Gordon Ferries
Baroque guitar & French theorbo
Angiol Michele Bartolotti
Gordon Ferries Baroque guitar & French theorbo
Suite in G major
1 Prelude [1:59]
2 Allemande [2:16]
3 Courante & Double [2:35]
4 Sarabande I [2:04]
5 Sarabande II [2:25]
6 Brando [1:22]
7 Gavotte & Double [2:04]
8 Gigue [1:39]
9 Passacaglie [4:20]
10 Ciacona [2:47]
11 Sarabande in C major [2:18]
Suite in E minor
12 Prelude [1:28]
13 Allemande [2:35]
14 Courante [1:37]
15 Sarabande [2:04]
16 Gavotte [1:38]
17 Gigue [2:32]
18 Allemande in C minor [2:42]
19 Sarabande in C minor [2:21]
Suite in G minor
20 Prelude [1:48]
21 Allemande [3:22]
22 Courante [3:24]
23 Sarabande [2:09]
24 Brando [1:31]
25 Ciacona [2:56]
26 Gigue [2:55]
27 Follia [4:54]
28 Passacaglie [8:52]
Total playing time [74:54] Instruments
Baroque guitar after Sellas [Haycock] (tracks 1-10 & 20-28)
French theorbo after Sellas [Haycock] (tracks 11 & 18-19)
French Baroque guitar c.1760 (tracks 12-17)
This recording is dedicated with affection to my friend Tom Laing-Reilly (1952–2010)
Recorded on 7-8 April 2009 at Crichton Collegiate Church, Pathhead
Producer/Engineer: Paul Baxter
24-bit digital editing: Paul Baxter
24-bit digital mastering: Paul Baxter
Cover & booklet design: John Christ
Cover photograph: Alan Rennie
Booklet photography © Delphian Records
Booklet editor: John Fallas
Delphian Records Ltd – Edinburgh – UK www.delphianrecords.co.uk
With thanks to Eleanor Smith, Darryl Martin, Arnold Myers, Martin Haycock and Alan Rennie
(c.1615–c.1682)Di Chitarra Spagnola: Bartolotti and his world
In many ways Angiol1 Michele Bartolotti epitomises the seventeenth-century itinerant musician, who by a combination of talent, business acumen and a knack for being in the right place at the right time managed to secure lucrative positions in some of Europe’s most powerful courts and houses. Bartolotti was employed in both the Swedish court of Queen Christina and the opulent court of Louis XIV at Versailles, whilst at the same time composing and publishing some of the most sophisticated and beautiful guitar music of the period.
The most striking feature of Bartolotti’s career is this published output. His Secondo Libro di Chitarra (Rome, 1655), from which all of this recording’s guitar music is taken, appears stylistically to be without precedent in terms of both sophistication and virtuosity. Bartolotti’s first book, published 15 years earlier (Libro primo di chitarra Spagnola : Florence, 1640), had already demonstrated his scope and the highly progressive nature of his guitar writing although still firmly set within the Italian style of contemporaries such as Granata, Corbetta and Foscarini.
In both books, Bartolotti stays within the convention of presenting sets of passacaglias in mixed tablature using both alfabeto and punteado notation,2 but breaks the mould by writing a unified set of 24 passacaglias traversing through remote keys unusual for both the keyboard and the instrument (indeed, the whole set begins and ends in the remote key of B flat minor). Bartolotti therefore sets a very early template for a compositional technique that would yield such rich fruit with J.S. Bach’s Das Wohltemperirte Clavier almost a century later.
Bartolotti’s first book also displays other innovations in guitar writing – such as his use of cross-string scale passages, which with the guitar’s re-entrant tuning produce a cascade of notes.3 With his second book, however, Bartolotti appears to create a fully formed French guitar style, years (and in some cases decades) before the most celebrated published works of the genre appear. 4
Giovanni Battista Granata, in his Soavi Concenti di Sonata Musicale (1659), went so far as to accuse other composers, including
Corbetta, of plagiarising from Bartolotti. Some passages of Corbetta’s work do indeed bear a striking resemblance to some of Bartolotti’s, which may or may not be intentional.
An overview of Bartolotti’s professional career is perhaps the best way to gain insight into the influences which may have engendered such a unique oeuvre. Bartolotti was probably born around 1615 in Bologna; no concrete information regarding him exists until the dedication to the Duke of Salvati in his first book (1640) suggests that he was active in Florence around this period. Other than this, biographical details are almost nonexistent. The most significant event in his life, however, appears to have been his entry into the employment of Queen Christina of Sweden (1627–89), a close contemporary of the composer.
Queen Christina cuts an impressive swathe across seventeenth-century Europe. Politically, she was active and influential in bringing about the Peace of Westphalia (1648), the treaty that ended the disastrous and devastating Thirty
Years War. With regard to religion, Christina displayed an open dislike for the Protestantism of her country and eventually abdicated in 1653, moving her entourage to Rome in December of the same year and subsequently converting to Catholicism, having embraced it in her youth in a wholesale rejection of her Lutheran upbringing. Christina had also openly criticised anti-Semitic customs in Italy and even, via Mazarin, challenged Louis XIV over the Edict of Nantes of 1686.
Christina embodied a religious tolerance unusual for a period where religious war, intolerance and instability were the order of the day. Her attitudes towards marriage and gender were also controversial.5 Further to this, Christina rejected the conventions of femininity and preferred to dress and act in a masculine manner, greatly troubling many of her contemporaries, especially the ladies of the court encountered at Versailles. Most striking however was Christina’s love of learning and culture. The French philosopher René Descartes was famously brought to her court in 1649.6
1 In Bartolotti’s second book his first name is given as Angelo as opposed to Angiol.
2 The alfabeto or abecedario was a system using harmonically unrelated letters of the alphabet to denote tablature chord shapes. Many extant seventeenth-century song-books are printed with alfabeto chords above the stave, possibly to facilitate accompaniment by guitarists less familiar with
figured bass. Punteado denotes the plucked manner of playing, with numbered or lettered tablature denoting which fret to play. Mixed tablature integrates both systems.
3 In his guitar method of 1674, Gaspar Sanz used the term campanellas (little bells) to denote this technique, of which he made much use.
4 For example when Robert De Visee published his two books of guitar music in 1682 and 1686 the music appears to inhabit a very similar sound world.
5 In her autobiography (1681), Christina states that she felt ‘an insurmountable distaste for marriage’.
6 Having ignored Christina’s advice to avoid the Swedish winter, Descartes died of pneumonia in February of 1650.
In 1652, as part of her convalescence following a bout of illness, Christina’s French doctor Pierre Bourdelot recommended a less ascetic way of life, and she invited various artists to the Swedish court, which gradually became a significant centre for French and Italian culture. It is in the midst of this artistic crucible that we find Bartolotti in 1652 employed as a theorbo player in an ensemble of Italian musicians including Pietro Reggio and Vincenzo Albrici. Bartolotti also appears to have come into contact with French musicians employed at the Swedish court to satisfy the Queen’s love of French ballet and its musical accompaniment, which may have had a significant bearing upon the transmogrification of his guitar style. Following Christina’s abdication Bartolotti appears to have followed her to Innsbruck and the court of Arch Duke Karl Ferdinand – and subsequently to Rome, possibly to supervise the publication of his second book, which bears the dedication ‘Dedicato alla Real Maesta della Regina de Svetia’.
Taking full advantage of the vogue for Italian musicians in the French court instigated by Mazarin and most notable in the towering
figure of Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632–87),7 we next encounter Bartolotti in the French capital, where he was to spend the later part of his life. Christina left Rome for Paris in 1656 to petition the support of Mazarin in her bid to become Queen of Naples. At this point in his career, Bartolotti may well have considered Paris to be his best option. It is likely that he took part in a performance of Cavalli’s Ercole amant in 1662 for the marriage of Louis XIV to the Infanta Marie Theresa. He also appeared in the entrée de ballet , and was a continuo player in both court and chapel, as well as being involved in the domestic music-making that was such an integral part of court life. It seems likely that a letter referring to the possessions of a ‘Miquelange Italien’ refers to Bartolotti, which would place his death in the French capital in 1682. 8
continuë, was eventually published (not without initial difficulties) in 1669, having first circulated in manuscript form.
The three theorbo pieces on this recording come from the Goess manuscript of 1665,10 and all display the French love of grace (le bon goût ) and melancholy. They are played here on a French théorbe de pièces , favoured for solo repertoire and pitched in D (a fourth higher than the conventional theorbo in A), and including re-entrant strings on the second and third courses.
7 Lully dominated the music of the French court from his appointment in 1653 to the post of compositeur de la musique instrumentale until his death. It was as a result of his influence that the ensemble of virtuosi of which Bartolotti was a member was disbanded in 1666.
Contemporary accounts esteem Bartolotti as a theorbist of the highest calibre.9 His instruction book for continuo playing, Table pour apprendre facilement à toucher le théorbe sur la basse-
In his second book, Bartolotti follows the French convention (used by such notable figures as Marin Marais) of presenting a number of suite movements in a given key and leaving it up to the performer to fashion his own suite to suit his own tastes. The three suites presented here are in G major, G minor and E minor. Bartolotti’s preludes are very French in style, the G major being a good example. Although barred, and carrying a time signature, it appears to be very much in the manner of an unmeasured prelude, a style of composition familiar from the works
of Louis Couperin. In general Bartolotti’s suites employ the conventional movements of allemande, courante, sarabande and gigue, with the addition of various galanterien including gavottes (the gavotte in G major is notable for its hymn-like melody almost entirely within a strummed structure, contrasting with the linear texture of its subsequent double), brandos, ciaconas and passacaglias. The passacaglia in G minor is a fine example – large in scope and virtuosity, employing every colour of the instrument. The gigues on this recording are in some ways the least guitaristic in style. The E minor gigue is almost keyboard-like in its texture and composition.
Bartolotti’s works, although occurring early in the Golden Age of French Baroque music, stand as a pinnacle of finesse and musical depth and their significance in the history of the guitar and its music cannot be overstated.
© 2010 Gordon J.S. Ferries8 Entry for January 1682, record books of the Secrétariat de le Maison du Rois.
9 René Ouvrard’s Maître de musique de la sainte chapelle du palais described Bartolotti as ‘without doubt the most skilful on the theorbo, especially for playing on a continued bass that you can find both in France and in Italy’.
10 A manuscript which is part of a larger set for varying instruments. Five pieces for theorbo by Bartolotti appear in a volume of music for Baroque lute and theorbo. Manuscript A: ETGoess Ms. XV 912-2277 (1665).
“Il sole s’è levato per Lei”
The perils and pitfalls of seventeenth-century guitar stringing
Few performers or academics manage to emerge entirely unscathed from the quagmire of the baroque guitar’s tuning and stringing issues. At least three basic tunings were in use in the seventeenth century, and none of these was entirely restricted to national schools.11
For example, Francisco Guerau and Gaspar Sanz, although both Spaniards and relative contemporaries, favoured entirely different tuning systems. For solo music Sanz recommends a system with no bourdons (or octave stringing) in order to facilitate the clean execution of decorations and campanellas 12
This means that on a modern instrument Sanz’s music is much the more difficult to render accurately, although perversely his music is very much more familiar to modern guitarists than Guerau’s.
A third tuning, probably favoured by Corbetta (see his La guitarre royalle dediée au roy de la Grande Bretagne of 1671) employs a bourdon on the fourth course with a re-entrant fifth course and is often described as French tuning.14
Any of the above tunings presents problems with the voicing of cadences etc., which to the modern ear often leave final chords in unsatisfactory inversions. Any of the solutions provided by alternative tunings inevitably creates a new set of problems; it is therefore up to modern ears to adjust to the particularities of the seventeenth-century guitar and its music. For this recording of music from Bartolotti’s second book I have chosen this French tuning, which I feel best suits both the aesthetic and musical demands of this repertoire.
Gordon J.S. Ferries, November 2009Although Bartolotti was Italian by birth, his second book of guitar music (1655) has a distinctly French flavour, contrasting with much of the music of the contemporary Italian school. This is even more evident in Bartolotti’s theorbo music and in particular the three pieces from the Goess manuscript recorded here. I felt them to be ideally suited to the French théorbe de pièces, tuned in D (a fourth higher than the standard instrument in A). As its name suggests, this higher-pitched theorbo was favoured for the subtle French Baroque solo repertoire rather than for continuo use, although both instruments could be employed for either purpose.
Guerau on the other hand advocates bourdons on the fourth and fifth courses, giving the guitar a relatively modern descent from treble to bass.13
In terms of live performance, where the use of different stringings for music by different composers on the same programme would be impractical, I have found that this system offers the best overall compromise. Guitarists of the baroque period often describe their instrument as being imperfect and it being up to the performer to best bring out its music through his own skill.15
11 For a fuller discussion see Monica Hall, ‘The stringing of the five-course guitar’, available online at www.monicahall.co.uk
12 Instrucción de música sobre la guitarra española (Zaragosa, 1694/5/7). Available in facsimile from Minkoff Editions. This re-entrant tuning features on my recording of Sanz’s music, La Preciosa (Delphian DCD34036).
13 Poema Harmónico (Madrid, 1694). Available from Tecla Editions with an introduction by Brian Jeffery. For my recording of Guerau’s music, Marionas (Delphian DCD34046), I employed this recommended tuning.
14 This tuning also features on my first recording of French guitar music, Les plaisirs les plus charmants (Delphian DCD34011).
15 Indeed Samuel Pepys in his diary for 5 August 1667 writes:
‘After done with the Duke of York, and coming out his dressingroom, I there spied Signor Francisco tuning his guitar, and Monsigneur de Puy with him, who did make him play to me, which he did most admirably – so well as I was mightily troubled that all that pains should be taken upon so barren an instrument.’
The theorbo used here, and the Baroque guitar used in the G major and G minor suites, were both made by Martin Haycock; both are based on 17th-century originals by Matteo Sellas. The instrument played on the suite in E minor is a beautiful little French guitar c.1760 (EUCHMI 2471) from the Edinburgh University Collection of Historic Musical Instruments, which was very kindly loaned to me for this recording by the curators.
Also on a previous occasion (27 July 1661) he heard a Frenchman play at Westminster, and although admiring the playing concluded ‘… though at best methinks it is but a bawble’. It seems, however, that Pepys eventually changed his mind, as guitar music was found amongst his library after his death. The Diary of Samuel Pepys, ed. Latham and Matthews (University of California Press, 1974).
Right: French Baroque guitar
c.1760 (EUCHMI 2471)
the Edinburgh University Collection of Historic Musical Instruments
from
Far right: French theorbo made by Martin Haycock
Having initially studied classical guitar at Napier University, Gordon Ferries went on to the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, where he specialised in lute and early guitar music. He has since established himself as one of the UK’s leading exponents of the baroque guitar. He has performed in venues and festivals across the UK and in Europe both as a soloist and in ensemble, appearing with The Scottish Ensemble, the Scottish Early Music Consort, the Edinburgh Quartet, Symphonie des Plaisirs and Fires of Love, and has made two recordings for Delphian Records with the latter group, of which he is a founder member. His latest collaboration, the Edinburgh-based Baroque ensemble Lord Rochester’s Monkey with Frances Cooper, John Kitchen and Mark Summers, explores the rich repertoire of seventeenthcentury music from across Europe.
Gordon has worked for both television and radio, arranging and performing music for a Radio 4 production of The Dreamer of the Calle de San Salvador, featuring on ‘Scotland’s Music’ with Concerto Caledonia and appearing on BBC2 television. He also recently played on the acclaimed album Spoils and the accompanying EP The Wyrd Meme by Scottish songwriter and guitarist Alasdair Roberts.
Gordon Ferries has been awarded two grants from the Scottish Arts Council towards study at the Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris, researching the baroque guitar; the fruits of this research appear on his solo recordings (also released by Delphian Records), of which this is the fourth. He is also much in demand as an educator and is involved in teaching young people in many musical styles.
Les Plaisirs les plus charmants
Gordon Ferries
DCD34011
From its earliest beginnings, the five-course Baroque guitar was associated – for better or worse – with dance music, becoming the sensuous younger cousin of the lute or vihuela. In this mélange of music from seventeenth-century France, some of it recorded for the first time, and performed on baroque guitars including an original historic instrument from the Edinburgh University Collection of Historic Instruments, Gordon Ferries weaves a tapestry of sound that is at once elegant, earthy, and utterly timeless.
‘Full of vitality and will soon have your foot tapping’
— Early Music News, June 2005
Gaspar Sanz
Gordon Ferries
DCD34036
(c.1640–c.1710): La Preciosa
Gordon Ferries visits the music of seventeenth-century Spain’s fiery streets. It was a time when the five-course guitar engendered a sense of abject horror in the morally inclined on account of its associations with popular ballads, taverns, criminality, sensuality and in particular with dancing. Ferries evokes the period with panache and breathtakingly virtuosic flair.
‘Sanz’s music exudes Spanish fire from every pore, and it is this exotic but nebulous quality that Ferries captures to perfection’
— Early Music Review, December 2005
‘Ferries achieves an astonishing array of moods and emotions … at once crisp, stylish, and fun. This is a disc to listen to again and again’
— Early Music America, Spring 2006
Gordon Ferries Also available on DelphianAlso
Francisco Guerau (1649–1722): Marionas
Gordon Ferries
DCD34046
Following his much lauded disc of music by Spanish composer Gaspar Sanz, Gordon Ferries weaves his way through the seductive labyrinth of Francisco Guerau’s ‘harmonic poem’ – sensual ballads, sublime passacalles and the virtuosic dance music of baroque Spain’s fiery underbelly. Ferries’ playing brings this beguiling world to life with elegance and passionate vitality.
‘dispatched with artistry and supreme stylishness’
— International Record Review, February 2008
Love and Reconquest: Music of Renaissance Spain
Fires of Love
DCD34003
Scottish early music ensemble Fires of Love serve up a feast of songs and ballads from the Spanish Renaissance and early Baroque, with a freshness critic Norman Lebrecht calls simply ‘beautiful’. Repertoire includes works by Luys de Narváez, Miguel de Fuenllana, Luis Milán, Alonso Mudarra and Juan del Encina.
‘another well-produced disc from the Edinburgh-based company Delphian … reaching those parts of the repertoire many of the bigger boys fail to reach’
— The Scotsman, January 2002
Chansons à Plaisir: Music from the time of Adrian le Roy (1520–1598)
Fires of Love
DCD34063
Amid religious strife and social turmoil, the sixteenth century also saw France emerge as a humanist culture with a unique musical voice. This world of contrasts provided the perfect setting for Adrian Le Roy to flourish as a composer, performer and publisher. Scottish ensemble Fires of Love vividly recreate the many facets of his musical world, from vivacious dances to songs of utmost sorrow.
‘songs and instrumental dances performed with a refined temperament well suited to the languid style of the period’
— The Scotsman, March 2008
Late Night Sessions: Live at the Edinburgh International Festival
Concerto Caledonia / David McGuinness with guests Martin Carthy, Michael Marra, Alasdair Roberts, Katharine Fuge
DCD34093
Four concerts at the 2009 Edinburgh International Festival offered us a great opportunity to draw on our repertoire of the last 17 years – a collection of music from Scotland through the centuries – and to invite a few special guests to add some new discoveries along the way. This CD presents a selection of favourite moments from those evenings at The Hub.
‘Be prepared to be surprised by the reams of insights, wicked and witty, humorous and heartbreaking, exhilarating and energetic on offer from McGuinness and his leftfield outfit’
— The Herald, August 2008