Robert de VISÉE (1655-1733)
La musique de la chambre du Roi - Volume 2
Manuel Staropoli (recorder, transverse flute), Rosita Ippolito (viola da gamba), Massimo Marchese (theorbo)*, Manuel Tomadin (harpsichord)
rec. June 2012 at Ancelle della Carità, Rome, Italy DDD
BRILLIANT CLASSICS 94437 [54:29]
La musique de la chambre du Roi - Volume 3
Manuel Staropoli (recorder, transverse flute), Lorenzo Cavasanti (recorder), Cristiano Contadin (viola da gamba), Massimo Marchese (theorbo), Manuel Tomadin (harpsichord)
rec. October 2014 at Casa Cavasanti, Genoa, Italy DDD
BRILLIANT CLASSICS 95029 [59:55 + 58:32]
Some composers are inextricably connected to a specific
genre or a specific instrument. That is the case with Robert de Visée,
whose oeuvre is confined to music for a plucked instrument, in his case
the theorbo and the guitar. The former is not that surprising: it is
derived from the lute which was one of the most revered instruments
- alongside the viola da gamba - in France in the 17th century. The
guitar had become popular in the second half of the century. Around
1650 Cardinal Mazarin - himself of Italian birth - brought the Italian
guitarist Francesco Corbetta to Paris where he became the guitar teacher
of Louis XIV. Visée was probably one of his pupils and he soon became
close to the court as well. In the 1680 he regularly played at the King's
bedside in the evenings. It lasted until 1709 before he received an
official appointment, first as a singer and in 1719 as the guitar teacher
to the King, then Louis XV.
In 2010 the Italian recorder player and flautist Manuel Staropoli started
a project for Brilliant Classics which concerned the recording of chamber
music from Visée's pen. If one looks in the work-list in New
Grove one won't find any collection of music for other instruments
than the theorbo and the guitar. However, the third and last of the
books which Visée published (1716) suggests the possibility to perform
the pieces with other instruments. Its title is Pièces de théorbe
et de luth mises en partition dessus et basse. The preface refers
to the harpsichord, the violin and the viola da gamba but no instruments
are specifically mentioned on the title page. According to the performers
this opens the possibility to use other instruments, such as the recorder
and the transverse flute.
My colleague Byzantion reviewed the first volume in this project here
(http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2011/Aug11/visee_lute_94154.htm).
As I don't have that disc and its booklet is not available on
the internet I have to rely on what he writes as far as its content
is concerned. It includes five of the ten suites from the 1716 collection
and as the second volume lists also five suites we have to conclude
that these two discs comprise the complete collection. The question
then is: what do we get in the third volume? We again have here pieces
from the 1716 collection but also from the previous two sets of pieces
for guitar. "While a number of these pieces feature in the two
earlier recordings, we have enriched this CD with the Suites that appeared
in the appendix of the earlier printed editions: Livre de Guitarre
(1682) and Livre de Pièces pour la Guitare (1686). In view
of the fact that these suites constitute an initial group of pieces
that De Visée himself transcribed for chamber ensemble, they comprise
some interesting versions of certain suites that also featured in the
later definitive edition of 1716".
It would be interesting to compare the various versions but that is
impossible, partly because I don't have access to the first disc
but also because the documentation is rather poor. That is not entirely
the fault of the performers: there is no catalogue of Visée's
compositions and although his three collections are available from the
Petrucci Music Library (http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Vis%C3%A9e,_Robert_de)
that does help very little as many pieces have the same title (mostly
the usual dances) and it was not common practice to mention the key
of a piece.
Whereas volumes one and two consist of suites which include a number
of dances in a more or less fixed order the third volume comprises a
large number of suites of different length and constitution. The first
disc opens with a separate Allemande in e minor which is followed
by a suite of three dances from the 1682 collection and a suite from
the 1716 collection which consists of five dances. Some have two movements
with the same title; in the case of the Suite in a minor (1716;
CD 1, tracks 26-30) these are exactly the same: the first time it is
played as a harpsichord solo, the second as a solo for recorder and
bc. There are other suites where the scoring changes from one movement
to the other. In the Suite in g minor which opens the second
disc the sarabande (track 4) is performed as a solo for viola da gamba
and bc and in the closing menuet the recorder and the viola da gamba
play colla parte. In the booklet to the second volume we read:
"The chamber ensemble could include various instruments for playing
the basso continuo, each of which could be played solo where necessary,
to introduce one of the movements of the suite. It was thus possible
to widen the range of timbre, and thereby gratify the listener with
greater variety". There is also another kind of variety: in some
suites Staropoli swiches from the descant to the treble recorder and
vice versa from one movement to the other.
The use of various instruments within a single work seems in line with
the then common practice, for instance in Couperin's Les
Nations. He also indicated that his compositions for instrumental
ensemble could be played as harpsichord solos or with two harpsichords.
This is an indication of the flexibility in regard to scoring which
seems to be a feature of French music at the time. Therefore the practices
in these recordings seem fully justified. De Visée's music is
of excellent quality and that comes to the fore in these ensemble performances
as well, also thanks to the lively playing by Staropoli and his colleagues.
Every lover of French music will certainly enjoy these discs. The second
volume includes two pieces played on the theorbo by Massimo Marchese;
they give the opportunity to become acquainted with the 'original'
Visée.
Johan van Veen
www.musica-dei-donum.org
twitter.com/johanvanveen
Disc contents
Volume 2
Suite in C [10:57]
Suite in D [08:41]
Entrée d'Apollon* [04:27]
Suite in e minor [08:15]
Chaconne* [03:49]
Suite in B flat [08:51]
Suite in f minor [09:16]
Volume 3
Allemande in e minor [02:55]
Suite in G [05:37]
Suite in g minor [08:25]
Suite in c minor [08:53]
Suite in g minor [08:33]
Suite in d minor [04:38]
Suite in D [02:30]
Gigue in F [00:45]
Suite in a minor [09:57]
Suite in g minor [06:47]
Suite in g minor [06:04]
Suite in D [09:51]
Suite in d minor [08:58]
Suite in c minor [12:36]
Suite in a minor [05:38]
Suite in g minor [08:51]
Suite in a minor [05:46]
