Wassenaer (attrib.) - Concerti Armonici - Turovsky

"(...) In 1980 the Dutch musicologist Alfred Dunning was exploring the palace library at Twickel in the Netherlands. Here he discovered the scores for six concertos(...) which answered the two questions which had long puzzled musicologists: who had composed these concertos, and why had the composer not identified himself. Indeed the foreword revealed that the composer had deliberately concealed his identity.(...) The Van Wassenaers were, and indeed are among the most distinguished families in the Netherlands, tracing their ancestry continuously back to 1200. The family had originally belonged to the country nobility, rising to power and influence during the Dutch rebellion against Spain from 1568-1648. Thus Unico Willem was born, on November 2nd, 1692 in Delden (Netherlands), into a family of generals, admirals and personages holding high positions in the government of the Dutch Republic, gaining more and more wealth through marriage and their own influential positions. (...) Unico became a diplomat in succession to his elder brother, and was active from the 1720s onward in high military, commercial and diplomatic positions, well respected in France both as diplomat and as musician. It is believed that Unico Willem composed his concerti armonici in The Hague where he could play them with his friends, including the Italian violinist/publisher/impresario Carlo Ricciotti (c1681-1756), and his friend and the dedicatee of his concertos, Count van Bentinck (1704-74). (...) After the Concerti were published many friends and musicians guessed the identity of their composer, suggesting that it would not be appropriate for such a person in his position to compose. (...)"

source: Michael Meacock in baroquemusic.org

The "Pergolesi" Concerti Armonici
attributed to Unico Wilhelm Graf van Wassenaer (1692-1766):


Concerto No.2 in G major
Concerto No.3 in A major
Concerto No.5 in B flat major
Concerto No.4 in F major
Concerto No.1 in G major
Concerto No.6 in E flat major

I Musici de Montreal
Yuli Turovsky - conductor

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