Francesco Zappa

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Francesco Zappa
Released November 1984

Players

• Performed by The Barking Pumpkin Digital Gratification Consort (Frank Zappa, conductor).
• Synclavier document encryption by David Ocker
• Engineered by Bob Stone and Mark Pinske
• Second engineer: Tom Ehle
• Cover painting: Donald Roller Wilson
• Collage: Gabrielle Raumberger
• Graphics: New Age Art

Tracks

1. Opus 1 - #1: 1st movement - Andante (03:31)
2. Opus 1 - #1: 2nd movement - Allegro Con Brio (01:28)
3. Opus 1 - #2: 1st movement - Andantino (02:14)
4. Opus 1 - #2: 2nd movement - Minuetto Grazioso (02:04)
5. Opus 1 - #3: 1st movement - Andantino (01:52)
6. Opus 1 - #3: 2nd movement - Presto (01:51)
7. Opus 1 - #4: 1st movement - Andante (02:20)
8. Opus 1 - #4: 2nd movement - Allegro (03:05)
9. Opus 1 - #5: 2nd movement - Minuetto Grazioso (02:29)
10. Opus 1 - #6: 1st movement - Largo (02:09)
11. Opus 1 - #6: 2nd movement - Minuet (02:03)
12. Opus 4 - #1: 1st movement - Andantino (02:48)
13. Opus 4 - #1: 2nd movement - Allegro Assai (02:02)
14. Opus 4 - #2: 2nd movement - Allegro Assai (01:20)
15. Opus 4 - #3: 1st movement - Andante (02:24)
16. Opus 4 - #3: 2nd movement - Tempo Di Minuetto (02:00)
17. Opus 4 - #4: 1st movement - Minuetto (02:10)

Liner Notes

The Musical Times Of Franceso Zappa
By David Ocker

Go ahead, I know, you can't resist asking: "Who is Franceso Zappa?" Francesco Zappa was a musician from Milan who lived near the end of the 18th century. No one has bothered to remember when he was born, only that he florished between 1763 and 1788. ^[1]

While Franceso 'florished', Europe was ablaze with new inventions like the steam engine, powdered wigs and Mozart. Although no practical uses were ever found for this stuff, it didn't stop them from being used to make someone a lot of money.

Francesco had to make a living too. He was a talented guy who could play the violoncello. Even back in those days people knew that what you had between your legs made a big difference, and so Francesco found honest employment sawing away while noblemen ate dinner. It wasn't such a bad job if you remembered every fifteen minutes to remind the nobleman what a wonderfully human being he was, stressing the intense personal privilege you felt by coming to his digestive assistance. He might even to remember to pay you.

If you needed to pry a little extra out of the old boy, you could always try composition. Just dash off a few easy new pieces, write nobleman's name in BIG letters on the score, and then play them when you knew his highness had plenty of cash at hand. Francesco dedicated his very first work (a set of six trio sonatas) to a Sicilian Count Cantati. Our hero never forgot the Count even after leaving Italy for London (then the very center of the civilized English world).

He took those same six little trios, RE-dedicated them to some unsuspecting Englishmen (no doubt collecting a second big tip), and then found a publisher for them. Why not find someone else to dedicate a few more trios to? Get them published, and then ... what about a recording contract?

While Francesco waited for his next royalty check, he thought it prudent to find a steady job. Soon he was employed as Master of Music for none other than the Duke of York. Besides playing during the Duke's feedings, Francesco spent time instructing the Duke's family on the attainment of musical rapture. Not a bad time, all in all.

This position naturally gave Francesco a certain amount of 18th cebtury name recognition. With his music advertised as far away as the American colonies, he found opportunities to tour Europe. A trip to Germany with his 'cello even produced more good reviews. "Francesco Zappa ... charmed his audience by his beautiful tone and delivery." ^[2] Whether Francesco was actually the first performer to attract attention by using a woman's stage name will have to be left to future historians to decide.

It might have been about that time that Francesco began to call himself Francois. "Francois" Zappa eventually settled in The Hague while there was still enough room there for him to play his 'cello.

Using his international reputation, he probably had no difficulty impressing the local musicians and finding some sweet, young students. It is here, living peacefully in Holland, that History last recorded Francesco Zappa, classical musician.

Like his birthday, Francesco's date of death has never been reported. Rumors that he travelled to America in a small boat using his 'cello as paddle, or that he made a fortune in London by designing the first steam-powered gin-and-tonic maker certainly seem apocryphal.

Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries mankind continued to develop new uses for Mozart, so there was less need for a composer like poor Francesco. Gradually his music found its own level in dusty libraries, indexed in large dusty catalogues devoted to dusty dinner music. A listing in an encyclopedia here, a music dictionary there, that was all the P R Francesco Zappa got for many centuries.

"BUT WAIT!!", I hear you ask, "wasn't here supposed to be a record contract?"

That's right, I did say something about that. Since 18th century record companies were plagued with immense technical problems, Francesco's debut album had to be postponed until all the bugs in the steam phonograph were eliminated. Once coal burning cassettes came into vogue, however, the project was completely forgotten.

Then, back in 1984, a very interesting thing happened. that's when Frank Zappa formed THE BARKING PUMPKIN DIGITAL GRATIFICATION CONSORT, the first musical ensemble dedicated to the preservation of early 21st century performance practices.

As the director of the BPDGC, Frank knew the real value of unfulfilled 18th century recording contracts, and he realized the appropriateness of recording Francesco Zappa. After rescueing the the music from those dusty libraries ^[3], and arranging it for thze instrumental resources of the Consort, the Consort recorded it in their favorite hall, the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen.

There you have it. After all this time: FRANCESCO ZAPPA'S DEBUT ALBUM. You can enjoy it with dinner, or just listen along the next time you fell the urge to wear a powdered wig.

Included on this record are all the trios that Francesco dedicated to Count Catanti and to that unsuspecting Englishman, plus a few from a later set that he dedicated to a certain "Prince Charles." Any more questions? How about "What's next for the BARKING PUMPKIN DIGITAL GRATIFICATION CONSORT?"

Well that's hard to say. The Consort has already recorded some of Frank Zappa's own music ^[4], and there seems to be plenty of other Zappa waiting for their chance. There's Domenico Zappa, the 16th century Viennese Zink player, or Father Simeone Zappa, the Bolognese musical theorist of the same century ^[5], or Guido Zappa, the mathematician, or Paolo Zappa, the author of a book on leprosy ("UNCLEAN! UNCLEAN!"), or Anita Zappa, the poet. Maybe we'll even find a way of liberating some of Francesco Zappa's symphonies from the reallydusty libraries in Europe. But don't worry, we'll do something.

Notes

1. Guido Salvetti, THE NEW GROVE DICTIONARY OF MUSIC & MUSICIANS, Stanley Sadie, ed., Washington D.C., MacMillan, 1980, vol.20, p644
2. Edmund S. J. van de Straeten, HISTORY OF THE VIOLONCELLO, London, William Reeves, 1915, p169
3. The music on this record was stored for a very long time at the Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berekley, and at the Library of Congress, Washington D.C. Special thanks to Jim Lee, who used RISM to point us in the right direction, and to Gillian Anderson & Carol Armbruster at the Library of Congress.
4. THE PERFECT STRANGER, Boulez conducts Zappa. Angel Records, 1984/1992 (BPR D2 74242)
5. Rob. Eitner, QUELLEN-LEXIKON der MUSIKER und MUSIKGELEHRTEN, New York, Musurgia, 1898

Background Information

The album's subtitle reads: "The Music Of Francesco Zappa (fl. 1763-1788). His First Digital Recording In Over 200 Years". Francesco Zappa was an obscure composer living in Milan.

He was a composer who flourished between 1766 and 1788. Nobody knows when he was born or when he died. He was a cello player from Milan and wrote mostly string trios. I found out about his music and located a bunch of it in the Berkeley Library and the Library of Congress. My assistant loaded it into the Synclavier and now we have a whole album of synthesized performances.

He was a contemporary of Mozart. It's kind of happy, Italian-sounding music. It's nice, and real melodic. It's interesting, too; he does a few strange things harmonically that seem to be slightly ahead of his time -- a few little weird things. Basically, it's typical of music of that period, except it doesn't sound typical when it comes out of the Synclavier.

Frank Zappa (Interview 1984)

[Grove's] entry reads:

Zappa, Francesco

(b Milan; fl 1763–88). Italian cellist and composer. The dedication of his six trios for two violins and bass (London, 1765) shows that he had given the Duke of York, the dedicatee, music lessons in Italy (the duke had been in Italy from late November 1763 to mid-1764). By 1767, the year of the duke’s death, he had entered his service as maestro di musica, as shown by the title-page of his trio sonatas op.2. He then apparently took up residence in The Hague as a music master. He was still there in 1788, according to the place and date of a manuscript Quartetto concertante (inD-Bsb). He had a reputation among his contemporaries as a virtuoso and he toured Germany in 1771, playing in Danzig and, on 22 September, in Frankfurt. According to Mendel, he made another concert tour of Germany in 1781 (though this may be an error for 1771).

Zappa’s writing is lyrical, but tends towards a seriousness of manner in which the galant elements are tempered by a Classical dignity. His works with obbligato cello demonstrate an easy familiarity with thumb position fingerings, slurred staccato bowings and idiomatic string crossing patterns.

Versions

ZFT #	Version #	# discs	Format	Catalog #	Release (YYYY-MM-DD)	Barcode (EAN-13)	Artwork	Comment
42	1.1 Original Stereo	1	LP	Barking Pumpkin ST-74202	1984-11-21			US edition.
		1	LP	EMI EJ2702561	1984?			UK edition.
		1	LP	EMI 1C 064-27 0256 1	1984?	5099927025611?		German edition.
		1	CD	Barking Pumpkin D2 74202	1992-04?	0013347420226		US edition.
		1	CD	Zappa CDZAP 48	?	5016583604820?		UK edition.
		1	CS	Zappa TZAPPA 48	?	5016583604844?		UK edition.
		1	CD	Intercord i.r.s. 970748				German edition.
		1	CD	Music Scene Incorporated MSI 80050	1992			Japanese edition.
	1.2 Slightly Better Master	1	CD	Rykodisc RCD 10546	1995-05-02	014431054624		US edition. Code 39: 049450. Matrix # IFPI 2U3Q WEA mfg. OLYPHANT ifpi L901 W6063 A4 P2 310546-2 01 M1S1
		1	CD	VideoArts VACK 5092	1995-07-26	4988112406896		Japanese edition.
		1	CD	VideoArts VACK 5227	1996-05-30?	4988112408272		Japanese edition.
		1	CD	VideoArts VACK 1254	2002-10-23	4988112413535		Japanese edition, mini-album papersleeve.