BACH & BEFORE Stylus Fantasticus Sonatas of Bach, Buxtehude, Biber, Schmelzer & Bertali

Each of the composers featured on this

recording were proponents of the stylus fantasticus, a term which had its roots

initially in the improvisational and virtuosic

style of organ toccatas and fantasias

of composers such as Frescobaldi,

and which was later transmitted north

through composers like Froberger.

The Austro-German school of violinist-

composers of the seventeenth-century,

including Bertali, Schmelzer, and Biber

continued this tradition in Austria, and

it was carried on, to varying degrees, in

the works of Buxtehude and Bach in

Germany. In 1650 the music theorist

and polymath Athanasius Kircher wrote,

“[stylus fantasticus] is especially suited

to instruments. It is the most free and

unrestrained method of composing,

it is bound to nothing, neither to any

words nor to a melodic subject…” By

1739, composer and theorist Johann

Mattheson described it as “now swift,

now hesitating, now in one voice, now in

many voices, now for a while behind the

beat, without measure of sound, but not

without the intent to please, to overtake

and to astonish.” For Mattheson, stylus fantasticus not only described a style of

composition, but a free and improvisatory

style of performance.

Antonio Bertali was born in Verona but

spent most of his career north of the Alps,

eventually earning the prestigious title of

Kapellmeister at the Habsburg court in

Vienna. Bertali was a master craftsman,

combining virtuosic string writing from

his native Italy with his adopted country’s

sense of instrumentation and advanced

BACH & BEFORE Stylus Fantasticus Sonatas of Bach, Buxtehude, Biber, Schmelzer & Bertali

About

BACH & BEFORE

Total Program Length: 50:37

1 Sonata a due in D Minor Antonio Bertali (1605–1669) 7:42

2 Sonata III in F Major Heinrich Ignaz Biber (1644–1704) 12:12

3 Sonata VIII in D Minor Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (c. 1620–1680) 5:42

Sonata in G Major (BWV 1021) Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)

4 Adagio 3:21

5 Vivace 1:03

6 Largo 2:08

7 Presto 1:27

8 Sonata in A Minor (BuxWV 272) Dietrich Buxtehude (c. 1637–1707) 7:51

9 Sonata quarta in D Major Johann Heinrich Schmelzer 8:46

contrapuntal techniques. In essence,

these characteristics defined the

stylus fantasticus: an Italianate sense

of melody, harmonic freedom, and

unrestrained virtuosity, combined with

a more rigorous, Germanic sense of

counterpoint. In his Sonata a due, which

is preserved in manuscript in the

Düben Collection in Uppsala, Bertali

bestows on the viola da gamba a

melodic role in dialogue with the violin.

The resulting dynamic relationship is

rich with imitative counterpoint, and

offset by free moving solo sections.

Austrian Johann Heinrich Schmelzer traveled to Italy early in his career

and upon returning to Austria worked

closely with the Italian musicians

employed there, most notably Antonio

Bertali, and may have been the

teacher or mentor of fellow Austrian,

Heinrich Biber. Thus we can trace

a direct line of transmission of the

stylus fantasticus beginning with

Bertali to Schmelzer, and continuing

with Schmelzer to Biber. At the

court of Vienna, one of Schmelzer’s

responsibilities was composing dance

music (including over 150 dance

suites), the primary purpose of which

was to highlight the visual elements

and fantastical characters of the

many dramas, serenatas and lavish

pageants in which the royal family

frequently took part. Schmelzer also

made notable contributions to the

development of the sonata. Sonata VIII comes from Duodena selectarum sonatarum (1659), a collection of

sonatas for one or two violins, viola da

gamba, and continuo. It is Italianate

in style and form, deftly intertwining

rhetorical, imitative and solo episodes

for the violin and viola da gamba.

Schmelzer’s later collection, Sonatae unarum fidium (1664), is the first

known publication of sonatas for solo

violin and continuo by a German-speaking

composer. From this book we perform

Schmelzer’s Sonata quarta, a work built

on a descending four-note ground bass

pattern. Schmelzer embedded a suite

of dances over the course of the many

variations for the violin, including a

sarabanda and gigue, moving seamlessly

from one to the next. The piece eventually

moves to a free, rhapsodic section in

duple meter, concluding with a fiery series

of arpeggios for the violin. Schmelzer

became the first Austrian after a long

line of Italians to be awarded the position

of Kapellmeister, the highest musical

appointment at the Habsburg court. His

enjoyment of this post was short-lived—

he succumbed to the plague not long

after the appointment.

About Heinrich Ignaz Biber, the

eighteenth-century historian Charles

Burney wrote, “Of all the violin players

of the last century Biber seems to have

been the best, and his solos are the

most difficult and most fanciful of any

music I have seen of the same period.”

Biber’s Sonata in F Major comes from

his Sonatae violino solo (1681), one of

four printed collections published during

the composer’s years in Saltzburg.

Unlike many of Biber’s works, which use

scordatura (variant tunings of the violin),

the Sonata in F Major uses standard

violin tuning. As with all eight sonatas in

the collection, the violin demonstrates

completely uninhibited virtuosity. At times

in sixth or seventh position, these sonatas

are typical of the stylus fantasticus, with

free, rhapsodic and ornate preludes and

finales, brilliantly inventive passagi over

ostinato basses, and frequent, undaunted

use of double stops.

Dietrich Buxtehude likely received his

first musical training from his father, who

was organist at St. Olai Kirke in Elsinore,

Denmark. Buxtehude’s first post was at

St. Maria Kyrka in Helsingborg, and by

1668, he had been appointed organist at

the Marienkirche at Lubeck, one of the

most important musical posts in northern

Germany. His duties there primarily

included composing and playing for the

main morning and afternoon services.

Buxtehude had at his disposal an ever-

changing set of paid instrumentalists and

singers and wrote for all sorts of services

appropriate to the church calendar as

well as for weddings, funerals and the

occasional commission. He published

two collections of seven sonatas for

violin and viola da gamba and continuo

(Hamburg, 1694 and 1696) in which

each of the two solo lines converses with,

imitates, supports, and goads the other

to new heights of expression. The Sonata in A Minor (BuxWV 272) performed

here, however, is a separate work that

did not appear in these two publications.

This sonata is built over two distinct

ostinato bass patterns at the beginning

and end of the piece. These frame a

slower, transitional organ-like section in

F Major that utilizes double stops for the

violin. Throughout, the viola da gamba

alternates between bandying melodic

lines with the violin and dropping down

to cover the bass.

In the long and storied history of the

works of Johann Sebastian Bach, his

Sonata in G Major for violin and basso

continuo (BWV 1021) is a relatively

new arrival. Rediscovered in 1929 in a

collection in Eisenach, it was performed

the same year in Leipzig by Adolf Busch

(violin) and Rudolf Serkin (piano). The

violin sonata is based on an almost

identical bass line to the Trio Sonata in

G Major for violin, flute and continuo

(BWV 1038). Scholars have dated the

autograph copy with precision to the

year 1732 and have determined that it

was a family collaboration. The music

was copied by Bach’s second wife, Anna

Magdalena, while the accompanying

titles, key signatures, and figured bass

indications were written by Bach himself.

The title page reads “Sonata per il violino

e cembalo”, although we have chosen

here to employ a continuo team of organ,

viola da gamba and plucked strings. The

sequence of movements, alternating

slow, fast, slow, fast, is a pattern favored

by Bach in his chamber works. The

expressive melodic writing of the two

slow movements perfectly balances

the lively energy of the Vivace and

Presto movements.

In many ways, Bach’s Sonata in G

Major represents the end of the line

for the stylus fantasticus. Some might

even argue against its inclusion on this

CD. Bach, however, was clearly aware

of the fantastic style and made use of

it—not only as a way of composing, but

as Mattheson described, as a free and

improvisatory way of performing. This

is especially true in Bach’s free and

improvisatory preludia and toccatas for

keyboard and organ, as well as in the solo

sonatas and partitas for violin. The Sonata

in G Major has echoes of these, especially

in the slow movements. We would like to

think that our approach to performing the

piece, with the stretching of tempo here

and there, taking time in key moments,

emphasizing certain dissonant harmonies,

the graceful cascading of passages and

flowing of ornaments, has been enhanced

by our familiarity with Bach’s stylus fantasticus predecessors.

Scott Pauley, Patricia Halverson, Andrew Fouts

Hailed as “One of Pittsburgh’s greatest

treasures” by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Chatham Baroque continues to

excite local, national, and international

audiences with dazzling technique and

lively interpretations of seventeenth- and

eighteenth-century music played on

instruments of the period. Founded in

1990, Chatham Baroque continues to

thrive with a full calendar of concerts,

tours, musical collaborations, and CD

releases. The trio of baroque violin, viola

da gamba, theorbo and baroque guitar

tours nationally and internationally. This

is the ensemble’s tenth commercial CD

release, and the second release on its

own in-house label.

Chatham Baroque offers audiences the

opportunity to hear baroque music that

is accessible and thrillingly vivid, with a

freshness akin to improvisational jazz.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette proclaims,

“Pound for pound, you aren’t going

to find a better ensemble … than

Chatham Baroque.” Chatham Baroque

is repeatedly listed among the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s “Top 50 Cultural Forces

in Pittsburgh” and “Ten Best Classical

Concerts.”

The trio’s Pittsburgh concert series in

recent seasons has been substantially

broadened by exciting collaborations with

Attack Theatre, the Pittsburgh Symphony

Orchestra, Pittsburgh Opera, Renaissance

& Baroque, and the Pittsburgh Chamber

Music Society. The ensemble prides

itself on its commitment to the Pittsburgh

region and its ability to serve nationally

and abroad as ambassadors for the

city. In addition to local and touring

concerts and recording, Chatham

Baroque presents Peanut Butter & Jam

Sessions for pre-schoolers and Music All

Over the Place performances in various

community venues. With the support

of PNC Charitable Trust, Chatham

Baroque brought its Peanut Butter &

Jam Sessions to four Pittsburgh area

early education centers, performing 36

concerts for children from underserved

city neighborhoods. Chatham Baroque

is the proud recipient of Early Music

America’s 2012 Laurette Goldberg Award

for lifetime achievement in early music

outreach programming, and is Ensemble-

in-Residence at WQED-FM and Calvary

Episcopal Church.

Chatham Baroque has toured throughout

the United States as well as in South

America and Mexico, the Virgin

Islands, and Canada. In recent years

the ensemble has appeared at several

summer festivals, including the Piccolo

Spoleto Festival (Charleston, SC) and the

Madison Early Music Festival, where they

also have served on the teaching faculty.

On the road, the ensemble consistently

receives high praise. The Washington Post calls them “musically impeccable”;

the Chicago Tribune, “a splendid

period-instruments ensemble”;

and the New York Times praises

their “colorful virtuosity.”

About

CHATHAM BAROQUE

Andrew Fouts (baroque violin)

joined Chatham Baroque in 2008. In

performance with the ensemble he has

been noted for his “mellifluous sound and

sensitive style” (Washington Post) and as

“an extraordinary violinist” who exhibits

“phenomenal control”(Bloomington Herald-Times), while the Lincoln Journal-Star wrote that his “talent challenges the

top soloists of today’s classical stage.”

In 2008 Andrew won first prize at the

American Bach Soloists’ International

Baroque Violin Competition. In addition

to Chatham Baroque, Andrew has

performed recently with the Four Nations

Ensemble, Apollo’s Fire, Musica Pacifica,

Philharmonia Baroque, and as soloist

with American Bach Soloists. He serves

as concertmaster of the Washington Bach

Consort, about which the Washington Post has written “... Fouts, the group’s

new concertmaster, was exemplary on the

highest part, playing with clean intonation

and radiant tone.”

Patricia Halverson (viola da gamba, violone) holds a doctoral degree in

Early Music Performance Practice from

Stanford University. After completing

her graduate work, she studied in the

Netherlands at the Royal Conservatory in

The Hague. A native of Duluth, Minnesota,

Patricia is a founding

member of Chatham

Baroque and has been

instrumental in raising the

level of Baroque chamber

music performance in the

Pittsburgh area. Recent

performances include

concerts with Ensemble

VIII of Austin, Texas, and

the Washington Bach

Consort and duo viola

da gamba recitals in

Pittsburgh with Martha

McGaughey. In 2013

she appeared with the

Pittsburgh Symphony

Orchestra performing J.S. Bach’s

Brandenburgh Concerto No. 6. Patricia

teaches viola da gamba privately in the

Pittsburgh region and has served on the

faculty of the Viola da Gamba Society

of America’s annual Conclave and the

Madison Early Music Festival.

in Amsterdam. In North America Scott

has performed with Tempesta di Mare,

Musica Angelica, Opera Lafayette,

The Folger Consort, The Four Nations

Ensemble, The Toronto Consort, and

Hesperus and as a soloist with the Atlanta

Symphony Orchestra. He has performed

in numerous Baroque opera productions

as a continuo player, both in the USA

and abroad. In recent years he has

appeared with the English Concert and

Opera Lafayette at Carnegie Hall in New

York, the Library of Congress, and The

Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Scott

has served on the teaching faculty at the

Madison Early Music Festival.

Scott Pauley (theorbo, archlute)

holds a doctoral degree in Early Music

Performance Practice from Stanford

University. Before settling in Pittsburgh

in 1996 to join Chatham Baroque, he

lived in London for five years, where he

studied with Nigel North at the Guildhall

School of Music and Drama. There he

performed with various early music

ensembles, including the Brandenburg

Consort, The Sixteen, and Florilegium.

He won prizes at the 1996 Early Music

Festival Van Vlaanderen in Brugge and

at the 1994 Van Wassenaer Competition

various summer workshops, including the

Amherst Early Music Festival, the Madison

Early Music Festival, and the Rocky

Ridge Music Festival. He is a laureate

of the 2001 Jurow and 2004 Bruges

international harpsichord competitions.

Adam Pearl (chamber organ) is in

demand as a performer of both solo and

ensemble music on historical keyboards.

He has performed throughout the United

States as well as in Europe, South

America and Asia. He has been principal

harpsichordist for Philadelphia’s baroque

orchestra, Tempesta di Mare, since 2005.

He also performs with ensembles such

as Chatham Baroque, the Folger Consort,

the Catacoustic Consort, the American

Bach Soloists, the Bach Sinfonia, Modern

Musick and various modern symphony

orchestras. He has recorded on the

Chandos, Dorian and Plectra labels.

Adam has directed baroque opera

productions with American Opera Theater

and Peabody Chamber Opera. From the

keyboard, he has led performances of

Blow’s Venus and Adonis, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Cavalli’s La Calisto and La Didone, Charpentier’s David et Jonathas,

and Handel’s Acis and Galatea, Giulio Cesare and fully staged productions of

Messiah and Jephtha.

Adam is a member of the Early Music

faculty at the Peabody Conservatory,

where he also studied. He has taught at

Violin, Anonymous, Paris, mid 18th-century

Viola da Gamba, Karl Dennis, Rhode Island, 2003

Violone, John Pringle, North Carolina, 2010

Archlute, Klaus Jacobsen, London, 1996

Theorbo, Klaus Jacobsen, London, 1991

Chamber Organ, Bennett and Giuttari, 1999

Recorded at Calvary Episcopal Church, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August 7–11, 2012

Session Producers: Marc Giosi, Riccardo Schulz

Session Engineer: Riccardo Schulz

Recording Assistants: Eze Azu, Michael Ralph

Editing and Mastering: Riccardo Schulz, Pittsburgh Digital Recording & Editing Company, with Chatham Baroque

Executive Producers: Chatham Baroque

Photos: Laila Archuleta, Wasin Prasertlap

Illustrations: Athanasius Kircher, Musurgia Universalis (1650)

Graphic Design: Little Kelpie

Special thanks Ruey Brodine Morelli, Robert & Liane Norman, William Semins & Hattie Fletcher, and our 87 backers on Kickstarter, whose generous support made this project possible.

Thanks also to the clergy, staff, and congregation of Calvary Episcopal Church, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Chatham Baroque is Ensemble-in-Residence.

Instruments used on this recording

CB-02 © 2013 Chatham Baroquewww.chathambaroque.org