The start of the Baroque Ensemble’s season will take place on Friday, October 14, at the Anglican Church of Nice. On the program: Vivaldi. Laudate Pueri Dominum; Francesca Aspromonte, soprano.
The very concept of intellectual and artistic property did not really exist before the 18th century, and even after the “Queen Anne’s Act” in England in 1710 or the founding by Beaumarchais in 1777 of the Société des Auteurs in France, copyright took a long time to be recognized as such. Thus, during the so-called “Baroque” period, there were many exchanges and borrowings within the artistic community, especially in music.
When an artist borrowed a theme from one of his contemporaries or predecessors, he certainly did not feel he was plagiarizing, but rather paying homage or using material that naturally presented itself to him.
But let us give the floor to Gilbert Bezzina, director and soul of this orchestra: “Our season ‘Airs de famille’ aims to give you an insight into the circulation of themes and forms within this musical Europe; it would, of course, be impossible to be exhaustive, but we will strive to uncover some of the ties that are perceptible among many composers, to identify some of the influences exerted on them during their travels or through the rich musical libraries.
In this journey we will notably feature Vivaldi, whose numerous works were published in Amsterdam and traveled throughout Europe, Handel, a German composer who, after a long stay in Italy, completed his career in London, or Corelli, the master of the violin school and the sonata form, not to mention Johann Sebastian Bach and his family: we hope in this way to enable you to rediscover the ‘family resemblances’ that marked 18th century Europe.”
