Opus 1

PROGRAM NOTES

"Opus 1" refers to the first published collection of a composer, in which they will carefully decide how first to present themselves and their works to the world. When developing their own style, artists find inspiration in the works of earlier generations, traces of which we can listen for in these Opus 1 selections. Sometimes the influence is obvious and intentionally displayed, and sometimes much more subtle. But every generation, and every individual composer, also has something new and unique to say. Over years of performing countless works of the Baroque era, we have been intrigued by hearing these stylistic connections in the early works of composers both well-known and obscure, and thus the inspiration to form this program was born.

We begin our journey this afternoon in Northern Italy of the early 17th century. At this point in time Claudio Monteverdi had already revolutionized the European musical world with his inventive early operas, Orfeo and Arianna, embracing monody (a single voice accompanied by basso continuo, comprised of one or more instruments improvising over a simplified bass line), and emphasizing emotional expression through various means, including daring harmonies. However Monteverdi had also previously proven himself to be a master of the late Renaissance style of polyphonic vocal writing, and this older style with more equality of voices (usually 4 or 5) was also still very much alive. Two instrumentalists employed under Monteverdi at St. Mark's Basilica in Venice were Biagio Marini and Dario Castello, each experimenting within these new trends, and older traditions, while writing instrumental music. The pieces we hear today would likely have been preformed at the Basilica, during various parts of the service.

Biagio Marini was born in Brescia. His career as violinist, singer, and composer spans a good part of the 17th century, beginning with his appointment as a violinist at St. Mark's in Venice in 1615. Like many Italian musicians of the time, he traveled extensively north of the Alps, eventually returning to live in Italy. His Opus 1, Affetti Musicali, published in Venice in 1617, contains some of the earliest printed music for solo violin, and also includes the trio sonata L'Aguzzona. Here we find some elements of earlier times in the use of imitative counterpoint, paired with the more modern texture of three solo instruments (two violins and cello), the middle voices having been eliminated, or rather relegated to the basso continuo. Marini was a noted violin virtuoso, and in later publications he pushes the boundaries of violin technique of the time in works utilizing double and triple stops.

Very little is known about the life of Dario Castello, but he appears to have worked as a wind player at St. Mark's in Venice in the 1620s. He published two collections of sonatas scored for varied ensembles of violin family instruments, cornetti, trombones, dulcian, and basso continuo. Each book was reprinted four times—clear evidence of their popularity, and in our time, his music has often worked as something of a "gateway drug" drawing interest to instrumental music of an era before the more familiar sounds of the High Baroque. We certainly often reach for these two books in our programming, and in today's program, we thought it would be interesting to see what he offered as the first piece someone would see when opening his freshly published collection of Sonate Concertate In Stil Moderno Per Sonar nel Organo overo Spineta con diversi Instrumenti. A 2 e 3 Voci Con Basso Continuo, from 1621. What did Castello consider a good introduction to "the modern style?" The sonata gives us a mix of old and new, opening with a traditional canzona theme in the violin, over a modern basso continuo line; it inlcudes renaissance-style imitation between the voices, but also the swift and surprising mood and tempo changes of the new style.

Girolamo Kapsberger was born in Venice, the son of a German nobleman. He was a virtuoso lutenist and theorbo player, and published several books of solo music for these plucked instruments. His first book was published in 1604 in Venice; his fourth and last book was published in 1640 in Rome, where he had been living and working since 1610. He also wrote vocal music, but the music for lute and theorbo tends to take innovative advantage of the various fingering possibilities on the theorbo in particular, with some outrageous, sometimes bewildering, perhaps progressive, harmonic shifts. [DF]

Arcangelo Corelli counts as one of the most influential composers of the 17th century, and, unlike most other composers of the time who gained esteem through their vocal music (opera having been considered the most important and prestigous genre), his fame rests solely on six published collections of instrumental music: trio sonatas in Opp. 1-4, solo sonatas in Op. 5, and concerti grossi in Op. 6. These works were admired and emulated as ideal models of taste and form by subsequent generations of composers well into the 19th century. Corelli received his musical training mostly in Bologna, a city with a flourishing musical life centered around the St. Petronio basilica. Around 1675 he moved to Rome, where he became known as an outstanding violin virtuoso and prominent teacher, attracting students from all over Europe. Although his Op. 1 (published in 1681 when he was all of 28 years old) was inventive and influential enough to change the course of music history (it was reprinted at least 39 times over the next hundred years), influences from his predecessors are unmistakable. The Op. 1 collection of 12 Sonatas da chiesa, trio sonatas for two violins, cello, and basso continuo, in four movements (slow-fast-slow-fast), provided a template other composers eagerly followed, but they are less consistent in form and language than his later published works. The rhapsodic elements in the outer movements of the sonata on our program certainly remind one of earlier trends.

The following composers on our program all pay tribute to Corelli in various ways. Gaetano Boni was a cellist and composer who spent, as far as we know, the bulk of his career in Rome. Like Corelli, he moved there from Bologna and in 1711 he entered the service of Cardinal Ottoboni as virtuoso di violoncello. Though he was only in the city for two years before Corelli's death in 1713 (and would not have heard the latter perform, since Corelli gave up public performance in 1710), the influence of the violinist is quite evident in Boni's Op. 1: a set of 12 Sonate per Camera a Violoncello, e Cembalo. Corellian formal structures and harmonic logic are combined with, in some of the slow movements, much more written-out ornamentation than Corelli himself published, and a very unique and idiomatic approach to the cello. This publication was the first in Italy (and perhaps the first anywhere) to contain only cello sonatas, and they provide a good introduction to the musical personality of their composer, who went on to compose works for the violin as well as vocal works (cantata, opera, oratorio). The G Minor sonata on our program stays in the "da camera" style: each movement is in binary form (two parts, each repeated), and dance influences are often present. The second movement (Alla Francese) is in the style of a French Courante (quite different than the Italian Corrente), and the final movement has characeristics of a Gigue (or Giga). [CH]

Francesco Geminiani, born in the beautiful Tuscan town of Lucca, and who found fame in London as a violin virtuoso, theorist, and teacher, spent a couple of years in Rome studying with Corelli and A. Scarlatti. His admiration for Corelli is evident in much of his output; a well known example is his arrangements of Corelli's Op. 5 da chiesa violin sonatas as concerti grossi. Geminiani's Op. 1 is modeled on Corelli's Op. 5: 12 sonatas for solo violin and bc, the first six quite elaborate sonatas da chiesa generously laden with double stops (he later arranged these as trio sonatas for two violins). The second half of Corelli's Op. 5 consists of sonatas labeled da camera, characterized by a prelude followed by a suite of dances. Geminiani, in the second half of his collection, follows this lighter texture, but largely keeps the da chiesa form.

One of Geminiani's most notable students was Charles Avison, an English composer, writer, and organist, active in Newcastle upon Tyne. Most well known as a composer of concerti grossi, Avison modeled these mainly on those of Geminiani, but Avison's could definitely stand on their own: some of his works gained popularity lasting well into the 19th century. His Opus 1 collection of trio sonatas, published in 1737, has a decidedly Corellian flavor. Although his is the latest composition on our program, stylistically it stays close to his predecessors.

Antonio Vivaldi is best known to the world as a master of the concerto in all its forms, although he was a prolific composer of vocal music as well. Less well known is his beautifully crafted Opus 1 (Venice, 1705) , a set of 12 trio sonatas paying close tribute to Corelli's legacy. The first 11 are in the familiar four-movement da chiesa form established by Corelli; Sonata No. 12, however, consists of variations on the Folia (a popular dance tune and chord progression), with a clear nod to Corelli's well-known Folia Op. 5 No. 12 for solo violin. In Vivaldi's version for two violins and cello, with the basso continuo providing a strong harmonic and rhythmic foundation, the Folia variations encompass an astounding variety of tempi, moods and characters, providing us with the perfect finale to a trio sonata concert!