Videos by Giovanna Barbati
Francone’s collection is the only known set of divisions on passacaglias aimed expressly for the ... more Francone’s collection is the only known set of divisions on passacaglias aimed expressly for the cello. These ten Passagagli, in different keys, consist of variations on a fourbar ostinato that is common to all the pieces and is essentially a method whose aim is to explore the virtuoso possibilities of the passacaglia for the cello at the end of the Seicento.
The passacaglia is among the easiest and interesting grounds, for these reasons it’s particularly suitable and useful also for beginners. The formation of a virtuoso in Francone’s time was primarily concerned with the acquisition of competence in elaborating instrumental figurations, These ten Passagagli show a true method to learn modules, basic figures and variation techniques, to be able to improvise your own variations. 40 views
In the 18th century virtuosity was strictly connected with improvisation, included in the curricu... more In the 18th century virtuosity was strictly connected with improvisation, included in the curriculum of studies of Naple's conservatories. Antonio Guida's method for cello is a true method for improvising at the cello, and one of the very few Italian didactical sources for cello of the 18th century. Guida was appointed string teacher in the conservatory of Sant'Onofrio a Capuana in 1785, therefore his method shows the pedagogy and the teaching path of the Neapolitan cello school of that time. The critical edition by Giovanna Barbati and Guido Olivieri was published in 2021 by Sedm (Società Editrice di Musicologia). The critical introduction helps the reader to understand the goal of the exercises - as Guida's method does not include texts -, the connections with other cello contemporary sources and with the Neapolitan partimento tradition. See the article '“Le Sonate di Antonio Guida; una nuova fonte napoletana per la didattica del violoncello'', Studi Musicali 12/2, 2021. 68 views
Conference Presentations by Giovanna Barbati
Improvisation in the Baroque Era, 2019
Contents of the volume
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Il n’exécute jamais la Basse telle qu’elle est écrite.
The use of improvisation in teaching low s... more Il n’exécute jamais la Basse telle qu’elle est écrite.
The use of improvisation in teaching low strings.
Following the rediscovery of the partimento and its teaching method, tanks in particular to the recent works of Sanguinetti and Gjerdingen, it’s now established that teaching jointly instrumental and compositional know-how was the core of a successful teaching method.
This method, based on teaching directly at the keyboard and on the gradual learning of harmonic paths with various surfaces, allowed a quick composition developing a given bass.
The proposal is to take this method as reference and to tailor it to the specific features of strings, in particular cello and viola da gamba. First we consider the improvisational tasks in the early practice and we weigh some historical accounts; then, following the traces found in various historical documents, we suggest a didactic path, whose main feature is a step- by- step improvisational route.
The gradual approach, for both sides: the instrument’s technique and the composition, allows the student to be actively involved from the beginning. In this way learning to improvise is integrated with the acquaintance of the repertoire and with the experience of the baroque musical language, therefore it’s not alien to the learning method.
We believe indeed that with this path one can find a valid way to enrich one’s skills at the low strings and to interpret and perform more accurately baroque music.
Thanks to the professional activity as cello and viola da gamba player and teacher, many different solutions have been tested in concerts and in classroom; a route it’s suggested, that leads students toward improvisation. This, following the definition of Michael Callahan, means a quick process of composition, using memorized patterns from the repertoire, based on preparing schemes and applying diminutions to them.
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Papers by Giovanna Barbati
Basso continuo in Italy, 2023
Recent research has brought to light sources that indicate that early cellists also practised par... more Recent research has brought to light sources that indicate that early cellists also practised partimenti on their instruments. The partimenti of Rocco Greco (1657-c. 1717) are found in a manuscripts from the library of the Conservatorio di Musica San Pietro a Majella (I-Nc), and from the library of the Abbazia di Montecassino (I-MC). The manuscripts contain various kinds of exercises: diminutions on thoroughbasses of antiphons, figured and unfigured partimenti, and solfeggi. Together, they give insight into an articulated cello curriculum, related to the performance practices of the time. We consider these Rocco Greco manuscripts as crucial documents for the performance practice of basso continuo on the cello. Rediscovering these traditions allows modern-day historical performers to realise the continuo by improvising new parts, as it was done in the past.
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Marchitelli, Mascitti e la musica strumentale napoletana fra Sei e Settecento, 2023
In the Montecassino manuscript MS 2-D-13, 1699, containing pieces for cello, are included the ten... more In the Montecassino manuscript MS 2-D-13, 1699, containing pieces for cello, are included the ten Passagagli by Gaetano Francone, which to date constitute the only collection of passacaglias for the instrument. Their analysis reveals a didactic destination, even in the careful musical writing, and allows both to glance at the technique in use, and to hypothesize the teaching approach on which they are based. The cataloguing of figurations allows to identify a small number of basic figures ̶ belonging to the language of the time ̶ and processing techniques, which are combined giving rise to infinite variations; it also allows us to highlight the extraordinary virtuosity of cello writing at the end of the seventeenth century in Naples./ Nel manoscritto di Montecassino MS 2-D-13 del 1699, contenente brani per violoncello, si trovano i dieci Passagagli di Gaetano Francone, che ad oggi costituiscono l’unica raccolta di passacaglie per lo strumento. La loro analisi rivela una destinazione didattica, pur nella curata scrittura musicale, e permette sia di gettare uno sguardo sulla tecnica allora in uso, sia di ipotizzare l’approccio didattico su cui sono fondati. La catalogazione delle figurazioni permette di identificare un ristretto numero di figure di base ̶ appartenenti al linguaggio dell’epoca ̶ e di tecniche di elaborazione, che combinate danno luogo a infinite variazioni; consente inoltre di evidenziare lo straordinario virtuosismo della scrittura per violoncello alla fine del Seicento a Napoli.
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Studi Musicali, 2022
Content of the volume
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Drafts by Giovanna Barbati
This lecture tries to answer the question how cellists improvised in the Baroque. First it's impo... more This lecture tries to answer the question how cellists improvised in the Baroque. First it's important to investigate what historical improvisation means, as over time the terms composition and improvisation expressed different concepts. Thanks to witness of improvisation on cello and viola da gamba in historical literature and to historical sources for teaching improvisation on the cello, we'll see what a bass melodic instrument can add to the continuo.
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Today in the continuo section usually polyphonic instruments improvise, while melodic basses stri... more Today in the continuo section usually polyphonic instruments improvise, while melodic basses strictly follow the line. Some recently discovered specific Neapolitan partimenti for cello show that partimento, at that time often called also ‘the art of accompaniment’, included also cellists. Indications for improvising on low strings can also be found in other various sources concerning the cello, as well as in repertoire for viola da gamba. This survey will trace a specific way of realising the continuo in a contrapuntal way on the cello, according to the sources.
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Il lavoro si basa principalmente sull’analisi e confronto di alcune composizioni per violoncello ... more Il lavoro si basa principalmente sull’analisi e confronto di alcune composizioni per violoncello di alcuni autori italiani del settecento, in particolare:
• “Lezioni per il violoncello con il suo basso” di Antonio Caldara (manoscritto: Österreische Nationalbibliothek, Musiksammlung, Vienna)
• “Principes ou l’application du violoncelle”di Salvatore Lanzetti (Amsterdam, prima del 1770)
• “Sonate” di Francesco Supriani (manoscritto: Biblioteca del Conservatorio “San Pietro a Majella”, Napoli, MS 9607)
e di come questi materiali possano rappresentare una serie di significativi esempi per la formazione del violoncellista, secondo la tradizione e le metodologie dei partimenti, in una possibile prospettiva di utilizzo per l’approfondimento delle prassi improvvisative nell’esecuzione del basso continuo e, in generale, del repertorio italiano settecentesco per violoncello.
Il lavoro approfondisce la ricerca sul metodo didattico storico alla base delle competenze improvvisative dello strumentista ad arco barocco con funzione di continuo, iniziata con la relazione “Il n’exécute jamais la Basse telle qu’elle est écrite. L’improvvisazione nella didattica del basso d’arco” tenuta al Convegno “Musical Improvisation in the Baroque Era”, Lucca, maggio 2017.
L’ipotesi di una didattica storica analoga a quella del partimento, adattata alle specificità dello strumento ad arco, in particolare al violoncello e alla viola da gamba, era nata da una prima lettura e analisi delle opere di Francesco Supriani, Salvatore Lanzetti e Antonio Caldara.
Ma proprio una successiva e più approfondita osservazione di questi lavori, un loro più puntuale confronto con i contemporanei esercizi della scuola dei partimenti, unitamente ad una serie di riflessioni sulle caratteristiche e sulle funzioni specifiche degli strumenti bassi ad arco autorizzerebbero ad avanzare l’ipotesi che i materiali composti da Caldara, Supriani e Lanzetti possano rientrare nella categoria dei solfeggi o dei partimenti realizzati.
Tale ipotesi pare ulteriormente rafforzata anche sulla base di testimonianze storiche e dagli studi musicologici sulla prassi esecutiva e didattica, ponendo dunque le condizioni per una ri-costruzione di un processo formativo basato su strumenti e metodologie derivate dall’esperienza dei partimenti; esperienza che aveva permesso l’efficace costruzione delle competenze necessarie allo svolgimento della professione del musicista in epoca barocca e che potrebbe dunque facilitare un migliore approccio didattico alle prassi improvvisative nell’esecuzione del basso continuo per i musicisti del secolo XXI.
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Partimenti for keyboard instruments are widely recognized as an essential pedagogical tool to tea... more Partimenti for keyboard instruments are widely recognized as an essential pedagogical tool to teach improvisation and composition. Recent research has brought to light sources that indicate that early cellists also practiced partimenti on their instruments. The partimenti of Rocco Greco (1615-c. 1717), are found in manuscripts from the library of the Naples Conservatory of San Pietro a Majella, and from the Montecassino Abbey (ca. 1699). The manuscripts also contain diminutions on thoroughbasses and antiphons, giving insight on the cello curriculum and expected performance practices for players of the time. Additionally, they show that partimenti were practiced for the purpose of composing cello sonatas, improvising an obbligato part, and realizing an inventive basso continuo. Implementing these skills on the cello or any other melodic instrument has differences from on a keyboard because the instrumentation is limited to partial realizations, and therefore requires its own unique set of techniques for a full harmonic realization. Therefore, we consider these Rocco Greco manuscripts as crucial documents revealing a historical context for the performance practice of basso continuo realizations on the cello. Rediscovering these traditions frees the bowed bass from its limited role of doubling the bass line, allowing modern-day historical performers to realize the continuo and gain fluency in improvising new parts as it was done in the past.
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Giornate di studio dedicate a François Couperin Dipartimento di musica antica Conservatorio di Fr... more Giornate di studio dedicate a François Couperin Dipartimento di musica antica Conservatorio di Frosinone, 22 ottobre 2018. I Pièces per viola da gamba sono tra gli ultimi lavori di Couperin, seguite solo dal IV libro di Pièces per clavicembalo nel 1730 e furono pubblicati l’anno dopo la morte di Marin Marais.
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Draft of the paper. Sidm (Italian Society of Musicology) Conference, October19, Bozen , 2018
The manuscript Sonate per violoncello, kept in the Jean Gray Hargrove Library, University of Berk... more The manuscript Sonate per violoncello, kept in the Jean Gray Hargrove Library, University of Berkeley, includes a complete method for cello, dating back to the eighteenth century. The Sonate include short minuets and gavottes, exercises for solo cello and for two cellos, without explanatory texts, crossing all levels of a systematic teaching path, from the first to the thumb position. Very interesting are some exercises to learn to improvise on the scale, according to the rule of the octave.
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Books by Giovanna Barbati
Antonio Guida Metodo per violoncello/ Cello method, 2021
Il Metodo del violoncellista napoletano Antonio Guida è una delle rare fonti italiane del Settece... more Il Metodo del violoncellista napoletano Antonio Guida è una delle rare fonti italiane del Settecento dedicate alla didattica del violoncello. Attivo fra la fine del XVIII e gli inizi del XIX secolo, Guida fu impiegato al Teatro San Carlo e nella Cappella Palatina, nonché come insegnante di violoncello nei conservatori napoletani. Il suo Metodo appartiene dunque alla prestigiosa tradizione didattica napoletana del Settecento, rappresentata da leggendari virtuosi, quali Alborea, Supriani e Lanzetti. La raccolta si compone di esercizi, brevi brani e duetti, dalla prima posizione fino all’uso del capotasto, intsi a sviluppare le abilità di improvvisazione attraverso l'elaborazione moduli e formule basate su scale, arpeggi e sulla regola dell’ottava.
L'opera di Guida si presenta dunque come l'unico metodo organico di improvvisazione al violoncello finore conosciuto e apre nuove prospettive nello studio di questo strumento./
The Method of the Neapolitan cellist Antonio Guida is one of the rare eighteenth-century Italian sources dedicated to the teaching of the cello. Active between the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, Guida was employed at the Teatro San Carlo and in the Cappella Palatina, as well as as a cello teacher in the Neapolitan conservatories. His Method therefore belongs to the prestigious Neapolitan teaching tradition of the eighteenth century, represented by legendary virtuosi, such as Alborea, Supriani and Lanzetti. The collection consists of exercises, short pieces and duets, from the first position to the use of the thumb position, aimed at developing improvisation skills through the development of modules and formulas based on scales, arpeggios and the rule of he octave.
Guida's work therefore presents itself as the only organic method of improvisation on the cello known up to now and opens up new perspectives in the study of this instrument.
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10 Passagagli per violoncello, 2021
Cover of the HH edition,
https://www.editionhh.co.uk/shop/item.aspx?itemid=820
Ten passagagl... more Cover of the HH edition,
https://www.editionhh.co.uk/shop/item.aspx?itemid=820
Ten passagagli for cello from the Montecassino manuscript, Neaples 1699. The only collection of passacaglias expressly aimed for cello, showing an improvisation virtuosic school for cello at the end of the 18th century. Edited by Giovanna Barbati, Guido Olivieri and Chiara Tiboni.
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Teaching Documents by Giovanna Barbati
Preludes and cadenzas are free improvisations that the performer can add in concert to the writte... more Preludes and cadenzas are free improvisations that the performer can add in concert to the written repertoire. In the eighteenth century all performers added both preludes and cadenzas (besides diminutions and all sorts of variations) to the written score. In historical sources it's possible to find a true method to learn to improvise.
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This lecture is about some techniques of diminutions. Its main points are:
- first, how musician... more This lecture is about some techniques of diminutions. Its main points are:
- first, how musicians used diminutions to improvise in the Baroque
-second, it is focused on some recently rediscovered sources for cello, related to teaching improvisation.
-third, all the sources we are going to see include only melodic variations, based on techniques that can display a great virtuosity.
The first important principle is that all music was written thinking to more levels: the basis of the composition was a melodic skeleton, on which one could/ had to add his own embellishments/ variations, according to the personal taste and ability. The process of diminishing a simple line could be repeated more times.The diminution techinques we'll see are taken from the following four sources for cello:
- Rocco Greco’s antiphons (partially included in Partimenti di Rocco Greco), 1699
- Gaetano Francone’s Passagagli 1699
- Francesco Paolo Supriani’s Sonatas, (first half of the 18th century)
- Antonio Guida’s Metodo per violoncello (end of the eighteenth century)
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Uploads
Videos by Giovanna Barbati
The passacaglia is among the easiest and interesting grounds, for these reasons it’s particularly suitable and useful also for beginners. The formation of a virtuoso in Francone’s time was primarily concerned with the acquisition of competence in elaborating instrumental figurations, These ten Passagagli show a true method to learn modules, basic figures and variation techniques, to be able to improvise your own variations.
Conference Presentations by Giovanna Barbati
The use of improvisation in teaching low strings.
Following the rediscovery of the partimento and its teaching method, tanks in particular to the recent works of Sanguinetti and Gjerdingen, it’s now established that teaching jointly instrumental and compositional know-how was the core of a successful teaching method.
This method, based on teaching directly at the keyboard and on the gradual learning of harmonic paths with various surfaces, allowed a quick composition developing a given bass.
The proposal is to take this method as reference and to tailor it to the specific features of strings, in particular cello and viola da gamba. First we consider the improvisational tasks in the early practice and we weigh some historical accounts; then, following the traces found in various historical documents, we suggest a didactic path, whose main feature is a step- by- step improvisational route.
The gradual approach, for both sides: the instrument’s technique and the composition, allows the student to be actively involved from the beginning. In this way learning to improvise is integrated with the acquaintance of the repertoire and with the experience of the baroque musical language, therefore it’s not alien to the learning method.
We believe indeed that with this path one can find a valid way to enrich one’s skills at the low strings and to interpret and perform more accurately baroque music.
Thanks to the professional activity as cello and viola da gamba player and teacher, many different solutions have been tested in concerts and in classroom; a route it’s suggested, that leads students toward improvisation. This, following the definition of Michael Callahan, means a quick process of composition, using memorized patterns from the repertoire, based on preparing schemes and applying diminutions to them.
Papers by Giovanna Barbati
Drafts by Giovanna Barbati
• “Lezioni per il violoncello con il suo basso” di Antonio Caldara (manoscritto: Österreische Nationalbibliothek, Musiksammlung, Vienna)
• “Principes ou l’application du violoncelle”di Salvatore Lanzetti (Amsterdam, prima del 1770)
• “Sonate” di Francesco Supriani (manoscritto: Biblioteca del Conservatorio “San Pietro a Majella”, Napoli, MS 9607)
e di come questi materiali possano rappresentare una serie di significativi esempi per la formazione del violoncellista, secondo la tradizione e le metodologie dei partimenti, in una possibile prospettiva di utilizzo per l’approfondimento delle prassi improvvisative nell’esecuzione del basso continuo e, in generale, del repertorio italiano settecentesco per violoncello.
Il lavoro approfondisce la ricerca sul metodo didattico storico alla base delle competenze improvvisative dello strumentista ad arco barocco con funzione di continuo, iniziata con la relazione “Il n’exécute jamais la Basse telle qu’elle est écrite. L’improvvisazione nella didattica del basso d’arco” tenuta al Convegno “Musical Improvisation in the Baroque Era”, Lucca, maggio 2017.
L’ipotesi di una didattica storica analoga a quella del partimento, adattata alle specificità dello strumento ad arco, in particolare al violoncello e alla viola da gamba, era nata da una prima lettura e analisi delle opere di Francesco Supriani, Salvatore Lanzetti e Antonio Caldara.
Ma proprio una successiva e più approfondita osservazione di questi lavori, un loro più puntuale confronto con i contemporanei esercizi della scuola dei partimenti, unitamente ad una serie di riflessioni sulle caratteristiche e sulle funzioni specifiche degli strumenti bassi ad arco autorizzerebbero ad avanzare l’ipotesi che i materiali composti da Caldara, Supriani e Lanzetti possano rientrare nella categoria dei solfeggi o dei partimenti realizzati.
Tale ipotesi pare ulteriormente rafforzata anche sulla base di testimonianze storiche e dagli studi musicologici sulla prassi esecutiva e didattica, ponendo dunque le condizioni per una ri-costruzione di un processo formativo basato su strumenti e metodologie derivate dall’esperienza dei partimenti; esperienza che aveva permesso l’efficace costruzione delle competenze necessarie allo svolgimento della professione del musicista in epoca barocca e che potrebbe dunque facilitare un migliore approccio didattico alle prassi improvvisative nell’esecuzione del basso continuo per i musicisti del secolo XXI.
Books by Giovanna Barbati
L'opera di Guida si presenta dunque come l'unico metodo organico di improvvisazione al violoncello finore conosciuto e apre nuove prospettive nello studio di questo strumento./
The Method of the Neapolitan cellist Antonio Guida is one of the rare eighteenth-century Italian sources dedicated to the teaching of the cello. Active between the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, Guida was employed at the Teatro San Carlo and in the Cappella Palatina, as well as as a cello teacher in the Neapolitan conservatories. His Method therefore belongs to the prestigious Neapolitan teaching tradition of the eighteenth century, represented by legendary virtuosi, such as Alborea, Supriani and Lanzetti. The collection consists of exercises, short pieces and duets, from the first position to the use of the thumb position, aimed at developing improvisation skills through the development of modules and formulas based on scales, arpeggios and the rule of he octave.
Guida's work therefore presents itself as the only organic method of improvisation on the cello known up to now and opens up new perspectives in the study of this instrument.
https://www.editionhh.co.uk/shop/item.aspx?itemid=820
Ten passagagli for cello from the Montecassino manuscript, Neaples 1699. The only collection of passacaglias expressly aimed for cello, showing an improvisation virtuosic school for cello at the end of the 18th century. Edited by Giovanna Barbati, Guido Olivieri and Chiara Tiboni.
Teaching Documents by Giovanna Barbati
- first, how musicians used diminutions to improvise in the Baroque
-second, it is focused on some recently rediscovered sources for cello, related to teaching improvisation.
-third, all the sources we are going to see include only melodic variations, based on techniques that can display a great virtuosity.
The first important principle is that all music was written thinking to more levels: the basis of the composition was a melodic skeleton, on which one could/ had to add his own embellishments/ variations, according to the personal taste and ability. The process of diminishing a simple line could be repeated more times.The diminution techinques we'll see are taken from the following four sources for cello:
- Rocco Greco’s antiphons (partially included in Partimenti di Rocco Greco), 1699
- Gaetano Francone’s Passagagli 1699
- Francesco Paolo Supriani’s Sonatas, (first half of the 18th century)
- Antonio Guida’s Metodo per violoncello (end of the eighteenth century)
The passacaglia is among the easiest and interesting grounds, for these reasons it’s particularly suitable and useful also for beginners. The formation of a virtuoso in Francone’s time was primarily concerned with the acquisition of competence in elaborating instrumental figurations, These ten Passagagli show a true method to learn modules, basic figures and variation techniques, to be able to improvise your own variations.
The use of improvisation in teaching low strings.
Following the rediscovery of the partimento and its teaching method, tanks in particular to the recent works of Sanguinetti and Gjerdingen, it’s now established that teaching jointly instrumental and compositional know-how was the core of a successful teaching method.
This method, based on teaching directly at the keyboard and on the gradual learning of harmonic paths with various surfaces, allowed a quick composition developing a given bass.
The proposal is to take this method as reference and to tailor it to the specific features of strings, in particular cello and viola da gamba. First we consider the improvisational tasks in the early practice and we weigh some historical accounts; then, following the traces found in various historical documents, we suggest a didactic path, whose main feature is a step- by- step improvisational route.
The gradual approach, for both sides: the instrument’s technique and the composition, allows the student to be actively involved from the beginning. In this way learning to improvise is integrated with the acquaintance of the repertoire and with the experience of the baroque musical language, therefore it’s not alien to the learning method.
We believe indeed that with this path one can find a valid way to enrich one’s skills at the low strings and to interpret and perform more accurately baroque music.
Thanks to the professional activity as cello and viola da gamba player and teacher, many different solutions have been tested in concerts and in classroom; a route it’s suggested, that leads students toward improvisation. This, following the definition of Michael Callahan, means a quick process of composition, using memorized patterns from the repertoire, based on preparing schemes and applying diminutions to them.
• “Lezioni per il violoncello con il suo basso” di Antonio Caldara (manoscritto: Österreische Nationalbibliothek, Musiksammlung, Vienna)
• “Principes ou l’application du violoncelle”di Salvatore Lanzetti (Amsterdam, prima del 1770)
• “Sonate” di Francesco Supriani (manoscritto: Biblioteca del Conservatorio “San Pietro a Majella”, Napoli, MS 9607)
e di come questi materiali possano rappresentare una serie di significativi esempi per la formazione del violoncellista, secondo la tradizione e le metodologie dei partimenti, in una possibile prospettiva di utilizzo per l’approfondimento delle prassi improvvisative nell’esecuzione del basso continuo e, in generale, del repertorio italiano settecentesco per violoncello.
Il lavoro approfondisce la ricerca sul metodo didattico storico alla base delle competenze improvvisative dello strumentista ad arco barocco con funzione di continuo, iniziata con la relazione “Il n’exécute jamais la Basse telle qu’elle est écrite. L’improvvisazione nella didattica del basso d’arco” tenuta al Convegno “Musical Improvisation in the Baroque Era”, Lucca, maggio 2017.
L’ipotesi di una didattica storica analoga a quella del partimento, adattata alle specificità dello strumento ad arco, in particolare al violoncello e alla viola da gamba, era nata da una prima lettura e analisi delle opere di Francesco Supriani, Salvatore Lanzetti e Antonio Caldara.
Ma proprio una successiva e più approfondita osservazione di questi lavori, un loro più puntuale confronto con i contemporanei esercizi della scuola dei partimenti, unitamente ad una serie di riflessioni sulle caratteristiche e sulle funzioni specifiche degli strumenti bassi ad arco autorizzerebbero ad avanzare l’ipotesi che i materiali composti da Caldara, Supriani e Lanzetti possano rientrare nella categoria dei solfeggi o dei partimenti realizzati.
Tale ipotesi pare ulteriormente rafforzata anche sulla base di testimonianze storiche e dagli studi musicologici sulla prassi esecutiva e didattica, ponendo dunque le condizioni per una ri-costruzione di un processo formativo basato su strumenti e metodologie derivate dall’esperienza dei partimenti; esperienza che aveva permesso l’efficace costruzione delle competenze necessarie allo svolgimento della professione del musicista in epoca barocca e che potrebbe dunque facilitare un migliore approccio didattico alle prassi improvvisative nell’esecuzione del basso continuo per i musicisti del secolo XXI.
L'opera di Guida si presenta dunque come l'unico metodo organico di improvvisazione al violoncello finore conosciuto e apre nuove prospettive nello studio di questo strumento./
The Method of the Neapolitan cellist Antonio Guida is one of the rare eighteenth-century Italian sources dedicated to the teaching of the cello. Active between the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, Guida was employed at the Teatro San Carlo and in the Cappella Palatina, as well as as a cello teacher in the Neapolitan conservatories. His Method therefore belongs to the prestigious Neapolitan teaching tradition of the eighteenth century, represented by legendary virtuosi, such as Alborea, Supriani and Lanzetti. The collection consists of exercises, short pieces and duets, from the first position to the use of the thumb position, aimed at developing improvisation skills through the development of modules and formulas based on scales, arpeggios and the rule of he octave.
Guida's work therefore presents itself as the only organic method of improvisation on the cello known up to now and opens up new perspectives in the study of this instrument.
https://www.editionhh.co.uk/shop/item.aspx?itemid=820
Ten passagagli for cello from the Montecassino manuscript, Neaples 1699. The only collection of passacaglias expressly aimed for cello, showing an improvisation virtuosic school for cello at the end of the 18th century. Edited by Giovanna Barbati, Guido Olivieri and Chiara Tiboni.
- first, how musicians used diminutions to improvise in the Baroque
-second, it is focused on some recently rediscovered sources for cello, related to teaching improvisation.
-third, all the sources we are going to see include only melodic variations, based on techniques that can display a great virtuosity.
The first important principle is that all music was written thinking to more levels: the basis of the composition was a melodic skeleton, on which one could/ had to add his own embellishments/ variations, according to the personal taste and ability. The process of diminishing a simple line could be repeated more times.The diminution techinques we'll see are taken from the following four sources for cello:
- Rocco Greco’s antiphons (partially included in Partimenti di Rocco Greco), 1699
- Gaetano Francone’s Passagagli 1699
- Francesco Paolo Supriani’s Sonatas, (first half of the 18th century)
- Antonio Guida’s Metodo per violoncello (end of the eighteenth century)