Sonata in G major & Concertino in D major, for Viola da Gamba, Violin, & ‘Cello, with optional harpsichord continuo.

Edited and realized by Dr David J Rhodes.

Previously unpublished
Now available from Asclepius Editions

      Dr. Charles Burney's much quoted remark following the death of the great virtuoso viola da gamba player and composer Carl Friedrich Abel in London in 1787 that Abel's "favorite instrument was not in general use and will probably die with him" (A General History of Music, 1776-89) is unfortunate. It has undoubtedly been the prime reason behind the general ignorance of a number of highly gifted gamba players and composers who continued to play and write music for their instrument well beyond this point in time. Joseph Fiala was a typical example.

  Born at Lochovice in Bohemia in 1748, Fiala learned several instruments and studied composition but was employed chiefly as an oboist at the courts of Oettingen-Wallerstein, Munich, Salzburg and Vienna in turn before leaving for St. Petersburg, from whence he returned to Germany only in 1790. In 1792 he was appointed as a cello virtuoso and later Kapellmeister at the Donauschingen court, where he remained active until his death in 1816. It was during his Salzburg years (1778-1785) that he concentrated more upon his cello playing and upon the viola da gamba, although he was never employed specifically upon the latter instrument as such. He probably preferred the lighter and more intimate gamba timbre for solo and chamber music use and the dynamically and tonally more prominent cello for his actual employment, is the court orchestra. He played the cello obligato in the aria 'Martern aller Arten' during the first Salzburg performance of Mozart's 'Die Entführung aus dem Serail' in 1783, and Mozart was, rarely for him, much impressed with Fiala's own compositions. Sadly, very little is known of his gamba playing. The sole surviving report comes from Johann Friedrich Reichardt's Berliner monatschrift (1790), which proclaimed him as 'the finest living gamba player' following performances that he gave to great acclaim in the presence of King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia (himself an amateur cellist of some note) in Breslau and shortly afterwards in Berlin.

  Fiala composed two trios for viola da gamba, violin and cello, presumably with harpsichord continuo, although this instrument is not mentioned in either surviving manuscript as such. The earlier work is undoubtedly the concise three movement Sonata in G. It was probably composed before 1778 during his years at Oettingen-Wallerstein (1774-7) or Munich (1777-8) before his gamba playing could possibly have developed to its later virtuoso performance level. The writing for the gamba, although hardly of a virtuosic nature, is yet far from conservative and involves much double stopped melodic writing in addition to scalic and arpeggic passage work so typical of the Classical era, the latter frequently in duet with the violin. In contrast, the four movement Concertino in D is not only far more substantial in terms of length but also, as its name implies, in the concerto like technical demands made upon the gamba player in particular. It surely could only have been composed around or following the time of his triumphal return to Germany from Russia in 1790. Unusually cast in the by now out-moded sonata da chiesa ordering of movements (slow-fast-slow-fast) it is nevertheless stylistically very much a work of the late 18th century. There are several unusual features of this work, including a written out cadenza for all three instruments towards the end of the first movement. The subsequent Allegro culminates in a virtuosic dizzy ascent for the gamba through three full octaves ( a mixture of scale and arpeggio) over the space of just two bars immediately followed by a four and a half octave descending leap to a low A' that is beyond the range of the standard instrument. A set of variations comprises the third movement, whilst the finale is a cheerful rondo like that of the Sonata in G. Together with other key works for viola da gamba by Carl Stamitz and Franz Xaver Hammer, a modern revival of these two late-18th century trios by Joseph Fiala is long overdue.

© Dr David J. Rhodes 1999.