Hotteterre: Complete Chamber Music, Vol. 3

Featuring

Karl Kaiser
Michael Schneider
Ghislaine Wauters
Rainer Zipperling
Camerata Köln
Jacques-Martin Hotteterre

Roberto Valentini

Did you know?

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Composition History

Between 1707 and 1743, Jacques Martin Hotteterre published 16 volumes of compositions, collections, arrangements, and instrument tutors, establishing him as a key figure in French court flute music.

Instruments

The musette, a cultivated bagpipe and the main instrument of the Hotteterre family, is featured in Duet Opus 8, creating a nearly dissonance-free sound ideal for pastoral scenes.

Compositional Technique

Hotteterre's Opus 5 suites blend Italian and French styles, featuring a reduced number of movements and an imitative, motivically through-composed fabric typical of the Italian sonata da chiesa, yet still sounding distinctly French.

Interpretation

For this recording, Camerata Köln transposes some of Hotteterre's Opus 5 suites, performing the third suite a third higher with a recorder and the fourth suite a fourth lower with a viol, in line with historical performance practice.

Cultural Impact

Hotteterre's 'Principes de la flûte' (1707) taught basic flute playing and French baroque performance practice, establishing him as a universal 'flute aficionado' whose methods were widely imitated by later musicians like Johann Joachim Quantz.

Performer Biography

Camerata Köln, one of the world's most traditional chamber music ensembles for early music, was founded in 1979 by music students at the Cologne University of Music.

Composer Biography

Jacques Martin Hotteterre, a flautist at the French royal court, was known as 'Le Romain' (the Roman) because of his two-year stay in Rome, where he gained Italian stylistic knowledge.