570551bk Weiss US 15/2/08 16:34
manuscript was originally brought to Russia by
Bielogradsky in 1739, it is interesting to see how, in
Sonata No. 94 in G minor, one of the Moscow ‘partitas’
attributed to ‘Signor Veiss’, the composer seems
consciously to be experimenting in a style more like that
of the following generation. The movements are not
long – in fact rather modest in length by Weiss’s
standards – yet this is clearly not an early work. The use
of triplets and certain harmonies remind one of the ‘pre-
classical’ style, perhaps above all, that of Johann Adolf
Hasse, whose appointment as Dresden’s Kapellmeister
in 1730 had a profound effect there. Weiss and
Bielogradsky worked closely in the opera house for
several years with Hasse and his wife, the great soprano
Faustina Bordoni; in 1741 the glittering couple acted as
baptismal sponsors for Weiss’s son, Johann Adolf
Faustinus Weiss.
The opening Andante is an allemande in all but
name; such a change to generalised tempo indications
Robert Barto
8.570551
Page 4
rather than dance-titles is not unusual in later sources of
lute music. It is a sad movement, largely built on a Silvius Leopold
WEISS
sequence of chromatic descents, delicately embellished
with triplet figuration. The Courante, the humorous
Paisane and the closing Gigue are rather more typical of
Weiss’s middle-period music, while the Polonaise gives
us a rare authentic Weiss example of the Germanised
version of the stately Polish dance that is said to have
become popular throughout Europe following the
unification in 1697 of the Polish Crown with the Saxon
Lute Sonatas, Volume 9
Electorship in the person of August the Strong, Weiss’s
first employer at Dresden. Nos. 32, 52 and 94
© Tim Crawford
Robert Barto
1
D. Smith, T. Crawford, D. Kirsch, eds, Silvius
Leopold Weiss, Sämtliche Werke für Laute (Frankfurt:
Peters, and Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1983- )
Robert Barto graduated from the University of
California, San Diego, having specialised in historical
lute performance. A Fulbright scholarship brought him
to Europe, where he continued his studies with
Michael Schaeffer in Cologne and Eugen Dombois in
Basle. In 1984 he was awarded first prize in the
International Lute Competition in Toronto, as well as
top prize of all instrumental soloists in the Musica
Antiqua Competition in Bruges, Belgium. Robert
Barto has performed throughout Europe and North
America including solo recitals in the Festival of
Flanders, the Utrecht Festival, ‘Music Before 1800’ in
New York City, as well as London’s Purcell Room.
Also in demand as a teacher, he is oftern on the faculty
of the Lute society of America summer school and has
given courses in Sweden, Italy and Spain. Recent tours
have included concerts and a masterclass in Tokyo.
4
570551bk Weiss US 15/2/08 16:34
Sylvius Leopold Weiss (1687–1750)
Lute Sonatas, Volume 9
The compositional output of the most famous
eighteenth-century lute-player, Silvius Leopold Weiss
was amazing. As the task of transcribing and editing his
complete works1 now enters its final phases, with the
two great manuscript collections in London and Dresden
now published, it has become clear that as well as 109
sonatas (averaging six movements each) and a further
ninety separate pieces which will appear in the edition,
we can account for roughly another 25 sonatas and forty
ensemble works which once existed but are now lost,
bringing the total number of separate sonata-movements
or pieces he composed to well over one thousand. When
we remember that these movements are usually not
much shorter than each of the 556 famous keyboard
sonatas of his contemporary and one-time colleague
Domenico Scarlatti, this figure becomes all the more
remarkable. Unlike Scarlatti’s sonatas, Weiss’s multi-
movement solo works share the formal framework of the
seventeenth-century baroque suite or partita, with an
optional opening prelude, fantasia or overture followed
by a roughly standard succession of dance movements:
an allemande (usually omitted after an overture), a
courante, a sarabande, a bourrée or gavotte, always a
minuet and a closing fast movement, most commonly a
gigue. Because they were not published in Weiss’s
lifetime, with very few exceptions it is hard – often
impossible – to date his sonatas with any degree of
certainty. This is certainly true of the three recorded
here; we are forced to rely on judgements of their
musical style, with only the rarest shred of external
evidence in support. The C minor Sonata, number 52 in
the complete works, shows all the signs of being a late
work, such as greatly extended movements with an
adventurous use of chromaticism and modulation within
the restrictions of the dance-forms; the F major, number
32, seems to be more representative of Weiss’s first
mature ‘middle’ period, while the the G minor sonata,
number 94, possibly from the mid-1730s, shows signs of
8.570551
Page 2
structures such as fugues in his extempore
performances.
Among Weiss’s many movements in
experiments in the latest modern musical style. improvisational style are many preludes as well as a
Sonata No. 52 in C minor is one of the fifteen or so good number of fantasias. Several contain fugal sections
large-scale sonatas that Weiss scholars generally agree in which the impression is sometimes given that the
represent the composer’s full maturity. These ‘late’ music is in more contrapuntal voices than it actually is –
sonatas cannot be precisely dated, but must come mostly a good example of the ‘tricks of the trade’ that are part
from the 1740s. Like J. S. Bach’s music of the same of good idiomatic writing for an instrument like the lute.
period, they cannot be said to be ‘modern’ in style, but This is sometimes done by Weiss in more formal
they are true master-works, wedding technical assurance settings, such as in the Ouverture that opens the C minor
with expressive power in a manner that shows us why Sonata. This is in standard French-overture form in three
these two men were so famous in their age. For, while it sections: an imposing Largo is followed by a fugal
is unquestionably Bach’s reputation that has survived Allegro, and the movement is concluded by a return to
through the medium of his wonderful body of the opening mood, here marked Vivace. The central
compositions of every kind, in the eighteenth century he episode is a masterful example of quasi-counterpoint, in
was famous above all not as a composer but as which Weiss gives the impression of a fugue without
Germany’s finest organist. Silvius Weiss held a similar using any more than three voices at most; for most of the
reputation as a performer, but on an instrument that soon time he only uses two. The Courante shows Weiss
after his death was all but forgotten until modern times. extending the normal limits of the conventional dance
Above all through the efforts of today’s lute-players, form; the movement has no fewer than 94 measures,
Weiss’s music for the instrument is beginning to be twice the length of those by Bach or Handel. The
recognised as worthy to stand alongside his more opening passage of the Bourrée makes use of the
famous contemporary’s instrumental works, even lutenistic special effect known as ‘campanella’, in
though relatively few of his sonatas have appeared in which open and stopped strings alternate rapidly to give
print. One thing that comes across powerfully is that this a bell-like sound. Instead of the more usual sarabande,
is music that begs to be performed and enjoyed Weiss substitutes a gentle Siciliana in E flat, which is
intimately, rather than just studied on the page – in this followed by a Menuet in the home key. The Presto is an
respect it has benefited enormously from recordings. In example of one of Weiss’s favourite types of finale,
almost every piece there is some point at which Weiss owing much to the style of the concerto, a genre in
springs some sort of surprise on the attentive listener, which he also excelled.
whether it be an unexpected quirk of melody, a sudden Three copies survive of the Sonata No. 32 in F
asymmetry of phrasing or a disconcerting twist in the major, representing two distinct versions; that from the
harmony. To be sure, these moments of ‘fantasy’, Dresden manuscript is played here. As with many of
upsetting what we think of as the conventions of those that come down to us in multiple copies, there is
eighteenth-century taste, are often quite subtle and evidence that Weiss made minor revisions to this sonata,
fleeting, but they are always deftly handled, and convey probably when giving copies to pupils; sometimes, as in
the sense of a performer with a strongly individual style. this case, he added or substituted entire movements.
And by ‘performer’, of course, we also mean While it requires the extra low notes characteristic of the
‘improviser’: like Bach, Weiss had legendary powers in enlarged, thirteen-course lute introduced around 1717,
improvising at length, even producing complex these are not handled with the fluency we find in the late
2 3
works, where Weiss fully exploits the technical
possibilities of the newer instrument; one could perform
this sonata on the earlier eleven-course lute without
doing much damage to the music. Furthermore, the
movements are shorter than we usually find in later
works. We can thus tentatively suggest a date of around
1720-25 for this sonata. The stately opening Allemande
is followed by a flowing Courante in which Weiss
presents idea after idea in more-or-less continuous
succession. After the energetic Bourrée comes a typical
Weiss Sarabande in which he shows his gift for
cantabile melody enhanced by tasteful embellishment.
As well as the graceful Menuet of the early version,
Weiss introduces a second Menuet in contrasting style
for this revision, and a lively Gigue in 9/8 rhythm
replaces the more conventional original one in 6/8.
Apart from the 391 movements in the large
manuscript collections in London and Dresden that are
dedicated to his compositions, Weiss’s music is mostly
scattered among sources which are more miscellaneous
in nature. One manuscript, now in the Glinka Museum
in Moscow, is especially unusual, however, in that it was
copied in Russia a decade and a half after the
composer’s death; it remains the only surviving Russian
manuscript of lute music. While we cannot be
completely certain about it, there seems every reason to
suppose some direct connection with a distinguished
pupil of Weiss, the Ukrainian musician, Timofei
Bielogradsky, who was sent to Dresden in 1733 to study
with him; on his return to Moscow six years later,
Bielogradsky was appointed lutenist to the Russian
Imperial court, where he remained in continuous
employment until he retired on a state pension in 1767.
In spite of a title-page which implies that the whole
contents comprised music by Weiss, it is clear on close
examination that, apart from a few otherwise unknown
pieces which are explicitly ascribed to him, much of the
music is by others – possibly including Bielogradsky
himself, of course, although we have no documentary
evidence that he composed at all. Assuming, on the
balance of probabilities, that the music in the Moscow
8.570551
570551bk Weiss US 15/2/08 16:34
Sylvius Leopold Weiss (1687–1750)
Lute Sonatas, Volume 9
The compositional output of the most famous
eighteenth-century lute-player, Silvius Leopold Weiss
was amazing. As the task of transcribing and editing his
complete works1 now enters its final phases, with the
two great manuscript collections in London and Dresden
now published, it has become clear that as well as 109
sonatas (averaging six movements each) and a further
ninety separate pieces which will appear in the edition,
we can account for roughly another 25 sonatas and forty
ensemble works which once existed but are now lost,
bringing the total number of separate sonata-movements
or pieces he composed to well over one thousand. When
we remember that these movements are usually not
much shorter than each of the 556 famous keyboard
sonatas of his contemporary and one-time colleague
Domenico Scarlatti, this figure becomes all the more
remarkable. Unlike Scarlatti’s sonatas, Weiss’s multi-
movement solo works share the formal framework of the
seventeenth-century baroque suite or partita, with an
optional opening prelude, fantasia or overture followed
by a roughly standard succession of dance movements:
an allemande (usually omitted after an overture), a
courante, a sarabande, a bourrée or gavotte, always a
minuet and a closing fast movement, most commonly a
gigue. Because they were not published in Weiss’s
lifetime, with very few exceptions it is hard – often
impossible – to date his sonatas with any degree of
certainty. This is certainly true of the three recorded
here; we are forced to rely on judgements of their
musical style, with only the rarest shred of external
evidence in support. The C minor Sonata, number 52 in
the complete works, shows all the signs of being a late
work, such as greatly extended movements with an
adventurous use of chromaticism and modulation within
the restrictions of the dance-forms; the F major, number
32, seems to be more representative of Weiss’s first
mature ‘middle’ period, while the the G minor sonata,
number 94, possibly from the mid-1730s, shows signs of
8.570551
Page 2
structures such as fugues in his extempore
performances.
Among Weiss’s many movements in
experiments in the latest modern musical style. improvisational style are many preludes as well as a
Sonata No. 52 in C minor is one of the fifteen or so good number of fantasias. Several contain fugal sections
large-scale sonatas that Weiss scholars generally agree in which the impression is sometimes given that the
represent the composer’s full maturity. These ‘late’ music is in more contrapuntal voices than it actually is –
sonatas cannot be precisely dated, but must come mostly a good example of the ‘tricks of the trade’ that are part
from the 1740s. Like J. S. Bach’s music of the same of good idiomatic writing for an instrument like the lute.
period, they cannot be said to be ‘modern’ in style, but This is sometimes done by Weiss in more formal
they are true master-works, wedding technical assurance settings, such as in the Ouverture that opens the C minor
with expressive power in a manner that shows us why Sonata. This is in standard French-overture form in three
these two men were so famous in their age. For, while it sections: an imposing Largo is followed by a fugal
is unquestionably Bach’s reputation that has survived Allegro, and the movement is concluded by a return to
through the medium of his wonderful body of the opening mood, here marked Vivace. The central
compositions of every kind, in the eighteenth century he episode is a masterful example of quasi-counterpoint, in
was famous above all not as a composer but as which Weiss gives the impression of a fugue without
Germany’s finest organist. Silvius Weiss held a similar using any more than three voices at most; for most of the
reputation as a performer, but on an instrument that soon time he only uses two. The Courante shows Weiss
after his death was all but forgotten until modern times. extending the normal limits of the conventional dance
Above all through the efforts of today’s lute-players, form; the movement has no fewer than 94 measures,
Weiss’s music for the instrument is beginning to be twice the length of those by Bach or Handel. The
recognised as worthy to stand alongside his more opening passage of the Bourrée makes use of the
famous contemporary’s instrumental works, even lutenistic special effect known as ‘campanella’, in
though relatively few of his sonatas have appeared in which open and stopped strings alternate rapidly to give
print. One thing that comes across powerfully is that this a bell-like sound. Instead of the more usual sarabande,
is music that begs to be performed and enjoyed Weiss substitutes a gentle Siciliana in E flat, which is
intimately, rather than just studied on the page – in this followed by a Menuet in the home key. The Presto is an
respect it has benefited enormously from recordings. In example of one of Weiss’s favourite types of finale,
almost every piece there is some point at which Weiss owing much to the style of the concerto, a genre in
springs some sort of surprise on the attentive listener, which he also excelled.
whether it be an unexpected quirk of melody, a sudden Three copies survive of the Sonata No. 32 in F
asymmetry of phrasing or a disconcerting twist in the major, representing two distinct versions; that from the
harmony. To be sure, these moments of ‘fantasy’, Dresden manuscript is played here. As with many of
upsetting what we think of as the conventions of those that come down to us in multiple copies, there is
eighteenth-century taste, are often quite subtle and evidence that Weiss made minor revisions to this sonata,
fleeting, but they are always deftly handled, and convey probably when giving copies to pupils; sometimes, as in
the sense of a performer with a strongly individual style. this case, he added or substituted entire movements.
And by ‘performer’, of course, we also mean While it requires the extra low notes characteristic of the
‘improviser’: like Bach, Weiss had legendary powers in enlarged, thirteen-course lute introduced around 1717,
improvising at length, even producing complex these are not handled with the fluency we find in the late
2 3
works, where Weiss fully exploits the technical
possibilities of the newer instrument; one could perform
this sonata on the earlier eleven-course lute without
doing much damage to the music. Furthermore, the
movements are shorter than we usually find in later
works. We can thus tentatively suggest a date of around
1720-25 for this sonata. The stately opening Allemande
is followed by a flowing Courante in which Weiss
presents idea after idea in more-or-less continuous
succession. After the energetic Bourrée comes a typical
Weiss Sarabande in which he shows his gift for
cantabile melody enhanced by tasteful embellishment.
As well as the graceful Menuet of the early version,
Weiss introduces a second Menuet in contrasting style
for this revision, and a lively Gigue in 9/8 rhythm
replaces the more conventional original one in 6/8.
Apart from the 391 movements in the large
manuscript collections in London and Dresden that are
dedicated to his compositions, Weiss’s music is mostly
scattered among sources which are more miscellaneous
in nature. One manuscript, now in the Glinka Museum
in Moscow, is especially unusual, however, in that it was
copied in Russia a decade and a half after the
composer’s death; it remains the only surviving Russian
manuscript of lute music. While we cannot be
completely certain about it, there seems every reason to
suppose some direct connection with a distinguished
pupil of Weiss, the Ukrainian musician, Timofei
Bielogradsky, who was sent to Dresden in 1733 to study
with him; on his return to Moscow six years later,
Bielogradsky was appointed lutenist to the Russian
Imperial court, where he remained in continuous
employment until he retired on a state pension in 1767.
In spite of a title-page which implies that the whole
contents comprised music by Weiss, it is clear on close
examination that, apart from a few otherwise unknown
pieces which are explicitly ascribed to him, much of the
music is by others – possibly including Bielogradsky
himself, of course, although we have no documentary
evidence that he composed at all. Assuming, on the
balance of probabilities, that the music in the Moscow
8.570551
570551bk Weiss US 15/2/08 16:34
manuscript was originally brought to Russia by
Bielogradsky in 1739, it is interesting to see how, in
Sonata No. 94 in G minor, one of the Moscow ‘partitas’
attributed to ‘Signor Veiss’, the composer seems
consciously to be experimenting in a style more like that
of the following generation. The movements are not
long – in fact rather modest in length by Weiss’s
standards – yet this is clearly not an early work. The use
of triplets and certain harmonies remind one of the ‘pre-
classical’ style, perhaps above all, that of Johann Adolf
Hasse, whose appointment as Dresden’s Kapellmeister
in 1730 had a profound effect there. Weiss and
Bielogradsky worked closely in the opera house for
several years with Hasse and his wife, the great soprano
Faustina Bordoni; in 1741 the glittering couple acted as
baptismal sponsors for Weiss’s son, Johann Adolf
Faustinus Weiss.
The opening Andante is an allemande in all but
name; such a change to generalised tempo indications
Robert Barto
8.570551
Page 4
rather than dance-titles is not unusual in later sources of
lute music. It is a sad movement, largely built on a Silvius Leopold
WEISS
sequence of chromatic descents, delicately embellished
with triplet figuration. The Courante, the humorous
Paisane and the closing Gigue are rather more typical of
Weiss’s middle-period music, while the Polonaise gives
us a rare authentic Weiss example of the Germanised
version of the stately Polish dance that is said to have
become popular throughout Europe following the
unification in 1697 of the Polish Crown with the Saxon
Lute Sonatas, Volume 9
Electorship in the person of August the Strong, Weiss’s
first employer at Dresden. Nos. 32, 52 and 94
© Tim Crawford
Robert Barto
1
D. Smith, T. Crawford, D. Kirsch, eds, Silvius
Leopold Weiss, Sämtliche Werke für Laute (Frankfurt:
Peters, and Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1983- )
Robert Barto graduated from the University of
California, San Diego, having specialised in historical
lute performance. A Fulbright scholarship brought him
to Europe, where he continued his studies with
Michael Schaeffer in Cologne and Eugen Dombois in
Basle. In 1984 he was awarded first prize in the
International Lute Competition in Toronto, as well as
top prize of all instrumental soloists in the Musica
Antiqua Competition in Bruges, Belgium. Robert
Barto has performed throughout Europe and North
America including solo recitals in the Festival of
Flanders, the Utrecht Festival, ‘Music Before 1800’ in
New York City, as well as London’s Purcell Room.
Also in demand as a teacher, he is oftern on the faculty
of the Lute society of America summer school and has
given courses in Sweden, Italy and Spain. Recent tours
have included concerts and a masterclass in Tokyo.
4
570551rear Weiss US 15/2/08 16:35 Page 1

CMYK
NAXOS

NAXOS
When Sylvius Leopold Weiss died (in 1750, the year of Bach’s death), he was eulogised as
Europe’s greatest lutenist and one of Germany’s most gifted musicians. This series devoted
to his complete lute works continues with the large-scale Sonata No. 52. Thought to be a late
work of the composer’s full maturity, this Sonata is notable for its extended movements and
wide use of adventurous chromaticism and modulation. The Sonata No. 32 makes much use 8.570551
of the extra low notes characteristic of the enlarged thirteen-course lute introduced around
WEISS: Lute Sonatas, Vol. 9

WEISS: Lute Sonatas, Vol. 9

1717. In the Sonata No. 94 Weiss seems consciously to be experimenting in a style more akin DDD
to that of the following generation.
Playing Time
Silvius Leopold 65:29
WEISS
(1687–1750)
Sonata No. 52 in C minor 30:58 0 Sarabande 5:02
1 Ouverture 6:58 ! Menuet I 2:36
2 Courante assai moderato 4:31 @ Menuet II 2:13
3 Bourrée 4:27 # Gigue 2:09
4 Siciliana 5:53 Sonata No. 94 in G minor 12:40
5 Menuet 3:24
6 Presto 5:45 $ Andante 3:09
% Courante 2:09
Sonata No. 32 in F major 21:50 ^ Paisane 1:49

www.naxos.com
Disc Made in Canada • Printed & Assembled in USA
Booklet notes in English
 &  2008 Naxos Rights International Ltd.
7 Allemande 3:46 & Polonaise 3:23
8 Courante 3:29 * Gigue 2:10
9 Bourrée 2:35

Robert Barto, Baroque Lute

Recorded in St Andrew’s Church, Toddington, Gloucestershire, UK, from 10th to 12th April 2007
8.5 7 055 1

8. 5 705 5 1
Producer and Engineer: John Taylor • Booklet Notes: Tim Crawford
Lute made by Andrew Rutherford, New York 2004
Cover Picture: Portrait of a Lute Player (detail) by Antonio Domenico Gabbiani (1652–1726)
(Museo di Strumenti Musicali, Florence, Italy / AKG London)