Archive Item of the Month – Sept 2021

Carl Friedrich Abel (Cöthen, 22 December 1723 – London, 20 June 1787, Member EM001)

Christian Ferdinand Abel, father of Carl Friedrich, was a violinist and viol player at the court of Prince Leopold I of Anthalt-Cöthen (1694-1728) at the time that Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was appointed Kapellmeister in 1717.  Abel senior must have been good friends with J.S. Bach as the composer was godfather to Abel’s first child.  On his father’s death in 1737, it is likely that the earlier connections with the Bach family were used as Carl Friedrich went to Leipzig and studied with J.S. Bach.  Charles Burney (1726-1814, EM053), who knew Abel, wrote 

“Abel’s musical science in harmony, modulation, fugue, and canon, which he had acquired under his great master Sebastian Bach, and taste under Hasse … had made him so complete a musician, that he soon became the umpire in all musical controversy, and was consulted in difficult and knotty points as an infallible oracle” (Charles Burney, A General History of Music, from the earliest ages to the present period (London: printed for the Author, 1789), vol.4, p.679). 

Abel visited London during the 1758-9 season and his first concert was given on 5 April 1759, just a few days before the death of Handel.  From thence on he lived in London for most of his remaining lifetime.  Abel joined the RSM on 1 March 1761 and his signature is found in the Admission Book for that date. 

He gave and directed many concerts, had a royal privilege allowing him to publish his music, and his association with another member of the Bach family, Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782, Member EM020), resulted in the popular and fashionable series of concerts known as the Bach-Abel concerts. 

Messrs. Bach’ and Abel’s Concert Soho; [ca 1775] 
Printed ticket engraved by Francesco Bartolozzi (1728-1815) after Giovanni Battista Cipriani (1727-1785), depicting a winged young man and a griffin bearing a laurel frame for the lettering. 

The following illustration depicts three men playing musical instruments.  The RSM’s copy contains some contemporary manuscript annotations which identify the players: the man seated on a chair playing the viola da gamba is Abel, the oboe player is Johann Christian Fischer (1733-1800, Member A109), and the horn player is Sigr Ponto, the celebrated horn player from Bohemia, born Jan Václav Stich (1746-1803) but known as Giovanni Punto. 

Concerto Spirituale; [undated]. 
Etching by James Bretherton (ca 1730-1806) after Henry-William Bunbury (1750-1811).  An example of this image in a slightly larger format exists with the engraver identified as Bretherton and dated 23 March 1773.

Two concerts in April 1772 may be the catalyst for this image of the three performers.  One, entitled “Concerto Spirituale”, was held at Covent Garden on Friday 10 April and included a duet played by Fischer and Punto; the other was held at the Haymarket Theatre on Monday 27 April – the programme included a solo on the viola di gamba given by Abel and concertos played by both Punto and Fischer.  The Haymarket Theatre had just undergone great renovation, completed by 16 March, which effectively doubled the stage size.