Musica Instrumentalis Imperialis – Festive Sonatas from Imperial Vienna
Tubicinatores Gedanenses et Arcus adiuncti/Paweł Hulisz
rec. 2024, Niebo Polskie, Gdańsk, Poland
Reviewed as download
cpo 555 520-2 [80]

Over the course of history, the trumpet always played an important role, but that changed with time. It was originally almost exclusively used as a military instrument. Whereas in the early decades of the 17th century numerous virtuosic pieces were written for wind instruments, such as the cornett, the dulcian and the sackbut, no such music was written for the trumpet. It was only in the second quarter of the century that composers started to compose for it. That had everything to do with the developments in playing technique. A commentator writes: “[As] players began to successfully cultivate the upper clarino register where the harmonics fell closer together, composers increasingly saw an opportunity to employ the instrument’s newly found melodic capabilities within concerted instrumental music.”

During the 17th century, several places in Europe became centres of trumpet playing, and one of them was Vienna. That is where the disc under review brings us. Its title indicates that the trumpet was especially connected to music making at courts, in this case that of the Habsburg emperors. “The court music protocol always stipulated Gala Grande for sacred music on the high church holidays, meaning that the liturgical works performed on such occasions always had to include trumpets and timpani.” In contrast, instrumental works played in everyday worship services were scored just for strings and basso continuo. The programme comprises specimens of both genres. There are differences, too, within the works with parts for trumpets. In the pieces included here, the highest note is C”’, but when the emperor himself was present, music was played in which the trumpet parts could go as high as G”’. They were written by, among others, the Hofkapellmeister Johann Joseph Fux and vice-Kapellmeister Antonio Caldara.

Whether the pieces performed here are connected to the imperial court is hard to say. Only very little material has been found in the Austrian National Library, where most of the music performed at the court is stored. The main source of the music in the programme is the archive of the Schottenstift, a Benedictine Abbey, founded in the 12th century in Vienna as a monastery for the Iroschotten, Irish monks who pursued a mission in Austria. Nearly all the pieces from the pen of František Tůma have been found there. Tůma, of Bohemian origin, acted as Kapellmeister to Count Ferdinand Kinsky, Chancellor of Bohemia, member of one of Vienna’s leading aristocratic families, and Imperial envoy. He gave Tůma the opportunity to study with Johann Joseph Fux, who had a substantial influence on his development as a composer, and made him a skilled contrapuntalist. During his time in Kinsky’s service, he composed at least seven masses for the Schottenstift, which also include four parts for trumpets, and the sonatas cum Tubis et Tympanis were intended as gradual sonatas. In the sonatas the third and fourth trumpet parts are ad libitum, which means that they can be omitted. It would be nice if some of Tůma’s masses would be performed with sonatas like those played here. The Ouverture con clarini may have been intended as processional music. Two pieces by Tůma are for strings. Arne Thielemann, in his liner-notes, assumes that the Parthia à 3 may have been performed as Tafelmusik because of the last two movements: menuet and capriccio. The Sonata à 3 could be another gradual sonata.

Tůma is the best-known composer in the programme. The others are little-known or not known at all. Wenzel Raimund Johann Birck has appeared on previous discs; as his name is spelled in many different ways, it may be difficult to identify his music. He was from Vienna, where his father was employed at the court. In 1736 he became member of the court orchestra, and in 1739 he was appointed court organist; he held this post until his death. His compositional oeuvre includes some keyboard music and a substantial amount of music for instrumental ensemble. Like Tůma, he was influenced by the teachings of Fux.

Joseph Umstatt has also been the subject of recordings. In 2016 Deutsche Harmonia Mundi released a disc with the title “Music at the Habsburg Court”, performed by Andrés Gabetta and the Cappella Gabetta, including two violin concertos by Umstatt. He was from Vienna; his father was painter at the court, but worked from the mid-1720s for the Esterházys near Bratislava. Joseph attended the Jesuit school there, was educated as a keyboard player and worked as Kapellmeister at Brno from 1741 to 1747. In the next years he worked in the same position in Dresden and in Bamberg. The largest part of his compositional output has been lost. His extant oeuvre includes symphonies, solo concertos, chamber music and some sacred music, including eight Kyrie-Gloria masses and three Requiems. He sent the six violin concertos to Vienna, with parts of a gradual sonata, probably the Sonata à 3 in B flat performed here. The Parthia à 4 in D includes two parts for trumpets; Thielemann suggests this was outdoor music, probably intended for the episcopal court in Bamberg.

The other composers in the programme I had never heard of. The earliest is Mathias Öttl, who was born in Bodman, northwest of Konstanz, with the name of Öttlin, which he in Vienna changed to Öttl. He studied theology there, and worked from 1705 to 1717 in the household of Empress Eleonora Magdalena Theresia, the widow of Emperor Leopold I, last as Kapellmeister. He then moved to the Schottenstift, where he sang as a tenor. He also was a member of the court chapel and acted as teacher of the royal children. His Sonata à 4 performed here is his only extant instrumental work and dates from 1723, when it was performed in honour of the abbot of the Schottenstift. It is notable that all four trumpet parts are intended for high clarini.

Of the same generation is Ignaz Prustmann, of whom little is known, even such as when and where he was born. It is known that he was another pupil of Fux and worked as organist at the court of Prince Paul I of Eszterháza. Only two instrumental works of his pen are known, among them the Sonata in C. It is part of the archive of the Schottenstift, which also contains some of his masses. He died in 1723 in the Moravian town of Jarmeritz (today Jaroměřice nad Rokytnou, Czech Republic).

Of the same generation as Tůma is Carl Matthias Reinhardt, who was born in Vienna and worked there all his life. Several members of his family were employed at the imperial court. In some cases pieces cannot be attributed with certainty to one particular member of the family as only the surname of the composer is mentioned. That also goes for the Sonata in C included here. The part of the timpani is missing from the manuscript and has been added by the editor of the printed edition.

The programme ends with what is presented as a bonus track. Johann Valentin Meder worked from 1687 to 1698 in Gdańsk, then called Danzig, and that is where the ensembles Tubicinatores Gedanenses and Arcus adiuncti are established. Here we get a suite from his only extant opera, Die beständige Argenia; three other operas are lost. This suite is arranged by the director of the ensemble Tubicinatores Gedanenses. “There are no brass instruments in the original, but in some pieces, especially in the fourth act, the strings (and sometimes two cornettos) are written in a such as way as to imitate a polyphonic trumpet/tympani ensemble in order to provide a suitable musical accompaniment to military events in the opera.” (booklet)

It brings to a close a highly interesting disc of music of a kind that is seldom heard. That is a shame, but understandable in that these pieces are very much alike, as far as their scoring and structure are concerned. That is no criticism: they were not meant to be listened to in the form of a concert. As mentioned, most of them were intended as gradual sonatas to be played during the liturgy. It is to be hoped that they are going to be used that way when masses are recorded. The quality of these pieces is beyond doubt. I have had the pleasure of reviewing several discs with music by Tůma, and I was impressed by its character and quality, and the sonatas included here confirm my positive impressions. The other pieces are just as good. If I advise the reader not to listen to them at one stretch, that is not because they are not good enough, but because I think it helps to really enjoy them.

The two ensembles are new to me, and I like them. The playing of the trumpets is impressive, and attests to the great improvements made since the early days of historical performance practice in the field of playing natural trumpets, which are among the most difficult to handle. The strings are also doing well, and they are a good match for the trumpets. I hope to hear more from these ensembles in the years to come.

Johan van Veen
www.musica-dei-donum.org
twitter.com/johanvanveen

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Contents
František Ignác Antonín Tůma (1704-1774)
Ouverture con Clarini in C
Sonata cum Tubis et Tympanis No. 1 in C
Parthia à 3 for strings and bc in F minor/major
Wenzel Raimunf Johann Birck (1718-1763)
Sonata con trombe e timpani in C
František Ignác Antonín Tůma
Sonata cum Tubis et Tympanis No. 2 in C
Sonata/Trio à 3 for strings and bc in C minor
Sonata cum Tubis et Tympanis No. 3 in C
Carl Matthias Reinhardt (1711-1767) (attr)
Sonata cum Tubis et Tympanis in C
František Ignác Antonín Tůma
Sonata cum Tubis et Tympana No. 4 in C
Joseph Umstatt (1711-1762)
Sonata à 3 for strings and bc in B flat
Ignaz Prustmann (c1683-1723)
Sonata cum Tubis et Tympanis in C
Joseph Umstatt
Parthia à 4 for 2 trumpets, strings and bc in D
Mathias Öttl (1675-1725)
Sonata à 4 Clarinis concertatis in C
Johann Valentin Meder (1649-1719)
Die beständige Argenia: 
Sinfonia à 5
Sinfonia No. 2
Sonata di battalia
Sinfonia No. 4
(ed. Paweł Hulisz)