Luogo e data di registrazione		(luogo di registrazione non indicato) - 1964
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer		Wolf Erichson
	Prima Edizione LP		Telefunken "Das Alte Werk" | SAWT 9461-B | 1 LP - durata 48' 01" | (p) 1964 | ANA Telefunken "Das Alte Werk" | SAWT 9461-B | 1 LP - durata 48' 01" | (p) 1964 | ANA | Riedizione Telefunken "Das Alte Werk" | 6.41063 AS (SAWT 9461-B | 1 LP - durata 48' 01" | (p) 1964 | ANA | Riedizione
	Edizione CD		Warner Classics "The New Gustav Leonhardt Edition" | 01902964467714 | 35 CDs | (c) 2022 | ADD/DDD - CD 29: Lupo - CD 31: Biber, Muffat, Scheidt, Schmelzer - CD 35: Turini, Marini - il brano di William Byrd non è stato ripubblicato in compact disc.
	Cover		E. Baschenis: "Musikinstrumente".
	Note		-

The theory that the instrumental style did not free itself from vocal music until the seventeenth century is only confirmed to a limited degree by the facts. One could indeed say that, in the course of the seventeenth century, instrumental style adapted itself more and more to the various categories of instruments, and that the idioms of the instruments became an increasingly important factor, being taken more and more into consideration. In general, the nature of the instrumentation was always specified by the composer in the 17th century. In addition to the keyboard instruments, it is the stringed instruments which one can describe as the “star instruments” of that century. We find virtuoso literature for the gamba and for the violin (Falconiero, Ucellini, Simpson, Schmelzer, Walther, Biber, Marais, Kühnel, Schenk, Corelli), and it is no mere accident that this century also produced such famous instrument makers as Amati, Jaye, Maggini, Stradivari, Stainer, Tielke. In the ancient gamba family the bass-tenor viol gradually seperated itself from the others on account of its suitability for solo purposes; on the other hand the violin, a true solo instrument, was only just gradually beginning to gather its family together, although without giving up its own partiality to solo work. In the literature produced for string ensembles, no great distinction was made at first between the viols (da gamba) and the violins (da braccio) in England and Germany, even though the viol ensembles were given preference well into the century in England. Italy, on the other hand, hardly cultivated the gamba at all in the 17th century, and string ensembles there were almost exclusively composed of instruments of the violin family. The gambas, with their frets, long measurements and thin strings, are predestined for a clear, well blended ensemble sound, or else for virtuoso solo literature that exploits to the full the instruments’ possibilities for choral playing - created by their frets and their system of tuning. The violin, without frets, with shorter dimensions and greater tension in the strings (especially in Italy), is predestined for presenting itself with brilliance in a solo role; ensemble pieces in 4-6 parts are not conceived polyphonically in the first place, but the upper parts usually predominate. We also find works written after the middle of the century in which, for example, one or two violins are “accompanied” by two or three alto and bass viols in addition to the continuo. In our recording instruments of the “braccio” family are used: 2 violins, 2 violas and ‘cello (five-part writing was very popular in the 17th century; not until around 1700 did four parts become the norm). The instruments, German and Italian from the 17th and 18th century, ar all in so-called baroque dimensions, some having remained unaltered, others having been restored to their original form. For reasons of tone - on no account historically unquestinable - a pitch has been chosen that lies one semitone below normal. The intonation will also strike the listener as unusual, for the Leonhardt Consort has been endeavouring for years to accustom its ear - and that of the listener - to a non-equal temperament. The works played on this disc allow us a glimpse into the abundance of available literature, and also a survey of the various styles that were cultivated in various European countries over a period of about 80 years. The “modern” Sonata by Turini is contrasted with works by the Englishman Lupo and by Scheidt that were written about the same time. Then there are the compositions of the three violin virtuosi: Marini with his unproblematical extravagances, Schmelzer with his affected (but also convincing) sweetness and excitement and Biber with his intense compactness. And last of all figures the great Muffat who, through his training and his gifts, achieves a perfect synthesis of French control and Italian fantasy. Francesco Turini was Court Organist to the Emperor Rudolf II in Prague, and from 1624 onward Cathedral Organist in Brescia. The greater part of his creative activities was devoted to secular and sacred vocal music, while his Trio Sonatas are among the earliest existing examples in this category. Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, the greatest violin virtuoso and instrumental composer of the German speaking region in the 17th century, rose from being a violinist at the archepiscopal courts of Olmütz and Kremsier to the position of Court Conductor and Lord High Steward to the Archbishop of Salzburg, being elevated to the nobility in 1690. His fame quickly became legendary. In his works he has blended Italian tradition, folk-music freshness and variety of invention and improvisatory freedom of form, in a manner that looks far into the future, its effect still being felt right down to Mozart. Georg Muffat, Frenchman by birth of english decent worked in Paris, Alsace, Vienna, Prague and Salzburg. His works rooted in Lully's world of forms, combine french rhythms, dance-forms and art of the suite, Italian concerto technique, German fugal technique and melodic fervency. Samuel Scheidt was a pupil of the Netherlands “organist-maker” J. P. Sweelinck, became Court Organist and later Court Conductor to the Archbishop of Magdeburg and was for a time Municipal Director of Music in Halle. Together with Schütz and Schein he is one of the three “great S's” of German music of his time. His greatness reveals itself to us today above all in the disciplined blending of the highest art of contrapuntal and combinatory part-writing with song-like fulness and freshness of melody. William Byrd, acclaimed by his contemporaries as “Phoenix” and “Father of Music”, was not only the greatest English composer of his time, but one of the greatest Renaissance musicians altogether. In spite of his unexciting life - withdrawn from the world, uneventful and devoted only to music, his fame was great. His many instrumental compositions display an extraordinary imagination for sound and an inexhaustible wealth of formal and melodic ideas. Thomas Lupo, the second to bear this name, was member of a family of Italian musicians. Being a player of the tenor viol in the Court Orchestra in England, he specialized mainly in instrumental ensemble music, in which Italian elegance of structure is combined with fresh, frequently dance-like invention. Biagio Marini was active as a violinist and conductor in Venice, his native city of Brescia, Parma, Diisseldorf (where he was raised to the nobility and appointed a Councillor of the Exchequer), Milan, Ferrara and again Venice. His fame is reflected in his membership of no less than three learned “Academies” of that time. Marini was a pioneer of the virtuoso violin sonata and a brilliant and greatly admired violinist. Johann Heinrich Schmelzer served at the Austrian Court under Ferdinand III and Leopold I, working his way up from a court instrumentalist to a Court Conductor elevated to the nobility and a far-famed composer of ballets. As a violinist he was regarded by his contemporaries as “almost the finest ... in all Europe”. H. I. F. Biber was presumably his pupil.