Six Sonatas a Violin and Basse Continue (1775)

realized and edited by Tim Lane

Other than the fact that Carl August Pesch (1735-1791) was a court musician, concert master, and composer who lived and worked in southwest Germany, little is known of him. One can surmise, however, that the musical influences on his work were must have been varied and rich because he lived during a time in which the Baroque, Style Galant, and Classical styles successively overlapped one another.

The Six Sonatas were published in 1785 in Amsterdam by J.J. Hummel and they are dedicated to, “Le Prince Hereditaire de Brunswic Wolfenbuttel.” My cousin, Ada Pesch, who is a violin player, sent me a PDF copy of the publication that she had obtained from the British Museum. There is no familial relationship between the composer and my cousin’s family. Ms Pesch obtained the PDF copy because she had played one of Pesch’s duets for two violins and she was curious to know more about his compositions and she was intrigued that she shared the composer’s last name.

As was commonplace at that time, the sonatas were published without a right-hand keyboard part. Keyboard players read the harmonies indicated by a numbering system placed below the writing in the left-hand part and improvised the right-hand part. This is not widely practiced today, so as is typically done, I undertook the realization (composition) of the “missing” right-hand keyboard parts. In doing so, I used stylistic and topical elements that are known to have been used at the time when the sonatas were composed. Sections written for the violin that descended below the range of the flute were repositioned one octave higher.

These sonatas are engaging works and they make clear that Pesch’s obscurity is not at all due to the quality of his writing.