The Concerto
What better way to end a festival than with a glorious programme of solo and orchestral concertos!
Muffat’s influence stemmed far and wide, incorporating both French and Italian style, and his hugely important legacy is beautifully illustrated in these wonderful works by composers far better-known than Muffat today, but who each owe him a huge debt of gratitude.
Muffat Festival
Georg Muffat (1653-1704) lived through a time of immense political and musical change in Europe, influencing future generations of musicians. He studied and worked in France during the early part of Louis XIV’s reign, worked in Rome, encountering Corelli, and then in various parts of central Europe. This was a time of transformation in the musical landscape, with rivalry between old and new factions. Muffat was the first person to bring French musical language and the fashion for dance idiom to Germany. His immense skill in fusing different musical styles, be it German, French or Italian made him a true trendsetter.
Over this weekend The Brook Street Band (plus guests) delves into Muffat’s world, exploring the varied musical styles that informed and shaped him. The Band explores his legacy in the form of chamber and orchestral music by composers including Bach and Handel, with four concerts (plus a dance-music workshop and illustrated pre-concert talks) providing a comprehensive musical survey, as well as a natural ebb and flow in terms of mood and scale, small chamber versus orchestral line-ups, and art music versus dance music. Concerts include music from Muffat’s Armonico Tributo ‘chamber sonatas suitable for few or many instruments’) in varying church and chamber style, as well a selection from the two volumes of Muffat’s ground-breaking Florilegium.