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Performing Corelli's Violin Sonatas, op.5
Author(s): Peter WallsSource: Early Music, Vol. 24, No. 1, Music in Purcell's London II (Feb., 1996), pp. 133-138+141-142
Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3128454Accessed: 23-01-2016 23:43 UTC
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7/25/2019 Performing Corelli's Opus 5 Peter Walls EM 1996
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PeterWalls
Performing
Corelli's
Violin Sonatas,
op.5
ithin
months of their
publication
in
1700
Corelli's
Sonate a
vio-
lino
e
violone
o
cimbalohad been
acceptedby
the musical
world
as
having
a
special
status.
No other collection
of sonatas
for solo
instru-
ment
was to
be so studied and imitated.
Corelli's
contemporaries
aw
his
compositions
as
having
an
exemplary
character.
Roger
North
exclaimedthat
'the
touchstone
of
fugue
is Corelli'
(and
he found
the
slow movements
even more
satisfying);
much
later Sir John
Hawkins
reported
that
'Men
remembered,
and would refer
to
passages
in
[Corelli's
music]
as to a classic author'.'
The influence
of this
'nuovo
Orfeo dei nostri giorni',this 'famosissimoprofessoredi violino' upon
performers
was also
unparalleled.
Roger
North
(again)
observed
that
'divers
young gentlemen
[travelled]
nto
Italy,
and after
having
earnt
of
the best
violin
masters,
particularly
Corelli,
returned
with
flourishing
hands;
and
for their delicate
contour
of
graces
n the
slow
parts,
and
the
'stoccata,
and
spirit
in
other
kinds
of
movements,
they
were
admired
and
imitated'.3
The
op.5
sonatas
n
particular
ame
to be
regarded
as
the
hallmark
of a
performer's
musicianship
and
skill.
In the
early
years
of
the
18th
century
to announce
that a
concert
would
include 'one
of
Corelli'sSolo's
by
an
extraordinary
Hand'
(or
some
such
phrase)
seems
to have
been a sure-fire
way
of
attracting
an audience.4
Tartini's
advice
to Maddalena
Lombardini
o
practise
an
op.5 Allegro
daily
is evidence
of the
way
theseworksremainedat the headof the violinist'scanon.5
But
violinists
could
not
keep
these sonatasto themselves.
Hard on
the heels
of the
original
Roman
edition,
arrangements
were
published
for
recorder
'with
the
approbation
of severaleminent
masters'),
harp-
sichord
and viola da
gamba.6 Op.5
was,
however,
spared
the
indignity
suffered
by
other
Corelli works
of
appearing
in
vocal
arrangements
with
such titles as
Moggy
and
Jenny
and
Oh the dismall
ate of
Fanny.)7
Non-violinists made
their own
manuscript
arrangements
or
adapted
standard
editions
of
op.5
for
their
own
ends-the owner
of the Turn-
bull
Library opy
of
the
Walsh
1711
dition sketched
n
how to avoid the
Peter
Walls
s
ProfessorfMusic
t
the
violinisticleaps in the
Allemandaof
Sonatano.8
(see illus.1).
Victoria
Universityof Wellington.
He
plays heBaroque iolinand s musical These sonatas (unlike so much Baroque repertory) never completely
director
f
two
early
music nsemblesn
disappeared
from
sight;
but
among period-instrument performers
of
New Zealand-the
BaroquePlayers
and
the
past
two decades
they
have
regained
their
original
status as conrer-
the Tudor
Consort.He has written
stones of
violinists'
development-something to be mastered on the
extensivelyon
performance
racticend
way to
the
Bach
unaccompanied
sonatas
and
partitas.
The
explosion
courtly
masque,
604-1640
(Oxford,
of editions
of Corelli's
op.5
in the
18th
century
is
matched
in our
time
1995).
by
the
extraordinary
number of
recordings.
The roll-call
of
Baroque
EARLY MUSIC
FEBRUARY
1996 133
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019
9?9
~~il~?~i56'
Zt
~
1B
IZWI I
W?
?l ,I
, I I "1 f 1
76
'-
a
1 41;
ii
R
I'm?~w xli~
1
Sonata o.8 from
Corelli,
XIISonatas
op.
51
(London,
s.d.)
(Wellington,
NZ,
Alexander
Turnbull
Library,
Special
rinted
Collections)
violinists who have released
at least
some
of these
sonatas
includes
SigiswaldKuijken,Lucy
van
Dael,
ChiaraBanchini,Monica
Huggett,
CatherineMack-
intosh
and
ElizabethWallfisch.These
recordings-
especially
he
complete
op.5
sets-invite a case
study
in
performancepractice.8
But it
has not been violinists
only
who have been
drawn
to these seminal works. There are
currently
availableCDs
featuring arrangements
or
trumpet,
recorder and viola da
gamba-not
to mention
the
countless sets of variations on
La
Folia which
pro-
claim it
to
be a theme of
Corelli's.Recorder
players
are
especially
well
represented
in the
catalogues.
Brtiggen,who has made
various
recordings
over the
years
of sonatas
from
op.5,
has
a
CD of
part
2
(the
Sonate da
camera).
(In
his liner
note he
points
out
that he
has not shied
away
from
leaps
of the kind
which
troubledthe owner
of the
copy reproduced
n
illus.i.)9
Like
Briiggen,
Conrad
Steinmann makes
use in his
(various)
recordings
of
sonatasfrom
part 1
of
the
'proper graces by
an eminent
Master' for
Sonata
no.4,
which
appeared
in the
Walsh/Hare
publication
A
Second Collection
of
Sonatas
or
two
Flutes and a Bass
(London, 1707-the
edition now
known as 'Pez
anonymous').
A
Purcell
Quartet
disc
includes-alongside
Sonata
no.3
from Catherine
Mackintoshand the Folia variations
from
Elizabeth
Wallfisch-a
splendid
performance
from Richard
Boothby
of
the viola da
gamba transcription
of
Sonatano.ii.
Leaving
aside those
performances
which show
little
historical awareness
(or
worse,
spurn
it),
Corelli
recordingspresent
a
fascinatingrange
of so-
lutions
to the
questions every performer
must con-
front.
The
title of the
op.5
collection-Sonate a vio-
lino e violono
cimbalo-poses
a few
to
begin
with. In
practice,
of
course,
convenience and realism dictate
that performers choose what in computerese is
known as the default
option.'0
This is most obvious
with the choice of
instruments hemselves.
Without
unlimited
resources,
violinists can
scarcely get
too
scrupulous
about
exactly
what kind of violin Corelli
would
have
most
favoured
(though Kuijken's
beau-
tiful
1700
Grancino
must come
pretty
close to
being
the dream nstrumentfor these
works).
It is difficult
to comment
directly
on bows since none of the
re-
cordings gives specifications.
One of the
ironies of
the modern
scrupulousness
about
documenting
what instruments
have been used on historical-
instrument
recordings
is that bows continue to be
treated as
apparently
ess
important
accessories.Yet
they
have a much more direct
impact
on articulation
and
phrasing
than the
violins whose
pedigrees
are
listed. The reasons for this situation are obvious:
makers
cannot be named
since,
until
very
late in the
18th
century, they
did
not
identify
their own
work,
and we have
not
managed
o
develop
a standard
way
of
describing
or
even of
dating
with
any precision)
the
many
different
kinds of
pre-Tourte
bow. These
difficultiesmean
that,
for the
record
buyer,
histori-
cal
attitudesto bows as replaceableaccessories end
implicitly
o be
reinforced.
The
allocation of the bass
line to 'violone o cim-
balo'
('a
Bass Violin or
Harpsichord'
as the
1711
Walsh edition has
it)
poses
more
interesting
ques-
tions.
Violone is used in the
17th-century
Italian
sense as the bass member of the violin
family;
the
134
EARLY MUSIC
FEBRUARY
1996
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very
active
bass line in movements
like the
Fugue
of
Sonata
no.4,
the
first
Allegro
of Sonata
no.11,
or
the
final
section of the Folia variationsmake it
reason-
able,
nevertheless,
o treat violonehere as a
synonym
for
violoncello-the
smaller and more mobile
ver-
sion
of
the
instrument.1
Indeed,
Corelli's
associate
G.
L. Lulier was known both as 'Giovannino
del
Violone'
and 'Giovannino
del
Violoncello'.12
t
is
nevertheless
nteresting
hat
every
available
record-
ing
lists
'violoncello'
(or
'Baroque
cello')
without
comment.
The
cimbalo
s
potentially
the most
dis-
tinctive
of
the
instruments-the
characteristically
tangy
sound of
an Italian
harpsichord
cannot
easily
be mistaken
for
one of its northern cousins. Both
Mitzi
Meyerson
(for
some of
the
sonatas)
and
Jesper
Christensen
use
Italian-style
harpsichords,
n the
lat-
ter case
one which
the
player
himself
copied
from
an
anonymous late 17th-century nstrument. On the
whole,
though,
the instruments chosen
(many
of
them
very
fine
in
themselves)
do not
project
a
strong
concern
with
serving
a
particular epertory.
Robert
Kohnen,
for
example, plays
a
1755
Dulcken on the
Kuijkenrecording.)
The most
challenging
word
in
the
op.5
title,
however,
is
'o'.
Generations
of
musicians have as-
sumed-and
(less often)
argued-that
it
should be
understood
as
meaning
'and/or'.'3
Increasingly,
however,
scholars
have
been
troubled
by
the
lack of
either
linguistic support
or
hard
historical evidence
for such an
interpretation.
Tharald
Borgir,
Sandra
Mangsen
and
Peter
Allsop
are
in
agreement
about
the
inappropriateness
f
applying
a
practice
recom-
mended
half
a
century
ater
by
C.
P. E. Bach to
17th-
century
Italian
repertory.14
While the
picture
is far
from
clear,
particularly
n
relationto solo
sonatas
from the
very
end
of the
century,
there is
neverthe-
less more
evidence for
taking
Corelli's
title-page
it-
erally
han
for
the
conventional
keyboard-plus-cello
solution.
Some
recordings
do
at least
explore
the
idea
of
a
single-instrument
bass
line. Banchini and Chris-
tensen
perform
Sonata
no.2
with
harpsichord
alone.
Trio
Sonnerie
likewise
use
harpsichord
in
Sonata
no.8,
and
they
follow this
with
solo cello
on
the
bass
line of
Sonata
no.9.
(Here
there are a
few
intonation
problems-untypical
of
this set as a
whole-which
illustrate he
extent
to
which
the harmonic
realiza-
tion
helps
cement the
tuning
of the outer
lines.)
While it is
positively
liberating
for
performers
to
realize
that bass lines do not
necessarily
mply
at
least
two
players,
t is hard at
present
to conceive
of
recording
all 12 sonatas with the
accompaniment
of
just
harpsichord
or cello. Such
a
project
might
seem
to
depend
on a mixtureof
pedantry
andcommercial
folly.
Recently,performers
and
('o' )
recording
com-
panies
have been
tending
towards
he other
extreme
of virtual
promiscuity
n their realizationof the
bass
line.
The earliest
period-instrument
versions-
Kuijken's
and
Lucy
van
Dael's
(the
latter
marred
by
wayward
intonation)-use
cello
plus harpsichord
throughout.
For the
six sonatasof
part
1
the
Locatelli
Trio use
cello and chamber
organ,
a combination
which for these sonate
da
chiesaseems both
appro-
priateand pleasing.It is interesting o comparethis
with the more varied choices on other
complete
re-
cordings.
The
Banchini/Christensen/Gohl
ersions
of
Sonatas
nos.1and 6 use
harpsichord,
archluteand
cello
(and
in
Sonata
no.3
harpsichord
and
archlute).
The
aim
seems to be for a
kaleidoscopic
effect-
though
personally
I
did
not
always
enjoy
the com-
peting
claims
of
simultaneous
ute
and
harpsichord
realizations
or
the
heterophony
set
up
by
conflicting
ornaments.
Trio Sonnerie
on the face
of it use
a
sim-
ilar
instrumentationwith
theorbo
instead of
arch-
lute;
but the
theorbo
(with
its
re-entrant
tuning
less
capable
of
providing
a full
realization)
s used to
give
better
definition
to the melodic bass
line.
Elsewhere
Trio Sonnerie do use an
archlute.
It
appears
in
Sonata
no.2,
where it is
treated
(quite
properly)
as
a
self-sufficient
continuo
instrument.
Nigel
North's
playing
is
beautifully
judged.
His
sound
matches
Monica
Huggett'svoluptuous
tone and
he
manages
to
give
her
plenty
of
space
for
the
improvisatory
gestures
of
the
(decorated)
violin
line.
Frangois
Raguenet
in
Parallle
des
Italiens
et
des
Francois
(1702)
makes
a
rather
vague
reference
o
hearing
Corelli,Pasquiniand Gaetaniplaytogether(though
clearly
n
a
larger
ensemble);
t
would
be
interesting
to know
just
how
these
two
distinguished
continuo
players
related o
each
other
and
to
the
soloist in
per-
formance.
The
sonatas of
part
2
produce
yet
more
continuo
combinations.
Trio Sonnerie
add
Baroque
guitar
to
EARLY
MUSIC
FEBRUARY
1996
135
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iil-i,
:i-i'::::
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i ili-l::
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i":-i:-:i
::
lii:
('::i
:::::;-i__ -li'::-'.i::_ i:jiiiji~:
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-:j:
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-:;-ii
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-
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f
ii
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i i~~~~ii •iiiiiiiiii~~~~~~~i~~ii •~...........................................i
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\I ----;1
-
i:
ii~~ii~iii ii:
7,
1
Ic.
11,1
6~~
p~e~.
:~r
K".
2
Sonata
no.3,
third
movement,
Adagiofrom
Corelli,
XII
Sonatas
op.
51],
howing
decorations
Wellington,
New
Zealand,
lexander
urnbull
ibrary)
harpsichord
and cello for La Folia.The
guitar's
lam-
boyant rasgueado
helps
turn these variations into
'Folies
d'Espagne'.
The Accademia Bizantina com-
plete recording indulges
in the bizarre
practice
of
varying
he continuo instrumentation
or
repeats
n
binary
movements. The
concept
of
a
continuo
de-
partment
at work in
so
many
of these
performances
seems to have more to do with
Aggazzari
and the
early
17th
century
or
with
sumptuous
courtly
festivi-
ties like
Cesti's
IIpomrno
'oro han with
Corelli's
solo
violin
sonatas.This
kind of treatment
might
well
in-
crease he interestand
enjoyment
o be
derived
rom
listening through complete
recordings
of
op.5,
but
this
merely
emphasizes
hat
projects
of this kind are
essentiallydifferent,on the one hand,from the pro-
vision
of a
reliable
complete
edition
and,
on the
other,
from most historical
(or,
for
that
matter,
modern)
contexts for live
performance.
A relatedbut distinct
issue from that of bass line
instrumentation s the kind of
realizations
hey
re-
ceive.
It
is worth
noting
in
passing
that
the
1710
Roger
and
1711
Walsh
editions
of
op.5 give
even less
guidance
han most
engraved
onatas.
In all
the Ada-
gios
with added
graces
he
bass line
appears
tripped
of the
figures
which had been
engraved
n the
origi-
nal
edition.
While this
might
inadvertently
provide
encouragement
for
visualizing
these movements
with a solo
cello,
it is
I
suppose
unlikely
hat
this for-
mat has
any
particular mplications
for
the
perfor-
mance of
the
bass
line. The
simplest explanation
(suggested
to me
by
Neal
Zaslaw)
is
probably
that
Roger
engraved
undecoratedmovements from ear-
lier
editions
and
took
the
Adagios
rom
a
manuscript
lacking figures.
Most extant
copies
of these editions
have had
figures
added
by
userswho
sometimes sim-
ply copied them in from earlierundecorated edi-
tions,
but who
just
as
often worked hem out as
they
went
(with
subtly
different views
of
the
line's har-
monic
implications-see
illus.2-3).
Bass line realizations would
hardly
need com-
ment-since most of
the
performers
surveyed
here
provide support
for their violinists of a kind which
136
EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY
1996
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seems
unerringly
asteful. But there is one wild
card
in the
pack.Jesper
Christensen's
pproach
o his role
as
a
harpsichord
continuo
player
is
arresting-and
he can
point
to
historical
justification
for much of
what he
does.15
His use
of saturated
chords
laden
with
acciacature
s,
on the face
of
it,
the sort of
thing
practised
by
Pasquini
and
approved
of
as
a 'full rich
style' by Gasparini.16
Christensen
precedes
the third
movement
(Adagio)
of Sonatano.2 with a
short
pre-
lude.
This sounds fine in
itself,
but-as the move-
ment
continues-the
activity
in
the
harpsichord
part
reduces
the violinist's freedom to be declama-
tory.
This
happens
time and time
again,
where
Christensen
adopts
a
more active
rhythm
than the
bass line
prescribes.
Christensen s the
only
harpsichordist
on
the re-
cordings surveyed
o
double the violin line where it
precedesthe entryof the bass in fugal movements.
Once
again
there
is
ample
historicalevidence for the
practice.7
The
effect is not
unpleasing
where it
gives
a
cleanly
etched
character
o
the
fugue subject.
What
is harder o
accept
is
Christensen's xtension of this
to solo violin
entries
in
adagio
movements
(the
opening
of
Sonata
no.2,
the third
movement
of
Sonata
no.3,
and the fourth movement of Sonata
no.6).
What he
plays
is the
plain
Corelli
original
against
he
graced
version contributed
by
the violin.
The result-to
my
ears
anyway-is
that the
harpsi-
chord
succeeds
only
in
subverting
he
improvisatory
sense of the solo
part.
In the second of the
examples
just
mentioned,
Luciano Contini
(playing
archlute)
incorporates
the
Roger graces
where the
bass line
imitates
the violin's
entry.
On the face
of
it,
these
musicians
display
more
awareness of
Baroque
sources than
their
colleagues
in other
ensembles--
yet
so much
of what
they
do
seems too obtrusiveand
succeeds n
hemming
in the violin.
Having
room to
move
is,
of
course,
vital in
slow
movements
where melodic
lines are
given
life
by
florid
improvisatory
ornamentation.
And
this,
of
course, brings
us to
the most celebrated
aspect
of
these
sonatas. How are
we to
regard
he
gracespur-
portedly by
Corelli
published
by
Estienne
Roger
in
1710
and
pirated
by
Walsh a
short time
afterwards)?
Roger'srepeated
assurancesof their
authenticity
are
the surest
indication that
many
of his
contempo-
raries
were
sceptical
about the
origin
of
the
graces.
ITS
iH
Ono
~
~i~,,,,,,~,,,
76
i::i?-ii-i:ii5~iw7:
ST
a~s~
.76
'I
3
Sonata
no.9,
opening,
from
Corelli,
XII
Sonatas
[op.
51
(Alexander
urnbull
ibrary)
Roger
North
voiced his
disbelief in a
characteristi-
cally strong
and colourful
way: 'Upon
the bareview
of
the
any
one would
wonder
how so much
vermin
could
creep
into the works of
such a mas-
ter."'
(Can
we be sure that
any
graces
would have
satisfied North?
Together
with
Charles
Burney
and
other
18th-century
ceptics,
he
may
have been
driven
by
a conviction that
Corelli's
compositions
had
more to do
with noble
harmony
than with
melodic
fantasy.)
For all that
the musical world
may
have found it
hard
to believe that
the
Roger
graces
were
indeed
'composezpar
Mr. A.
Corelli
comme il lesjoue', per-
formers have-in
practice-tended
to
accept
Roger's
claims. It is
striking
hat
alternative
ources
for written-out
op.5
embellishmentsare
more
plen-
tiful for the
sonatas of
part
2
than
for the first six
sonatas.
(Even
the
owner
of
the Turnbull
Library's
copy
of the
Walsh edition made one
ill-conceived
EARLY
MUSIC FEBRUARY
1996
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attempt
at
dazzling
his
friends in
the
Preludio of
Sonata
no.11-see
illus.3.)
The
complete
recordings
of
op.5
follow a
similar
pattern:
ike those
who
wrote
out
embellishments in
the
18th
century,
modern
players
have
tended to
accord
the
Roger
edition
exemplary
tatus.
(The
only
exception-and
not one
likely
to
inspire
emulation-is
Chiarappa
on
the
Accademia
Bizantina
complete
set.)
Violinists
capa-
ble of
wonderfully tylistic
graces
n
Sonatas
nos.7-11
accept
the
Roger
edition for
Sonatas
nos.1-6. In a
way
this
ought
not
to
work,
since
all
written-out
gracespretend
to
be
a
snapshot
of
a
moment's
inspi-
ration.
The
conviction
with which
violinists
can sim-
ulate
improvisation
suggests
that-for
the
most
part-spontaneity
has
always
been
well
rehearsed.
Players
are
sometimes
prepared
to
venture out
beyond
the
Roger graces,
adding
further
embellish-
ments of their own. It is interesting, hough, to see
how in
passages
where the
Roger
version all but re-
treats
to the
original
line,
violinists seem
generally
reluctant o take
up
what
might
have been
seen as an
implicit
challenge.
At
bars
8-11
of
the first
movement
(Adagio)
of
Sonata
no.3,
Banchini,
Huggett,
Wall-
fisch
and
Kuijken
leave the
violin
line
essentially
bare. Catherine
Mackintosh alone
continues
in
the
vein of the
surrounding
lorid
writing. (Incidentally,
these bars
are decorated
in
the Pez
anonymous
print.)
An
even
more
striking
case comes in
bars
34-42
in
the third movement of this same
sonata,
where
virtually
all
performers
eave even the remi-
niscences of the
opening
motive
(heavily
orna-
mented the first two
times
it
occurs)
unadorned,
not
daring
o move out
beyond
the
suggestions
provided
by
the
Roger
edition.
The first
Adagio
of
Sonata
no.5
presents special
problems
since it-alone
among
the slow
move-
ments
in
the first
part
of
op.5-is
binary
with
repeat-
able halves.All violinists
reserve he
Rogergraces
or
the
repeat
and
play
the movement
virtually
straight
the first
time
through.
This
pattern
is
followed
throughwith the binarymovementsof part2. In a
way
this
establishes
a
totally
different
relationship
between the basic
line and
the
graced
version.
With
all the other slow movements
of
part1
the
implied
argument
is that the
original
line craves
embellish-
ment in the act of
performing
t;
the slow movement
of Sonata
no.5, however,
presents
the
line
as
self-
sufficient
but
amenable o
variation
on its
repeats.
Given the
adherence of
most
performers
to the
Roger graces
n
part
1,
the
inventivenesswith
which
they
treatthe sonatasof
part
2
is
especially
nterest-
ing.
The
complete recordingsby
Monica
Huggett
(Trio
Sonnerie)
and
Elizabeth
Wallfisch
(Locatelli
Trio)
make a
fascinating
comparison.
Both
players
are
capable
of
beautiful
eloquent
embellishment.In
Sonata
no.8 Monica
Huggett
produces
modestdeco-
ration for
the
repeats
of
the first
movement
(Prelu-
dio
Largo),
where
Elizabeth
Wallfisch
indulges
in
a
little more
virtuosity.
In
this
sonata's third
move-
ment
(Sarabanda
Largo),
however,
it
is
Wallfisch
who is
more
restrained,
while
Huggett
turns
out vir-
tuoso but tasteful
decoration. In
this latter
move-
ment,
the
walking
bass had
encouraged
Bruiggen
o
move up the tempo (atJ= 88,a good 20 ticksahead
of
Huggett
and
Wallfisch)
and to
play
the
upper
ine
completely
straight.
It is hard
to avoid
the conclusion that
violinists
have
been
learning
from
each other over
the
last
decadeor
so,
becoming
moreandmore
fluentin
the
art
of
gracing
Corelli. Even
Kuijken's
version
of
Sonata
no.ll
(the
only
part
2
sonata
apart
from
the
Folia variations
on his
disc)
seems
tongue-tied
alongside
the invention of Wallfisch
and
Huggett-
andhere I am not
just
referring
o the
extraordinary
cadential lourish the
latterviolinist
produces
in
the
brief
Adagio
beforethe third
movement.
TheLocatelliTrio's
recording
of Sonata
no.9
is
es-
peciallygenerous
and
informative.
They give
us
two
versions of the sonata. An
appendix,
as
it
were,
con-
tains Geminiani'sornamentedversion
(published
n
Hawkins's General
History
of
1776).
Wallfisch
gives
this a
convincing
and attractive
performance.
n
its
fast
movements
Geminiani's
renditioncomes
close
to the
kind
of
recomposition
which characterizes
he
revisions
of
his own sonatas and concertos.
The
graces
for the
opening
Preludeare
distinctly
differ-
ent in style from those of the Rogeredition;many
of Geminiani's
decorative
gestures
are
moulded
around
a chordal
shape
wherethe
Roger
embellish-
ments
are
predominantly
inear.
(They
come
closest
to the
chordally
based
floridity
of Geminiani's
violin
version of his own
op.5
cello
sonatas.)
The
version
of
Sonata
no.9
which the LocatelliTrio
presents
n
the
138
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MUSIC
FEBRUARY
1996
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main
sequence
uses
graces
for the first movement
from
Cambridge,
University
Library,
Add.
Ms.
7059-graces
which Hans
Joachim
Marxnoted have
some
similarity
o
Geminiani's
n
approach.19
liza-
beth Wallfisch's
performance
is
technically
so
as-
sured that
she
manages
to make these sound
per-
fectly
nonchalant,
yet-as
with
so
many
other
later
sets
of decorations for these sonatas-the
point
of
the
Roger
embellishments
seems to have been lost.
Gone
are the wonderful
asymmetrical
flourishes
crossing
the
beat,
and
with them
the
sense
of a
line
being
propelled hrough
a harmonic
progression
o-
wards
a
resting
point
at the end
of a
phrase
(the
graces
of the
Roger
edition
never link
phrases).
Now
the
overlay
of
appoggiaturas,
rills
and mordents
on
top
of
florid
gestures
has
the
effect
of
making
he line
seem
fussy
and
(especially
n the first section of the
movement)even static.
In
writing
this article
I
have been
trying
not to
think of
it as
a review
so
much as
a
case
study
in
ap-
plied
performancepractice.
But I would not
want
to
evade
the inevitable
question:
which of these record-
ings
give
most
pleasure?
Of the
complete
sets,
two
can be
disregarded:
Melkus
produces
something
of
staggeringugliness,
while the
Accademia Bizantina
give
a
stilted
reading
with a naive
understanding
of
performance
practice
issues and the
rathermetallic
sound that can
result from
trying
to
make modern
instruments sound
'authentic'. The Trio
Sonnerie
and LocatelliTrio sets are an
entirely
differentmat-
ter.
They
are
hard to
separate-though
each
has dif-
ferent
virtues.
So
successfully
does each
of these
players
seem to have
assimilated
the
lessons of the
Roger
edition
that it
is,
surprisingly,
he
fast move-
ments
which
give
the
strongest impression
of
dis-
tinct
personalities.
Monica
Huggett brings
out the
lyricalqualities
even in
fastmovements and there is
a
warmth
of
sound both in
her own
playing
and
in
the
recorded
quality
of
the
ensemblewhich
is
always
pleasurable.
She and her
companions
in Trio
Son-
nerie
are
particularly
ood
at
pointing
up
structural
features-the
ABA form of the fast movements
in
Sonata
no.9,
or the
dialogue
betweenouter voices
in
the second
movementof Sonata
no.11.
(Bylsmaplay-
ing
with
Brtiggen
n this movement
obviouslyenjoys
his
semiquavers--but
we are more awareof the vir-
tuosity
of the bassline than of a
conversation.)
Eliz-
abeth
Wallfischhas a technical assurancewhich
she
uses to
very
good
musical effect.
Her
tempos
in fast
movements
are
consistently
a notchorso above
any-
one
else's,
but
they always
sound
rhythmically
alert
and
buoyant-sometimes
even
amusingly perky-
rather han
just
fast. Her sound
is less
generous
han
Huggett's,
but
one
comes
to
appreciate
ts
brightness
and
clarity.
I
find
it
hard
to choose between these
two violinists
in slow movements-both are
capable
of realfantasy.
Of the various
single
discs devoted to
these
sonatas,
I
cannot
in
the end
retain
very
much enthu-
siasm
for
Brtiggen's
seconda
parte.
In
comparison
with
more recent
recordings
t
seems to
lack
fluency
in
its
treatment
of slow
movements.
It will
already
be
obvious that the
prima parte
of
Banchini/Christen-
sen
et
al holds
a
great
deal of
interest-but
I
do
not
find
myself
listening
to
it
just
for
pleasure.
(Even
Banchini's
Storioni
violin
has
a
disappointingly
hard
quality.)
The
re-release
of
Kuijken's
selection
is
amply
justified;
ike so much else
that he has
done,
his Corelli discseta benchmark or the
performance
of
these
works,
and,
although
some
aspects
of
his
playing (ways
of
using
vibrato,
for
example)
have
changed
subtly
since
1982,
this
comes across
as a
beautifully
considered
account. Of
the
various mis-
cellanies,
the Purcell
Quartet's
selection is worth
having,
if
only
for
its
viola da
gamba
version of
Sonatano.11.
Why
not
Trio
Sonnerie for
the home
and
the
Locatelli
Trio for the
office?
1
RogerNorth on music,ed. J.Wilson
(London, 1959),
p.18o;
Sir
John
Hawkins,
A
General
History
of
the
Science
and
Practice
of
Music
(London,
1776;
R/New
York,
1963),
i,
p.677,
quoted
by
O.
Edwards,
'The
response
to Corelli's
music in
eighteenth-cen-
tury
England',
Studia
musicologica
norvegica,i (1976), .54.
2
Phrases sed
by
Angelo
Beradi
(1689)
and
Crescimbeni
(1702)
respec-
tively;
ee
'Corelli,
Arcangelo',
ew
Grove.
3
Roger
Northon
music,
p.31on.
4
This
wording
was
ncluded
n
an
advertisementn The
Nottingham
Weekly
Courant,
2
December
714;
quoted
by
Edwards,
The
response
o
Corelli's
music',
p.77.
5
A
Letter
rom
the
Late
Signor
Tartini
to
Signora
Maddalena
ombardini
(London,
771),
d. E. R.
Jacobi
Celle
EARLY
MUSIC
FEBRUARY
1996
141
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&
New
York,
1971),
p.135.
6
See Six solos
for
a
flute
and
a
bass
by
Arcangelo
Corelli
being
the second
part
of
his
fifth opera
... the
whole
exactly
transpos'd
and
made
fitt for
aflute
and a
bass
with
the
aprobation
of
several
emi-
nent
masters
(London:
Walsh &
Hare,
1702;RISM C 3884). In 1703 he same
publishers
advertised
The
2d
part
of
Correllis
fifth Opera,proper
or
the
Harpsicord,
consisting
of preludes,
alle-
monds, sarabands,
gavots
and
jiggs
in
The Post
Man,
25
September;
see
Edwards,
'The
response
to Corelli's
music',
p.71.
The
viola da
gamba
arrangements
are found
in
Paris,
Bib-
liotheque
Nationale,
MS Vm
7
6308
(available
in
facsimile
from Alamire
Music
Publishers).
Two
of
these,
Sonatas nos.6
and
11,
were
published
in
England
c.1613;
he
volume,
which lacks
a
title-page,
is
found
in
London,
British
Library,
K.
1.
i. 11
(2).
7
Both titles
given
to movements
from
op.2
(Sonata
no.5,
Sarabanda,
and
Sonata
no.1,
Gavotta);
see
RISM
CC
3894c
and
3894d.
8 Trio
Sonnerie
(Monica
Huggett,
Sarah
Cunningham
and Mitzi
Meyer-
son,
joined
here
by
Nigel
North),
Virgin
Classics
CD
2) VCD7 0840-2;
Locatelli
Trio
(Elizabeth
Wallfisch,
Richard Tunnicliffe
and
Paul Nichol-
son),
Hyperion
CD
(2)
CDA
66381/2;
Accademia
Bizantina
(C.
Chiarappa
et
al), EuropaMusica CD 9) 350202;
Eduard
Melkus
Instrumental Ensemble
(Melkus,
Dreyfus,
Altmacayan
and
Scheidt),
Archiv
CD
(2) 427
161-SAGA.
Chiara
Banchini
(with
J.
Christensen,
L.
Contini
and
K.
Gohl)
has recorded
the
sonatas
of the
prima parte
on
Hyperion
CDA
6226.
Lucy
van
Dael,
Alan Curtis
and Wouter
M611er
recorded these
sonatas
in
1982
(but
the
recording
has
never
appeared
in
CD
format).
The
seconda
parte
section
of
Franz
Bruiggen's
ecording
of
the com-
plete
set
(with
Anner
Bylsma
and Gus-
tav
Leonhardt)
has been
re-released
on
RCA CD
RD7 1055.
The
recordingby
Sigiswald
Kuijken,
Wieland
Kuijken
and
Robert
Kohnen
of Sonatas
nos-.,
3,
6,
11
and
12
has
been re-released on
CD,
Accent
ACC
84330.
Other
recordings
mentioned
in this article
(which
is
by
no means a
comprehensive
survey)
are
Baroque
music
or
recorder
Conrad
Steinmann,
Jordi
Savall
and
Hopkin-
son
Smith),
Claves
CD50-8103;
Gia-
rdino
Armonico on
Nuova Era CD
6789;
Purcell
Quartet,
'La
Folia'
and
other
sonatas
(Catherine Macintosh,
Elizabeth
Wallfisch,
Richard
Boothby
and Robert
Woolley),
Hyperion
CDA
66226.
9
See his
liner
note
to
RCA
CD
RD7
1055.
o10
An
instance of this not
happening
can
be seen
in
the Locatelli
Trio's
deci-
sion to record their set a
tone
below
modern
pitch
(presumably
in defer-
ence
to
the lower
pitch prevailing
in
Rome
in
the
early
18th
century;
see
'Pitch',
New Grove
dictionary
of
musical
instruments, v,
p.126).
11
See
S.
Bonta,
'From violone
to vio-
loncello:
a
question
of
strings?',
Journal
of
the American Musical
Instrument
Society,
ii
(1977),
pp.64-99,
and 'Ter-
minology
for the
bass
violin
in
seven-
teenth-century
Italy',
Journal
of
the
American
Musical Instrument
Society,
v
(1978), PP.5-43.
Peter
Allsop points
out
that the term was used with sufficient
latitude
to
encompass
the smaller 'vio-
loncello';
see
P.
Allsop,
The
Italian
'trio' sonata
from
its
origins
until Corelli
(Oxford, 1992),
P.36.
12
See G.
S.
Brunoro,
The
life
and
works
of
Giovanni Lorenzo
Lulier
(PhD
diss., Victoria
U.
of
Wellington,
1994),
PP-14,137,354.
13
Jesper
Christensen,
in
the
liner
note
to
his
recording
with
Banchini,
writes:
'A third most
important
aspect
of
the
performance
of
this music concerns
the
instrumentation
and
realization of
the
basso continuo.
Whereas
the
origi-
nal title
page
apparently prescribes
only
one
accompaniment
instrument
("Violino
e Violone
o
Cimbalo")-like
most
Italian
title
pages
of
the
period--
contemporary
descriptions
and
pic-
tures
often show
continuo
groups
con-
sisting
of
several
instruments
...
accompanying just
one
solo instru-
ment.
This
paradox
probably
means
that no
real "standard"
or
the
con-
tinuo
instrumentation
existed,
which
has
inspired
us to
try
out
some of
the
possible
combinations
of the three
continuo
instruments,
thus also
satisfy-
ing
the characteristic
Italian taste
for
variety
of colours.
14
See
T.
Borgir,
The
performance
f
the
basso ontinuon
Italian
Baroque
music
AnnArbor,MI,
1987),
PP-5-9;
S.
Mangsen,
The
rio
sonata
n
pre-
Corellian
rints:
when
does
3
=
4?',
Performanceractice
eview,
ii
(199o),
pp.138-64;
nd
Allsop,
The talian
trio'
sonata,pp.39ff.
15
His
comments
on
the
use
of a
large
continuo
group
are
quoted
n
n.13
above.
16
See
P.
Williams,
Figured
ass
accom-
paniment,
vols.
(Edinburgh,
970),
i,
P.77.
17
See
Mangsen,
The rio
sonata
n
pre-Corellian rints',
pp.157f.
18
Roger
North
on
music,
.161.
19
H.
J. Marx,
Someunknown mbel-
lishments
of
Corelli's iolin
sonatas',
Musical
uarterly,
xi
(1975),
P-74.
LACOCK
summer chool
or
singers
and
players
of
renaissancenstruments
21
-
26
July
EMILIO
e' CAVALIERI
La
rappresentatione
e anima
e
corpo
28
July
-
2
August
ALESSANDRO STRIGGIO
40-part
motet
Ecce
beatem ucem
CLAUDIO
MONTEVERDI
Mass In
illo tempore
Tutors
DuncanDruce
Robert
Hollingworth
AndrewLawrence-King
KeithMcGowan
Jonathan
Morgan
Jeremy
West
details rom
Andrew
ander
Beek,
Cantax
House,
Lacock,
hippenham,
Wiltshire
N15
JZ,
ngland
tel/fax
+44
0)1249
30468
142
EARLY
MUSIC
FEBRUARY
1996
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