“an amazing concert… played with graceful intimacy by Joshua Romatowski”

– San Francisco Classical Voice

Notes on the Program

By Byron Schenkman

The Baroque Era lasted for some 150 years. Our first concert this season focused on music from the first half of that period; now we feature music from the later Baroque, essentially starting where we left off in October. French music dominated in this later period, largely due to the political power and cultural influence of Louis XIV and his court on so much of Europe.

We begin with a trio-sonata by Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, modeled after the trio-sonatas of Isabella Leonarda (one of which was included in our first program). Although Jacquet published a lot of music in her lifetime, her trio-sonatas survive only in a manuscript copied out by her friend Sebastien de Brossard whose library also contained the complete sonatas of Leonarda.

Joseph Bodin de Boismortier’s sonatas for harpsichord and flute turn the typical Baroque sonata upside down with a virtuosic part for the harpsichord instead of its usual accompanist role. Marin Marais and Jacques Morel were both viol players who featured their instrument in music which is both virtuosic and full of soul.

The music of Joseph Bologne comes from a slightly later period in music history than the other works on our program. However, his ballet music from “L’amant anonyme” hearkens back to the dance music of the late French Baroque. This 1780 comic opera was based on a play by Madame de Genlis, whose work influenced Jane Austen.

In the 1730s the German composer Georg Philipp Telemann was one of the most famous musicians in all of Europe. When a group of distinguished French musicians invited Telemann to Paris he composed twelve quartets for flute, violin, viol, and continuo to perform with them there. We close our program