afternoon he was Weiss often and had lessons with him during this asked to play a solo on the violin, which Pisendel accompanied with the viola pomposa. After the first solo sojourn. In her memoirs, Wilhelmine praises 'the another was demanded, and so it went until mid- famous Weiss, who excels so greatly on the lute that he night. Benda had twenty-four solos in his case, and he never had an equal and that those who come after him had to play all twenty-four. In the meantime Weiss will have only the glory of imitating him'." Another played eight to ten sonatas on the lute.20 indication of his prominence in Dresden itself is that by 1744, Weiss was the highest-paid instrumentalist at Count Keyserlingk was the insomniac patron for whose harpsichordist Bach wrote the 'Goldberg' the court. 21 In his later year Weiss continued to cultivate the Variations. It was perhaps at the Dresden residence friendship of prominent musicians and aristocrats. of the Count that the following competition took The following anecdote is one instance: place: Whoever knows the difficulty of playing harmonic In Camevai of the year 1738, [Franz] Benda, upon the modulations and good counterpoint on the lute will invitation of the concertmaster Pisendel, who had a be astounded and scarcely believe when eyewitnesses friendly correspondence with him, traveled to Dresden assure us that the great Dresden lutenist Weiss com- to hear Hasse's opera La Clemenza di Tito. There he peted in playing fantasias and fugues with Sebastian became acquainted with the Imperial Russian Bach, who was also great as a harpsichordist and Ambassador, Count [Hermann Karl] von Keyserlingk, organist.22 who, as a great lover and connoisseur of music, was very gracious to him. In this noble household Benda Another, more extended meeting between Bach and had the opportunity to hear the famous lutenist Sylvius Weiss in the year 1739 is described by Bach's cousin
EARLY MUSIC JANUARY 1980 51 EARLY RECORDERS BY JAMES BARTRAM
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52 FARI.VMISIC JANIAKY1980 and secretary Johann Elias, who wrote of a visit to easily sufficient to establish him as the finest lutenist of Leipzig of Bach's eldest son Wilhelm Friedemann, the 18th century and the peer of Dowland and Weiss, and Weiss' student Johann Kropfganss: Francesco. . . . just at that time there was extra special music while Only one single movement by Weiss was published my cousin from Dresden, who was present here for during his lifetime. The rest exists in manuscript copies four weeks, together with the two famous lutenists, made by his students and lutenist contemporaries, and Herr Weiss and Herr Kropfganss, played at our house 23 some by the composer himself. The two largest manu- several times. scripts, which between them contain 48 partitas, are The two sources quoted above provide the sole now in the British Library, and the Sachsische Landes- information on meetings of Weiss and Bach, but it is bibliothek, Dresden. The London manuscript (MS probable that the two musicians saw each other inter- Add. 30387) contains music from the early and middle mittently over a period of several decades. Bach began parts of his career, until about 1724. The anonymous Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/em/article/8/1/47/445200 by guest on 27 September 2021 to come to Dresden as early as 1719. Since Dresden compiler of the Dresden manuscript (Mus. 2841 V. I.), was the political and social capital of Saxony and had who may have been personally acquainted with Weiss, the most brilliant musical establishment in Germany at collected some music that is also found in the London that time, it was natural for Bach to wish to visit in manuscript, but many of the partitas are unique. order to hear Germany's finest singers and instru- Among these are the 15 that probably stem from the mentalists. period after 1725, and are the most extended and tn several ways Weiss and Bach occupy similar musically sophisticated lute pieces written by any positions in music history. Each was famous in his time baroque composer other than J. S. Bach. as an improviser and as the unparalleled master of his There are also 27 other manuscripts that contain instrument. Moreover, both remained conservative in music by Weiss scattered in libraries from Moscow to their compositional styles, generally eschewing the style Buenos Aires. In the greater part, Weiss is only one of galant and instead creating the greatest masterpieces of the composers represented. Most of the music late German baroque music for lute and for harpsi- attributed to Weiss in these 27 manuscripts appears to chord. Of course, Weiss' counterpoint cannot be from his early or middle periods, though some is approach Bach's, and Weiss wrote only for lute, but the spurious. The manuscripts were originally compiled 'Bachian gravity' in his works is a very salient charac- teristic and is singled out for mention by Manfred by lutenists in Germany, Austria, Bohemia, Poland, Bukofzer.24 and Russia; evidence of a strong interest in his pieces and a correspondingly wide dissemination. In late 1750, the Dresden concertmaster Pisendel wrote to Georg Philipp Telemann: '...I will just quickly report that on October 16 our Herr Weiss, the The chronology of Weiss' works is uncertain since rela- excellent lutenist, died, as did on the following 14th of tively few of the pieces are dated. Nonetheless, enough November our incomparable Herr Pantalon; thus the music is datable to allow some general judgements to Dresdener Music has lost two of its greatest Brillanten.'25 be made, and a consistent pattern of development Weiss left a widow (no date is known for his marriage) becomes apparent. For convenience, the music is and seven children, at least two of whom were divided into three general style periods: (1) the early musicians. works composed before 1717, (2) the first works written in Dresden, until c 1724, and (3) the late com- positions after that date. Weiss is the most prolific composer in the history of The solo music of Weiss is almost exclusively in the the lute, yet even the nearly 600 surviving solo move- form of dance suites, for which he used either the ments and 1 1 ensemble pieces do not represent his Italian term Suonata or the French Parthie. The stan- entire output. Of the 66 partitas by Weiss listed in the dard sequence of movements in the Weissian partita is: Breitkopf catalogue of 1769, half of them cannot be allemande, courante, bourree, saraband, minuet, identified among extant tablatures and must be pre- gigue. There are no partitas in Weiss' corpus that sumed lost.26 In 1767, when the lute manuscripts of appear to be complete with less than six movements. Luise Gottsched, a Leipzig lutenist and acquaintance This sequence is recognizable in almost every partita of of Weiss, were auctioned, there were 53 solo partitas Weiss from the earliest to the latest, although additions (Stuck), 16 duets, 5 trios, and 10 concerti by Weiss and substitutions occur with such frequency that it is among them.27 Still, the music of Weiss that survives is seldom seen in its archetypal form.
EARLY MUSIC JANUARY 1980 :YA Ex. 1 beginning of Allemande in C minor (1706) -the relatively thin texture (lor an allemande), halting rhythms, frequent appogiaturas and weak half-cadence (m.4) are early Weissian characteristics
^P5E r r r [the ornament ) denotes an appogiatura or trill]
Like the music of Bach, Weiss' style is a synthesis of returns to familiar harmonic territory. This skilful and 17th-century French and Italian styles, fused with bold use of harmony is one of the most original German gravity. The French elements are principally features of his mature music.
the dances themselves and the unbarred preludes, in The harmonic scheme in virtually all of Weiss' pieceDownloaded from https://academic.oup.com/em/article/8/1/47/445200 by guest on 27 September 2021 s addition to some stereotyped rhythmic and melodic is: I—V (III) : || : x—I. That is, the piece begins in the motives in the early pieces. The Italian style elements tonic key and modulates to the dominant (if in major) dominate later, perhaps because of Weiss' lengthy stay or the relative major (if in minor) before the double in Italy as a young man and because of his continued bar. After the double bar comes a section of harmonic exposure to Italian music, especially opera and exploration, where one or more new keys, usually concerti, in Dresden. The Italian elements are the those closely related to the tonic, are briefly touched strong tonal harmony, the sequences, the driving on. Then Weiss returns to the home key and rein- rhythms reminiscent of Corelli's and Vivaldi's forces it with sequences and cadences. In the early concerti, and the cantabile influence of Italian opera pieces there is little or no correlation of thematic and song. One hears the German, though, in the bold material to this harmonic foundation, but by the harmonies, the skilful, sometimes remote modula- middle period and especially in the late music, motives tions, and in the serious, pathetic mood of almost all are just as systematically developed as the harmony, the pieces. and the two aspects become more closely intertwined The most obvious difference between the early and in what can be regarded as an abstract musical drama. late music of Weiss is in the length of the pieces. Some To illustrate some of these points concretely, it will movements remain the same length throughout his perhaps be instructive to briefly examine the career, but the overture, the courante, the bourree and Allemande from the 'Suonata per il Liuto' in D minor, minuet expand dramatically. An early Weiss courante, one of the most profound of all of Weiss' com- for instance, is usually about 40 measures long, but a positions (ex. 2). This, the seventh partita in the late one may be as long as 180 measures. The move- Dresden manuscript, is unfortunately undated, though ments such as the allemande and saraband that do not il is in Weiss' own late script and must belong to the necessarily increase in length nevertheless increase in period of his maturity. thickness of texture. Whereas in his early allemandes In the first few measures the tonic key is established Weiss writes essentially two-part counterpoint, often to by cadential action, and the serious mood is set by the a rudimentary bass line, later allemandes tend to have minor mode, slow pace, and dotted figures. Normally predominantly three- and four-part writing; the Weiss modulates to the new key early in the first reprise lowest voice is often treated more contrapuntally (cf and reinforces it strongly. Here the new key, F major, exx. 1 and 2). is introduced by a dominant (C) pedal point from mm. Weiss' handling of tonal harmony grows per- 7-9 and an extended cadence from mm. 10-13, ceptibly stronger from early to late pieces. In the early whereby the presentation of the F major chord in root partitas he rarely uses altered chords or ventures position is consciously delayed until the last possible further than closely related keys in the modulatory moment (m. 13). sections. There are vestiges of ambiguous, 17th- After the double bar Weiss immediately leaves F century harmonic procedures in some pieces. In those major and commences a turbulent harmonic journey written c 1720, however, the harmony has a strong (still more murky because of the low register) through forward thrust, diminished seventh chords and en- several remote keys: B flat minor (m. 15), A flat minor harmonic changes are more common, and chroma- (m. 16), C minor (m. 17) and B minor (m. 18). In the ticism is occasionally used for colouristic or dramatic key of D minor, B flat major and C major would be purposes. In some of the late music Weiss strays shock- more normal keys to approach in the 'development' ingly far from the tonic key, though he always quickly section, and A flat minor (a tritone away from the
54 EARLY MUSIC JANUARY 1980 Ex. 2 'Suomta per il Unto di Silvio Leopotdo Wrisi IDrrsden no. 71 Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/em/article/8/1/47/445200 by guest on 27 September 2021
[The ornaments in bars 13, 20 and 37 are porfj d^ ooix]
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EARLY Ml SIC JAM ARY I9S0 tonic!) and B minor are quite unrelated. Even the goal which are written in the pure and pithy style (in dem of this progression, A minor (the minor dominant), dchten und komichten Geschmack), rather like the key- where Weiss dwells from mm. 19-23, is atypical. It is board works of the late Joh. Seb. Bach, with much noteworthy how throughout the piece Weiss assidu- levity and clarity.'29 ously avoids major keys. After Weiss, as Princess Sophie Wilhelmine had pre- The return to the tonic at m. 24 is accompanied by dicted, the lute knew no virtuoso who could approach the return of the thematic material from the first his level of artistry. Adam Falckenhagen, Friedrich measures, a characteristic of Weiss' middle and late Rust, Karl Kohaut, and others continued to play and period music that is generally not found in his early write galant music for the instrument, some even into pieces. The remainder of the movement is devoted to the 19th century, but the lute's glorious baroque era reinforcing the tonic by cadential action (mm. 25-7), a came to an end in Dresden in 1750 on the death of Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/em/article/8/1/47/445200 by guest on 27 September 2021 sequence through the circle of fifths (29-33), and the Silvius Leopold Weiss. final cadence, which is preceded by a long dominant ninth arpeggio in m. 35 that creates considerable The author would like to express his gratitude to the Alexander tension to be released in the slow cascade (m. 36) down von Humbotdl Foundation, Bonn, for supporting the new to the last chord. research presented in this article which is dedicated to David This analysis is primarily harmonic, since harmony S. Phillips and his collaborators on the Weiss Gesamtausgabe. is the fundamental structural element of the piece. Melodic figures are not notable in themselves, nor is 1 The principal sources lor the biography of Weiss are Hans the rhythm, except that both are cast in the lorm of Volkmann, 'Sylvius Leopold Weiss, Der letzte grosse Lauienist', Die halting, yearning gestures that articulate this Musik, 6 (1906/7), pp. 274-89; Hans Neemann, 'Die Lautenisten- lamilie Weiss', Archiv fur Musikforschung, 4 (1939), pp. 157-89; and allemande's deep pathos. Douglas Allon Smith, 'The Late Sonatas ol Silvius Leopold Weiss' The final Allegro of the same partita shows several (unpublished dissertation, Stanford University, California, 197 7). Unless otherwise noted, biographical information in this article stylistic elements that are obviously borrowed from the stems from these sources. Italian concerto. Its first measure contains the three- Most ol the contents ol the two largest and most important manu- stroke opening motive typical of—among others—the scripts containing music of Weiss have been published, but in Venetian composers Albinoni and Vivaldi. editions thai are noi eniirely satisfactory. See Ruggero Chiesa ed., Sy/vius Leopold Weiss, Intavolatum di Liuto (Milan, 1967) 2 vols. This is a transcription of ihe solo partitas in British Library MS Add. 30387, but in octave G-clel, which cannot satisfactorily reproduce the low tessitura of baroque lute music. A recent lacsimile ol the Dresden manuscript is Silvius Leopold Weiss: J4 Suitenfiir Laute Solo (Leipzig, 1977). Unfortunately, the size of the pages in this edition was reduced by nearly half, and many pieces in the original manuscript [ X denotes a mordent] itself are difficult lo decipher because the ink has faded. Neither of There are several sequential sections, of which that these two editions includes the lute tablature of the incomplete ensemble works contained in them. given in ex. 3 (containing two successive sequences) is The author, in collaboration with several colleagues from the Lute characteristic. Its running sixteenth-note violin-type Society ol America, is currently engaged in the preparation of a figurations are relentless in their sense of propulsion : complete edition of the works of Weiss, which will appear in lablaiure and two-stave transcription (in separate volumes) together Surely it is music such as this that Bach's biographer with critical notes and new parts for the ensemble works. Silvius Johann Nikolaus Forkel had in mind when he wrote of I^eopold Weiss: Complete Works for Lute in Tablature and Transcription will be published by C. F. Peters, Franklurt, under the auspices of the Weiss' son Johann Adolf: 'He plays the surviving Deutsche Musikgeschichtliche Kommission, and the first of ihe excellent and difficult compositions of his late father, projected ten volumes should appear in 1980.
I I|)II'MII'II.S'»»«II/U 7) mill.7-1.1
EAKI.Y MUSIC IANUAKY 1980 />7 2 Unfortunately, only the lute lablature survives for all but one of 1849), pp. 114, 123f,and 134; also idem, Zur Geschichte der Musik und the ensemble works. Weiss himself referred to his solo works as des Theaters am Hofe der Kurfu'rsten von Sachsen (Dresden, 1861-2), pp. 'Suonaten', though many of them are termed 'Partie' in the manu- 134f. scripts. This is the form we know today as the suite. Because the " See D. A. Smith, 'Baron and Weiss Contra Mattheson: In Defense word 'sonata' has other connotations since the Classical era, Weiss' ol the L\ne',JLSA 6 (1973), p. 61: 'But to accompany with the lute in 'Suonaten' are termed 'partitas' in this paper. an orchestra would be too weak and inconspicuous, although at the 1 Historisch-Theoretisch und Practische Untersuchung des Instruments dernuptial celebration here I had an aria con liuto solo in the opera with Lauten (Nuremberg, 1727); trans. D. A. Smith, Study of the Lute the well-known Bercelli, and it is supposed to have had a good (Redondo Beach, 1976), p. 70. eflect'. 4 Until recently there has been doubt whether Weiss was born in " A variety of Pisendel's concert! for violin solo and other instru- 1684 or 1686, since the known two sources for his birth date con- ments survive in Dresden, as well as some concerti written for him by Ilicted. However, Andre Burguete of Dresden graciously pointed out Vivaldi. Secular and sacred music composed by many other Dresden to me a previously unknown burial notice that confirms the later musicians is preserved (Ristori, Schmidt, Porpora, Zelenka, Veracini, date. On I". 353 of the Kirchliche Wochenzettel 1750-1, Stadtarchiv and others). Ftirstenau (op cit, Beitra'ge, p. 144) reports that the
Dresden, is a notice of 19 October 1750: 'Silvisius IJI'CI Leopold church services [in the Catholic Hoj\irche\ were always performed Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/em/article/8/1/47/445200 by guest on 27 September 2021 by Weiss, Konigl. Camer Musicus ein Ehemann 64. Jahr an Verzeh: 'almost all the personnel of the iHoll Capelle, the Catholic singers Fieber kleine Briider Gasse im H. Accis Rath von Broitzen Hausse ol the opera, and the choir boys'. aufm Rom. Catho. Begrab. Platz.' CSilvius Leopold Weiss, Royal " Johann Mattheson, Critica Musica, 1 (Hamburg, 1723) part 2, Chamber Musican, a married man, [died in his] 64th year of con- p. 152; Baron, op cit, pp. 7 If. suming lever Ion I Kleine Bruder Gasse in the house owned by the tax 19 Cited in Volkmann, op cit, p. 282. collector von Brokzen, land was buried] in the Roman Catholic 20 Johann Adam Hiller, Lebensbeschreibungen beriihmter Musikgelehrten cemetery.') Weiss had had rooms in the house, Kleine Bruder Gasse und Tonkiinstler neurer Zeit (Leipzig, 1784), p. 45f. 19, since 1742. 21 About 1737 or before, Keyserlingk brought a Circassian bandora 3 Johann.Friedrich Reichardt, Musikalisches Kunslmagazin, 1 (1782), player named Bellegradsky to Dresden to be taught the lute by p. 158. Weiss, and Keyserlingk provided a home for Weiss' son Johann 6 Alfred Einstein, 'Italienische Musiker am Hofe der Neuburger Adolf in Konigsberg for seven years after the father's death. Wittelsbacher, 1614-1716', Sammelbande der Intemalionalen Musik- 22 Johann Friederich Reichardt, Berlinische Musikalische Zeilung, 1 gesellschaft, 9 (1907-8), p. 411. (1805), p. 281. The German original is ambiguous, as is my trans- 7 Weiss, ed. Chiesa, J4 Suiten,, ipp. 262 and XI. The Partita is Chiesa's lation, as to whether Bach played the lute; probably this is not no. 5. meant. 8 Hermine Kiihn-Steinhausen ed., Die Rapparini-Handschnfl der 23 Smith, op cit ('The Late Sonatas ...'), pp. 13f. Landes- und Stadt-Bibliothek jDiujeMorf (Diisseldorf, 1958), p. 41 and 24 Music in the Baroque Era (New York, 1947),p. 111. plate 5. Sigismund and his father remained at the Electoral Palatine 23 Georg Philipp Telemann: Briefwechsel, ed. Hans Grosse and Hans court until their deaths in 1737 and 1754, respectively. For approxi- Rudolfjung (Leipzig, 1972), p. 355. mately ten years before his untimely death, Sigismund was 26 The BrieitkopJthematic catalogue (Leipzig, 1762-87);,reprint ed. Barry Kapellmeister there. S. Brook (New York, 1966), pp. 369-75. ' ' Baron, op cit, p. 71, writes: 'About 1708 he went with Prince 27 Calalogus biblwlhecae, quam Jo. Ch. Gottschedius . . . collegit atque Alexander Sobiesky to Italy, where he spent a long time in Rome . . .' reliquit (Leipzig, 1767), p. 235. 10 Much of this information on the Sobieskys and Scarlattis is found 2! For a list of the sources of Weiss' music see Smith, 'The Late in Ralph Kirkpatrick, Domenico Scarlatti (Princeton, 1953), pp. 45-55. Sonatas. . .', pp. 115-16. Since the dissertation was completed, the 11 ibid, p. 39. lollowing manuscripts have been identified by David S. Phillips as 12 Baron, op cit, p. 7 1. containing pieces by Weiss: 13 Baron, op cit, p. 71. London, British Library MS Add. 3 1698 CStraube MS') 14 Quoted in Irmgard Becker-Glauch, Die Bedeutung der Musihfiir die New York Public Library, Harrach Lute Tablalures MSJOG 72-29 Dresdener Hoffesle bis in die Zeit Augusts des Slarken (Kassel, 1951), Rostock, Universilatsbibliothek Mus. Saec. XVII 18.53' A and XVIII p. 104. 65.6. 13 The theorbist Francesco Arigoni and the archlutenist Gottfried Warsaw, Biblioleka Narodowa Ml. 2008, 2009 and 2010. Bentley are listed in the Hojkapelle rosters for 1711 and 1717 (on the 2
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58 EARLY MUSIC JANUARY 1980