A sense of place, engagement & sheer enjoyment: In Copisteria del Conte exploring late 18th century chamber music from Genoa

In Copisteria del Conte: Michele Gallucci, Gasparo Arnaldi, Emanuele Barbella, Carlo Ferrari, Pietro Nardini, Luigi Boccherini; Jacopo Ristori, Sara de Vries, Antoinette Lohmann, Giorgos Samoilis, Viola de Hoog, Gied van Oorschot, Jesse Solway, Anna Pontz, Earl Christy; Snakewood Editions
Reviewed 2 December 2024

Focusing on a particular time and place, this disc explores music in the Genoese palazzos of the late 18th century through music copied by one firm. The result is not dry at all but has a wonderful sense of place, engagement and sheer enjoyment

Records often take rather an overview of repertoire, concentrating on global trends or focusing on composers whose reputations have stood the test of time. Research can focus on particular neglected composers, but a new disc from Italian cellist Jacopo Ristori.

In Copisteria del Conte: Il diletto musicale nei palazzi genovesi on Snakewood Editions takes us to a particular time and place. Genoa in the late 1700s and the music produced by the music copyist Count Taccioli. Jacopo Ristori (cello) is joined by colleagues from the Gut String Quartet, Sara de Vries (violin/viola) and Antoinette Lohmann (violin), plus Giorgos Samoilis (violin), Viola de Hoog (cello), Gied van Oorschot (cello), Jesse Solway (contrabass), Anna Pontz (psaltery) and Earl Christy (theorbo) for a programme of chamber music by Michele Gallucci, Gasparo Arnaldi, Emanuele Barbella, Carlo Ferrari, Pietro Nardini, and Luigi Boccherini. There are quartets, duets for two cellos, sonatas for cello, sonatas for two violins, and even sonatas for psaltery, violin and cello.

Most of the composers are unknown or lesser known, but what all the pieces have in common is that they were copied in Count Taccioli’s bustling workshop for other aristocratic performers to play. That is where the title comes from, In the Count’s workshop: music delights from the Genoese palazzi.

Count Federico Taccoli (c. 1727–1809), although not a professional musician, was among the most prolific copyists in Genoa, active for over fifty years between 1751 and the early 1800s. All the music chosen for this recital comes from manuscripts originating in Taccoli’s copy shop. The idea behind the project was to illustrate the musical activity of an artistically lively city and its public, with Taccoli as protagonist and central figure. We are asked to consider not just the composers, but also the listeners. We can imagine we are attending a private concert, perhaps in one of the Genoese palaces.

The manuscripts used all come from the library of the Paganini Conservatory in Genoa which has its origins in the library of the Civic Institute of Music created in 1850. But the collections have material that dates back a lot further, including collections from early 19th century theatres in Genoa. But the largest group of manuscripts, spread right across the collection, are those copied by Count Taccioli’s workshop. Taccoli copied or had copies made both from manuscripts in his possession and from musical editions published abroad. In the second half of the eighteenth century, the Italian music publishing industry struggled to expand its limited reach, and the dissemination of notated music was almost exclusively in the hands of flourishing copyists and local music booksellers.

The composers are varied and include some who had a particularity in Genoa. There are two string quartets by Pietro Nardini, except that Taccoli’s attribution was wrong. In Genoa, this music was attributed to the violinist Pietro Nardini who was a pupil of Tartini, but in fact it is now known that the quartets are by Franz Anton Hoffmeister!

Boccherini is the best-known composer on the disc. Hailing from Lucca, Boccherini visited Genoa in 1765 with his father and again in 1767, on his own. The disc includes his Sonata G.579 and Sonata G.571. In fact the Taccioli copy of Sonata G.579 is currently the only known copy of this work. this and G.571 seem to be the only survivors of a set of twelve sonatas, probably written for teaching purposes as they use two cellos or cello and bass. Ristori speculates that the teaching set may well have been used by aristocratic amateurs in Genoa.

Not too much is known about cellist/composer Carlo Ferrari, but his employment at the court of Parma enabled him to visit Paris and deepen his knowledge of the cello and chamber music. His two cello duets on the disc are provocatively titled, Gara ‘Duet’ though the music is hardly technically challenging. Emmanuele Barbera was a violinist based in Naples, his music usually featuring the violin and here we have two sonatas for two unaccompanied violins and again the Taccioli copies are the only surviving ones of these particular duets. 

There is a cello sonata by Michele Galluci who taught cello at a conservatory in Naples, though little else is known about him. And then there are the two sonatas for psaltery, violin and cello by Genoese composer Gasparo Arnaldi, about whom little is known. The psaltery is a type of box zither, and the sound colours it brings to the music are very striking. Musically, these are perhaps the most straightforward works on the discs but in terms of sound quality they are striking. It would be perhaps interesting to know quite why Arnaldi was writing for the psaltery.

This is an engagingly civilised recital, none of the music crosses boundaries or makes waves, it was made to be enjoyed both by the performers and the listeners. We have little technical bravura, though the composers were often performers themselves, these pieces were being copied for talented amateurs.

The performers all bring an engaging sense of the style to the music, and a feeling of enjoyable collegiality, they are having fun playing together. That they are playing with period style on gut strings only serves to increase the sense of connection with that mythical recital in an 18th century Genoese palazzo. The recital is well put together in that we have a variety for combinations and sound worlds so that the result is always engaging and ingratiating. 

The disc has some admirable articles giving the background to the music, the manuscripts and where they come from, with more to be found on Ristori’s website. You sense that his is very much Ristori’s passion project, but the feeling that all concerned are highly engaged in discovering this music comes off every track.

What we get from this disc is a lovely sense of time and place. 

Michele Gallucci (? -?) – Sonata per violoncello solo e basso in re maggiore
Gasparo Arnaldi (? -?) – Sonata (II ) per salterio, violino e violoncello in sol maggiore
Emanuele Barbella (1718-1777) – Sonata per due violini soli in sol maggiore
Carlo Ferrari (1714-1790) – Gara per due violoncelli in la maggiore
Pietro Nardini (1722-1793) – Quartetto I in sol maggiore (attr. F. A. Hoffmeister)
Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805) – Sonata per violoncello solo e basso in fa maggiore G. 579
Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805) – Sonata per due violoncelli in re maggiore G. 571
Carlo Ferrari (1714-1790) – Gara per due violoncelli in si bemolle maggiore
Pietro Nardini (1722-1793) – Quartetto II in do maggiore (attr. F. A. Hoffmeister)
Emanuele Barbella (1718-1777) – Sonata per due violini soli in fa maggiore
Gasparo Arnaldi (? -?) – Sonata (I) per salterio, violino e violoncello in sol maggiore

Jacopo Ristori (cello)
Sara de Vries (violin/viola)
Antoinette Lohmann (violin)
Giorgos Samoilis (violin)
Viola de Hoog (cello)
Gied van Oorschot (cello)
Jesse Solway (contrabass)
Anna Pontz (psaltery)
Earl Christy (theorbo)