Baroque Consolation Sacred Arias at the Imperial Viennese Court Baroque Consolation Sacred Arias with violin, trombone & organ at the Imperial Viennese Court Friendly supported by the Flemish Community Oltremontano Sarah Van Mol soprano Bart Rodyns organ Veronika Skuplik baroque violin Maria Carrasco baroque violin Wim Becu baroque trombone Recording: Sint-Catharina Begijnhofkerk, Herentals (Belgium), in February 2018, Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk, Broechem (Belgium), in November 2016 (solo organ pieces) Recording: Paul Baluwé & Organroxx, Recording producer: Nico Declerck Wim Becu Executive producer: Michael Sawall artistic director Cover picture: “Saint Agatha Attended by Saint Peter and an Angel in Prison”, Alessandro Turchi (c 1640-45), Walters Art Museum, Baltimore (USA) Artist photo (p 18): Miel Pieters organs: Booklet editor & Layout: Joachim Berenbold „Zilveren Orgel“ by J. B. Forceville (1660-1739), Translations: Martin Bail (Deutsch), Pierre Ellie Mamou (Français) Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk of Broechem, Belgium (solo organ) + © 2019 note 1 music gmbh organ by Jos Moors (2013), CD manufactured in The Netherlands Sint-Catharina Begijnhofkerk of Herentals, Belgium (ensemble recordings) 1 Francesco Bartholomeo Conti (1682-1732) Tu lumen mentis es 7:31 8 Johann Jacob Froberger (1616-1667) Fantasia II 3:35 from Cantata Languet anima mea, 1723 (?) FbWV 202, Libro secondo (dedicated to Ferdinand III), Vienna 1649 [soprano, violino concertato, organo] [organo] 2 Johann Joseph Fux (1660-1741) Sonata à 3 6:24 9 Marco Antonio Ziani Non é giunta 4:23 Ms. XII 599, archive of the Minoritenkonvent, Vienna 1716 from Sepolcro Il Sacrifizio d’Isacco, Vienna 1707 (Edition Howard Weiner) (transcription by Henry Howey) [violino primo, violino secondo, trombone, organo] [soprano, trombone, organo] 3 Antonio Caldara (1670-1736) Gloria Patri 2:37 10 Antonio Caldara Deh sciogliete, o mesti lumi 3:26 from Psalm Laudate pueri dominum, Vienna 1716 from Oratorio Morte e Sepoltura di Cristo, Vienna 1724 [soprano, violino concertato, organo] [soprano, violino, trombone muto, organo] 4 Emperor Joseph I (1678-1711) Alme ingrate 4:49 11 Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706) Fantasia in g 3:23 from an anonymous untitled sepolcro, Vienna 1705 T. 255, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich (Germany) (transcription by Herny Howey) [organo] [soprano, trombone, organo] 12 Antonio Caldara Oro supplex 1:45 5 Pietro Andrea Ziani (1616-1684) Domine Dominus noster 4:46 from Dies Irae, c 1720 from Motetti a voce sola, Venezia 1640 [soprano, organo] [soprano, due violini, organo] 13 Johann Jakob Froberger Toccata X 4:33 6 Georg Muffat (1653-1704) Toccata prima 5:49 FbWV 110, Libro Quarto, Vienna 1656 from Apparatus musico-organisticus, Vienna 1690 [organo] [organo] 7 Marco Antonio Ziani (c.1653-1715) Quel sembiante cosi bello 4:57 from Sepolcro Il mistico Giobbe, Vienna 1704 [soprano, trombone, organo] ENGLISH Sacred Arias at the Imperial Viennese Court In the late 17th and early 18th centuries Vienna en- take on an Italian flair, with obbligato instrumental joyed a period a considerable economic prosperity. parts accompanying solo portions of the Mass and Following the lifting of the siege of Vienna and other liturgical items. Antonio Caldara’s setting of 1683 and the decisive defeat of the Turkish forces the Gloria Patri, with its elaborate part for obbligato at Buda in 1686, the Habsburgs expanded their do- violin, from the Vespers psalm Laudate pueri, closely mains eastward, assuming control of lands formerly resembles in style his arias in oratorios and sepolcri, ruled from Istanbul and spreading Catholicism into though it is not in da capo form. several regions that had formerly been Protestant or Muslim. The Habsburg monarchs were at the height The music of Pietro Andrea Ziani, uncle of Marc’ An- of their power. tonio Ziani, belongs to a much earlier generation. His Domine Dominus noster quam admirabile est Vienna‘s artistic inspiration at this time came noum in universa terra (Psalm 8:2) is a solo motet primarily from Italy. Italian poets, painters, and with two obbligato violins, written in a post-Mon- architects were much in demand, and talented teverdian idiom similar to that of Alessandro Grandi. musicians of all descriptions – singers, instrumen- Though he spent most of his career in Italy, the el- talists, composers – found both an agreeable ar- der Ziani worked briefly in the court of the Dowager tistic atmosphere and handsome stipends at the Empress Eleanora in Vienna in the mid-1660s. Habsburg court. Italians held the position of court Kapellmeister, with but one short break, from 1619 In the second half of the 17th century oratorios be- to 1715, and the position of court composer con- came an important feature of musical and religious tinued to be dominated by Italians until well into life at the Habsburg court. Virtually all the leading the second half of the eighteenth century. Italian court composers contributed to this genre, setting was the artistic language of the court and most vo- libretti provided by the court poets, including the cal music, except for the liturgical variety, employed illustrious Apostolo Zeno. Oratorios were customar- Italian text. ily presented only during Lent, when the court opera was closed. During Holy Week, however, a variant of Catholic church music had long been cultivated in this genre, the sepolcro, was often performed. In the Vienna, but during the period in question it began to late seventeenth century, sepolcri were customarily Emperor Joseph I, engraving by Christoph Weigel (1703) 7 ENGLISH ENGLISH given either on Maundy Thursday in the chapel of music by another composer, whose identity unfor- opold Jr., served as court trombonists, the last one violins, trombone, and continuo, is the only instru- the Dowager Empress Eleanora, or on Good Friday tunately is unknown. It begins with an introductory retiring in 1771. mental work he wrote for this specific combination. in the imperial chapel. The Viennese sepolcro differs “motto” for the trombone, which is echoed by the The trombone part is every bit as florid as the two from the oratorio proper in consisting of one rather soprano voice. Obbligato trombone parts in this repertoire are no- violin parts. The piece begins with a point of imita- than two structural parts, and in requiring staging tated in either alto or tenor clef. Probably the tenor tion and contrapuntal passages appear throughout. and scenery. For these performances, a representa- The trombone, though hardly known in some parts trombone was used in most of these works, as clef Like the Venetian composer Dario Castello from tion of the Holy Sepulchre was constructed as a of Europe at this time, flourished in Vienna and the is not a reliable guide for the size of the instrument nearly a century earlier, Fux writes brief solo pas- backdrop, before which scenery appropriate to the surrounding Habsburg lands. Though widely used in in this era. The range of the trombone part almost sages for each of the instruments, and the brief specific text could be placed. sacred dramatic music and church music, it is to- never exceeds b-flat’, certainly within the range of a closing section of the piece has rapid arpeggiated tally absent from Viennese operas, to the best of talented tenor trombonist. passages for all three instruments. The emphasis on The distinction between oratorio proper and sepol- my knowledge, during the period between Antonio contrapuntal writing in the works of Fux and other cro gradually disappeared in the 18th century, how- Cesti’s Il pomo d’oro (1668) and Christoph Willibald Johann Joseph Fux, who became court Ka- composers represented on this recording under- ever. Many later sacred dramatic works designated Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice (1762). The trombone, it pellmeister in 1715, composed the oratorio Il fonte scores the fundamental conservatism of Viennese to be performed al Santissimo Sepolcro are, like ora- seems, held strong religious connotations for com- della salute in 1716. Fux’s Sonata à tre, for two music at this time. torios, in two structural parts and were not acted posers working in Vienna. More than forty arias with out, though they might have been performed before trombone obbligatos appeared in sacred dramatic Stewart Carter a representation of the Holy Sepulchre. In many re- works between the 1680s and the 1740s. This body spects, Viennese oratorios and sepolcri are compara- of repertoire stands out in the history of the trom- ble to Italian operas. Almost all of them have Italian bone for its florid writing, replete with trills, and text, with an emphasis on solo singing: each work with rapid passagework that often rivals that of the consists primarily of elaborate arias interspersed voices and the strings. with recitatives. After the turn of the century, al- most all arias are in da capo (ABA) form. Ensembles Court positions for trombonists were dominated appear occasionally, but choruses are usually con- by members of the Christian family. At least some fined to the conclusion of a structural part. of the obbligato parts for trombone from this pe- riod must have been written for Leopold Christian Among the home-grown composers there were a Sr., who served the court from 1680 to 1730. His few emperors. Leopold I, a deeply religious man, salary, at 900 florins annually during the height of composed a substantial amount of church music. his career, was equivalent to that of other section His son, Joseph I, composed the aria “Alme ingrate,” leaders in the court instrumental ensembles. Ka- with its lively but graceful trombone obbligato. It pellmeister Fux called him “a virtuoso who has no is a “substitution aria,” intended to be performed equal, [and] one can scarcely hope for more.” Four as part of an untitled sepolcro with the rest of its other members of his family, including his son, Le- 8 9 FranÇ AIS FranÇ AIS Airs sacrés musique des livrets écrits par les poètes de la cour, sont habituellement réservés pour la conclusion de parmi lesquels l’illustre Apostolo Zeno.