August 12, 2008
At AsiagoFestival protagonist the cello
August 14, 2008 Asiago City Hall Council Chamber and Church of San Rocco
After the extraordinary day dedicated to contemporary music with the double ap- plication with Krsyzstof Meyer, AsiagoFestival offers a day dedicated to a musical instrument: the cello.
On Thursday, August 14, at 10:30 a.m., at the Council Chamber of the Asiago Town Hall, vio- loncellist Julius Berger will present the CD “The Birth of the Cello,” which was previously premiered in Cremona at the “Liuteria in Festival” event.
Berger, artistic director of the Asolo Festival, thanks to the decisive support of Gran Mo- ravia (a brand name that leads back, instead, to the president of the Amici della Musica di Asiago, Roberto Brazzale) made this important CD in 2007, the first in the world to contain the earliest works created expressly for cello, performing them on his 1566 An- drea Amati known as Carlo IX, considered the oldest existing cello in the world. And with this extraordinary instrument, Berger will present the historical and musicological significance of his recording to the Asiaghese audience, also offering a selection of pieces from the Ricercari by Gianbattista Degli Antonii and Domenico Gabrielli.
At 9 p.m., at the Church of San Rocco, the Cello Ensemble: “Cello Passionato” (Ju- lius Berger, Hyun-Jung Berger, Anna Grende and Alberto Brazzale) will explore ancient and contemporary literature for cello ensembles, offering music by Johann Pachelbel (“Canon” for four cellos), Viktor Suslin (“Madrigal,” 1997, for two cellos – composed for Hyun-Jung Sung’s wedding), Wilhelm Fitzenhagen (“Ave Maria” for two cellos), Kancheli (“Nach dem Weinen” for solo cello), Bartok (selection from “Duets” for two cellos), Michel Corrette (“Le phénix” for four cellos). A program, then, entirely dedicated to the cello, alternating solo pages and works for different ensembles, eighteenth-century works and con- temporary compositions, music of religious ìinspiration and tightrope walking for virtuosos. In line, insom- mately, with the Asiago Festival’s playbill, crafted by Berger himself with the curiosity, preciousness and variety that have connoted the choices of the Asiago festival for more than four decades.
ASIAGOFESTIVAL is organized by the Cultural Association “Friends of Music of Asiago” – “Fiorella Benetti Brazzale”, in collaboration with the Parish of St. Matthew, with the contribution and collaboration of the City of Asiago, Department of Tourism and Culture and the decisive support of Banca Popolare di Vicenza, Burro delle Alpi – Alpilatte, Gran Moravia, Bassan Bernardo and Sons and Rigoni di Asiago.
TAMBOURINE EVENT
Thursday, August 14 – ASIAGO – Church of S.Rocco
10:30 a.m. Council Chamber of City Hall
Julius Berger
CD presentation ” Birth of the Cello”
Historical musicological introduction and performance of a selection of pieces from the RESEARCHERS by Gianbattista Degli Antonii and Domenico Gabrielli
9 p.m.00 Church of S.Rocco
cello ensemble: “Cello Passionato”
Julius Berger, Hyun-Jung Berger, Anna Grendene, Alberto Brazzale Music by: Pachelbel, Suslin, Fitzenhagen, Kancheli, Bartok, Haydn Free admission
Public info: 0424.464081 – www.asiagofestival.it
PRESENTATION OF THE CD THE BIRTH OF THE CELLO,” by Julius Berger
“As early as 1986 I had tried to convince my Japanese manager-
ponese of the desirability of a program devoted to Gabrielli’s Ricercari, but without success. So my performance was a pure Bachian se- rata. From that time on I assiduously studied the music of Gabrielli and Degli Antonii, making notes on the scores. Finally, at the 2006 Asiago Festival, I juxtaposed Gabrielli’s Ricercari and Sofia Gubaidulina’s Preludi. For me and for the audience, this concert was an intense and engaging experience, which in no way collides with the judgments about Gabrielli’s Ri- cercari and Degli Antonii found in the spe- cialized literature. They speak, in fact, of pedagogical works, of didactic pieces or exercises, and it is surprising that Gabrielli is acknowledged, in con- fronts with Degli Antonii, to have a less solid, purely crafted art, prone to chemistry (Boettcher).
Even Bach’s Suites for Solo Cello in the first printed editions of the 19th century were published as Sonatas or stu- di (e.g., Janet et Cotelle, Paris 1824) and as such undervalued, until Pablo Casals confronted these masterpieces for years leading to the rediscovery of their true value.
I hope that finally, after nearly 350 years, the music of Gabrielli and Degli Antonii will be accorded its due recognition and that it can unveil to many people that same richness that it knows re- gal to me.
Both Degli Antonii and Gabrielli had the support of Prince Francesco II of Modena, himself a cello player. Gianbattista Degli Antonii was born in Bologna on an uncertain date, se- conjecture around 1640. A pupil of the organist, singer and member of the Accademia Filarmonica Giacomo Pedrieri, he in turn became a member of the Accademia in 1676 and, from 1684, was organist of the church of San Giacomo Maggiore. In the musical tradition of Bologna it was customary to master several instruments, and for this reason Degli Antonii was not only an excellent organist, but also a cellist and ãmaster of many young cel- lists. The compositions still known today are works for organ and chamber music. The Ricercari performed here prove that Degli An- tonii opened up new spaces for the cello and demonstrate the expansion of the sound range through the exploitation of hitherto unused high positions (up to the seventh) and a brilliant articulation technique through the bow. The Ricercari are dedicated to Prince Francis II of
Modena. In 1687 Degli Antonii’s Ricercari were printed under the title RICERCATE SOPRA IL VIOLONCELLO o Clavicembalo. It can be assumed that Degli Antonii composed them ten to twelve years before that date (see Lauro Malusi, Introduzio- ne Storica; Edizioni Zanibon, Padua, 1975). Ci. makes the Ricercari the first works printed for solo Cello and probably also the first works written for solo Cello. Some music scholars, such as Marc Vanscheeuwijck (see Preface and critical appa- ration of the cello works of Domenico Gabrielli; Ar- naldo Forni Editore 2004), attempt to dispute this merit to Degli Antonii and argue that Degli Antonii’s Ricercari would have been written for either Cello or Harpsichord and that in truth they would be works for duo. In fact, a violin score for performing the Ricercari as duets has surfaced in the Biblioteca Estense in Modena. I cannot go along with this argomen- tation. Rather I suppose that Degli Antonii is perfectly in tune with the Baroque performance tradition has also previ- sioned other variants of instrumentation for the RECERCARIES OVER THE VIOLONCELLO.
“Mingain dal viulunzeel” (a dialect expression meaning “the little Domenico of the cello”):this is what Domeni- co Gabrielli, born April 15, 1651 in Bologna, was called. His teachers were cellist Giovanni Legrenzi in Venice and, for composition and cello, Petronio Franceschini in Bologna. As soon as he was 15 years old, Domenico Gabrielli became a member of the Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna and, in 1683, became its Prince, that is, di- rector. In addition, he was the successor of his teacher Franceschini co- me paid cellist at San Petronio. He composed twelve operas, three oratorios, and numerous chamber music. As one of the first traveling cello virtuosos, he was often invited to Mo- dena by Prince Francis II. Precisely because of his travels as a cello virtuoso to perform his works, from October 1687 to March 1688 Gabrielli was suspended from his post at San Petronio for “neglect of his duties.” In October 1688 he left his post permanently. His suc- cessor was his pupil Giuseppe Maria Jacchini. The seven Ricercari per Violoncello solo were born in the last two years of his life and are a vivid testimony to a man of great lyrical expressive power and resounding mastery of the technical possibilities of the cello.
In 1690, because of his high regard for Gabrielli who was by then seriously ill, Francis II sent him his own personal physician, who, however, could not prevent the musician’s death, which occurred on June 10, 1690 at just 39 years old.
Thanks to the role of composers such as Degli Antonii and Gabrielli, among others, the city of Bologna can rightly be credited with having been the cradle of the innovative role of the cello as a solo instrument. One possible reason for this sudden evo- luation could also be the contemporary development of metal-coated cor- de by Bolognese string makers. Thanks to this invention, the sound emission of the strings, especially the low ones, was greatly facilitated, enabling virtuoso playing in all registers. For the present recording I use precisely these strings. Developments in the instrument of that- era, including its cello designation, later spread throughout Europe.
Gabrielli and Degli Antonii embody an innovative inner force, which from a language and expressive force of its own leads to com- positions in themselves perfect.
As is the case with Bach’s solo works, Degli An- tonii and Gabrielli’s Ricercari reveal their high value only through a work of decoding and interpreting their intrinse- tive polyphonic structures. For me, the discovery of the early works for solo cello with the oldest cello in the world is one of my most fascinating experiences.”
UPCOMING APPOINTMENTS
Friday, August 15, 9 p.m. – ASIAGO – St. Matthew’s Cathedral choir: Coenobium Vocale
director: Maria Dal Bianco
cello : Julius Berger and Hyun-Jung Berger
music by: Bonato, Perotinus, Miskinis, Lauridsen,
first performance of: “O lilium convallium” for 2 cellos and spatialized male choir.
Wednesday, August 20, 9 p.m. – ASIAGO – St. Matthew Cathedral organ: Anton Guggemos
soprano: Cecilia Tabellion
mezzo soprano: Gabi Steck
music by: Mouret, Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Biechteler, Liszt, Rheinberger, Boellmann, Terziani, Salome, Saint-Saens, Mozart, Senaille, Bach
Free admission, allowed only while seats last, but no later than the beginning of the concert.
www.asiagofestival.it