Trumpet, piano
SKU:
BR.MR-2239A
Piano
reduction. Composed
by Giacomo Antonio Perti.
Edited by Mark Latham.
Arranged by Mark Latham.
Solo instruments;
Softcover. Musica Rara.
Symphony; Baroque. Piano
reduction. 8 pages.
Breitkopf and Haertel #MR
2239a. Published by
Breitkopf and Haertel
(BR.MR-2239A).
ISBN
9790004487877. 9 x 12
inches.
There are
two known manuscript
sources for the present
edition of this sinfonia
avanti l'opera. In the
Dean and Chapter Library
of Durham Cathedral it
appears as the twelfth,
and last, piece in a
collection of late
seventeenth-century
Italian instrumental
music. No composer is
given and identification
was only possible
following the discovery,
in 1993, of a concordant
source in the Biblioteca
Estense, Modena, where
the work appears as the
sinfonia to Perti's opera
L'Inganno scoperto per
Vendetta, first performed
in Venice as part of the
1690/1 season.It is
sometimes hard to
ascertain the original
functional purpose behind
many of the trumpet works
written by composers of
the Bolognese school as
it would appear that some
were used as sonate da
chiesa, to celebrate mass
in the basilica of San
Petronio, Bologna, whilst
also serving as operatic
sinfonie. To confuse the
issue further, there are
several instances of
composers 'borrowing'
each other's works: for
example, it has recently
been discovered that the
Torelli trumpet sinfonia
a 4 catalogued as G4 in
Giegling was used as the
overture to Perti's opera
Nerone fatto Cesare
(1693). So far as the
present edition is
concerned, however,
stylistic considerations
would appear to confirm
that the work is indeed
by Perti and that it was
originally conceived as
the overture to L'Inganno
scoperto per Vendetta. A
couple of clues hint at a
secular raison d'etre:
the Durham source is
marked Serenatto
(presumably a corruption
of serenata, a term often
used in lieu of sinfonia)
and the last movement of
the Modena source is
marked Menuet, a term
more often associated
with sonate da camera
than with works of
ecclesiastical
provenance.Both the
Modena and Durham sources
for the present edition
are virtually
note-perfect and
occasional inaccuracies
were easily corrected by
comparing the sources
with each other and with
the part-books in Durham.
Whilst the Modena source
lacks the second violin
part in the outer
movements it contains
fuller dynamic markings
and tempi indications
than the Durham source
and these have been
followed in the present
edition with no editorial
additions. Notation has
been modernised and, in
the piano reduction
edition, right-hand
arpeggio-figurations
rendered more pianistic.
Parts are provided for
trumpet in D and B flat.
I am grateful to the Dean
and Chapter of Durham and
to the Biblioteca
Estense, Modena, for
providing microfilm of
the manuscripts. I should
also record my thanks to
Keith Wright for
realising the
figured-bass which
appears in the full-score
edition.Mark Latham,
Brancepeth Castle, June
1997.
