|
Many violinists –
even Baroque specialists – get a shock
when they play the Vespers for
the first time. The violin writing is
exceptional for its virtuosity and its range of expression. There is
exquisite
delicacy (in the Deposuit),
exuberant brilliance (Quia Fecit),
demanding
passagework (Sonata sopra Sancta Maria)
and a wealth of florid
ornamentation,
both written out and to be improvised.
For those more
familiar with 18th century
idioms, this work is a refreshing eye- and ear-opener which inspires us
to look
again and common assumptions about performing “Baroque” music. This
applies
especially to our understanding of the Baroque
violin
itself. The Vespers dates
from a time (1610) when many elements of violin design
were
relatively new (The G string, soundpost and bass bar), and others
(violin size, and
method of construction) were by no means standardised.
One of the
cornerstones of the early music movement is
the use of instruments as closely matched as possible to historical
models, and
the Gabrieli
Players have
always taken this very seriously. This is not
for the
sake of “authenticity” or “correctness” per se, but because we have
always
found that when we do so the music speaks that much more strongly to
us, and
the idioms and expressions of the period fall more naturally under our
fingers.
As soon as the
Monteverdi recording project was mooted,
we realised that the
violins we
had [1] belonged
to a different era, and if we were to pursue the Gabrieli
philosophy
we would need to be somewhat more adventurous.
This is why we took
the bold move – with the support of
Paul
McCreesh and
the Gabrieli management, and a generous loan from the Gabrieli
Trust –
of
commissioning a pair of violins, strictly following
historical
principles, from George
Stoppani. This might seem an
unduly radical
move, even
for dedicated performers: we have, after all, been playing this
repertoire for
many years – are our current instruments really so wide of the mark?
In fact, when we
look
back to the time of Monteverdi, the
answer is a surprising “Yes!” Although there are many violins in
circulation
ideal for music of the 18th century, a handful for the later
17th
century, and another handful for the 16th century, the early
17th
century seems to have missed out. I believe the reason for this is the
vast
range of music that period performers have been required to master. We
have had
to play everything from Monteverdi to Mozart, and since it is much
easier to
play Monteverdi with a “Mozart” violin than vice versa, the focus of
the
“Baroque” violin inevitably gravitated to the later 18th
century. Metal-wound strings, long fingerboards, hybrid bridges and
long,
over-flexible bows were being heard in the music of the early 17th
century, and they were disappointing!
The pendulum then
swung the other way, and frequently
“Renaissance” violins were demanded for Monteverdi, usually modelled on
16th
century examples like Andrea Amati’s “Charles IX” set or the small 1581
Ventura
Linarol violin. The results were much more satisfying, especially when
these
instruments were strung properly with equal tension gut strings,
but I
have always wondered whether we could have a true “early Baroque”
violin,
modelled on examples from around 1600, with fittings appropriate to the
early
17th century? Surely this would be the ideal “Monteverdi”
violin?
[1]
Catherine Martin owns a Carlo Antonio
Testore
(1745) and an early 18th century Stradivarius copy by Chris
Johnson
(1999).
Oliver Webber uses a violin by Edward Pamphilon, London, c.1680
(a generous loan from Peter
Trevelyan), and owns
an early 18th
century Stradivarius copy by Alan Beavitt (1986).
|
