Biber Farina Pachelbel
Italian and German music from the 17th century
With compositions by H. I. F. Biber, G. B. Buonamente, Dario Castello, Johann Pachelbel, J. H. Schmelzer, Tarquinio Merula, J. H. Kapsberger, Biagio Marini and Carlo Farina
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Biber Farina Pachelbel
Abstract
Biber Farina Pachelbel
The first La Scintilla concert of the season, conducted by Riccardo Minasi, features 17th-century works written north and south of the Alps. The composer Carlo Farina plays a connecting role between these two worlds: born in Mantua in 1600, he led a constant itinerant life that has been recorded only in fragments and ends in Vienna in 1639. His journey took him to Dresden, for example, where he was the only Italian employed in the court orchestra at the time. Farina's music mixes Italian and German elements in a singular way. One can hear his Capriccio stravagante, in which he comically imitated animals and instruments. Johann Heinrich Schmelzer's Die Fechtschule and Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber's La Battalia are in the same imitative tradition. In addition to various works from northern Italy, the programme also includes the famous Canon by Johann Pachelbel.