Christoph Graupner: Concerto for violin in A major GWV 337
Christoph Graupner
born 23 Jan. 1683 in Kirchberg
died 10 May 1760 in Darmstadt
Completed:
c. 1742
Recordings:
Friedemann Wezel 2007, with the ensemble il capriccio;
Walter Reiter 2010, with the Accademia Daniel
Why choose and recommend this concerto, given all the many Baroque concertos written and handed down for the violin? Answers to this question could be:
Because a simply enchanting second movement stands out, is an ear-catcher, so to speak!
Because the concerto is not directly oriented towards Vivaldi, as many of its time were, but has other unusual idiosyncrasies and traditions.
Because Graupner arouses interest as a composer when one knows that at that time in 1723 he was offered the position of Thomaskantor in Leipzig, and that he was preferred to
Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach was only third choice. Telemann was chosen first, declined, then Christoph Graupner was chosen. His Darmstadt landgrave, however, refused to dismiss him, so Johann
Sebastian Bach was chosen as Thomaskantor. As servants of the court, musicians were at that time the cultural property of the respective regent. Thus Graupner did not write his many very
beautiful cantatas for Leipzig like Bach, but for many years for Hesse-Darmstadt.
Because this is the only solo violin concerto by this otherwise creative composer, he left behind many wind concertos, operas, cantatas, overture suites, sonatas and piano
music.
Listen here!
Listening guide:
I. Allegro
A special feature right at the beginning: a quiet first bar before it starts.... catching attention and also already exposing four ascending three-eighth notes, which will occur again in the
course of the concert.
Then the 12/8ths beat starts briskly and confidently. Unexpectedly, a fermata stop follows.... As if one were being asked to listen with more concentration from now on. And then again with
full commitment into the 12/8th bar! But defiantly comes a next fermata stop. Only then does the first violin seem to feel enough attention, for now it begins its virtuoso figures and sweeps the
orchestra along. Several times, and more and more towards the end of the movement, a motif appears that interrupts the momentum of the music and calms it down. It is the sound motif with the four
three-eighth notes that is exposed at the beginning.
II. Andante
Immediately one listens: a motif of 7 pizzicato notes repeats itself, spreads over the whole string orchestra and thus invites the solo violin to its aria. And really, the violin begins quite simply with two rising semitones in A minor. Only then does it begin to shine with enchanting ornamentation. All this over the repeating pizzicatos of the accompanying instruments. One could listen for a long time to this melody between A minor and C major, but this aria is also simple and modest in its length.
III. Allegro
In lively A major, the pleasure of concertizing comes to a climax in the third movement. It begins like a string tutti in Vivaldi. But Graupner then surprises abruptly and brings back this four-note three-eighths motif, as if it were a precursor to the final motif of Mozart's Jupiter Symphony. But as a listener at a historical distance, the difference also becomes apparent. Graupner invites us to rest rather than to virtuoso polyphony as in Mozart. The concerto remains simple and varied. It is also unusual that the first part of the movement is repeated, as in a baroque sonata; in the second part, the violin solos increase, but without lapsing into wild virtuosity. Graupner is an alternative to the violin concertos in the succession of Vivaldi. Despite similarities to the Italian composers who worked at various courts in Europe, Graupner is bulkier and less focused on the solo violin alone. Abrupt changes of affect and rousing musical momentum combine in lusty concerto playing.