Bettina Hoffmann
Catalogue of Solo and Chamber Music for Viola da Gamba
author
Kress (Johann Jakob)
ca.1685-1728
work information
XII Sonate à Viola da Gamba Sola col Baßo
manuscript
manuscript
scoring
vs (?) + bc
where
source
D-Kl 2° Ms Mus. 35
D-B Klingenberg 83; GB-Lbl 33296 (modern copies)
D-B Klingenberg 83; GB-Lbl 33296 (modern copies)
online copy
modern edition(s)
Hortus Musicus (HM33, 3 sonatas, for recorder), Güntersberg (attributed to Händel)
further information
notes
The manuscript is anonymous, the author is inferred thanks to the concordance, discovered by Nikolaus Delius, of sonatas VII-XII with Sei Sonate à Flauto Solo. Di Kress preserved in Rostock (D-ROu mus. saec. XVII. 18,-20/6). Given the perfect stylistic uniformity of the 12 sonatas, it is to be assumed that the first six sonatas of the Kassel manuscript are also by the same Kress.
That the author is probably Johann Jacob Kress, and not his son Georg Philipp (1719-1779), is suggested by stylistic considerations and by the insignia of Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (1654-1730), impressed on the manuscript’s cover. In KrügerE-2006 the six Rostock sonatas are attributed to Johann Jakob Kress, in Grove to Georg Philipp.
The title of the manuscript with the instrumental indication is inconsistent with the music because it is written by a different hand and in pencil; it may be added later and the intention to the viol may be erroneous.
Both manuscripts, D-Kl and D-ROu, have the upper part notated in French violin clef (G1). The Rostock manuscript is probably intended for the recorder. In the Kassel manuscript four sonatas are lowered by one tone.
The title of the copy in GB-Lbl incorrectly reads '11 sonatas'.
That the author is probably Johann Jacob Kress, and not his son Georg Philipp (1719-1779), is suggested by stylistic considerations and by the insignia of Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (1654-1730), impressed on the manuscript’s cover. In KrügerE-2006 the six Rostock sonatas are attributed to Johann Jakob Kress, in Grove to Georg Philipp.
The title of the manuscript with the instrumental indication is inconsistent with the music because it is written by a different hand and in pencil; it may be added later and the intention to the viol may be erroneous.
Both manuscripts, D-Kl and D-ROu, have the upper part notated in French violin clef (G1). The Rostock manuscript is probably intended for the recorder. In the Kassel manuscript four sonatas are lowered by one tone.
The title of the copy in GB-Lbl incorrectly reads '11 sonatas'.
bibliography
Fred Flassig, Die solistische Gambenmusik in Deutschland im 18. Jahrhundert, Göttingen, Cuvillier Verlag, 1998
, p. 243 Ekkehard Krüger, Die Musikaliensammlungen des Erbprinzen Friedrich Ludwig von Württemberg-Stuttgart und der Herzogin Luise Friederike von Mecklenburg-Schwerin in der Universitätsbibliothek Rostock, Beskow, Ortus, 2006, pp. 539-540