I Musici - WASSENAER: Concerti Armonici

Count Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer (1692-1766) was a nobleman, and Dutch ambassador of the United Provinces to Paris and to Cologne in the 1740s. He was also a remarkably skilled amateur musician and composer. Like many wealthy men of the period who had similar musical skills Albinoni and Marcello for example he published his music under a false name as the social standing of musicians and composers was way beneath his. For many years the Concerti Armonici on this CD were by an unknown composer, and later they were attributed to Handel, Pergolesi, Carlo Ricciotti (1681-1756), and the violinist Charles Bachiche. Only in 1979 did it become possible to attribute these concertos with certainty to Wassenaer. His music shows him to be up to the minute in terms of fashionable musical styles of the time, and, perhaps a result of his travels as a diplomat, have a distinctly Italianate sound. Corelli is especially detectable, with a fondness for sensuality, lyricism and contrasts.