Solo CD with sonatas from the Di Martinelli collection

In September 2020 I had the pleasure to record a selection of sonatas from the fairly unknown Di Martinelli collection in collaboration with the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. The collection, nowadays to be found in the university library in Leuven, Belgium, is part of the archive of the Di Martinelli family, which originated in Genova (Italy) but moved to the Netherlands (now Belgium) in the second half of the 17th century.

The manuscript, which was probably put together between 1683 and 1690, contains 31 complete violin sonatas and the beginning of a 32rd sonata; it is impossible to tell what the original dimension of the collection was. There are a few works by well-known composers such as Johann Jakob Walter and David Petersen, from well-known printed sonata albums (Scherzi 1676, Hortus Chelicus 1688, Speelstukken 1683), and some works that do not appear in prints of known composers such as Henrico Albicastro, Carlo Ambrogio Lonati and Johann Heinrich Schmelzer. Some other unique pieces are by Gian Carlo Cailò and Johann Christoph Pez (of both composers no other solo violin work is known), and there are five sonatas for violin in scordatura by the completely unknown Goor.
The collection represents the international violin virtuoso culture of its time, containing Italian, Austrian and Dutch influences. It was probably compiled by copying circulating manuscripts of various pieces and composers, and it might very well be that there were personal connections between the family and the musicians. For more information please see page 147-152 in Spielmännische Tradition und höfische Virtuosität by Th. Drescher, ed. Schneider, 2004.

To fill a CD, I chose the eight sonatas that seemed the most interesting and offered the most variety, including two different scordaturas. A wide range of different styles can be found in these pieces, which of course has an impact on my way of playing them. Some sonatas remind me of the earlier 17th Italy, others clearly have french influences, and a few of them seem to go towards a style that later will be defined as Corelli’s. This causes the ornamentation to differ very much from one piece to the other.

For the continuo I asked my wonderful colleagues Johannes Keller and Sebastian Wienand (harpsichord) and Daniel Rosin (violoncello).
We thought it an interesting experiment to work with two harpsichords: it seems to have been a common practice in baroque chamber music, but nowadays it is hardly done. The challenges of this setting are mainly the rhythm and the “discipline” in the continuo playing: each player should know his role in order to have the two harpsichords enhance each other’s quality rather than contradicting each other.
Our sound engineer Johannes Walbrecher acted as the fifth ensemble member.

The CD should come out in the summer 2021 for the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis CD series, published by Glossa.