Ensemble Il Demetrio, founded by Maurizio Schiavo, specializes in baroque music played on original instruments and is known for rediscovering forgotten Italian repertoire.
Performer Biography
Gabriele Formenti, the flutist, has published two novels: 'Il Fortepiano di Federico' about Frederick the Great and C.P.E. Bach, and 'Il violino noir' about Leclair and his Stradivari violin.
Recording & Production
The recording uses a tuning standard of A=430 Hertz, which is a common practice for historically informed performances.
Composer Biography
Giovanni Paisiello, the composer, played a fundamental role in the transition from aristocratic to middle-class musical patronage, having worked for both Ferdinando of Borbone in Naples and Catherine the Great in Saint Petersburg, and later for Napoleon.
Historical Context
The flute gained significant popularity in Italian 'good society' in the late 1700s, placing it above other wind instruments and leading to widespread success, particularly in Naples.
Instruments
Gabriele Formenti, the flutist, plays a 6-keyed flute that is a copy after an A. Grenser instrument from around 1763.
Historical Context
These quartets are representative of a shift in musical patronage from aristocrats to the growing bourgeois middle class in Europe during the late 1700s and early 1800s.
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