musica Dei donum
CD reviews
The violin in 17th-century Germany & Austria
[I] Johann Jakob WALTHER (1650 - 1717): Scherzi da Violino
Illyria Consort
Dir: Bojan Čičić
rec: July 26 - 30, 2021, East Woodhay (Hampshire), St Martin's Church
Delphian Records - DCD34294 (© 2022) (1.40'48")
Liner-notes: E
Cover & track-list
Scores
Spotify
Suite in A (I);
Sonata in C (II);
Sonata in D (III);
Sonata in G (IV);
Aria in e minor (V);
Sonata in B flat (VI);
Sonata in A (VII);
Sonata in C (VIII);
Sonata in D (IX);
Imitatione del cuccu (X);
Sonata in B flat (XI);
Aria in e minor (XII)
Bojan Čičić, violin;
Susanne Heinrich, viola da gamba;
David Miller, archlute, theorbo;
Steven Devine, harpsichord, organ
[II] "Baroque Violin Sonatas – Biber, Schmelzer, Kindermann, Böddecker"
Elfa Rún Kristinsdóttir, violin;
Magnus Andersson, theorbo;
Sabine Erdmann, organ
rec: July 1 - 4, 2019, Berlin, Evangelische Kirche Zum Heiligen Kreuz
Solaire Records - SOL1009 (© 2020) (60'57")
No liner-notes
Cover & track-list
Scores Biber
Scores Schmelzer
Spotify
Heinrich Ignaz Franz BIBER (1644-1704):
Sonata II in d minor (C 139);
Sonata V in e minor (C 142);
Sonata VI in c minor (C 143);
Philipp Heinrich BÖDDECKER (1607-1683):
Sonata in d minor;
Johann Erasmus KINDERMANN (1616-1655):
Sonata in d minor;
Sonata in a minor;
Johann Heinrich SCHMELZER (1623-1680):
Sonata III in g minor;
Sonata IV in d minor
Philipp Friedrich Böddecker, Sacra Partitura, 1651;
Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, Sonatae unarum fidium, seu a violino solo, 1664;
Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Sonatæ, violino solo, 1681
The years around 1600 were a turning point in the history of the violin, the way it was played and the music that was written for it. Until that time, it was a consort instrument, part of an ensemble of strings or of diverse instruments (broken consort). It was even not socially acceptable, due to its raw and harsh tone, as it was expressed at the time. The emergence of the stile nuovo resulted in a repertoire of virtuosic pieces for singular instruments, whether the violin, the cornett or the sackbut. Such pieces could often be played on every available instrument, but some composers also wrote music specifically intended for the violin. This was made possible thanks to technical developments.
The new style was born in Italy, and the earliest repertoire for solo instruments was also written by Italian composers. However, the Italian style and way of violin playing soon disseminated across parts of Europe. It was quickly embraced in central and northern Germany, and somewhat later also in southern Germany, Bohemia and Austria. A crucial role in the transportation of the new techniques and new music was Carlo Farina, who entered the service of the court in Dresden and published a number of books with instrumental music. Other composers also moved north to work at several courts, such as Giovanni Battista Buonamente and Biagio Marini. Musicians from north of the Alps travelled to Italy to broaden their horizon, such as Johann Jakob Walther.
Walther may have learnt the violin from a Polish violinist. From 1674 to 1681 he was at the service of the court in Dresden; he then moved to Mainz where he remained until his death. Only two collections of pieces for violin and basso continuo of his pen are known. The first of these has been recorded complete for the first time by Bojan Čičić. It includes twelve pieces, called sonata or aria. There are two exceptions. The collection starts with a Suite in A, consisting of four dances that were to become a fixed part of suites: allemande, courante, sarabande and gigue (but then in Italian spelling). The other exception is the tenth item: Imitatione del cuccu. The latter sheds light on an important feature of Walther's music: his love for pieces of a pictorial character. In his oeuvre one finds many pieces in which the violin imitates other musical instruments or animals. In this respect he was undoubtedly influenced by Farina and his Capriccio stravagante. Those may be considered a way to show off, but the scholar Greta Haenen, in her liner-notes to another recording, states that these were also - and perhaps in the first place - used as exercises to train specific playing techniques. It seems likely that Walther conceived both of his collections of pieces as pedagogical material.
The pieces included in the Scherzi demonstrate a variety of playing techniques. An important part of violin playing was multiple stopping. It seems that this technique was more frequently applied in Germany than in Italy, which may be due to the strong German tradition of counterpoint. There are many passages where Walther applies this technique. Counterpoint was also an important part of the oeuvre of representatives of the north German organ school, which may be another source of influence on Walther's oeuvre. Notable are, in this respect, the virtuosic figurations over a pedal point - another feature of north German organ music - in the Sonata in D {III) (CD 1, track 14).
Some movements explicitly refer to playing techniques. Several include the word staccato; on the other hand, one has the indication legato. The Aria in e minor (V) includes a section with the indication tremolo. The Sonata in C (VIII) includes two playing techniques. One section is called ondeggiando, better known with the French term ondulé, which refers to "a 'wavy' motion executed by moving the bow back and forth across two or more adjacent strings" (New Grove). It is followed by a section entitled arpeggiando con arcate sciolte, referring to a bowing technique where each note is played with a separate, distinct bow stroke. Apart from the demonstration of various playing techniques, one cannot overlook that Walther is not afraid of an imaginative use of harmony, including marked dissonances, as in some sections of the Sonata in A (VII).
Returning to the pictorial parts of Walther's oeuvre: the Imitatione del cuccu is more than a frequent imitation of the call of the cuckoo, as we find them in some organ pieces of the 17th century. "Walther's take on this is arguably more sophisticated, since he doesn't so much use the violin's expressive techniques to imitate sounds as allow the 'cuccu' motif to take the listener into realms of the affective imagination as it is transformed and suffuses the music in new guises, giving it depth instead of drawing attention to its surface", as Wiebke Thormählen puts it in her liner-notes.
Pieces by Walther often turn up in recordings of 17th-century violin music. They may be intended as pedagogical stuff, but that does not compromise their musical quality. The recording of the complete Scherzi shows that impressively. Never one gets the impression that this is only a technical demonstration - this is very good music. That comes off perfectly in the performances by Bojan Čičić, who is a brilliant player, as several previous recordings have shown. This recording is not only a display of his technical skills, which are impressive, but also his stylistic insight. Music like this can only convince if it is played in the right way, according to the style of the time. A clear articulation and dynamic differentiation are prerequisites for this repertoire, which is rooted in the rhetorical tradition of German music. This is music that is supposed to speak - and that is what it does here. It is also important to respect the flow of these pieces, which are written in the stylus phantasticus. And that is the case here, which makes these performances so thrilling.
This set of two discs is one of the most important recordings of baroque violin music of recent years.
With the second recording we move south. The main composer in the programme that was recorded by Elfa Rún Kristinsdóttir, Magnus Andersson and Sabine Erdmann is Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber. They have selected three of the eight sonatas which were published in 1681 under the title of Sonatae Violino Solo. These sonatas are technically extremely demanding, more than the Mystery Sonatas, which certainly are no easy stuff either. Biber here uses playing techniques that probably very few of his peers mastered. The set was published simultaneously in Salzburg and Nuremberg, and was reprinted at least once. The former may indicate how important Biber considered these works, the latter that they found much appeal. One wonders whether the reprint is an indication of the dissemination of Biber's advanced playing techniques.
The Sonata VI in c minor reveals one of the notable differences between Biber and his contemporary Walther. Whereas both liked pictorial music, Walther explicitly rejected the use of scordatura - a tuning different from the standard ( g–d'–a'–e''). Biber frequently used it, especially in his Mystery Sonatas. In this sonata he goes even a step further, in that the first two sections - the second of which is a passacaille - have to be played in the conventional tuning, whereas for the rest of the sonata the player has to tune the E string down to D. In a performance - and probably also a recording - the player may switch to another instrument with the correct tuning. It is one of the challenges Biber seems to have loved. It is not the only reason this sonata is remarkable.
The Sonata II in d minor opens with a short section without indication, followed by an aria with six variations. In this sonata Biber uses various techniques, such as double stopping and bariolage and goes as high as the fifth position. The Sonata V in e minor is again dominated by series of variations, both based on bassi ostinati. It covers the entire range of the violin, which goes up to e'''. Again, Biber uses double stopping frequently.
The only violinist of Biber's calibre was his older contemporary Johann Heinrich Schmelzer. For many years he played a key role at the imperial court in Vienna. The two sonatas in the programme are taken from the collection Sonatae unarum fidium of 1664. As one may expect, they are written in the stylus phantasticus. The collection was dedicated to Carl Carafa, papal legate who at the time of publication had just been elevated to cardinal. It is notable that the edition did not consist of separate parts, as was customary at the time, but has the form of a score. Charles Brewer, in his book The Instrumental Music of Schmeltzer, Biber, Muffat and Their Contemporaries (London, 2016), states that this "was most likely necessary since the player of the continuo had to be able to see the difficult and at times rhapsodic passagework in the violin".
The two sonatas performed here are both partly or entirely based on a basso ostinato. The latter is the case with the Sonata III, whereas the Sonata IV opens with a passacaille - one of the most revered forms at the time - which is followed by a sarabande and a gigue. It closes with an adagio and an allegro.
Whereas today Biber and Schmelzer are two of the best-known composers of the late 17th-century, and their music is regularly performed and recorded, the other two composers on the programme are hardly known. Both are from the southern part of Germany, which means that they were close to Austria; therefore it makes sense to include them in the programme.
Philipp Friedrich Böddecker was born in Hagenau in the Alsace, but moved to Stuttgart at an early age, as in 1618 his father Joachim became director of collegiate music. He was also his first teacher, but Böddecker also received lessons from the collegiate organist Johann Ulrich Steigleder. In addition to the organ, he learned to play the bassoon. His first post was that of singing teacher and organist in Buchsweiler (Alsace); after that he moved to Darmstadt, where he worked as bassoonist at the court. In 1632 he was invited to become organist of the Barfüsser Kirche in Frankfurt, but as his employer did not want him to go - a clear sign of appreciation - he only took up the post in 1638. In 1643 he returned to the Alsace, as he became organist of Strasbourg Cathedral; five years later he was also appointed organist and music director of the University. From 1652 until his death he was organist at the Collegiate Church in Stutggart. It seems that he had set his eyes on the post of Kapellmeister at the court, and when in 1657 this position was given to Samuel Capricornus, the result was a long and embittered conflict with his rival. Not that much music of his pen has been preserved. It includes only two instrumental works, both part of a collection of sacred music, published in 1651 under the title of Sacra Partitura. One of them is for bassoon, and is his best-known work. Böddecker seems not to have been a violinist himself, but the Sonata in d minor is a fully idiomatic piece, consisting of several short sections in the manner of the stylus phantasticus.
Johann Erasmus Kindermann was born in Nuremberg, which was a wealthy town, where the arts - the visual arts, literature, music - flourished. He visited the local Latin school and was educated at the keyboard by Johann Staden, the organist of St Lorenz and later St Sebald. It was in the 1620s that Nuremberg started to feel the effects of the Thirty Years' War, which culminated in a confrontation of opposing armies before the city walls in 1632. Only two years later, the town was hit by the plague. About half of the population fell victim to it, including Johann Staden. Kindermann was studying in Venice at the time, which saved him from the same fate. When he returned to Nuremberg, he was appointed second organist of the Frauenkirche, and in 1640 he became organist of St Egidius, a position he held until his early death. If Kindermann is known, it is for his songs, which he published in 1642 in two volumes. They are only a small part of his oeuvre, which includes also sacred works and instrumental music. Very little of it has been given any attention. I can't remember having heard any of his instrumental works before, and that makes the inclusion of two sonatas for violin and basso continuo all the more important. They are in no way inferior to what was written at the time, such as the sonata by Böddecker or what is included in the so-called Partiturbuch Ludwig.
The performers have chosen to accompany the violin on theorbo and organ rather than the harpsichord. That is no problem at all, and just one of the possibilities. One may wonder, though, how many performers at the time may have had an organ at their disposal. That said, the organ has a strong presence, and is a true partner rather than a supporting force. Being a great lover of the organ, I very much enjoyed its role here. Unfortunately the booklet includes interviews with the performers but no information about the music. One wonders where these pieces may have been played. They were certainly not performed during the liturgy as in Kindermann's time, Nuremberg was still firmly Protestant.
This is only a minor issue. The playing is of the highest level. Elfa Rún Kristinsdóttir masters all the techniques that are needed to perform the pieces she has selected. The technicall skills are used to express the Affekte of these works, and the contrasts come off to full extent. The combination of different works by four different composers, all of high quality, makes this disc a highly worthwhile addition to each collection of baroque music.
Johan van Veen (© 2025)
Relevant links:
Elfa Rún Kristinsdóttir
Sabine Erdmann
The Illyria Consort