Download Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703) lived a generation before his

Sweet Sorrow
2010 marks the 300th anniversary of the birth of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (17101736). Born in the town of Jesi, a small town in the Marche, his family derived their
surname from the provenance of his grandfather, a shoemaker from Pergola. Both his
elder brother and sister died in infancy, and he himself was plagued with infirmities
throughout his life. In 1720 he was sponsored to study at the Conservatorio dei Poveri di
Gesù Cristo in Naples. He was lauded for his violinistic skill as well as his improvisations
and in 1731 had his first conservatory-sponsored composition debut. Soon after came his
first opera commission, Salustia, which, due to a hasty composition schedule, several
personnel changes, and the death of the principal tenor, had an inauspicious opening and
brief run. However, his next major work, a commedia musical entitled Lo frate
‘nnamorato, played successfully at the Teatro dei Fiorentini in Naples Pergolesi
continued to enjoy much more success with his comedic works, opera buffa, than with
any other genre. La serva padrona, written as an intermezzo to his opera Il prigioniero
superbo (to commemorate the empress's birthday in 1733), became the benchmark of his
considerable posthumous success.
By 1735 Pergolesi’s health had begun to seriously falter, and by early 1736 he moved
into a Franciscan monastery in Pozzuoli, having handed over his possessions to his aunt
in Naples. There, before his death later from tuberculosis at the age of 26, he composed
both the Salve Regina in C minor and perhaps his most famous work, the Stabat Mater
Dolorosa. The latter was written, appropriately, for the noble fraternity in the church of
Santa Maria dei Sette Dolori in Naples. Its text comes from the Roman Catholic sequence
of the same name attributed to the 13th century Franciscan friar and poet, Jacapone da
Todi. The sequence is a meditation on the Seven Sorrows: the suffering of Mary during
the crucifixion. It is recited at the liturgy on the memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows, which
was first inserted in the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints in 1814 by Pope Pius VII and
since 1913 has been celebrated September 15. Another feast of “The Seven Sorrows of
the Blessed Virgin Mary” originated in the 17th century and by 1727 the celebration was
accepted by the Vatican to be observed on the Friday before Good Friday. It was likely
for this feast that Pergolesi intended his Stabat Mater.
Biagio Marini (1584-1665) was one of the first true virtuoso violinists of seventeenthcentury Italy, and he wrote some of the best music of his day for violin(s) and continuo.
He was born in Brescia, but moved around a good deal during his career, spending a short
time in Venice at St. Mark’s with Monteverdi, and also holding posts in Neuberg an die
Donau, Brussels, Düsseldorf, Brescia, Padua, Milan, and Ferrara. The Passacaglia of his
Opus 22 (1655) collection is scored for two violins, viola, and basso continuo, and is one
of his most melancholic yet passionate pieces. While some of Marini’s music pushes the
limit of virtuosity on the violin, this simple but sincere piece is built on a repeating
ground bass pattern. It is uncomplicated in its technical demands, but quite forceful in its
melancholic affect and raw emotional impact. The minor tonality is coupled with rich
harmonic dissonances and melodic sighing motives that convey a tremendous sense of
passion and sadness.
Although not Italian by birth, Austrian Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (c. 1620-1680) did
travel to Italy early in his career and upon returning to Austria worked closely with the
Italian musicians employed there. At the court of Vienna, Schmelzer was first
responsible for providing chamber and ballet music for the lavish entertainments for
Emperor Leopold I who was himself a composer and generous patron of the arts. In 1679
Schmelzer was appointed to the position of Kapellmeister, the highest musical
appointment at the Habsburg court and a position held only by Italians prior to his
appointment. Sadly, his enjoyment of this accomplishment was brief. He died of the
plague in Prague, the city to which the court had fled in order to escape the contagion.
Schmelzer’s Lament on the death of Ferdinand III, composed for two violins, viola and
basso continuo, reveals his predilection for program music. It is thought that the 49 bars
of the piece’s opening section written in the stark key of B major point to Ferdinand’s 49
years of life. In another section the composer writes the words “Die Todtenglockh” (the
death bells). The more upbeat sections of the piece are meant to illustrate the positive
qualities of the deceased man.
Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703) lived a generation before his famous first-cousin
once-removed, Johann Sebastian Bach, and his music belongs to the dramatic and
rhetorical style of late seventeenth-century Germany. Johann Christoph was a first cousin
of J.S. Bach’s father, and he spent most of his career, from the 1660s until his death, in
the service of the court kapelle of the Duke of Eisenach and as organist at St. Georg.
The beautiful lamento Ach, dass ich Wassers gnug hätte in meinem Haupte, is listed by
modern scholars as a “vocal concerto,” although like most of his output, the subject is
sacred and repentant. But the presentation is quite dramatic. From the opening sinfonia
for strings, the mood is doleful. Bach uses rhetorical repetitions of words, often ascending
with each iteration, to highlight and intensify the sadness of the lyrics. Word painting
depicts certain words musically, such as “fliessen” (stream or flow) and “Suefens”
(sighs). There is an intensely dramatic harmonic shift on the word “betrübet” (afflicted).
The piece returns da capo to its opening symphony and the first part of the vocal section
to conclude.
Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644-1704) lived at the same time as Johann Christoph
Bach, though their paths probably never crossed. Biber began his career in the court of
the Bishop of Olmutz, Karl Lichtenstein, where he was employed between the years of
1668-1670. In the late summer of 1670 Biber sidestepped his charge to procure
instruments for the Olmutz court from the violinmaker Jacob Stainer. Instead he went to
Salzburg, where he produced four printed collections of violin music. He also published a
good deal of music for larger string ensembles. The Sonata in F major, performed here
with two violins, viola, viola da gamba, and basso continuo, comes from the 1683
publication Fidicinium Sacro-Profanum (roughly translated, “Sacred and Secular String
Playing”), a collection of twelve sonatas for multiple strings and continuo. In contrast to
the mournful quality of much of the music heard in this program for Lent, this sonata is
bright and joyful, with a rich and full sound. About Biber and his sonatas the eighteenthcentury 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 was knighted Biber von Bibern by
Emperor Leopold I in 1690.