Ornaments for Corelli's violin sonatas, op.5

Early Music

Volumn 24, Issue 1, 1996, Pages 95-115

  Zaslaw, Neal ^a  

^a Department of Obstetrics Gynecology

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EID: 63249135472     PISSN: 03061078     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/em/24.1.95     Document Type: Article

References (78)

1. Facsimiles of the editions of Rome 1700 and Amsterdam 1710 are found in Archivum musicum: Collana di testi rari, xxi (Florence, 1979)
2. Another facsimile of the Rome 1700 edition is in Corelli and his contemporaries, ed. J. Adas, The Eighteenth-Century Continuo Sonata, i (New York, 1991)
3. Charles Burney, A General History of Music from the Earliest Ages to the Present (London, 1776-89), iii, p.556; ed. F. Mercer (New York, 1957), ii, p.442
4. E.g. Georg Muffat heard some of Corelli's concerti grossi when he was in Rome in the 1680s, but they were not published until 1714. See also Sir John Hawkins, A General History of the Science and Practice of Music (London, 1776; R/New York, 1963), ii, p.677
5. On 3 June 1679 Corelli sent a sonata for violin and lute or violone to one Count Laderchi (C. Pinacastelli, In Onore di Arcangelo Corelli, Fusignano ad Arcangelo Corelli nel secondo cente nario dalla morte, 1913 (Bologna, 1914), p.39
6. M. Pincherle, Corelli et son temps (Paris, 1954), trans. H. E. M. Russell as Corelli, his life, his work (New York, 1956), p.85)
7. Some early solo sonatas, which may be by Corelli but are not related to op.5, are published in Arcangelo Corelli: Historisch-kritische Gesamtausgabe der musikalischen Werke, v: Werke ohne Opuszahl (Cologne, 1976)
8. H. J. Marx, Die Überlieferung der Werke Arcangelo Corellis. Catalogue raisonné [hereafter Die Überlieferung] = Arcangelo Corelli: Historisch-kritische Gesamtausgabe der musikalischen Werke, Supplementband (Cologne, 1980), pp.165-84, 314-22
9. RISM, Serie A, supplement, CC3841b
10. Burney, General History, iii, p.556; ed. Mercer, ii, p.442
11. Marx, Die Überlieferung, p.177, no.13) they are said on the title-page to be 'Al Insegna del Violino'
12. Hawkins, General History, ii, p.678
13. William Topham, Six Sonata's ... compos'd in imitation of Archangelo Corelli ... opera terza
14. and Georg Philipp Telemann, Corellisierenden Sonaten
15. Marx, Die Überlieferung, pp.176-7, 322-3
16. Roger North on music: being a selection from his essays written during the years c.1695-1728, ed. J. Wilson (London, 1959), p.161
17. H.-P. Schmitz, Die Kunst der Verzierung im 18. Jahrhundert (Kassel, 1955), p.28
18. In this context it might be worth recalling two early 17th-century writers who suggested that unornamented versions serve novices with limited technique as well as true artists, who will add their own ornaments, whereas versions with written-out ornaments are for performers with big techniques but small understanding (Bartolomeo Barbarino, Il secondo libro delli motetti ... a una voce sola (Venice, 1614), preface
19. Enrico Radesca di Foggia, Il Quinto libro delle canzonette, madrigali et arie, a tre, a una, et a due voci (Venice, 1617), preface
20. quoted in R. Donington, 'Monteverdi's first opera', The Monteverdi companion, ed. D. Arnold and N. Fortune (New York, 1968), p.267n)
21. Letter of 21 Jan 1774 to Thomas Twining, The letters of Dr Charles Burney, ed. A. Ribeiro (Oxford, 1991), i, p.164
22. Charles-Henri de Blainville, Histoire générale, critique et philosophique de la musique (Paris, 1767), p.46
23. N. Zaslaw, 'Barthélémon, François Hippolyte', New Grove
24. Johann Joachim Quantz, Versuch einer Anweisung, die Flöte traversière zu spielen (Berlin, 1752; R/Leipzig, 1983), p.151-2
25. trans. E. Reilly as On playing the flute (London, 1966), pp.179-80)
26. Burney reported having studied the violin and French with Nicola Matteis, Jr in Shrewsbury in the early 1740s, adding: 'He played Corelli's solos with more simplicity and elegance than any performer I ever heard' (General History, ii, p.410n
27. Memoirs of Dr. Charles Burney, 1726-1769, ed. S. Klima, G. Bowers and K. S. Grant (Lincoln, 1988), pp.33-5)
28. But Matteis, Jr died in Vienna and was buried in the parish of Sankt Jakob, Penzing, on 23 October 1737 (A. D. McCredie, 'Nicola Matteis, the Younger: Caldara's collaborator and ballet composer in the service of the emperor, Charles VI', Antonio Caldara, essays on his life and times, ed. B. W. Pritchard (Aldershot, 1987), pp.156-82)
29. So the man Burney studied with must have been a son of Matteis, Jr - probably the 'Mr J Nichola Mattees' who died in Shrewsbury in 1760 and was buried in St Chad's parish (N. Zaslaw, 'The vanishing violinist: Nicola Matteis the Younger', Country life (24 March 1988), clxxxii, p.176)
30. Yale University, Beinecke Libarary, Mus. ms. 16 (Cousser's commonplace book)
31. Lettre de M. l'Abbé Carbasus à M. de auteur du Temple du goût, sur la mode des instrumens de musique, avec l'origine de la vielle, ouvrage curieux & interessant pour les amateurs de l'harmonie (Paris, 1739), as quoted in the Mercure de France, June 1739, pp.1,357-61
32. Louis Bollioud de Mermet, De la corruption du goust dans la musique françois (Lyons, 1746; R/New York, 1978)
33. Quantz, Versuch, pp.308-9, 318-19
34. (On playing the flute, pp.322, 331)
35. Esteban Arteaga, Le rivoluzioni del teatro musicale italiano dalla sua origine fino al present (Venice, 2/1785), iii, pp.5-6
36. Burney, General History, ii, p.814
37. anon., Wahrheiten die Musik betreffend, gerade herausgesagt von einem teuschen Biedermann (Frankfurt, 1777), pp.71-2
38. Roger North on music, p.162
39. Quantz, On playing the flute, pp.179-80
40. Adagio de Mr. Tartini. Varié de plusieurs façons différentes, très utiles aux personnes qui veulent apprendre à faire des traits sous chaque notte de l'Harmonie, in J. B. Cartier, L'art de violin (Paris, [1798]; 3/c.1803; R/New York, 1973)
41. also reprinted in Schmitz, Die Kunst der Verzierung, insert
42. and in R. Donington, The interpretation of early music: new version (London, 1975). pp.602-5
43. Marx, Die Überlieferungen, pp.176-7. My sources are the 1979 facsimile of the 1710 Amsterdam edition (see n.1 above) and a copy of the 1711 London edition pirated from it, in the Cornell University Music Library (Locked Press ML M219 C79++ op.5)
44. Œuvres de Arcangello Corelli, 5 vols. (London, 1888-91)
45. In the publisher's catalogue at the back of Dénis Vairasse, Histoire des Sevarambes (Amsterdam, 1716), as reported in Pincherle, Corelli, his life, his work, p.110: '... ceux qui seront curieux de voir l'original de M. Corelli avec ses lettres écrites a ce sujet peuvent les voir chez Estienne Roger.'
46. The entire contents of the 1716 catalogue are reproduced in F. Lesure, Bibliographie des éditions musicales publiées par Estienne Roger et Michel-Charles Le Cène (Amsterdam 1696-1743) (Paris, 1969), pp.55-87
47. M. Rinaldo, 'Il problema degli abbellimenti nell' Op. V di Corelli', Quaderni dell'Accademia Chigiana (1947), x, pp.5-25
48. See also M. Rinaldo, Arcangello Corelli (Milan, 1953), pp.221-33
49. Lesure, Bibliographie des éditions musicales, pp.9-31
50. 'Suite & Cinquième Partie de Nouvelles Experiences d'Optique & d'Acoustique: adressées à M. le Président de Montesquieu, par le Père Castel Jesuite', Mémoires pour l'histoire des sciences et des beaux-arts (the so-called 'Journal de Trévoux'), xxxv (Nov 1735), pp.2,364-6
51. There is, however, also a modestly ornamented Sarabande from op.5, no.7, in a French lute manuscript, which apparently dates from 1712 (see M. Pincherle, 'De l'ornamentation des sonates de Corelli', Feuillets d'histoire du violon (Paris, 1927), pp.133-43, here 139-40). According to Quantz (see n.16 above) Matteis's ornaments were similar to Corelli's but somewhat more elaborate. The ornaments attributed to Corelli's pupils Castrucci and Geminiani seem to come from their years in England rather than from their apprenticeships in Rome, although this is uncertain
52. For instance, Georg Philipp Telemann, Sonate methodiche a violino solo o flauto traverso, op.13 (Hamburg, 1728)
53. Carlo Zaccari, The True Method of Playing an Adagio made Easy by Twelve Examples (London, c.1765)
54. Pietro Nardini, VII Sonates ... avec les Adagios brodés ... après les manuscrits originaux de l'auteur (Paris, n.d.); and the Tartini Adagio cited in n.21 above
55. F. Lesure, 'Estienne Roger et Pierre Mortier: un épisode de la guerre des contrefaçons à Amsterdam', Revue de musicologie (1956), xxxviii, pp.33-48, here 41-2: '... il [Roger] grave actuellement les Agreéments [sic] des Adagios de ces Sonates, que Mr. Corelli lui même a eu la bonté de composer tout nouvellement comme il les joue. Ce seront de véritables leçons de violon pour tous les Amateurs.'
56. François Raguenet, Parallèle des italiens et des françois en ce qui regarde la musique et les opéra (Paris, 1702; R/Geneva, 1976), pp.43-5: '... s'il faut faire une symphonie qui exprime la tempête, la fureur, ils en impriment si bien le caractère dans leurs Airs, que souvent la realité n'agit pas plus fortement sur l'âme; tout y est si vif, si aigu, si perçant, si impetueux & si remuant, que l'imagination, les sens, l'âme, & le corps même en sont entrainez d'un commun transport; on ne peut se defendre de suivre la rapidité de ces mouvements; un symphonie de Furies agite l'âme, la renvers, la culbute malgre elle; le Joüeur de violon qui l'Execute ne peut s'empecher d'en être transporté & d'en prendre la fureur, il tourmente son violon, son corps, il n'est plus maître de luimême, il s'agite comme un possede, il ne sauroit faire autrement. 'Si la Symphonie doit exprimer le calme & le repos, quoi qu'elle demande un caractère tout opposé, ils ne l'exécutent pas avec moins de succès; ce sont des tons qui descendent si bas, qu'ils abiment l'âme avec eux dans leur profondeur; ce sont des coups d'archet d'une longueur infinie, traïnez d'un son mourant qui s'affoiblit toujours jusqu'à ce qu'il expire entièrement.'
57. A comparison between the French and Italian musick and opera's. Translated from the French; with some remarks. To which is added a critical discourse upon opera's in England, and a means proposed for their improvement [trans. attrib. J. E. Galliard, perhaps wrongly as Galliard is not known to have visited Italy] (London, 1709), pp.20-21. The reprint, ed. C. Cudworth (Farnborough, 1968), is of an anonymously annotated copy at Cambridge University
58. A comparison between the French and Italian musick and opera's, p.21
59. Le Parnasse, ou L'Apothéose de Corelli (Paris, 1724). 'Corelli au pied du Parnasse prie les Muses de le recevoir parmi elles. Corelli, charmé de la bonne réception qu'on lui fait au Parnasse, en marque sa joye. Il continue avec ceux qui l'accompagnent. Corelli buvant à la source d'Hypocrêne, sa Troupe continue. Entouziasme de Corelli causé par les eaux d'Hypocrêne. Corelli, après son Entouziasme, s'endort; et sa Troupe joue le Sommeil suivant. Les Muses reveillent Corelli, et le placent auprès d'Apollon. Remerciment de Corelli.' Couperin was a colleague at the French court of Corelli's pupil, Jean-Baptiste Anet
60. C. Rosen, 'The Chopin touch', New York review of books, 28 May 1987, pp.9-11
61. The book in question is J.-J. Eigeldinger, Chopin: pianist and teacher as seen by his pupils (Cambridge, 1986)
62. Jacob Wilhelm Lustig, annotation to his Dutch translation of Charles Burney, The Present State of Music in Germany, the Netherlands, and United Provinces (London, 1773) as Rijk gestoffeerd verhaal van de eigenlijke gesteldheid der hedendaagsche Toonkunst ... (Groningen, 1786), p.389: 'Wat heeft het gemeen juist te weeten, tot wat grijnzingen de geestdrijving konne verleiden? Waren dezelve daarvan volstrekt onafscheidelijk, so mogt men liever wenschen, een minder soort van overvlieger te worden en in 't bezit te blijven van zich zelven .... [W]ie ... Locatelli heeft hooren fantaiseeren, die weet, wat Grimassen daar bij voorvielen: aleer Hij, weer tot zieh zelven komende, zomwijlen uitriep: "Ah!, que dites-vous de cela?"'
63. Daines Barrington, 'Account of a Very Remarkable Young Musician', Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society (London, 1771), lx, pp.54-64
64. Charles Burney, The Present State of Music in Germany, the Netherlands, and United Provinces, ii, p.260
65. Ignaz von Seyfried, Beethoven's Studien (1832), trans. O. G. Sonneck as Beethoven: impressions by his contemporaries (New York, 1926), pp.35-47, here p.36
66. François-Joseph Fétis, Biographical notice of Nicolo Paganini (London, 1852), p.59
67. Denis Diderot, Rameau's nephew & other works, trans. J. Barzun and R. H. Bowen (Indianapolis, 1964), pp.67-8
68. M. Barasch, 'The tossed-back head: the ambiguity of a gesture in Renaissance art', Spiegel und Gleichnis: Festschrift für Jacob Taubes, ed. N. Bolz and W. Hubener (Würzburg, 1983), pp.11-22
69. G. Rouget, Music and trance: a theory of the relations between music and possession (Chicago, 1985)
70. G. Flaherty, 'Transport, ecstasy and enthusiasm', French musical thought, 1600-1800, ed. G. Cowart (Ann Arbor, MI, 1989), pp.81-93
71. The classical text on this subject is Plato's dialogue Ion. For a clear 18th-century statement, see Charles Batteux, Les beaux arts réduit à un même principe (1746) (Paris, 1773), pp.51-7, 164-9
72. Hawkins, General History, pp.674-6
73. The following works, not cited above, were also consulted: G. Burdette, 'New finds in violin music of the Corelli School', Music research forum: journal of graduate student research, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (Winter 1987), ii/i, pp.7-21
74. M. Betz, 'Verzierungspraxis im italienischen Stil am Beispiel der Sonate op.5/9 von A. Corelli', Tibia (1983), viii, pp.343-50
75. D. Boyden, 'Corelli's solo violin sonatas "grac'd" by Dubourg', Festskrift Jens Peter Larsen, ed. N. Schiørring and H. Glahn (Copenhagen, 1972), pp.113-25
76. D. Boyden, 'The Corelli "solo" sonatas and their ornamental additions by Corelli, Geminiani, Dubourg, Tartini, and the "Walsh Anonymous"', Musica antiqua europæ orientalis, iii (Bydgoszcz, 1972), pp.591-607
77. S. Fikentscher, 'Die Verzierungen zu Arcangelo Corellis Op. 5 Violinsonaten und ihr Beziehung zwischen Notation und Realisation', typescript, 1992
78. H. J. Marx, 'Some unknown embellishments of Corelli's violin sonatas', Musical quarterly (1975), lxi, pp.65-76