Übersetzung: Bethany Webster-Parmentier
1-2 JOHANN HEINRICH SCHMELZER (1623-1680)
Sonata à 2 for Violin, Bassoon, and Basso continuo
[Allegro-Adagio-Allegro] – [Presto]
3-6 GEORG PHILIPP TELEMANN (1681-1767)
Sonata TWV 40:111 [B-flat major] for Recorder in f‘ and Violino piccolo
Dolce – Scherzando – Largo e misurato – Vivace e staccato
7 PHILIPP HEINRICH ERLEBACH (1657-1714)
“Angedenken, mein Vergnügen” from: “Harmonische Freude musikalischer Freunde” 1697 *
For Soprano, 2 Violini piccoli, and Basso continuo
8-10 JOHANN ROSENMÜLLER (1619-1684)
Sonata terza à 2 for Violin, Viola da gamba, and Basso continuo
[Allegro]-Adagio-[Allegro]
11-14 PIERRE PROWO (1697-1757)
Sonata in g minor for Recorder in f‘, Treble Viola da gamba and Basso continuo *
Adagio – Allegro – Adagio – Allegro
15 ANONYMOUS (17th Century)
Sonata à 5 from: “Partiturbuch Ludwig” 1662 *
for 2 Violins, Viola da gamba, Bassoon, and Basso continuo
16-18 MICHAEL ERNST VON ESSEN (1715-1788)
„Schalle nur, geliebter Ton “Glückwunschkantate 1738 *
for Soprano, 2 Violins, and Basso continuo
*World premiere recording
AMELIE MÜLLER [7, 16-18] – Soprano
CONCERTINO SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN
PAUL BIALEK – Violin [1-2, 6, 7] – Buchstetter, Regensburg, 18th Century; Violino piccolo [3-7] – Georg (II) Klotz, Mittenwald 1780
BETHANY WEBSTER-PARMENTIER [8-10, 15-18] – Violin – Anonymous, Sachsen ca. 1760; Violino piccolo [7] – Anonymous, England ca. 1750
SUSANNE HORN – Diskant-Viola da gamba [11-14] – Jörn Erichson, Kassel 1976, based on English models; Bass-Viola da gamba [8-10, 15-18] – Wolfgang Uebel, Celle 1978, based on English models; Kontrabass-Viola da gamba [1-2, 7] – Anonymous, Frankreich ca. 1740
THOMAS PETERSEN-ANRAAD – Violoncello [3] – Anonymous, Bohemia ca. 1730; Violone [15-18] – Johannes Rubner, Markneukirchen 1976, based on anonymous models
THOAMS RINK – Recorder in f‘ [3-6, 11-14] – Heinz Roessler, Weddingstedt ca. 1980, after Johann Wilhelm Oberlender; Bassoon [1-2, 7, 15-18] – Guntram Wolf, Kronach, 1985, based on an anonymous instrument; Contrabassoon [8-10] – Guntram and Peter Wolf, Kronach 2005, after Andreas Eichentopf 1714
GERO PARMENTIER – Theorbo [1-2, 8-10, 15] – Anders Ahlborg, Tumba/Stockholm 2018, after Vendelino Venere; Archlute [7, 11-14, 16-18] – Günter Mark Elsa, 2002, after Magnus Tieffenbrucker
PETER UEHLING [1-2, 11-14] – Harpsichord – Anonymous, based on Italian models
MALTE WIENHUES [7-10, 15-18] – Organ – Johann Gottfried Schmidt, Rostock 2012, based on anonymous models
When Lother Stöbel founded the SOCIETY FOR EARLY MUSIC IN SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN in 1985 and began to offer concerts in our beautiful state featuring the music of the Renaissance and the Baroque eras played on period instruments, such a practice was still widely viewed as “exotic.” “Tempora mutantur” would be a fitting motto for the Early Music movement, as it has now become commonplace for works such as Handel’s “Messiah,” the Bach Passions, and many more, to be performed on period instruments. Authorities on historically informed performance practice such as August Wenzinger, Gustav Leonhardt, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and Frans Brüggen cannot be thanked enough for the way they have changed approaches to performance and reception of well-known early music pieces, while at the same time also drawing attention to works by lesser-known composers. Many of the wonderful compositions by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Carlo Farina, Unico van Wassenaer and others would likely still be lying in archives and libraries waiting to be discovered if these early music pioneers had not been so meticulous in their work: researching, transcribing, editing, and recording. Their efforts have proven that works by these so-called “Little Masters” are not second-rate or even third-rate pieces.
The Society for Early Music in Schleswig-Holstein (GAM-SH) has always concerned itself with unknown works and lesser-known composers, especially those with a connection to Northern Germany and Scandinavia. Accordingly, our first CD combines pieces from Altona (Prowo), Hamburg (Telemann) and Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (Anonymous and Rosenmüller), and from masters who were born in East Frisia (Erlebach) or lived in Husum (von Essen). With the inclusion of 31 pieces in the Swedish Düben collection, even Austrian Johann Heinrich Schmelzer fits into this program seamlessly.
In presenting selected pieces from our Repertoire alongside four world premiere recordings, we hope to share our passion for these works with you.
Johann Heinrich Schmelzer’s Trio for violin, bassoon, and basso continuo could be performed on a bass dulcian, however, it can also easily be performed on a baroque instrument. This humorous piece is part of the well-known collection of Karl von Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn zu Kroměříž (Kremsier)1. We have highlighted the marvelous humor in this piece by taking agogic freedoms, both in solo passages and dialogues between the two upper voices, and by emphasizing the piece’s Hungarian rhythms. In his instrumentation, Schmelzer follows the Italian model of Giovanni Battista Fontana (violin, dulcian / bassoon, and basso continuo), who is often recognized as the originator of this type of trio instrumentation.
Georg Philipp Telemann’s short duet TWV 40:111 can be found in the 20th and 21st “lection” of the 1728 “Music-Meisters.” The piece can be played on a transverse flute (then with a viola pomposa or violin as the duet partner), or a minor third higher on the recorder (then with a violino piccolo). Although a recording of this version (by Kees Boeke and Alice Harnoncourt) is already in existence, we wanted to include this piece in order to give our violin piccolo by Georg (II) Klotz another opportunity to shine. The duet is a prime example of Telemann’s typical short and amusing compositional style during his early years in Hamburg: one is inclined to call to the young master in Hamburg’s low German dialect: “Schorschi, mok nich jammers son’n kotten Kram – sing und speel mal n böten wat mehr!!” [“Telemann, quit playing such short bits and come up with something longer for once!!”] The Largo e misurato, after all, is a gem of Italian style, and one wishes it were longer than 16 measures.
“Angedenken, mein Vergnügen” belongs to part one of the collection “Harmonische Freude musikalischer Freunde,” published by Philipp Heinrich Erlebach in Nuremberg in 1697. The short aria is number 38 and requires two violin piccoli, making it only the fourth work (alongside the two short ritornellos in the second act of Monteverdi’s “L’Orfeo,” Johann Heinrich Schmelzer’s “La Memorie dolorosa,” and Johann Schelle’s “Schaffe in mir, Gott) in which TWO piccolo violins are used. We are extraordinarly thankful that we were able to borrow an instrument for our recording – an anonymous English instrument from the 18th century. Erlebach composed this piece using scordatura with the tuning d‚-g‘-d“-g“. The violino piccolo 2 on our recording is performed using this tuning, however, the Klotz violin has been left in standard violino piccolo tuning (b flat-f‘-c“-g“).
We have also changed the order of third and fourth verses for artistic reasons.
[1] „Angedenken, mein Vergnügen, du kannst allen Schmerz besiegen, du erquickst die matte Brust, Angedenken meine Lust.
[2] Teures Herze, Du musst scheiden, musst Du, was Du liebest, meiden, merke diesen Trost dabei, Dir bleibt Angedenken frei.
[3] Wahre Freundschaft wohnt im Herzen, kann das Aug‘ es gleich verschmerzen, daß es nichts vor sich erblickt, bleibt doch viel ins Herz gedrückt.
[4] Dies zu sehen, das zu finden, was uns einmal könnte binden, macht die Freude nicht allein, sie kann auch beim Denken sein
[5] Dieses bleibet unbenommen, um das Sehen kann man kommen. Die Brust so Angedenken nährt, bleibet dabei ungestört“
Johann Rosenmüller’s Sonata III in d minor is from the 1682 collection “Sonatae à 2, 3, 4 e 5 stromenti da arco et altri.” The bass voice can be played by a duclian, bassoon, cello, or – as in our case – a viola da gamba. In these three movements, the exceptionally of Rosenmüller’s artistry is on full display – the dialogue between the two solo instruments is contrapuntal precision work. In addition to the organ and the lute, we have included a contrabassoon in our basso continuo section in order to create a deep, sonorous sound – similar to the use of the bass gamba in the Schmelzer sonata. Surviving copies of parts for wind instruments also indicate the inclusion of a 16‚ contrabassoon in such pieces, especially those by middle-German composers.
Pierre Prowo was from Altona, a city that still belonged to the kingdom of Denmark in the 18th century. Prowo was an organist at the reform curch, a small building built in 1603. Aside from pieces written solely for wind instruments, e.g. for 3 oboes and 2 bassoons or 2 recorders, 2 oboes and 2 bassoons, several of Prowo’s trio sonatas have survived, including a trio in the rare constellation of recorder and transverse flute with basso continuo and piece with four movements included on our CD. We ultimately decided to have the gamba part performed on a treble instrument. This decision reflects choices made by Prowo’s colleague Telemann, who often expressly stipulated this combination of wind instrument and treble gamba in his trios.
23 works from Anonymous have survived in the “Partiturbuch Ludwig.” Jacob Ludwig (1623-1698) referred to these unknown composers as Incerti and in 1662 he dedicated the collection to Duke August von Braunschweig and his wife Sophie Elisabeth. The collection can be found under the signature Cod. Geulf. 34.7 Aug. 2° in the Herzog-August-Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel and has been digitized. It contains 114 pieces for various instrumentations. Our sonata is number 87 (recte 88) and explicitly requires a 8‚ violone or a bassoon as the fourth obligato voice in addition to 2 violins, viola da gamba, and basso continuo. Fascinating and surprising harmonic inversions and dissonances emerge in this work as with many pieces in the collection. The exposition in particular appears positively “modern,” yet it has been composed in the style of a French overture.
The cantatas by Michael Ernst von Essen, after which our CD has been named, were likely composed in Stralsund and published by Konrad Küster. This piece is the only surviving composition by von Essen, who spent the majority of his life in Husum, where he was stationed as the cantor at the St. Marien church. According to information provided in Konrad Küster’s records, von Essen was in contact with none other than Georg Philipp Telemann in 1740 and 1765.
[1]„Schalle nur, beliebter Ton, spielt Ihr Saiten, klingt und schallet, wechselt, streitet, steigt und fallet, seht, mein Vater hört es schon. Man soll in den besten Chören den Gehorsam singen hören.
[2]Ja, schalle nur, beliebter Ton, hier gibt die Brust den reinsten Widerschall. Ein Tag, dem tausend Lust gebieret, der meinen Pfleger an das Licht geführet, der meinen Vater sah, lasst mich so süßer fehlen, heut seine Wonne heißt erzählen, ein solcher Tag bewegt mich überall, drum höre, Pfleger, Vater an, wie deine Hedewig hie singen kann.
[3]Heute Glück und morgen Freude, übermorgen fern von Leide, und so geht es allezeit. Kurzen Schweiß auf schwere Tugend und ein Alter wie die Jugend schenke die Zufriedenheit“
Producer and Copyright Thomas Rink
Recorded July 14-15, 2020 at St. Jürgen, Lilienthal (near Bremen)
Recording engineer: Dirk Alexander
Layout: Maria Roth
Cover background: Katrin Papra “Nordsee,” Personal property
Photographs: Gero Parmentier and Nils-Lennart Saß
Manufactured in Germany
Calygram Records 2020
Further information as well as a Danish and English version of the CD booklet are available at www.gam-sh.de and www.amelie-muller.de.
Special thanks to Peter-Boy Andresen, Bernhard Horn, Michael Schwarz, Volker Werner and Paster Wildrik Piper and the St. Jürgen Parish in Lilienthal.