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March 2001 Program Notes
The Baroque Mandolin
by Mary Burke
Audiences of today may tend to think of the mandolin as an instrument that belongs more to folk music than to art music. Before the 20th century, however, concertgoers heard it quite frequently in a variety of roles: unaccompanied, playing continuo, or, more rarely, as concerto soloist.
Unlike most composers of his generation, Vivaldi felt that the rather quiet mandolin and lute could indeed hold their own against a string orchestra, and he proved his point by producing charming concerti for them that exploit the instruments' particular qualities in order to achieve the proper balance. The C major mandolin concerto dates from Vivaldi's tenure at the Ospedale della Pietà (a Venetian convent-cum-reform school for girls), where he produced several works for mandolin. It is a rather short piece, but the fast movements certainly give the soloist ample opportunity to show off. Vivaldi suggests that the bowed strings play pizzicato in the first movement, which forces them to imitate mandolin technique—further evidence of Vivaldi's remarkable sensitivity to the sound and idiom of his chosen solo instrument.
The second mandolin concerto on tonight's program is very probably by Paisiello, although it has in its time been billed as the work of an anonymous composer, or of Giovanni Pergolesi. While Paisiello was undoubtedly familiar with Vivaldi's mandolin concerti, he wrote in a somewhat more modern idiom, and the song-like slow movement in particular betrays his operatic background. Indeed, his version of Il barbiere di Siviglia uses the mandolin, and had a strong influence on Mozart, who himself used the instrument in Don Giovanni.
Three of the works performed tonight belong to the concerto grosso genre, but each takes the form in a slightly different direction from the Roman school as exemplified by Corelli.
Pieter Hellendael (or Hellendaal, or any of a number of alternate spellings), Dutch by birth, studied with Tartini in Italy before returning to his home country, where for some years he made his living as a freelancer, and published his first compositions. However, he moved to England in 1751, ultimately settling in Cambridge. Here he worked primarily as an organist and teacher, and published several sets of works for strings, including the Six Grand Concertos of 1758. By this time the concerto grosso form had become rather passü in Europe, but in England it continued to thrive, getting a special boost from Handel's op. 6 concerti of 1740. Hellendael's concerti resemble Handel's in some respects, such as opening with a French overture, and concluding with a dance movement (here a borea, or bourrée).
Like Hellendael, Locatelli spent his early career in his home country, as a performer, before settling elsewhere (in this case, Holland). His later concerti grossi began to diverge from the older Roman style in many ways, for example by using different types and sequences of movements, and the addition of a concertino viola part (which Hellendael also did). The op. 7 concerti, printed in 1741, experiment with the relationship between concertino and ripieno parts and the textures that can be achieved within the ensemble. The sixth concerto in the set is subtitled Il Pianto d'Arianna, which is Ariadne's lament upon being abandoned by Theseus on the isle of Naxos. Many other composers, most notably Monteverdi, had written settings of this material, but Locatelli must surely be the only one to do it without words. Even in the absence of text, the piece clearly communicates Ariadne's turbulent and varied emotions, ranging from fury to despair.
Count Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer lived a more glamorous life than most musicians, being born into a noble family; a well-educated and well-traveled man, he acted at various times as a director of the East India Company, a member of the Board of the Admiralty, and ambassador to Paris. Somehow he also found time to be an active participant in musical life, as both performer and composer. However, because writing music was considered beneath the dignity of a nobleman, he had his works published anonymously. This led to quite a bit of misattribution: the Concerti Armonici, first published in 1740, have been variously ascribed to Ricciotti, Pergolesi, and even Handel over the years. Regardless of their authorship, the pieces achieved great popularity in Holland and England, with their rich, sonorous textures and harmonies and lovely slow movements.
Completing tonight's program is the concerto in B minor for four violins from L'Estro Armonico (The Musical Inspiration), the collection that truly put Vivaldi on the musical map in Europe. The concerti in this set are basically of the Roman school in that they have four violin parts, but as the title implies, they also show Vivaldi's inspired ability to innovate within an established framework. In the present piece, for example, he follows a flashy opening movement, featuring four independent and spectacular violin parts, with a remarkable Larghetto that relies entirely on harmonic motion and subtle articulation for its effect, rather than hummable tunes and technical fireworks.
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