Performing the First Cello Concertos

Aspects about the emerging solo cello in Giuseppe Maria Jacchini’s Opus 4 and 5

1. Introduction

The early repertoire for bass violin in the Emilia-Romagna region, i.e., mostly the cities of Bologna and Modena, has been rigorously and comprehensively researched by numerous scholars in the last decades (cf. footnote 1), shedding light in the history and development of the violoncello as a solo instrument. Bologna is generally accepted as the birth place of the literature for the instrument thanks to the activity of “small” bass violin (so-called violoncello) players active during the last quarter of the seventeenth century.

Historically overshadowed by his teacher Domenico Gabrielli, Giuseppe Maria Jacchini stands out in comparison with all of the Bolognese cellists as one the most prolific composers of instrumental music for his instrument, regardless of the scoring used. Although he composed only four sonatas for solo violoncello, it is often overlooked that his instrumental ensemble works include many solos for violoncello. (cf. footnote 2)

The functional role of the instrument in Jacchini’s works, from pieces a 2 for violin and violoncello to ensemble pieces a 6 with trumpets, is remarkable. Based on Bolognese models, his compositions experiment with the melodic and technical possibilities of the instrument used by his contemporaries. However, while most of his technical input to the instrument remains poorly developed in his whole, observation of the uses and functions he provided to the violoncello in the ensemble, provide us with many insights about the appearance of the cello concerto. We might not only need to consider Jacchini’s background as cellist and student of Gabrielli, but more his musical environment, such as his membership at institutions like the Accademia Filarmonica and San Petronio’s Fabricceria, where a deeper development of music making was spreading within their members. (cf. footnote 3)

Based on San Petronio’s background, my aim is to clarify whether or not Jacchini was influenced more by non cellists musicians whom developed the solo concerto form, such as Giuseppe Torelli. In that direction, comparison of different compositions may need to be exposed in order to find common places between each composer. We need to point out to a series of facts and works serving as starting point, namely chamber ensemble music and early orchestral practices. Different arguments may be taken into consideration in order to clarify the problem.

Similar musical ideas, i.e., melodic formulae, in cello passages appeared in repertoire up to Jacchini’s cello concertos of 1701 and 1703 and beyond. These common components comprises mainly chamber music works, whereby some pieces include explicit solos for violoncello which Jacchini might have contact with or even played them. Comparison of these shared melodic-rhythmic patterns used in those passages with Jacchini’s pieces may be needed as guiding threads.

Image 1: Front page from Jacchini's Concerti per Camera, Op.4, Bologna 1701 - violoncello part-book

Secondly, the appearance of orchestral practices in San Petronio using concrete functions to the different instruments in the ensemble, such as ripieno, spezzato (in connection with chori spezzati practices) and solo, turned out that, similarly as in Rome with concerti grossi performance practices, the basilica’s orchestra was pioneering solo concerto forms procedures contemporaneously. This point is of utmost importance, as I intend to demonstrate, for it constitutes one of the foundations that led Jacchini to write his Op.4 and Op.5.

Lastly, possible and vague influences exerted by Giosefo del Violonzino, Jacchini’s nickname, to non local composers might be take into account, as Bologna’s book presses actively wielded as door for many composers’ opera prima.

Questions arise when approaching the problem. Composers gave attention to the small bass violin from the 1680s in vocal repertoire, namely opera, oratorio and cantatas from the Emilian region. (cf. footnote 4) Indeed, the violoncello is one of the first obbligato instruments being used in vocal music. Did Jacchini think about the opportunity his instrument could offer in concertante instrumental works? What is the reason to place the violoncello as the solo voice to most of his Op.4 and Op.5? Is it a personal choice to demonstrate the novelty of the instrument, or more a musical zeitgeist? There is no reason to assume a personal choice made by the composer.

In these entries I will construe the ensemble’s role and the consequences certain collections might derive to Jacchini’s concertos. The assumption of Jacchini as a pioneer of the cello concerto is already mentioned by different scholars (cf. footnote 5). However, my purpose is to find contemporary links that relate to Giosefo’s music in order to demonstrate a linear development.

Footnotes:

1. BONTA, S., From Violone to Violoncello: A Question of Strings?, Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society (1977), Terminology for the Bass Violin in Seventeenth-Century Italy, Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society (1978), VANSCHEEUWIJCK, M., Musical Performance at San Petronio in Bologna: a Brief History, Performance Practice Review: Vol. 8: No. 1, Article 7 (1995), The Baroque Cello and Its Performance, Performance Practice Review: Vol. 9: No. 1, Article 7 (1996), The Cappella Musicale of San Petronio in Bologna under Giovanni Paolo Colonna (1674-1695): History-Organization-Repertoire, Brussels : Institut historique Belge de Rome (2003), Cello Stories. Une histoire du violoncelle aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles / The Cello in the 17th and 18th Centuries, ALPHA CD booklet (2016), WISSICK, B., The Cello Music of Antonio Bononcini: Violone, Violoncello da Spalla, and the Cello “Schools” of Bologna and Rome, Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music 12, no.1 (2006), https://sscm-jscm.org/v12/no1/wissick.html#_edn6, BARNETT, G., Review to Antonio Bononcini: Complete Sonatas for Violoncello and Basso Continuo, Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era 77 (Madison, Wis.: A-R Editions, 1996), Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music 5, no.1 (1999), https://sscm-jscm.org/v5/no1/barnett.html, Bolognese Instrumental Music 1660-1710: Spiritual Comfort, Courtly Delight and Commercial Triumph, Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group, 2016), first edition by Ashgate Publishing (2008)

2. There is an exception in the input to the solo sonata repertoire in large amount. The young Antonio Bononcini, while still living in Bologna, wrote most likely twelve solo sonatas before he left to Rome in 1694. Although undated and extant in a mid eighteenth-century French manuscript, these pieces are similar in style to a Laudate Pueri that he wrote for San Petronio in 1693. Due to the fact that Antonio Bononcini moved to Rome, and that his contribution for this discussion is limited to his solo cello sonatas, his influence on the Bolognese musical sphere will not be investigated here. For more information about Antonio Bononcini’s sonatas, WISSICK, The Cello Music of Antonio Bononcini: Violone, Violoncello da Spalla, and the Cello “Schools” of Bologna and Rome, LINDGREN, L., Preface to Antonio Bononcini: Complete Sonatas for Violoncello and Basso Continuo, Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era 77 (Madison, Wis.: A-R Editions, 1996), BARNETT, Review to Antonio Bononcini: Complete Sonatas for Violoncello and Basso Continuo, ANTONIO BONONCINI, Laudate Pueri, Canto solo col violoncello obligato di Antonio Bononcini a di 19 Feb 1693, I-Bsp Lib.B.3.

3. On 16th December 1688 Jacchini joined the Accademia Filarmonica as composer, and a letter from Pirro Albergati Capacelli to his uncle Girolamo dated on 31st October 1689 confirms his entrance as cellist in the Fabricceria at San Petronio, probably supplying Gabrielli's absence. c.f.: DA COL, P., s.v., JACCHINI, Giuseppe Maria in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 61 (2004). As Da Col writes, Jacchini probably started as early as in 1677 in San Petronio singing in one of the children's choir (pueri cantores). From 1680 on he was hired as extra cellist during the patronal festivities. As well, between 1716 and 1719 he was the cello teacher at the Collegio dei Nobili in S. Francesco Saverio.

4. SANGUINETTI, A., Unearthing Forgotten Treasures: Anonymous Arias with Obbligato Violoncello at the Estense Library, Modena, Performance Practice Review: Vol. 18: No. 1, Article 1 (2013)

5. DA COL, P., s.v., JACCHINI, Giuseppe Maria in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 61 (2004)