Download Henry Purcell composed an impressive quantity of music during his

Chatham Baroque
Andrew Fouts and Julie Andrijeski, baroque violin
Patricia Halverson, viola da gamba
Scott Pauley, theorbo and baroque guitar
Fresh Ayre
Suite in d minor
Pavan
Galliard
Air
Almaine
Galliard
Christopher Simpson (c.1605-1669)
Sonata no. VI in C major (1683)
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Canzona
Largo
Allegro
Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
Selections from The Division Violin (1684)
John Playford (publ.)
Ayres in E minor Nicola Matteis
Aria Amorosa
Preludio—Adagio
Motivo
Adagio
Sarabanda
(fl. c. 1670-c. 1698)
~Interval~
Pavan in G minor
Sonata VI in G minor (1696)
Adagio [Passacaille]
Tickle Me Quickly
Touch Me Lightly
Aria
[Giga]—Adagio
Ciaccona
Sonata no. IV in G Major, opus 5
Allegro
A tempo ordinario
Allegro
Passacaille
Gigue (Presto)
Minuet (Allegro moderato)
Henry Purcell
Tobias Hume (c.1569-1645)
Nicola Matteis (fl. c. 1670-c.1698)
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Our program spans about a hundred years of music in England and shows several important
musical developments. From the 1650s to the 1750s, chamber music in the British Isles
underwent a profound transformation. Music moved away from the homogenous ensembles of
the early seventeenth century, such as the viol consort, and moved toward the newer baroque solo
and trio sonatas with violin and continuo. This change was ushered in by the arrival of several
important Italian masters in London, such as Matteis and Geminiani, who wrote music for the
violin in a modern and dramatic style. From the 1680s onward, composers in England, whether
native like Purcell, or expatriate like Handel, began to use the standard term “trio sonata” when
writing for the combination of two trebles and continuo. During the same time, the violin began
to supplant the viol as the principal chamber music instrument. With the arrival of the Italian
masters, the violin rose from being a lowly street instrument to the most esteemed and virtuosic
of all.
Even before the arrival of the Italian violin masters, the Italian style of music began to make its
way into the music of English composers. Christopher Simpson (c. 1605-1669) lived outside the
mainstream musical scene of London for most of his career, spending the majority of his time
under the patronage of Sir Robert Bolles of Lincolnshire. He was a viol player and composer
whose two most important works were The Division Viol (London, 1659) and the Compendium of
Practical Music (London, 1667), although the suite of dances performed here is found in a
manuscript. These dances were probably composed around 1650 and may have been played by
either two violins or two treble viols, with bass viol and continuo. The continuo parts would most
likely have been played by one or two theorboes, though keyboard instruments would have been
possible also. Although the scoring of these pieces is more in line with the newer Italian trio
sonata, these dances retain characteristics typical of English suites of the time, with a slow, stately
Pavan in duple meter, a triple-meter Galliard and a lively duple-meter Almaine. The suite also
includes the more modern title Air, which ends with a drastic slow-down “drag” or “slower time”
section at the end of the movement.
Nicola Matteis (d. ca. 1707) was born in Naples in the first part of the seventeenth century, and
eventually made his way to England “on foot with his violin under a full coat at his back.” He
published five books of Ayres for the Violin, the first of which appeared in 1676. His Ayres can be
described as something between sonatas and suites for solo violin and continuo: short dances are
mixed with fugato and more serious Italianate movements. To each of his four books he later
added a second violin part, effectively making them into trio sonatas, and cashing in on the new
demand for this type of music.
As a performer on the violin, Matteis was admired for his ability to perform “wonders upon a
note.” He was also a guitarist and published a manual on composition and continuo playing for
the guitar called The False Consonances of Musick (London, 1682). It opens with a set of five
movements for solo five-course guitar. Matteis states that these ayres may be performed either
with a bass or without, and he includes a printed bass line in the final two movements, which are
performed here on the bass viol. As a performer on the guitar, Matteis “was a consumate master,
and had the force upon it to stand in consort against an harpsicord.”
Englishman Henry Purcell (1659-1695) produced an impressive quantity of music during his
relatively short lifetime. A composer of operas, music for the stage, and sacred and secular vocal
music, he also produced a small body of instrumental works including two collections of trio
sonatas for two violins and basso continuo, both composed in the 1680s. The preface to the first
collection, Sonnata’s of III Parts (1683) states that Purcell has “faithfully endeavour’d a just
imitation of the most fam’d Italian Master’s.” While one can say that he succeeded in imitating
Italian style on many levels, Purcell’s use of expressive dissonances and complex counterpoint in
his trio sonatas betray not only his English roots, but his skill and creativity as a composer.
Indeed, Roger North remarked that Purcell’s sonatas were “clog’d with somewhat of an English
vein, for which they are unworthily despised.”
The G minor sonata from his second collection is a single movement work based on the French
dance known as the Passacaille. The recurring descending pattern stated by the bass is spare, a
perfect foundation for the florid and at times heart-wrenching writing Purcell creates for the two
violins. In contrast to the mournful affect of the G minor sonata, the bright key of C major in
Sonata VI promotes a feeling more wholesome and upbeat. The second movement, a Canzona, is
chockfull of imitative counterpoint while the third movement (Largo) beckons the listener to the
dance floor for an elegant minuet.
The trio sonata was not a genre on which George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) spent a great
deal of time and energy. His interests and talents led him to the worlds of opera, oratorio, and
other large-scale forms. Nonetheless, Handel’s surviving trio sonata compositions compare very
favorably against those of his London contemporaries.
Handel’s second collection of trio sonatas was issued in 1739 as Opus 5. Unlike the Opus 2 trios,
which are original works composed around 1700-20, Opus 5 consists largely of compilations of
movements taken from earlier orchestral works—such as the introduction to the Chandos Anthem
I Will Magnify Thee (ca. 1717) and ballet music from Handel’s opera season of 1734-35—which
are boiled down to trio sonata texture. Despite the loss of some harmonic and orchestral color due
to the reduced texture, this collection presents a delightful array of some of Handel’s most
memorable music.
Opus 5, no. 4 (HWV 399) is a curious arrangement, as Anthony Hicks has noted:
The Allegro and Allegro non presto movements, with a short linking passage,
originally made up the complete overture to Athalia (1733). When Handel
adapted it for Parnasso in Festa (1734) he replaced the opening Allegro with the
“a tempo ordinario” movement, converting an Italian overture to a French one.
The slightly awkward combination of all three movements in the sonata is one of
the features that suggests it is not Handel’s own compilation [but that of his
publisher].”
This piece and others from Opus 5 seem to be largely “greatest hits” collections, designed to
please audiences who wanted to experience Handel’s music outside the theater in a more intimate
chamber setting. The Passacaille appears in Radamisto (1720), Parnasso in Festa, and
Terpsicore (1734). The Gigue also appeared in Terpsichore, and the Menuet can be traced to
dance music from Alcina (1735).
The term ‘lyra way’ refers to a style of playing the viol where the music is chordal in character
and is notated in tablature, similar to the system read by players of the lute family. In the viol
system, the instrument’s six strings are represented by six lines; letters of the alphabet, placed
above the appropriate line, represent each fret on the neck, thereby instructing the player where to
place his or her fingers; finally, the specified rhythms to match the changing pitches are notated
above the staff. The use of tablature for notation coupled with the use of different tunings for the
open strings of the viol makes it possible for the player to play different kinds of chords in a
broad spectrum of keys. There is a sizeable body of repertory for solo lyra viol, most of it written
by English composers. One of the most prolific composers writing in this style was Tobias Hume
(c.1569-1645), a viol player and a soldier whose sense of humor is revealed in the titles of his
music.