Amadeus
Four stars for both performance and recorded sound in Amadeus’s May 2018 selection. Tomaselli discusses Hortensia Virtuosa’s historically informed rediscovery of Marchitelli’s five trio sonatas and Sinfonia.
Read the review ↗ - Amadeus
Da Vinci Classics
Ensemble Hortensia Virtuosa, Giovanni Rota
Physical and Digital Release: 24 November 2017
Five trio sonatas and a Sinfonia from the Neapolitan instrumental tradition, performed on period instruments and copies at A = 415 Hz, with Vallotti temperament.
Pietro Marchitelli: Trio Sonatas
Ensemble Hortensia Virtuosa · Giovanni Rota, violin and direction
13.67€
Digital programme · 23 tracks
Track timings refer to the digital edition.
Ensemble Hortensia Virtuosa was founded in 2012 and takes its name from the sonata for violin and basso continuo in Marco Uccellini’s Op. 4 collection, published in 1645. It made its debut at the sixteenth edition of Theate Mvsica Antiqva in Chieti and has performed in Italy and abroad, including Le Vie del Barocco in Genoa, Apuliantiqua in Monopoli, the Victoria International Arts Festival in Gozo, Malta, and concerts in Zurich.
The ensemble explores chamber music from the seventeenth century to the early nineteenth century through historically informed performance, using original sources and period instruments or faithful copies. Its approach to sound draws on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century ideals of imitating nature and the human voice. The members have studied and worked with specialists including Enrico Gatti, Sigiswald Kuijken, Amandine Beyer and Antonio Florio. Its repertoire encompasses a broad selection of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century chamber music, including the sonata da chiesa tradition.
Its recordings include B. Bernardi’s Sonatas, Op. 2, for Baryton (2016), and Pietro Marchitelli’s trio sonatas for Da Vinci Classics, directed by violinist Giovanni Rota.
Giovanni Rota is an Italian violinist specialising in historically informed Baroque performance. He studied violin and music education at the Nino Rota Conservatory in Monopoli, completed advanced studies in Baroque violin at Milan’s Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory, and studied with Enrico Gatti and Sigiswald Kuijken in Urbino and Pescara. He also completed a postgraduate course in solo performance at Bari’s Niccolò Piccinni Conservatory.
His solo and chamber performances have taken him across Italy, France, Belgium, Poland, Tunisia, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Germany, Slovenia, Malta, Switzerland and Austria. He has worked with Antonio Florio, Stefano Montanari, Marcello Gatti, Gemma Bertagnolli, Sara Mingardo and Monica Schiavo, and with Cappella Neapolitana, Talenti Vulcanici, Le Musiche Nove, Santa Teresa de’ Maschi, La Confraternita de’ Musici, Labirinto Armonico, Terra d’Otranto, the Orchestra Barocca della Messapia and Cappella Musicale Corradiana.
He founded Hortensia Virtuosa, recording Marchitelli’s trio sonatas for Da Vinci Classics. His discography includes Arcana, Studio GLM, Elledici, Dad Records, Florestano, Baryton and Digressione Music. His professional activities also include directing the Apuliantiqua festival, founded in 2005, and teaching violin in Italian state secondary education.
Pietro Marchitelli: (b Villa Santa Maria, nr Chieti, ?1643; d Naples, 6 Feb 1729). Italian violinist and composer. He went to Naples in the mid-17th century, entering the Conservatorio di S Maria di Loreto. When his teacher, the violinist Carlo de Vincentiis, died in 1677, he took over as principal violinist of the royal chapel, Naples, remaining in the post for more than 50 years. From 1693 to 1706 he may also have been first violinist at the Teatro di S Bartolomeo (Prota-Giurleo). His confrontation with Arcangelo Corelli in 1702 is discussed by Burney. Marchitelli reached the pinnacle of his career in 1707, shortly after the arrival of the Austrian government in Naples, when he was appointed governor and treasurer of the Congregation of Musicians of the Royal Palace. A detailed inventory of his possessions shows that he had personal links with some of the major artists of the period, and was held in high esteem by certain noble families in the city. His pupils included his nephews Michele Mascitti and Giovanni Sebastiano Sabatino. The latter, perhaps because of Marchitelli’s support, succeeded Francesco Scarlatti as a violinist of the royal chapel in 1691.
Marchitelli’s sonatas closely follow the model established by Corelli in both form and pattern of movements. However, it is their irregular phrasing and marked contrapuntal style which are of particular interest.
Pietro Marchitelli and the Neapolitan instrumental tradition Text by Guido Olivieri, The University of Texas at Austin; English revised. The career of Pietro Marchitelli (1643–1729) exemplifies the development of instrumental music in Naples at the turn of the eighteenth century. Born in Villa Santa Maria, a small town in Abruzzo, he moved to Naples to study at the Conservatorio di Santa Maria di Loreto with Carlo de Vincentiis, the leading violin teacher of the time. When his teacher died in 1677, Marchitelli took his place in the Royal Chapel. Within…
Text by Guido Olivieri, The University of Texas at Austin; English revised.
The career of Pietro Marchitelli (1643–1729) exemplifies the development of instrumental music in Naples at the turn of the eighteenth century. Born in Villa Santa Maria, a small town in Abruzzo, he moved to Naples to study at the Conservatorio di Santa Maria di Loreto with Carlo de Vincentiis, the leading violin teacher of the time.
When his teacher died in 1677, Marchitelli took his place in the Royal Chapel. Within a few years he became first violin of this prestigious ensemble, a position he retained almost without interruption until his death on 6 February 1729, aged approximately eighty-six. He held the post when Arcangelo Corelli visited Naples in 1702. An anecdote recounted by Charles Burney in his General History of Music describes “Petrillo” Marchitelli challenging the abilities of the violinist regarded as the best in Europe. Whether read as anecdote or historical testimony, the account points to the advanced state of Neapolitan instrumental playing. John Hawkins likewise included Marchitelli among the celebrated instrumental performers of the eighteenth century.
Alongside his service in the Royal Chapel, Marchitelli worked as first violin at Naples’s principal musical institutions: the Tesoro di San Gennaro, Teatro di San Bartolomeo and Casa Santa dell’Annunziata. In 1704, together with violinist Giovanni Carlo Cailò and lutenist Pietro Ugolini, he was elected governor and treasurer of the Congregazione dei Musici di Palazzo, the confraternity of Royal Chapel musicians. These offices were generally entrusted to its most prominent members. His election had particular significance because it coincided with a delicate period in the chapel’s history, around the transition from Spanish to Austrian rule, which affected its organisation and membership.
Such professional standing enabled Marchitelli to improve his social position and become a wealthy musician. The inventory attached to his will lists a fine collection of paintings, several valuable violins and precious gifts from aristocratic patrons. His prestige and influential protectors probably helped him secure opportunities for musicians from his hometown. He took particular care of the careers of his nephews, violinists Francesco and Giovanni Sebastiano Sabatino, and of Michele Mascitti, who became a celebrated virtuoso in Paris.
Approximately thirty of Marchitelli’s sonatas survive, although some are incomplete. Most are preserved in a manuscript in Naples, apparently copied in 1743 for students at the Conservatorio di Sant’Onofrio—a sign of the continuing popularity of his music.
The collection varies in the number and selection of movements, but the four-movement design predominates. Slow movements generally serve as brief introductions or interludes. Third movements often take the form of a lyrical Grave in 3/2, with simple melodic lines followed by chains of suspensions.
The centre of gravity is usually the extended second movement. Here Marchitelli shows a preference for rigorous counterpoint and short rhythmic subjects, often beginning with repeated notes that recall the older canzona tradition.
Ensemble Hortensia Virtuosa: Giovanni Rota, violin and direction; Aki Takahashi, violin; Rebeca Ferri, cello; Luigi Lorè, harpsichord; Gilberto Scordari, organ.
The sonatas are drawn from manuscripts at the Conservatorio di Musica San Pietro a Majella, Naples. The Sinfonia in G minor is preserved in Milan, Fondo Noseda, L23–16. The final movement of Sonata No. 8 is performed in Enrico Gatti’s version. Special thanks to Enrico Gatti, Giovanni Rota’s teacher.
Giovanni Rota: eighteenth-century Tyrolean violin, maker uncertain, possibly M. Albani. Aki Takahashi: Bernhard Ritschard violin, Herrnburg, 2008, after Giovanni Paolo Maggini. Rebeca Ferri: André Mehler cello, Leipzig, 2011, after Martinus Kaiser, Venice, 1679. Luigi Lorè: U. Petroselli spinet, 2000, after Hitchcock. Gilberto Scordari: Zanin positive organ. Pitch: A = 415 Hz. Temperament: Vallotti.
Recorded in 2016 at the church in Impalata, Monopoli, Italy.
Sound engineer: Gianni La Marca.
Recording, post-production, editing and mastering: Studio GLM, San Giuliano del Sannio, Italy.
Special thanks to Don Vincenzo Muolo.
Album notes: Guido Olivieri.
Cover image: Anton Sminck van Pitloo, Castel dell’Ovo dalla spiaggia (1820).
Production, design and art direction: OMK-Da Vinci.
Printed with the support of S.P.L.M.
Selected awards, reviews and interviews. Radio broadcasts and podcasts are listed separately below.
Amadeus
Four stars for both performance and recorded sound in Amadeus’s May 2018 selection. Tomaselli discusses Hortensia Virtuosa’s historically informed rediscovery of Marchitelli’s five trio sonatas and Sinfonia.
Read the review ↗ - AmadeusBroadcasts, conversations and listening features dedicated to this recording.
Radio UNAM FM
The official schedule lists Marchitelli’s Trio Sonatas Nos. 6, 8 and 13, performed by Ensemble Hortensia Virtuosa and Giovanni Rota, at 10:30. A programme reference; an audio replay has not been verified.
Explore the broadcast ↗ - Radio UNAM FM
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