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MERULA COMPLETE ORGAN MUSIC
Enrico Viccardi
Tarquinio Merula: Complete Organ Music Tarquinio Merula’s extant oeuvre for the keyboard represents no more than a small part of his overall output, which also comprises numerous sacred and secular instrumental and vocal works. Yet it is the keyboard compositions that clearly reveal his originality and his readiness to experiment. For example, the magnificent Toccata on the second tone embodies both tradition and innovation, especially in the dilated and majestic dactylic rhythm normally associated with the Canzone and here used to great effect at the outset. And while the uninterrupted flow of the work is certainly reminiscent in its continuity of the great Toccatas by Claudio Merulo, the differentiation of character and style of the various sections, especially in the final ricercar, points more towards the future dichotomy between prelude and fugue in an idiom that is distinctly audacious. Tarquinio Merula’s handling of the canzone differs in form from that of his contemporaries. Instead of simply comprising various parts, such pieces generally contain recapitulations, which were common practice at the time, with returns to earlier sections that contribute to the skilful alternation of rhythm and tempi. With the exception of Canzone II, all the others feature the classic ternary section in the centre. The outcome is a series of compositions that, mutatis mutandis, begin to resemble what was to become the church sonata with its typical succession of contrasting movements. An analysis of the thematic material in these pieces reveals that Merula does not adhere to the traditional dactylic rhythm, whose regular form is completely absent from his works. Indeed, in Canzone II the subject in “triplets” actually appears in the first section (Frescobaldi also included ternary subjects in the fifth and sixth canzone of the Secondo Libro di Toccate). Moreover, the same Canzone also reveals traces of the practice suggested by Adriano Banchieri, in other words the repetition of a section, but in a faster tempo. I have followed this advice in repeating the first part of the Canzone “La Marca”, even though the score itself includes no indication in this sense. In actual fact the keyboard version of this 2
composition, which shares musical material with Canzone III, is included in the Pelplin tablature, whereas the original score is lacking in one part. The conclusion of Canzone V is also distinctive. While passages in the stylus phantasticus are often found in the finales, in this case the composer abandons counterpoint in favour of a sort of accompanied solo that entrusts the garlands of notes to the right hand in a conclusion that is somewhat erratic, with certain figurations that derive from the first notes of the subject. The two pieces described as a Capriccio possibly owe this title to the fact that they do not comply with any given form. The first of the two is built around a subject that Merula also uses in Canzone I and the Canzone “La Loda” comprising two violins, violone and continuo. This theme is either faithfully repeated in the various voices, or accompanied by countersubjects with linear or syncopated rhythms, creating new melodies based on part of the original rhythm that then comfortably lead to the conclusion. From the outset, the chromatic Capriccio, on the other hand, features a distinctive subject based on an unusual ninth interval. Like other Capricci, the pieces consists of various sections that run into each other, but with one unchanging subject (an ascending chromatic succession that becomes descending towards the finale), and various changing countersubjects. Both the Toccata on the first tone and Genus cromaticum and the two Versetti were attributed to Merula in relatively recent times, becoming part of his oeuvre when they were discovered in Solothurn in the 1990s by François Seydoux, the Swiss organist and musicologist. The Toccata begins in the hands, which develop arpeggio figurations on a tonic and then a dominant pedal before giving way to more structured passages. Following a relatively simple, linear section in the imitative style there is a ternary part with an obbligo di ritornello, which in its turn gives way to a return to the subjects in the imitative style that leads to the conclusion of the piece. The Genus cromaticum is in marked contrast with this, since it is a sort of ricercar with a subject made up of coupled chromatism that invests the work with a feeling of 3
slight alienation and gloom. The two versetti are short works in the counterpoint style to be used in alternation with the Kyrie (in the manuscript the title itself explains this intent: Versetta 1mi toni del Sig. Tarq[uinio] pro Kyrie in duplicibus). In the first the subject is handled in the contralto, with a classic dactylic rhythm, and it is interesting to note now Merula unfailingly transforms the rhythm so as to avoid repetition of the long/short/short combination. In both versetti the counterpoint tends increasingly to become toccata-like in style towards the finale. In the three Intonazioni, Merula employs a range of highly refined compositional devices to emphasise expressive intensity. In the one pertaining to the third tone, for example, he includes between the initial part and the heady flourishes of the last lines a counterpoint section built around a harmonic bass that is repeated throughout the piece in different pitches, a way of using the “ligature” to suggest the forthcoming resolution that is extremely effective. The Intonation of the ninth tone features an alternation of sections that differ in mood. When the subject is in the bass, the higher voices effect a pause that allows the organist to close the Voce Umana stop, so that the conclusion of the piece is entrusted to the Principale (I was inspired by a similar passage in the Toccata per la Levatione in Girolamo Frescobaldi’s Messa della Madonna. However, the most original compositional solution is to be found in the Intonazione of the fourth tone. This appealing piece begins as though it were a toccata for the Elevazione, but then develops into counterpoint shorn of trills and grouped embellishments. Here again, the composer adopts the device of a resolution anticipated in dissonance. For the last section Merula uses further simplification, entrusting the sound to the two voices: the subject with amplified values is played by the bass, whereas the right hand embroiders figurations derived from the subject per diminutionem, with echo-like effects achieved thanks to octave changes. Though some of Merula’s contemporaries also used chromatic structures in their compositions, there is no doubt that the Sonata stands out as a real masterpiece. The chromatic subject is first exposed as though it were a recercar, and then begins to 4
migrate through the voices, creating a luminous harmonic fabric and a rhythmical structure based on syncopation. The work leaps forward with the introduction of the countersubject in semiquavers, first ascending and then descending. To invest the organized frenzy with greater intensity, a new subject that begins with repeated, febrile notes is then juxtaposed on the chromatic element that is then diminished in octaves. With great dramatic impact, the development suddenly comes to a halt, giving way to a surprising finale. © Enrico Viccardi
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ORGAN SPECIFICATION Built by Giovanni Chiappani of Pavia in 1647, the organ has a (rebuilt) 52-note keyboard (C1-G5) with a short first octave. The diatonic keys are faced in boxwood, and the chromatic keys in ebony. The (rebuilt) sloping pedalboard consists of 18 pedals with a short first octave from C1 to G#2 (12 real notes, the last pedal activating the Rollante) and is connected with the keyboard. The registers are activated by means of stops moved horizontally and positioned vertically to the right of the console. Free combination pedal in the Lombard style. The spring chest reveals the elongation introduced by Angelo Cavalli in 1882 (the canals from C#5 to G5). The mouths of both the original pipes and those that have been rebuilt in the same style are located below the rack board, whereas the others are located above it. Cavalli also added registers that have since been removed and replaced with the Flauto in XII and the Flauto in XV (rebuilt, using also ancient pipes that were once part of the instrument). The 19 façade pipes are new. Principale [8’] Ottava Decima Quinta Decima Nona Vigesima Seconda Vigesima Sesta Vigesima Nona Flauto in XII Flauto in XV Voce Umana Contrabassi e Rinforzi
Pressure: 50 mm in water column. La3: 440 at a temperature of 20 C°. Temperament with regular 1/6 comma.
Restoration and replacement carried out by Ugo Cremonesi and Claudio d’Arpino of “Bottega organaria” at Soncino (Cremona) during 2012-2013. 6
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Enrico Viccardi was born in 1961 in Maleo, but moved as a child to Codogno, where he still lives. He took a first class Diploma in Organ and Organ Composition at the Conservatoire in Piacenza under the aegis of Giuseppina Perotti, later specializing with M. Radulescu at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna. He then attended numerous master classes with teachers such as E. Fadini, C. Tilney, J. Langlais, D. Roth, and in particular with L.F. Tagliavini at the Accademia in Pistoia. In his career as a concert organist he has travelled widely in Italy and abroad, playing with and for organizations such as Musica e poesia a San Maurizio (Milan), the Organ Festivals of Venice, Accademia di Pistoia, Colorno, Cremona Cathedral, Genoa, Festival Internazionale di Trento, Bolzano, Festival Internazionale di Paola, Napoli, Bari, La Chaise Dieu, Lavaur, Cannes, Montpellier, Granada, International Festival of Asturias, Barcelona, Andorra, International Festival of Lisbona, Porto, the Azores, the Vatican City, London, Malm, Dornum, Uttum, Alma-Ata. He has also worked with important institutions such as the Chorus of the Italian Swiss Radio, and with ensembles that include Vanitas, and i Sonatori della Gioiosa Marca conducted by R. Clemencic, D. Fasolis and G. Carmignola. He has recorded with the Bottega Discantica, Divox Antiqua and Dynamic labels, as well as Fugatto, for which 8
he has recorded various CDs, and a DVD devoted to J.S. Bach’s organ music that was awarded a 5 star rating by the magazine Musica. For the same label he is also involved in recording J. S. Bach’s complete organ works on Italian early and modern instruments, a project that includes the forthcoming release of the Orgelbüchlein played on the “Francesco Zanin” organ (2008) in the Church of San Babila in Milan. His recent recordings also include the Art of the Fugue played on the Mascioni organ at Giubiasco (Switzerland) for Italian Swiss Radio. He has held master classes in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Sweden and Kazakhstan. He teaches the Organ at the Istituto dicoesano “San Cristoforo” in Piacenza, and is president of the musical association Accademia Maestro Raro. He is artistic director of “Percorsi d’Organo in Provincia di Como” and the Autunno Organistico nel Lodigiano. He is Professor of Organ and Organ Composition at the “G. Verdi” Conservatoire in Como. www.enricoviccardi.org
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Also available on Brilliant Classics
Gabrieli: Complete Keyboard Music 94432 6CD
Luzzaschi: Complete Keyboard Music 94169 1CD
Trabaci: Harpsichord and Organ Music 94897 2CD
Rossi: Music for Organ and Harpsichord 94966 1CD
Sponsored by Bottega Organaria Soncino www.bottegaorganariasoncino.it Recording: 23-24 January 2015, Mezzana Casati, church of San Pietro Apostolo Sound engineer, editing and mastering: Federico Savio Assistant to the organist: Paolo Gazzola, Federico Perotti Organ preparation and tuning: Ugo Cremonesi Cover image and organ photo: Enrico Viccardi Artists photo: Paolo Gazzola p & Š 2015 Brilliant Classics 10
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