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Pietro Antonio Locatelli: A Gentleman’s Musician It is a rare privilege when one has the opportunity to participate in the revival of the works of a composer who has largely but unjustly been forgotten through the passage of time. These recordings of the complete works of violin virtuoso Pietro Antonio Locatelli are an attempt to restore the fame of a composer and performer who was no less than an internationally renowned phenomenon during his lifetime. Locatelli was born in Bergamo, Italy in 1695. By the age of 14 he was already playing violin in the instrumental ensemble of the local cathedral and a year later he acquired an official position there playing third violin. In that same year, he was given permission to study with Corelli in Rome. In actual fact, he studied with a member of the prestigious circle of violin virtuosi associated with the renowned Corelli school of violin playing. Between 1717 and 1723 there are numerous references to performances by Locatelli in and around Rome. In this period he was even under the protection of the papal chamberlain. Between 1723 and 1729, Locatelli seems to have dropped out of the public eye and information about him becomes scarce. It is known that in 1725 he was in Mantua at the service of the Landgrave Philip of Hesse-Darmstadt. In 1727 he performed in Munich at the court of the Prince-Elector, and he was in Berlin in 1728, performing in a local palace in the presence of the Queen of Prussia. In 1728 there is also evidence that he spent time in Frankfurt, based on the presence of his signature on a page of an album of music belonging to a Dutch-born businessman living there. In that same year he played at the court of a Landgrave in Cassel where he met the well-known French violinist and contemporary Jean-Marie Leclair, with whom he later was to establish a cordial, professional relationship. Further stories about Locatelli from this period are based, at best, on deduction and, at worst, on conjecture. It is known that he moved to Amsterdam sometime in 1729, not primarily to perform, but to take advantage of the country’s flourishing music publishing firms which offered not only the latest in printing techniques but also an 2
excellent commercial network guaranteeing him wide, international circulation. Since 1721 he had already collaborated with the renowned Dutch publishing firm Roger & Le Cène in issuing his first published work, the 12 Concerti Grossi Op.1. This company was especially famous for its editions of music and was one of the pioneers in copper-plate engraving, which not only increased the quality of the engraving but also reduced the cost of printing. The firm was responsible for carefully prepared and attractive editions of the works of Albinoni, Corelli, Geminiani, Handel, Lully, Marais, Pepusch, Quantz, Scarlatti, Tartini, Telemann, Torelli, Vivaldi and many others, including Locatelli. Several of these, including Albinoni and Vivaldi, were so impressed with the work of Roger & Le Cène that they commissioned them to reprint compositions that had already been published in Italy. The company’s extensive business representation throughout Europe encouraged many musicians to compose, as it assured circulation to a wide audience. One of these was certainly Locatelli. His business acumen and desire for quality control is further evidenced by his personally taking charge of sales from his own home, as well as by his obtaining permission from the States of Holland to print his own works. This permission was granted for a period of 30 years and was a kind of copyright protection avant la lettre, preventing unauthorised reprinting within Holland as well as the importation of foreign reprints. This 30-year period saw the composition and publication of his works from Op.2 through Op.8. Interestingly, his last compositions, Op.9, which were published in 1762, a year after the expiration of this privilege, have been lost. Locatelli lived in relative prosperity in a large canal-house in Amsterdam where he had an impressive collection of works of art and musical instruments, as well as an extensive library of books, often antique and in multiple copies, suggesting that he was commercially active as a collector. It was in this house that he gave regular Wednesday concerts, neither to a wide audience nor to professional musicians but most likely to wealthy amateurs and students. In his own words, he refused to ‘play anywhere but with Gentlemen’. That he didn’t refer to his professional colleagues as gentlemen may have 3
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had more to do with their financial status than their breeding, although it is known that he never permitted ‘professed musicians’ into his concerts out of fear of their stealing his professional secrets. His performances were the subject of much discussion and are even described by such writers as Charles Burney and Denis Diderot. His playing was inevitably accompanied by such facial grimacing that listeners were often compelled to keep their eyes closed although, in all fairness, grimacing was apparently fairly common amongst the Italian violin virtuosi. After performing one of his dazzling, pyrotechnical feats, he was known to throw his arms wide and call out repeatedly, ‘Ah! What do you have to say about that?’ The aforementioned musical meeting in 1728 with the violinist Leclair in the court of a Landgrave in Cassel was described by an eyewitness as resembling rabbits running up and down the violin. Leclair, with his practiced left hand and beautiful sound knew how to steal hearts whereas Locatelli, with his ability to play astoundingly difficult passages with total ease, was able to dazzle his audience. This particular eyewitness did describe Locatelli’s sound as ‘scratchy’ compared to Leclair’s. These observations earned Leclair and Locatelli the nicknames ‘The Angel’ and ‘The Devil’ respectively. It was also said that when it came to playing steadily and rhythmically, Leclair was easily thrown off his saddle by Locatelli. Trio Sonatas The first six trio sonatas presented in this compilation come from Locatelli’s Op.5, published in 1736, and the subsequent four from his Op.8, published in 1744. Op.5 consists of six trio sonatas and Op.8 begins with six sonatas for single violin and basso continuo and continues with the four trio sonatas, so the numbering of the Op.8 trio sonatas begins where Op.5 leaves off. Locatelli’s publication of these sonatas had commercial motives – catering to the tastes of his patrons and the sheer popularity of the genre, in addition to continuing a strong Italian trio sonata tradition dating back to the 17th century. However, there are also Rococo elements in the ‘galant’ style of these sonatas which reflect Locatelli’s desire and ability to cater to the changing tastes of the 4
time. An example of his reversion to this earlier style can be seen in his re-use of melodic and rhythmic motives in order to link the movements of a sonata. Another example can be found in the Trio Sonata Op.5 No.5 with a Pastorale, which was for a long time popular in Baroque instrumental music and reminiscent of the famous Pastorale in Corelli’s ‘Christmas’ Concerto Op.6 No.8. An example of Locatelli’s catering to the high Baroque can be found in Op.5 No.6, which is entirely in strict canon. The sonata consists of two solo sonata groups (i.e. violin, cello and harpsichord) superimposed upon one another out of phase. I know of no other work which pulls off such a compositional tour de force so playfully! Violin Sonatas Locatelli’s Sonatas for Violin and Continuo stretch the possibilities and capabilities of both violin and violinist to their limits. They were certainly the first sonatas to feature extremely high notes (either as effect or for melodies), rapid shifts between these high notes and much lower ones, and new bowing techniques such as rapid staccato runs and arpeggios all on one bow (both up- and down-bow). The violin writing is resplendent with entire sections devoted to double stops, almost as if though Locatelli were writing trio sonatas but with only one violinist, and in several movements – most notably in the first movements of Op.6 Nos. 7, 11 and 12 – Locatelli writes out extended cadenzas which sound improvisational, often over a pedal point in the bass. While all twelve Op.6 sonatas, with the exception of the last, have a set of variations as their last movement, by contrast the only Op.8 sonata to feature this formal structure is the last one. The themes are graceful ‘arias’, generally in 3/4 time, and they provide ample opportunity for the violinist to demonstrate the different ways of embellishing a melody or chord progression using practically every violin technique imaginable. Some examples of innovative techniques and their whereabouts are listed below. – High notes and rapid shifts occur in most of the sonatas, especially in the variation movements, which usually feature one variation in high positions. The Capriccio Op.6 No.12 is especially noteworthy for its positively stratospheric passages. 5
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– The use of multiple staccato notes in one bow stroke can also be found in many of the sonatas. Particularly striking examples of long staccato runs and arpeggios occur in the second movement of the Sonata Op.6 No.6 and in Variation 2 of the last movement of the Sonata Op.6 No.8. The Sonata Op.8 No.5 features an interesting and innovative use of two-note staccato slurs that are divided between the up- and down-bow in both its second and fourth movements. – Locatelli’s continuo writing has many facets and the role of the bass part varies from supportive accompaniment to that of an equal ‘sparring’ partner. Occasionally it is even given the opportunity for extended improvisation, and an example of this can be found in the Grave movement of the Sonata in F minor Op.6 No.7, where the violin’s long notes over a bass line of repeated notes invite melodic ornamentation on the part of the harpsichordist. All in all, the ground-breaking violin techniques used by Locatelli in these sonatas created quite a sensation among both audiences and violinists of the time, and are still looked upon as some of the most difficult in the repertoire. Violin Concertos Locatelli’s violin concertos present the solo violinist with some of the greatest technical challenges ever written for the instrument. While these concertos continue in the Italian Baroque tradition of Vivaldi and Corelli, they not only have a distinctive character of their own, but they take virtuosity and the innovative use of the violin to an entirely new level. Besides a formidable and facile technique, performance of these works demands great physical stamina, and even today most violinists avoid them. The complete concertos recorded here comprise 14 works, two of which are previously unrecorded pieces that were not included in the 12 of Op.3 that were published in Amsterdam under the title ‘L’Arte del Violino’ in 1733. From the dedication, however, it is clear that they were written earlier, probably in the years 1723–9 during Locatelli’s travels throughout Europe. In terms of form they follow the 6
Italianate model used by Vivaldi: three movements, fast-slow-fast, with the occasional slow introduction to a fast movement. A unique feature of these concertos, however, is the inclusion of 24 solo capriccios, two of which could be inserted optionally into each of the 12 concertos near the ends of their two fast movements. They provide the violinist with technical challenges of unprecedented difficulty. Historically, the term capriccio or caprice was, as its name suggests, used loosely to refer to any fanciful piece: it was not associated with any particular form or genre, and could be either instrumental or vocal. Although often used synonymously with sinfonia or fantasia, the capriccio was generally more inventive and experimental, and Locatelli’s capriccios certainly fit this description, being often followed by cadenzas intended to bridge sections or embellish cadences. These cadenzas consisted of one or perhaps a few harmonies over which the performer must improvise; although they could be virtuosic, they were never notated, and thus they gave the violinist the opportunity to demonstrate his improvisational abilities, whereas the capriccios were fully written-out and were intended for the violinist to display his pyrotechnical skills. Many of Locatelli’s capriccios are quite long, and four of the 24 actually exceed the length of the movements to which they belong. A contemporary description of one of Locatelli’s performances of his ‘Labyrinth’ concerto (No.12) in 1741 recounts that the capriccio for the first movement was so long that it required seven notated pages. As there was nowhere to turn the pages, Locatelli glued all the sheets together, creating a part that was two metres wide. In his violin concertos, Locatelli makes use of the same innovative, experimental technical difficulties that he uses in the solo sonatas, such as rapid leaps and stratospherically high writing, but takes them to even greater extremes. An example of this can be found in the capriccio intended for the third movement of Concerto No.11 in Op.3. While positions above the 7th were quite rare in the music of the time, this capriccio requires the 19th position – the C# produced is a half-tone higher than the highest note on the modern piano! 7
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There are numerous other possibilities for improvisation, too, apart from the cadenzas, and several of Locatelli’s concertos containing sections or even entire movements that consist only of slow chords. (Locatelli almost certainly improvised over these chords, and Igor Ruhadze follows in this tradition.) Examples of such embellished movements can be found in the Adagio of Op.3 No.5, the Adagio of Op.3 No.6 and the Largo of Op.3 No.8. Long after Locatelli’s death and well into the 19th century, the 24 capriccios continued to be published as well as to appear in violin methods. They were the direct inspiration for Paganini’s 24 Caprices, 70 years after the appearance of those by Locatelli. Concerti Grossi · Introduzioni Teatrali The term concerto grosso was used loosely in the late 17th century and during the entire 18th century to denote a work for two groups of instruments, a solo group (concertino) and an accompanying group (ripieno). The ripieno might be referred to as an optional ‘backing band’ for a traditional trio sonata with two violins, cello and continuo. At the time, the ripieno was indeed often looked upon as optional, should either the situation make it undesirable or the lack of other instruments make it impossible. In fact, it was an easy marketing ploy to publish a set of trio sonatas which could be performed as is or as optional concerti grossi with the term solo added for sections when the solo group was expected to play alone and tutti when the other instruments, if present, could join in. Although the term was used loosely, the concerto grosso differed from the solo concerto in which a single instrument stood in the limelight. In its larger form, with two distinct groups of instruments, the concerto grosso could be based either on the 18th-century sonata da chiesa form or ‘church sonata’, usually with a slow introductory movement, a fast, fugal movement, a slow, expressive movement and a fast, imitative finale, or on the sonata da camera or ‘chamber sonata’ which contained dance movements. As the 18th century progressed, 8
the distinctions between the church and the chamber sonatas disappeared and consequently the concerto grosso increasingly contained elements of both. Locatelli’s first published works were in this exceedingly popular genre and he clearly wished to demonstrate not only his command of the form but also his abilities as a composer following in the footsteps of his teacher, Corelli. Op.1 was published in 1721 (interestingly, in the same year Bach published his Brandenburg Concertos) and consisted of 12 concerti grossi. Even though these first concerti can be divided stylistically into da chiesa and da camera types, Locatelli nevertheless established a distinctive style and departed from established traditions, thereby superseding the Corellian model. Locatelli chose to follow the example of Torelli, another Italian violin virtuoso and contemporary of Corelli, by using a ripieno of four or five players as opposed to the common two violins and cello. Some of the slow movements in the Op.1 concerti contain mainly long notes and were probably intended as a showcase for improvisation, either by the first violinist (as in the fourth movement of Op.1 No.1 and the first movement of Op.1 No.8) or by the harpsichordist (as in the third movement of Op.1 No.3). An additional point of interest concerning Op.1 No.8 is that it ends with a pastorale reminiscent of Corelli’s famous Christmas Concerto. By the time Locatelli published his Op.4 Concerti Grossi in 1735, he had already established himself as a virtuoso violinist, having published only two years previously his Op.3 Violin Concertos, which contained pyrotechnics never before heard. This is reflected by increasingly virtuosic writing for the violin in the concerti grossi. In this opus of 12 works, Locatelli called the first six Introduzioni Teatrali and they followed the form of the Italian sinfonia with three movements, fast-slow-fast. A curious aspect of Op.4 No.8 is that the solo and ripieno groups play the same music in movements one and two but movements three and four are more a type of violin concerto, with extended passages in double stops for the first violinist. Op.4 No.10 includes a minuet with variations in which the first violin plays stratospherically high. In 1746 Locatelli reworked this concerto as the solo sonata Op.8 No.6. A notable exception to the rest 9
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of his concerti grossi is Op.4 No.12, where the solo group consists of four violins, each with an equally virtuosic part. Op.7 was published in 1741 and consists of six concerti, one for the traditional Corellian solo group of two violins and cello and five with his preferred solo group of four instruments. The second movement of Op.7 No.4 features an interesting written-out section with rapid arpeggios for the harpsichord. Locatelli labelled it ad libitum, perhaps in an attempt to avoid frightening the amateur harpsichordist. With its programmatic title and content, Op.7 No.5 is perhaps the most theatrical of Locatelli’s concerti grossi. Subtitled ‘Il Pianto d’Arianna’ (‘Arianna’s weeping’), this concerto illustrates an episode from Ovid’s Heroides, a popular subject of many 17th- and 18th-century operas. The slow movements feature sobbing figures alternating with recitative-like figures in the solo violin. Locatelli’s Concerti Grossi Op.9 have unfortunately been lost. A condition of Locatelli’s exclusive publishing rights in the Netherlands (a forerunner of modern copyright law) was that he give copies to the Leiden University library. Thanks to this stipulation, we still have copies of Opp. 1, 4 and 7. By the time he published Op.9 in 1762, this ‘privilege’ had lapsed. The richness of Locatelli’s harmonic language and the vitality of his counterpoint provide a wealth of compositional inventiveness unparalleled by his contemporaries as well as a virtuosity that even today places these works among the most difficult in the violin repertoire. 훿 Vaughan Schlepp
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Ensemble Violini Capricciosi Igor Ruhadze Daria Gorban Rebecca Huber Ivan Iliev Jacek Kurzydło Annegret Hoffmann David Rabinovici Agnieszka Papierska Annemarie Kosten-Dür Zdenka Prochazkova Mark Dupere Nika Zlataric Paulina Ptak Joannis Babaloukas Tomoki Sumiya Silvia Jimenez Soriano Vaughan Schlepp Masato Suzuki
solo violin & leader Baroque violin (David Tecchler, Rome, 1706, NMF) Baroque violin (Hendrik Jakobs, Amsterdam, 1693, NMF) Baroque violin (Matthieu J.R. Besseling, Amsterdam, 2003) Baroque violin (Silvian Rusu, after Giuseppe Guarneri (del Gesù)) Baroque viola (Christo Georgiev, 2011, after Gasparo da Salo) Baroque violin (Nicolas Augustin Chappuy, Paris, 1764) Baroque viola (Jan Pawlikowski, Kraków, 2007, after Amati) Baroque violin (Anon., Klingenthal, Saxony, c.1770) Baroque violin (John Hamilton, Scotland, mid-19th century) Baroque viola (Anon., Mittenwald, 19th century) Baroque violin (Anon., Klingenthal, Germany, late 18th century) Baroque viola (Adam Bartosik, Myslenice, 2011) Baroque viola (Jan Pawlikowski, Krakow, 2010) Baroque viola (Jan Pawlikowski, Krakow, 2010) Baroque cello (Jakob Weiss, Salzburg, 1745, NMF) Baroque cello (Mathias Hornsteiner, in Mittenwald, 1818) Baroque cello (Krystian Grzybacz, 2008, after Hendrik Jacobs) double bass (Anon., France, 19th century, after Jacquet) double bass (Alessandro Ciciliati, Ferrara, 1997) double bass (J.G. Thir, 1755) harpsichord (Joop Klinkhamer after Zell) harpsichord (Kroesbergen after Couchet)
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