The viola da gamba has long been considered an instrument that “went extinct” and had to be resurrected by the early music revival in the 20th century, but that narrative has been neatly disrupted by the last decade of scholarship. Peter Holman has documented a continuous thread of interest in the viol that connects the great viol traditions of the early 18th century through the 19th century into our own time, and Michael O’Loghlin has brought our attention to an often- overlooked hotbed of viol playing at the court of Frederick the Great. Tonight's presentation will take O’Loghlin’s work as a starting point, examining the favorable conditions the viol experienced in Berlin and expanding the view to include the court of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. In these locations, players and composers were bringing the viol out of the “high baroque” and into the Classical era, incorporating the viol into music that was stylistically up to date with that of more well known late-18th century composers like Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach, Franz Joseph Haydn, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This lecture recital will provide an introduction to the position of the viol in the late-18th century, with a focus on the music and issues of performance practice as they relate to the use of the instrument in this repertoire.


Guillermo Sala Suárez

Events

Past events

Apr 4, 2023

Graduate Lecture-Recital: Jane Leggiero, viola da gamba, "After the Golden Age: The Viola da Gamba in Germany in the Late 18th Century" · Case Western Reserve University Department of Music

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