Sainte-Colombe: Concerts A 2 Violes Esgales, Vol. 4

Featuring

Susie Napper
Margaret Little
Les Voix Humaines
Jean de Sainte-Colombe

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Performer Biography

Les Voix Humaines, a duo consisting of gambists Susie Napper and Margaret Little, are known for their arrangements of music for two viols and their performances of contemporary works.

Composer Biography

Sainte-Colombe was a student of Nicolas Hotman, a prominent viol player, and lived in Paris around 1660.

Cultural Impact

Sainte-Colombe's Concerts for two viols inspired Pascal Quignard's 1991 novel "All the World's Mornings" (Tous les matins du monde), which was later adapted into a film by Alain Corneau.

Compositional Technique

Sainte-Colombe added an extra string in the low register to his viol, increasing the total number of strings from six to seven, with the three thickest strings spun with silver.

Composer Biography

Sainte-Colombe, whose exact identity is still unknown, never held an official post and his main body of work, 67 Concerts for two viols, was never published during his lifetime.

Compositional Technique

In Sainte-Colombe's Concerts, the two viol parts constantly exchange roles, acting as both soloist and accompanist.

Composition History

The manuscript of Sainte-Colombe's 67 Concerts for two viols was rediscovered in the late 1960s by Paul Hooreman among papers belonging to Alfred Cortot.