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Andreas Lidl: Divertimenti for Baryton Trio During the 1760s and 1770s, many virtuosi performers belonged to the Eszterházy Court, including Luigi Tomasini (violin), Joseph Weigl (cello), Vittorino Colombazzo (oboe), Johann Knoblauch (horn). Works like Joseph Haydn’s symphonies ‘Le Matin’, ‘Le Midi’, ‘Le Soir’ and his concertos for cello in C and horn in D are evidence of this high standard of musical skill. The baryton player Andreas Lidl also belonged to this group of virtuosi, although further information about his life is scarce. Born in Vienna, he was a member of Prince Nikolaus I Eszterházy’s orchestra from May 1769 to May 15th 1774, where he probably played the cello. However, most of his time was spent playing chamber music on the baryton, his primary instrument. After leaving the Eszterházy court he travelled throughout Europe as a virtuoso on the viola da gamba (viol) and baryton. There are records that he stayed in Paris for some time, followed by a number of German cities including Augsburg. He also travelled to London for the first time in 1776, visiting again in 1777 to give a concert with Johann Christian Bach and Carl Stamitz. From 1778 to 1788 Lidl was based in London, although he still undertook concert tours around Europe. There are a number of recorded instances of contemporary commentators referring to Lidl’s skill as a performer. C.L. Junker mentioned Lidl in his Berliner Musikalischer Almanach of 1782, praising his performances for being full of sweet grace, with German strength that was nevertheless combined with the most harmonious melody. The music historian François Joseph Fétis wrote in his Biographie universelle in the middle of the 19th century that Lidl had performed in Berlin in 1784 and was enthusiastically received by the audience. Charles Burney also referred to Lidl in his General History of Music from 1789, stating with astonishment and admiration that he played with exquisite taste and expression despite using an instrument that he deemed unpleasant (it was probably unknown in Britain at that time), following this with an amusing account of what he considered to be the outlandishness of self-accompaniment on the baryton. This reports suggests that Lidl increased the wire understrings of the baryton to 27 to allow fully chromatic selfaccompaniment. According to Charles Burney, Lidl must have died by 1789. The baryton (‘viola di bordone’ in Italian) was, like the viola d’amore, regarded as somewhat exotic, of interest to only a few musicians and difficult to handle or play. The instrument, a member of the gamba family, typically consists of 6–7 bowed gut strings and 9–10 sympathetically resonating metal strings lying under the fingerboard, thus relating the baryton to the viola d’amore. Performers are able to pluck the resonance strings, due to the instrument’s open back. The tuning of the bowed strings corresponds to that of the viola da gamba, although there were individual variants. Music for the instrument was notated in the treble clef, sounding an octave below. The narrow dynamic range of the baryton compared to the violin predestined it for the intimate domain of chamber music. The designation ‘Divertimento’ of the trios by Lidl and his colleagues Haydn and Tomasini was an expression of aristocratic social culture. This was music composed to 2
display a character of cultivated diversion. It was not meant for a wider audience but for the innermost circles of musical life at the Eszterházy Court, to provide private amusement and aesthetic pleasure for the prince’s leisure, a function similar to English consort music. Today, this rare instrument is primarily associated with the name of Joseph Haydn, who wrote about 150 compositions for it to satisfy the cravings of Prince Nikolaus I, who wrote to the composer: ‘Compose more for the baryton’. The second half of the 18th century may be considered the baryton’s golden age, despite the instrument hardly being known outside Austria and Southern Germany. Its rich timbre (the source of its name, from the Greek ‘barytonos’ meaning ‘deep sounding’) impressed contemporary listeners. The musical commentator Friedrich August Weber wrote in 1788 that one had the feeling of ‘hearing a viol and a harp at the same time’, and he confessed, in the typical spirit of the time, that the instrument’s sound moved him to tears. Andreas Lidl was one of the few baryton virtuosi, which might explain why his printed instrumental compositions, published during his time in London, are written predominantly for conventional stringed instruments such as the violin, viola da gamba and cello in different combinations, extending the circle of potential buyers. The trios recorded on this CD are preserved as a manuscript. The front page mentions the violin, viola da gamba and violoncello as the original instruments that the music was composed for. However, taking into account that Andreas Lidl was famous as a virtuoso on the viola da gamba and baryton – according to Burney the ‘best violist after Carl Friedrich Abel’ – and that both instruments are very similar in terms of structure and tuning, one can fairly assume that this music was also played on the baryton. The mentioning of the viola da gamba enlarged the group of potential performers considerably. The instrumentation of these trios, with the inclusion of the deeper sounding viola da gamba and cello, corresponds with well-known trios by Haydn and Tomasini where the baryton has the leading part. The divertimenti display a great variation on the three-movement form. In addition to using Haydn’s preferred sequence of movements (Adagio / Andante – Allegro – Tempo di Menuetto), there are also examples of Lidl framing the menuet with two movements of a moderate tempo. Two trios leave out the menuet entirely, and have an adagio or andante as the central movement instead. The tempo and character of the framing movements vary from moderato to presto. The structure of these works corresponds ideally with the definition of ‘divertimenti’ as an attractive but elevated musical entertainment that permitted the musicians, especially the violist or baryton player, different improvised ornaments in accordance with contemporary taste. Thus Andreas Lidl’s divertimenti contribute not only to a more complete image of the musical culture in the second half of the 18th century, but are also a welcome enrichment of current trio repertoire. Bernhard Moosbauer, 2011 3
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The Baryton
Esterházy Ensemble
The baryton, a string instrument closely related to the viola da gamba, was known throughout the region of South Germany and Austria during the 18th century. It has 6–7 strings that are tuned and played like a bass viol. In addition, there are 9–28 resonant metal strings going through the neck, which can be plucked with the thumb of the left hand. There are also some variations of the instrument with a 3rd set of strings, which can be plucked with the thumb of the right hand. The oldest known instrument was built in Vienna in 1647 by Magnus Feldlen. A number of composers wrote for the baryton, including Lidl. In roughly 1700 a collection of ‘IX Partie’ was composed by Joh. Georg Krause and dedicated to the Duke of Württemberg. In the late 18th century the instrument was used in the Vienna Opera House (to perform compositions by Ariosti and J.J. Fux). Prince Nikolaus Esterházy also loved the baryton and played it himself – at least 5 members of his 'Hofkapelle' (court orchestra) were known to have played the instrument, Haydn composed over 150 baryton works there, and other composers, including Luigi Tomasini, also wrote for it. If it were not for Haydn’s extensive composition for the baryton, the instrument might have been forgotten today, due to the complexity involved in both building and playing it.
The Esterházy Ensemble, directed by Michael Brüssing, takes its name from the famous Hungarian noble family and specializes in the music for baryton (viola di bordone) composed by Joseph Haydn and his contemporaries. The members have all had many years of practical historical performance experience in a variety of other groups. In 1996 Michael Brüssing was invited as a player along with his ensemble of that time for a concert in the Eisenstadt Haydn Festival’s cycle of baryton works. The Esterházy Ensemble has existed in its present formation since 2002. In 2003 it made its first CD – the recorded premieres of works by Luigi Tomasini – as a co-production with CPO and SWR (Southwest German Radio) of Stuttgart. In 2004 there followed a recording of works by Haydn, made in the Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt. In 2005 an hour-long TV documentary on the baryton featuring the Esterházy Ensemble was produced for NHK in Tokyo. The ensemble also gives regular concerts in both palaces of Prince Nikolaus Esterházy I as well as at a number of European festivals. http://www.violadagamba.co.at
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Michael Brüssing (baryton)
The instruments
After completing courses in the cello and musical pedagogy in Stuttgart, Michael Brüssing went to Vienna in 1986 to continue his studies. There he began specializing on the Baroque cello and viola da gamba. Through intensive concert activity with various early music ensembles he became acquainted with the richness of Renaissance and early Baroque music including works for the viola da gamba as well as with the orchestral and chamber-music literature of the 17th and 18th centuries. After earning a soloist diploma in viola da gamba with Philippe Pierlot in Trossingen, Brüssing founded the Esterházy Ensemble to focus on chamber music with baryton from the circle of the Esterházy princes. His musical activities with the ensemble are augmented by numerous appearances in Europe and abroad, radio and CD recordings as well as teaching (including a position as instructor of viola da gamba and Baroque cello at Brno’s Masaryk University).
Baryton (viola di bordone): Copy after an instrument by J.J. Stadlmann which was played by Prince Esterházy himself (now in the National Museum, Budapest) Viola: Christian Franziscus Bartl (Vienna, 1795) Cello: Johann Huber (Munich, 1809) The instruments are strung with gut according to historical performance practice and played with copies of historical bows. Recorded: 9–12 June 2011, Mozarthaus Vienna Producer: Wolfgang Steininger & 2011 Brilliant Classics
András Bolyki (violin, viola) András Bolyki’s artistic career is marked by great variety. After winning the Hungarian viola competition at the age of 19, he studied at the Franz Liszt University for Music in Budapest (earning a soloist diploma). As a passionate chamber-music player, he has performed in various formations (string trio, quartet, chamber orchestra) ever since his student days. He won a special prize at the string quartet competition in Cremona. Since the age of 15 he has been a section leader in the Ferenc Erkel Chamber Orchestra of Budapest. He also performs regularly with the Budapest Festival and Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestras. Together with his brothers he formed a jazz vocal quartet (Bolyki Brothers), in which he is active as a singer, composer and lyricist. As a member of the Esterházy Ensemble he is deeply involved in historical performance practice of the Viennese Classical period.
Maria Andrásfalvy-Brüssing (Baroque cello, baryton) After earning a soloist diploma with distinction in cello at the Franz Liszt University for Music in her native Budapest, in 1992 Maria Andrásfalvy-Brüssing received a grant to continue her studies in Vienna with Valentin Erben, cellist of the Alban Berg Quartett. In Vienna she learned the gamba and since then has been intensively involved in early-music performance as both a gambist and a Baroque cellist. She has acquired musical experience as a soloist as well as in numerous orchestras and ensembles, including the Hungarian State Opera, Hungarian Radio Orchestra, Bregenz Festival Orchestra and the First Austrian Women’s Chamber Orchestra. In addition to concerts with the Esterházy Ensemble, together with her husband Michael Brüssing, she directs numerous music courses throughout Europe. 6
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