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Notes
England in the early Baroque period was under the
reign of Charles I, who sponsored music at the court in the form of dances and
masques. Violins were primarily used for dance music, in the French tradition,
and viols were used for chamber music. Musical life underwent a deep depression
with the civil war and the beheading of Charles I in the mid 17th-century.
Musicians had no place of permanent employment, as under the new government of
Cromwell there was no music in church, no theatre, and no court. The
restoration of Charles II in 1661 was soon followed by further affliction with
the plague of 1665, which killed one third of the population or 100,000 people,
and the Great Fire of London in 1666, which left 80 thousand people homeless.
It was in this tumultuous time that Henry
Purcell (1659-1695) was born into a family of long-time court musicians. He
was to become the highest-regarded English composer in history. Purcell joined
the Chapel Royal as a chorister at age 7 or 8 and was taught organ, violin,
viols, lutes, composing, and was given a good general education. At his
graduation in 1673 he was made assistant to John Hingston, who supervised the
care of all instruments at court. Over time Purcell was given numerous
positions at court including Composer in Ordinary for the Violins, Groom of the
Robes, Musician in Ordinary, Musician for the Lute and Voices, and Gentleman of
the Chapel Royal. In these positions he was expected to produce and prepare
music for the day to day life of the court; for dancing, for mealtimes, for
state entertainment, and for the choir. The violins also played at two theaters
sponsored by the court.
Although Charles II enjoyed music at nearly all
of his functions, his court was nearly bankrupt. English musicians lived on
perpetual credit. Perhaps for this reason London was the first city in the
world to produce public concerts. Musicians supplemented their income by
writing songs and theatre music for which they would be payed in addition to
their promised court fees.
In the early 17th century English
chamber music was dominated by viols and by the special English musical form,
the fancy or fantasia, a polyphonic form in which the imagination
of the composer takes precedence over conventional styles and forms. Charles II
considered this somewhat somber music archaic and chose to use violins to
accompany him on all occasions. In his reign the jauntier rhythms of the French
dances underpinned all music including church anthems.
John Jenkins (1592-1678)
was a
lutenist and lyra viol player who was appointed court theorbo player in 1660.
He was notable for his consort music for viols but also moved toward the violin
idiom with his fantasy-suites for two violins and basso. Tonight’s Fantasy
No. 7 in C minor was written for viols, and provides a startling contrast to
the later sonatas and Concerto Grossi modeled on the Italian idiom.
The Italian sonata was virtually unknown and
uncopied in England before 1650. Although Charles II preferred all things
French, a number of Italian and German violinists began to visit England and
composers began to write in the new Italian style. The English fancy began to
change character. Tonight’s Fantasia: Three Parts Upon a Ground by
Purcell is an example of the English Fantasy-Suite, in which the parts
are reduced in number and written in the concerted style, stressing virtuosity
and individual brilliance. This fantasia and tonight’s Pavan (for 3
violins, Z. 752), written around 1680, would not have been performed for
the court, given the king’s dislike of the fancy, but rather at public concerts
and private parties. Their fewer parts made them less expensive to perform and
easy to publish.
Purcell had a long working relationship with the
music publisher John Playford (1623-1686). Tonight’s Playford Dances
are taken from his book The English Dancing Master, which appeared in
18 different editions from 1651 to around 1725. The country dance with its
emphasis on the patterns made by the movement of the dancers, or "figures" was
the popular social dance of all levels of society. Theses dances were collected
from the Inns Of Court near Playford’s shop and set to popular tunes of the day.
Corelli’s solo and trio sonatas, published in
1682, were to have an inspirational effect on composers throughout Europe.
Purcell, inspired to write his Sonnatas of Three Parts, published them in 1683.
Although tonight’s Sonata in F major, called the “Golden Sonata”, was not
in the original twelve published, it was written around 1683 and published by
Purcell’s widow after his death. The sonata is in Italian form, with the
addition of a fugal movement Purcell calls “Canzona.” After composing these
sonatas Purcell did not return to composing the fancy again.
George
Frederic Handel (1685-1759)
first visited London in 1710. By this time London was the richest and one of
the most musically active cities in the world. He had just returned from three
years in Italy, where he became well-versed with the compositions of Vivaldi,
Scarlatti, and Corelli. His opera Rinaldo had great success with the
London audiences. With the permission of his employer, the Elector of Hanover,
Handel returned to London in 1712. In 1714 the Elector was made King George I
of England and Handel was able to compose and play for him in London, staying
there until the end of his life. Handel’s lifetime effort was to compose and
produce operas, with limited financial success. These financial struggles led
him to produce oratorios, the most famous of which is Messiah. During
one of Handel’s most fertile periods in 1739, he wrote the Concerto Grosso
Op. 6 No. 1, one of a set of “Twelve Grand Concertos.” In the enterprising
English way, these concertos were published “by subscription”, or inviting
purchasers to pay in advance. The concertos are written in a Corellian style,
but more varied, with fugues, song-like movements, and dances side by side.
Tonight’s concerto features two solo violins and solo cello with ripieno
strings.
Francesco Geminiani
(1687 – 1762) was born in Lucca, studied in Rome with Corelli and
Scarlatti, and settled in London in 1714, never to return to Italy. He became
an instant success as a violin virtuoso and became one of the most influential
teachers of violin and composition, publishing The Art of Playing on the
Violin in 1751, the first such work for advanced players. He composed solo
sonatas, trio sonatas, and concerti grossi. The concerti grossi are
especially sonorous due to the addition of a solo viola.
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