Orquestra Barroca Catalana and countertenor Gabriel Diez perform Porpora's Salve Regina, Corelli's Christmas Concerto [bit late] and Vivaldi's Nisi Dominus in a concert given last November in Barcelona.
-
-
Listening to this (good) concert, I was wondering about changing fashions in the make-up of continuo groups. In my younger days it was usually just a harpsichord plus cello. Now the basso continuo line seems to have spawned, in addition, organs, theorbos, arch-lutes, bass viols, bassoons and almost anything else capable of a bass-line and the realisation of a figured bass. Marimbas next? The thing that stuck out for me in the above programme was the theorbo (or was it an arch-lute?) It seemed over prominent, and some of the decoration used by the (very dexterous) player became at times an extra melodic line that none of the composers had intended. -
With regard to Corelli in particular, there's evidence from contemporary engravings that a large continuo section was a regular feature of the ensembles he worked with in Rome (see "The Birth of the Orchestra in Rome: An Iconographic Study" by John Spitzer in Early Music, February 1991). And of course you have the list of instruments in the score of Monteverdi's Orfeo which is somewhat problematic in that it isn't clear what some of them are supposed to do. So I think that in Italy certainly (if not further north) the use of multiple harmonic instruments in the basso continuo was widespread, at least among the institutions that could afford to use them. With regard to what composers intended, that's a more difficult question since in that period they didn't write down everything that was intended, but assumed that performers would realise continuo parts with taste and imagination, and this was a basic aspect of musical training in a way that it isn't these days. The growing use of larger continuo groups in recent years comes down to two linked factors, I think - firstly, advances in scholarship regarding how music was performed (differently) in different places; and, secondly, the fact that there are so many more players of baroque instruments these days, people who are specialised in continuo realisation.Originally posted by ardcarp View Post
As for the marimba, in its current form it has only existed since around 1900, I think, but if you want to hear it as a continuo instrument Hans Werner Henze's 1976 arrangement of Carissini's oratorio Jephte (1648) not only uses marimba, but also guitar, mandolin and banjo.Comment
-
I agree about the advances in scholarship. On your second point, one doesn't have to use all the players just because they are proficient and because they are there. I felt the Barroca Catalana's strings were occasionally overwhelmed by the continuo group.The growing use of larger continuo groups in recent years comes down to two linked factors, I think - firstly, advances in scholarship regarding how music was performed (differently) in different places; and, secondly, the fact that there are so many more players of baroque instruments these days, people who are specialised in continuo realisation.Comment
-
With regard to the large continuo section used by Corelli, Chiara Banchini gives us a good illustration of 'big band Corelli' in her set of the Concerti Grossi. It sounds really luxurious.
Comment
-
Yes, I love it. I took it along to a listening session when I was buying new speakers soon after it came out.Originally posted by MickyD View PostComment
-
Please forgive me if I've posted my 'arch-lute in Monteverdi's Vespers' story before. It still makes me smile anyway.
A long while ago I was hired as one of the two tenor soloists. Duo Seraphim....no problem. But the conductor (Nigel Perrin) wanted the echo effect in Audi Coelum made more dramatic by having the 'echo' (me) singing from the organ loft. Entry to the latter was via a narrow spiral staircase, whose bottom door, at the rehearsal, was locked. No-one could find the key. So I with accompanying arch-lute sang from ground level, but we were assured the key would be found in time for the performance. So when the time came, I plus lutenist made our way to the bottom of the staircase, now unlocked. I went ahead. Unfortunately the very long neck of the arch-lute would not fit up the stairs. There was no time for alternative plans as of course the performance was in progress. I did my echos from aloft and the very capable arch-lutenist did his stuff at the bottom.
I'm not sure anyone in the audience noticed anything amiss, but of the course the choir and players did, and there was much ribbing after the show,Comment
Comment