Curating Music History: Sonata Representativa (aka The Animal Sonata by Biber)
The Composition
In the early Baroque era, it was a common device for composers to compose music that imitated sounds from the real world. Biber was one of the best known composers who employed this compositional device across his works, and this sonata is perhaps one of the best known pieces that employs this sort of imitation.
The Sonata Representativa, or better known colloquially as the "Animal" sonata, is a set of musical interludes that are split apart by sections of animal imitation. Various animals make an appearance in this order: Nightingale, Cuckoo, Frog, Cock, Hen, Quail, Cat. Weirdly enough, there is also a Musketeer's March near the end, although I guess you could list people as animals!
What is interesting is that for each animal there is only the title description and a rough guide of notes. From there it is up the performer to try and coax the appropriate imitations out of the violin. It is an incredible challenge to the skill and the imagination of the player, as most players are not daring enough to make the "ugly" sounds that they have trained to avoid all their musical life!
The Composer
Heinrich Biber (1644-1704) is perhaps best known as the OTHER composer that called Salzburg home (often living in the shadow of the musical giant, Mozart). He was one of the most talented violinists of the age, and his compositions stretched the abilities of the violin technique. Huge stretches of polyphonic writing, high position writing and even the technique of scordatura (retuning the violin to a completely different tuning to achieve different sororities) were unheard of at the time.
By the end of his life, his compositions were well known around Europe and widely imitated. Indeed, he was named (in the 18th century) by the well travelled and sometimes acidic tongued music historian, Englishman Charles Burney, as THE best composer for violin of the entire 17th century!
The Performers
Il Giardino Armonico is one of the best known Early Music orchestras in the world. In this chamber setting of Violin and Basso Continuo, it is led by the famed violinist Enrico Onofri.
This sonata demands the greatest of skill from the vioinist, however, more importantly, the imagination and the courage to coax the most unusual sounds from the instrument. This Italian group (and in particular the violinist) have all these qualities in great measure, and they do justice to the piece.
This is not a piece where you can get away by just playing notes!
Previous Curating Music History posts
Curating Music History: A Night on Bald Mountain (Mussorgsky)
El sombrero de tres picos (The Three Cornered Hat, de Falla)
Oboe and Violin Double Concerto (JS Bach)
An American in Paris (Gershwin)
1st and 2nd Arabesque (Debussy)
Last movement from 6th Brandenburg Concerto (JS Bach)
Last movements from 2nd Sonata in a minor (Westhoff)
Last movement from Brahms Violin Concerto
Finale from 4th Symphony (Tchaikovsky)
Last movement from "Jupiter" Symphony #41 (Mozart)
Overture to Midsummer Night's Dream (Mendelssohn)
Histoire du Tango: Cafe 1930 (Piazzolla)
Last movement from Violin sonata 2 (Prokofiev)
Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (Britten)
'Sonata in d minor for violin and continuo" (Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre)
'Sonata duodecima' for Violin and Continuo(Isabella Leonarda)
Chaconne from Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (Lully)
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Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://www.gamerjokerbreadder.com/2018/09/22/curating-music-history-sonata-representativa-aka-the-animal-sonata-by-biber/
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sir bengy! how interesting, I had no idea that significantly different sounds could be made by a violin. And you are able to make animal sounds yourself just by experimenting? lol. It sounds like fun but maybe it's not, you'd have to be able to duplicate them once you discovered how. very interesting and educational post bengy!
Yes, the animal sounds are really great fun to try and emulate. It requires a lot of imagination, experimentation and then the daring to do it in public! It is not what you would consider "beautiful" sounds, and so many musicians do not go anywhere near far enough to sound like animals! If I may say so myself, I've got a pretty mean FROG worked out!
hahaha! sir bengy! you can make a violin sound like a frog now? lol. and how long did it take you to perfect that sound?
It took an afternoon of listening and experimenting to figure it out. But once you have the trick it's there forever!
sir bengy! and what do you do with those newly crafted skills? Will you be playing a solo of animal sounds in a concert? lol.
Ha ha, it all goes into the toolkit!
Thanks for the description, I have not heard this sonata before. Very unusual music))
No problem, it is an unusual one!
Not sure I've ever heard anything quite like this, it's definitely a different way of doing things than the standard artists everyone seems to know.
Yes, there are great gems from the time that are generally forgotten about in the quest to only find the 'quality' art music of the past. There are imitations of a stutterer and even one of a fart! Not what you might expect from music or the Baroque!
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