Fitzwilliam

All the music in this programme comes from the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, and most of it was collected by its founder, Richard, Seventh Viscount Fitzwilliam of Merrion (1745 – 1816). A polymath, lover of music, amateur composer and harpsichordist, musically active from about 1760 until his death, Fitzwilliam created a legacy of exceptional importance to English musical culture.

Quand on songe à l’œuvre d’Arcangelo Corelli, l’un des maîtres de la sonate préclassique et du concerto grosso, nous vient le plus souvent et spontanément en tête le fameux Concerto per la Notte di Natale, n° 8 des douze concerti grossi composant son opus 6. La Follia, cette célèbre sarabande qui développe une suite de quelque seize variations, est à l’opus V ce que le Concerto per la Notte di Natale est à l’opus 6 : la pièce la plus célèbre et la plus populaire.

Rediscovering musicians from the past is normal these days. In the case of the Neapolitan Andrea Falconieri, however, something strange is going on, because he was rediscovered a century or so ago. Although it was only a part of his works at the time - mostly lyrical airs as well as some instrumental dances - these successes actually deserved much more attention from musicians and music critics than they actually received. Falconieri's biography is a model for the typical Italian musician of the first half of the 17th century. He was born in Naples around 1585 and died there during the terrible plague of 1656 after traveling for thirty years and working in the most prestigious musical centers in Europe: Parma, Florence, Rome, Spain, Germany, Venice, Modena and Genoa.

The Fitzwilliam String Quartet give a revelatory recording on period instruments of Schubert’s String Quartet in G major, D. 887.

The Fitzwilliam Virginal book is one of the primary sources of keyboard music. The book, which is now housed in the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge, hails from the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean periods in England. + This release features excerpts from the Fitzwilliam Virginal book from composers including Giovanni Picchi, Orlando Gibbons, John Bull, William Bird, and more. + Dutch conductor, organist, and harpsichordist Ton Koopman performs the works on this album. He was knighted in 2003, receiving the Order of the Netherlands Lion, and is currently a professor at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague.

As Decca’s minimalist booklet notes fail to mention the fact, readers may be interested to know that in these recordings – made 1975-7 – the Fitzwilliam Quartet consisted of Christopher Rowland, Jonathan Sparey, Alan George and Joan Davies. They enjoyed a personal relationship with Shostakovich, who allowed them to give the Western premieres of his last three string quartets. Shostakovich had come to the medium relatively late, when the Soviet newspaper Pravda had already denounced his music as ‘unSoviet, unwholesome, cheap, eccentric, tuneless’.