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This sonata da chiesa, designated RV 53 in the Ryom Catalogue, has always intrigued me. First of all, because of its great beauty, secondly because of the mannerisms contained in its harmony and line, and thirdly because it does not sound like any work of Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) I have ever heard. I believe this work to be a composition by Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679-1745) an exact contemporary of the famous Prete rosso.

The manuscript from which I worked comes from the Sächsische Landesbibliothek in Dresden. To be sure, the court of the Elector of Saxony at Dresden does have a Vivaldi connection, for in 1739, the Elector's son, Prince Friedrich Christian, visited Venice where he heard music of Vivaldi and bought copies of it for use in Dresden at the Electorial Court.

But, at that very court there worked Jan Dismas Zelenka, appointed 1710-1715 and 1720-1745. Among the kinds of music Zelenka composed were sonatas da chiesa, six of which have become part of the standard repertory of every serious oboist. These are composed in three, and on occasion, in four voices for two oboes, bassoon and a continuo of keyboard and string bass. The latter instrument was played by Zelenka himself. The work at hand is for and single oboe and continuo, and certainly bassoon in the continuo would be a perfect match for the oboe.

The manuscript score in C minor, consists two lines only, oboe and unfigured bass; as such it constitutes an organist's part. An organist of the day would realize the bass at sight. His instrument, tuned in Chor-ton would sound a whole step above the pitch of the oboe and bassoon which were set in Kammer-ton. Therefore, the original wind parts, which no longer exist, had to be placed in D minor, certainly a more user-friendly key for the instruments of the Baroque Era, than the formidable C minor of the organ.

Perhaps the most fabulous of the devices used by Zelenka in the composition of this work can be found in the second movement where an extensive fugue subject in the tonic is answered by a second 'ghost oboist' playing the subject in the dominant. Such a subject can also be observed in Zelenka's Sonata II in G minor for 2 oboes and continuo. In addition, the closing theme tacked onto the end of the B section of the binary-form gigue finale contains three instances of 3 against 2. If the spectacular harmonies at measures 24-25 and at measure 35 in the second movement do not convince the listener that this is the music of Zelenka, nothing will!

In the second and fourth movements, the bass line is merely supportive, really chugging along in the second movement. In the first and third movements, on the other hand, that part is the equal of the solo oboist. In the opening Adagio, the bass sets forth a jagged ritornello, constantly jumping from the bottom of the instrument's tessitura to the top. In the third movement, Andante, the bass shares equally in the imitative counterpoint of a short binary form.

I want to go further and venture that this piece might have been intended for the oboist Antonio Besozzi who had a position at the Dresden Electorial Court from 1738 until 1774. His young son Carlo, born at Dresden in 1738, became of the greatest oboists of all time, and is the composer of the sonata for oboe and bassoon  included in the Double Reed Archaeologist.