Gaetano Pugnani: Concerto per violino e orchestra A major (1783)
Gaetano Pugnani
born Nov. 27, 1731 in Torino
died July 15, 1798 in Torino
Published
1783 in Paris by the publisher Sieber
CD recording:
2015 Roberto Noferini
Gaetano Pugnani was a violin virtuoso of the 18th century known throughout Europe and belonged to the so-called Piedmont school of violinists. Throughout his life he was a court musician at
the Savoy court in Turin. Already at the age of 12 he played the violin in the court orchestra. After studies with the famous Giovan Battista Somis, he first became leader of the second violins
in the orchestra and then rose during his life to become music director of the court orchestra in 1776. His virtuoso travels took him to most of the European musical centers of the time, most
famously to Paris with his pupil Giovanni Battista Viotti, whom he promoted.
Pugnani cannot be dismissed as a minor master of the 18th century; on the contrary, he has been called an "Italian classic par excellence" by experts. He left behind a diverse oeuvre that
encompassed all genres of composition, including several operas that were very successful at the time, a melodrama based on Goethe ("Werther"), four symphonies in movements, concertos, string
quartets and other chamber music.
Probably because of the political upheavals after his death and the great influence that his student Viotti exerted from Paris on the development of the history of the violin concerto, his
work increasingly faded and was forgotten. It was also forgotten that it was probably Pugnani who had decisively influenced the development of the modern violin bow, not least in order to
effectively show off the sweeping melodies of his violin playing.
His name did not resurface among violinists until Fritz Kreisler, the great violinist of the delicious encores, published the successful Prelude and Allegro under Pugnani's name, thus fooling
the musical world. Even today there are many more recordings of the Kreisler piece in Pugnani's style than there are recordings of the five surviving violin concertos by Pugnani
himself.
The violin concerto in A major selected here seems to be the latest of the surviving Pugnani concertos, and was not published until 1783, probably thanks to the efforts of his pupil Viotti,
with the publisher Sieber in Paris.
Listen here!
Movement 1: Allegro maestoso
Movement 2: Largo
Movement 3: Rondó andantino
Listening Companion:
Allegro maestoso
As in a brief prelude, the orchestra presents its new sound possibilities (with horns and oboes) and tries out quiet melodic elements. But then the strings, carried by the solemn orchestral
sound, set off with their Allegro maestoso theme. And immediately the orchestra takes up enough space to spread its melodies festively wide, propelled by throbbing horn calls.
A finer, second melodious and expansive theme mingles in between. Solemnly, the violin's entrance is prepared.
Then the solo violin takes over the rhythmically accented maestoso theme. It plays lively and freely with the given melodic elements. The maestoso grandeur is thus somewhat put into perspective;
everything becomes a bit more modest, but also more vocal. A brief contemplation leads to the second theme in the violin until it falls in love with witty games again. The accompanying orchestra
remains active and intertwines with the dominant violin, but there is more and more of a dialogic exchange between violin and orchestra, unlike in the Baroque concertos.
An intermediary ritornello of the orchestra briefly stops the violin's playing, after which the violin is allowed to shine again and sing out its bel canto with great freedom. The violin becomes
a self-manifesting individual exposed to multiple moods within its world of the orchestra; a humanistic ideal emerges. And the orchestra, strings and prominently the horns, confirm this free
singing of the violin in a variety of ways.
The recapitulation of the maestoso theme in A major is confidently taken over by the solo violin itself. The secondary theme is dropped. In contrast, the orchestra opens the space for an
extensive cadenza to be improvised spontaneously on the spot, motivated by the new technical possibilities of violin playing. Short conclusion by the orchestra.
Largo
The orchestra twice sets off on an enchanting, upward-striving melody. But then the orchestra leaves this melody to the solo violin, which ornaments it and lets it grow into the distance.
Over soft string sounds, the violin restarts spherically and contemplatively, scaling enchanting heights, only to return and end its first solo section quietly and tenderly. The orchestra
interrupts with a simple interlude. With delicate trills, the solo resumes, singing new melodies and affirming her singing with sonorous double-stop playing.
With another interlude by the orchestra, the space opens for a spherical cadenza (notable in Roberto Noferini's recording the cadenza improvised by himself!). Quiet conclusion. Followed by the
Rondeau...
Rondó Andantino
Instead of the expected French-style rondeau, as Paris-oriented audiences expected at the time, Pugnani brings a variation movement to this A major concerto, though cleverly mixed with rondo
elements. A leisurely marching theme comes in simple but elemental question-and-answer style.
The violin repeats this theme, which is to be varied, melodiously and gives an inkling of what lies in its simplicity. Then follow 5 variations, repeatedly interrupted by the orchestra's
ritornello, creating a unique form of a rondo variation movement.
The variations that now follow differ in character:
1st variation: with rhythmically exciting figurations of the violin.
2nd variation: double-stop variation
3rd variation: subtle transformation of the theme melody
4th variation: the theme transforms into figurations in airy heights.
5th variation: as a coda, so to speak, a rousing moto perpetuo follows and brings this remarkable concerto to a brilliant end, not without once again highlighting the vocal possibilities of the
new violin playing shortly before the end.