Abel, Clamor Heinrich: Erstlinge Musicalischer Blumen, Pars Secunda

Clamor Heinrich Abel (1634-1696) was born in Hünnefeld, Westphalia, and served as a court musician in Hanover and Celle in Lower Saxony, and as a town musician in Bremen. The Abels were a famous family of musicians active in northern and central Germany throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. Clamor Heinrich belonged to the third generation of the family. His youngest son, Christian Ferdinand, was viola da gambist in Köthen, where from 1717 - 23 Johann Sebastian Bach was Kapellmeister. The famous Gamba virtuoso Carl Friedrich was his grandson who organized, together with Johann Christian Bach, the famous Bach-Abel Concerts in London.

The second part of the Musicalische Blumen appeared in 1676 in Frankfurt am Main. With regard to the instrumentation, the title page specifies “with four instruments and basso continuo.” Preserved, however, are only four parts, namely Pars Prima (= violin 1), Pars Secunda (=Violin 2), Pars Tertia (= viola), and Cembalo (harpsichord). A fourth part (violone?) is possibly missing. However, the harpsichord part follows the respective lowest part (also adopting its clef) in the manner of a basso seguente, so that the player of the bass part could play along with the harpsichord part in the passages notated in bass clef. The last page of the Pars secunda (= violin 2) is missing, that is to say, the movements Sarabanda, Ballet, Sarabanda, and Gique of the F-Major Suite. Thus, the violin 2 part in these movements had to be completed. First modern edition.

Edited by Hans Bergmann

Band III
Suite II/1, G Minor
Suite II/2, F Major
Suite II/3, C Major
Suite II/4, G Major