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Weiss, a contemporary of Bach, on the rarely heard baroque lute. An intimate, masterful music that transcends time and space. The Plečnik church in Stranje offers a unique tribute to divine and eternal beauty.
Intimate
Artist’s message to visitors:
Baroque music is an inexhaustible source of inspiration, constantly full of surprises. The best-known names to wider audiences – Bach and Handel – are merely the tip of the iceberg, towards which countless paths lead. Along these paths, even the most knowledgeable listener may discover something new. With this programme featuring works by Silvius Leopold Weiss, I wish to present a small part of the immense solo repertoire for the Baroque lute. This instrument is considered the most demanding of all lutes, and thanks to its tuning, it allows for the most complete expression of the music of the High and Late Baroque periods. I believe Baroque music is not a museum artefact to be kept in a sterile, protected environment – it needs to be infused with freshness. I therefore invite the audience into the world of Weiss’s art: music that may, to some extent, recall the greatest of them all – Johann Sebastian Bach – but performed on an instrument that is still too rarely heard on Slovenian stages.
My artistic mission:
I understand my artistic mission as multilayered. I was trained as a classical guitarist, which gave me a solid foundation for my later development. In addition to classical and flamenco guitar and composition, an important part of my work includes performing plucked instruments from the Renaissance and Baroque periods on authentic instruments. Although in recent years I have focused mainly on the theorbo and Baroque guitar – both as a soloist and as a member of ensembles and orchestras – my love for Baroque music began with the Baroque lute. In 2018, I released my first album with works by Weiss and Falckenhagen performed on the Baroque lute. I approach the project of performing sonatas from the London Manuscript with great enthusiasm, as this music is fresh, full of challenges for performers and musicologists alike, dynamic, structurally varied, and a significant part of the Baroque lute repertoire. I also believe that audiences consistently respond well to it – and yet it remains far too rarely performed.
Welcome !
Event programme
Weiss
solo works from the London Manuscript
Silvius Leopold Weiss was an extremely respected musician in his time, who spent most of his professional career as the highest paid musician at the Dresden court. He was renowned as a top lutenist, creating and socializing with artists such as Bach, Handel, Vivaldi and others. His compositions were not published during his lifetime, but even though much of his vast opus is lost, he left us around 650 pieces for lute, lute in chamber ensembles and lute concertos. The concert will feature three sonatas and the Tombeau from the London manuscript, which, along with the Dresden manuscript, is considered the most important and contains the most compositions. Although these are compositions by the same composer in similar forms (3 sonatas), they are contrasting works of high artistic quality, which, with their intricate artistry, style, ornamentation and invention, are an important window into the culture and art of Europe in the first half of the 18th century.
(1)
Praelude / Allemande / Cour: / Bourree / Sarab: / Men: / Gigue
L'infidèle"
Entrée / Cour: / Sarabande / Menuet / Musette / Paÿsane
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Tombeau sur la Mort de M: Cajetan Baron d'Hartig arrivee le 25 de mars 1719 / Composée par Silvio Lepold Weis à Dresden
Adagio assai
22 Parte 15
Preludie / Toccata / (Fuga) / Cour: / Bourree / Sarabande.Un poco andante / Menuet / Allegro
Silvius Leopold Weiss was born in 1687 in the town of Grodków in Silesia, a region that produced a number of important lutenists (besides Weiss, also Esaias Reusner the Elder and Younger, Ernst Gottlieb Baron, Johann Kropfgans, and others). He studied the lute with his father Johann Jacob (c. 1662–1754), who was active in Düsseldorf, Heidelberg and Mannheim. Johann Jacob was known as an excellent musician, lutenist and theorbist.
At the age of nineteen (in 1706), Silvius entered into the service of Count Karl Philipp of Palatinate-Neuburg, who at the time resided in Wrocław. That same year, he also began working for Prince Johann Wilhelm, a passionate patron of the arts, to whom Arcangelo Corelli dedicated his Opus IV.
From 1710 onwards, Weiss was in the service of Polish Prince Aleksander Sobieski, who lived in exile in Rome. During this period, he met many prominent musicians, including Domenico and Alessandro Scarlatti and Bernardo Pasquini. After the prince's death in 1714 and before taking up employment in Dresden in 1718, Weiss once again served Karl Philipp while also travelling across Europe. One of the notable stops on his journey was Prague, where he met Count Johann Anton Losy. In his honour, Weiss composed one of his best-known pieces: Tombeau sur la mort de M. Comte d’Logy arrivée.
In August 1718, Weiss took up a lifelong position as court musician to Augustus the Strong, King of Poland and Elector of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. During this period, he resided in Dresden, a flourishing centre of the arts and sciences. Alongside Weiss, the court included flautists Buffardin and Quantz, and violinists Veracini and Pisendel. Weiss was the highest-paid member of the orchestra, a clear indication of his esteemed status.
In addition to his work in Dresden, Weiss continued to travel across Europe. In 1719, he spent four weeks in Vienna as part of the musical entourage for the wedding of the Elector of Saxony. An intriguing anecdote from 1722 recounts how a jealous violinist allegedly tried to bite off part of Weiss’s thumb. The injury was evidently not serious, as Weiss travelled that same year to Munich for the wedding of the Bavarian Elector.
His third documented visit to Prague occurred in 1723 (following visits in 1717 and 1719), when he travelled with flautist Quantz and singer-composer Carl Heinrich Graun to attend the coronation of Charles VI as King of Bohemia.
In May 1728, Weiss travelled to Berlin with Pisendel, Buffardin and Quantz. At the invitation of Princess Wilhelmine of Bayreuth, sister of King Frederick II of Prussia, they stayed for three months. Wilhelmine, herself a composer, important patron of the arts and amateur lutenist, dedicated the following words to Weiss: “In memory of the illustrious Weiss, who is so excellent in playing the lute that no one ever has been or ever will be his equal; future generations will only be able to attempt to imitate him.”
Among Weiss’s most notable patrons was Hermann Karl von Keyserling, for whom Johann Sebastian Bach composed the famous Goldberg Variations. Keyserling was indirectly involved in a supposed “offence” in which Weiss allegedly insulted the court steward for finance and production in Breitenbach — an incident that briefly landed him in prison. It was also Keyserling who later supported Weiss’s son, Johann Adolf Faustinus, and provided him with lute instruction.
Weiss held a highly esteemed and respected position at the Dresden court, one in which he evidently thrived. In 1736, he declined an offer from the Viennese court that promised nearly double his current salary.
In 1739, Weiss visited Johann Sebastian Bach several times in Leipzig. He travelled there with his pupil Johann Kropfgans. Bach’s cousin and secretary, Johann Elias Bach, wrote to cantor Johann Wilhelm Koch, reporting on “several performances by the two famous lutenists, Mr Weiss and Mr Kropfgans, in our home.”
The best-known account of the relationship between Weiss and Bach was recorded somewhat later. In 1805, composer, writer and music critic Johann Friedrich Reichardt wrote:
“Anyone who knows how difficult it is to play harmonic modulations and counterpoint on the lute will be amazed by eyewitness reports that Weiss, the brilliant lutenist, challenged Johann Sebastian Bach, the brilliant harpsichordist and organist, to a contest in playing (or improvising?) fantasias and fugues.”
Weiss published very few of his compositions. Of the approximately 650 works known today, only a small number were printed during his lifetime. A few of his pieces were also published by Georg Philipp Telemann in his collection Der getreue Music-Meister (The Faithful Music Master).
In his later years, Weiss enjoyed fame and a comfortable life in Dresden. Students came to him from across Europe. He died on 16 October 1750, leaving behind seven children, of whom only the aforementioned Johann Adolf became a lutenist.
Weiss’s compositions are preserved in manuscripts across Central Europe, England and Russia. The most important and extensive collections are those in London and Dresden. In addition to these, his works are also held in Augsburg, Salzburg, Vienna, in the Harrach family collection (Schloss Rohrau), Warsaw, Haslemere (England), and Moscow.
The solo works featured in today’s concert programme are drawn from the so-called London Manuscript, compiled between 1706 and 1730, containing 237 movements – nearly half of all Weiss’s known compositions. The manuscript is held by the British Library, which acquired it in 1877.
Sonata No. 1 in F major belongs to Weiss’s earlier period (c. 1717) and was composed for the 11-course Baroque lute, which evolved in France directly from the Renaissance 10-course lute. Later compositions already reflect a transition to the 13-course instrument.
The London Manuscript contains 28 complete suites and numerous individual movements (four preludes, fugues, fantasias, tombeaux, minuets, gavottes, etc.), as well as three duets for lute and flute – likely a result of Weiss’s friendship with Quantz and Buffardin. Unfortunately, the original flute part is lost.
Sonata No. 1 in F major also appears in the Dresden Manuscript, while individual movements are found in manuscripts from Vienna and Warsaw. The musical content is nearly identical; the differences lie mostly in left-hand slur markings, which reflect technical rather than musical choices.
The sonata opens with a prelude of 27 chords written vertically in tablature, allowing the performer rhythmic freedom and arpeggiation. The following allemande maintains a relaxed, graceful mood – typical of the key of F major, which the composer and theorist Johann Mattheson described as a tonality that “readily evokes the noblest of feelings without any forced tone.” According to him, it possesses the perfect character – bonne grâce, as the French would say.
Next comes a technically demanding, lyrical, and slightly humorous courante, followed by a bourrée and a sarabande. The latter, with its shift to the minor mode, dramatically alters the atmosphere. The minuet includes rare indications for forte and piano, and the sonata concludes with a lively, dance-inspired gigue.
The London Manuscript contains two tombeaux. The first is dedicated to Baron Cajetan von Hartig, the second to Count Logy. The Tombeau sur la mort de M. Cajetan Baron d’Hartig is written in E-flat major – such an unusual key that Johann Mattheson offered no character description for it.
The piece was composed in memory of the youngest of the five Hartig brothers, who died after falling from a horse. The key requires near-acrobatic use of the left hand, and the entire work is rich in symbolism. The opening chords foreshadow the tragedy. The music gradually evolves into a more melodic section, perhaps representing the carefree life of the thirty-three-year-old nobleman.
The second part begins with a sighing motif, likely symbolising the slow approach of death – the baron was reportedly trampled by horses but remained alive for several hours before dying in hospital. The dramatic chords toward the end mark the inevitable arrival of death, while the final serene melody symbolises the soul’s passage into heavenly peace and eternal life.
The Sonata in G major (No. 16 / No. 22) is unusual in its structure: before the dance movements, it opens with no fewer than three introductory pieces – a Prelude, Toccata and Fugue – forming a kind of grand overture. With the exception of a few bars of the Toccata and the Allegro, the sonata exists only in the London Manuscript and was likely composed around 1719.
Johann Mattheson described the key of G major as “vital and lively,” a character perfectly fitting this sonata. The Prelude begins with free arpeggios, offering fragments of the upcoming fugue’s theme. Before the fugue, Weiss introduces a Toccata built from dense, unarpeggiated chords, which creates a serious and concentrated mood. The approximately four-minute Fugue features a subject reminiscent of Bach (particularly Prelude, Fugue and Allegro, BWV 998), and concludes with an Adagio in the style of a French overture.
The Courante, composed in long, flowing phrases with imaginative modulations, introduces the dance sequence. It is followed by a spirited and highly danceable Bouree with technically demanding passages in the bass strings. The Sarabande in E minor, marked un poco andante, suggests gentle motion, which Weiss achieves with a so-called “walking bass”. Despite its fluidity, the movement retains a dramatic tone. A heavily ornamented Minuet leads to the final movement – a brilliant and technically demanding Allegro that crowns the entire sonata.
Sonata No. 23 in A minor, titled L’infidèle (The Infidel), is one of Weiss’s most striking and frequently performed compositions. The title itself is evocative – at the time, it likely alluded to the Turkish (Muslim, Eastern) world and its influence on Europe, which was increasingly turning westward, even across the Atlantic. Weiss composed the sonata in 1719 during a visit to Vienna, a city famously besieged by the Ottoman army only a few decades earlier (1683). At the time, Vienna was a major religious, cultural and political centre – a symbol of Western Europe.
The sonata also appears in the Dresden Manuscript, though the Musette and Sarabande movements are reversed. Mattheson described the key of A minor as “capable of mighty and serious effects; mournful by nature, yet sincere, soft, and even tender.”
The opening Entrée, graceful and energetic, resembles a French overture. It is followed by a lively Courante, intriguingly beginning with the same phrase as the first movement. The subsequent Sarabande is initially sombre and weighty, before giving way to a Minuet in which Weiss hints openly at Eastern musical idioms through the use of augmented seconds. This influence deepens in the Musette, the only movement in the sonata that uses the lowest bass course (A), lending it extra depth and a slightly menacing tone. There is a possibility that the Musette was added later in the London Manuscript, as the Dresden source includes this lower course in other movements as well. Nevertheless, using the bass string in only one movement is a powerful example of the “less is more” principle.
The sonata concludes with the dance-like, triumphant Paÿsane, which brings the work full circle and symbolically represents the victory of the Christian, Western world over the Eastern, Muslim one.
Stranje, Church of St. Benedict
The church of St. Benedict in Stranje is the most extensive Plečnik's work in the area. Up to the first decades of the 19th century, its medival forerunner stood there.
