1700-1749 Cello Concerto

Question 0

Name 6 cello concertos ca.1700-1749.

Answer 0

1. Giuseppe Jacchini: Cello Concerto in F, Op.4, No.9 (1701)
2. Giovanni Benedetto Platti: 2 Cello Concerti in C and c (ca.1715)
3. Antonio Vivaldi: Double Concerto in g for 2 violoncellos, strings, and continuo, RV531 (ca.1717)
4. Nicola Porpora: Cello Concerto in a (ca.1730)
5. Leonardo Leo: Concerto in d for cello, strings, and basso continuo (1737-8)
6. Georg Matthias Monn: Concerto in g for cello (arr. by Schoenberg) and orchestra (ca.1740)

Question 1

How many cello concerti did Vivaldi write?

Answer 1

Vivaldi wrote 27 cello concertos
RV398-424
ca.1715?

Question 2

How many double concertos for 2 celli did Vivaldi write?

Answer 2

Vivaldi only wrote 1 double concerto for 2 celli: Double Concerto in g for 2 violoncellos, strings, and continuo, RV531

Question 3

How many double concertos for violin and cello did Vivaldi write?

Answer 3

Vivaldi wrote at least 4 double concertos for violin and cello, and 1 concerto for violin and 2 celli.

Question 4

Piece: cello concerto by Jacchini

Answer 4

• Composer: Giuseppe Jacchini
• Title: Cello Concerto in F, Op.4, No.9
• Date: 1701
• Gabrielli’s star pupil, applied himself so well to the cello that he soon was the equal of his teacher.
• the Op.4 set contains 10 short concertos, of which six contain an important solo part for the cello.
• The 9th concerto of the collection is particularly distinguished for its virtuoso solo part and some attractive dialogues between the cello and the first violin. Jaccini’s harmonic vocabulary is somewhat limited and this is undoubtedly one of the reasons why the three movements are rather loosely constructed.

Question 5

Piece: cello concerto by Platti

Answer 5

• Composer: Giovanni Benedetto Platti: (ca. 1715)
• Title: 2 Cello Concerti in C and c
• Date: ca.1715
• The German Duke Rudolf Franz Erwein von Schonborn was probably the one who stimulated the Venetian composer Platti to write as many as 28 cello concertos.
• Both concertos is still strongly rooted in the late Baroque style.
• Cello Concerto in C (ca.1715): The theme of the concerto in C major is derived from a minuet theme that Vivaldi used in at least four compositions around 1715. The first Platti concerto in C Major is more of a concerto grosso, with the solo instrument playing in the episodes of the ritornello, emerging as a textural contrast.
• Cello Concerto in c (ca.1715): The concerto in C minor, too, looks back rather than forward; the first movement is an interesting blend of a fugue and ritornello form, of which Vivaldi’s work also contains a few fine examples.

Question 6

Piece: cello concerto by Vivaldi

Answer 6

• Composer: Antonio Vivaldi
• Title: Double Concerto in g for 2 violoncellos, strings, and continuo, RV531
• Date: ca.1717
• Not without justification, the significance of Vivaldi for the concerto has been compared to that of Haydn for the symphony. In Vivaldi’s concertos the orchestra and the solo instrument(s) are allotted clearly distinguished and contrasted roles, in which alternation and balance are both ensured. Vivaldi’s significance lay in the perfecting of the so-called ritornello form; however, some have maintained that the balance in Vivaldi’s concertos was destroyed by the wild and outrageous character of his harmonic and rhythmic inventions.
• It is not known for whom it was written, though the Ospedale della Pieta seems a likely candidate. In this hospice for foundlings, sick children, and orphans, a choir and orchestra made up of women and girls was maintained in order to provide the musical adornment of the chapel services and to give concerts for patrons and tourists.
• Vivaldi’s concertos follow a general pattern. A first movement Allegro, in which a ritornello punctuates the entries of the solo instrument, is followed by a slow movement, an aria for the solo instrument, sometimes accompanied only by basso continuo and sometimes with a fuller participation of the orchestra. The last movement, again an Allegro, can be in duple or triple meter and there may be some variety in the form that the ritornello takes.
• Vivaldi wrote only one concerto for two cellos, though wrote roughly 50 double concertos for different instrumentations.
• The relatively early date of this work is suggested by its square-cut rhythms.
• Its outer movements express pure dynamism, while the central slow movement forms the emotional heart of the work.
• 1. The powerful cadenza-like opening for the solo instruments recalls that for two solo violins at the start of the well-known concerto in D minor (Op.3, No.11). Here he employs the two solo instruments in close imitation one of the other at the outset, a practice continued in the G minor Largo, accompanied by basso continuo.
• 2. In the slow movement, Vivaldi eliminates the orchestra, accompanying the solo cellos with continuo alone. It was Vivaldi who pioneered the idea of stripping away the orchestra from the slow movement, leaving the soloists to play together in intimate, chamber-music fashion, as if in a sonata. The reversion to a ‘chamber’ texture is especially common in the slow movements of his double concertos; one regrets on hearing this deeply affecting Largo, that Vivaldi left no trio sonatas for two cellos and continuo. This radical new formula soon won adherents: we find J.S. Bach doing the same in his Second Brandenburg Concerto. The structure seen in the Largo - a binary form in which neither section is repeated, the first flowing into the second - occurs frequently in his concerto slow movements.
• 3. In the final Allegro, after the tutti opening and first cello entry there is a fugal passage introduced by the second cello (which resembles the quasi moto perpetuo sound of his “Summer” violin concerto), followed by the first, after which dialogue is resumed between the two, here and in later entries.

Question 7

Piece: cello concerto by Leo

Answer 7

• Composer: Leonardo Leo
• Title: Concerto in d for cello, strings, and basso continuo
• Date: 1737-8
• extremely difficult passagework in the two fast movements, all of which foreshadow the more virtuosic lines of composer-cellists like Boccherini later in the century. There is ironically more of a hint of the emerging galant.
• Already in Vivaldi’s lifetime, Venice lost its position in the musical vanguard to Naples. In the years around 1730, even in the most distinguished Venetian theatres, it was usual to hear operas by composers who, whether or not the they were born in Naples, had received their training at one of the city’s famous conservatories. Leonardo Leo and Nicola Porpora are typical representatives of this Neopolitan school, in which Vivaldi’s vitality and virtuosity yield place to a sweet bel canto
• Leo was, like Porpora, an international celebrity during his lifetime, not just as a composer of theatre and church music, but as a theorist and teacher. In the years 1737-8, he wrote six splendid concertos for cello, two violins, and continuo.

Question 8

Piece: cello concerto by Porpora

Answer 8

• Composer: Nicola Porpora
• Title: Cello Concerto in a
• Date: ca.1730
• In terms of sheer length and virtuosity, the concertos of Nicola Porpora come closest to Bononcini’s sonatas.
• Porpora’s four-movement cello concerto is a transitional work, because old and new elements still intersect. Already in Vivaldi’s lifetime, Venice lost its position in the musical vanguard to Naples. In the years around 1730, even in the most distinguished Venetian theatres, it was usual to hear operas by composers who, whether or not the they were born in Naples, had received their training at one of the city’s famous conservatories. Leonardo Leo and Nicola Porpora are typical representatives of this Neapolitan school, in which Vivaldi’s vitality and virtuosity yield place to a sweet bel canto
• Porpora was, like Leo, an international celebrity during his lifetime, not just as a composer of theatre and church music, but as a theorist and teacher.

Question 10

Piece: cello concerto by Monn

Answer 10

• Composer: Georg Matthias Monn
• Title: Concerto in g for cello (arr. by Schoenberg) and orchestra
• Date: ca.1740
• The Cello Concerto exploits the technical possibilities of the instrument to a surprising extent, making especially good use of the low register. Schoenberg in 1911–12 made continuo realizations for it
• Monn is noted for having composed the first known four-movement symphony with a third-movement minuet.
• More significant was his handling of form in fast movements: his clear development sections and full tonic recapitulations heralded the emergence of sonata form in the symphony.
• harmonic detail, striking thematic development and a keen sense of melodic line
• frequent use of sequences and a lack of strong thematic contrast
• Monn’s keyboard concertos were the first by a Viennese composer to show galant elements in their thematic structure.

Question 11

For what irregular instrumentation did Telemann write concertos which included cello?

Answer 11

Georg Philipp Telemann: 2 triple concertos which include cello.

• Concerto in D for Violin, Cello, Trumpet, and Strings, TWV53: D5
• Concerto in A for Flute, Violin, and Cello, TWV53:A2

Question 12

Which of the selected concertos ca.1700-1749 are in 3 movements? Which are in 4 movements?

Answer 12

3 Movements (fast-slow-fast)

• Giuseppe Jacchini: Cello Concerto in F, Op.4, No.9 (1701)
• Giovanni Benedetto Platti: 2 Cello Concerti in C and c (ca.1715)
• Antonio Vivaldi: Double Concerto in g for 2 violoncellos, strings, and continuo, RV531 (ca.1717)
• Georg Matthias Monn: Concerto in g for cello (arr. by Schoenberg) and orchestra (ca.1740)

4 Movements (slow -fast-slow-fast): Neopolitan school

• Nicola Porpora: Cello Concerto in a (ca.1730)
• Leonardo Leo: Concerto in d for cello, strings, and basso continuo (1737-8)