Giovanni Antonio PANDOLFI MEALLI (1629 - after
1679)
Sonate à violino solo opera quarta
Sonata I La Bernabea in e minor [8:09]
Sonata II La Viviana in a minor [6:52]
Sonata III La Monella (Romanesca) in g minor [14:31]
Sonata IV La Biancuccia in d minor [10:09]
Sonata V La Stella in d minor [6:52]
Sonata VI La Vinciolina in d minor [9:40]
Gunar Letzbor (violin)
Ars Antiqua Austria (Jan Krigovsky (violone), Daniel Oman (colascione), Pierre
Pitzl (guitar), Hubert Hoffmann (archlute), Norbert Zeilberger (harpsichord,
organ))
rec. 14-16 March 2010, castle of Ivanka pri Dunaji, Slovakia. DDD
ARCANA A 360 [56:15]
Comparison: Andrew Manze (Harmonia Mundi)
Giovanni Antonio Pandolfi Mealli is one of those shadowy figures in music
history. His music is much better known than his life. Until recently next
to nothing was known, not even the dates of his birth and death. But his music
has received much attention, as it belongs to the very best of what was written
for the violin in the 17th century. It is only recently that research by the
music historian Fabrizio Longo has brought to light some facts which allow
us to position Pandolfi Mealli in his time.
Pandolfi Mealli was born in 1629 in Montepulciano in Tuscany. Not long after
his birth the family moved to Venice, where his stepbrother sang as a castrato
in San Marco. In the 1650s Pandolfo Mealli - the latter name he took from
his stepfather - entered the service of the Princess de' Medici in Innsbruck.
He gave up his job in 1660, and after that we meet him again in 1669. In that
year a publication of instrumental pieces was printed in Rome, and here he
is mentioned as violinist in the chapel of the cathedral of Messina on Sicily.
He left Messina after an incident in which he killed a castrato singer and
fled to Spain. There he started working as a violinist in the Capilla Real
of Madrid. He must have died not long after 1679.
Only three collections of music from his pen are known. The most famous are
the twelve sonatas which were published as his opp. 3 and 4 respectively,
each comprising six sonatas. Nothing is known about opp. 1 or 2. These could
have been lost or - as Andrew Manze in the liner-notes of his complete recording
suggests - they may never have existed, and the designation as 'opus 3' and
'opus 4' was a way to show off. The third collection is the one referred to
above, but some musicologists have doubted whether the composer is identical
with Pandolfi Mealli: they are much more moderate in style and the composer
is only referred to as 'Pandolfi', without the addition of 'Mealli'. It seems,
though, that the research of Fabrizio Longo rather confirms Mealli's authorship.
All sonatas of both collections bear names which mostly refer to musicians
from his time, some of whom were Mealli's colleagues in Innsbruck. Whether
these are intended as a kind of musical portrait is impossible to say. It
could well be that by giving his sonatas a title which is derived from their
names Pandolfi Mealli wanted to pay respect to his colleagues. The Sonata
I La Bernabea is probably dedicated to Ercole Bernabei, who worked as
an organist in Rome, the city where this opus was printed. Antonio Maria Viviani
is the dedicatee of the Sonata II La Viviana. He was an organist, singer
and composer. In Innsbruck he acted as organist, chaplain and secretary of
the Archduke and became superintendent of chamber music in 1660. Sonata
III La Monella is dedicated to the alto castrato Filippo Bompaglia, nicknamed
'Monello'. Before and after his time in Innsbruck he sang in operas in Rome
and Venice. This sonata is based on a famous basso ostinato, called
Romanesca.
Another castrato is the dedicatee of the Sonata IV La Biancuccia: Giovanni
Giacomo Biancucci. The Sonata V La Stella is not dedicated to a musician,
but rather a clergyman: the Father Superior of the Cistercian monastery of
San Giovanni Battista in Perugia, Benedetto Stella. The fact that the op.
3 also contains a sonata dedicated to him suggests Stella was important to
Pandolfi Mealli. The title of Sonata VI La Vinciolina refers to a lady
with the name of Teodora Vincioli. Her identity hasn’t yet been established.
These sonatas are not only remarkable for their technical qualities, but also
on account of their character. By using various playing techniques and daring
harmony Pandolfi Mealli achieves lavish expressive qualities. The sonatas
comprise various sections each of strongly contrasting character. As a result
they have a clear dramatic trait. In his performance Gunar Letzbor aims at
exploring this feature of the sonatas. He takes the slow movements at an often
very slow pace, whereas the fast movements are mostly played at high speed.
He also tries to maximize the often sudden shift from slow to fast. That is
all praiseworthy, and makes his interpretation quite compelling. Unfortunately
he tends to go a little overboard. The first movement of the Sonata III
is an extreme example. The first section takes no less than 11:18 - Manze
needs just 6:33 for the whole sonata. Letzbor's basic tempo is very slow,
and there is no variation in pace within this first section. In comparison
Manze creates strong contrasts by playing the written-out trills of demisemiquavers
much faster just like the passage with triplets. I find that more convincing
than Letzbor's approach which seems unnaturally slow. There are also quite
long pauses between the sub-sections, and the passages for the basso continuo
alone are overstretched.
Because of the contrast which Letzbor wants to create he uses various combinations
of instruments in the basso continuo. That makes sense, but I don't think
the scoring of the bass part needs to change within a sonata. It is
perfectly possible to realise these contrasts with just one instrument in
the basso continuo. Manze's recording proves this - with Richard Egarr on
the harpsichord - but also Martha Moore (Syncoop, 1992), who is accompanied
by a theorbo (played by Joris Loeff). The dynamic outbursts in the continuo,
in particular if the archlute and the guitar are used as percussion instruments,
seem exaggerated.
The playing of Gunar Letzbor is admirable, and in many ways I prefer his performance
of the violin part to Manze's. That said I find it hard unequivocally to recommend
his recording because of the exaggerations in the tempi and the realization
of the basso continuo. The liner-notes contain the latest information about
the composer as well as an analysis of the six sonatas by Herbert Seifert,
who teaches musicology at Vienna University. The 'Observations from the podium'
by Gunar Letzbor are interesting.
Johan van Veen
http://www.musica-dei-donum.org
https://twitter.com/johanvanveen
Letzbor’s playing is admirable, but the performance as a whole is marred
by exaggerations in the tempi and the scoring of the basso continuo.