Uploaded May 2009 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
PIERRE-DANICAN PHILIDOR (1681-1731)
Suite for oboe and basso continuo in D minor Op. 1 No. 5
1. Tres lentement
2. Allemande
Performed by members of Amarilis
Héloïse Gaillard, oboe
Ophélie Gaillard, cello
Violaine Cochard, harpsichord
*Pierre Danican Philidor was a member of a musical family originally named Danican. It had been founded by Michel Danican (ca. 1600 - 1659) and his younger brother Jean (ca. 1620 - 1679), who evidently adopted the name Philidor when he was in royal service. Jean had two sons; the younger, Jacques (1657-1708), established the "cadet" line of Danican Philidors. Pierre Danican Philidor (la cadet) was his eldest son and one of the last significant musicians in the family. (The most important musician in the family, François-André Danican Philidor (1726 - 1795), was Pierre's cousin in the senior line; in addition, he was the famous chess player whose name is synonymous with a defensive series of plays.)
Pierre was a wind player, primarily an oboist, in the grand écurie from 1697; an oboist in the royal chapel from 1704; and a flutist in the chambre du roi from 1712. He wrote some attractive compositions that have survived, namely six suites for two flutes; six suites for two flutes, oboes, or violins; and some marches.
PIERRE-DANICAN PHILIDOR (1681-1731)
Suite for oboe and basso continuo in D minor Op. 1 No. 5
1. Tres lentement
2. Allemande
Performed by members of Amarilis
Héloïse Gaillard, oboe
Ophélie Gaillard, cello
Violaine Cochard, harpsichord
*Pierre Danican Philidor was a member of a musical family originally named Danican. It had been founded by Michel Danican (ca. 1600 - 1659) and his younger brother Jean (ca. 1620 - 1679), who evidently adopted the name Philidor when he was in royal service. Jean had two sons; the younger, Jacques (1657-1708), established the "cadet" line of Danican Philidors. Pierre Danican Philidor (la cadet) was his eldest son and one of the last significant musicians in the family. (The most important musician in the family, François-André Danican Philidor (1726 - 1795), was Pierre's cousin in the senior line; in addition, he was the famous chess player whose name is synonymous with a defensive series of plays.)
Pierre was a wind player, primarily an oboist, in the grand écurie from 1697; an oboist in the royal chapel from 1704; and a flutist in the chambre du roi from 1712. He wrote some attractive compositions that have survived, namely six suites for two flutes; six suites for two flutes, oboes, or violins; and some marches.


![Abel - Arpeggio for Solo Viola da Gamba WKO194
CARL FRIEDRICH ABEL (1723 - 1797)
[Arpeggio] for solo viola da gamba WKO 194
Performed by Susanne Heinrich
*Carl Friedrich Abel was a German composer of the Classical era. He was a fine player on the viola da gamba, and composed important music for that instrument.
Abel was born in Cöthen, the son of Christian Ferdinand Abel, the principal viola da gamba and cello player in the court orchestra of Johann Sebastian Bach (there is a possiblity that Bachs sonatas for viola da gamba and obbligato harpsichord were written for him). There is no proof that Abel studied at Thomasschule Leipzig, but it was on Bachs recommendation that in 1748 he was able to join Johann Adolph Hasses court orchestra at Dresden where he remained for ten years. In 1759 he went to England and became chamber-musician to Queen Charlotte. He gave a concert of his own compositions in London, performing on various instruments, one of which was a five-string cello known as a pentachord, which had been recently invented by John Joseph Merlin.
In 1762, Johann Christian Bach, the eleventh son of Johann Sebastian Bach, joined him in London, and the friendship between him and Abel led, in 1764 or 1765, to the establishment of the famous Bach-Abel concerts, Englands first subscription concerts. In those concerts, many celebrated guest artists appeared, and the works of Haydn received their first English performance.
For ten years the concerts were organized by Mrs. Teresa Cornelys, a retired Venetian opera singer who owned a concert hall at Carlisle House in Soho Square, then the height of fashionable events. In 1775 the concerts became independent of her, to be continued by Abel and Bach until Bachs death in 1782. Abel still remained in great demand as a player on various instruments new and old. He traveled to Germany and France between 1782 and 1785, and upon his return to London, became a leading member of the Grand Professional Concerts at the Hanover Square Rooms in Soho. Throughout his life he had enjoyed excessive living, and his drinking probably hastened his death, which occurred in London on June 20, 1787.
One of the most widely known works of Abel became famous due to a misattribution: in the 19th century, a manuscript symphony in the hand of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, was catalogued as his Symphony no. 3 in E flat, K. 18, and was published as such in the first complete edition of Mozarts works by Breitkopf & Härtel. Later, it was discovered that this symphony was actually the work of Abel, copied by the boy Mozart evidently for study purposes while he was visiting London in 1764. That symphony was originally published as the concluding work in Abels Six Symphonies, Op. 7. Abel - Arpeggio for Solo Viola da Gamba WKO194](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/fElrE7D7tr0/mqdefault.jpg)



![Galuppi - Nisi Dominus in C Minor - Mov 1-3/7
BALDASSARRE GALUPPI (1706-1785)
Nisi Dominus for choir, soloists, strings, and basso continuo
1. Coro: Nisi Dominus [coro]
2. Duetto e Coro: Vanum est vobis [soprano II, contralto, coro]
3. Duetto: Cum dederit [soprano I & II]
Performed by the Kornerscher Sing-Verein Dresden and the Dresdner Instrumental-Concert
Featuring Roberta Invernizzi, soprano I
Lucia Cirillo, soprano II
Sara Mingardo, contralto
Paul Agnew, tenor I
Sergio Foresti, bass I
Directed by Peter Kopp
*Baldassare Galuppi was an Italian composer from Venice, noted for his operas, and particularly opera buffa.
He was born on the island of Burano in the Venetian Lagoon, and as a result, he became known as Il Buranello. His first attempt at opera, La fede nellincostanza ossia gli amici rivali (1722), was a spectacular failure, having been hissed off the stage. He subsequently studied music with Antonio Lotti, and after a brief period in Florence working as a harpsichordist, returned to Venice for another attempt at opera. This time, his opera seria Dorinda (1729) was a success and launched his theatrical career.
In 1740, he was appointed music director of the Ospedale dei Mendicanti, and he worked at St. Marks in Venice from 1748, being appointed maestro di cappella (considered Venices top musical post) there in 1762. He lived and worked for most of his life in Venice, though from 1741 to 1743 he worked in London, and from 1765 to 1768 he worked for Catherine the Great in St. Petersburg.
His first opera buffa was LArcadia in Brenta (1749). This was also his first collaboration with librettist Carlo Goldoni, with whom he produced a number of operas. These works were very popular, with Il filosofo di campagna (1754) a particular success. Goldonis libretto Il mondo della luna, first set by Galuppi, was later used by a number of other composers, including Joseph Haydn and Giovanni Paisiello. Subsequent operas include Lamante di tutte (1760) and I tre amanti ridicoli (1761), written on libretti by the composers son Antonio Galuppi, who wrote under the name A. Liteo.
In his later years, his operatic output decreased somewhat. Among his nonoperatic works are a large number of pieces for harpsichord and several oratorios. By the time of his death, in Venice, Galuppi was one of the best-known and most respected figures in the Venetian musical establishment. A requiem mass was held in his memory at St Marks.
At least two sacred choral works by Antonio Vivaldi have been attributed to Galuppi, a Beatus Vir and a Nisi Dominus.; musicologist Janice Stockigt believes that a Dixit Dominus might be another such work.
Robert Brownings poem A Toccata of Galuppis refers to Galuppi and his work, although no such Toccata exists.
The English pianist Peter Seivewright is currently recording all of Galuppis 90 keyboard sonatas in what will be a projected ten-CD set for The Divine Art record label; he is also publishing them. Galuppi - Nisi Dominus in C Minor - Mov 1-3/7](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ffRe1V7LH_o/mqdefault.jpg)



