When Antonio Vivaldi died in 1741 Baldassare Galuppi took his place
as the main composer in Venice. He soon became one of the most fashionable
composers in Italy. It is telling that some of Vivaldi's compositions were
sold under the name of Galuppi.
He probably received his first music lessons from his father, a
barber who also played the violin in small orchestras. At the age of 16 he
already composed his first opera which wasn't received very well. He was
sent to Antonio Lotti, organist at San Marco, to study the organ and
counterpoint. Soon he was playing the harpsichord in opera performances and
composed substitute arias for revivals and pasticcios. Opera was to play a
key role in his professional career. The work-list in
New Grove lists
a large number of operas, both serious and comic. In addition he composed a
significant number of serenatas, oratorios and sacred liturgical pieces.
Among his instrumental works keyboard music takes first place.
Twelve sonatas for harpsichord were printed as op. 1 and op. 2 respectively
in London. Three further sonatas were included in collections which were
printed in Nuremberg. The largest part of his keyboard works have been
preserved in manuscript. The present set of four discs is devoted to these
unpublished sonatas.
Galuppi's sonatas come in three different forms. Most are in three
movements, but in a different order. Some sonatas begin with a movement in a
slow or moderate tempo, which is followed by two fast movements. The central
movement has most substance. These sonatas seem to be inspired by the
Italian opera overture. Most sonatas in this set are of this type. Others
bear the traces of the classical sonata with the sequence fast - slow -
fast. The fourth disc includes some sonatas of this kind. The third group
consists of sonatas with just one movement. Gregoletto plays one of them,
the
Sonata in d minor (Illy 1), which in one source is called
Toccata per il cembalo. It is a brilliant piece which one probably
won't associate with a composer like Galuppi.
It is evidence that there is quite a breadth of variety within the
corpus of his sonatas. They are all written in the
galant idiom. This
means that the right hand has the bulk of the melodic and thematic material,
and the left hand is largely confined to an accompanying role. Galuppi also
makes frequently use of Alberti basses. However, many of his sonatas or
individual movements are substantial. The
Sonata in F (Illy 12) (CD
3) includes a presto which is dominated by counterpoint and closes with a
giga of a quite dramatic character. The indication of a dance in some
sonatas doesn't mean that much: in many cases the original rhythm of the
dance is absent.
The second disc ends with the expressive
Sonata in D (Illy
46) which is the longest in this set. Another remarkable piece is the
Sonata in f minor (Illy 9) whose first movement includes a modulation
which moves to D flat before returning to the main theme. This is rather
unusual for the time and one doesn't immediately expect a piece of such a
dark character from Galuppi's pen. Some movements are not unlike a sonata by
Domenico Scarlatti. I was also struck by the opening statement of the
Sonata in c minor (Illy 34) (CD 1) which reminded me of the
Fantasia in c minor (BWV 906) by Bach.
Ilario Gregoletto plays a copy of a French harpsichord by Pierre
Donzelague who worked in Lyons in the first quarter of the 18th century.
This may seem a rather unlikely choice for Italian keyboard music. However,
Galuppi travelled across Europe, calling on Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach in
Hamburg on his way to Russia. Later he also visited Johann Adolf Hasse in
Vienna. Some of his sonatas were printed in London, and from that angle one
could argue that his sonatas can be played on other instruments than Italian
harpsichords. Moreover, the contrasts within the sonatas seem to require a
double manual harpsichord, whereas Italian instruments usually had just one
manual. In this context I would like to mention a disc with sonatas by
Galuppi which was released by Accent (
review). Here Luca Guglielmi plays two different harpsichords, but also the
clavichord, the organ and even the fortepiano. The latter is certainly an
interesting option, considering that Bartolomeo Cristofori made his first
fortepianos in the early 18th century. It is quite possible that Galuppi
knew such instruments.
Gregoletto delivers generally outstanding performances. The
differences in character between the various sonatas come off convincingly.
His playing is lively and the dramatic and expressive aspects of some
movements are not lost on him. It is a shame that the sound quality isn't
always of the best. Here and there the harpsichord produces a rather sharp
and not always pleasant sound which seems the effect of the recording rather
than the instrument. The sound in the
Sonata in C (Illy 27) which
closes the first disc is very odd. The first movement sounds alright, but at
the start of the second the balance seems to shift to the right channel
where it stays until the end.
These are minor blots on a production which is otherwise very
welcome. It shows that there is more to Galuppi than light-weight stuff as
most of these sonatas are of substantial quality and deserve to be part of
the repertoire of today's keyboard players.
The booklet includes useful liner-notes in English, German and
French by Andrew Woolley. The track-list unfortunately omits the indication
of the numbers in the catalogue compiled by Hedda Illy. I have added these
from a source on the internet.
Johan van Veen
http://www.musica-dei-donum.org
https://twitter.com/johanvanveen
Track-list
CD 1 [57:12]
Sonata in g minor (Illy 10) [10:42]
Sonata in F (Illy 28) [12:05]
Sonata in c minor (Illy 34) [10:37]
Sonata in A (Illy 26) [5:50]
Sonata in E (Illy 16) [4:38]
Sonata in C (Illy 27) [12:18]
CD 2 [60:54]
Sonata in E flat (Illy 17) [10:56]
Sonata in D (Illy 45) [10:38]
Sonata in B flat (Illy 23) [12:17]
Sonata in A (Illy 47) [10:22]
Sonata in D (Illy 46) [17:05]
CD 3 [56:45]
Sonata in D (Illy 31) [10:09]
Sonata in f minor (Illy 9) [10:16]
Sonata in g minor (Illy 10) [10:50]
Sonata in F (Illy 12) [13:17]
Sonata in E (Illy 25) [12:13]
CD 4 [64:32]
Sonata in B flat (Illy 14) [11:34]
Sonata in d minor (Illy 1) [5:23]
Sonata in A (Illy 37) [6:38]
Sonata in B flat (Illy 32) [6:45]
Sonata in g minor (Illy 10) [5:18]
Sonata in C (Illy 55) [7:37]
Sonata in D (Illy 39) [6:31]
Sonata in E (Illy 16) [5:40]
Sonata in E flat (Illy 17) [8:50]
