Concerti Grossi
Sacramento Baroque Soloists
March 9 & 10 2024
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Sacramento,
and Harris Center, Folsom
Program Notes
Arcangelo Corelli (1653 – 1713) – Concerto Grosso in D major, Op. 6 No. 4
Arcangelo Corelli was born in northern Italy, the youngest of 5 children, raised solely by his mother, his father having died a few weeks before he was born. He studied in Bologna, which had a rich tradition of master violinists. Because he became so famous, a number of myths abound about his childhood and travels outside Italy, but what is known is that he traveled to Rome in his early 20s, playing in various ensembles and making a name for himself. His pupils included Francesco Geminiani, Pietro Locatelli and Francesco Gasparini, as well as Georg Muffat, whom we meet later in this program.
There were many views about violin techniques in Corelli’s time. Corelli himself held the violin against his chest, pushing it forward. This was a common position at the time, even until the 19th century. Not only was it appropriate for playing the instrument, it helped the player to look noble, even lordly. But the position also makes the higher notes of the E string more awkward. Corelli’s music rarely goes above third position. Corelli was famous for his mastery of the bow, and it was described that his sound spoke as if it was a human voice.
Also known as a conductor, Corelli took a disciplined approach. Geminiani writes that Corelli insisted that everyone in the orchestra move their bows at exactly the same time, either up or down. In rehearsals he would sometimes stop the orchestra if a bow position was amiss. Corelli was also responsible for recruiting players. If he didn’t invent the concerto grosso, he certainly played a part in popularizing it. The idea of a small group (concertino) as part of a larger group (ripieno) was all the rage in Rome, with as many as 150 players playing under the great master. The sound must have been astonishing.
Corelli published twelve concerti grossi in 1714, opus 6, but they may have been written much earlier. The first eight are called sonata da chiesa, which may mean they were intended for church use. These concertos have many more movements than the later concertos of Handel, Bach and Telemann. Slow movements are characterized by languid suspensions (long dissonant notes in one part which become resolved in another), creating a delicious tension. The faster movements feature interplay between the solo instruments, often fugal or dancelike, supported by the ripieno strings.
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) -- Concerto Grosso in A minor, RV 522, Concerto Grosso in D minor RV 565
Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice, the son of a very talented amateur violinist who became a barber. Antonio was known as the “red-haired priest who plays the violin”, and he was instructed by his father and other local musicians. At the age of fifteen young Antonio began to study for the priesthood, but it took fully ten years before he was ordained, partly because of his ill health, a form of asthma from which he suffered throughout his life. Of course, his breathing problems never stopped him from composing or teaching, although he no longer celebrated mass after his ordination.
Most of his working life was spent at the Ospedale della Pieta, an orphanage in Venice in which 1000 girls, many of them musically gifted, spent their childhood. While Vivaldi was hired to teach the violin, there may have been other professional musicians working there, but the majority of the teaching was done by the girls themselves, with the older ones instructing the younger ones, and playing multiple instruments. The standard was extremely high, and it was for these girls that Vivaldi wrote most of his concertos. A contemporary historian, Charles de Brosses, writes: ‘They sing like angels and play the violin, flute, the organ, the oboe, the cello and the bassoon…About forty girls take part in each concert. I vow to you that there is nothing so diverting as the sight of a young and pretty nun in white habit, with a bunch of pomegranate blossoms over her ear, conducting the orchestra and beating time with all the grace and precision imaginable”.
An extremely prolific composer, Vivaldi wrote over 800 works: over 450 concertos, sonatas, sinfonias, cantatas, sonatas and as many as 60 operas, which unfortunately are rarely heard today. His Four Seasons are possibly the most frequently recorded classical works.
Both the violin concertos in this program come from a collection of 12 concertos entitled L’estro armónico (Harmonic Inspiration), published in Amsterdam in 1711. Probably written to be performed in the Ospedale, the solo parts would have been played by the most advanced girls, with the ripieno parts taken by the less experienced, though capable, children.
Any doubts as to Vivaldi’s ability to write a fugue ala Bach are immediately dispelled by the fugal writing in the first movement of the D minor concerto (RV 565). The second movement, a siciliano, highlights a gorgeous melody over a simple accompaniment, a form that is Vivaldi’s hallmark for slow movements.
Bach clearly admired these concertos, because he arranged them for organ: two manuals and pedal (BWV 593 and 596) in Weimar, only a few years after their original publication.
Georg Muffat (1653-1704) -- Concerto no. 12, Propitia Sydera
The Thirty Years War, the most devastating war in history until World War I, ended in 1648, a few years before Muffat’s birth. 7 million Germans died, mostly from the plague that spread through the soldiers moving through Europe. This was approximately a third of the population, unthinkable today. Writers of the time spoke of a “frenzy of despair” as people tried to make sense of the seemingly random bloodshed and destruction around them.
Into this world recovering from a maelstrom of devastation, Georg Muffat was born. His ancestors were refugees of Scotland, banished by the Protestants, who fled to France, where his mother’s family originated. Muffat was born in Savoy and sent to Paris at age ten to study music. He must have been very talented, because he came under the influence of Lully, who may have instructed the boy personally.
Muffat may be considered one of the most cosmopolitan musicians in history. After his time in Paris, he went to Bavaria, partly to escape the French army and also to study law, decided he preferred music, moved to Vienna, could not find work, then moved again to Prague. While in Prague he wrote a violin sonata, his earliest work that has come down to us. But he didn’t stay long there, too tempted by a job in Salzburg where he was appointed cathedral organist and chamber musician. Granted a sabbatical a few years later, he went to Rome and studied with Archangelo Corelli, returning to Salzburg to write a set of pieces combining the French style he had learned from Lully with the Corelli style. Towards the end of his life, Muffat moved to Passau, Germany, where he further enhanced his musical career and finally died, shortly after another war.
Muffat is known today as a synthesizer of European musical styles, believing that combining elements of style from various countries leads to a delightful blend and possibly a bridge between the conflicting nations of Europe. Unfortunately, this idea was not supported by the leaders of Europe.
It is important to examine the difference between the Italian and the French styles. French Baroque music is often based on dances, which were performed at court. The music is populated with little ornaments, which provide sparkle and lightness. On the other hand, Italian music, especially in the hands of a master like Corelli, is very florid and uses lots of fast notes and grand gestures. The German approach was to combine these two styles, adding in fugal elements, improvisation and rich harmonies.
We have these elements in the Propitia Sydera (Propitious Stars) we hear today. Published in 1701 in a collection entitled Exquisitioris harmoniae instrumentalis gravi-jucundae, this concerto is the last of “12 excellent concertos worked out with great diligence”, according to the preface. Using the full orchestra alternating with small solo trio, this is the only concerto in the set that contains a Chaconne (here spelled in the Italian manner, Ciacona), a long sprawling movement based on a recurring harmonic pattern that mixes German seriousness with French dotted rhythms, notes inegales (uneven 8th notes that sound like the dooby-dooby rhythms later found in jazz), ornaments and Italian flashy passagework. After this grand Ciacona, there is a little French Bourree that ends the concerto, light and dance-like. It seems that the French have the last word!
--Notes by Marion Rubinstein