Ensemble Caprice
Program Six, 43rd Indianapolis Early Music Festival
Sunday, July 25, 2010, 7:30 p.m.
Frank & Katrina Basile Theater at the Indiana History Center on the Downtown Canal, 450 West Ohio Street Tickets
Vivaldi and the Baroque Gypsies:
A musical encounter in Eastern Europe
Throughout his life, Antonio Vivaldi never elaborated on the sources of inspiration for his compositions. This could be one of the reasons why the spiritual kinship between his concerto pieces and Eastern European gypsy music has hitherto gone unnoticed. However Vivaldi is known to have attended performances of his operas in Prague and also in Vienna which took him close to the Balkans, and it is likely that he encountered nomadic musicians during these excursions.
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Furthermore Vivaldi met travellers from Eastern Europa practically on his doorsteps in Venice: The Ospedale della Pietà where Vivaldi was teaching lay on the Riva degli Schiavi, the Slavic Canal. One can easily imagine how musicians arriving from Eastern European countries would perform their music with their instruments and songs, practically on Vivaldi's doorstep!
Programme
Anonymous (Uhrovska zbierka, 1730) Präambulum
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) Concerto in A minor for 2 recorders, 2 violins and bc Adagio/Allegro-Adagio-Allegro
Anonymous (Uhrovska zbierka, 1730)
C 256 / Hungaricus 25 / Hungaricus 23 / Hungaricus 53 / C 106
Anonymous (18th century) Balletti di Venezia
Allegro assai-Sarabande-Allegro-Allegro-Adagio-Finale (Presto)
Anonymous (Uhrovska zbierka, 1730)
C 206 / C 207/ C 208 / C 345
--Intermission----
Anonymous (Uhrovska zbierka, 1730)
Pulcher/Anglicus/Ballet Doctoris Fausti ad mensam
Antonio Vivaldi
Sonate in G minor RV 63 La Follia for 2 recorders and bc
Anonymous (Uhrovska zbierka, 1730)
C 272 /C 275 / Asztali Nota
Antonio Vivaldi
Concerto in G Major RV 443 for flautino, strings and bc
Allegro-(Adagio)-Allegro molto
(Soloist : Matthias Maute)
Anonymous (Uhrovska zbierka, 1730)
Hungaricus 15 / Iag Bari
Matthias Maute recorder, traverso
Sophie Larivière recorder, traverso
Olivier Brault baroque violin, violino piccolo
Lucie Ringuette baroque violin
Susie Napper baroque cello
David Jacques baroque guitar
Ziya Tabassian percussion
Program Notes: Vivaldi and the Gypsies
Throughout his life, Antonio Vivaldi never elaborated on the sources of inspiration for his compositions. This could be one of the reasons why the spiritual kinship between his concerto pieces and Eastern European gypsy music has hitherto gone unnoticed. While this assumption may seem absurd at a first glance at the geographic situation, it becomes clearly apparent upon closer inspection.
As a virtuoso and composer, Vivaldi travelled widely. He is known to have attended performances of his operas in Prague and also in Vienna which took him close to the Balkans, and it is likely that he encountered nomadic musicians during these excursions. In fact, this was nothing unusual because Georg Philipp Telemann, who worked for a time in Poland, comments in one of his three (!) autobiographies that a skilled composer could gain enough musical inspiration to last a lifetime by listening to gypsy musicians.
Vivaldi taught for many years at the orphanage school famous for its shining musical life: the Ospedale della Pietà. This “orphanage” (in fact a home for the illegitimate daughters of noblemen) lay on the Riva degli Schiavi, the Slavic Canal. One can easily imagine how travellers arriving from Eastern European countries would perform their music with their instruments and songs, practically on Vivaldi's doorstep!
The obvious closeness of the motifs used in the opening tutti in the third movement of the late concerto RV 375 to gypsy music makes it even more tempting to surmise that Vivaldi must have come into contact with music from Eastern Europe. The ragged initial sixteenth notes, the syncopated rhythms, the abrupt dynamic contrasts and the pianissimo passages that appear are almost identical in the collection of gypsy music Uhrovska (1730) and are strong evidence to support the claim in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians that Vivaldi became inspired by the music of the Slavic hinterlands.
In addition to this surprising conclusion, there is an evident spiritual link that makes juxtaposing Vivaldi's music with pieces from the collection Uhrovska (1730) remarkably satisfying. The composer and the gypsy musicians were clearly exceptional virtuosos who derived great pleasure from using their talents to exploit the limits of their instruments’ capabilities. The concerto for flautino speaks its own language, exposing the recorder in a highly virtuosic way that was unsurpassed in his time. We added a cadenza in Vivaldi’s style, a feature that is derived from Vivaldi's own performance practice. According to eyewitness accounts, he improvised ad hoc with virtuosic “fireworks” between pieces or movements, demonstrating his extraordinary virtuosity. Written-out cadenzas actually exist in Vivaldi's concerto oeuvre (such as in the violin concerto Il grosso mogul) that provide documented proof of this practice. We have added a cadenza also to the Concerto in C Major P. 81 for 2 recorders, 2 violins and basso continuo, which, in this instance provides an opportunity to demonstrate the virtuosity of the two recorder players.
The Uhrovska collection (named for the eponymous town in present-day Slovakia where it was found) from 1730 is a fascinating document that provides a direct glimpse into the world of gypsy music. The approximately 350 melodies it contains were probably intended to be as comprehensive a collection of gypsy music as possible. Its multi-national character documents the extent to which the gypsies--and with them their music--travelled. Hungarian melodies stand next to Czech songs and the location of Uhrovska’s discovery in Slovakia suggests further national influences.
Contrary to the oral tradition of the gypsies, in essence without written record, a travelling master violinist must have attempted to assemble the music of his people into a comprehensive “catalogue”. Few gypsies would have studied notation and so we must thus infer that Uhrovska was compiled by a travelling musician who had come into contact with the educated classes of his time. In this case, he utilized a sort of shorthand, leaving plenty of room for creativity.
Apart from a few exceptions, the music in the Uhrovska collection is notated in a single voice and so the bass line and the harmonic and rhythmic fleshing-out in the mid-range would have been improvised. Thus, it was implied that the pieces would be arranged ad hoc by gypsy bands. We have adopted this practice and expanded the melodies into multi-voiced pieces.
The mostly single-line melodies do not provide any indications regarding the formal figuration. It is impossible that a melody would have been played through only once, but even here the sequence is left to each performer. To draw a parallel, one just has to look at jazz music, where relatively short melodies are expanded into longer pieces through improvisation. This generous freedom allows the interpreter of this music quite an unusual role, because it is the interpreter who actually gives the music form. As a result, the recording sessions for the present CD were an extraordinary experience since the interpretation changed spontaneously even during recording and the music continually assumed a different form.
The melodies contain surprising “twists” that can make harmonizing in the traditional baroque sense impossible. The eventful history of the Sinti and Roma people, who during the Middle Ages found their way to Europe from their origins in India, has left its traces here and it is impossible to establish exactly how this music would have sounded. We have attempted to do justice to the inner richness of these melodies with arrangements that are as diverse as possible.
It became obvious to us during this project that the undercurrent of kinship between these two different music styles is too insistent and that the rough and fresh gypsy music must have exerted a great fascination on a composer such as Vivaldi. Although cause for speculation remains, we hope that the listener will be inclined to share our enthusiasm for this unusual musical encounter.
Matthias Maute
Program Six, 43rd Indianapolis Early Music Festival
Sunday, July 25, 2010, 7:30 p.m.
Frank & Katrina Basile Theater at the Indiana History Center on the Downtown Canal, 450 West Ohio Street Tickets
Vivaldi and the Baroque Gypsies:
A musical encounter in Eastern Europe
Throughout his life, Antonio Vivaldi never elaborated on the sources of inspiration for his compositions. This could be one of the reasons why the spiritual kinship between his concerto pieces and Eastern European gypsy music has hitherto gone unnoticed. However Vivaldi is known to have attended performances of his operas in Prague and also in Vienna which took him close to the Balkans, and it is likely that he encountered nomadic musicians during these excursions.
.
Furthermore Vivaldi met travellers from Eastern Europa practically on his doorsteps in Venice: The Ospedale della Pietà where Vivaldi was teaching lay on the Riva degli Schiavi, the Slavic Canal. One can easily imagine how musicians arriving from Eastern European countries would perform their music with their instruments and songs, practically on Vivaldi's doorstep!
Programme
Anonymous (Uhrovska zbierka, 1730) Präambulum
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) Concerto in A minor for 2 recorders, 2 violins and bc Adagio/Allegro-Adagio-Allegro
Anonymous (Uhrovska zbierka, 1730)
C 256 / Hungaricus 25 / Hungaricus 23 / Hungaricus 53 / C 106
Anonymous (18th century) Balletti di Venezia
Allegro assai-Sarabande-Allegro-Allegro-Adagio-Finale (Presto)
Anonymous (Uhrovska zbierka, 1730)
C 206 / C 207/ C 208 / C 345
--Intermission----
Anonymous (Uhrovska zbierka, 1730)
Pulcher/Anglicus/Ballet Doctoris Fausti ad mensam
Antonio Vivaldi
Sonate in G minor RV 63 La Follia for 2 recorders and bc
Anonymous (Uhrovska zbierka, 1730)
C 272 /C 275 / Asztali Nota
Antonio Vivaldi
Concerto in G Major RV 443 for flautino, strings and bc
Allegro-(Adagio)-Allegro molto
(Soloist : Matthias Maute)
Anonymous (Uhrovska zbierka, 1730)
Hungaricus 15 / Iag Bari
Matthias Maute recorder, traverso
Sophie Larivière recorder, traverso
Olivier Brault baroque violin, violino piccolo
Lucie Ringuette baroque violin
Susie Napper baroque cello
David Jacques baroque guitar
Ziya Tabassian percussion
Program Notes: Vivaldi and the Gypsies
Throughout his life, Antonio Vivaldi never elaborated on the sources of inspiration for his compositions. This could be one of the reasons why the spiritual kinship between his concerto pieces and Eastern European gypsy music has hitherto gone unnoticed. While this assumption may seem absurd at a first glance at the geographic situation, it becomes clearly apparent upon closer inspection.
As a virtuoso and composer, Vivaldi travelled widely. He is known to have attended performances of his operas in Prague and also in Vienna which took him close to the Balkans, and it is likely that he encountered nomadic musicians during these excursions. In fact, this was nothing unusual because Georg Philipp Telemann, who worked for a time in Poland, comments in one of his three (!) autobiographies that a skilled composer could gain enough musical inspiration to last a lifetime by listening to gypsy musicians.
Vivaldi taught for many years at the orphanage school famous for its shining musical life: the Ospedale della Pietà. This “orphanage” (in fact a home for the illegitimate daughters of noblemen) lay on the Riva degli Schiavi, the Slavic Canal. One can easily imagine how travellers arriving from Eastern European countries would perform their music with their instruments and songs, practically on Vivaldi's doorstep!
The obvious closeness of the motifs used in the opening tutti in the third movement of the late concerto RV 375 to gypsy music makes it even more tempting to surmise that Vivaldi must have come into contact with music from Eastern Europe. The ragged initial sixteenth notes, the syncopated rhythms, the abrupt dynamic contrasts and the pianissimo passages that appear are almost identical in the collection of gypsy music Uhrovska (1730) and are strong evidence to support the claim in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians that Vivaldi became inspired by the music of the Slavic hinterlands.
In addition to this surprising conclusion, there is an evident spiritual link that makes juxtaposing Vivaldi's music with pieces from the collection Uhrovska (1730) remarkably satisfying. The composer and the gypsy musicians were clearly exceptional virtuosos who derived great pleasure from using their talents to exploit the limits of their instruments’ capabilities. The concerto for flautino speaks its own language, exposing the recorder in a highly virtuosic way that was unsurpassed in his time. We added a cadenza in Vivaldi’s style, a feature that is derived from Vivaldi's own performance practice. According to eyewitness accounts, he improvised ad hoc with virtuosic “fireworks” between pieces or movements, demonstrating his extraordinary virtuosity. Written-out cadenzas actually exist in Vivaldi's concerto oeuvre (such as in the violin concerto Il grosso mogul) that provide documented proof of this practice. We have added a cadenza also to the Concerto in C Major P. 81 for 2 recorders, 2 violins and basso continuo, which, in this instance provides an opportunity to demonstrate the virtuosity of the two recorder players.
The Uhrovska collection (named for the eponymous town in present-day Slovakia where it was found) from 1730 is a fascinating document that provides a direct glimpse into the world of gypsy music. The approximately 350 melodies it contains were probably intended to be as comprehensive a collection of gypsy music as possible. Its multi-national character documents the extent to which the gypsies--and with them their music--travelled. Hungarian melodies stand next to Czech songs and the location of Uhrovska’s discovery in Slovakia suggests further national influences.
Contrary to the oral tradition of the gypsies, in essence without written record, a travelling master violinist must have attempted to assemble the music of his people into a comprehensive “catalogue”. Few gypsies would have studied notation and so we must thus infer that Uhrovska was compiled by a travelling musician who had come into contact with the educated classes of his time. In this case, he utilized a sort of shorthand, leaving plenty of room for creativity.
Apart from a few exceptions, the music in the Uhrovska collection is notated in a single voice and so the bass line and the harmonic and rhythmic fleshing-out in the mid-range would have been improvised. Thus, it was implied that the pieces would be arranged ad hoc by gypsy bands. We have adopted this practice and expanded the melodies into multi-voiced pieces.
The mostly single-line melodies do not provide any indications regarding the formal figuration. It is impossible that a melody would have been played through only once, but even here the sequence is left to each performer. To draw a parallel, one just has to look at jazz music, where relatively short melodies are expanded into longer pieces through improvisation. This generous freedom allows the interpreter of this music quite an unusual role, because it is the interpreter who actually gives the music form. As a result, the recording sessions for the present CD were an extraordinary experience since the interpretation changed spontaneously even during recording and the music continually assumed a different form.
The melodies contain surprising “twists” that can make harmonizing in the traditional baroque sense impossible. The eventful history of the Sinti and Roma people, who during the Middle Ages found their way to Europe from their origins in India, has left its traces here and it is impossible to establish exactly how this music would have sounded. We have attempted to do justice to the inner richness of these melodies with arrangements that are as diverse as possible.
It became obvious to us during this project that the undercurrent of kinship between these two different music styles is too insistent and that the rough and fresh gypsy music must have exerted a great fascination on a composer such as Vivaldi. Although cause for speculation remains, we hope that the listener will be inclined to share our enthusiasm for this unusual musical encounter.
Matthias Maute
