WAALSE KERK DEN HAAG, 3 JULY 2021, 17.00 & 19.00

PISENDEL’S CABINET

Johann Georg Pisendel (1687 – 1755): Sonata for violin and continuo in C minor Adagio/Allegro

Anonymous: Sonata for violin and continuo in G minor Largo/Allegro/Grave/Allegro

Anonymous: Sonata for solo harpsichord in D major [Arpegg.]/Allegro/Larghetto/Rejouissance

Johann Georg Pisendel (1687 – 1755): Sonata for violin and continuo in E minor Largo/Allegro/Arioso/Gigue

Anonymous: Chaconne for violin and continuo in A major

SCARAMUCCIA

Javier Lupiañez, baroque violin, Inés Salinas, baroque cello, Patrícia Vintém, harpsichord

Johann Georg Pisendel was one of those artists who undoubtedly marked the European music scene of the first half of the 18th century. He was a reference for performers and composers of his time such as Bach, Vivaldi and Telemann, and his legacy continues to surprise us and discover fundamental and unknown aspects of the Baroque musical world. Yet, Pisendel is still a great unknown.

Pisendel was concertmaster of the Dresden Court orchestra since 1728 until his death in 1755. He was in charge, among other duties, of the instrumental music of the court. This position required him "to get and arrange his own music and that of other composers". After almost thirty years arranging “his own music” it is striking the limited number of own compositions that have reached us: five works for orchestra, eleven violin concertos, one sonata for solo violin and six sonatas for violin and continuo.

All these compositions are found in his personal collection, the Cabinet II collection of instrumental music. In this collection we find not only the pieces that were performed in the court but also works that belonged to his private collection or even sketches of some of his compositions. This makes it more surprising that we do not find more pieces of Pisendel himself in this archive. The reason: many of these pieces have not yet been identified. But thanks to recent research, new and exciting identifications have emerged from this archive. Some of these identifications like the new sonatas presented in this programme are linked to the research that Javier Lupiáñez currently performs on the Cabinet II.

These sonatas present the balance between virtuosity and rhetorical drama typical of the compositional language of Pisendel. As in other of his sonatas we see a perfect assimilation of the Italian and German style in a way that we only find in Dresden. Passages that remind us of Pisendel's influences such as Vivaldi or Bach are interspersed with his original and brilliant style.

Perhaps now that these works, of unquestionable quality, have a composer’s name on them, they can be heard more in concert halls. But until very recently they were anonymous and forgotten works. The program is completed with three anonymous works belonging to Pisendel's private collection. We do not know the name of their authors, but their great musical quality is reason enough to perform them and to remind us that there is still a lot of unknown marvelous music to discover.

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Scaramuccia was founded in 2013 and specializes in the recovery of the European instrumental repertoire of the early 18th century. They have performed in festivals in The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, United Kingdom, Portugal, Spain and Italy. They were awarded the Audience Prize in the Göttinger Reihe Historischer Musik 2015/2016 competition.

In its zeal to discover new music, Scaramuccia had the privilege of being the first ensemble to have attributed the RV 820 and the RV 205/2 to Vivaldi and performing both pieces as a world première for the Dutch radio station Concertzender in 2014. These works were recorded for Ayros in 2015 as part of the ensemble’s first album.

1717. Memories of a Journey to Italy, released in 2018, is the second disc of the ensemble. It has been acclaimed by reviewers all over Europe and nominated for the 2019 ICMA Awards. Their latest album, Pisendel. Neue Sonaten, was released in December 2020 and has got six nominations for the upcoming Opus Klassik awards edition. Both albums were launched with the ensemble’s own recording label: Snakewood Editions.

www.scaramucciaensemble.com/en/about/

Javier Lupiáñez, violin and direction

“the firmly eloquent violin of Javier Lupiáñez” GRAMOPHONE, March 2012

 “Francisco Javier Lupiáñez possède un jeu diabolique, quelque part entre Paganini et Méphistophélès. Son archet déploie tous les motifs de la séduction: rubatos enjôleurs, glissandos imperceptibles, rythmes ensorceleurs… Ces audaces esthétiques s’appuient sur une technique impeccable” Pierre-Carl Langlais, Qbuz

 “le violon virtuose et goûteux de Francisco Javier Lupiañez”, ODB-Opéra

Francisco Javier Lupiáñez Ruiz began his studies in his hometown, Melilla, Spain, where he received several prizes in interpretation and composition. After years of studies and practice, he received many diplomas, including an Advanced Diploma in Classical Violin, a Master’s in Musicology and a Master’s Degree with distinction under the guidance of Enrico Gatti at The Royal Conservatoire of The Hague.

Javier has performed several times as a soloist and leader with numerous groups and orchestras. He has performed in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Lithuania, Germany, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Belgium, The Netherlands, as well as in Japan and United States and has recorded for Harmonia Mundi, Ayros, France Musique, Musiqu3, Concertzender, Radio Klara and Snakewood Editions, among others.

Javier plays on an instrument made in 1682 in Amsterdam by Gijsbert Verbeek, which is on loan from the collection of The Dutch Musical Instruments Foundation.

His work as a researcher led to the identification of works by Pisendel, Westhoff, Leclair, Lonati and Corelli; as well as new works by Antonio Vivaldi: the Trio sonata RV 820 (the earliest known work by Antonio Vivaldi), the violin sonata RV 205/2 and a newly discovered violin cadenza.

He has given masterclasses and lectures at Mozarteum (Austria), Conservatorio Superior de Vigo (Spain), Conservatorio Statale di Musica, Cagliari (Italy), Musica Antica Festival (The Netherlands), Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini (Italy), Symposium “Ex umbra in solem”, Haliciana Schola Cantorum in Lviv (Ukraine) and 18th Biennial International Conference on Baroque Music in Cremona (Italy).

He has been invited as a guest author to write for the RISM online catalogue. He is the author of several articles and music editions featured in international publications.

Javier is a PhD student at Universidad de Guanajuato, under the guidance of Dr. Fabrizio Ammetto, where he is conducting research into the forgotten art of improvisation and the works of Antonio Vivaldi.

He is co-founder of the recording label and publishing house Snakewood Editions.

Javier has a baroque violin, Verbeek, made in 1682, on loan from the collection of The Dutch Musical Instruments Foundation. (www.muziekinstrumentenfonds.nl)

www.javierlupianez.com

Inés Salinas, violoncello

Inés specialises in the historically informed performance practice of the cello and viola da gamba. She is a founder, member and manager of the chamber music ensemble Scaramuccia as well as a co-founder of the recording label and publishing house Snakewood Editions. She collaborates with several European orchestras and ensembles, and teaches cello privately. She currently lives in The Hague (The Netherlands).

Born in 1985 in Zaragoza (SP), Inés holds Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from The Royal Conservatory of The Hague (NL), where she studied under the guidance of Jaap ter Linden and Lucia Swarts (historical cello) and Mieneke van der Velden (viola da gamba). She has received further advice from inspiring musicians such us Gaetano Nasillo, Hidemi Suzuki, Wieland Kuijken, Christophe Coin, Bruno Cocset, Itziar Atutxa, Rainer Zipperling, Balázs Maté, Enrico Gatti, Olivia Centurioni and Enrico Onofri. 

Inés also obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in classical cello at CSMA (Zaragoza, ES), where she studied with Ángel Luis Quintana, Cuarteto Casals and Cuarteto Quiroga, among others.

She is particularly fond of Italian (especially Neapolitan) music of the High Baroque period. She devoted her Master’s research to the Neapolitan cello repertoire at the turn of the 18th century, a field which she continues to research, unearthing and performing an amazing repertoire that is not yet widely known and appreciated.

Inés has performed with the Britten-Pears Baroque Orchestra (UK) in a project conducted by Christophe Rousset, Orquesta Barroca Conde Duque (ES) conducted by Ángel Sampedro, as well as I Giovani della Montis Regalis 2013  (IT) conducted by Olivia Centurioni, Alessandro de Marchi and Enrico Onofri.

She has performed live for Dutch radio stations Radio 4 and Concertzender and has recorded for the labels Naïve, Ayros and Snakewood Editions.

She plays on a baroque cello made by André Mehler in 2019 after Alessandro Gagliano, Napoli 1704, a viola da gamba made by Matthew Farley in 2017 after Michel Collichon, Paris 1683, and bows by Jerôme Gastaldo and Magdalena Sapeta.

www.inessalinas.eu

Patrícia Vintém, harpsichord

Patrícia Vintém, a Portuguese harpsichordist, acknowledged her passion for music at a very young age in her hometown, Viana do Castelo, where she began her violin and harpsichord studies.

In 2009 she obtained a Bachelor’s degree in harpsichord at the Escola Superior de Música in Lisbon in the class of Ana Mafalda Castro. Her desire to cross borders and seek knowledge and experience in the field of Early Music brought her to The Netherlands to study harpsichord, where she obtained a Bachelor’s degree under the guidance of Jacques Ogg (2013) and a Master’s degree with Fabio Bonizzoni (2015).

During her studies she had the opportunity to share the stage with many renowned artists such as Amandine Beyer, Enrico Gatti, Fabio Bonizzoni or Kati Debretzeni.

Since 2009, Patrícia has been a founding member of Les Esprits Animaux. The ensemble has been warmly acclaimed by audiences and critics, awarded with the 1st prize at the Van Wassenaer Competition (2016, The Netherlands), and recorded three CD albums published by the labels of Ambronay and Musica Ficta.

In 2014, she became a member of Scaramuccia – an ensemble with which she recorded several CDs, all devoted to re-discovering unknown or forgotten Baroque repertoire. Together with the core members of Scaramuccia, she founded an independent recording label and publishing house: Snakewood Editions.

Patrícia has recorded for such radio stations as France Musique, Radio Klara, Concertzender Nederlands and Musiq3. 

As a soloist and continuo player, she regularly performs in several venues in her home country, as well as in other countries such as Spain, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Lithuania and Japan. 

She is also actively engaged in music education and is currently pursuing a Master’s of Arts degree in Music Therapy at the Codarts University for the Arts in Rotterdam.

www.patriciavintem.nl