Diego Ortiz - Recercada Prima Sobre 'Dolce Memoire'

About the Viola da Gamba.

To get a feeling for the sounds of the pre-baroque era, a piece for the instrument synonymous with the renaissance . the viola da gamba was born at the beginning of the 16th Century from the union of two families, both of Arab extraction-the lute (plucked) and the rebec (bowed instrument and precursor of the violin). It first appeared in Renaissance Italy and Spain and was immediately very popular.

Click here for more information on the gamba and other instruments we use.

Dario Castello - Sonata Prima

Biagio Marini - Romanesca

Now to the cradle of the Baroque - Italy, and the newly invented instrument par excellence of the time - the violin. The first two violin sonatas are typical of the new musical style in Venice at the dawn of the 17th century. Listen for the mercurial change of mood within each piece, as well as the at times cheeky or empathetic ‘conversation’ going on between violin and lute.

In this piece you will hear how Giovanni paints a portrait of someone in music: this was a images technique developed in Italy in the 17th century: This imported Italian brings novel ideas to the Austrian court!

Innsbruck 1660 .

Both music and theatre flourish under Archduke Ferdinand Karl who from 1646 to 62 is ruler of the Tyrol and resident in Innsbruck. Although the Kapelle's celebrated members include the English bass viol player William Young the Prince is well-known to have a liking for the modern Italian music . or more specifically Venetian style music! (He has even had a Komödienhaus built in the Venetian style.)

Although the old order whereby only singers and organists (i.e. those traditionally associated with the church) belong to the Royal Music while instrumentalists (traditionally rather dodgy characters who also play in taverns etc) come under the jurisdiction of the royal stables is still in operation ;instrumentalists are starting to get promotions to higher positions -- look at how it is in Venice! The status of instrumentalists is rising all the time.

Giovanni Pandolfi-Mealli has been hired by the Archduke and has left his native Italy to bring some of that Mediterranean suave to the Austrian lands .

What is Basso continuo?

The basso continuo means the accompanying instrument or instruments in baroque music. Rather like today most pop groups have a drummer and bass guitar to keep the rhythm and energy going, so most baroque ensembles will have a basso continuo. The basso continuo plays the bass line. The bass line forms the foundation of all baroque music.

Which instruments play basso continuo?

• The standard combination is harpsichord plus cello or viola da gamba Different instruments such as lute, organ or harp often join, or even replace these ‘mainstays’ to create a different effect, or sometimes simply because of availability!
• Even within a single piece, you can hear different combinations of the continuo group. This creates different colours and moods in the music.

What does it look like on the music?

from ‘La Bernabea’ ; The solo (violin) part is written on top.

The continuo players know which chord to play by reading the figures (numbers above the bass line).

The bass line is written on the bottom stave

Johann Heinrich Schmelzer - Sonata Unarium Fidium

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber - SonataRepresentativa, Passagalia

Austria 1660…

To the Habsburgs of Austria, music is a genuine essential; it is cultivated intensively and with great pleasure… and not without a certain self assurance concerning musical performance. Ferdinand III, for instance remarks of a certain ‘Giuseppino Castrato Romano’ that he does not quite come up to expectations: ‘I do not like his disposition, he will have to alter it’. Johann Schmelzer and Heinrich Biber however inspire no such misgivings , for both are at various moments in their career (after a particularly good performance) presented with gold chains by Emperor Leopold I - a great honour and possible prelude to ennoblement. Heinrich in particular displays unnerving virtuosity not only on the violin, but also in the political arena. These two formidable violinists are real ground breakers ;and are turning out to be, if nothing else, a lot more virtuosic and fanciful than their Italian rivals.

The German, Kircher has just published his internationally influential ‘Musurgia Universalis’ in Rome in 1650 where he has ;presented for the first time to the world the concept of a ‘dotrine of the affections’ systematically relating both physical and psychological states to musical expression. Hienrich, in his early days at the court of kromeriz and already healthily currying the aristocracy’s favour composes a piece he knows the count will enjoy: the Sonata Representativa. The Count is known to be partial to programmatic music; the bestial sound-effects are pretty obvious - but what’s even funnier is that they are taken almost note for note from Kircher’s book! ;Heinrich is also a formidable improviser, and has written down some of his ideas for a change in the form of a very special piece for violin alone. The repeating descending bass figure over which the violin will weave magical threads of sound will create just the right mood as a postlude to the service in ;Salzburg Cathedral where ;the feast of the guardian angel will be celebrated on 11 October 1676. …

What's different about the baroque violin?

Created by Brescian craftsmen of genius near the end of the 16th century, the violin’s basic design has not changed much in the course of 400 years. It looks a fairly simple instrument, but acousticians regard it as one of the most perfect. It has a remarkable versatility; its model is the human voice, which it rivals in emotional range, from the utterly lyrical to the brilliantly dramatic. The violin has had constant appeal for composers as a solo instrument, accompanied and unaccompanied since its creation. It is considered that the great age of violin-making was the century between 1650 and 1750, when supreme Italian craftsmen emerged, of whom the most renowned are the Amati and Guarnini families, and Antonio Stradivari. The violin played by Penelope Spencer ;is by Franz Wernle, Germany ;1754.

The main differences between the violin played today, and the violin in the 17th and 18th centuries, are

• The way the violin is played:

Musical interpretation counts first and foremost - this is aided by studying a lot of different types of baroque music, and the treatises written by baroque composers about how to play their music. One factor that soon becomes apparent is a very simple one that can be deduced even by looking at 17th and 18th century paintings - the violinists then did not clamp the chin ;onto the instrument (as with today’s method). This way ;the violin could ;resonate more freely, creating a more transparent sound, and the way of using the bow was thus different.

• Vibrato (giving each note a wavy or trembling quality by wobbling the wrist)

is not used constantly, as today, only as an ornament to decorate important notes. This gives a more pure tone.

• The bow.

The baroque bow is lighter and more agile than today’s bow.

Thomas Baltzar - ‘ John come Kiss’

from The Division Violin containing a collection of Divisions upon Several Excellent Grounds for the Violin. Published by John Playford, London, 1684

With this final piece in the concert, we arrive in England and hear a rendition of the popular song John come Kiss. This sort of music was played in the home, or for informal gatherings—just a bit of fun!

London, 1684.

With the English Civil War of 1642 has come the abolition of court monopolies on printing and publishing, leaving the way open for a businessman of genius, John Playford. In the late 1640s, he ;opens a shop in the porch of the Temple Church (London) , and sets out to corner the amateur music-making market in a systematic fashion, beginning with a compilation of popular tunes and country dances called a musicall banquet. This is followed soon by a small format book intended for amateur violinists—a collection of popular songs arranged by the most famous Virtuosos of the day, for example the German violinist Thomas Baltzar, who has been astounding the English with his fabulous technique (actually quite a normal standard for Germany or Italy!) It is called The Division Violin containing a collection of Divisions upon Several Excellent Grounds for the Violin.

His spectacular success ;and innovative business proposition (i.e. appealing to the burgeoning amateur market - a sector never considered previously) illustrates brilliantly how the difference in approach between Continental and English musicians has developed. England is the land of the entrepreneur; the 17th century English are quick to cotton on to the idea of ;paying public concerts, and freedom from the demands of courtly servitude and the necessity to hold the attention of a fickle public creates a buzzing and competitive music scene in London attracting many of the best continental musicians to try their luck here, too