De weg naar Bach: ontwikkeling van de sonate

Origin and development of the sonata

The sonata, originating in Italy, spread across Europe in the second half of the seventeenth century and—transcending borders—ever-newly took on new forms. In Rosenmüller and Biber, we hear the inventiveness and virtuosity of German and Italian musical life, while Purcell represents the elegant English trio sonata. In the work of Bach, this development reaches a particular refinement in a lively world of counterpoint. Thus unfolds a musical journey in which styles, ideas, and sound worlds meet. This program follows the path along which Baroque instrumental music came to full bloom.

Rarely performed classical cello sonata

Two particular highlights make this program especially captivating: on the one hand, the stylistic journey through various Baroque traditions—German, Austrian, and English—each revealing its own character and rhetoric; on the other, the rarely performed Cello Sonata by Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, in which Baroque chamber music is already subtly moving towards the early Classical style. Together, these works form a vivid portrait of nearly a century and a half of chamber music.