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Welcome to Harmonia . . . I’m Angela Mariani. Carl Friedrich Abel wrote for new and old instruments, but he was especially an advocate for the viola da gamba (during a time) when its popularity was declining. Abel performed on the instrument in his own Bach-Abel concert series in London, co-founded with Johann Christian Bach. Abel had other connections to the Bach family, too… This hour, we’ll explore Abel’s life and legacy at 300. Plus, our featured release is John Coprario: Parrot or Ingenious Parrodist? Pluto Ensemble and Hathor Consort are led by Romina Lischka in their 2022 Ramee release.

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MUSIC TRACK
Carl Friedrich Abel: A Sentimental Journey, Sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Bass
Paolo Pandolfo, viola da gamba (solo); Amelie Chemin, viola da gamba; Andrea Buccarella
Glossa 2021 / Naxos GCD920418
Carl Friedrich Abel
Tr. 2 Viola da Gamba Sonata in D Major, A2:50, I. Allegro (2:37) (really 2:35)
Tr. 4 Viola da Gamba Sonata in D Major, A2:50, III. Allegro (1:57) (really 1:45)

We heard two movements from Viola da Gamba Sonata in D Major, A2:50 by Carl Friedrich Abel. Paolo Pandolfo, viola da gamba solo, performed with Amelie Chemin, baroque cello, and Andrea Buccarella, fortepiano. Although Abel wrote for new instruments like the forte-piano and square piano, he continued to advocate for the falling-out-of-fashion viola da gamba throughout his life.

Carl Friedrich Abel’s music was light-hearted and bright at a time when Sturm und Drang Romanticism was emerging. He worked with newer instruments, like the forte-piano, but his main love was the viola da gamba. We’ll start with the closing movement, Vivace from Abel’s Viola da Gamba Sonata in A Major performed here on solo viola da gamba, basso viola da gamba, and pianoforte.

MUSIC TRACK
Carl Friedrich Abel: A Sentimental Journey, Sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Bass
Paolo Pandolfo, viola da gamba (solo); Amelie Chemin, viola da gamba; Andrea Buccarella
Glossa 2021 / Naxos GCD920418
Carl Friedrich Abel
Tr. 10 Viola da Gamba Sonata in A Major, A2:53, III. Vivace (2:58)

That was Carl Friedrich Abel’s Viola da Gamba Sonata in A Major performed by gamba soloist Paolo Pandolfo accompanied by Amelie Chemin and Andrea Buccarella.

Abel was connected to the Bach family his entire life. When Abel was an infant, his father, Christian Ferdinand Abel, became director of music at Köthen. It’s previous director, Johann Sebastian Bach, had just won a better-paying position in Leipzig. When the younger Abel was old enough, he moved to Leipzig to study with Bach at St. Thomas School. Let’s hear the Prelude from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Solo Violin Partita No. 3 in E major performed by Rachel Barton Pine.

MUSIC TRACK
Testament: Complete Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (J.S. Bach)
Rachel Barton Pine, violin
Avie Records 2016 / Naxos AV2360
Johann Sebastian Bach
D. 2 Tr. 10 Partita No. 3 in E major, BWV 1006, I. Preludio (3:33)

Violinist Rachel Barton Pine performed the Preludio from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Solo Violin Partita No. 3 in E major.

Bach was formative to Abel’s education and early career, recommending him for a position at the court orchestra in Dresden under the direction of Johann Adolf Hasse. Known largely for his opera seria output, Hasse directed the orchestra in Dresden as well as composing operas, teaching composition, and more. Hasse’s Artaserse was premiered in 1730 in Venice at the Teatro di San Giovanni Grisostomo. In Dresden, Hasse reworked the score for the Opernhaus am Zwinger, where his wife, Faustina Bordoni, sang a soprano role. We’ll hear aria “Va’tra le selve ircane” from Hasse’s opera Artaserse.

MUSIC TRACK
Pinchgut Opera's Hasse Artaserse
Pinchgut Opera / Orchestra of the Antipodes / cond. Erin Helyard
Pinchgut Live 2020 / Naxos PG011
Johann Adolf Hasse (composer); Pietro Metastasio (lyricist)
Disc 2, Tr. 19 Artaserse, Act II: Va’tra le selve ircane (Mandane) (5:17)

We heard the aria “Va’tra le selve ircane” from Artaserse by Johann Adolf Hasse. Mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux sang the role of Mandane. Pinchgut Opera and the Orchestra of the Antipodes were conducted by Erin Helyard.

At the start of Abel’s fifteen years working in Dresden, the city fell under control of Frederick the Great. In addition to his major military and political victories, Frederick was an avid amateur flutist and patron of the arts. Frederick was probably familiar with Abel’s flute sonatas composed during this time. Although Abel fled during the fighting, his 1761 chamber and solo music publications for Breitkopf, the music publishing house, list Abel as a musician for the “King of Poland,” Frederick the Great. Here are two movements from Abel’s Op. 6, No. 1 Flute Sonata in C Major.

MUSIC TRACK
Abel: Music for Flute and Strings
Georgia Browne, flute; Nordic Affect (ensemble)
Brilliant Classics 2012 / Naxos BC94304
Carl Friedrich Abel
Tr. 5 Flute Sonata in C Major, Op. 6, No. 1, II. Allegro (3:18)
Tr. 6 Flute Sonata in C Major, Op. 6, No. 1, III. Vivace (3:00)

Georgia Brown, flutist, and Nordic Affect performed two movements from Carl Friedrich Abel’s Flute Sonata in C Major.

Abel’s time in Dresden overlapped with Wilhelm Friedmann Bach, who worked as an organist there until 1746. Let’s hear WF Bach’s Fugue in C Minor, Fk. 32 performed by organist Turri Filippo.

MUSIC TRACK
Bach Family: Complete Organ Music (Vol. IV)
Turri Filippo, organ
Brilliant Classics 2018 / Naxos BC95947
Wilhelm Friedmann Bach
Tr. 83 Fugue in C Minor, Fk. 32 (6:36)

Fugue in C Minor by Wilhelm Friedmann Bach performed by organist Turri Filippo.
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Early music can mean a lot of things. What does it mean to you? Let us know your thoughts and ideas. Contact us at harmonia early music dot org, where you’ll also find playlists and an archive of past shows.

You’re listening to Harmonia . . . I’m Angela Mariani.

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Mid Break Music Bed:

Maddalena del Gobbo: Viola d'Emozione
Maddalena del Gobbo, viola da gamba; Ewald Donhoffer, harpsichord
Universal Classics 2014 / Naxos 00028948109302
Carl Friedrich Abel
Excerpt from Tr. 11 MS Drexel 5871 für Viola da Gamba (Auszug), Allegro D-moll WK 205, Tempo di Menuet WK 188 (2:02)

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Welcome back. We’re looking at the career of composer Carl Friedrich Abel, born 300 years ago (on December 22, 1723).

Carl Abel was among the many German and Italian musicians who fashionably moved to London in the mid-eighteenth century. There, Abel worked for Queen Charlotte, performing on viola da gamba and an unusual five-stringed cello known as called the pentachord. Abel re-connected with the Bach family, founding a concert series in 1765 with Johann Christian Bach. The Bach-Abel Series was one of the earliest subscription-based concert series, providing a rich environment of artists, patrons, composers, and audiences where new music flourished. We’ll hear the final movement, Allegro, from Johann Christian Bach’s Keyboard Concerto in E-Flat Major, Op. 7, No. 5.

MUSIC TRACK
The World’s First Piano Concertos
Trio Sonnerie / David Owen Norris, square piano
Avie Records 2003 / AV0014
Johann Christian Bach
Tr. 3 Keyboard Concerto in E-Flat Major, Op. 7, No. 5, W. C59, III. Allegro (3:05)

The closing movement, Allegro, from Johann Christian Bach’s Keyboard Concerto in E-Flat Major, Op. 7, No. 5. David Owen Norris, square piano, performed with Trio Sonnerie.

Late in his career, Abel continued to advocate for use of the viola da gamba, composing for and performing on this instrument in the London-based Bach-Abel Series. These are some of the latest works for viola da gamba, which, by this time was seen as an archaic instrument, largely replaced by the cello. We’ll hear Siciliano and Presto from Abel’s Sonata in E Minor for viola da gamba and keyboard.

MUSIC TRACK
Maddalena del Gobbo: Viola d'Emozione
Maddalena del Gobbo, viola da gamba; Ewald Donhoffer, harpsichord
Universal Classics 2014 / Naxos 00028948109302
Carl Friedrich Abel
Tr. 15 Sonate e-moll für Viola da Gamba und Cembalo, WKO 150, 1. Siciliano (2:43)
Tr. 17 Sonate e-moll für Viola da Gamba und Cembalo, WKO 150, 3. Presto (2:47)

Siciliano and Presto, movements from Carl Friedrich Abel’s Sonata in E Minor for Viola da Gamba and Cembalo. Maddalena del Gobbo, viola da gamba, and Ewald Donhoffer, harpsichord, performing.

Let’s jump back from the 18th to 17th-century London for our featured release, John Coprario: Parrot or Ingenious Parrodist.

John Coprario—or was it Cooper or Cowper—was a Renaissance composer with an Italian and/or English background. Coprario lived and worked in London at the turn of the sixteenth seventeenth century. He had some associations with the royal family, and wrote music for the funeral of teenaged Crown Prince Henry Frederick. Here is Fantasia #6 by John Coprario performed on viols.

MUSIC TRACK
John Coprario: Parrot or Ingenious Parrodist?
Pluto Ensemble (vocal) and Hathor Consort (viols), Romina Lischka, dir.
Ramee 2022 / Naxos RAM2107
John Coprario
Tr. 2 Fantasia 6 (3:04)

Fantasia #6 by John Coprario. Romina Lischka led the Hathor (viol) Consort in their 2022 release, John Coprario: Parrot or Ingenious Parrodist? (0:10)

Although vocal ensemble was a favored way to make music in the Renaissance, composers increasingly arranged and composed music for instruments. This was likely to market sheet music to the growing body of amateur viola da gamba and recorder players. Coprario was no exception. He published over fifty madrigals for viol concert. Let’s hear Italian madrigal “Udite, lagrimosi Spiriti d’Averno” (“Hear, tearful spirits of Avernus”) by Luca Marenzio. After that, it’s John Coprario’s “Fantasia Udite, lagrimosi spiriti.”

MUSIC TRACK
John Coprario: Parrot or Ingenious Parrodist?
Pluto Ensemble (vocal) and Hathor Consort (viols), Romina Lischka, dir.
Ramee 2022 / Naxos RAM2107
Luca Marenzio
Tr. 20 Udite, lagrimosi,, spiriti d’Averno, udite (2:28)
John Coprario
Tr. 21 Fantasia udite, lagrimosi spiriti (3:29)

John Coprario’s “Fantasia: udite, Lagrimosi Spiriti” performed on viols by Hathor Consort. Before that, we heard Luca Marenzio’s madrigal “Udite, lagrimosi Spiriti d’Averno (“Hear, tearful spirits of Avernus”) sung by Pluto Ensemble led by Romina Lischka on our featured recording John Coprario: Parrot or Ingenious Parrodist?

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Harmonia is a production of WFIU and part of the educational mission of Indiana University.
Support comes from Early Music America: a national organization that advocates and supports the historical performance of music of the past, the community of artists who create it, and the listeners whose lives are enriched by it. On the web at EarlyMusicAmerica-dot-org.

Additional resources come from the William and Gayle Cook Music Library at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

We welcome your thoughts about any part of this program, or about early music in general. Contact us at harmonia early music dot org. You can follow us on Facebook by searching for Harmonia Early Music.

The writer for this edition of Harmonia was Sarah Schilling.

Thanks to our studio engineer Michael Paskash, and our production team: LuAnn Johnson, Aaron Cain, and John Bailey. I’m Angela Mariani, inviting you to join us again for the next edition of Harmonia.

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