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Thread: Baroque duets (Naudot, de Fesch, Boismortier)

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    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Default Baroque duets (Naudot, de Fesch, Boismortier)

    Going through various sheet music I have inherited from my mother, I've come across a collection of 24 short duets of Baroque dances, edited by Gertrud Keller and published by Otto Heinrich Noetzel Verlag in Germany in 1975 under the title "Terpsichore -- Die Tänze der Barockzeit". The edition is intended for two soprano recorders, but the keys fall nicely in the range of the mandolin and most of the original pieces were published without specific instrumentation, or for a wide range of possible instruments. The edition is still in print:

    https://www.loebnerblockfloeten.de/d...anblockfloeten

    Most of the pieces are readily available on IMSLP as well, but not always in this key -- those notated for flute are generally rather high to be comfortable on mandolin.

    Over the past few days, I have recorded eight of these pieces on my Embergher, mainly with tenor guitar for the second part (mandocello on one piece, the hornpipe by de Fesch), and I find them really enjoyable on mandolin. Fairly straightforward to play, although that always depends on tempo and on how many of the notated ornaments are incorporated. Good practice for trills, too.

    Five of the pieces I have recorded are by Jacques-Christophe Naudot (1690-1762), all from the same original publication of six dance suites:

    Jacques-Christophe Naudot (1690-1762): "6 Babioles pour 2 Vieles, Musettes, Flutes-a-bec, flutes traversieres, haubois, ou violons, sans basse", Op. 10

    All five pieces are also in IMSLP in modern transcriptions by Jürgen Knuth, some in the same key as I have used, some in a higher key:

    https://imslp.org/wiki/6_Babioles%2C...es-Christophe)

    1. Contredanse en rondeau I & II - "gaiement"


    https://youtu.be/XF7IRqXcxlM

    2. Sarabande - "tendrement"


    https://youtu.be/sTBd1b68-Vk

    3. Sauteuse I & II


    https://youtu.be/z6q1ZbQKzpQ

    4. Musette


    https://youtu.be/i3BlbdCZ2Fk

    5. Gigue I & II:


    https://youtu.be/18FlwWorAVk

    Two more of the pieces are by the Dutch composer Willem de Fesch -- I particularly like the minuet, but the hornpipe is nice too. Tenor guitar on the minuet, mandocello on the hornpipe.

    Willem de Fesch (1687-1761): 30 Duets, Op.11

    Both of these are on IMSLP as well, but in different keys:

    https://imslp.org/wiki/30_Duets%2C_O...%2C_Willem_de)

    1. Minuet


    https://youtu.be/IQLqz8RVuUk

    2. Hornpipe


    https://youtu.be/IR-wTDRYXpY

    The ninth (and for now final) piece I've tried is a lively rigaudon by Boismortier:

    Jacques-Christophe Boismortier (1691-1765): Rigaudon I & II
    From: 6 Suites and 2 Sonatas, Op.27


    https://imslp.org/wiki/6_Suites_and_...seph_Bodin_de)


    https://youtu.be/4H4F5nzkQUA

    Instrumentation for all videos:

    1915 Luigi Embergher mandolin
    Vintage Viaten tenor guitar (except the hornpipe which has a Suzuki MC-815 mandocello).

    Martin

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  3. #2
    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Default Re: Baroque duets (Naudot, de Fesch, Boismortier)

    I have now added three more Baroque duets from the same Gertrud Keller book, in the same instrumentation:

    1915 Luigi Embergher mandolin
    Vintage Viaten tenor guitar

    Georg Friederich Händel: Air I & II in D Major

    These two airs by Handel are printed in C major in Keller's book. They are also at IMSLP, in an edition by Jürgen Knuth in F major, but were originally written for harpsichord, in D major:

    https://imslp.org/wiki/Air_in_D_majo...orge_Frideric)

    There is no HWV number, but the composition survives in two authenticated manuscripts.


    https://youtu.be/xgCO-Owvcsk

    Johann Christoph Schultze (1733-1813) (?): Passepied
    From: Suite in F major


    This is quite a well-known passepied, which Keller prints in C major. It is also at IMSLP, in an edition by Jürgen Knuth in a different key:

    https://imslp.org/wiki/Suite_in_F_ma...ann_Christoph)

    According to IMSLP, authorship is uncertain and the suite may actually be by a different composer with a very similar name, Johann Christian Schultze, who was listed as a violinist in Berlin in 1713


    https://youtu.be/0x3I3tbzpZY

    Johann Adolf Hasse (1699-1783): Bourrée
    John Banister "The Younger" (1662 — 1736): Bourrée


    These two bourrées are originally unrelated but work nicely together as a set in F major, as presented by Keller. The Banister bourrée is also at IMSLP, in an edition by Jürgen Knuth in a different key:

    https://imslp.org/wiki/Bourr%C3%A9e_...er%27%2C_John)

    NB: This is a different John Banister from the better-known composer who lived from 1630-1679!


    https://youtu.be/3p6um8PCtoY

    Martin

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    Registered User Martin Jonas's Avatar
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    Default Re: Baroque duets (Naudot, de Fesch, Boismortier)

    Here are a final three selections from this small but very enjoyable book, after which it may be time to move on:

    1. Rondeau

    Jacques-Martin Hotteterre (1674 -1763): Rondeau II. Un peu moins léger
    From: Suite in G major, Op.6


    The original instrumentation was for any two melody instruments, e.g. violins, flutes or recorders -- as with almost all pieces from Keller's collection, Jürgen Knuth has put a free PDF on IMSLP (albeit in a different key):

    https://imslp.org/wiki/Suite_in_G_ma...re%2C_Jacques)


    https://youtu.be/KMFtfJbNoxE

    2. Allemande

    Johann Mattheson (1681 -1764): Allemande
    From: Sonata for 2 Flutes, Op.1 No.2


    Again, this is at IMSLP in an edition by Jürgen Knuth in a different key:

    https://imslp.org/wiki/Sonata_for_2_...son%2C_Johann)

    IMSLP has it in F major. I have played it in Keller's key of C major as a duet of mandolin and tenor guitar. The coda is marked "adagissimo", hence my extreme slowing down.


    https://youtu.be/GBW15bKJVb0

    3. Tambourin

    Esprit Philippe Chédeville (1696-1762): Tambourin II
    From: 6 Duos Galants, Op.5, Suite III


    Also at IMSLP in an edition by Jürgen Knuth in a different key:

    https://imslp.org/wiki/Tambourin_(Ch...prit_Philippe)

    The full suite that it comes from is at a separate IMSLP link:

    https://imslp.org/wiki/6_Duos_Galant...prit_Philippe)

    IMSLP has it in D minor. I have played it in Keller's key of A minor. As this dance needs the drum that gives it the name, I have tapped out a simple percussion pattern on the back of the tenor guitar.


    https://youtu.be/NM86QJeZibg

    Martin

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