The Vauxhall Band Basset Horn Trio (Sarah Thurlow, Katherine Spencer and Fiona Mitchell) perform basset horn, clarinet and chalumeaux works by W.A. Mozart, Georg Druschetzky, Vojtech Nudera, Henry Purcell, Christoph Graupner and James Waterson.
A wooden, single reed wind instrument, closely related to the clarinet, the basset horn was mostly heard in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in Austria and Germany, with historical evidence dating the earliest known instruments to the 1760s.
When Czech musicians Messrs Dworschak, David and Springer first came to London in 1791 and performed at Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens as a basset horn trio, the instrument was relatively new to London. These mysterious and unusual sounding instruments with their colourful, earthy tones created great interest. The trio also performed in the Vauxhall Band on the clarinet.
The Vauxhall Band Basset Horn Trio will explore the repertoire that the original trio may have performed and the fascinating journey of the development of the instrument and its arrival into London.
Dinner and drinks available at the Tea House Theatre on the night.