PROGRAMME NOTES

​

Antonín Kammell (1730-c. 1785) was born in Běleč, a village outside Prague, he arrived in London in 1765 and was part of JC Bach and Abel’s social circle. On 6th May 1768, not long after his arrival, his music was featured in one of the Bach-Abel concerts at Almack’s Assembly Rooms. He seems to have been close to Bach (the two apparently performed frequently together), and possibly even studied with him. Thereafter, his name featured heavily in the Bach-Abel programmes and his quartets were published along with those of Bach and Abel. Kammell must have been well acquainted with the range and technique of the viol for, in a letter to his patron, Count Weldstein on 20th October 1766, he mentions six solos (now lost) ‘for the Viola da gamba, which start in a very decorative way’. Since Abel himself often played viola parts, it does not seem unreasonable to assume that he may have done so as well with Kammell’s trios as many of Kammell’s early works, including his Notturnos and Trios for two violins and continuo, feature a very low 2nd violin part. Low enough, in fact, to allow them to be performed on the viol. The Trio featured here, Op. 1 No. 1, is typical of Kammell’s writing. It is quintessentially galant and demonstrates the composer’s talent for melody. While the 2nd violin part lies occasionally high, its range suits the gamba well and the few chordal passages are easily accomplished.

​

John Christian Bach (1735-1782) eclipsed by the achievements of Mozart, Haydn and other late Classical composers, and all but forgotten in the 19th-century, Bach was one of the most respected musicians of his time. The 18th child of Johann Sebastian Bach, and the youngest of his eleven sons, he studied with Johann Sebastian until the elder Bach’s death in 1750. He subsequently moved in and worked with his half brother Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach who was twenty-one years his senior. After living in Italy where he studied with Martini and was Organist of Milan Cathedral, Bach moved to London in 1762 to première three operas at the King’s Theatre on 19 February 1763. Quickly establishing his reputation in the City as the composer par excellence, he became one of the most fashionable and in-demand composers, becoming music master to Queen Charlotte. Now known as John Bach or "the London Bach", he performed symphonies and concertos at London’s premier concert venue in the heart of fashionable Mayfair: the Hanover Square Rooms. He began an extraordinary life-long friendship with the young Mozart when Mozart and his father visited London. Mozart, who by many accounts could be prickly and disparaging towards other musicians always spoke of Bach in the very highest terms. By the late 1770s, both Bach’s popularity and finances were in decline. By the time of Bach's death on New Year's Day 1782, he had become so indebted (due to his steward embezzling his money), that Queen Charlotte covered the expenses of the estate and provided a life pension for Bach's widow. He was buried in the graveyard of St. Pancras Old Church, London.

​

Not much is known about James Lates (c.1740-1777). He was a son of David Francisco Lates, a Hebrew scholar who taught modern languages at Oxford University. James studied in Italy and on his return to England was described as ‘the first Oxford Jewish composer’. The local newspaper reported his marriage on 29 October 1768 to Miss Joanna Day, ‘a Lady of exceeding good Accomplishments, with a very handsome Fortune’. He played in the Holywell Music Room orchestra, probably as principal second violin, and in other concerts in the vicinity of Oxford. He entered the service as musician to George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough (interestingly enough, a close relative of George, 2nd Earl Spencer and his viola da gamba playing wife Lavinia Bingham, see below.) As Lates most likely knew of Lavinia’s and her mother-in-law, Georgiana Poyntz’s virtuosity on the gamba, and that they would have had connections with Abel in London, it is not inconceivable that these extremely charming trios would have been played on the gamba.

​

Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787) was born in Köthen, where his father, Christian Ferdinand Abel, had worked for years as the principal viola da gamba and cello player in the court orchestra. In 1723 Abel senior became director of the orchestra, when the previous director, Johann Sebastian Bach, moved to Leipzig. The young Abel later boarded at St. Thomas School, Leipzig, where he was taught by Bach. On Bach's recommendation in 1743 he was able to join Johann Adolph Hasse's court orchestra at Dresden where he remained for fifteen years. In 1759 Abel went to England and became chamber-musician to Queen Charlotte, in 1764. In 1762, Johann Christian Bach joined him in London, and the friendship between him and Abel led, in 1765, to the establishment of the famous Bach-Abel concerts. Abel composed symphonies, overtures, insertion arias for other composers’ operas, and chamber music, and remained in great demand as a player on various instruments. He traveled to Germany and France between 1782 and 1785, and upon his return to London, became a leading member of the Professional Concerts at the Hanover Square Rooms. He died in London on 20 June 1787. He was buried, as was Bach five years earlier, in the churchyard of St Pancras Old Church.

​

​

-- Notes by Michael Jarvis & Sam Stadlen