The Twelve Italian Canzonets of Henry Holcombe (1690-1756)
Musical Newtworks Across Borders: The Multiplicity of Musical Creation., 2025
Henry Holcombe started life as a chorister at Chester cathedral, spent two years as a member of t... more Henry Holcombe started life as a chorister at Chester cathedral, spent two years as a member of the company of musicians attached to the Drury Lane Theatre in London and after a few years as a freelance tenor settled down to a fairly uneventful existence as a teacher of singing and harpsichord to some of London’s wealthiest citizens. Through this activity he himself acquired wealth and adopted the lifestyle of a gentleman.
From c.1720 onwards he avoided appearing in public as a singer but in compensation began to compose: initially only independent solo songs (some of which became extraordinarily popular), but later four substantial collections. These comprised a set of sonatas for violin in 1745, two collections of English songs in 1748 and 1755 and one collection consisting mainly of twelve Italian canzonettas in 1753. Holcombe was well known for his admiration of Italian music and good knowledge of Italian, so these unpretentious works, the first published examples of their kind by an English composer, were no surprise. They foreshadow the growing dominance of this genre over the chamber cantata in the second half of the eighteenth century.
Holcombe’s Italian canzonettas deviate from the mainstream of canzonetta composition by drawing their texts not from the usual repertoire of lyric poetry but from the dramatic poetry of operas. He clearly possessed a large number of published opera librettos that lay conveniently to hand. Most of his settings adopt the binary form and syllabic manner of word-setting usual for the genre. They are skilfully written, pleasantly varied and utterly charming.
Most of Holcombe’s canzonettas and English songs are performable successfully by voice and keyboard alone, although, notably in their “symphonies” (instrumental ritornellos), reinforcement by violin or flute in the treble and/or cello in the bass is an ever-present option. The article pleads for the revival by professional performers of self-accompanied singing, which is doubly recommendable on the grounds of historical authenticity and the uniquely intimate aura it possesses.
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From c.1720 onwards he avoided appearing in public as a singer but in compensation began to compose: initially only independent solo songs (some of which became extraordinarily popular), but later four substantial collections. These comprised a set of sonatas for violin in 1745, two collections of English songs in 1748 and 1755 and one collection consisting mainly of twelve Italian canzonettas in 1753. Holcombe was well known for his admiration of Italian music and good knowledge of Italian, so these unpretentious works, the first published examples of their kind by an English composer, were no surprise. They foreshadow the growing dominance of this genre over the chamber cantata in the second half of the eighteenth century.
Holcombe’s Italian canzonettas deviate from the mainstream of canzonetta composition by drawing their texts not from the usual repertoire of lyric poetry but from the dramatic poetry of operas. He clearly possessed a large number of published opera librettos that lay conveniently to hand. Most of his settings adopt the binary form and syllabic manner of word-setting usual for the genre. They are skilfully written, pleasantly varied and utterly charming.
Most of Holcombe’s canzonettas and English songs are performable successfully by voice and keyboard alone, although, notably in their “symphonies” (instrumental ritornellos), reinforcement by violin or flute in the treble and/or cello in the bass is an ever-present option. The article pleads for the revival by professional performers of self-accompanied singing, which is doubly recommendable on the grounds of historical authenticity and the uniquely intimate aura it possesses.
Valentini’s motivation for the confection of this oboe concerto is almost certainly linked to his patron Michelangelo Caetani, prince of Caserta, who was an enthusiastic amateur oboist. The dedicatee of the composer’s Op. 10 was none other than Caetani, and it is easy to imagine how Valentini may have thought to combine a reminder of Caetani’s approval of the two concertos in this collection with the provision of a new concerto where, in private music-making, the prince could take the not very demanding solo part and at the same time hear music that he had previously enjoyed in a very different guise.
The bulk of the article is taken up with an analytical description of the oboe concerto that includes tables and music examples. As well as discussing what is specific to the newly identified concerto, it aims to shed light more generally on Valentini’s compositional methods and examine its position within his fairly large oeuvre. A comparison is made with his two oboe concertos previously known (both included in the Jeanne Roger concerto anthology ‘Concerti a cinque’ of 1717). The conclusion is that this new concerto constitutes a very pleasant addition to the repertoire of the baroque concerto for solo oboe: one particularly valuable for its sympathetic and not overly challenging treatment of the wind instrument and its suitability for a small ensemble.
Michael Talbot
Taking as its main points of reference the “Manchester” violin sonatas of Vivaldi (c. 1726) and the Trattenimenti armonici per camera, Op. 6 (c. 1712), of Albinoni, the paper argues that the highly variable nature of movements bearing a given dance title in the Italian sonata of the late Baroque cannot be fully explained by the traditional reference to their “stylization” or “idealization”. The adoption of binary form also by abstract movements during the seventeenth century, a trend that gathered momentum after 1700, created a borderland in which the composer had a degree of choice in deciding whether to use, or not to use, dance titles. The “Manchester” sonatas employ dance titles even in cases where the title has clearly been added post factum. The Trattenimenti armonici, in contrast, do not use them even when a clear dance character is present.
To explain this apparently contradictory situation, the concept of “stylised” dances needs to be complemented by another concept: that of using dance titles as “paratexts” (a term coined by the French literary theorist Gérard Genette). A paratext is a description external to the text proper that aims to guide the reception of the piece by the consumer (which in music embraces both the executant and the listener). Because of the association of the “standard” dances (allemanda, corrente, sarabanda, giga, gavotta) with the courtly lifestyle, the inclination among composers was to retain or invent dance titles for music destined for a courtly milieu. Conversely, for music aimed at a bourgeois market or intended for possible performance in church, dance titles were less appropriate.
The paper ends with the reflection that Genette’s concept of the paratext, which has an obvious connection to Jeffrey Kallberg’s idea of the “generic contract”, has wide relevance to the study of music.
VIVALDI, ORLANDINI AND A MANUSCRIPT IN SKARA
Summary
The municipal library, called Stifts- och Landsbiblioteket, in the small Swedish town of Skara holds a large collection of ‘loose’ arias from the eighteenth century grouped under the generic shelfmark “494”. These were collected by Swedish visitors to Italy as souvenirs of their travels and in some instances for practical use back home. One such item, occupying a single gathering of four folios, is no. 494:62, which contains two arias for tenor: (1) the aria “Cada pur sul capo audace”, attributed in the manuscript correctly to Vivaldi and copied in the hand of Scribe 2 (in Paul Everett’s classification); (2) an anonymous aria (copied in short score by a different hand), “Fu del re comando allora”, which turns out to be by Giuseppe Maria Orlandini and is listed in the Ryom catalogue as RV Anh. 59:14. This pair of arias was probably purchased in Venice during the carnival season of 1718. “Cada pur” belongs to Artabano, re de’ Parti (RV 706-B), “Fu del re” to Orlandini’s Antigona.
The article discusses the music of both arias in the context of their parent works, correcting certain misconceptions that have arisen about the respective productions. Vivaldi’s aria is categorized as not merely an aria all’unisono but also (largely by virtue of that feature) a ‘variable-register’ aria capable of being sung without transposition of the instrumental accompaniment by singers belonging to different voice types. This flexibility was evidently one of the reasons behind its frequent recycling. For Orlandini’s aria, the discussion centres on that composer’s musical language. The special role of short scores (often with their instrumental ritornellos excised) in the extension of operatic music to the private, domestic sphere is acknowledged, and to some extent justified. Finally, the article provides new information on Orlandini’s librettist, Benedetto Pasqualigo (1673-1743) and his drama Antigona .
The complete volume of Studi vivaldiani, 19 (2019), where this article is published on pp. 51-64, is downloadable from <https://www.cini.it/pubblicazioni/studi-vivaldiani-19-2019>.
The justification for the attribution of RV 827 to Vivaldi is made primarily on general stylistic grounds, reinforced by a few instances of thematic concordance with actual works by him and certain notational similarities. The opportunity is also taken to introduce the work by analysing its form and evaluating its aesthetic qualities. It appears to date from the early 1730s and to have no connection with the Ospedale della Pietà. As one of the longest and most complex single-movement psalm settings to come from Vivaldi’s pen, it constitutes an interesting and valuable addition to his catalogue. It has very recently been published in the Critical Edition of Vivaldi's works.
There are strong arguments for believing that these trios were sent to Venice by Telemann in 1716-17 for the use of the elite group of Dresden musicians serving the visiting electoral prince. During much of 1717 the group’s violinist, Johann Pisendel, was absent on a study and music-collecting tour of Italy, so it is possible that Antonio Vivaldi deputized for the absent virtuoso – which would explain G. B. Vivaldi’s involvement as a copyist. Alternatively, G. B. Vivaldi could have executed the task as a favour to Pisendel, a pupil and friend of his father.
The apparent genre designation “concerto” chosen for these trios by Telemann raises the possibility of a musical connection to Vivaldi’s concertos without orchestra, the historical connection of which with the visit of the Saxons is generally recognized. However, Telemann’s choice of this title appears rather capricious and unrelated to any concerto-like features, whereas Vivaldi’s chamber concertos are genuine translations of the concerto idiom into a new medium. Although Telemann’s titles may have stimulated Vivaldi’s imagination, the musical character of his pieces seems to have left no mark on his Venetian colleague.
Finally, the relationship of Vivaldi’s chamber concertos to the so-called quadri of Telemann and other Germans is re-examined. It appears that during the 1710s Telemann and Vivaldi moved along parallel but non-convergent tracks in their creation of music for ‘mixed’ instrumental chamber ensembles: despite some surface similarities, the two genres did not influence one another in any direct way.
The full article (Studi vivaldiani, 15 (2015), pp. 55-72) can be downloaded from the page <www.cini.it/publications/studi-vivaldiani-15-2015>.