570551bk Weiss US 15/2/08 16:34 Page 4

manuscript was originally brought to Russia by

Bielogradsky in 1739, it is interesting to see how, in
rather than dance-titles is not unusual in later sources of
lute music. It is a sad movement, largely built on a Silvius Leopold
WEISS
Sonata No. 94 in G minor, one of the Moscow ‘partitas’ sequence of chromatic descents, delicately embellished
attributed to ‘Signor Veiss’, the composer seems with triplet figuration. The Courante, the humorous
consciously to be experimenting in a style more like that Paisane and the closing Gigue are rather more typical of
of the following generation. The movements are not Weiss’s middle-period music, while the Polonaise gives
long – in fact rather modest in length by Weiss’s us a rare authentic Weiss example of the Germanised
standards – yet this is clearly not an early work. The use
of triplets and certain harmonies remind one of the ‘pre-
classical’ style, perhaps above all, that of Johann Adolf
version of the stately Polish dance that is said to have
become popular throughout Europe following the
unification in 1697 of the Polish Crown with the Saxon
Lute Sonatas, Volume 9
Hasse, whose appointment as Dresden’s Kapellmeister
in 1730 had a profound effect there. Weiss and
Electorship in the person of August the Strong, Weiss’s
first employer at Dresden. Nos. 32, 52 and 94
Bielogradsky worked closely in the opera house for
several years with Hasse and his wife, the great soprano
Faustina Bordoni; in 1741 the glittering couple acted as
baptismal sponsors for Weiss’s son, Johann Adolf
© Tim Crawford
Robert Barto
1
Faustinus Weiss. D. Smith, T. Crawford, D. Kirsch, eds, Silvius
The opening Andante is an allemande in all but Leopold Weiss, Sämtliche Werke für Laute (Frankfurt:
name; such a change to generalised tempo indications Peters, and Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1983- )

Robert Barto
Robert Barto graduated from the University of
California, San Diego, having specialised in historical
lute performance. A Fulbright scholarship brought him
to Europe, where he continued his studies with
Michael Schaeffer in Cologne and Eugen Dombois in
Basle. In 1984 he was awarded first prize in the
International Lute Competition in Toronto, as well as
top prize of all instrumental soloists in the Musica
Antiqua Competition in Bruges, Belgium. Robert
Barto has performed throughout Europe and North
America including solo recitals in the Festival of
Flanders, the Utrecht Festival, ‘Music Before 1800’ in
New York City, as well as London’s Purcell Room.
Also in demand as a teacher, he is oftern on the faculty
of the Lute society of America summer school and has
given courses in Sweden, Italy and Spain. Recent tours
have included concerts and a masterclass in Tokyo.

8.570551 4
570551bk Weiss US 15/2/08 16:34 Page 2

Sylvius Leopold Weiss (1687–1750) structures such as fugues in his extempore works, where Weiss fully exploits the technical
Lute Sonatas, Volume 9 performances. possibilities of the newer instrument; one could perform
Among Weiss’s many movements in this sonata on the earlier eleven-course lute without
The compositional output of the most famous experiments in the latest modern musical style. improvisational style are many preludes as well as a doing much damage to the music. Furthermore, the
eighteenth-century lute-player, Silvius Leopold Weiss Sonata No. 52 in C minor is one of the fifteen or so good number of fantasias. Several contain fugal sections movements are shorter than we usually find in later
was amazing. As the task of transcribing and editing his large-scale sonatas that Weiss scholars generally agree in which the impression is sometimes given that the works. We can thus tentatively suggest a date of around
complete works1 now enters its final phases, with the represent the composer’s full maturity. These ‘late’ music is in more contrapuntal voices than it actually is – 1720-25 for this sonata. The stately opening Allemande
two great manuscript collections in London and Dresden sonatas cannot be precisely dated, but must come mostly a good example of the ‘tricks of the trade’ that are part is followed by a flowing Courante in which Weiss
now published, it has become clear that as well as 109 from the 1740s. Like J. S. Bach’s music of the same of good idiomatic writing for an instrument like the lute. presents idea after idea in more-or-less continuous
sonatas (averaging six movements each) and a further period, they cannot be said to be ‘modern’ in style, but This is sometimes done by Weiss in more formal succession. After the energetic Bourrée comes a typical
ninety separate pieces which will appear in the edition, they are true master-works, wedding technical assurance settings, such as in the Ouverture that opens the C minor Weiss Sarabande in which he shows his gift for
we can account for roughly another 25 sonatas and forty with expressive power in a manner that shows us why Sonata. This is in standard French-overture form in three cantabile melody enhanced by tasteful embellishment.
ensemble works which once existed but are now lost, these two men were so famous in their age. For, while it sections: an imposing Largo is followed by a fugal As well as the graceful Menuet of the early version,
bringing the total number of separate sonata-movements is unquestionably Bach’s reputation that has survived Allegro, and the movement is concluded by a return to Weiss introduces a second Menuet in contrasting style
or pieces he composed to well over one thousand. When through the medium of his wonderful body of the opening mood, here marked Vivace. The central for this revision, and a lively Gigue in 9/8 rhythm
we remember that these movements are usually not compositions of every kind, in the eighteenth century he episode is a masterful example of quasi-counterpoint, in replaces the more conventional original one in 6/8.
much shorter than each of the 556 famous keyboard was famous above all not as a composer but as which Weiss gives the impression of a fugue without Apart from the 391 movements in the large
sonatas of his contemporary and one-time colleague Germany’s finest organist. Silvius Weiss held a similar using any more than three voices at most; for most of the manuscript collections in London and Dresden that are
Domenico Scarlatti, this figure becomes all the more reputation as a performer, but on an instrument that soon time he only uses two. The Courante shows Weiss dedicated to his compositions, Weiss’s music is mostly
remarkable. Unlike Scarlatti’s sonatas, Weiss’s multi- after his death was all but forgotten until modern times. extending the normal limits of the conventional dance scattered among sources which are more miscellaneous
movement solo works share the formal framework of the Above all through the efforts of today’s lute-players, form; the movement has no fewer than 94 measures, in nature. One manuscript, now in the Glinka Museum
seventeenth-century baroque suite or partita, with an Weiss’s music for the instrument is beginning to be twice the length of those by Bach or Handel. The in Moscow, is especially unusual, however, in that it was
optional opening prelude, fantasia or overture followed recognised as worthy to stand alongside his more opening passage of the Bourrée makes use of the copied in Russia a decade and a half after the
by a roughly standard succession of dance movements: famous contemporary’s instrumental works, even lutenistic special effect known as ‘campanella’, in composer’s death; it remains the only surviving Russian
an allemande (usually omitted after an overture), a though relatively few of his sonatas have appeared in which open and stopped strings alternate rapidly to give manuscript of lute music. While we cannot be
courante, a sarabande, a bourrée or gavotte, always a print. One thing that comes across powerfully is that this a bell-like sound. Instead of the more usual sarabande, completely certain about it, there seems every reason to
minuet and a closing fast movement, most commonly a is music that begs to be performed and enjoyed Weiss substitutes a gentle Siciliana in E flat, which is suppose some direct connection with a distinguished
gigue. Because they were not published in Weiss’s intimately, rather than just studied on the page – in this followed by a Menuet in the home key. The Presto is an pupil of Weiss, the Ukrainian musician, Timofei
lifetime, with very few exceptions it is hard – often respect it has benefited enormously from recordings. In example of one of Weiss’s favourite types of finale, Bielogradsky, who was sent to Dresden in 1733 to study
impossible – to date his sonatas with any degree of almost every piece there is some point at which Weiss owing much to the style of the concerto, a genre in with him; on his return to Moscow six years later,
certainty. This is certainly true of the three recorded springs some sort of surprise on the attentive listener, which he also excelled. Bielogradsky was appointed lutenist to the Russian
here; we are forced to rely on judgements of their whether it be an unexpected quirk of melody, a sudden Three copies survive of the Sonata No. 32 in F Imperial court, where he remained in continuous
musical style, with only the rarest shred of external asymmetry of phrasing or a disconcerting twist in the major, representing two distinct versions; that from the employment until he retired on a state pension in 1767.
evidence in support. The C minor Sonata, number 52 in harmony. To be sure, these moments of ‘fantasy’, Dresden manuscript is played here. As with many of In spite of a title-page which implies that the whole
the complete works, shows all the signs of being a late upsetting what we think of as the conventions of those that come down to us in multiple copies, there is contents comprised music by Weiss, it is clear on close
work, such as greatly extended movements with an eighteenth-century taste, are often quite subtle and evidence that Weiss made minor revisions to this sonata, examination that, apart from a few otherwise unknown
adventurous use of chromaticism and modulation within fleeting, but they are always deftly handled, and convey probably when giving copies to pupils; sometimes, as in pieces which are explicitly ascribed to him, much of the
the restrictions of the dance-forms; the F major, number the sense of a performer with a strongly individual style. this case, he added or substituted entire movements. music is by others – possibly including Bielogradsky
32, seems to be more representative of Weiss’s first And by ‘performer’, of course, we also mean While it requires the extra low notes characteristic of the himself, of course, although we have no documentary
mature ‘middle’ period, while the the G minor sonata, ‘improviser’: like Bach, Weiss had legendary powers in enlarged, thirteen-course lute introduced around 1717, evidence that he composed at all. Assuming, on the
number 94, possibly from the mid-1730s, shows signs of improvising at length, even producing complex these are not handled with the fluency we find in the late balance of probabilities, that the music in the Moscow
8.570551 2 3 8.570551
570551bk Weiss US 15/2/08 16:34 Page 2

Sylvius Leopold Weiss (1687–1750) structures such as fugues in his extempore works, where Weiss fully exploits the technical
Lute Sonatas, Volume 9 performances. possibilities of the newer instrument; one could perform
Among Weiss’s many movements in this sonata on the earlier eleven-course lute without
The compositional output of the most famous experiments in the latest modern musical style. improvisational style are many preludes as well as a doing much damage to the music. Furthermore, the
eighteenth-century lute-player, Silvius Leopold Weiss Sonata No. 52 in C minor is one of the fifteen or so good number of fantasias. Several contain fugal sections movements are shorter than we usually find in later
was amazing. As the task of transcribing and editing his large-scale sonatas that Weiss scholars generally agree in which the impression is sometimes given that the works. We can thus tentatively suggest a date of around
complete works1 now enters its final phases, with the represent the composer’s full maturity. These ‘late’ music is in more contrapuntal voices than it actually is – 1720-25 for this sonata. The stately opening Allemande
two great manuscript collections in London and Dresden sonatas cannot be precisely dated, but must come mostly a good example of the ‘tricks of the trade’ that are part is followed by a flowing Courante in which Weiss
now published, it has become clear that as well as 109 from the 1740s. Like J. S. Bach’s music of the same of good idiomatic writing for an instrument like the lute. presents idea after idea in more-or-less continuous
sonatas (averaging six movements each) and a further period, they cannot be said to be ‘modern’ in style, but This is sometimes done by Weiss in more formal succession. After the energetic Bourrée comes a typical
ninety separate pieces which will appear in the edition, they are true master-works, wedding technical assurance settings, such as in the Ouverture that opens the C minor Weiss Sarabande in which he shows his gift for
we can account for roughly another 25 sonatas and forty with expressive power in a manner that shows us why Sonata. This is in standard French-overture form in three cantabile melody enhanced by tasteful embellishment.
ensemble works which once existed but are now lost, these two men were so famous in their age. For, while it sections: an imposing Largo is followed by a fugal As well as the graceful Menuet of the early version,
bringing the total number of separate sonata-movements is unquestionably Bach’s reputation that has survived Allegro, and the movement is concluded by a return to Weiss introduces a second Menuet in contrasting style
or pieces he composed to well over one thousand. When through the medium of his wonderful body of the opening mood, here marked Vivace. The central for this revision, and a lively Gigue in 9/8 rhythm
we remember that these movements are usually not compositions of every kind, in the eighteenth century he episode is a masterful example of quasi-counterpoint, in replaces the more conventional original one in 6/8.
much shorter than each of the 556 famous keyboard was famous above all not as a composer but as which Weiss gives the impression of a fugue without Apart from the 391 movements in the large
sonatas of his contemporary and one-time colleague Germany’s finest organist. Silvius Weiss held a similar using any more than three voices at most; for most of the manuscript collections in London and Dresden that are
Domenico Scarlatti, this figure becomes all the more reputation as a performer, but on an instrument that soon time he only uses two. The Courante shows Weiss dedicated to his compositions, Weiss’s music is mostly
remarkable. Unlike Scarlatti’s sonatas, Weiss’s multi- after his death was all but forgotten until modern times. extending the normal limits of the conventional dance scattered among sources which are more miscellaneous
movement solo works share the formal framework of the Above all through the efforts of today’s lute-players, form; the movement has no fewer than 94 measures, in nature. One manuscript, now in the Glinka Museum
seventeenth-century baroque suite or partita, with an Weiss’s music for the instrument is beginning to be twice the length of those by Bach or Handel. The in Moscow, is especially unusual, however, in that it was
optional opening prelude, fantasia or overture followed recognised as worthy to stand alongside his more opening passage of the Bourrée makes use of the copied in Russia a decade and a half after the
by a roughly standard succession of dance movements: famous contemporary’s instrumental works, even lutenistic special effect known as ‘campanella’, in composer’s death; it remains the only surviving Russian
an allemande (usually omitted after an overture), a though relatively few of his sonatas have appeared in which open and stopped strings alternate rapidly to give manuscript of lute music. While we cannot be
courante, a sarabande, a bourrée or gavotte, always a print. One thing that comes across powerfully is that this a bell-like sound. Instead of the more usual sarabande, completely certain about it, there seems every reason to
minuet and a closing fast movement, most commonly a is music that begs to be performed and enjoyed Weiss substitutes a gentle Siciliana in E flat, which is suppose some direct connection with a distinguished
gigue. Because they were not published in Weiss’s intimately, rather than just studied on the page – in this followed by a Menuet in the home key. The Presto is an pupil of Weiss, the Ukrainian musician, Timofei
lifetime, with very few exceptions it is hard – often respect it has benefited enormously from recordings. In example of one of Weiss’s favourite types of finale, Bielogradsky, who was sent to Dresden in 1733 to study
impossible – to date his sonatas with any degree of almost every piece there is some point at which Weiss owing much to the style of the concerto, a genre in with him; on his return to Moscow six years later,
certainty. This is certainly true of the three recorded springs some sort of surprise on the attentive listener, which he also excelled. Bielogradsky was appointed lutenist to the Russian
here; we are forced to rely on judgements of their whether it be an unexpected quirk of melody, a sudden Three copies survive of the Sonata No. 32 in F Imperial court, where he remained in continuous
musical style, with only the rarest shred of external asymmetry of phrasing or a disconcerting twist in the major, representing two distinct versions; that from the employment until he retired on a state pension in 1767.
evidence in support. The C minor Sonata, number 52 in harmony. To be sure, these moments of ‘fantasy’, Dresden manuscript is played here. As with many of In spite of a title-page which implies that the whole
the complete works, shows all the signs of being a late upsetting what we think of as the conventions of those that come down to us in multiple copies, there is contents comprised music by Weiss, it is clear on close
work, such as greatly extended movements with an eighteenth-century taste, are often quite subtle and evidence that Weiss made minor revisions to this sonata, examination that, apart from a few otherwise unknown
adventurous use of chromaticism and modulation within fleeting, but they are always deftly handled, and convey probably when giving copies to pupils; sometimes, as in pieces which are explicitly ascribed to him, much of the
the restrictions of the dance-forms; the F major, number the sense of a performer with a strongly individual style. this case, he added or substituted entire movements. music is by others – possibly including Bielogradsky
32, seems to be more representative of Weiss’s first And by ‘performer’, of course, we also mean While it requires the extra low notes characteristic of the himself, of course, although we have no documentary
mature ‘middle’ period, while the the G minor sonata, ‘improviser’: like Bach, Weiss had legendary powers in enlarged, thirteen-course lute introduced around 1717, evidence that he composed at all. Assuming, on the
number 94, possibly from the mid-1730s, shows signs of improvising at length, even producing complex these are not handled with the fluency we find in the late balance of probabilities, that the music in the Moscow
8.570551 2 3 8.570551
570551bk Weiss US 15/2/08 16:34 Page 4

manuscript was originally brought to Russia by

Bielogradsky in 1739, it is interesting to see how, in
rather than dance-titles is not unusual in later sources of
lute music. It is a sad movement, largely built on a Silvius Leopold
WEISS
Sonata No. 94 in G minor, one of the Moscow ‘partitas’ sequence of chromatic descents, delicately embellished
attributed to ‘Signor Veiss’, the composer seems with triplet figuration. The Courante, the humorous
consciously to be experimenting in a style more like that Paisane and the closing Gigue are rather more typical of
of the following generation. The movements are not Weiss’s middle-period music, while the Polonaise gives
long – in fact rather modest in length by Weiss’s us a rare authentic Weiss example of the Germanised
standards – yet this is clearly not an early work. The use
of triplets and certain harmonies remind one of the ‘pre-
classical’ style, perhaps above all, that of Johann Adolf
version of the stately Polish dance that is said to have
become popular throughout Europe following the
unification in 1697 of the Polish Crown with the Saxon
Lute Sonatas, Volume 9
Hasse, whose appointment as Dresden’s Kapellmeister
in 1730 had a profound effect there. Weiss and
Electorship in the person of August the Strong, Weiss’s
first employer at Dresden. Nos. 32, 52 and 94
Bielogradsky worked closely in the opera house for
several years with Hasse and his wife, the great soprano
Faustina Bordoni; in 1741 the glittering couple acted as
baptismal sponsors for Weiss’s son, Johann Adolf
© Tim Crawford
Robert Barto
1
Faustinus Weiss. D. Smith, T. Crawford, D. Kirsch, eds, Silvius
The opening Andante is an allemande in all but Leopold Weiss, Sämtliche Werke für Laute (Frankfurt:
name; such a change to generalised tempo indications Peters, and Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1983- )

Robert Barto
Robert Barto graduated from the University of
California, San Diego, having specialised in historical
lute performance. A Fulbright scholarship brought him
to Europe, where he continued his studies with
Michael Schaeffer in Cologne and Eugen Dombois in
Basle. In 1984 he was awarded first prize in the
International Lute Competition in Toronto, as well as
top prize of all instrumental soloists in the Musica
Antiqua Competition in Bruges, Belgium. Robert
Barto has performed throughout Europe and North
America including solo recitals in the Festival of
Flanders, the Utrecht Festival, ‘Music Before 1800’ in
New York City, as well as London’s Purcell Room.
Also in demand as a teacher, he is oftern on the faculty
of the Lute society of America summer school and has
given courses in Sweden, Italy and Spain. Recent tours
have included concerts and a masterclass in Tokyo.

8.570551 4
570551rear Weiss US 15/2/08 16:35 Page 1

CMYK
NAXOS

NAXOS
When Sylvius Leopold Weiss died (in 1750, the year of Bach’s death), he was eulogised as
Europe’s greatest lutenist and one of Germany’s most gifted musicians. This series devoted
to his complete lute works continues with the large-scale Sonata No. 52. Thought to be a late
work of the composer’s full maturity, this Sonata is notable for its extended movements and
wide use of adventurous chromaticism and modulation. The Sonata No. 32 makes much use 8.570551
of the extra low notes characteristic of the enlarged thirteen-course lute introduced around
WEISS: Lute Sonatas, Vol. 9

WEISS: Lute Sonatas, Vol. 9

1717. In the Sonata No. 94 Weiss seems consciously to be experimenting in a style more akin DDD
to that of the following generation.
Playing Time
Silvius Leopold 65:29
WEISS
(1687–1750)
Sonata No. 52 in C minor 30:58 0 Sarabande 5:02
1 Ouverture 6:58 ! Menuet I 2:36
2 Courante assai moderato 4:31 @ Menuet II 2:13
3 Bourrée 4:27 # Gigue 2:09
4 Siciliana 5:53 Sonata No. 94 in G minor 12:40
5 Menuet 3:24
6 Presto 5:45 $ Andante 3:09
% Courante 2:09
Sonata No. 32 in F major 21:50 ^ Paisane 1:49

www.naxos.com
Disc Made in Canada • Printed & Assembled in USA
Booklet notes in English
 &  2008 Naxos Rights International Ltd.
7 Allemande 3:46 & Polonaise 3:23
8 Courante 3:29 * Gigue 2:10
9 Bourrée 2:35

Robert Barto, Baroque Lute

Recorded in St Andrew’s Church, Toddington, Gloucestershire, UK, from 10th to 12th April 2007
8.5 7 055 1

8. 5 705 5 1
Producer and Engineer: John Taylor • Booklet Notes: Tim Crawford
Lute made by Andrew Rutherford, New York 2004
Cover Picture: Portrait of a Lute Player (detail) by Antonio Domenico Gabbiani (1652–1726)
(Museo di Strumenti Musicali, Florence, Italy / AKG London)