Johann Friedrich Fasch's Concerto a due cori in B, an instrumental suite, features a mixed arrangement of winds and strings contrasted against each other, a style praised by Johann Adolph Scheibe in his "Critical Musician" (1745).
Composer Biography
Johann Friedrich Fasch, like many musical colleagues, initially studied law but also founded a "second ordinary Collegium musicum" based on Georg Philipp Telemann's model.
Composer Biography
A stay in Dresden, paid for by the Princes of Zerbst, allowed Johann Friedrich Fasch to deepen his acquaintances with violinist Johann Georg Pisendel and Johann David Heinichen, and meet other renowned colleagues.
Historical Context
Fasch's Concerto in D, with its grand instrumentation, was likely written for the Dresden court orchestra, which was renowned throughout Europe for its excellent wind soloists.
Compositional Technique
Johann Friedrich Fasch frequently filled "new wine" into the "old skins" of High Baroque forms like overtures, suites, and concertos, showing great freedom and individuality in his melodic and harmonic structures.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Musicologists like Hugo Riemann, Guido Adler, Carl Mennicke, and Romain Rolland recognized Johann Friedrich Fasch as an innovator who set instrumental music on its own feet.
Compositional Technique
Fasch's Concerto in G breaks Baroque conventions by featuring the oboe and transverse flute as equal soloists, demanding aesthetic qualities from the oboist that push the instrument's traditional boundaries.
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Telemann: Suite in G Major, "Les Nations Anciennes Et Modernes" / Viola Concerto in G Major
Telemann: Overtures / Violin Concerto in B-Flat Major / Concerto for Recorder and Flute in E Minor
