Concert presented by MouseEar Concerts

Music by Schmitt, de Fesch, Locatelli, Mahaut and Wendling

The scene is a warmly-lit house on the Grachtengordel in 18th-century Amsterdam: remnants of a hearty dinner remain on the table, but the guests have repaired to the salon, where the musicians among them have taken up their instruments or seated themselves before the harpsichord. As the musicians begin to play, you notice that the music was printed neither in London nor Leipzig but right here in Amsterdam.

This programme celebrates Amsterdam and its role as one of the main music-publishing centres in 18th-century Europe. Building on its success in book publishing in the previous century, Amsterdam became fertile ground for music as well: at one point in the 18th century, there were no fewer than 76 houses publishing music! Of special importance ar the firms of E. Roger and his daughter in the first half of the century and J. J. Hummel and J. Schmitt in the second half.

The music on this programme comes from the catalogues of these publishing firms. Among the most famous of Roger’s hundreds of publications are Corelli’s Concerti Grossi op. 6 and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Hummel and Schmitt popularised the music of Haydn, Mozart, C.P.E. Bach, and scores of other galant and Classical composers of note, both in the Netherlands and in northern Europe.

We have selected a variety of chamber works published in Amsterdam — beautiful, intriguing, and well-crafted works by both composers living and working in Amsterdam and foreigners who found fame here through the publishing industry.