Luogo e data di registrazione		-
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Edizione LP		AMADEO - AVRS 6334 - (1 lp) - durata 48' 16" - (p) 1966 - Analogico
	Altre edizioni LP		AMADEO - AVRS 6334 - (1 lp) - (Edizione francese Costallat, Paris)
	Prima Edizione CD		-
	Note		Stereo compatibile

The 18th century was a golden age of art in Germany and every local Prince kept as large a musical establishment as possible. In view of the fact that most of the Princes were themselves accomplished musicians (in conformity with the humanism of the age) it is to be assumed that musical standards at their Courts were extremely high. Wherever a small Court was in residence, particularly in North Germany, musical life centred on the church services, on Cantors such as J. S. Bach in Leipzig, Telemann in Hamburg, and Buxtehude in Lübeck, who also provided music-lovers from the wealthy middle-classes with secular music of all kinds. Most of this music was chamber-music, the exact composition of the ensemble depending on circumstances. In form and spirit it was definitely Court music, the Court being looked up to as the arbiter of everyday life in the baroque era. The result was an immense demand for virtuoso chamber-music for special occasions, and an enormous quantity of music of all kinds was duly turned out. Novelty and originality were in constant demand. The best and most effective works were copied and in some cases printed. TELEMANN's Quartet for flute, oboe, violin and bass is a typically German miscellany of styles, a harmonious blend of French and Italian. BUXTEHUDE dedicated his Op. 1 to the Mayor and Corporation of Lübeck. The ensemble is typical of German taste, the violin and the viola da gamba, the favourite solo instruments of the Italians and the French respectively being used in concert. J. S. BACH's Trio Sonata for violin, flute and basso continuo is in an unusual form each of the two weighty slow movements being succeeded by a brief, fleeting Allegro. To avoid drowning the slower register of the flute the two upper strings of the violin are tuned a whole tone flat. JOHANN SCHENK was a gamba player at the Düsseldorf Court. "Le Nymphe di Rheno" is a succession of suites for two solo bass gambe concertanti, and Schenk exploits to the full all the possibilities of the gamba by polyphonic chording and abrupt contrasts of register. TELEMANN's Sonata a quattro for flute and 2 Gambe is in the Italian style, which is all the more remarkable seeing that the instrumentation is largely French and not all Italian. Nikolaus Harnoncourt (Translation: Richard Rickett)