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Scarlatti: Viola d’amore Sonatas There are a number of sonatas in Scarlatti’s vast output that can be categorised according to the style defined by William Newman as a ‘melo-bass sonata’. The combination in these of a monodic, figured bass and a highly linear upper part has led some contemporary performers to feel justified in playing them as genuine sonata movements intended for a high melodic instrument, with an ordinary, typically 18th-century, continuo accompaniment. We experimented at random with playing some of these sonatas on a viola d’amore, an instrument with sympathetic strings that is not widely known or played; in the light of that experience, we all agreed on how well they suit this particular instrument. It was the existence of two players, Herrando and Farinelli, one a virtuoso and the other an amateur, both of whom knew Domenico Scarlatti, that persuaded us to take this working hypothesis into consideration; as it stands at the moment, we believe that there is certainly a path to follow in our research. Faced with pieces where there was no precise indication of what instrument they were destined for, it was one thing to perform them by adapting them to a particular instrument, despite the fact that they are often adapted perfectly well to this or that instrument with no need for any modifications, but quite another to identify idiomatic passages in the pieces themselves – that is, a series of precise technical indications that are valid for some instruments exclusively (or for one instrument in particular). One can be defined as simply a performance requirement, but the other as a genuine technical necessity. The sonatas in question have to be put into context in the light of this consideration, and naturally not all those chosen for this CD display the above two requirements simultaneously. The two sonatas Kk77 in D minor and Kk91 in G major do not seem obviously written specifically for the viola d’amore, although they can both be played quite comfortably on the instrument. Others, on the other hand, such as Kk89 and Kk90, could probably have been, because they contain idiomatic passages and make it possible to use the instrument’s characteristic fingering, although they could equally well be played on other melodic instruments. One special case, however, is the Sonata Kk88: right from the start it seemed obvious that the particular chordal writing was not that of a keyboard instrument, nor one of the melodic instruments in common use in Scarlatti’s day, but seemed written expressly for the viola d’amore, suggesting not only its distinctive artistic and musical idiom, but also its typical technique. This sonata’s characteristic polyphonic writing naturally excludes any kind of 2
wind instrument, and as for the violin, it is noticeable that the complex polyphonic writing in the first movement does not sit well on the instrument, and neither do the chords in the second movement. Some of these passages prove to be quite awkward and complicated, even for a keyboard instrument, and some are simply unplayable, unless adjustments are made that completely distort their nature. On closer examination, however, this very style of writing in the first movement proved to reveal the distinctive characteristics of viola d’amore polyphony. Here Vivaldi comes to our aid, when we compare the sonata in question with some passages in his concertos for viola d’amore, strings and continuo, RV 393, 395 and 392. Scarlatti seems to borrow Vivaldi’s technique wholesale, whereby the lower note in a passage of dyads is used as a pedal, while the upper notes effect a change of harmony. The connection is even closer when the fact that Scarlatti, like Vivaldi, uses an open string for the pedal, is taken into consideration. This pattern of polyphonic writing is typical of the viola d’amore, since it makes full, expert use of the instrument’s resonances. A few words should be added in clarification of the tuning used for this sonata, given the apparent conflict between the strikingly idiomatic writing and the original key of G minor, which would force the viola into an unnaturally high register, making it sound forced. The solution we have adopted is to transpose it down a fourth, so that not only the polyphonic writing in the first movement but also the chords in the second can be easily played. Having said that, the idea springs to mind that the sonata, in its original key, could be played on what is known as a 5-string violin. Herrando himself wrote a collection of Sonatinas for this instrument, and dedicated it to Farinelli; in it one can recognise a viola d’amore in a higher variant, tuned a fourth up. The new key of D minor thus arrived at is the ideal one for the viola d’amore, because it exploits its resonance to the full. The final works on the programme are the sonatas Kk73 in C minor, Kk78 in F major and Kk 79–80 in G major, further examples of melo-bass pieces. All of them prove extremely well suited to performance on the viola d’amore, especially Kk73, which, in all probability, could have been written for this very instrument. We deliberately chose to exclude from the programme the sonata Kk81 in E minor, as it was clearly written for the violin. In this case, the technical requirements show that it was definitely composed for an instrument tuned in fifths, and, most significantly, it contains passages of the typical violin style of writing. Played on the viola d’amore, Scarlatti’s music sounds luminous, fresh and full of colour, and 3
given this, we have tried to find an innovative way of performing it, paying close attention to details. The results of this are the diminutions, ornamentation and cadenzas we have introduced, but most of all the realization of the continuo part to make the harpsichord just as important as the solo instrument. Obviously, our musicological research is by no means at an end, but this should not deny us the pleasure of letting an audience hear these sonatas, which we now consider an integral part of the repertoire of the viola d’amore, that extraordinary invention of instrument-makers in the baroque age. And if it is true that, in Leopold Mozart’s words, the viola d’amore is an instrument that ‘sounds particularly charming in the stillness of the evening’ (sonderlich bey der Abendstille, recht lieblich klingelt), it appeals to us to imagine Scarlatti freed for a moment from that blazing virtuosity that tradition has now permanently attached to him, and placed for once at the centre of a magical Iberian nocturne. Andrea Coen and Valerio Losito Translation: Kenneth Chalmers Booklet notes based on the article by Andrea Coen and Valerio Losito, ‘Ipotesi sulla destinazione strumentale d cinque sonate per strumento melodico e basso continuo di Domenico Scarlatti’ in Domenico Scarlatti Adventures, Essays to commemmorate the 250th anniversary of his death, pp.225–240, eds. Massimiliano Sala & W. Dean Sutcliffe (Ut Orpheus Edizioni: 2008)
The Baroque violinist and viola d’amore-player Valerio Losito graduated with highest honours after studying with Yvonne Ekman in Rome (modern violin) and Enrico Onofri in Palermo (Baroque violin). He has performed in concerts throughout Europe, America and Japan, both as a chamber musician and in international orchestras such as the European Union Baroque Orchestra. He has collaborated with major conductors and early music specialists such as Rinaldo Alessandrini, Federico M. Sardelli, Riccardo Minasi, Renée Clemencic and Chiara Banchini. Since 2006, he has played a Ferdinando Gagliano viola d’amore on loan from the Elsa Peretti Foundation. As a musicologist, he has carried out several research projects in libraries all over Italy, and in collaboration with Renato Criscuolo he rediscovered Vivaldi’s motet Vos invito barbarae faces, now identified as RV811. He has made recordings with Deutsche Grammophon, Naïve, Dynamic, Musicaimmagine Records, CPO and WDR-3. Valerio Losito 4
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Andrea Coen, born in Rome in 1960, was one of the first Italian keyboard players to take an active interest in historical performance practice; he was a pioneer of the fortepiano in Italy, and his many concert appearances throughout Europe and the USA include acclaimed premieres of unpublished Baroque and Classical works. As a musicologist, he is one of the editors of Muzio Clementi’s Opera Omnia and Benedetto Marcello’s Estro Poetico-armonico (both for Ed. Ut Orpheus), and in the past he has also published several works by composers including Domenico Cimarosa. He is Professor of harpsichord at the Conservatorio A. Casella (L’Aquila) and of fortepiano at the Conservatorio di S. Cecilia (Rome). He has recorded several CDs for EMI, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, CPO, Stradivarius, Dynamic, Musicaimmagine Records, Bongiovanni and other labels. Viola d’amore Built in Naples by Ferdinando Gagliano in 1775, property of the Elsa Peretti Foudation, set with six strings and twelve sympathetic strings. Top made of two pieces of pine with rosette, back made of maple with faint flame. Light orange varnish on a golden background. Harpsichord Copy by Giulio Fratini, Porto S. Giorgio 2009, after an anonymous Italian model of the 1620s, renewed by Bartolomeo Cristofori in Florence during the first half of the 18th century, today preserved in the Russell Collection in Edinburgh. Produced by Associazione Culturale Musicale Musicangelica, Rome www.musicangelica.it This recording was made possible by the Nando Peretti Foundation, Rome Recording: 1–4 February 2011, Santa Maria in Vallicella, Refettorio del Borromini (Sala Ovale), Rome Recording engineer and editor: Fabio Framba Cover image – Gaspar van Wittel (1653–1736): A View of Naples Photo: Private Collection/Roy Miles Fine Paintings/The Bridgeman Art Library Photos by Sabrina Fusco (sabrina_fusco@hotmail.it, sabfusco@gmail.com)
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Thanks to: Nando Peretti Foundation; Elsa Peretti Foundation; Congregazione dei RR. PP. Dell’Oratorio di San Filippo Neri di Roma; Mr Stefano Palumbo; Mrs Claudia Ferrari; Mrs Sabrina Fusco; Mrs Maria Elena Rosati; Mr Gerardo Ferrara; Mr Ivan Quintavalle · A special thank you to Mrs Elsa Peretti
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