El Arte del Violín: Vitali - Tartini - Nardini

00:00 Chacona en Sol menor para violín & continuo (atribuido a Tomaso Antonio Vitali, 1663-1745)
Source: Abschrift in der Sachsischen Landesbibliothek Dresden (Musik/2037/R/I)
11:30 Tema y 30 variaciones de ¨L´Arte dell´arco¨ (Giuseppe Tartini, 1692-1770)
Edition: Neapel, nach 1782 (L. Marescalchi)
26:05 ¨El trino del diablo¨ Sonata en Sol menor para violín & continuo (Tartini):
Larghetto affettuoso - Tempo giusto della Scuola Tartinista - Andante, Allegro assai
38:36 Sonata en Re mayor para violín & continuo (Pietro Nardini, 1722-1793): Adagio - Allegro - Allegro
Edition: J. B. Cartier, L´art du violon, 1. Auflage, Paris (1798, Decombe)

Eduard Melkus, violin / Walter Schulz, cello / Alfred Planyavsky, contrabass
Karl Scheit, lute / Lionel Salter, organ, harpsichord & piano

Recording: Wien, Palais Schonburg, 26-29. 1. 1971

The compositions of virtuoso violin music, which have been recorded for this disc, represent the best known of their type. They have continued to be an integral part of virtually all violin repertoires down to this day, and we can still hear the great soloists of our day play them in the concert hall. However, none of these compositions have come down to us in their original form. As most baroque compositions, they were subjugated to the stylistic changes inaugurated by the classical period, which meant that in their original form they could only be found among collected works or in the form of copies in the possession of individual music lovers, and it was not until the important movement of rediscovering the “old music”, which took place in the romantic period, that musicians especially interested in these compositions began to revive them. Naturally, they were altered to suit the tastes of the time. The solo texts were changed, shortened or lengthened, or movements from other compositions were added or simply exchanged for older ones. The harpsichord was replaced by the piano, thus introducing a totally different character of sound and new dynamic possibilities. The accompaniment -originally indicated as a figured bass only- was now eliminated completely and pianistically polished up while the simple original harmonies were often made “more interesting” in the romantic sense by means of chromatic passages or a bass lead. Nonetheless, the compositions became truly popular again, which in all probability would not have been the case had they been re-introduced in their original form as we prefer to hear them today, and we are, therefore, highly indebted to those who made these interpretative alterations. Mozart’s rendition of the Messiah, Mendelssohn’s Bach renditions, Schumann’s piano accompaniments to the Bach solo sonatas, Wagner’s concert finale for Gluck’s Iphigenia overture and many more examples were altered in the same spirit, i. e., the attempt to adapt older master pieces to the current tastes and forms in order to uphold an interest for these compositions and to maintain their popularity.

Although we think differently in our century and prefer the composition in its original form, we can hardly be accused of fossilized history. On the contrary, we are imbued with the same passionate love for music that moved musicians in the last century. It is simply that we today believe that a composition has its greatest effect in its original form. And even if we cannot achieve absolute authenticity today because of diverse reasons as far as the performance of older music is concerned, we still feel bound to strive for the best reconstruction of the original sound possible. It is possible to come to terms with great musical compositions -to understand the essence of the music- by trying to comprehend the spiritual motivation of a given composition and the Zeitgeist in which it was written; by discerning the typical stylistic characteristics of a particular grouping of compositions, and by grasping expression and sound as they differ from the present day music to which we are accustomed. Above and beyond this, however, it is also possible to perform many popular master pieces with a new, contemporary impulse and to prevent them from slowly evanescing into the forgotten by employing a new interpretative style based on historical development.

It is in such a spirit that we have undertaken to present the four compositions on this recording, which became popular again in the 19th century thanks to the adaptations of Ferdinand David (1810-1873). In fact, they gained a greater popularity than they had originally enjoyed. David, a pupil of Spohr’s at an excellent violin school, was inspired by Mendelssohn’s work in Leipsic to adapt a whole series of older violin compositions, which he then published in his “Hohe Schule des Violinspiels” (1867-1872) and in other editions. Vitali’s Chaconne and the Sonata in D major by Nardini are included in the “Hohe Schule des Violinspiels”; both the Tartini compositions were treated later by David.

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