| Continuo con Salterio |
 |
 |
 |
| Written by Karl-Heinz Schickhaus |
| Thursday, 16 October 2008 20:44 |
|
"Pantaleon Hebenstreit, whom cannot overpraise" – this was how Telemann called his capellmeister in Eisenach – played in 1705 before Louis XIV, who gave the name "Pataleon" to the dulcimer so artistically used by Hebenstreit. Johann Kuhnau, Bach´s predecessor as cantor of St. Thomas, qualifies the "Pantalonische Ceimbal" as a "perfect instrument besides the clavier". "Particularly when one hits a bass key, it souds ... like one held on the organ, and one can play with the greatest enjoyment many passages and resolutions of dissonances before it completely disappears", raves Kuhnau, who goes on to say: "but when one plays chord arpeggios, the great span of the instrument produces so many voices that the lovely rustle of the harmony ... touches the core of one’s being."
None of the 51/2 octave Silbermann Pantaleons of the 1720‘s have survived. The dulcimer of the present recording, made 1692 in Amsterdam by the leading 17th century Dutch violin maker Hendrik Jacobs, with a range from C to e3, is a possible prototype. In 1942 already, H. Fleischer, in his work on Hebenstreit’s pupil Binder suggested that the Pantaleon may have been used as a thorough-bass instrument. Otto Kade’s "Katalog der Musikalien des Grossherzoglich Mecklenburg-Schweriner Fürstenhauses" of 1893 mentions the "Pantaleon, a string instrument similar to the Cimbal (a kind of dulcimer), invented by Hebenstreit in 1689, whose lovely timbre so charmed court capellmeister Fux in Vienna that he was loath to do without it in the orchestra." In 1783 Johann Joseph Klein, in his "Lehrbuch der praktischen Musik", lists the piano and organ as main thorough-bass instruments, with harp, lte, viol and dulcimer as less common alternatives. In Johann Friedrich Daube’s Thorough-ass method of 1756 one reads: "For perfect practical use of thorough-bass one needs three kinds of knowledge: 1. the simple or common 2. the natural or that which comes closest to the character of a particular melody or piece 3. the artistic or composed The excellent Bach possessed the third in the highest degree." This is corroborated by Lorenz Mizler, who writes in the "Neu eröffneten Musikalischen Bibliothek", Leipzi 1739: "He who wants to understand the subtlety of thorough-bass and what good accompagnying means need but strive to hear our capellmeister Bach, who can accompany any Solo with a thorough-bass in such a way that one thinks it is a Concert and that the melody he does with the right hand has been written out beforehand." This, dear listener, is the background for our conception of Baroque thorough-bass playing. Our first choice o music from the thorough-bass period was Antonio Vivaldi. IN 1706 Vivaldi bought for the Conservatorio he directed a Salterio costing 5 ducats 6 Grossi, a price equal to his monthly salary in 1704. "In Venice it was often practised on by the pupils of the Ospedale della Pietà", says Rinaldi in "Il Teatro Musicale di Antonio Vivaldi". In 1724 Vivaldi used the Salterio in his opera "Il Giustino", both melodically and chordially. Salterio playing was already popular in 17th century Italy. In 1649 Giovanni Maria Canario won "particular praise in Rome for his artistic playing on the Psalter", writes Johann Gottfried Walther in his Musical Lexicon of 1732. This remark led to the choice of a Cantata by Carissimi, whose music was particularly appreciated in Rome. Walther’s Lexicon also states: "Salterio tedesco is noting else than a dulcimer". The "German Psalter" was also called Saltero in 18th century Italy, and Dolcemelo int the 17th century. (In England the instrument is still known as a dulcimer today.) Dolcemelo + Flauto dolce – these related words gave us the idea of placing recorder Sonatas as intermezzos between the Cantatas. Karl-Heinz Schickhaus From the CD-Booklet "Continuo con Salterio" |
| Last Updated on Thursday, 16 October 2008 21:12 |