Francesco VenturiniConcerti

Auf die Orchestermusik des Hannoveraner Konzert- und Kapellmeisters Francesco Venturini hat vor 15 Jahren schon David Plantier mit seinem Ensemble La Cetra aufmerksam gemacht. Das Interessante an diesem Komponisten ist, dass er ungeachtet seiner offenbar italienischen Abstammung musikalisch eher der französischen Tradition verpflichtet ist. Elemente des Konzerts und der Suite verflicht er zu ganz eigenartigen Stücken, die er Sonaten nennt, was aber nichts mit Sonaten im Sinne Corellis oder Vivaldis zu tun hat. Sie sehen zwei Blockflöten, zwei Oboen und Streicher in wechselnden Kombinationen und unterschiedlicher Verteilung der Solopartien vor. Händel muss übrigens während seiner kurzen Hannoveraner Aufenthalte Venturini begegnet sein, und sein Concerto grosso op. 3 Nr. 1 verdankt hinsichtlich der Besetzung und des Tonfalls Venturini ganz offensichtlich einiges.

Nach der gelungenen Einspielung von La Cetra legt nun das Hannoveraner Ensemble La festa musicale ein ebenso überzeugendes Plädoyer für Venturini vor. Mit der Vorgänger-CD gibt es leider zwei Überschneidungen (op. 1 Nr. 2 und 9) daneben aber auch immerhin drei Ersteinspielungen (op. 1 Nr. 11 sowie zwei Werke aus schwedischen Handschriften).

Spieltechnisch läuft alles auf dem hohen Niveau ab, welches man von heutigen Barockensembles gewohnt ist, wobei die Holzbläser wegen ihres schönen Tons besonders hervorgehoben werden müssen. Musikalisch überzeugt das Augenmaß, mit dem La festa musicale an die Sache herangeht: Es wird sauber artikuliert und phrasiert, hier und da auch etwas pointiert, aber die Musiker machen aus Venturini nicht mehr, als in ihm steckt. Dessen Vielfalt, Vitalität und Farbenfreude sprechen nämlich für sich.

The reader who has never heard of Francesco Venturini may think that he is another of the many forgotten Italian composers of the early 18th century. That is not the case: his Italian name may well reflect the Italian taste of the time which had a large part of Europe in its grip. However, he was born in Brussels, and when he was a member of the court chapel in Hanover, his name was always mentioned alongside the French players. Hanover is the place where he worked all his life, and where for some years George Frideric Handel was his colleague. Hanover was one of the main musical centres of Germany, which in modern performance practice is probably given less attention than its importance would justify.

For some time, the court was entirely under the spell of the Italian style, and opera played a crucial role. Some of the main opera composers of the time, Antonio Sartorio and Agostino Steffani, were in the service of the court, the former from 1666 to 1675, the latter from 1688 to 1703. However, around 1700 operatic performances seem to have discontinued, for unknown reasons. From now on, instrumental music was the name of the game, and Venturini was one of the key figures in the court chapel. He entered the service of the court at Easter 1698 and remained there until his death. At that time the Konzertmeister was Jean-Baptiste Farinel, who had been appointed in this post in 1680. For some years Venturini acted as his deputy, and in 1713 he took the position of Konzertmeister himself. At about that time, he also composed his Concerti da camera Op 1, which were printed by Le Cène in Amsterdam. They seem to have found much appreciation, as many arrangements of these concertos were made.

This set is quite remarkable for their originality in form and instrumentation. Although they are specimens of what was then the most popular style in Germany, known as the 'mixed taste', in which French and Italian elements were mingled, they have little in common with the French suite or the Italian concerto. It is notable that these twelve pieces bear the title of sonata, but in their form they are in fact suites. The even-numbered sonatas open with a concerto in the Italian manner in ABA form. One of them is included here: the two sections of the concerto have the tempo indications allegro assai and adagio. The second movement is called canon, which concerns the treble and the bass, whereas the middle voices enrich the harmony. The piece ends with a passepied and trio. The instrumental scoring is rather unusual; in the opening movement the oboe has a solo part, which makes this almost sound like the movement from an oboe concerto. In the last movement, the trio is scored for two oboes and bassoon, very much in the French manner.

The odd-numbered sonatas open with a French overture, and these pieces show strong siimilarity with the orchestral suites which were written by the likes of Telemann and Bach. Two such sonatas are included here. In the Sonata No 9 in G minor, the overture is followed by three movements called aria, and closes with a pair of menuets. The second of the arias, called aria à 11 instruments, is the most remarkable because of its scoring, which includes pairs of bassoons and cellos; the music does full justice to the addition affettuoso. The second of the menuets is for two bassoons. The Sonata No 11 in B-flat has also an aria as its second movement, in which wind instruments play a solo role to an accompaniment of high strings. It is followed by a piece called Furies, which reminds us of the theatre. It is paired with a sarabanda with the indication cantabile; at the end the Furies section returns. After a gavotta, the sonata closes with a pair of menuets.

In addition to the three sonatas from the Op 1, which is Venturini's only collection ever to be printed, la festa musicale plays two pieces which have been preserved in manuscript and are now part of collections in Sweden (in Lund and Uppsala respectively). The Ouverture à 5 in E minor comprises an overture and five dances, including an angloise & trio and a rondeau. The trio is once again for wind. The Concerto à 6 in A is for strings and basso continuo and written in the manner of an Italian sonata da chiesa, with two adagios and two allegros. Two violins are given solo parts.

Considering that Venturini's sonatas are quite original in their concept and scoring, it is rather odd that they receive so little attention. As far as I know, this is only the second recording of some of these sonatas. In 2006, ZigZag Territoires released a disc with five sonatas from this set, performed by La Cetra under the direction of David Plantier. It is disappointing that la festa musicale selected two of the sonatas which are also included in that recording. If different pieces had been chosen, the number of sonatas available on disc would have increased substantially. On the other hand, the performances are clearly different in one respect; in three of the five items, la festa musicale adds percussion. I find this rather problematic and untenable from a historical point of view. In the Furies movement from the Sonata No 11 even a wind chime is used, which is appropriate for the theatre, but not for concertante performances. However, this is not music for the theatre; the title of the Op 1, Concerti di camera, speaks loud and clear. Even if it was meant for the theatre, that does not mean that nearly every dance needs the participation of percussion. In the Furies movement, Venturini has written the string parts in such a way that they suggest what the title refers to, and that should be enough. It is highly regrettable that the otherwise excellent playing of la festa musicale is contaminated with a virus I use to call percussionitis. It is quite infectious, but unfortunately a vaccine has not been found yet.

Schon nach wenigen Takten kann man sich der Musik nicht mehr entziehen. Es ist wie bei einem Buch, das man nach ein paar Sätzen nicht mehr aus der Hand legen möchte.

Das Ensemble La festa musicale ist ein brillanter Erzähler. Die Musiker sprechen eine klare Sprache, spielen munter und erfrischend, überraschen stets mit neuen Klangfarben und spritzigen Dialogen.

Natürlich möchte man genauer wissen, wessen Musik man eigentlich hört, wer der Schöpfer der Kompositionen war. In unserem Fall ist es Francesco Venturini, Musiker am Hof in Hannover und dort kurze Zeit Arbeitskollege von Georg Friedrich Händel.

Letztendlich spielt dieses Wissen aber kaum eine Rolle, weil wir Musik hören, die auf höchstem künstlerischem Niveau bestens unterhält und dem Zuhörer kurzzeitig einen schönen Ausstieg aus dem Alltag ermöglicht.

La festa musicale erleichtert diesen Schritt durch seine unakademische, spontane Art des Musizierens: virtuos nie affektiert, rhetorisch perfekt aber nie hochnäsig. Derart erleben wir eine wahre ‘festa musicale’ und entdecken zudem einen Komponisten, der es nicht leicht hat, aus dem Schatten seiner prominenten Zeitgenossen zu treten.


After just a few bars, you can no longer escape this music. It’s like a book that you don’t want to put down after a few sentences.

The ensemble La festa musicale is a brilliant narrator. The musicians speak a clear language, play in a lively and refreshing way, always surprising with new timbres and sparkling dialogues.

Of course, one would like to know more precisely whose music one is actually listening to, who was the creator of the compositions. In our case, it is Francesco Venturini, a musician at the court in Hanover and, for a short time, a colleague of George Frideric Handel.

In the end, however, this knowledge hardly matters, because we are listening to music that entertains at the highest artistic level and gives the listener a brief, pleasant escape from everyday life.

La festa musicale facilitates this step by its unacademic, spontaneous way of making music: virtuosic but never affected, rhetorically perfect but never snooty. In this way we experience a true ‘festa musicale’ and also discover a composer who has not found it easy to step out of the shadow of his prominent contemporaries.

Zur Zeit des Hochbarock wurde die deutsche Barockszene vor allem von Bach, Händel und Telemann beherrscht. Der Name Francesco Venturini lässt uns eher an Italien denken, doch auch in Deutschland hat er seine Spuren hinterlassen. Ihn zu entdecken, dabei hilft eine neue CD des Labels "audite" in Kooperation mit Radio Bremen: Konzerte von Francesco Venturini mit dem norddeutschen Barockensemble "La festa musicale".

Wie klingt's?
Ganz so italienisch, wie es der Titel des Albums und der Name des Ensembles vermuten lassen, geht es nicht zu. Francesco Venturinis Lebensmittelpunkt war von mindestens 1698 bis zu seinem Tod 1745 die Stadt Hannover. Der dort angesiedelte Welfenhof war damals ein kultureller Mittelpunkt. In Sachen Musik bevorzugte man in jenen Jahren die französische Kunst, was auch Venturini nützte, der als Komponist den italienischen Stil mit dem französischen verband.

Warum hören?
Musik, die es vorher auf einer CD nicht zu hören gab – ein Ausschnitt aus dem Concerto Nr. 11 von Francesco Venturini. Gespielt von einem Ensemble, das erst vor sechs Jahren gegründet wurde, aber sich sehr schnell mit seiner Interpretation Alter Musik einen Namen gemacht hat.