Agus: Sonate a violino solo e basso Quartetto Vanvitelli

• Giuseppe Agus (1722 - 1798): Sonata No. 1 in A Major:
• 1 Agus: Sonata No. 1 in A Major: I. Largo 03:11
• 2 Agus: Sonata No. 1 in A Major: II. Allegro assai 02:27
• 3 Agus: Sonata No. 1 in A Major: III. Andante 04:32
• Sonata No. 2 in B-Flat Major:
• 4 Agus: Sonata No. 2 in B-Flat Major: I. Largo 02:26
• 5 Agus: Sonata No. 2 in B-Flat Major: II. Allegro maestoso 03:19
• 6 Agus: Sonata No. 2 in B-Flat Major: III. Allegro assai 02:11
• Sonata No. 3 in C Major:
• 7 Agus: Sonata No. 3 in C Major: I. Adagio 02:29
• 8 Agus: Sonata No. 3 in C Major: II. Allegro ma non troppo 04:34
• 9 Agus: Sonata No. 3 in C Major: III. Minue 03:10
• Sonata No. 4 in G Major:
• 10 Agus: Sonata No. 4 in G Major: I. Andantino grazzioso 03:23
• 11 Agus: Sonata No. 4 in G Major: II. Allegro maestoso 03:05
• 12 Agus: Sonata No. 4 in G Major: III. Minue 03:09
• Sonata No. 5 in F Major:
• 13 Agus: Sonata No. 5 in F Major: I. Grave 02:58
• 14 Agus: Sonata No. 5 in F Major: II. Allegro ma non troppo 02:38
• 15 Agus: Sonata No. 5 in F Major: III. Andantino grazzioso 01:55
• 16 Agus: Sonata No. 5 in F Major: IV. Presto e con spirito 01:47
• Sonata No. 6 in E Major:
• 17 Agus: Sonata No. 6 in E Major: I. Larghetto 03:05
• 18 Agus: Sonata No. 6 in E Major: II. Allegro 03:35
• 19 Agus: Sonata No. 6 in E Major: III. Tempo di minuetto 05:15
• The Allemands:
• 20 Agus: The Allemands: Allemanda No. 1 in D Major - Allemanda No. 2 in D Major- Allemanda No. 3 in D Major - Allemanda No. 4 in G Major - Allemanda No. 5 in F Major - Allemanda No. 6 in F Major 09:02
• Total Runtime 01:08:11

Info for Agus: Sonate a violino solo e basso

The Neapolitan school of instrumental music and its links with the rest of Europe in the eighteenth century – this is at the heart of Quartetto Vanvitelli’s activities. After concentrating on the work of the composer Michele Mascitti of Abruzzo, an outstanding figure representing Italian music in France, the quartet now turns to a composer-violinist from Sardinia, Giuseppe (Joseph) Agus (1722-1798), who achieved success in London and Paris in the second half of the 18th century. Like Mascitti, he studied in Naples, then lived in London from the late 1740s, coming into direct contact with the most important protagonists of 18th-century English music: George Frederic Handel, Thomas Arne, Johann Christian Bach.

Working as a violinist in the theatres and concert halls of the English capital, Agus published various instrumental collections and participated in collective works with music by Handel, Arne and Hasse. Even though his artistry was appreciated in London, Agus moved to Paris in the 1770s, where he published a few compositions and taught at the Conservatoire until his death in 1798.

Quartetto Vanvitelli

Quartetto Vanvitelli
The Quartetto Vanvitelli, born in 2017, is an Italian Baroque group composed by Gian Andrea Guerra, Nicola Brovelli, Luigi Accardo and Mauro Pinciaroli, musicians with concert activities carried out in the most important festivals of the sector such as Festival Monteverdi, MiTo, Ravenna Festival, Stresa Festiva, Roma Europa Festival, Echi Lontani, Regie Sinfonie, Grandezze e Meraviglie, Anima Mundi.

The Quartet has decided to contribute to the heritage of the baroque music by taking an interest in new music never published, recording two records for the prestigious label Arcana (Outhere Music). The quartet’s work has been enthusiastically received by the main European specialized magazines (Diapason, Musica, Amadeus, BBC Music Magazine, Deutschlandfunk, and many others). The music, the sonatas for violin and basso continuo op.8 and op.9 by Michele Mascitti, represents an idea of the Neapolitan period of the early 18th century in a surprising mix with the French style. The Mascitti sonatas are a happy synthesis of the various stylistic influences, both Italian and transalpine, assimilated by the author in the most diverse environments that have characterized his professional and human life. The melodic gesture that opens the entire collection of opera VIII, accompanied by the bass “passeggiato”, cannot help but remind us that Corelli remained the reference model for the entire compositional work of Mascitti.

In a musical path in which slow and fast movements alternate, dance movements are added or interpolated, but this is not the only pecularity: in fact to the gallant rhythms and cadences, Mascitti however also combines harmonic solutions and movements that evoke characteristics of Neapolitan vocal and instrumental music. Without doubt the role of Mascitti and other Neapolitan musicians, who at the beginning of the eighteenth century conquered the Parisian public, was decisive for the diffusion of Italian music in France and for the development of the French instrumental tradition. Already in 1713 an article on Mercure galant acknowledged its merits, stating, a little emphatically, that “Corelli, Albinoni, Michel [Mascitti] and many others have composed [so- nate] that will remain immortal and that few can equal.”

Booklet for Agus: Sonate a violino solo e basso