Peter Pasqualini de Marzi: Six Sonatas for the Cetra or Kitara

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This remastered edition of Peter Pasqualini de Marzi’s Six Sonatas for the Cetra or Kitara takes me back to my life in Rome, studying with Andrea, discovering the delicate nature of the 18th-century cittern, or cetra, and trying to come to terms with what Andrea calls “a different kind of virtuosity”, one that favors color, dynamics and expression over velocity, a position very much in line with the Galant aesthetic. We recorded live, direct to disk, consciously trying to recreate the intimate nature of a performance in the home, perhaps, as here, by master and student, for the enjoyment of the players themselves and for whomever else was in the room.

Musicians
Doc Rossi: Preston Cetra (1760s)
Andrea Damiani: Arch-lute (Zenobi 2001) and Baroque Guitar (Parizot 1777)

Remastered by Ian Dean at Arda Recorders

Format:

This remastered edition of Peter Pasqualini de Marzi’s Six Sonatas for the Cetra or Kitara takes me back to my life in Rome, studying with Andrea, discovering the delicate nature of the 18th-century cittern, or cetra, and trying to come to terms with what Andrea calls “a different kind of virtuosity”, one that favors color, dynamics and expression over velocity, a position very much in line with the Galant aesthetic. We recorded live, direct to disk, consciously trying to recreate the intimate nature of a performance in the home, perhaps, as here, by master and student, for the enjoyment of the players themselves and for whomever else was in the room.

Musicians
Doc Rossi: Preston Cetra (1760s)
Andrea Damiani: Arch-lute (Zenobi 2001) and Baroque Guitar (Parizot 1777)

Remastered by Ian Dean at Arda Recorders

We know from the introduction to Peter Pasqualini de Marzi’s Six Sonatas for the Cetra or Kitara that he enjoyed the patronage of the Countess of Pembroke. Although her husband Henry Herbert, tenth earl of Pembroke and seventh earl of Montgomery, seemed not to care much for her, George III had been infatuated with Lady Betty Spencer, as she was known in her youth, since they were both seventeen, when Lady Pembrokes’ brother and George both attended Eton. Perhaps Pasqualini tutored the always tactful and discrete Elizabeth in music at Pembroke House in London.

Pasqualini spent some years teaching and playing in Ireland, where he met his wife, and in The Netherlands, before settling in London, where he was a regular cellist in Handel’s orchestra. In addition to the sonatas recorded here, he published two collections of Solos for two Violoncellos (op. 1 and 2), with approximate dates of 1750, the first published by John Walsh, the second by John Johnson. Perhaps his Six Sonatas for the Cetra or Kitara is op. 3.

Johnson also published Pasqualini’s Six Sonatas. He was active from 1740 until his death in 1762, when his widow apparently took over until 1777. His trade sign ‘The Harp and Crown’ was in use from 1748 until it was acquired by Longman and Co. in 1767. As the sign appears on Pasqualini’s title page, the date of publication would most likely fall between 1748-67.

Typical of the Galant style, Pasqualini’s melodies point to the elegance and clarity of the Classical style, yet with the figuration so typical of the Baroque. The harmony sketched out in the basso continuo does not often display the modulation associated with the Baroque, yet it is not as tonic-dominant oriented as later music. Neither is the harmony so dramatic or dark as Baroque harmony can be: the emphasis is on a pleasant lightness well- suited to the major-chord tuning.

Ireland was important in Pasqualini’s life, so between his sonatas I have played some traditional Irish tunes dating from the eighteenth century.

The cittern I play on this recording was built by John Preston, who worked in London in the second half of the 18th century. It is a typical instrument of the period, fitted with a watch-key tuning mechanism. It was restored in 1999 by Roberto Gabrielli of Rome.

Andrea Damiani plays a five-course guitar built by Parizot of Nantes in 1777, which is tuned with bordone. The archlute was made by Roman liutaio Renzo Zenobi in 2001, after an instrument by Matteo Sellas.