Baryton Trio Valkkoog
About this Trio
Haydn's wonderful music for baryton, viola and violoncello is not widely known, and only a few ensembles actually play this repertoire. The baryton is basically a viola da gamba (bass viol) fitted with additional sympathetic strings, running behind the fingerboard, which can be plucked by the player's left thumb. The baryton is an extremely rare instrument, and it has a reputation for being difficult to master.
Holland numbers about five barytons. One of these resides with me, Jan Extra, in the tiny village of Valkkoog (60 km to the north of Amsterdam, see the 'Contact' page for a map). The picturesque village consists of fifty houses and a historic church.
I play the baryton on a regular basis with various viola and 'cello players, and I also enjoy entertaining co-players who volunteer for occasional sessions (see 'Fellow players' page ). We do not normally think of, or refer to our informal gatherings as manifestations of 'Baryton Trio Valkkoog'. This label was mainly devised to make our YouTube videos easily traceable, and it now serves as the title of this website.
Haydn's Divertimenti for baryton, viola and violoncello
No less than 126 baryton trios (Divertimenti) saw the light between 1765 and 1775, Haydn's Sturm und Drang years. Haydn composed these trios and other works with baryton to the order of his patron, Prince Nikolaus Esterházy. Nikolaus der Prachtliebende ('the Magnificent') was a passionate baryton player.
Most baryton trios are in three movements. However, Divertimento 97 which Haydn composed to celebrate one of the prince's birthdays has seven movements.
 Prince Nikolaus Esterházy Franz Joseph Haydn 
The baryton
My baryton was built in 1960 by Hans Zölch as a copy of an instrument by Simon Schödler (1785, currently in the Leipzig Museum für Musikinstrumente). It has 6 bowed gut strings and 11 resonant wire strings (tuning details at the bottom of this page). I got it in May 2009.
Videos on YouTube
Three videos of Baryton Trio Valkkoog performing Haydn are available on YouTube. For this recording Jacek Kurzydlo played the viola, and Paulina Ptak played the violoncello. The videos were recorded in the church of Valkkoog. The church is popular with musicians because of its acoustic qualities: Jordi Savall, Andrew Manze, and Pieter Wispelwey each recorded CD's here.
The YouTube clips were recorded by members of a regional video club (www.videofilmclubschagen.nl). This team also produced a video about the making of the music clips.
The clips show movements from Haydn's Divertimento 97 in D, the "Birthday Trio".
Adagio cantabile: click here
Adagio & fuga: click here
Polonaise: click here
TIP: All of Haydn's music for baryton including the octets has been recorded by Michael Brüssing and his Esterházy Ensemble (www.barytontrio.hu). The 22 CD's box is a monumental achievement, and it's a bargain!
The head and the peg box of my baryton
Details of its tuning are given below the picture
(Please, excuse the poor quality of some of the pictures on this site)
The ten pegs on the left and the top peg on the right are for tuning the metal resonant strings. From bottom left to top right they are tuned: A- (c) - d - e - f# - g - (g #) - a - b - c#' - d'. The strings in brackets are never plucked in Haydn's trios.
The remaining six pegs on the right are for tuning the bowed strings: D - G - c - e - a - d'. This is standard gamba (viol) tuning. The bottom strings, D and G, are hardly ever used in the Haydn trios.
The head is not unusual for a baryton. It is supposed to be a singing peasant, or is he yawning?
Thank you for visiting my site!
Jan Extra
| 
