Experimental Baroque

The historic Prince Friedrich Postern in the Castle Museum will be transformed into a scene of a Baroque dialogue. Baroque cello virtuosos, together with one of the most famous harpsichordists from Estonia, will invite you to discover the enchanting world of 18th-century music makers. Come and experience a magical journey featuring wonderful Baroque music! 

The programme of the concert is dedicated to the repertoire of the Baroque cello and offers a glimpse into how 18th-century composers sought a new compositional context. The cello was a relatively new solo instrument at the time. The first cello sonatas were published in Italy around 1697, but it took a while before composers began to take the cello seriously as a solo instrument. In 1717, Jacob Klein Der Junger from Amsterdam published the second publication, i.e. a set of sonatas for the bass viola (this is how the cello was called at the time). His innovative harmonic ideas were manifested in the use of various cello combinations (discordato); a prime example of this is Sonata Op. 3 No. 5 by Jacob Klein Der Junger. 

The second aspect of the programme is the art of transcription. The performers offer works from a little-known book of virtuoso transcriptions for two cellos, which was published in Paris in circa 1750. In this book, an anonymous composer arranged popular folk songs and fragments of operas by Jean-Philippe Rameau. The third part of the programme will focus on contemporary experiments and aim to find the historical basis of well-known works. For example, Georg Philipp Telemann’s Twelve Fantasias for Viola da Gamba may have been originally conceived for cello. Another example is Johann Sebastian Bach’s Suite No. 2 in D minor, whose French style is emphasised by adapting the work to the more French form of a concerto for two cellos with basso continuo. These transcriptions were made by Pavel Serbin, one of the members of the trio.