Event programme

CelloEvolution
​Bach, Galli, de Ruvo, Colombi, Dall' Abaco, Supriano Vitali

What was the first composition ever written for solo violoncello? What was composed before Bach created his extraordinary suites for solo cello? These questions drove the cellist Josetxu Obregón to devote himself to the beginnings of solo literature for his instrument. These beginnings can be found in the city of Bologna, which, with its brilliant Capella Musicale and the Accademia Filarmonica, made a decisive contribution to the development of the violin and the cello. Obregón presents two ricercari by Domenico Gabrielli from 1688 as the first specific works for unaccompanied solo cello. Further stations on the way from Bologna to Cöthen to the climax of this genre with Bach's six suites are compositions by Vitali, Galli, de Ruvo, Dall’Abaco, Supriano and Colombi. Bach's works are also presented by Obregón, but in an unusual way: He takes a dance movement from each of Bach’s suites and then places them – as a comparison of styles – between the works from his Italian anthology.



Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Suitte 2de (BWV 1008)
Prelude
(6 Suites a Violoncello Solo senza Basso composées par J. S. Bach. Maitre de Capelle, ca. 1727-31, Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Musikabteilung (D-B) Mus.ms. Bach P 269)

Domenico Galli (1649-1697)
Sonata IX
(Trattenimento musicale sopra il violoncello, 1691, Modena, Biblioteca Estense Universitaria. (I-MOe): mus.c.81)

Giulio de Ruvo (fl. 1700)
Romanella
(Milano, Biblioteca del Conservatorio di Musica “Giuseppe Verdi”. Fondo Gustavo Adolfo Noseda, NOSE.O.46.4.2)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Suitte 2de (BWV 1008)
Allemande
(6 Suites a Violoncello Solo senza Basso composées par J. S. Bach. Maitre de Capelle, ca. 1727-31, Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Musikabteilung (D-B) Mus.ms. Bach P 269)

Giuseppe Colombi (1635-1694)
(Giga)
(Varie Partite di Barabani, Ruggieri, Scordature, a violino solo o con basso, Lib.14°. Modena, Biblioteca Estense Universitaria. MUS.F.0283)

Joseph (Giuseppe) Marie Clément Ferdinand dall'Abaco (1710-1805)
Capriccio Quarto
(Capricj del sig.r Giuseppe Barone Dall'Abaco. Violoncello solo (ca. 1770, Milano, Biblioteca del Conservatorio di Musica “Giuseppe Verdi”. RIMUS.F.30)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Suitte 2de (BWV 1008)
Courante
(6 Suites a Violoncello Solo senza Basso composées par J. S. Bach. Maitre de Capelle, ca. 1727-31, Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Musikabteilung (D-B) Mus.ms. Bach P 269).

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Suitte 5 (BWV 1011)
Sarabande
(6 Suites a Violoncello Solo senza Basso composées par J. S. Bach. Maitre de Capelle, Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Musikabteilung (D-B) Mus.ms. Bach P 269)

Giulio de Ruvo (fl. 1700)
Romanella
(Milano, Biblioteca del Conservatorio di Musica “Giuseppe Verdi”. Fondo Gustavo Adolfo Noseda, NOSE.O.46.4.2)

Domenico Gabrielli (1651-1690)
Ricercar Primo
Ricercari per il Violoncello (1689, Modena, Biblioteca Estense Universitaria. mus.g.0079)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Suitte 4 (BWV 1010)
Bouree 1.re Bourre 2
(6 Suites a Violoncello Solo senza Basso composées par J. S. Bach. Maitre de Capelle, ca. 1727-31, Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Musikabteilung (D-B) Mus.ms. Bach P 269)

Francesco Paolo Supriano (1678 -1753)
Toccata V
(Principij da imparare à suonare il violoncello e con 12 Toccate à solo (1720, Napoli, Biblioteca del Conservatorio di Musica “San Pietro a Majella”. ms 9607 bis)

Giovanni Battista Vitali (1632-1692)
Capritio
(Partite sopra diverse Sonate di Gio: Batta: Vitali per il Violone, ca. 1680, Modena, Biblioteca Estense Universitaria. mus.e.0244)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Suitte 3. (BWV 1009)
Gigue
(6 Suites a Violoncello Solo senza Basso composées par J. S. Bach. Maitre de Capelle, ca. 1727-31, Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Musikabteilung (D-B) Mus.ms. Bach P 269)



The origins in Bologna

From around the start of the last century onwards, the earliest compositions written for solo unaccompanied cello were thought to be the twelve Ricercate sopra il violoncello o’ clavicembalo by GB degli Antoni (1687). However, the discovery at the century’s end of a violin part for these ricercars would point to the most correct and thought-through approach to playing these pieces being with a violin and cello; and this is the opinion of the music scholar Marc Vanscheeuwijck. Consequently, our view needs to be turned to the genre’s emergence in the present-day Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. In the seventeenth century, the impressive Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna – where Carlos V had been crowned emperor by Pope Clement VII in 1530 – was equipped with a brilliant cappella musicale, held in high standing for its instrumental traditions and, which together with the Accademia Filarmonica, represented the two leading musical institutions in the city. Jointly, they fell within the purview of what is known as the Bolognese School, which was admired all over Europe. Among the musicians found in the cappella were notable cellists such as Giovanni Battista Vitali, Domenico Gabrielli and Giuseppe Maria Jacchini, who for the first time supplied the cello (up till then required only for continuo purposes) with a solo instrument’s innovative role, engendering a major change in both its repertory and its technical resources.

Domenico Gabrielli, in the Bolognese dialect nicknamed “Mingain dal viulunzeel” (Dominic of the cello), studied composition with Legrenzi and cello with Franceschini and, on the death of the latter in 1680, succeeded him as cellist of the cappella at San Petronio. A member of the Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna – of which he went on to be president – he pursued a career writing opera and as a virtuoso, which took him all the way to being in service at the Este court. In 1688 he composed a collection of seven Ricercari p[er] il Violoncello – two of which are included into this concert – which are held in the Biblioteca Estense in Modena and are regarded as possessing a ground-breaking significance for the cello literature, especially now that it is thought that they represent the first examples of specific repertoire for unaccompanied solo cello.

Giovanni Battista Vitali was also a member of the Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna, indeed from its foundation in 1666, and had made an appearance in the list of the ‘violoni’ players of the San Petronio cappella as early as 1658. In 1673 he became maestro di cappella of the Confraternità del Santissimo Rosario and would also hold the post of sotto maestro di cappella at the court of Francesco II in Modena. He published fourteen collections, in which instrumental music is the most prominent genre, except for two editions of sacred vocal music. His Capritio comes from the manuscript volume, Partite sopra diverse Sonate di Gio: Batta: Vitali per il Violone, dating from around 1680 and held in the Biblioteca Estense in Modena, an archive which has been crucially important for the advancement of the cause of seventeenth-century string music. The pieces in this set can be performed both soloistically and in accompanied form (the latter can be heard on La Ritirata’s Il Spiritillo Brando recording with Josetxu Obregón on Glossa GCD 923101, 2013).

The onward development

Other composers also pursued writing for solo cello, amongst them being Domenico Galli. In addition to being a cellist himself and the author of the Trattenimento musicale sopra il violoncello a solo, he produced a collection of twelve sonatas dedicated to the Duke of Modena and Reggio, Francesco II. Furthermore, his ample talents and skills extended to sculpture, design, decoration, notaryship, calligraphy and the making of instruments. The cello commissioned by his patron, which Galli made for the duke’s own performances, is kept today in the Galleria Estense in Modena, and is striking in its impressiveness, excellence, and its manufacture, decorated with exquisite carvings representing allegories about the Este family. Maybe its creator may have performed his own Sonata IX on it, a work structured in three sections, with a Gigue in the middle – and published in the same year as the cello was made (1691).

Giulio de Ruvo, presumably an instrumental virtuoso judging from what is revealed in the scores of his sonatas for cello and continuo, may have been born in Apulia, perhaps in the vicinity of Bari. There are few biographical details to be had about him, but it is thought that he was active in the Kingdom of Naples, the viceroyalty of the Spanish crown at that time, given that Ruvo dedicated several compositions to the Duke of Bovino, who was resident in that city. The two Romanellas included on this concert come from a manuscript in the Gustavo Adolfo Noseda collection, held in the Biblioteca del Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan. They appear in two folios which are unfortunately now in a poor condition given that they have cracked and torn corners, some of which even require the reconstruction of a bar or so.

Giuseppe Colombi was a violinist at the court of Modena from 1671, where three years later he rose to the position of sotto maestro of the cappella of the court, which post he held until his death. Violin teacher of Duke Francesco II, he succeeded Giovanni Maria Bononcini as maestro di cappella of Modena Cathedral, a position which he also continued to occupy until the end of his life. His compositional output was almost exclusively instrumental, and he published five volumes of sinfonias, sonatas and sundry dances which are kept in the Biblioteca Estense in Modena, where additionally are held 22 manuscript volumes, in one of which, Varie Partite di Barabani, Ruggieri, Scordature a violino solo o con basso. Lib.14°, is to be found a brief dance movement, in the score of which no title appears, even if the music makes one think distinctly of a Giga.

Francesco Paolo Supriano, born in Conversano (South-East Italy) and known as Scipriani, Supriani and Soprani, probably studied in the Neapolitan Conservatorio di Santa Maria di Loreto. He served as musician at the Real Capilla of Barcelona between 1707 and 1710, during the time of the Spanish War of Succession, being in the service of Archduke Carlos de Austria, one of the two aspiring candidates to the Spanish throne. On his return to Naples, Supriano worked at the Real Cappella there until 1730. He wrote the earliest-known teaching method for the instrument, Principij da imparare à suonare il violoncello, today kept in the library of the Conservatorio di San Pietro a Majella in Naples. Appearing with this cello tutor are Supriano’s 12 Toccate à solo, to which should be added the highly virtuosic divisions found in a further volume – incorrectly entitled Sonate a due Violoncelli – wherein ten of the Toccatas appear written out again along with an ornamented version and a basso continuo line.

The point of culmination with Bach in Cöthen

This repertoire was brought to a peak of excellence later by Johann Sebastian Bach with the six Suites à Violoncello Solo senza Basso, works combining consummate artistry with great formal unity; they represent the pinnacle of solo music for the instrument and form one of the most important works for the cello. The Suites were composed when the composer was working as Kapellmeister at the German court of Cöthen, in the service of Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Cöthen, between 1717 and 1723. It was during this period that Bach produced the greatest of his instrumental works (Brandenburg Concertos, Suites for Orchestra, Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin), a focus prompted by the fact that the prince, a great music-lover, was professing the form of Calvinism that rejected elaborate religious music, because of which the greater part of Bach’s output at this time consisted of secular music. The Suites for Solo Cello – whose autograph manuscript have been lost, and which have come down to us principally because of a manuscript copy made for Anna Magdalena Wilcke, Johann Sebastian’s second wife – comprise six series of dances presenting great similarity in form. All them have the same structure; they begin with a prelude, follow with an Allemande, a Courante, a Sarabande and Gigue, and between these last two pieces they include a galante dance, the so-called “galanterie” (or optional dance), which is a Minuet in the first two suites, a Bourrée in the two following and a Gavotte in the final two. The structure of each dance is of two parts, both of which are repeated. In the galanteries, are found two dances with their corresponding repetitions followed by a da capo of the first of these.

The aim of this concert is to offer a broad overview of the repertoire for solo cello. It has been decided to approach this magnificent collection from a different angle (almost an impudent one but done with the greatest of respect): one piece from each of these Bach suites has been taken, allowing for all the movements from the suite to be represented; further, with each of the suites present in this manner, a sense of unity is accorded to the programme as a whole.

Onwards from Bach

After Bach, the evolution of this repertoire continued onwards, albeit in a less assertive manner. A representative figure of the development process whose roots lay in the Baroque was the Brussels-born Italian Giuseppe Maria Dall’Abaco (born as Joseph-Marie-Clément Ferdinand Dall’Abaco), son of the violinist Evaristo Felice Dall’Abaco. Across his 95 years of life, he mapped out a celebrated career as a cellist; in Bonn he was in the service of the Prince-Elector of Cologne as music director, and in Verona he was a member of the Accademia Filarmonica there. His compositional style was that of the Baroque, even though the Classical era had fully emerged during his long life. Of note from his output are the 11 Capricci per violoncello solo, which recall the compositional writing of the Bach Suites in many places. Once the Baroque era ended this brisk pace of writing for the solo cello seems to have abated somewhat before quickening anew in the twentieth century with the important contributions to the repertory made by Max Reger, Zoltán Koldáy and Benjamin Britten, among others.

Josetxu Obregón & José Luis Obregón Perea