John Amadio (flute)
Zara Nelson (violoncello)
John Ticehurst (harpsichord)
Buxtehude
It is customary to speak of Buxtehude as a Danish composer. He was, however, born at Helsingborg, Sweden, in 1637. In 1668 he was appointed organist at the Marienkirche, Liibeck, and remained at Liibeck until his death in 1707. Under his regime the city became one of the most important musical centres of Northern Europe.
' As a composer says Pohl,
' Buxtehude's strength lay in his free organ compositions and generally in instrumental music, pure and simple.' In this field he was Bach's immediate forerunner.
Leclair Jean-Marie Leclair (1697-1764) was one of the most distinguished of French violinists and violin composers. After a period of study in Italy, he returned to Paris in 1728 and for eight years was one of the outstanding musicians both at court and in the then newly-instituted ' Concert Spirituel ', the celebrated concert series which remained one of the most important features of French musical life until the Revolution. But in 1736 he appears to have left the ' Concert Sprituel ' to devote himself to composition and teaching.
Technically Leclair introduced numerous bold innovations in writing for the violin; for instance, the very free employment of double-stops.