WHISPERS IN COURT
For five musicians: traverso, violin, viola da gamba, harpsichord, theorbo and baroque guitarre.
The palace Sanssouci in Potsdam is now a tourist attraction. When visiting, one can almost sense its glorious past and imagine the social gatherings in the palace halls. Friedrich II, or Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, had the palace built in 1745. The splendor of the structure and the lifestyle of the King called for high quality entertainment and art, also in the form of music. Frederick the Great gathered the most famous and skilled musicians at his court, to compose, play and teach him, who himself was a gifted and devoted flute player. Among the musicians employed by the King were Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and Johann Joachim Quantz. Bach, who was a son of the famous Johann Sebastian Bach, was harpsichord player at the court. Quantz was Flute player and Court-Composer for Friedrich and moreover, he was Friedrichs personal flute teacher, and even accompanied the king on military journeys so that the king's daily flute lessons could continue.
The King's enthusiasm and support of music resulted in a great musical output at the Sanssouci court. In our concert we present a selection of the rich repertoire of that time and place, playing pieces by C.P.E. Bach and Quantz, who both wrote in the then modern ‘Empfindsamer Stil’. This style is characterized by a great display of emotions and feelings, which can change very quickly within a piece. Both Bach and Quantz described this musical style in their theoretical works, which found a grand reception and were printed in bulk.
C.P.E. Bach's father, Johann Sebastian Bach, wrote his ‘Musical Offering’ for King Friedrich after visiting him in Potsdam. Bach based this collection of canons, fugues and a Sonata on the ‘Royal Theme’ which was given to Bach by the king himself. Bach wrote the pieces in a mixture of the old and the new ‘Empfindsamer’ style, making it a ‘hinge-work’ between two important stylistic periods in music history.
All the pieces you hear in this concert are closely connected to the palace of Sanssouci and Frederick the Great. We hope that the listener gets an impression of what the sounds of the palace may have been and of the atmosphere this music may have created.