This conference, taking place in the lecture room of the Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek in Dresden, was the fourth of the series dedicated to Giovanni Battista Pergolesi in the third centenary of his birth, after the conferences held in Naples in January (see the report by Angela Fiore in this journal (7/2, 338–341)), Milan in May and Rome in September. It was hosted by the Chair of Musicology of the Technische Universität Dresden and co-organized by the Domaine de Musicologie of the Université de Fribourg, the Centro Studi Pergolesi in Milan and the Fondazione Pergolesi Spontini in Jesi. Unfortunately, the host himself, Hans-Günter Ottenberg, was unable for health reasons to attend the conference, and was represented by Wolfgang Mende, who delivered his paper by proxy and watched over every organizational detail.
Before the opening session brief greeting speeches were addressed to the audience by Thomas Bürger (Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, Dresden), Matthias Klinghardt (Technische Universität, Dresden) and Claudio Toscani (Centro Studi Pergolesi, Milan). Vincenzo De Vivo (Fondazione Pergolesi Spontini, Jesi) recalled the efforts of the Pergolesi Foundation in the past and especially in the celebration year 2010.
After the greetings, the first session, chaired by Claudio Toscani (Università degli Studi di Milano), focused on the transmission of Neapolitan sacred music in central Europe. Janice B. Stockigt (University of Melbourne) reviewed Italian compositions in the collection of the Dresden Catholic church (now in the Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek of Dresden) from the viewpoint of a privileged source: the catalogue compiled under the supervision of Johann Georg Schürer in 1765. Lists of Pergolesi sources (with their present call numbers) and of all Italian composers mentioned in the catalogue provided stimulating material for discussion and further research. In my contribution (Claudio Bacciagaluppi, Université de Fribourg), I examined central European sources as evidence against the authenticity of the ‘third version’ of Pergolesi's Mass in D, and of the missa postuma in F. In early reception, before the 1752 querelle des bouffons, copying shops in Naples produced spurious pasticcio-parodies drawing on authentic works, while Pergolesi himself appears to have applied parody techniques only to single movements, mainly in newly composed works. The extensive research of Jóhannes Ágústsson (Reykjavík) in the Dresden State Archive has added considerably to our knowledge of Giovanni Alberto Ristori's time at the court of Naples (1738–1740). His role was that of an unofficial diplomat, taking advantage of his position as Queen Maria Amalia's music teacher. Disappointments in his financial situation and the lack of career prospects in Naples led finally to his return to Dresden in January 1740. Tomasz Jeż (Uniwersytet Warszawski) gave an ample overview of Neapolitan music in monastic centres in baroque Silesia. Transmission patterns appear to be specific to different religious institutions; for instance, monasteries were more up-to-date than regular clergy. Neapolitan music reached Silesia only after 1740. A prominent role in this process of transmission is held by the ‘Neapolitan’ Hasse and by contrafacta.
The second session, chaired by Bernhard Hentrich (Technische Universität Dresden), dealt with themes of performing practice, music education and editions. Claudio Toscani (Università degli Studi di Milano), in the context of the ongoing new edition of Pergolesi's complete works (Centro Studi Pergolesi and Fondazione Pergolesi Spontini), presented specific questions that have arisen in editing Pergolesi's autographs, citing features such as diverging dynamics or irregular barlines. Critical editions have to consider not only the development of musicological knowledge, but also the ever-growing skills of musicians in interpreting historical notation. Paolo Sullo (Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata) recalled the importance of solfeggi in the Neapolitan music education system. Leonardo Leo's solfeggi – usually composed in pairs – were reassembled in various orders during their European diffusion, to places including Dresden and lasting well into the nineteenth century. Kai Köpp (Hochschule der Künste Bern) presented examples in Pergolesi scores of what Joseph Riepel called musical ‘orthography’ (Gründliche Erklärung der Tonordnung insbesondere (Frankfurt, 1757), 21). Particularly in string articulation, written marks have to be considered as warning signals, pointing to exceptions to the standard ‘orthography’, as described by Quantz, Geminiani and others.
Barbara Marx (Technische Universität Dresden) presided over the session dedicated to Neapolitan music and musicians abroad. Alessandro Lattanzi (Pesaro) examined the complex tradition and different versions of a flute concerto in G attributed to Domenico De Micco which in other sources is arranged for oboe and attributed to Johann Adolf Hasse. A detailed analysis, suggesting (to me) De Micco's paternity as the more probable, also showed how further studies in the field of Neapolitan instrumental music are urgently needed. Stefano Aresi (Accademia Bizantina, Milan) re-examined philological evidence concerning Nicola Porpora's Duetti per la quaresima (1754) in the light of a manuscript from the estate of his pupil Gazzaniga and suggested that the works were composed in Vienna, but with a mind to Dresden court habits. Musically, they build a sort of monument to Porpora's compositional prowess, not unlike the Sonate XII di violino e basso. Paologiovanni Maione (Conservatorio di Musica D. Cimarosa, Avellino) presented a rich panoply of documents from the correspondence of Neapolitan diplomats in Dresden. Besides transmitting information on singers and musicians, they were often concerned with providing Maria Amalia in Naples with the latest output from her favourite composer, Hasse. The ‘travelling’ scores range from Neapolitan commissions (L'asilo d'Amore) to Dresden operas requested for an intended performance in the San Carlo (Arminio) and copies requested to satisfy a collector's interest (Demofoonte). Ortrun Landmann (Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, Dresden) gave an overview of the few documents actually testifying to Porpora's activities in Dresden. A detailed list of Porpora musical sources in Dresden will be given in the printed version of the paper.
The last two sessions, chaired by Wolfgang Mende (Technische Universität Dresden) and Francesco Cotticelli (Seconda Università di Napoli), were dedicated to the vast subject of Pergolesi reception history. Marc Niubo (Univerzita Karlova, Prague) examined the many threads that led to some fifty Pergolesi sources from the eighteenth century now being extant in Bohemia. One third of the sources come from the 1740s and 1750s, one third again are devoted to the Stabat mater. Of particular interest appear to be the many contrafacta. Niubo warned that most church music from the first half of the century is lost, and pleaded for a re-examination of the relationship of Pergolesi's music to the output of Czech composers. Václav Kapsa and Jana Spáčilová (Akademie věd České republiky, Prague, and Masarykova Univerzita, Brno) could not personally attend the conference, but contributed to the congress book with a joint paper on the very close ties to Italy of four Bohemian and Moravian aristocratic patrons of music: Baron Hartig (possibly Johann Hubert), Johann Adam Questenberg, Wenzel Morzin and Wolfgang Hannibal Schrattenbach (who was viceroy of Naples in 1719–1721). Raffaele Mellace (Università degli Studi di Milano) dealt with two theatrical subgenres, outlining the differences between Hasse's character comedy La sorella amante and Pergolesi's situation comedy Lo frate 'nnammurato, despite the similarities of their plot. The contribution by Roberto Scoccimarro (Berlin) was analytical, showing experiments by Leonardo Leo and Jan Dismas Zelenka in intermingling ritornello form and fugues in their sacred vocal music. Leo's ensemble pieces in his masses show an interest in expanding his compositional technique, while the complex choral movements in Zelenka's last masses strive rather towards an ideal of stylistic synthesis. Zelenka knew Neapolitan music well, and an influence might be suggested. This is arguably the case with Domenico Sarro, as Janice Stockigt pointed out in the discussion. Norbert Dubowy (Covington, Kentucky) outlined the vast panorama of the diffusion of the several genres of Neapolitan opera in central Europe, which derived – apart from personal exceptions such as Hasse – mainly from North Italian touring opera companies. The German translation of the libretto of Serva padrona for the 1739 Graz performance – the first outside Italy – was provided by the Viennese specialist Johann Leopold van Ghelen, suggesting some as yet unexplored connection with the Austrian capital. Finally, Hans-Günter Ottenberg (Technische Universität Dresden) examined the reception of Pergolesi's Serva padrona and Stabat mater in the German-speaking press of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Reception centred at first on Berlin, after the querelle des bouffons of 1752, and with Johann Adam Hiller and Johann Friedrich Reichardt. While the romantic myth of Pergolesi prospered (for example, that he was a Raphael of music), the Stabat mater was accepted only after some effort as a paradigm of noble, simple church music, and then performed continually. La serva padrona instead retained only historical interest after 1800.
Aside from the main programme, Karl Wilhelm Geck (Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden) led the participants through the fascinating exhibits of the library museum, and Andrea Hartmann (RISM, Arbeitsstelle Dresden) presented the work of the Dresden RISM section.
The conference highlighted, in my view, a number of commonly shared themes. First and foremost it confirmed the exceptional importance of Dresden and of the collections in its library for music history. This importance holds when one considers Dresden's role in the diffusion of the Neapolitan musical idiom, in both sacred and operatic genres. Another important matter is the role of diplomatic ties in the transmission of music. Paologiovanni Maione appealed for coordinated international efforts in searching diplomatic archives. Lastly, several papers brought examples that showed the relevance of central European sources for the study of Neapolitan music: perspectives on Naples from the North are making a welcome contribution to Pergolesi research. Publication of the congress report – with additional contributions – is planned, alongside the other Pergolesi conferences from the jubilee year 2010, in the series Pergolesi Studies.
