[BAROQUE-LUTE] Re: Wenzel von Radolt
CD booklet notes Wenzel Ludwig Edler von Radolt's collection of lute music entitled, To my most true and confiding friend, inclined both to the merry and to the sad humours, herewith in the company of other faithful vassals of our innermost sensibility' was printed in 1701 in Vienna by J(oh)ann Michael Nestler and bears a dedication to the then, Roman King Josef I. Radolt was of Austro-ltalian aristocratic descent. He was born in Vienna on the 18th of December 1667, son of Franz Clement Galeazzo, Freiherr Radolt, and of Maria Polixena, Freiin von Schwarzenhorn. He died in the same town on the 10th of March, 1716. According to his own account, he spent his life so allured by the beguiling countenance of most pleasurabte music, as to dedicate the course of my life to her, The 'Most true and confiding friend is the only work of Radolt that survives today. In the instructive preface, he refers to Francois Dufault - as did many lutenists of his time -: a lutenist of French descent who, as Tim Crawford has recently established, travelled extensively throughout the European capitals around the turn of the 18* century. Unusual in the part books are Radolt's meticulous fingerings for the right hand (!) that give us a precise insight into the style of lute playing current in the imperial city of the period. This extensive collection of 12 so-called 'Concerti' contains much that is remarkable about the Viennese Lute Concerto - a popular genre of the day comprising violins, lute and bass. The variety of scoring is striking: from four-part string writing with three obligato lutes of various sizes, to the relatively intimate combination of single violin, obligate viola da gamba (viol), lute and bass, in another concerto (no. 6} the composer suggests the addition of a wind instrument. Even at a cursory glance the collection's unusual variety of forms and styles is evident: from the large scale overture-suite, through fashionable dances, quoting French galanteries, to Italian forms such as toccata, capriccio and symphonia, we find ourselves covering a broad terrain of contrasting musical characters, most clearly evident in the variety of instrumental textures. Only does a second look reveal the artfully contrived contrapuntal language within individual movements - writing of a kind one would hardly expect to come across in a compilation of suites from this time. The collection appears both in the year 1714 in the catalogue of Johann Michael Christophori and again in the year 1732 in the Wiener Diarum'. We can assume that these repeated appearances were not merely for archival purposes, and may deduce that the collection enjoyed a certain renown. It is all the more remarkable that so little attention has been payed to this collection, either by musicology (incomplete excerpts were edited in 1960) or within the circles of historically informed performance practise. The codex represents the most extensive source of a neglected genre, that once enjoyed great popularity in the German speaking countries - including composers such as Esajas Reussner. The extent of the collection makes a complete recording on one CD impossible. We have thus attempted to present a cross section of the source that is as representative as possible. Owing to the constantly varying instrumentation employed, a colourful picture of ensemble lute music about the imperial Viennese court at the turn of the 17* century emerges of its own accord. The first concerto in d minor employs the largest ensemble that the composer calls for: 3 lutes, in three different tunings, 2 violins, descant viol and bass. It is written in the form of the overture-suite - popular in the latter part of the 17* century in Austria. After a tri-partite overture with a quick fugato central section, we encounter the succession of dances typical since J. J. Frohberger: allemande, courante and sarabande, complemented by a number of fashionable dances of the time. The works closes with a retirada, also an Austrian speciality, known from works of H, Schmelzer and H. I. F. Biber. We meet the same type of dance in the Concerto XII in c minor, coloured here by the particular timbre of the viola da gamba (viol), an instrument that, alongside the lute, was much loved by Viennese aristocracy. The Concerto VI in F major wears a more 'modern' garb, in the form of allamode movements such as an 'aria patorale', or a ,querelle des amantes'. In the second part the composer demonstrates the contrapuntal finesse of which he boasts in his preface. The first minuet and capricio are composed as canons, and demonstrate a curiosity of the collection that becomes further apparent in other concertos: Concerto VIII in C major shows us a whole suite of dances composed above an ostinato
[BAROQUE-LUTE] Re: Wenzel von Radolt
That may require setting limits to the violinist's ego, a notoriously impossible task. RT - Original Message - From: Christopher Wilke chriswi...@yahoo.com To: baroque-lute@cs.dartmouth.edu Sent: Monday, November 08, 2010 9:05 AM Subject: [BAROQUE-LUTE] Re: Wenzel von Radolt Ed, --- On Sun, 11/7/10, Edward Martin e...@gamutstrings.com wrote: Thanks for your note. I agree with all stated, in that it is good music, although not deep. Yes, the violin is a little bit too strong, for my taste. I should have mentioned that the music is well played by all. It is the first violin that's the offender: the line just isn't that interesting to sustain being heard that forward in the mix. This may have been the engineer's doing. It was, however, also common practice for the bowed strings to use mutes when playing with lutes and I think this recording would have benefited from doing so. Gunar Letzbor mentions that playing with lutes was a new experience for the group, so my hats off to them for tackling this music in the first place and doing such a good job of it. Chris The liner notes reveal some interesting facts... apparently, the parts were scattered in various areas, making great difficulty in assembling the concertos. All parts were then together, with the exception of the first violin part in the concertos. One of the lutenists in the project, Hubert Hoffman, started writing the missing violin parts, and after near completion of the work, somebody found it the missing part!! Yesterday I had a conversation with an old friend, Doug Towne. In discussing this, he laughed, stating, They should have asked me... I've had it since the late 70's. The lutenists involved in the recording are Hubert Hoffman, Sven Schwannberger, and Klaus Kob. I have never heard of any of these performers, but they certainly performed these works well. ed At 08:41 AM 11/7/2010, Christopher Wilke wrote: Bernd, Thanks for the link. And thanks very much to Martyn for writing the article. Very interesting and informative stuff. I wonder why Radolt has received so little attention. On one point, though, I can't agree with Martyn: von Radolt's music is not of negligible musical worth. I won't argue that it is the deepest stuff, but it is pleasant to listen to and there are some surprises to keep you interested. Overall, I would recommend the recording that Ed mentioned by Ars Antiqua Austria although I find the violin to be a bit too forward in the recorded mix. They definitely did not follow Radolt's explicit instruction that the soprano part that is the small lute must at all times be set strongly and tripled in volume in relation to the other parts. (I suppose they were after an overall composite sound.) Actually, I know very little about this recording. I bought it on iTunes about a year ago and there is no booklet (shame on them!). I could hear that there was more than one lute on there, but the performers' names are not even listed online. How hard is it to include a digital booklet, people? Chris Christopher Wilke Lutenist, Guitarist and Composer www.christopherwilke.com --- On Sun, 11/7/10, Bernd Haegemann b...@symbol4.de wrote: From: Bernd Haegemann b...@symbol4.de Subject: [BAROQUE-LUTE] Re: Wenzel von Radolt To: baroque-lute@cs.dartmouth.edu, Edward Martin e...@gamutstrings.com, Martyn Hodgson hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk Date: Sunday, November 7, 2010, 4:40 AM See my paper in FoMRHI Quarterly No 44 July 1986 C-737 : 'Von Radolt's instructions to lute players (Wien 1701)' This gives a translation of the instructions and a commentary on the lute sizes/pitches required. see http://www.fomrhi.org/uploads/bulletins/Fomrhi-044.pdf B To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html Edward Martin 2817 East 2nd Street Duluth, Minnesota 55812 e-mail: e...@gamutstrings.com voice: (218) 728-1202 http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1660298871ref=name http://www.myspace.com/edslute To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[BAROQUE-LUTE] Re: Wenzel von Radolt
the Vivaldi concerto lte vla-d'amore. RT - Original Message - From: Stephan Olbertz stephan.olbe...@web.de To: baroque-lute@cs.dartmouth.edu Sent: Monday, November 08, 2010 4:31 PM Subject: [BAROQUE-LUTE] Re: Wenzel von Radolt Am 08.11.2010, 15:05 Uhr, schrieb Christopher Wilke chriswi...@yahoo.com: It was, however, also common practice for the bowed strings to use mutes when playing with lutes Interesting. I only know the Hagen Duet for Violin and Lute with obligato mute, what else do we have? Regards, Stephan and I think this recording would have benefited from doing so. Gunar Letzbor mentions that playing with lutes was a new experience for the group, so my hats off to them for tackling this music in the first place and doing such a good job of it. Chris The liner notes reveal some interesting facts... apparently, the parts were scattered in various areas, making great difficulty in assembling the concertos. All parts were then together, with the exception of the first violin part in the concertos. One of the lutenists in the project, Hubert Hoffman, started writing the missing violin parts, and after near completion of the work, somebody found it the missing part!! Yesterday I had a conversation with an old friend, Doug Towne. In discussing this, he laughed, stating, They should have asked me... I've had it since the late 70's. The lutenists involved in the recording are Hubert Hoffman, Sven Schwannberger, and Klaus Kob. I have never heard of any of these performers, but they certainly performed these works well. ed At 08:41 AM 11/7/2010, Christopher Wilke wrote: Bernd, Thanks for the link. And thanks very much to Martyn for writing the article. Very interesting and informative stuff. I wonder why Radolt has received so little attention. On one point, though, I can't agree with Martyn: von Radolt's music is not of negligible musical worth. I won't argue that it is the deepest stuff, but it is pleasant to listen to and there are some surprises to keep you interested. Overall, I would recommend the recording that Ed mentioned by Ars Antiqua Austria although I find the violin to be a bit too forward in the recorded mix. They definitely did not follow Radolt's explicit instruction that the soprano part that is the small lute must at all times be set strongly and tripled in volume in relation to the other parts. (I suppose they were after an overall composite sound.) Actually, I know very little about this recording. I bought it on iTunes about a year ago and there is no booklet (shame on them!). I could hear that there was more than one lute on there, but the performers' names are not even listed online. How hard is it to include a digital booklet, people? Chris Christopher Wilke Lutenist, Guitarist and Composer www.christopherwilke.com --- On Sun, 11/7/10, Bernd Haegemann b...@symbol4.de wrote: From: Bernd Haegemann b...@symbol4.de Subject: [BAROQUE-LUTE] Re: Wenzel von Radolt To: baroque-lute@cs.dartmouth.edu, Edward Martin e...@gamutstrings.com, Martyn Hodgson hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk Date: Sunday, November 7, 2010, 4:40 AM See my paper in FoMRHI Quarterly No 44 July 1986 C-737 : 'Von Radolt's instructions to lute players (Wien 1701)' This gives a translation of the instructions and a commentary on the lute sizes/pitches required. see http://www.fomrhi.org/uploads/bulletins/Fomrhi-044.pdf B To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html Edward Martin 2817 East 2nd Street Duluth, Minnesota 55812 e-mail: e...@gamutstrings.com voice: (218) 728-1202 http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1660298871ref=name http://www.myspace.com/edslute To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- Erstellt mit Operas revolutionärem E-Mail-Modul: http://www.opera.com/mail/
[BAROQUE-LUTE] Re: Wenzel von Radolt
Am 08.11.2010, 15:05 Uhr, schrieb Christopher Wilke chriswi...@yahoo.com: It was, however, also common practice for the bowed strings to use mutes when playing with lutes Interesting. I only know the Hagen Duet for Violin and Lute with obligato mute, what else do we have? Regards, Stephan and I think this recording would have benefited from doing so. Gunar Letzbor mentions that playing with lutes was a new experience for the group, so my hats off to them for tackling this music in the first place and doing such a good job of it. Chris The liner notes reveal some interesting facts... apparently, the parts were scattered in various areas, making great difficulty in assembling the concertos. All parts were then together, with the exception of the first violin part in the concertos. One of the lutenists in the project, Hubert Hoffman, started writing the missing violin parts, and after near completion of the work, somebody found it the missing part!! Yesterday I had a conversation with an old friend, Doug Towne. In discussing this, he laughed, stating, They should have asked me... I've had it since the late 70's. The lutenists involved in the recording are Hubert Hoffman, Sven Schwannberger, and Klaus Kob. I have never heard of any of these performers, but they certainly performed these works well. ed At 08:41 AM 11/7/2010, Christopher Wilke wrote: Bernd, Thanks for the link. And thanks very much to Martyn for writing the article. Very interesting and informative stuff. I wonder why Radolt has received so little attention. On one point, though, I can't agree with Martyn: von Radolt's music is not of negligible musical worth. I won't argue that it is the deepest stuff, but it is pleasant to listen to and there are some surprises to keep you interested. Overall, I would recommend the recording that Ed mentioned by Ars Antiqua Austria although I find the violin to be a bit too forward in the recorded mix. They definitely did not follow Radolt's explicit instruction that the soprano part that is the small lute must at all times be set strongly and tripled in volume in relation to the other parts. (I suppose they were after an overall composite sound.) Actually, I know very little about this recording. I bought it on iTunes about a year ago and there is no booklet (shame on them!). I could hear that there was more than one lute on there, but the performers' names are not even listed online. How hard is it to include a digital booklet, people? Chris Christopher Wilke Lutenist, Guitarist and Composer www.christopherwilke.com --- On Sun, 11/7/10, Bernd Haegemann b...@symbol4.de wrote: From: Bernd Haegemann b...@symbol4.de Subject: [BAROQUE-LUTE] Re: Wenzel von Radolt To: baroque-lute@cs.dartmouth.edu, Edward Martin e...@gamutstrings.com, Martyn Hodgson hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk Date: Sunday, November 7, 2010, 4:40 AM See my paper in FoMRHI Quarterly No 44 July 1986 C-737 : 'Von Radolt's instructions to lute players (Wien 1701)' This gives a translation of the instructions and a commentary on the lute sizes/pitches required. see http://www.fomrhi.org/uploads/bulletins/Fomrhi-044.pdf B To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html Edward Martin 2817 East 2nd Street Duluth, Minnesota 55812 e-mail: e...@gamutstrings.com voice: (218) 728-1202 http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1660298871ref=name http://www.myspace.com/edslute To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- Erstellt mit Operas revolutionärem E-Mail-Modul: http://www.opera.com/mail/
[BAROQUE-LUTE] Re: Wenzel von Radolt
I think with one exception, all of Hagen's Sonatas for Lute, Violin and Basso call for muted violin. Also the Kohaut D major Divertimento. This one has no violin part, only a muted viola with cello. It seems strange to me to mute the viola. I've heard it in combination with modern guitar and it seems a pretty good match, even senza sordino. (A better partner for guitar than violin.) Then again, while I've worked with violas in orchestral settings, I've never played with a viola soloist. Perhaps with gut strings on a historical instrument, there is some roughness of tone that the mute would help smooth out? Chris Christopher Wilke Lutenist, Guitarist and Composer www.christopherwilke.com --- On Mon, 11/8/10, Dale Young dyoung5...@wowway.com wrote: From: Dale Young dyoung5...@wowway.com Subject: [BAROQUE-LUTE] Re: Wenzel von Radolt To: baroque-lute@cs.dartmouth.edu, Stephan Olbertz stephan.olbe...@web.de Date: Monday, November 8, 2010, 9:43 PM Kohaut requested sordini for middle movements and the entire Divertimento in Bb, one of two printed examples of lute ensembles with violin. ( I can't remember if Ph. Martino suggested sordini or not for his fiddle trios) Many have suggested that violins were quieter and/or players were accustomed to quieter playing before the wholesale adoption of the east european/klesmer/gypsy/ schmaltz school of VIOLIN PLAYING. Oy. (Or Paganininininini.) The sordini were more a change of timbre than a volume control (i think). - Original Message - From: Stephan Olbertz stephan.olbe...@web.de To: baroque-lute@cs.dartmouth.edu Sent: Monday, November 08, 2010 4:31 PM Subject: [BAROQUE-LUTE] Re: Wenzel von Radolt Am 08.11.2010, 15:05 Uhr, schrieb Christopher Wilke chriswi...@yahoo.com: It was, however, also common practice for the bowed strings to use mutes when playing with lutes Interesting. I only know the Hagen Duet for Violin and Lute with obligato mute, what else do we have? Regards, Stephan and I think this recording would have benefited from doing so. Gunar Letzbor mentions that playing with lutes was a new experience for the group, so my hats off to them for tackling this music in the first place and doing such a good job of it. Chris The liner notes reveal some interesting facts... apparently, the parts were scattered in various areas, making great difficulty in assembling the concertos. All parts were then together, with the exception of the first violin part in the concertos. One of the lutenists in the project, Hubert Hoffman, started writing the missing violin parts, and after near completion of the work, somebody found it the missing part!! Yesterday I had a conversation with an old friend, Doug Towne. In discussing this, he laughed, stating, They should have asked me... I've had it since the late 70's. The lutenists involved in the recording are Hubert Hoffman, Sven Schwannberger, and Klaus Kob. I have never heard of any of these performers, but they certainly performed these works well. ed At 08:41 AM 11/7/2010, Christopher Wilke wrote: Bernd, Thanks for the link. And thanks very much to Martyn for writing the article. Very interesting and informative stuff. I wonder why Radolt has received so little attention. On one point, though, I can't agree with Martyn: von Radolt's music is not of negligible musical worth. I won't argue that it is the deepest stuff, but it is pleasant to listen to and there are some surprises to keep you interested. Overall, I would recommend the recording that Ed mentioned by Ars Antiqua Austria although I find the violin to be a bit too forward in the recorded mix. They definitely did not follow Radolt's explicit instruction that the soprano part that is the small lute must at all times be set strongly and tripled in volume in relation to the other parts. (I suppose they were after an overall composite sound.) Actually, I know very little about this recording. I bought it on iTunes about a year ago and there is no booklet (shame on them!). I could hear that there was more than one lute on there, but the performers' names are not even listed online. How hard is it to include a digital booklet, people? Chris Christopher Wilke Lutenist, Guitarist and Composer www.christopherwilke.com --- On Sun, 11/7/10, Bernd Haegemann b...@symbol4.de wrote: From: Bernd Haegemann b...@symbol4.de Subject: [BAROQUE-LUTE] Re: Wenzel von Radolt To: baroque-lute@cs.dartmouth.edu, Edward Martin e...@gamutstrings.com, Martyn Hodgson hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk Date: Sunday, November 7, 2010, 4:40 AM See my paper in FoMRHI Quarterly No 44 July 1986 C-737 : 'Von Radolt's
