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Domenico Maria DREYER (1701 - 1735): "6 Sonatas for oboe and continuo"
Alfredo Bernardini, oboe;
Rebecca Ferri, cello;
Giovanni Bellini, archlute;
Giacome Benedetti, harpsichord;
Anna Clemente, organ
rec: Feb 6 - 9, 2023, Florence, Chiesa di Santa Felicita a Ponte Vecchio (sala capitolare)
Brilliant Classics - 96738 (© 2024) (69'07")
Liner-notes: E
Cover, track-list & booklet
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Sonata I in e minor;
Sonata II in C;
Sonata III in G;
Sonata IV in d minor;
Sonata V in g minor;
Sonata VI in a minor
The oboe made a relatively late appearance at the European music scene. It was developed around 1660 by the Hotteterre family in France, a dynasty of instrument makers and musicians. It was soon to be included in various royal ensembles. As everything French held a great attraction for monarchs and aristocrats across Europe, the oboe soon disseminated to other countries and was included in orchestral and chamber music groups.
Double-reeds, like the oboe, were almost exclusively played by professional musicians. The preparation of reeds was a time-consuming activity whose technique took years to hone and was fiercely guarded by musicians themselves. As a consequence not that much music was published which was specifically intended for the oboe. In particular collections of sonatas were aimed at the growing market of amateurs, and as only a few of them were able to play the oboe, this instrument was mostly mentioned as one of the alternatives, alongside instruments such as the recorder and the transverse flute. The same was probably true for concertos: Giuseppe Sammartini performed for many years in London as a virtuosic oboist, but hardly any concerto of his pen has been preserved, and no concerto was published. It is safe to assume that he composed his concertos for his own use.
Whereas the oboe made its way to Germany in the last quarter of the 17th century, the instrument made its first appearance in Italy only towards the end of the century. In 1698 the chapel of San Marco in Venice dismissed its last cornett player; his place was taken by Onofrio Penati, a virtuoso on the oboe, who was paid the highest salary of the entire orchestra. This tells us something about his reputation, but probably also about the appreciation of the new instrument.
Teachers of the oboe in Italy mostly came from above the Alps. In 1706 the German Ludwig (Lodovico) Erdmann was appointed oboe teacher at the Ospedale della Pietà. In 1709 he moved to Florence where he stayed for the rest of his life. There he may have been the teacher of Domenico Maria Dreyer, whose six sonatas for oboe and basso continuo have been recorded by Alfredo Bernardini.
Dreyer was born in Florence, and as his family name suggests he was of German descent. His younger brother, Giovanni Filippo Maria, a castrato soprano, was nicknamed il Tedeschino (*). The entire Dreyer family was part of the Centuria di Santa Cecilia, a brotherhood whose aim was to help its members, all musicians, economically in the event of illness or death. Domenico was one of the two oboists in the brotherhood; the other one was Erdmann. Little is known about Dreyer's career. In 1726 a public performance in Lucca is documented, and in 1727 a set of six oboe sonatas was published in Bologna as his Op. 1. That collection has been lost, but Bernardini suggests it could be identical with the set of six sonatas that he recorded, based on a manuscript preserved in the Paris Bibliothèque Nationale. These sonatas are the only compositions of Dreyer's pen that are known, apart from two recorder sonatas preserved in Parma.
However, there are some doubts about his authorship of the oboe sonatas. Bernardini, in his notes in the booklet, mentions that Dreyer is said not to have been a brilliant oboist himself. In the early 1730s, when he worked at the court in St Petersburg, he played only second oboe. This makes Bernardini wonder whether he may have acquired these sonatas and published them under his own name. This question, as he admits, may never be answered. It is clear, though, that the composer of these sonatas had a thorough knowledge of the oeuvre of Vivaldi, and that may point in the direction of Dreyer after all. It seems very likely that he knew Vivaldi personally. He and his brother often travelled together, and the latter sang in several operas by Vivaldi. The sonatas include a number of passages that show affinity with Vivaldi's music. Bernardini lists a number of them in his notes. The most striking example is the siciliana from the Sonata VI which is almost a quotation of the aria 'Domine Deus' from Vivaldi's Gloria in D (RV 589).
Notable are also some virtuosic cadenzas, such as the one that opens the first movement of the Sonata I and the one that closes the Sonata VI. And then there is a note which was only playable on a particular oboe (c#1), which appears at the end of the Sonata IV. In the Sonata III the third movement includes another unusual note, an e3, "which is out of the usual range for the oboe of that era".
Despite the doubts about the authenticity of these sonatas, they are undeniably of high quality, and Bernardini is certainly right when he writes: "]Let] us leave the authorship of these sonatas to Dreyer and enjoy playing and listening to them." There is every reason to enjoy this recording, not only because of the quality of these sonatas, but also the brilliant way Bernardini plays them. He is one of the finest players of historical oboes of our time, and both technically and artistically this recording is an impressive testimony of his art. The fast movements are given lively accounts, sometimes at high speed, and in the slow movements he can show his skills in the ornamentation department. He is supported by an excellent basso continuo group, playing a variety of instruments in different combinations.
It is to be hoped that these sonatas will become available in a modern edition, as they deserve to be part of the repertoire of oboists.
Johan van Veen (© 2024)