CDs recorded by John Hadden -- Freiburger Barockorchester Consort - Antonio Bertali: Sonatas, Ciacona for strings

Carus Verlag CV 83.303 CD

Antonio Bertali Sonatas a2 to a8 from the collections Tausend Gülden, Tausend Kronnen and Prothimia suavissima Ciaconna in C Freiburger Barockorchester Consort

An Italian in Vienna: Antonio Bertali
Born in 1605 in Verona, Antonio Bertali found in Stefano Bernardi, the director of music at Verona Cathedral, not only an excellent teacher, but also a man who through his connections with the Habsburgs was able to foster his career. Bertali played for several years as a violinist at musical performances given by the Accademia Filarmonica in Verona, then around 1624 he was appointed to the Imperial Court in Vienna. He remained there throughout the remainder of his life, becoming Court Kapellmeister in 1649 and in 1654 he was raised to the nobility. Bertali served three music-loving Emperors: Ferdinand II, Ferdinand III and Leopold I; he composed numerous operas, oratorios and liturgical works. However, like all his fellow-musicians at the Court of Vienna he did not have these works published because the Emperors wished to keep their Court music as their exclusive property. Only after his death in 1669 were a few of his instrumental compositions published; of his two published collections – the Thesaurus musicus of 1671 and the Prothimia suavissima of 1672 – only the latter survives. The sonatas from the Prothimia suavissima, whose dates of composition cannot be established, in common with other works which are extant in manuscript, reflect the immense diversity of instrumental compositions produced about the middle of the 17th century. These range from the richly scored sonatas consisting of a loosely assembled sequence of pieces in various tempi and rhythms, such as had been popular since the beginning of the 17th century throughout Italy – where patrons could afford to pay for large ensembles – by way of highly virtuosic ostinato compositions, to pieces foreshadowing the trio sonata. This, stylized by Corelli, was to remain the favourite form of instrumental chamber music until the middle of the 18th century.