Baroque Music Performance Research Project
Chief Investigator and Musical Director: Greg Dikmans
An initiative of the Early Music Studio at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, The University of Melbourne, in conjunction with the Elysium Ensemble.
The aim of the project is to select attractive, high quality, neglected or newly discovered works and to research the appropriate historical performance practices leading to informed performances and CD recordings.
A great benefit of a project such as this is that it can achieve depth and maturity in performance by allowing the musicians to focus on a a repertoire for an extended period of time.
Johann Joachim Quantz and his Sei Duetti (Berlin, 1759)
In 2010 Greg Dikmans (baroque flute) and Lucinda Moon (baroque violin) focused on the work of Johann Joachim Quantz (1697–1773), in particular his important and famous treatise on Baroque performance practice, On Playing the Flute (Berlin, 1752), applying his ideas to the Sei Duetti a due flauti traversi, op. 2 (Berlin, 1759) and the music of other composers such as Georg Philipp Telemann and Carl Philipp Emanual Bach.
As a research project, this led to a better understanding of Quantz and to what music his ideas apply.
As a performance project, this led to a series of concerts and an ABC Sunday Live broadcast, collectively titled Dialogue: The Art of Elegant Conversation, that revealed the variety, inventiveness and quality of Quantz’s duets. This is excellent music that is not yet available on CD.
While the title page of the Duetti states they are for two flutes, in the Preface Quantz says they can be performed on other instruments such as on a flute and a muted violin, as well as other combinations of matched instruments (two violins, two oboes etc). He goes on: 'In general, duets as well as trios produce a better and more intelligible effect on two instruments of different types than upon instruments of the same kind'. So the combination of flute and muted violin seems to be a preferred option, an option that works very well in performance.
The Quantz Sei Duetti will be recorded in the last quarter of 2011.
Research and Recording Roadmap
In 2010 a number of composers and collections of works were identified as candidates for further research. Several approaches for presenting this music were also explored. This will be an ongoing process.
In addition to the insights gained into German Baroque chamber music while working on the Quantz Duetti, Greg and Lucinda also have a broad experience with 17th- and 18th-century French music. There is a rich, largely unrecorded repertoire of works for two melody instruments, which expands with the addition of a theorbo or harpsichord and bass instrument.
Composers currently under consideration include:
- Joseph Bodin de Boismortier (1689–1755)
- Michel Blavet (1700–1768)
- Jean-Marie Leclair (1697–1764)
- André Chéron (1695–1766)
- Louis-Antoine Dornel (c1680-after 1756)
- Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767)
- Carl Philipp Emanual Bach (1714–1788)
- Johann Joachim Quantz (1697–1773)
The Baroque Music Performance Research Project gratefully acknowledges the support of The Cameron Family Foundation.
