VANCOUVER BACH  FESTIVAL 2021

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 4 AT 12:15 PM | CHAN CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

the artists programme

Mélisande Corriveau
pardessus de viole
PARDESSUS IN PARADISE
and
Eric Milnes
harpsichord Louis de Caix D’Hervelois (1680-1759)
Suite in d minor
Ve livre de pièces pour un pardessus de viole A Cinq et Six cordes
The pardessus de viole used for avec la Basse, Xe Oeuvre (1753)
this concert is a rare exemplar, Prélude - La Tourolle - La Diligence - Sarabande -
dated 1755, from the workshop La Légèreté - Menuets 1, 2 et 3
of Pierre LePilleur, Paris,
“faiseurs d’instruments”
for the Musketeers Jean Bodin de Boismortier (1689-1755)
Second Sonata in g minor
Oeuvre soixante-uniéme contenant VI sonates Pour le Pardessus de Viole
Avec la Basse (1736)
Gravement - Courante - Rondeau Gracieusement - Gigue

Charles Dollé (c.1710-c.1755)

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH Sonatas, Duo and pieces for the pardessus de viole,
Second volume (1737)
Chan Endowment Fund
at the University of
British Columbia
La Favoritte (Tendrement) - Les Regrets (Affectueusement)

Charles Dollé
Sonata 1 in a minor
THE UNAUTHORISED USE OF
Adagio - Allegro ma non tropo - Sarabanda - Giga Allegro
ANY VIDEO OR AUDIO RECORDING
DEVICE IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED

Jean-Sébastien Bach (1685-1750)

Early Music Vancouver
Trio Sonata No 3 in d minor bwv 527 (transcribed from the Organ Sonata)
1254 West 7th Avenue,
Vancouver BC, V6H 1B6 Andante - Adagio e dolce - Vivace
tel: 604.732.1610
fax: 604.732.1602
[email protected] THIS PROGRAMME WILL BE PERFORMED WITHOUT AN INTERVAL
earlymusic.bc.ca Early Music Vancouver acknowledges that we are gathered on the traditional, ancestral
and unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples – Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō
and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations.

earlymusic.bc.ca PARDESSUS IN PARADISE Vancouver Bach Festival 2021  1

PROGRAMME NOTES
by mélisande corriveau

The pardessus de viole - the “woman’s violin”

The works selected for this concert present a vibrant array of French musical styles, which developed,
intermingled, and competed for the favour of both connaisseurs in the salon, and the public at such venues as
the Parisian Concert Spirituel, during the eighteenth century until the Revolution. The origin and development
of the pardessus de viole, that instrument known in France as “the woman’s violin”, coincided with the increasing
prominence of the violin in French instrumental fashion. Of particular interest is the pardessus’ status as the
final accrual to the beauteous viola da gamba family to enjoy great popularity in France.
Most of the works performed here are unpublished. They were selected from the microfilm collections of the
Bibliothèque Nationale de France. At the time of their composition, they catered to a large public, responding
to widespread demand for refined entertainment. They are without exception charming, playful, luminous,
and exquisitely elegant.

A brief history of the pardessus de viole

The smallest member of the viola da gamba family, music written for other treble instruments, including the
the  pardessus de viole  was designed to meet the expressive newly-emergent violin, was appropriated to its use. The violin,
needs of French society, was continually modified, and was present in France from the sixteenth century, was regarded as
ultimately abandoned. The instrument’s history is intriguing: the emblematic Italian instrument and was mainly associated
its idiomatic repertoire spans a mere half century, although with the lower classes, suited to dance or strolling, and
the instrument itself was in wide use for over a hundred years. appropriate to light entertainment. More serious and refined
Despite this brief appearance in the evolution of Western art music was, therefore, reserved for the viol family, which held
music, it is the subject of a remarkably rich history, and many a more prominent role in music at court. The dazzling success
of the most distinguished viol players of the period performed of Arcangelo Corelli’s (1653-1713) violin sonatas, as well as
on it. Composers of distinction wrote very beautiful music for performances by Italian virtuosi in France would incite French
it, and highly-skilled luthiers created marvelous exemplars, composers – or sonatistes – to write for the violin. Esteem for
some of which survive to this day. this instrument rose to a point where it eventually entered
a golden age that coincided with the popularity of the new
The  pardessus  originated in France at the end of the
sonata form. Passionate debates ensued between Italianist
seventeenth century, as the viola da gamba (both  dessus  or
enthusiasts and French purists. This dichotomy caused the viol
treble, and bass) had reached the pinnacle of a fertile period
to be associated with a certain Ancien Régime conservatism,
as a solo and chamber instrument, and firmly occupied a place
whereas violin-wielding Italianists considered themselves as
of privilege in music and spectacle at the court of Louis XIV.
more modern, free thinkers. 
Because the  Roi Soleil  himself loved and cherished the viola
da gamba throughout his reign, his noblemen and courtiers The violin’s early reputation as a “lowly instrument” made
showed a singular interest in it. This interest was revitalized it unsuitable for performance by members of French high
with the introduction of the new member of the viol family, society, particularly noblewomen – a bias that persisted
the pardessus. throughout the mid-eighteenth century. Proponents of the
older French style remained faithful to traditional viol practice.
What exactly was this new instrument? The  pardessus,  as
Many of them excelled at the bass viol and the  dessus,
its name indicates – the literal translation is: higher than the
and thus a transition to  pardessus  would have been much
treble. The first pardessus viols were small trebles, differently
more straightforward than attempting a whole new type of
strung. Eventually, luthiers of the École des Vieux Paris
instrument such as the violin. Because of its range, mastery
(notably Collichon and Bertrand) endowed it with its own
of the pardessus resulted in easier access to the growing violin
frame, a smaller soundboard, and proportionally smaller
repertoire, and in the mid-eighteenth century it had become
components.
the “woman’s violin”. As François-Alexandre-Pierre de Garsault
During the first twenty years following its appearance, the wrote in 1761, “Ladies hardly ever play the violin whereas the
precise role of the  pardessus  in musical life is obscure. In pardessus de viole may serve in its place, since it is capable of
the absence of any repertoire of its own during those years, playing nearly everything that may be executed on the violin”.

2  Vancouver Bach Festival 2021 PARDESSUS IN PARADISE [email protected]

Viols were especially popular with women and belonged to to change the instrument’s range, it did free the soundboard
the category of “feminine instruments”, along with the lute, of considerable pressure, resulting in a more resonant, pure,
the harp, and the harpsichord. Socially, these instruments and flute-like sound. The link between pardessus and violin is
enabled their players to maintain a more dignified demeanor clearly demonstrated by the existence of publications citing
according to norms of propriety: “…ladies shall play the treble the interchangeable use of one instrument or the other. We
viol with five strings and never the violin, as the position involved see at this time a vast increase in the number of idiomatic
in playing the violin in no way suits them. While their hands are works for the five string  pardessus. For its part, the six
too small to hold it, they also experience endless hardship in string pardessus remained in use for many years, although its
climbing to the high positions…. which can be done easily and tuning, which includes a central major third, is less practical
without shifting on the first string of the quinton as well as on the when playing music written for violin.
pardessus de viole with five strings”. (Michel Corrette c.1748). In the early 1760s, a four string pardessus was conceived with
Ladies would also have been troubled by neck marks caused the object of imitating perfectly violinistic effects. Although
by regular violin practice, and also by the ways in which no specimen has survived, evidence suggests it was simply
playing a  da braccio  instrument could compromise costly a violin held vertically. Posuel de Verneaux reported in 1766
and intricate hairdressings. Over time, the popularity of the that “In Paris, many people play the pardessus de viole with four
instrument is seen to have extended beyond the confines of strings, the fingering and tuning being similar to that of a violin…” 
the nobility, and musical iconography from the period clearly
shows bourgeois women adopting its use, demonstrating the In the 1770s French composers continued to write for
instruments’ broader appeal. the pardessus until the instrument fell out of use by the end of
the eighteenth century. 
Repertoire specifically composed for pardessus began to appear
in the 1720s. The introduction of a five string  pardessus  in Seen in retrospect, the  pardessus’s physical resemblance to
the 1730s (or 1740s, depending on opinion) ushered in a the violin resulted in its loss of singularity, and consequently,
period of great popularity for the instrument (1730-1770). its raison d’être. Concurrently, evolving trends in public concerts
The  pardessus  was subjected to a series of transformations favoured the instrument less and less, relegating it to the salon.
during this time: the removal of a string, the narrowing of Finally, a relaxing of attitudes concerning the etiquette of da
the soundboard and other refinements to the neck rendered braccio playing of the violin, and its appropriateness for polite
it visually similar to the violin,  but a deeper commonality is society, further accelerated the demise of the pardessus. It
found in the respective instruments’ tuning: from lowest to would be abandoned even by its most loyal defenders : the
highest note, G-D-A-D-G on the five-string pardessus and G-D- nobility, women, and bourgeois intellectuals who would
A-E on the violin. Tuning in fifths on the lower three strings come to know the dark times of the Revolution (1789) and
of the  pardessus  further opened up the instrument to the would soon witness the destruction of “instruments of
violinistic repertoire. Although removing a string did nothing entertainment” at the hands of revolutionists. n

earlymusic.bc.ca PARDESSUS IN PARADISE Vancouver Bach Festival 2021  3

VANCOUVER

BACH
FESTIVAL
ONLINE CONCERTS:
NIGHTINGALES IN THE GARDEN
LE ROSSIGNOL SAUVAGE
COZZOLANI REUNITED
A TRIBUTE TO THE HOSPITALIÈRES
BARBARA STROZZI:
FROM TEARS TO LAUGHTER
THE CITY OF LADIES
Available online until August 6, 11 pm.
Access is free. Donations welcome.

2021/22
THE MAIN SEASON, WHICH WILL INCLUDE ONLINE
AND IN-PERSON CONCERTS, WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON AUGUST 30.