Meeting of the nations

Baroque ensemble L'Art de la Modulation

Martha Hübner, transverse flute

Marie Desgoutte, baroque violin

Simone Meyer, baroque cello

Jan Grüter, Chitarrone

- with tea service -

In the Baroque era, two compositional styles faced each other: the French with its simple elegance of inegalité and the many small filigree (mostly notated) ornaments. And the Italian style, with its pronounced depiction of emotions, expressive virtuosity and the expansive improvised ornamentation that was common in the slow movements.

Although the world at that time was nowhere near as interconnected as it is today, composers were familiar with the development of music in each other's countries. While some were open to the differences between the styles and even experimented with mixing them, others were much more traditional and staunch advocates of their own national style.

If an official competition had been held to determine which style was the better, two composers would definitely have been in the running:

For France, Marin Marais, who belonged to the French traditionalists and disliked the sonata so much that he even forbade his students to play it. As THE representative of the Italian style, Antonio Vivaldi, with his extroverted virtuosity and imaginative tonal language, should of course also have been involved.

No one would have been better suited to mediate between these parties than Georg Philipp Telemann: with his Parisian quartets, he had proven that he was a master of both the Italian sonata style and the French suite, as well as the mixed taste of the German sonata.

Pasquale Pericoli, who was born in the Kingdom of Naples and was active in the second half of the 18th century, would have added a further aspect with his Cello Sonata in C major: It clearly shows the further development of the Italian style and in many ways is already reminiscent of the characteristics of the Rococo - easily digestible and airy.

At the concert, you can experience Marais' traditional French style at first hand, see for yourself whether Telemann was able to imitate this style in his Paris Quartet in E minor and form your own opinion of the Italian sonata that Marais frowned upon, here exemplified by Vivaldi. After the concert, you can reflect on all your impressions over tea, get into conversation and decide for yourself which style you personally like best.

The concert is part of the Continuo 2025 concert series. Supported by Kulturamt Freiburg and Regional Administrative Council

Admission free - pay after