Ornaments for Corelli's Violin Sonatas, op.5 Author(s): Neal Zaslaw Source: Early Music, Vol. 24, No. 1, Music in Purcell's London II (Feb., 1996), pp. 95-116 Published by: Oxford University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3128452 . Accessed: 26/10/2011 17:04 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Oxford University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Early Music. http://www.jstor.org Neal Zaslaw Ornamentsfor Corelli'sViolin Sonatas,op.5 he letter of dedication of Arcangelo Corelli's Sonate a violino e M violoneo cimbalo,op.5, is datedRome, 1January 1700.1 According to information Charles collected in Corellihad three _ Burney Rome, spent years revising these compositions for the press;2and from what is known of Corelli'sworking habits we may guess that they were prob- ably composed over a much longer period.3Thus, these sonatas may originallyhave been written in the 1680sand 9os-some possibly even ? Nr earlier.4Following their publication they attainedthe status of classics, and by 18oo had been republishedmore than 50 times, in Amsterdam, Bologna, Florence, London, Madrid, Milan, Naples, Paris, Rome, Rouen and Venice.5No other set of works enjoyed a comparablerecep- tion in the 18thcentury. This frequent republication,along with the survivalof hundreds of 1 Detail from the title-pageof The manuscriptcopies and dozens of arrangements,document the fact that Division-Violin,printed by John Play- the op.5 sonatas continued to be performedand to be used as teaching ford (London, 1684) pieces. Their pedagogicalvalue lay, presumably,in three areas: (1) as etudes-op.5 contains a body of finely wrought music many move- ments of which were within the reach of novice violinists;6(2) as com- positional models-most of the sonatas (or 'solos' or 'lessons') for one violin with basso continuo composed and performedin the first seven or eight decades of the century may be viewed as attempts to enlarge upon or modernize op.5;7(3) as a basis for improvisation-the plain- ness of certain movements made them ideal vehicles for practising ornamentation. This ornamentation took two principal forms: through-composedmelodic paraphraseof primarilyslow movements, and sets of variationsbased on shorterdance movements.8The present articleis concerned mainly with the former type of ornamentation. The through-composedornamentation itself is likewiseof two types, for in the musical textbooks of the 18th century a distinction is made between the small or so-called 'necessary'ornaments, and the freer, large-scale ornamentation or musical paraphrase,which was under- stood to be optional. The former, called agrements, wesentliche Manierenor abbellimenti,consist of trills, turns, slides, appoggiaturas and similar items which leave the contours of a melody intact. The lat- Neal Zaslaw is the Herbert Gussman ter, called doubles,willkiirliche Veriinderungen or passaggi,are more like Professorof Music at Cornell University. some practicesin jazz, where almost anything that works with the set With RobertSeletsky he is preparing an chord can be substituted. The former-the edition ornamented versions progressions 'necessary' of of in slow or and in Corelli'sop.5 for Oxford University ornaments-belong any movement, fast, any perfor- Press. mance, even that of a tyro; the latter-melodic paraphrase-belongs EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1996 95 PARTE PRIMA ments would serve better.1'Violinists with modest techniques could perform with simple ornaments, SONATE A VIOLINO E VIOLONE 0 CIMBALO DEDICATE ALL ALTEZZA SERENISSIMA ELETTORALEDI whereasvirtuosos could make the music their own." SOFIA CARLOTTA Allowing violinists their freedom meant that, as ELETTRICE DIBRANDENBVRGO styles and tastesvaried from individualto individual PRINCIPESSA DI BRVNSCICHET LVNEBVRGODVCHESSADI and from place to place, or evolved from decade to PRVSSIAE DI MAGDEEVRGOCLEVES GIVLIERS BERGA STETINO ornaments POMERANIACASSVBIAE DE VANDALI IN SILESIACROSSEN decade, new permitted the music to be BVRGRAVIADI NORIMBERGPRINCIPESSA DI HALBERSTATT suited to new demands. This is demonstrated by MINDENE CAMIN CONTESSADI HOHENZOLLERNE Tartini'sand Galeazzi'sornaments for op.5;Tartini's RAVENSPVRGRAVENSTAIN LAVEN13VRG E BVTTAV tend to break down the DA ARCANGELOCOR•lLI DA PFSIGCNMO Baroque Fortspinnung into OPERAQVINTA shorter segments resembling the galant style, '""**** whereasGaleazzi's introduce to the melody a kind of 2 The firsttitle-page of the firstedition of Corelli'sop.5 chromaticismquite alien to both Corelli'sand Tar- (Rome, 1700). Sonatasnos.7-12 had a differenttitle-page. tini's music, but idiomatic in music of the late 18th century.Charles Burney expressed this characteristic especially in adagios and in performancesof virtu- thus: 'Corelliis so plain & simple that he can always osos with a thorough grounding in harmony and be made modern.''" counterpoint. Table 1 identifies all known sets of ornaments, Becauseof the ubiquityof Corelli'sop.5 a number with their sources. Not included are wholesale re- of sets of notated ornaments for it survive. Some of compositions of op.5, such as Shuttleworth's or these represent the fumblings of beginners, others Geminiani'sarrangements of the sonatas as concerti are teaching manuscripts,and still others reveal at- grossi and Veracini's Dissertazioni sopra l'Opera tempts to record the ornamentationof well-known Quintadel Corelli.'3Also necessarilyexcluded are or- violinists. Most of the surviving manuscript and naments perhapsnever notated as well as others cer- printed sets of ornaments were listed by Hans tainly notated but apparentlylost. Examplesof the Joachim Marx in his excellent Corelli catalogue of former include Blainville'saccount of Pietro Loca- 1980, and many of these have long been known, if telli's performingthe opening Adagio of the fourth perhaps not fully understood.9In this article I have sonata of op.5 so ravishinglythat 'it would cause a been able to add a few sets of ornaments to those canaryto fall from its perch in a swoon of pleasure','4 chronicled by Marx, to correct a few errors, and to and the remark of Haydn's London impresario begin to answer such questions as: who wrote each Johann Peter Salomon upon the death of Frangois- set?, when?, for what purpose?-and what con- Hippolyte Barthdl1monin 18o8:'We have lost our nection, if any, may it have had with Corelli's own Corelli!There is nobody left now to play those sub- practices? lime solos.'15(From this and other evidence it is clear Most modern violin instructionis so stronglyori- that the ability to ornament Corelli's sonatas was entated to the literal reproductionof fixed pieces of one way in which 18th-century violinists were music that it may not be amiss to remind ourselves judged.) of possible advantages of a type of training that As an example of certainlynotated but lost orna- stressed freely improvised ornamentation. One ad- ments for op.5 one can cite Nicola Matteis, Jr. vantage is that no two performanceswould ever be Quantz acquired a manuscript of Matteis's orna- the same, lending an air of adventure sometimes ments for the 12 adagios of the first six sonatas lacking in modern concerts. Another is flexibilityin around 1720,16 but my enquiriesin the places where adjusting the music to varying circumstances: in Matteis worked (London and Vienna) and where larger, more resonant venues or on solemn occa- Quantz's manuscripts have come to rest (Berlin, sions fewer and slower ornamentswould work well; Stockholm,Krak6w) have failed to turn up a copy.'7 in smallervenues, in front of connoisseursor on fes- Another instanceis a manuscriptowned by the com- tive occasions more profuse and more rapid orna- poser John Cousser (Johann Kusser) of ornaments 96 EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1996 Table 1 Extantsets of free ornaments for Corelli's op.5 +0 '- O c + 0 B bc ,+0+ )+,,QoO++++> ,,o<+++,+'++,<+ ,, Parte Prima. Sonate a violino e violone o cimbalo ... opera quinta Sonata I [D major] 1 Grave- Allegro- * Adagio- N Grave- *FI Allegro- * Adagio 2 Allegro. [Fuga]- Adagio 3 Allegro 4 Adagio 5 Allegro. [Fuga] Sonata II [F major] 1 Grave P 2 Allegro. [Fuga]- Adagio 3 Vivace 4 Adagio 5 Vivace. [Fuga] Sonata III [C major] 1 Adagio 2 Allegro. [Fuga]- Adagio 3 Adagio **t 4 Allegro- Adagio 5 Allegro Sonata IV [F major] 0 E.s 1 Adagio H 2 Allegro. [Fuga]- 4 O AdagioI 3Vivace vggegoR SonataV [G minor] 1 Adagio IJ1 I*s. 2 Vivace. [Fuga]- Adagio cc * 3 Adagio M 4 Vivace . , .N 5 Giga.Allegrot EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1996 97 0 +~?P ' ?- Ltg s? oo: +00+0 ), %QO+0 0 0 0 0 0 0Ay 0 C) 8~13.t'e i i~ae9- ~ Sonata VI [A major] 1 Grave E 2 Allegro.[Fuga]- Adagio cc 3 Allegro 4 Adagio 5 Allegro. [Fuga] Parte Seconda.Preludii, Allemande, Correnti,Gighe, Sarabande, Gavotte e Follia Sonata VII [D minor] /R 1 Preludio.Vivace 2 Corrente.Allegro 3 Sarabanda.Largo 4 Giga.Allegro .114,. SonataVIII [E minor] I 1 Preludio.Largo MN, E 2Allemanda. Allegro Y _ 3 Sarabanda.Largo g * 4 Giga.Allegro. Sonata IX [A major] 1 Preludio.Largo * 2 Giga.Allegro * 3 Adagio 4 Tempodi Gavotta. Allegro * Sonata X [F major] 1 Preludio.Adagio ** *. * * 2 Allemanda.Allegro N * *• 3 Sarabanda.Largo 4 Gavotta.Allegrot * 5 Giga.Allegro ... SonataXI[E major] * 1 Preludio.Adagio ON 2 Allegro 3 Adagio 4 Vivace 5 Gavotta.Allegrot v [SonataXII, D minor: Variationson La] Follia * free ornamentation v set of variations(only those in MSS containing free ornaments-see RobertSeletsky's article elsewhere in this issue) c cadenzaor close t ornamentsby Michael Festing,discovered by HarryJohnstone as this articlewent to press 98 EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1996 Tablei-Sources PEZ ANON A Secondcollection of /SONATAS / fortwo / coveredby HarryJohnstone, who is preparinga studyof FLUTES and a BASS, / by / SignrChristopher Pez, / to thisnew source.