The rarity of chamber music quartet formations meant that only two musicians, Quantz and Scheibe, wrote about them in theoretical writings.
Compositional Technique
The quartet with basso continuo, featured on this album, was considered the most demanding genre of instrumental music in the first half of the 18th century.
Composer Biography
Johann Gottlieb Janitsch, a 'Contraviolonist' in Friedrich II's court orchestra, dedicated the last decade of his life almost exclusively to composing quartets.
Critical Reception
Johann Adolph Scheibe, a music theorist, stated that connoisseurs and good masters of music could recognize a composer's strength from quartet pieces.
Composition History
Handel's Sonata in G Major, Op. 5, No. 4, incorporates movements from his one-act dance play Terpsicore, which transformed his opera Il Pastor Fido from a flop into a success.
Historical Context
Unlike trio sonatas, which were often for amateurs, quartet sonatas were typically individual works aimed at professional musicians and virtuosos of court ensembles.
Compositional Technique
The sonatas on this album showcase a mixed French-Italian-German style, characterized by 'erudite and industrious polyphony'.
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