Customer Reviews

Instrumental Music (Pergolesi, Giovanni Battista//Complete Works: Opere Complete)

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Giovanni Battista Pergolesi only lived to be 26 years old. While he had gained some reputation after a six year career as a composer, the circle was still small. His fame spread posthumously and the demand for his compositions grew. The problem is that there are only a few dozen of them. Yet, you can look around in books of music and on CDs and find hundreds of works attributed to him. You see, supply will meet persistent demand. I know that I learned the name of Pergolesi from its connection to Stravinsky's "Pulcinella". However, scholars have shown that the works Stravinsky arranged and adapted for that work were from other composers.

This fine volume contains the known and verified instrumental works by Pergolesi. They are a sonata for violoncello, a single movement two voice sonata for harpsichord, a sonata for organ, a sonata for violin and bass, and a concerto for solo violin and small ensemble. You can see that it is not a large catalog. Nevertheless, having them in a scholarly edition such as this is very valuable.

About half of the book consists of scholarly articles on these works, several issues of performance practice, style, historical background, why these works are considered authentic and others are not, sources, a statement of editorial practices, and consideration of other editions. There is also critical commentary on the printed music at the end of the volume. All of the scholarly material is interesting, well written, and enlightening.

The large format makes the music very clear and easy to read.

I consider this volume and the entire Pergolesi collected works to be a treasure of music.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI