Filippo Maria Gherardeschi: Three Sonatas for Keyboard dedicated to Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria

Description

In 1809, a journal printed in Paris, the Magazine Encyclopédique ou Journal de Sciences, des Lettres et des Arts, published an unsigned obituary, mainly focusing on the death of Filippo Maria Gherardeschi, but opening – somewhat incongruously – with a notice about the passing away of another musician, Adamo Marcori. This combination was also ironic, since Gherardeschi and Marcori, now united by the timing of their deaths, had been rivals during their lifetimes, quarrelling – even in court – for matters regarding the participation of musicians to the activity of a Chapel in Pisa.
The obituary of Gherardeschi, however, is worth quoting in full:
“In a short span, the city of Pisa lost two of its most celebrated musical artists: Mr. Adamo Marcuori, born in Arezzo, the chapel master of the Cathedral, and Mr. Philippo Gherardesca (sic), the chapel master of the Church of St. Stephen, formerly the instructor of the Archdukes of Austria children of the great Leopold. […] Gherardesca surpassed [Marcuori] by a considerable margin and possessed profound knowledge of harmony, coupled with exquisite taste. The purity of his style owed much to his teacher, Padre Martini in Bologna, and his diligent study of the ancient Italian and German musical composers, especially the works of Sebastian Bach, whom he, like Forkel, considered the greatest genius ever produced in the field of music knowledge.
When Gherardesca was asked about the great talents of famous keyboardists like Clementi, Mozart, Steibelt, Dusseck (sic), Cramer, Beethoven, etc., he would first inquire whether they also played the works of Sebastian and Emanuel Bach with taste and ease. According to him, true distinction in accomplished talent could only be achieved through these compositions and those of Haydn and Martini. He believed that Haydn’s ‘The Creation’ and ‘The Seasons’ were the most perfect works in the old style of musical art. Mozart’s Requiem, in his view, was comparable to the most sublime painting by Michelangelo.
Among his own works, a Requiem Mass composed after the death of King Louis I of Etruria stands out, considered a masterpiece in its genre and deserving of publication. Gherardesca, in addition to his musical accomplishments, was a well-educated man with a keen interest in sciences, arts, literature, and history, especially the history of the Greeks and Romans. He passed away at the age of 70”.
Recent studies by musician and musicologist Matteo Messori have identified the unknown writer, Johann Paul Schulthesius (1748-1816), a German Lutheran pastor and musician, who was well acquainted with Gherardeschi, with his activity, his output, and even his musical and nonmusical tastes.
The biographical information found in this obituary can be complemented with other data, found, for instance, in nineteenth-century encyclopedias or biographical dictionaries.
Gherardeschi was born in Pistoia; after learning the first elements of music under the guidance of Bosamelli, who was chapel master of his hometown, his musical education, since the age of sixteen, took place under the aegis and the tutelage of Padre Martini, as cited in the obituary. Padre Martini, a Franciscan friar from Bologna, was probably the most cultivated musician of his time. His library was impressive, but his knowledge was even greater; a man of exquisite amiability, he was held in the highest esteem by all the leading musicians of his time (including Mozart, who had been his pupil for a short but meaningful and cherished period), and his own works bear witness to his musical intelligence and expertise. Thus, being taught by Martini was doubtlessly an extraordinary privilege, which allowed budding musicians to flourish and to master all secrets of the art of sounds.
When Gherardeschi was in his mid-twenties, he was chosen as a Chapel Master in Volterra, after an experience at the Cathedral church of Livorno; however, as soon as a similar job was available in his birth city, Pistoia, he was called back to work there. Just a year after, however, he had to leave Pistoia once more, leaving the post to his brother Domenico, because he had received an enticing job offer in Pisa: to be the director of a famous church, the Church of the Knights of St. Stephen.
There, his talent was allowed to blossom at its fullest, since he had to provide music for all kinds of events – including Masses, Psalms, etc., both a cappella or with instrumental accompaniment (which, as a contemporaneous observer notes, could be played by an entire orchestra or also just by the organ).
If many coeval commentators agree on the Requiem being Gherardeschi’s absolute masterpiece, his output for the theatrical stage is also noteworthy (not least because of his numerous works on
lyrics by the greatest Italian playwright of the era, Carlo Goldoni). One of his operas, L’amore artigiano (“Love as Craftsman”) was performed at the Teatro del Giglio in Lucca; other operas authored by him include Il curioso indiscreto, I visionarii, La Contessina, L’astuzia felice (the only one which was performed outside Tuscany, i.e. in Venice at the Teatro San Moisè), and I due Gobbi; according to one early source, the Grand Duke Leopold I used to have I due Gobbi performed during the winters which the Tuscan court used to spend in Pisa (1769), at the time when Gherardeschi was master of the Royal Chapel and music teacher of the Grand Duke’s children.
The same source cites the object of this recording, i.e. the keyboard Sonatas (there cited as Sonatas “for violin and piano”) which were printed during Gherardeschi’s lifetime, and dedicated to Maria Theresia of Austria, the Archduchess.
If the appreciation of nobility was doubtlessly important (both for one’s career and for their finances), probably what musicians coveted most was the esteem of their colleagues. And this was expressed in a particularly solemn and public fashion when one was awarded the title of Accademico Filarmonico of Bologna, i.e. member of the Philharmonic Academy. As the article affirms, it was an honour granted to a few, exceptionally gifted and skilled musicians; Mozart had been awarded it as a teenager (which was an exception among the exceptions) due to his extraordinary accomplishment, and, probably, also to the good offices of Padre Martini.
At the Grand Duke’s Court, Gherardeschi was the music director; this implied also a managerial role, organizing the musical events and concerts staged privately for his noble patron. Furthermore, the composer was the keyboard instructor of the princes and princesses – as was briefly mentioned above – and his ability as a keyboard player was unanimously acknowledged. The three keyboard sonatas, published in Florence in 1782 (?), earned him unanimous and universal acclaim.
When Leopold ascended to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, following his brother Joseph II, Gherardeschi remained in the family’s employment, occupying the same post under the rule of Ferdinand III. At a later time, he became chapel master in the royal court of Louis I of Bourbon, “King of Etruria” – for whose funeral, as will be recalled, Gherardeschi wrote a touching Requiem. Gherardeschi, incidentally, was particularly appreciated as a composer of sacred music; a Confitebor written in Pisa in 1773 is particularly notable.
At that time he was already sixty-five, which was a remarkable age for his time; he would die five years later, in 1808, after having spent some time of retirement in one of his favourite cities, i.e. Pisa.
The sources cited in these liner notes also let us glimpse the unusual knowledge of the musical world, which Gherardeschi had doubtlessly learnt from his tutor, Padre Martini. Gherardeschi’s fondness for the music of Johann Sebastian Bach was by no means common in Italy at that time, and can be only accounted for when one considers that Padre Martini was one of the first Italian appreciators of Bach and of his music. Gherardeschi also knew and appreciated the works by Handel; Mozart’s Requiem could always be found on his piano, and he was well-read, especially in Italian and Latin poetry. He reportedly was also a very kind and generous person, who never hesitated when he was in a position to help younger musicians.
The Sonatas recorded here are destined – as was customary at the time – for either harpsichord or fortepiano, and they are forward-looking inasmuch as they include indications for expression and dynamics: this reveals that their primary destination was the fortepiano, the “new” instrument which was conquering composers and players alike.
The most notable feature they display is the abundance of their melodic ideas and the overflowing gentleness of their tunes. Gherardeschi’s penchant for opera is in fact evident in the treatment of the musical phrases, which could easily imagined as excerpted from an operatic score.
Gherardeschi was the father of Alessandro (1777-1852), an architect of genius, and was in turn interested in “architectonic” issues – at least in the musical field – since he penned a notable treatise on counterpoint.
Most of his surviving manuscripts are preserved in the Archive of the Knights of St. Stephen in Pisa, while others are found in Bologna, and still others are scattered in numerous Italian libraries and in some important foreign institutions (e.g. in Berlin, Geneva, and even in America).
This all bears witness to the genius and accomplishment of an important figure of late-eighteenth-century Italy: a figure fully worth rediscovering, appreciating, knowing, and whose music deserves to be played and listened to attentively.
2023 © Chiara Bertoglio