Alfonso Ferrabosco II: Complete Music for Solo Lyra Viol

Featuring

Paolo Pandolfo
Alfonso Ferrabosco the younger

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Performer Biography

Paolo Pandolfo, the performer on this album, has been a leading viola da gambist for thirty years and succeeded Jordi Savall as professor of viola da gamba at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in 1989.

Recording & Production

This recording precisely follows the structure of Ferrabosco's 1609 print, grouping the 53 solo pieces by three different tunings, each creating a distinct sound.

Compositional Technique

Ferrabosco's Lessons for Solo Lyra Viol use 'scordatura' (retuning of strings) to extend the instrument's register and multiply resonances, creating an 'invisible virtuosity'.

Cultural Impact

The polyphonic writing for a single instrument in Ferrabosco's lyra viol music is seen as a precursor to J.S. Bach's solo cello suites and solo violin sonatas and partitas.

Composition History

The composer, Alfonso Ferrabosco the Younger, dedicated his 1609 publication of Lessons for 1. 2. and 3. Viols to Henry Wriothesley, the third Earl of Southampton, who was also a patron of poets like Ben Jonson and Shakespeare.

Instruments

The lyra viol on this recording, built by Pierre Bohr, includes sympathetic strings, a feature described by Michael Praetorius in 1619 as increasing and enhancing the beauty of harmony.

Composer Biography

Alfonso Ferrabosco the Younger, the composer of this work, was abandoned by his father, Alfonso Ferrabosco the Elder, at age three and grew up in foster care in London.