In 1729 Johann Sebastian Bach, who for the last six years had been working as a cantor in Leipzig, was appointed director of the renowned Collegium Musicum – a private music society performing works for instruments with and without vocal parts. Before Bach took up that post, Gottfried Zimmermann, owner of the most prominent Leipzig cafe, began working with the Collegium. His establishment, located on a grand avenue in the city, had a large hall that could host concerts by large ensembles. They were held once a week under the banner Ordinaire Concerten, and the Collegium director was responsible for their preparation and execution. We may assume, therefore, that during the 1730s a significant part of Bach’s chamber repertoire could be heard in Zimmermann’s cafe, including his Sonatas for harpsichord obligato and viola da gamba, BWV 1027–1029. The term obligato in the title emphasises the significant role of the harpsichord in these compositions. It is not just a backdrop to the viola da gamba, but is treated on a par with the soloist’s part, and in some cases the harpsichord is even given the role of concerting instrument. In the case of the Sonata, BWV 1030.1, also arranged in a version for harpsichord and flute, only the harpsichord part has come down to us. Scholars suspect that the melodic instrument could have been violin or oboe, but the stylistic similarity to the Sonatas, BWV 1027–1029 allows it to be performed in a version with viola da gamba as well.

Simply… Philharmonic! Project 3:

The seventeenth-century gambist Jean Rousseau, in the preface to his Traité de la viole, described the history of the viola da gamba. He emphasised the special role of the English in the instrument’s development, pointing to their links to the composing of the first chordal works for viola da gamba and to their dissemination in other kingdoms. Although Rousseau’s interests were focussed mainly on the French school of viola da gamba playing at that time, he noted how, before the instrument reached France, the English traditions spread to German lands. Towards the end of the seventeenth century, those traditions were influenced by a local school of violin virtuosity, which led to an equally virtuosic treatment of the viola da gamba. A significant development in the north of Germany was the composing of sonatas for viola da gamba and an obligato keyboard instrument; three such works were written in Leipzig by Johann Sebastian Bach. In Berlin, one of the most outstanding gambists of the day, Ludwig Christian Hesse, collaborated with Johann Gottlieb Graun, and his skill probably inspired Graun to compose concertos of a virtuosic character. The history of the German School ended with Carl Friedrich Abel, whose output included twenty-seven demanding compositions for solo viola da gamba, inscribed together with seventeen sonatas by Arcangelo Corelli and an anonymous harpsichord work in The Drexel Manuscript.

Daniel Laskowski