Sheet music
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FL-13
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edited by Nicola Sansone
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The Sezione Musicale of the Biblioteca Palatina in Parma possesses in the Sanvitale Fund,1 acquired from the Library of the Quilici family in Lucca, five handwritten volumes of recorder music dating back to the first half of the 18th century. Being among the Italian sources of that period, these manuscripts are extremely valuable both for quality and quantity: they are in fact a real collection representative of the repertoire of an amateur, Paolo Antonio Parensi, member of one of the most important patrician families in Lucca.
Two volumes are dedicated to the works of the oboists, recorder and flute players and composers Giuseppe Sammartini and Francesco Barsanti.4 A third, titled Sinfonie di varij Autori, collects pieces of various Italian composers such as Albinoni, Corelli, Vivaldi, Quirino Colombani, Ludovico Ferronati, Domenico Sarri and others, and is one of the very rare Italian sources of transcriptions for recorder from the violin repertoire.
The last two volumes include compositions by an English musician who lived and worked in Rome, Robert Valentine: the first contains the Sinfonie di Roberto Valentini Opera XI for flute and thorough bass; the second is titled Sinfonie / Di / Roberto Valentini / Inglese and includes pieces still unmentioned by bibliographers.
Thought from its origin as a miscellaneous volume, this last manuscript includes 18 sonatas subdivided into three series, the first of which is titled Sonate à Flauto / e Basso / Da Roberto Valentini / à Roma; the second, untitled, also consists of six sonatas for flute and thorough bass, while the third, for two flutes only, is titled La Villeggiatura / a 2. Flauti / Da Roberto Valentine / Inglese. The second of these collections is published here for the first time in a modern edition.
The reason why the manuscript was written, evidently for the personal use of its possessor, may suggest the existence of some direct relation between Parensi and Valentine; its didactic purpose is also emphasized by an interesting index placed at the beginning of the volume, named Repertorio, which contains not only the references to the sonatas but also to the single movements grouped by typology: we have thus a list of the various Adagio, Allegro, Andante movements and so on.
The fact that the pieces included share common stylistic factors suggests that they were composed about the same period: in the allegro movements, initial or final passages in unison reflect an aspect of Vivaldi's style very popular in Rome about 1730; in slow tempos, ascending chromatic progressions and 'affettuose' rhythmic figurations, often united, in minor key pieces, to an ample use of lowered second scale degree (Neapolitan sixth chord), recall theatrical and pathetic stylemes typical of the Neapolitan school.
Together with these considerations, the presence of Minuetti as final movements and the use of the terms Andante and Amoroso leads us to place this whole work in the later period of the composer's activity; in particular 1730, date of issue of the Sonatas for transverse flute op. 1212, seems to be a likely term of comparison, since these compositions and the pieces of the manuscript concerned share many of the stylistic factors noted above. Valentine's popularity with amateurs is believed by many scholars to be mainly due to his ability in combining a brilliant and pleasant writing with a relative easiness of performance in fast tempos, and in satisfying performers and audience, in slow tempos, with plenty of delightful melodic hints and expressive light and shade, together with many written suggestions for the diminution of the cadences. The works in the collection fully agree with such general requirements and bear some peculiarities of their own: more developed and technically demanding compositions in comparison to the first collection; extensive opening slow tempos richly diminished, among the best in Valentine's production, followed by three more and, on even three occasions, four more movements. Two sonatas use uncommon but suggestive keys on the alto recorder, C minor (III) and E minor (IV). The ambitus of the compositions is oriented towards the medium-high range, touching extremes that were not thought to be distinctive of the Italian literature of that time: besides G5, reached in the third sonata and several times in the sixth, Ab 5 also appears in the second Larghetto movement of the latter sonata. This is also remarkable in other aspects: the first movement represents perhaps the highlight of the gallant style shown by the composer in the manuscript and in the remaining late production for the recorder, whilst the third and last movement,
La Posta, has a descriptive and evocative feature, inspired by Vivaldi's style, which finds no comparison in the coeval Italian literature for the instrument, excluding of course the concertos composed by Vivaldi himself.
Composer(s):
Publisher(s):
Publishernumber:
FL-13
Instrument(s):
ISBN:
9790215318663
Number:
200372
Theme(s):
Overige informatie:
edited by Nicola Sansone
