Time Travel: Fabio Biondi Records Rare Multi-Faceted Baroque Work

By Greg Cahill | From the September-October issue of Strings Magazine

Italian violinist and conductor Fabio Biondi—who founded period-instrument string orchestra Europa Galante in 1989—knows a thing or two about the continent’s ancient classical music. But even he was surprised to discover the little-known 7 Assaggi for solo violin by Swedish late-Baroque composer Johan Helmich Roman (1694–1758). “It was many years ago, during my research to discover music for solo violin—and then especially to have repertoire centered around Bach to create a program for a concert I was giving,” the 63-year-old violinist explains. “That was my first meeting with Roman’s music and the first time encountering his manuscripts.”

The new Biondi recording of Roman’s 7 Assaggi for solo violin, on the Naïve label, is revelatory in many ways: during his lifetime, Roman was a popular and well-traveled violinist and composer, infusing his composition with German, Italian, and French Baroque influences. The Assaggi is a shining example of the cross-fertilization underway in 18th-century European Baroque music. The reason, according to Biondi, is that Roman had the opportunity to meet many crucially important composers and performers throughout Europe, including Giuseppe Tartini in Italy, Johann Georg Pisendel in Germany, and George Frideric Handel, with whom he studied in London. According to music historian Eva Helenius, Roman was probably one of the 50 musicians who, in July 1717, performed Handel’s Water Music on a barge on the Thames. When the new opera conducted by the Royal Academy of Music opened at the King’s Theatre in 1720, Roman was once again in Handel’s orchestra. In Hamburg, he probably met Georg Philipp Telemann, whose Fantasias for Solo Violin Roman studied intensely. All of these encounters had a long-term influence on Roman’s style, Biondi notes, a different and important take on les goûts réunis, the “reunited tastes” amalgamating the styles of French and Italian Baroque.

The Assaggi are filled with haunting passages, all beautifully rendered by Biondi and recorded at the 450-year-old college at Sala Ghislieri, Fondazione Academia Montis Regalis in Mondovì, Italy. The Roman was recorded on a 1768 Gennaro Gagliano violin with gut strings (tuned to A440).

Strings asked Biondi about the recording.

What was your first impression of the Assaggi, upon discovering the Roman manuscript?

My impression was that the music was extremely interesting and different in style. It’s a mix of different languages—Italian, French—and I was excited. I was also impressed to read this music that was very close to the concept of Giuseppe Tartini’s sonatas for solo violin. Immediately my reaction was “OK, it’s wonderful, but I must be creative around this music, with the polyphony and other things,” because it appeared to invite the need to develop some solutions in terms of accord, harmony, and so on. That’s exactly the same impression that I have with Tartini’s music. 

People will be surprised to learn Roman was a Swedish composer but so well versed in Italian forms. How did that happen?

Of course, but he was a Swedish composer that traveled a lot. So his experience in London with Mr. Handel and his travels around Europe in Italy, etc., make this character of multi-language and different schools.

He was an important figure in his time. Why do you think his music has been overlooked?

The reason why we forget Roman is the same reason why we forget a major part of the history of all music. We just perform the music of some composers, and we forget other composers. The same has happened in opera and chamber music. So I’m not surprised about this. The circulation of the music in the time of Roman meant that his manuscript was not exported to other countries—the sources were not distributed in Europe. This is maybe the reason why he was forgotten.

His music is quite haunting. What was the quality that moved you and led you to record it?

The reason I decided to record Roman’s music was my experiences in concert. When I programmed a concert with a mix of the music of Bach, Telemann, and Roman, I was constantly very surprised about the reaction from the public. The public was extremely happy with the Roman music. And I thought it’s probably true that a record should be interesting for the market. 

Please tell me more about his French connection and how it is apparent in
his music.

Again, I think the formation of a composer in the 18th century was extremely important. The French style was an important style at that time, and I think Roman would have had contact with this literature. Thanks to Handel—he played in the Handel opera—and all the operas of Handel are full of tastes of French music, and probably he learned a lot about this vocabulary in London. 

Also, please elaborate on the distinctive harmonic aspects of his music.

Music for solo violin is difficult—and this is maybe the reason why many composers didn’t dedicate music to solo violin in the 18th century. From Roman, you have a nice subsequence of harmony. It’s never boring and never, never static in harmony. It’s poly-harmonical music. And this is also a wonderful particularity of his repertoire, maybe even more than his incorporation of Italian style, and particularly the Tartini sonata.

What are the challenges you faced in playing his unaccompanied solo works?

Again, I can say that there’s something magic when you play Roman, because immediately the reaction of the audience is extremely shining. And when playing in concert with a companion work, it is maybe a phase that gives you the opportunity to be a little more free in some aspects of the language and harmony. In any case, again, the audience is very happy. And I was so surprised that even with a monographic concept like Roman this is possible, because the audience reactions are constantly very, very, good. 

Why is it important for you to build on the repertoire for solo violin music?

Because we don’t have a lot of solo music for violin in the 18th century. We have—at the end of 18th century—some composers who dedicated some music in terms of caprices or exercises, but nothing was so rich in terms of pieces with different movements. I think it’s so important to understand the story of the violin. And the development of the idea of how to present a violin solo without accompaniment. It’s extremely important for a violinist, because it’s part of our training to understand how the music and the language have changed in relation to our instrument. 

Please describe the joy of researching obscure music.

It’s probably one of my most important objectives in life. I think the history of music is still not clear. We’ve forgotten a lot of composers. There were so many composers who were important parts of the larger story, and we forgot them systematically. And this is of course not only in solo violin music. This is especially clear in opera and in symphonic pieces. It’s extremely important to investigate the history of the music because it is the only way to understand correctly the development of the music in history. So for me, it’s particularly important to go in this direction. 

Is there anything else readers should know about Roman, about this recording, or about your own work?

Only that, of course, I try to take the hand of the audience and go together in this adventure of the rediscovery of the composer. And I am particularly glad to see the reaction with Roman. This gives me the enthusiasm to follow this parkour—this adventure. And I think it’s something that makes me happy, because I understand that the audience understands. I believe that the public today is very intelligent and needs to have more information.