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CD reviews
Philipp Heinrich ERLEBACH, Johann Caspar Ferdinand FISCHER, Johann Sigismund KUSSER, Johann FISCHER: "Ouvertures & Suites"
Altberg Ensemble
Dir: Jörg-Andreas Bötticher
rec: Sept 14 - 17, 2023, Łódź, Grażyna and Kiejstut Bacewicz Academy of Music
Dux - 1987 (© 2024) (61'11")
Liner-notes: E//F/PL
Cover & track-list
Spotify
Philipp Heinrich ERLEBACH (1657-1714):
Ouverture VI in g minor [2];
Johann FISCHER (1646-1716):
[Suite] in C [6];
Johann Caspar Ferdinand FISCHER (1656-1746):
Ouverture IV in d minor [3];
Praeludium I in d minorb [4];
Praeludium VIII in Ga [5];
Johann Sigismund KUSSER (1660-1727):
Ouverture II in B flat [1]
Sources:
[1] Johann Sigismund Kusser, Composition de musique suivant la méthode françoise, contenant 6 ouvertures de théâtre accompagnées de plusieurs airs, 1682;
[2] Philipp Heinrich Erlebach, VI Ouvertures, begleitet mit ihren darzu schicklichen Airs, nach französischer Art und Manier, 1693;
Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer, [3] Le Journal du Printems, op. 1, 1695;
[4] Les Pièces de Clavessin, 1696;
[5] Les Pièce de Clavessin (Musicalisches Blumenbüschlein), 1698;
[6] Johann Fischer, Musicalische Fürsten-Lust, bestehend anfänglich in unterschiedenen schönen Ouverturen, Chaconnen, lustigen Suiten und einen curieusen Anhang Polnischer Täntze, mit 3. und 4. Instrumenten, 1706
Katarzyna Czubek, recorder;
Radosław Orawski, recorder, transverse flute;
Ewa Gubiec, transverse flute;
Patrycja Leśnik-Hutek, Jan Hutek, oboe;
Kamila Marcinkowska-Prasad, bassoon;
Johanna Huszcza, Joanna Dobrowolska, Kornelia Korecka, Małgorzata Góraj, Paweł Miczka, Aleksandra Kelm, Debora Kramarek, violin;
Anna Nowak, Ewa Pilarska-Bansazak, Katarzyna Cendlak, viola;
Jakub Kościukiewicz, Anna Cierpisz, cello, bass violin;
Tomasz Iwanek, double bass;
Elias Conrad, theorbo, guitar;
Jörg-Andreas Bötticher (soloa), Ewa Mrowca (solob), harpsichord
Since the early 17th century the Italian style had conquered large parts of Europe. The main exception on the continent was France, where especially under the reign of Louis XIV a specific French musical style was cultivated. Ironically it was a young Italian with the name of Giovanni Battista Lulli, who was engaged to develop that style, in direct opposition to what he had grown up with. He focused on opera, and this part of his oeuvre exerted strong influence on some German composers. They were mostly in the service of princes who were very impressed by the splendour of Louis's court, and were aiming at imitating it. They encouraged or requested the composers in their service to write music in the French style.
The favourite genre was that of the overture - a suite of dances, preceded by an ouverture, which gave such works their title. Such pieces were inspired by the instrumental movements in Lully's operas. In France these were not played as a sequence, like the orchestral suites written by German composers. However, their popularity made the Amsterdam music printer Estienne Roger publish a collection of Ouvertures avec tous les airs, assembled from various operas by Lully. This set the standard for a genre that also includes the popular overtures by Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Philipp Telemann. Other late baroque composers who wrote such works were Johann Friedrich Fasch and Christoph Graupner.
The disc under review focuses on the early stages of the genre in Germany. The suites performed here were written by composers who are not as well-known as the likes of Bach and Telemann, and known as Lullistes. Whereas the former was never in France, and the latter only when the genre of the overture was past its heydays, some of the composers included in the programme of the Altberg Ensemble were in Paris to study the French style on the spot, such as Johann Sigismund Kusser and Johann Fischer.
The earliest collection of suites represented in the programme was published in 1682 by Johann Sigismund Kusser, who was of Hungarian parentage and was born in Pressburg (now Bratislava in Slovakia). He studied with Jean-Baptiste Lully in Paris for six years, and this had a lasting influence on his development as a composer. The largest part of his oeuvre consists of operas, which were performed in Brunswick, Stuttgart and Hamburg. Almost all of them are lost. His time in Hamburg is typical for his career. He settled there in 1694, and almost immediately came into conflict with the manager of the opera, Jakob Kremberg. After probably just one performance he withdrew an opera from the repertoire and founded a rival opera company. In 1695 Kusser became Kapellmeister of the Hamburg opera, but when a year later another manager was appointed Kusser again founded his own opera company with which he started to travel. In his music encyclopedia Johann Gottfried Walther wrote that "because of his volatile and fiery temperament he was unable to remain long in one place". After some years in Stuttgart he went to London in 1704 where he stayed until 1707. He then moved to Dublin where he remained for the rest of his life. Here he became chapel master of Trinity College in 1711 and in 1716 "Master of the Musick attending his Majesty's State in Ireland". In this capacity he had the task of composing the odes for the birthdays of the British monarch which were performed every year at Dublin castle.
The collection of suites bears the title of Composition de musique suivant la méthode françoise, contenant 6 ouvertures de théâtre accompagnées de plusieurs airs. The word air does not refer to a vocal piece: in French opera it means an instrumental piece, often associated with a particular character or group of characters. This music is purely French in style. Kusser even goes so far as to divide the score into five different voices in the French style: dessus, haute-contre, taille, quinte and basse, a fact that is ignored in this recording. The instruments are not specified, but such indications usually refer to strings. That does not exclude the possibility of the participation of winds. The Ouverture No. 2 in B flat opens with an overture, which is followed by seven airs, each of which is a dance, such as menuet, gigue and courante. The second air has the addition Eccho, which means that each phrase has to be played fort and repeated doux. In this recording the strings play pizzicato, which is not indicated in the score. The suite ends as so many French suites with a chaconne.
Johann Heinrich Erlebach shares the fate of many composers of his time: a large part of his oeuvre has been lost. In this particular case it was the fire which hit the castle of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt in 1735 which destroyed many of his works. Ironically it was the great appreciation of the court for its former Kapellmeister which caused this tragedy: after Erlebach's death it purchased all his music from his widow. At the same time Erlebach's reputation among his colleagues is the reason a respectable number of his compositions have come down to us as they collected and exchanged them to be performed where they were working. Still, we only have a relatively small number of the about 750 works Erlebach seems to have composed. He wrote music in all genres, both vocal and instrumental, sacred and secular. Also evidence of Erlebach's reputation is a contemporary poet. In one of his works the title character says: "From there I came to Rudolstadt, where Mr. Erlebach is music director to Count von Schwarzburg and among German composers gives the most satisfaction and outstandingly distinguishes himself".
In 1693 Erlebach published a collection of orchestral suites under the title of VI Ouvertures, begleitet mit ihren darzu schicklichen Airs, nach französischer Art und Manier - "six overtures, accompanied by matching airs, in the French manner". Part of that 'manner' is the division of the orchestra in the same five parts as Kusser. The Overture No. 6 in g minor comprises eight movements. After the usual overture we get some dances but also some pieces that show that these suites have their roots in French opera. The second and sixth movements are called entrée and the fifth movement has the title La Plainte - such pieces also appear in Lully's operas. The suite closes with - one may have guessed it - a chaconne.
For the largest part of his long life Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer was in the service of elector Ludwig Wilhelm of Baden in Rastatt. He was appointed Kapellmeister somewhere between 1691 and 1693. He composed instrumental works, sacred music and works for keyboard. His first printed music was a collection of eight suites for orchestra, published unter the title Le Journal du Printems in Augsburg in 1695. These are written in purely French style, but there is no proof Fischer has ever been in Paris himself. It is interesting, though, that - apart from Cavalli's opera Serse - these suites are the only music by a non-French composer represented in the Collection Philidor, a collection of scores which were popular at the French court and regularly performed there. This suggests that either Fischer has been in Paris after all or that there was some kind of contact between the composer and the French court. It also is an indication that Fischer's music was indeed considered 'French', which is confirmed by the scoring in the traditional French manner in five parts, with the indications mentioned above. However, Fischer adapted his works in some respect to the possibilities of most German court orchestras. For instance, the haute-contre part is higher than in Lully's music, which makes it possible to be played by a violin rather than a viola. The Overture No. 4 in d minor comprises six movements, the first of which is, as usual, an ouverture. Again, it includes an entrée, and here we also find a rondeau, which was to become a highly popular form in the 18th century. The suite ends, as usual, with a basso ostinato, this time a passacaille (*).
In modern times Fischer has become almost exclusively known for his keyboard music. The orchestral suite is embraced by two short specimens of this part of his oeuvre.
The last composer in the programme is Johann Fischer. Although the oldest composer of the four, the collection from which the Suite in C is taken, was published in 1706. He was born in Augsburg and may well have received his first music lessons from his father Jonas, who was a Spielmann - the term generally used for a 'fiddler' without formal education. As his father died when he was only ten years old, others must have taken responsibility of his further musical education. One of them was Tobias Kriegsdorfer, director of the Kantorei of the St Anna Gymnasium in Augsburg. In 1661 Fischer went to Stuttgart, where he studied with Samuel Capricornus, the Kapellmeister at the court. The latter died in 1665 and shortly after that, Fischer went to Paris, where he worked as one of the copyists of Jean-Baptiste Lully for five years.
The collection of 1706 is called Musicalische Fürsten-Lust, bestehend anfänglich in unterschiedenen schönen Ouverturen, Chaconnen, lustigen Suiten und einen curieusen Anhang Polnischer Täntze, mit 3. und 4. Instrumenten - "musical princely entertainment, comprising various beautiful overtures, chaconnes, merry suites and a curious appendix of Polish dances, with three and four instruments". Several things are notable in this collection. Like the three previous composers, the scoring follows French habits. All the pieces follow each other, without a formal division into suites. However, they are ordered in keys, and mosts groups of pieces in a particular key open with an ouverture. The 'suites' don't follow a particular pattern and the number of movements is different. The collection consists of seven 'suites'; the first four include a chaconne. We find several 'operatic' movements, such as entrée, marche and an air des Paysans. In this recording we get the first 'suite' in C. At least, that is what the track-list suggests. However, two movements with the title of La Marche are omitted. They are replaced by Polish dances (Polnische Däntze), which Fischer added as an appendix to the collection. Antoinette Lohmann, who included them into her disc devoted to Fischer ("Der habile Violiste", states in her liner-notes that these pieces are mostly 'Frenchified'. The scoring is the same as in the overtures.
The liner-notes don't mention the fact that the Polish dances have been inserted and are not part of the 'suite'. I am not happy with the decision to include them. The fact that Fischer added them in an appendix suggests that they were not intended to be part of the 'suites'. I also can't see any reason to insert them. Moreover, stylistically they are a kind of Fremdkörper, which sound very different from the movements surrounding them.
Apart from the issue I have already mentioned - the fact that the division into five parts in the French manner is ignored - I have to note once again that the performers have become the victim of what I use to call percussionitis. In the suites by Erlebach and Johann Fischer percussion is added in several movements. The scorings don't indicate its participation and there is no musical reason to use it. It is a case of musical 'populism', which requires vigorous resistance.
Apart from these issues, this disc offers much to enjoy. The 'French suites' by German composers of the first generation are not that well-known. They are much more French than the better-known orchestral suites by the generation of Bach and Telemann, which are much more a mixture of French and Italian elements, and exponents of the goûts réunis. These early suites are excellently written and very entertaining. These qualities certainly come off in the performances by the Altberg Ensemble. A few years ago I reviewed its debut recording - under the direction of Peter Van Heyghen - with music by Telemann. I was impressed by its performances, and my positive impressions are confirmed here. It is a shame that they have taken a few unnecessary and unconvincing liberties in their interpretations.
(*) Fischer's Le Journal du Printems was recorded complete by L'Orfeo Barockorchester, directed by Michi Gaigg (CPO, 2007)
Johan van Veen (© 2024)
Relevant links:
Altberg Ensemble