Warm hearted & with a twinkle in his eye: The Brook Street Band bring out the sense of enjoyment in the violin sonatas of Ipswich-based Joseph Gibbs

Joseph Gibbs: 8 Sonatas for Violin and Basso Continuo, Op. 1; The Brook Street Band; First Hand Records

Warm and characterful music that deserves to be better known. Provincial in fact but not in reputation, the music of Joseph Gibbs endears itself in these lovely performances. 

Until the mid-20th century, Ipswich-based composer Joseph Gibbs’s biggest claim to fame was probably that in 1755 Thomas Gainsborough painted his portrait. And arguably, it is the existence of this portrait which raised interest in Gibbs’s music. The Brook Street Band has been playing, enjoying and loving Joseph Gibbs’s violin sonatas for almost as long as the ensemble has been in existence, approaching 30 years now.  They have finally brought them to the recording studio in what is clearly a passion project.

The Brook Street Band (Rachel Harris, Tatty Theo, Carolyn Gibley) perform Joseph Gibbs’s 8 Sonatas for Violin and Basso Continuo, Op. 1 on First Hand Records. The first complete recording of the works.

So, who was Joseph Gibbs? Well, simply, not a lot is known about him. Aside from a few organ pieces, we know of only two sets of music, the c. 1746 Eight Solos for a Violin with a Thorough Bass, Op. 1 and a set of Six Quartettos for Two Violins, Tenor and Violoncello or Harpsichord, Op. 2 from 1777. Both were published by subscription, and included notable musical names of the times indicating Gibbs’s recognition and popularity extended far beyond East Anglia, even though we have no evidence for Gibbs leaving the area once established in his adult life.

Joseph Gibbs by Thomas Gainsborough oil on canvas, circa 1755 NPG 2179 © National Portrait Gallery, London

Gibbs was born in Colchester in 1698 where his father was a member of the City Waits, and Gibbs probably received his early musical education from his father. Gibbs may have studied in London, possibly with Thomas Roseingrave (c.1690/91-1766) – this is suggested by a manuscript where Gibbs has copied sonatas by Roseingrave and Handel. 

But Gibbs was back in East Anglia by the 1730s and is not known to have left. He held organist posts in Harwich and then Dedham and from 1748 he was organist at St Mary-le-Tower in Ipswich. Where he remained until his death.

He was a member of the Ipswich Musical Society, where he presumably met fellow-member Gainsborough, who also lived in Ipswich between 1752–1758/9. The Musical Society met regularly at Mr Sparrowe’s house, now known as the Ancient House, and located on Buttermarket, where the building still stands today. He enjoyed a busy performing career across East Anglia, directing performances from the harpsichord.

The subscription list for the Eight Solos for a Violin with a Thorough Bass, Op. 1 numbered a respectable c. 161. Whilst the list has a strong East Anglian focus, including other members of the extended Gibbs family, other subscribers were music societies, Cambridge colleges, and organists. A Mr Peter Thompson of St Paul’s Church Yard in London dealt with sales, ordering many copies for resale. Also on the subscription list were composers William Boyce and Maurice Greene and tenor John Beard, who is closely associated with Handel. 

In terms of musical influences, Corelli and Geminiani must feature strongly. Geminiani (resident in England from 1714) and Handel’s violin sonatas were both influential with English audiences. And the portrait by Gainsborough also includes a page from a sonata by Michael Christian Festing written in 1744. Intriguingly, when Festing died he bequeathed all his music to Sir Joseph Hankey, a noted banker and patron of the arts, to whom Gibbs dedicated his sonatas.

The writing for violin moves between the old and the new. Handelian
and Corellian influences exist alongside more galant elements, plus technically demanding writing including chordal string writing.
Apart from one, all the sonatas are in four movements resolutely, slow,
fast, slow, fast but within this Gibbs introduces variety. He seems to
have had a fondness for variation form, using it in four sonatas.

In many was he was a modest, unassuming man, but his portrait and this music reveal a twinkle in his eye. Frequently there are quirky little moments and delightfully characterful writing. This latter includes the use of the Scotch snap, which might reflect a fondness for Scottish taste but also could be a nod to the fact that Ipswich was a Garrison Town, home to the Scots Greys. And musicians from the regiment took part in Gibbs’s funeral.

There is something engagingly warm about this music. And the performers bring out a real sense of three friends simply enjoying themselves. Perhaps we can imagine Gibbs playing the sonatas for friends in the Ipswich Musical Society. Certainly the pieces are far and away above a lot of the rather polite sub-Handelian writing in this vein from English composers of the 18th century. These sonatas deserve to be better known and this lovely disc, bringing out the warm-heartedness of the music, should go a long way towards this.

The Brook Street Band (Rachel Harris, Tatty Theo, Carolyn Gibley) at recording sessions (Photo: Robin Bigwood)

Joseph Gibbs (1698-1788) – 8 Sonatas for Violin and Basso Continuo, Op. 1 (c1746) [83:44]
Sonata No. 1 in D minor [12:19]
Sonata No. 2 in A major [9:55]
Sonata No. 3 in G major [9:36]
Sonata No. 4 in B flat major [11:40]
Sonata No. 5 in E major [9:04]
Sonata No. 6 in F major [8:58]
Sonata No. 7 in A minor [11:40]
Sonata No. 8 in E flat major [10:19]
The Brook Street Band (Rachel Harris, violin, Tatty Theo, cello, Carolyn Gibley, harpsichord)
Recorded at The Great Barn, Oxnead Hall, Norfolk, UK, 7–10 February 2025
FIRST HAND RECORDS FHR188 1CD [83:44]