CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS
John Holloway
Jaap Ter Linden
Lars Ulrik Mortensen

Weill Recital Hall
Friday, February 20th, 2009 at 7:30 PM

John Holloway, Violin
Jaap ter Linden, Cello
Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Harpsichord

LECLAIR Sonata in A Major for Violin and Basso Continuo, Op. 5, No. 1
BOISMORTIER Trio Sonata in A Minor, Op. 37, No. 5
COUPERIN "Les baricades mistérieuses" from Sixième ordre, Second Livre de pièces de clavecin
LECLAIR Sonata in B-flat Major for Violin and Basso Continuo, Op. 5, No. 4
CORELLI Sonata in E Minor, Op. 5, No. 8
VIVALDI Sonata No. 7 in G Minor, RV 42
VERACINI Sonata in D Minor, Op. 2, No. 12

Encore:
VERACINI Scozzese from Sonata in A Major, Op. 2, No. 9

Program Notes:

JEAN-MARIE LECLAIR (1697–1764) Sonata in A Major for Violin and Basso Continuo, Op. 5, No. 1
Born in Lyons in May of 1697, Jean-Marie Leclair became, in the words of noted scholar Daniel Heartz, “if not the founder of the French violin school, the musician who brought it to international prominence by his flair for idiomatic invention combined with contrapuntal solidity.” Whereas French instrumental music had been dominated by Italian models and composers, Leclair helped to establish such genres as the solo sonata and concerto in France and give them a decidedly Gallic flair. He was fluent in Italian instrumental styles, having studied in Turin, Italy, with Giovanni Battista Somis, himself a student of the esteemed Arcangelo Corelli.
The Italians (Corelli first and foremost among them) had transformed the violin from simply another member of an ensemble accompanying vocal music or dancers into a solo instrument of virtuosic potential. They also pioneered the genre of the sonata itself; by the 1650s the title had come to designate a relatively small group of instruments playing a series of movements in varying tempos. The term “solo sonata” is something of a misnomer, at least to those familiar with sonatas from the 18th and 19th centuries. A solo sonata of the 17th century is not actually a solo work: the lead instrument is supported by an accompaniment known as the basso continuo, relegated to a very secondary role. Much later in the 18th century, the sonata emerged in its most familiar form, comprising three (eventually four) movements with one or two players in dialogue.
Leclair is credited with bringing together distinct national traditions of instrumental forms and idioms, although he was but one of many to do so in the first decades of the 18th century. He adapted the Italian sonata as codified by Corelli to French musical tastes, blending the long, cantabile lines and fluid passagework from south of the Alps with the tightly controlled, precise articulation favored by the French. Thus Leclair seemed to achieve le goût réunis—the union of French and Italian tastes, a form of musical diplomacy likewise advocated by Couperin. These distinctions might seem arcane today, and the distinguishing accents hard for us to hear, what with globalization and the Euro. But in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, national character was clearly heard in musical style. Leclair’s sonatas also reconcile two distinct forms: the sonata da chiesa (“of the church”) and sonata da camera (“of the chamber”). The difference between the two had by this time largely disappeared, as instrumental sonatas lost their functional and descriptive associations to become more abstract.
In 1723 Leclair moved to Paris, where his influence as composer, performer, and teacher helped to establish Paris as the violin capital of Europe, stealing the title away from Cremona, home to famed makers Stradivari and Guarnari; Bologna, long an instrumental center; and Venice, home of Antonio Vivaldi. Leclair ingratiated himself with wealthy patrons, performed sonatas and concertos with the Concert Spirituel (so named because concerts were held over Lent and other religious holidays, when the opera house was shuttered), and in 1733 entered the service of King Louis XV. His third book of sonatas, Opus 5, is dedicated to the king and announces on its title page: “Composed by Mr. Leclair the elder, ordinary of the music of the Chapel and of the King’s chamber. Engraved by Madame Leclair, his wife.” Madame Leclair has been impugned by history as her husband’s murderer. In 1764 the composer was stabbed to death in his own home not by his estranged second wife wielding her engraving tools, but by his embittered nephew.

JOSEPH BODIN DE BOISMORTIER (1689–1755)Trio Sonata in A Minor, Op. 37, No. 5 As typical of the genre, Boismortier’s trio sonatas are written for a treble instrument (flute or violin being favored) and two instruments in the basso continuo (generally cello and harpsichord).

FRANÇOIS COUPERIN (1668–1733) “Les baricades mistérieuses” from Sixième ordre, Second Livre de pièces de clavecinCouperin’s enigmatically titled “Les baricades mistérieuses” (“Mysterious Barricades”) might fancifully be related to its style brisé (“broken style”). The composer blurs the boundaries between harmonies: certain notes linger and broach the division between chords to color the next sonority. More plausibly, the title refers to the maze at the Palace of Versailles, but no matter; it remains an exemplary work of its kind. The form is a rondeau, which features a refrain (A) alternating with contrasting episodes to yield the structure A-B-A-C-A-D-A.
JEAN-MARIE LECLAIRSonata in B-flat Major for Violin and Basso Continuo, Op. 5, No. 4

ARCANGELO CORELLI (1653–1713)Sonata in E Minor, Op. 5, No. 8 Corelli studied violin in the Italian center of instrumental music, Bologna. By 1675 he had made his home in Rome, where he established himself as one of the leading composers of instrumental music of his time (he wrote nothing for voice). The collection of sonatas for solo violin, Opus 5, includes the two major types of sonatas current in the 17th century: sonata da chiesa (“of the chapel”) and sonata da camera (“of the chamber”). The distinction, first made in 1637 in the title of a collection by organist Tarquinio Merula (1594/5–1665), concerns not only the setting of performance but the style of the music. Church sonatas generally fall in four movements (although Opus 5 has five, reminding us that it is dangerous to generalize about Baroque instrumental music). These movements alternate slow and fast, with an emphasis on fugal writing and polyphonic textures—the kind of dense contrapuntal writing that showcases a composer’s mastery of the “learned” style of composition. The chamber sonatas likewise include four or five movements that alternate in tempo, but—rather than a serious style of intricately overlapping lines—dance idioms and rhythms predominate.
The twelve sonatas for violin and accompaniment in Opus 5 cleave in two. The first six are sonatas da chiesa, each with a fugal movement; the second group of six contains suites of dances. Thus the eighth sonata in Opus 5 is of the chamber type: its four movements are titled Preludio, Allemanda, Sarabanda, and Giga. The slow movements are not only unhurried but also hesitant and contemplative; pauses do not so much as close a complete thought as suspend it through a second of silence. The faster movements reveal that such caution is not compositional: Corelli did not lack ideas, but rather dispatched them deliberately; in the faster tempos his inventiveness becomes plain. Both sections of the Giga, which is binary in form (two halves repeated) comprise a series of short phrases. These little thoughts are announced, repeated, and dispatched, yet somehow add up to more than the sum of seemingly modest parts.

ANTONIO VIVALDI (1678–1741)Sonata No. 7 in G Minor, RV 42 Vivaldi’s Sonata for cello and basso continuo represents a convergence of church and chamber sonata traditions. It falls in four movements, alternating slow-fast-slow-fast in the style of a sonata da chiesa, but includes dance movements. Just like Corelli’s sonata heard tonight, Vivaldi’s RV 42 comprises a Preludio, Allamanda, Sarabanda, and Giga. Both the Allamanda and Giga feature lilting rhythms and fast, light passagework that showcase the qualities of both instrument and player. The Largo and Sarabanda are more stately and deliberate, emphasizing long-breathed lines of grace and dignity. The Largo, in particular, includes affecting turns to the minor mode—striking moments of pathos that flit across an otherwise rather reserved musical mien.
FRANCESCO MARIA VERACINI (1690–1768)Sonata in D Minor, Op. 2, No. 12 (1744)
Veracini lived and worked in various European musical centers, among them Venice, Dresden, London, and Florence. A generation younger than Corelli, Veracini paid homage to the older master in his Opus 1, divided into church and chamber sonatas, just like Corelli’s Opus 5. Twenty-three years later he penned Opus 2, a set of 12 sonatas for violin and basso continuo titled “sonate accademiche.” The description does not consign the pieces to scholarly interest; the sonatas were simply intended to be performed at an “academia musicale”—a private concert.

The set observes the traditional (and by this time, largely old-fashioned) division of church and chamber: sonatas one through six feature fugal writing in the learned style; 7 through 12 include a few dance titles. But No. 12 ends with a striking fugal movement whose first subject skips upward, then is answered by a leaping, descending idea.


—Elizabeth Bergman

Elizabeth Bergman earned her Ph.D. in musicology from Yale University, and has authored numerous award-winning books and articles.

© 2008 The Carnegie Hall Corporation

John Holloway, Violin
John Holloway, Jaap ter Linden, and Lars Ulrik Mortensen are pioneers of the
modern Early Music movement in Europe. They have performed together for many years, an international ensemble with a shared commitment to joyful, spontaneous music making. The trio made the first complete recording of Buxtehude’s chamber music, winning a Danish Grammy in 1995 for the first of three recordings. A subsequent album with Emma Kirkby of Buxtehude cantatas was awarded another Danish Grammy in 1998. In 2000 they recorded “A London Concert” for The Naim Label, acclaimed in Gramophone for setting new standards in Baroque music making. The trio has since recorded two albums for the ECM New Series, one of sonatas by Veracini and the other, recently released, of sonatas by Leclair.

For many years John Holloway was concertmaster of Roger Norrington’s London Classical Players and of Andrew Parrott’s Taverner Players, as well as for such conductors as Christie, Hogwood, Leonhardt, Koopman, Malgoire, and McGegan. His distinguished discography, most recently on ECM New Series, includes reference recordings of Biber’s “Mystery” Sonatas, Corelli’s Opus 5 Sonatas, and Bach’s solo sonatas and partitas. Holloway has been guest professor in Bloomington, Indiana, and at the Schola Cantorum, Basel, as well as Regents’ Lecturer at UC Berkeley. He is Professor of Violin and Chamber Music in Dresden, Germany.

Cellist Jaap ter Linden played an important role in the establishment of such distinguished Baroque ensembles as Musica Antiqua Köln, The English Concert, and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, before moving further into the spotlight as soloist and conductor. His solo recordings include the Bach Suites and sonatas by Vivaldi and Geminiani. He has directed his own Mozart Akademie, including in recordings of all the Mozart Symphonies, as well as Ensemble Arion, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Portland Baroque, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie and the Opéra de Bordeaux. He teaches in the renowned Early Music Institute in The Hague, Holland.

Lars Ulrik Mortensen could be described as “Mr. Early Music” in Denmark. He won the Danish Music Critics’ Award in 1984, was Danish Musician of the Year 2000, and received Denmark’s most important musical accolade, the Leonie Sonning Music Prize in 2007 (previous winners include Bernstein, Britten, and Rostropovitsch). As Artistic Director of Concerto Copenhagen. Mortensen regularly conducts at the Royal Danish Opera, as well as tours and records a rapidlygrowing orchestral repertoire. He is also Music Director of the European Union Baroque Orchestra. Solo recitals and a duo partnership with Emma Kirkby have taken Mortensen all over the world.

Jaap ter Linden, Cello

Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Harpsichord