Weiss à Rome Edicole Grevi / Diego Leverić

• Silvius Leopold Weiss (1687 - 1750): Lute Sonata in D Minor:
• 1 II. Fantasia 03:38
• Lute Sonata in F Major:
• 2 III. Fantasia 03:21
• Adagio in C Major:
• 3 Adagio in C Major 03:23
• Capriccio in G Minor:
• 4 Capriccio in G Minor 02:15
• Fantasia in G Major:
• 5 Fantasia in G Major 04:32
• Fantasia:
• 6 Fantasia 05:42
• Fantasia in D Major:
• 7 Fuga 02:04
• Lute Sonata in F Major:
• 8 Lute Sonata in F Major: I. Preludio 02:53
• Georg Gebel II (1685–1750): Tombeau in C Minor::
• 9 I. Grave 04:42
• 10 II. Adagio 05:13
• 11 III. Grave 01:51
• Total Runtime 39:34

Info for Weiss à Rome

Sylvius Leopold Weiss was a German composer and lutenist. Born in Grottkau near Breslau, the son of Johann Jacob Weiss, also a lutenist, he served at the courts in Breslau, Rome, and Dresden, where he died. He was one of the most important and most prolific composers of lute music in history and one of the best-known and most technically accomplished lutenists of his day.

He was a teacher to Philip Hyacinth, the 4th Prince Lobkowicz, and the prince's second wife Anna Wilhelmina Althan. Weiss became a friend of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach and met J.S. Bach through him. Bach and Weiss were said to have competed in improvisation, as the following account by Johann Friedrich Reichardt describes: "Anyone who knows how difficult it is to play harmonic modulations and good counterpoint on the lute will be surprised and full of disbelief to hear from eyewitnesses that Weiss, the great lutenist, challenged J.S. Bach, the great harpsichordist and organist, at playing fantasies and fugues."

It's important to know that Weiss recommended Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach in 1738 to Frederick the Great (King of Prussia from 1740 until 1786), and that ].S. Bach entirely copied Weiss’s Sonata SW47 for lute in its entirety, arranging it for harpsichord and violin.

American musicologist Douglas Alton Smith claims that Sylvius Leopold Weiss should be appreciated to the same degree as G.P. Telemann, F. Couperin, and D. Scarlatti, as one of the most important composers of the late baroque era. Not only was Weiss one of the most prolific lute composers of all time; his music was some of the best to come from Germany in that period. Analyzing the many pieces he wrote for baroque lute (more than 500 known to us), we can divide his output into two main parts - the first, early period (until 1725) and the second, mature phase. His London manuscript contains early works, as does the manuscript Weiss a Roma, while the manuscript from Dresden contains the mature works. It is important to emphasize that Rome was a very rich city at the time of Weiss’s stay from 1710 to 1714, home to the Pope, cardinals and music academies (for example, the members of the Sobieski family, Weiss’s patrons, formed part of the Accademia degli Arcadi). Himself a guest in the Zuccari Palace, Weiss met important musicians in Rome such as Scarlatti and possibly Corelli.

Lutes and the music written for them were never able to easily attract large audiences. Some of the most important documents we have today attesting to this situation are contained in Thomas Mace's book, Musick's Monument, published in London in 1676, and E.G. Baron's Historisch-theoretische und practische Untersuchung des Instruments der Lauten from 1727, published in Nürnberg as a reply to Mattheson's critics. In them, we read that the lute was considered to be old-fashioned, a woman's instrument, too difficult to play. For these reasons, lute composers (Weiss among them) were not so interesting to the wider public, and they never enjoyed the reputations that they deserved. In spite of this, Sylvius Leopold Weiss worked assiduously to compose and to become a true virtuoso on the lute, able to transmit both his personality and the beauty of the music through his works.

The Tombeau from this manuscript was composed by Goerg Gebel (1709-1753), a German musician and composer.

Diego Leverić as Edicole Grevi, baroque lute

Diego Leverić
Born in Rovinj, Croatia, Diego Leverić began studying classical guitar from a young age under the tutelage of M° Domagoj Terzic until reciving a diploma in classical guitar and music theory at the Music School of Pula. In 2008, he was accepted into the Musicology program in Cremona, University of Pavia where he is finishing his master studying. Currently fascinated by the world of ancient music he has begun studying the renaissance lute, theorbo and baroque guitar with M° Maurizio Piantelli. He graduated in baroque lute with full marks (110 cum laude) in Conservatory Niccolò Piccinni of Bari with M° Diego Cantalupi. He has done masterclasses and private lessons with the greatest lute player of today: Hopkinson Smith, Paul O’Dette, Eduardo Eguez, Evangelina Mascardi, Andrea Damiani, Massimo Lonardi. In 2012 on second edition of the international lute competition presided over by M° Paul O’Dette he won first prize in the solo category and first prize in the overall category of “chamber music” with the duo “Sursum Corda” with Teodoro Baù (viola da gamba). He is one of the winners at the international competition “Concursos Internacionais de Jovens Interpretes de Musica Antiga” in Lisbon, Portugal. Thanks to ADRIS group he had opportunity several times to perform at the opening ceremony in of a important art exhibition in Rovinj, Croatia. He played in orchestras and ensembles directed by: Claudio Scimone (I Solisti Veneti), Martin Gester, Marco Mencoboni, Federico Ferri, Andrea de Carlo, Alessandro de Marchi, Stefano Molardi, Joachim Fontaine, Tomislav Facini and Diego Cantalupi. Leveric Diego performed as soloist in Croatia, Belgium, Italy and in Utrecht, Holland on the most famous baroque festival, OudeMuziek. In ensemble he performed in Croatia, Belgium, Hungary, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland and Turkey. He made several lessons about lute and his notation at important places and events: in collaboration with Zagreb Music Academy at Zagreb Guitar Fest in Croatia, in High School in Rijeka in Croatia and in Yasar University of Izmir in Turkey. He recorded for Arcana, Sony, Naive, and Marcello Villa Cremona labels.

In 2014 Leveric founded a baroque ensemble ArtiCoolAzione with which had opportunity to record inedited Napolitain cantatas for Arcana with a prolific countertenor Leandro Marziotte. Baroque ensemble settled in Cremona/Italy is trying to spread a beauty of baroque music. Arcana(Outhere) released their compact disc with the title Frangi Cupido i Dardi. Young musicians are playing all baroque genres and every component is playing on copy of original instruments from that period.

In 2016 Edition Lilac released Leverics compct disc Weiss à Rome, inedited music from the same title mauscript for baroque lute by Sylvius Leopold Weiss.

He is teaching guitar at Chateaubriand french school in Rome.

This album contains no booklet.