Dear Ed,
Thanks a lot. This is extremely helpful and interesting as it sheds light on
this confusing Conradi matter. I hope to listen to your recording someday!
Regards,
Nicolás
-Mensaje original-
De: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] En nombre
de Edward Martin
Enviado el: lunes, 11 de enero de 2010 12:25
Para: Nicolás Valencia; 'Daniel Shoskes'
CC: 'LuteNet list'; baroque-lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
Asunto: [BAROQUE-LUTE] Re: Conradi Sonata
Dear Nicolas and all,
Thanks for inquiring about Conradi. You care
correct, in that the pieces are from the 1724
edition.However, they are not by Johann
Melchior or Johann Georg Conradi; they were
published by Johann Gottfried Conradi, presumably
the son of Johann Georg and brother to Johann
Melchior Conradi. Whether or not Johann
Gottfried was the composer is unclear, but he was
the publisher. Prior to Art Ness' research, nothing was known about him.
A year ago, I recorded the complete Conradi book,
and in this CD, the program notes were composed
partly by me, and Arthur Ness. Here are the
notes from the CD, pertaining to what Art Nress discovered about Conradi:
Two worthy exceptions are the compositions for
eleven-course lute by Johann Gottfried Conradi
from his Neue Lauten-Stücke als Preludes,
Allemands, Courants, Gigues, Menuets etc.
(Frankfurt an der Oder: Conradi, 1724), and by
David Kellner from his XVI. [recte: XVII.]
Auserlesene Lautenstücke bestehend in Phantasien,
Chaconnen, Rondeau, Giga, Pastorel, Passe pied,
Campanella, Sarabande, Aria Gavotte (Hamburg: Brandt, 1747).
Little is known about Conradi. He was most
likely a member of a dynastic family of
musicians. No less than four persons named
Johann Gottfried Conradi were prominently
involved with music. One (1702-1776) was Danish
royal mouth and tooth physician and a composer of
popular operas. Another one (1820-1896) was a
conductor, composer of choral music and author of
a history of Norwegian music. Our Johann
Gottfried (d. 1747) was most likely the son of
the most famous musical Conradi, Johann Georg
(1645-1699). He was director of music at the
Bavarian court at Oettingen-Oettingen, but took
leave between 1690 and 1698 to serve as director
of the Theater am Gänsemarkt in Hamburg, the most
important opera house in Germany. He was
responsible for introducing and establishing the
French operatic style in Germany. His troupe
included the teenage Johann Mattheson who
assisted at rehearsals and often took to the
boards (before his voice broke, he sang female
parts). A recent revival of Conradi's long lost
opera Adriane enjoyed considerable critical
acclaim. For many years the opera was known only
from some arrangements of arias for Hamburger
cithrinchen, attesting to the operas popular
appeal. His son Johann Melchior succeeded him as
music director in Oettingen-Oettingen.
Our Conradi was principally occupied as a
prolific publisher of learned works in medicine,
botany, law, politics, geography, metaphysics,
church history, etc. He was also a respondent to
a dissertation on hydrope pectoris (dropsy) from
the Viadrina, the university at Frankfurt an
der Oder, suggesting that he held faculty status.
Accordingly as a musician he surely must have
collaborated with a distinguished student at the
Viadrina from 1733 to 1738, the most famous and
most prolific of the Bach sons, Carl Philipp
Emmanuel Bach. While at the university, he (CPE
Bach) supported himself as a harpsichord teacher
and as director of various musical academies at
the university. His works written at Frankfurt
include nearly 30 solo-, duo-, and trio-sonatas,
harpsichord concertos, etc., many intended for
his own performance. Conradi could hardly have
missed such youthful musical exuberance in his midst.
The pieces contained in Conradi's book have many
stylistically unique features. Although it is
unclear if Conradi was the composer as well as
publisher, the pieces seem to be composed by the
same person and are of very high quality. At this
point, we will have to consider the composer of
these charming pieces to be anonymous, since we
cannot establish whether the composer and
publisher are one and the same. Surely they
utilize many beautiful features, arpeggiation,
long phrasing, thematic similarities, and
surprising turns of harmony. The d minor
Courante has a stunning effect: it begins in d
minor, and the first section ends in the dominant
A major, but commences into the next section with
an opening statement in the distant key of F
major. The effect is surprising, but gentle. The
Suite in A Major achieves something seldom heard
in other lute pieces in the same key. Whereas A
major usually emits feelings of joy, stimulation
or excitement, the A major pieces in this suite
evoke feelings of tears and sadness. In
particular the Allemande can only be
characterized as filled with remorse
