Album insights
In the sixteenth century, the violin primarily served as an ensemble instrument, acting as the soprano voice among the violin family for accompanying dance music. The shift towards developing a solo repertoire for violins occurred post-1600 when they were integrated into mixed ensembles with other instruments such as harpsichord, organ, and lute. This transition saw violins moving from dance floors to organ lofts and virtuosic ensembles in major European courts. Italy focused its new solo repertoire on sonatas, shunning traditional 16th-century forms like dance movements, ostinato bass, or contrapuntal patterns. In contrast, German violin composers embraced sonatas in the 1630s and 1640s but continued composing more dance music for their instrument throughout the seventeenth century. They also tended to infuse their sonatas with ostinato bass more frequently. Even at the century's end, German-speaking composers commonly wrote sonatas reliant on simple, repeated chord progressions. The conservative approach reflected in the CD's program shows that most pieces are either in dance form or utilize an ostinato bass.
Another distinction between Italian and German violin music lay in the degree and nature of required virtuosity. Italian composers in the early seventeenth century, like Biagio Marini and Carlo Farina, experimented with chords and higher positions, though Italian sonatas increasingly emphasized pure musical expression. For instance, Corelli's famous Sonatas op. 5 from 1700 had relatively modest technical demands, cementing them as violin repertoire classics used for teaching throughout the eighteenth century. In contrast, German composers lagged behind their Italian counterparts, with their virtuosic solo violin music around 1700 showcasing extravagant, sometimes eccentric demands. A defining aspect of the German violin style was the use of double and triple stops, enabling violinists to play multiple contrapuntal lines concurrently or even perform without any accompaniment. Bavarian and Austrian composers often employed scordatura (deliberate violin retuning) to facilitate chord-playing and resonate their instruments in specific keys. In his famous "Mystery" or "Rosary Sonatas," Heinrich Biber employed no less than fourteen different tunings, although the CD's featured piece by him, the Passacaglia from the end of the Mystery Sonatas, uses the standard tuning.
Notably, Johann Paul von Westhoff's suites do not use scordatura, despite being among the most challenging violin pieces of their time. This departure may stem from Westhoff's upbringing and education at the Dresden court, known for its close musical ties to Venice and other Italian cities. Heinrich Schütz had long promoted the Venetian style during his tenure as Kapellmeister at the Dresden court, and Westhoff worked under Italian successors who furthered this style. While Westhoff's suites signaled modernity and an Italian nature, he abstained from using scordatura in demanding music, contrasting the heavy use of it by his contemporaries. The suite collection, published in Dresden in 1697, arguably marked the first to entirely focus on unaccompanied violin music, often considered a precursor to Bach's solo violin compositions. However, differences exist; Bach leaned towards implying polyphony through arpeggios, while Westhoff primarily composed in continuous chords. Moreover, Bach's partitas varied in dance sequences, whereas all of Westhoff's suites stuck to a fixed Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, and Gigue sequence.
In comparison, Biber's unaccompanied Passacaglia in G minor, placed at the end of his grand series of sonatas for scordatura violin and continuo, potentially compiled around mid-1670s in Salzburg, captures scenes from Christ's and the Virgin Mary's lives. The Passacaglia, embodying a guardian angel with a child, aligns with traditional Salzburg rosary recitations where believers encircled images or sculptures of religious significance. Each sonata in the original manuscript had an engraving above the staff signifying its theme, with the Passacaglia commencing with a guardian angel image, fitting for the feast day celebration often linking to the festivals honoring guardian angels. The descending four-note pattern forming the foundation, descending from the tonic to the dominant in a minor key, typified the Italian Passacaglia's ostinato bass, resonating with a contemporary hymn line to the guardian angel.
Heinrich Schmelzer's Sonata in D major, the fourth of six sonatas published in 1664 as part of the Sonatae unarum fidium collection in Nuremberg, echoed Biber's Passacaglia by evolving into a variation sequence based on four descending notes in a major key. The sonata cleverly integrated rhythms and forms of two dances, a Sarabande and a Gigue, towards the end, concluding with an audacious free passage. Schmelzer spent his career at the Viennese court, eventually becoming Kapellmeister in 1679 and profoundly influencing Biber, likely even serving as his mentor.
Hailing from Naples, the violinist and composer Nicola Matteis arrived in England around 1670, captivating audiences with his refined technique and fiery concert style. Much of his music appeared across four volumes of the Ayrs for the Violin, self-published in 1676 and 1685. Matteis crafted his violin compositions for various performances—solo violin, two violins with continuo, or string quartet with continuo. Elizabeth Wallfisch translated four pieces for solo violin to alternate between abstract, highly polyphonic movements and lighter dance forms, showcasing Matteis's versatility in performance styles.