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Trio & solo sonatas from Rome
[I] Carlo MANNELLI (1640 - 1697): Trio sonatas Op. 3
Ensemble Giardino di Delizie
rec: March 24 - 27, 2022, Trevi (PG), Chiesa di San Francesco
Brilliant Classics - 96465 (© 2023) (85'21")
Liner-notes: E/IT
Cover & track-list
Spotify
Sonata in g minor, op. 3,1;
Sonata in G, op. 3,2;
Sonata in a minor, op. 3,3;
Sonata in A, op. 3,4;
Sonata in b minor, op. 3,5;
Sonata in c minor, op. 3,6;
Sonata in D, op. 3,7;
Sonata in e minor, op. 3,8;
Sonata in e minor, op. 3,9;
Sonata in F, op. 3,10;
Sonata in F, op. 3,11;
Sonata in a minor, op. 3,12
Sources:
Sonate a 3, op. 3, 1692
Ewa Anna Augustynowicz, Katarzyna Solecka, violin;
Valeria Brunelli, cello;
Sofia Ferri, theorbo, guitar;
Elisabetta Ferri, harpsichord, organ
[II] Giovanni MOSSI, Antonio MONTANARI: "Golden Strings - Sonatas for violin and basso continuo"
Anima & Corpo
rec: July 18 - 21, 2021, San Ginesio (Macerata), Sant'Agostino
Arcana - A539 (© 2023) (65'16")
Liner-notes: E/F/IT
Cover, track-list & booklet
Scores Montanari
Scores Mossi, op. 6
Spotify
Antonio MONTANARI (1676-1737):
Sonata in d minor;
Sonata in e minor;
Sonata in a minor;
Giovanni MOSSI (c1680-1742):
Sonata in g minor, op. 5,6;
Sonata in d minor, op. 6,4;
Sonata in E, op. 6,5
Sources:
Giovanni Mossi,
XII Sonate a violino e violoncello o cembalo op. 5, 1727;
XII Sonate o Sinfonie a violino solo con il violoncello op. 6, 1733
Gabriele Pro, violin;
Maria Calvo, cello;
Simone Vallerotonda, archlute, guitar;
Cristiano Gaudio, harpsichord
Time and again new names appear in the catalogue of recordings. Often composers which are nearly or even completely forgotten, turn out to have written excellent music. In their own time they were often men of repute, and it is due to the focus on 'great names' that their music is seldom performed. Carlo Mannelli is a case in point.
He was born in Rome and there he made a career as a singer and violinist. When he was still a boy, he entered the service of Prince Camillo Pamphilj, training as a castrato and violinist. In the early stages of his career he was mainly active in the former capacity; as such he sang in operas and oratorios and during Maundy Thursday processions. In the Lenten oratorio performances in S Marcello he not only performed as a singer, but also as a violinist; in 1668 he became the first violinist, a position Arcangelo Corelli took over in 1690. As a composer he was influenced by the likes of Ercole Bernabei and Lelio Colista; to the latter he was related through his mother.
Mannelli's extant oeuvre is small; it is assumed that most of his output has been lost. An inventory drawn up in Mannelli's will lists a large number of sinfonie for one or three violins and basso continuo, sonatas for three violins and basso continuo as well as capricci for violin and basso continuo. Only two collections of Sonate a 3 have come down to us, published as his Op. 2 (1682) and Op. 3 (1692) respectively. The former comprises fourteen sonatas, the latter twelve. What they have in common is that the violin parts are technically demanding. Formally they belong among the genre of the trio sonata, but they have little in common with what was to become the favourite genre among amateurs. These sonatas were very likely beyond their capacity at the time.
A look at the track-list in the booklet suffices to recognize their particular character, and the difference between them and the trio sonatas of Corelli, the first of which were printed in 1681. The shortest of the sonatas in the Op. 3 consists of four movements, and takes just under five minutes (No. 3 in a minor). The longest takes more than ten minutes (No. 6 in c minor), and comes in five movements. The largest number of movements is six (Sonatas 5, 8 and 9). The structure of the sonatas and the order of the movements is very different. The Sonata No. 10 in F, for instance, comprises four movements: the first three are adagios, the fourth is an allegro. Nearly each sonata includes a fugal movement, sometimes called that way, but often called canzone.
Several sonatas include a movement called capriccio. The German composer Michael Praetorius stated about the capriccio: "One takes a subject, but deserts it for another whenever it comes into one’s mind so to do. One can add, take away, digress, turn and direct the music as one wishes, but while one is not strictly bound by the rules, one ought not go too much out of the mode." Unpredictability is the main feature of this form, and Mannelli's capricci attest to that. One could even use this term to characterize Mannelli's sonatas in general. They are full of surprises, also with regard to harmony. Several sonatas include passages with chromaticism and dissonances, and there are many moments of strong harmonic tension. There are rhythmic contrasts, and Mannelli switches from polyphony to homophony and back.
Listening to these sonatas is quite an interesting affair, and if they are performed well, the result is highly compelling. I have reviewed several previous recordings of the Ensemble Giardino di Delizie, which specializes in Italian repertoire, and each time I was impressed by the technical quality of the playing and the stylistic understanding of the repertoire. That is also the case here. This is a really great and exciting recording, which demonstrates that Mannelli was a master of the violin, and that it is a great pity that the largest part of his oeuvre seems to have been lost. That makes this recording all the more important, and I hope that these fine players may turn to the Op. 2 later. Some sonatas from that collection have been recorded, but it deserves a complete recording.
With the second disc we stay in Rome, but the clock has moved forward thirty to forty years, and the sonatas by the two composers in the programme are scored for one violin and basso continuo. It is very likely that Antonio Montanari and Giovanni Mossi were in some way influenced by Corelli; they may even have been his pupils, but that is impossible to prove, as we know hardly anything about their training. Both were representatives of the generation after Corelli, which was influenced by him, but at the same time moved away from his style.
Mossi was born in or - as New Grove has it - around 1680. He added romano to his name, suggesting he was from Rome, but there is no firm evidence of this. Leila Schayegh, in the programme notes to her recording of sonatas from his Op. 1 (Pan Classics, 2009), suggests it could also be "a declaration of his hard fought acceptance into this hallowed sphere of musical life". Around 1700 Rome was the place to be, not only because of the presence of famous masters of music, like Arcangelo Corelli, but in particular of patrons like the Cardinals Pamphili and Ottoboni and the Marchese Ruspoli. Apparently Mossi was a child prodigy as he played the violin in public concerts, together with his father, at the age of just 14.
During his life other composers of fame were also for some time active in Rome, like Handel, Alessandro and Domenico Scarlatti, Bernardo Pasquini and Locatelli. Mossi soon became part of the musical establishment, which manifested itself in his membership of the Congregazione di Santa Cecilia. Within this organisation he soon took on leading positions. In 1716 his first collection of music was printed by Estienne and Jeanne Roger in Amsterdam. His other five opuses were printed by the same publisher, and this only emphasises his growing reputation as a composer. He composed three sets of twelve sonatas each for violin and bc, and also 26 concertos in three opuses. The Sonate a Violino, e Violone o Cimbalo Opera Prima made great impression and were mentioned by the German composer and theorist Johann Mattheson in one of his books. In 1717 Mossi is mentioned as one of the musicians who worked at the court of Cardinal Ottoboni.
The ensemble Anima & Corpo selected three sonatas from the Op. 5 and Op. 6, which show that Mossi moved in the direction of the galant idiom. It is telling that both sonatas from the Op. 6 open with a movement marked cantabile, which we also meet frequently in the oeuvre of Giuseppe Tartini. In fact, the titles of the five movements of these sonatas have exactly the same character descriptions (except that the No. 5 has the addition of adagio to the cantabile). A further indication of the time these sonatas were written is that both end with a minuet. The previous two movements also have the character of dances: sarabanda and giga respectively. The second movement is the most technically elaborate. Another feature of these sonatas is the use of chromaticism.
In contrast to the sonatas by Mossi, those by Montanari were not published, and are preserved in manuscript in various libraries across Europe. Only seven sonatas from his pen are known. Little of this part of his oeuvre seems to have been recorded. Until this disc was released, I only had a single movement from one of his sonatas in my collection. The main production devoted to Montanari is the recording of six concertos with solo violin by Johannes Pramsohler and the Ensemble Diderot (Audax, 2015).
The entry on Montanari in New Grove is very short, which reflects the lack of knowledge about his development until the moment he arrived in Rome. Unlike Mossi, he was not of Roman birth, but was rather from Modena; he spent some of his formative years in Bologna which explains the presence of some compositions in an anthology of works by local composers from around 1690. In that year Montanari arrived in Rome. The paths of Mossi and Montanari crossed when they both played in the orchestra which in 1707 performed Handel's oratorio La Resurrezione, under the direction of Corelli. They worked again side by side in Ottoboni's orchestras; Montanari's ties with the Cardinal started as early as 1693. Montanari was highly respected; the painter Pier Leone Ghezzi portrayed him, and called him a "most excellent violin player", who had "angelic manners".
Gabriele Pro selected three sonatas preserved in Dresden. The Sonata in d minor consists of four movements in the conventional order of slow, fast, slow, fast. The opening adagio is a kind of capriccio and is reminiscent of the stylus phantasticus of the 17th century. The sarabande includes dissonances. The closing movement is a dance, a giga, which is unique in that here the basso continuo is omitted. The two other sonatas are in three movements in the order slow, fast, fast. The Sonata in e minor is notable for its opening, which has the character of a cadenza. In the Sonata in a minor the violin moves to ninth position in the central allegro.
This disc attests to the brilliance of two violinists who played a major role in Rome in the early 18th century. They deserve more interest than they have received to date; the fact that four of the six sonatas included here appear on disc for the first time, is telling. In Gabriele Pro and his colleagues of the ensemble Anima & Corpo they have found their ideal advocates. They play with panache and flair, and treat the material according to the style, and with the improvisatory freedom that was expected from performers in the composers' time. This is a major contribution to the repertoire and to the discography of baroque music for violin and basso continuo.
Johan van Veen (© 2024)
Relevant links:
Anima & Corpo
Ensemble Giardino di Delizie