Dornel: Sonate en Quatuor

Description

Louis-Antoine Dornel (1685 – c1765) worked as an organist in Paris during and after the reign of the ‘Sun King’, Louis XIV. Well respected as a musician during his lifetime, his surviving instrumental works include the Livre de Simphonies contenant six Suittes en Trio… avec une Sonate en Quatuor, Op. 1 (1709), from which this magnificent quartet is taken.

Dornel’s imaginative and dynamic compositional style was perfectly suited to the lively and ever-changing musical environment of Paris at this time. The glorious years of Louis XIV’s reign were coming to a close, and with fewer restrictions on their work composers were keen to experiment with newer musical ideas, particularly the Italian style of Corelli and Vivaldi. This quartet is quite probably Dornel’s first experiment with the title and genre ‘sonata’, and its dramatic and contrasting sections, virtuosic outbursts, as well as its adventurous harmonic palette all point to an Italian model, but with an unmistakable French taste.

Instrumentation

• A A A/T Recorders with basso continuo; alternatively a bass recorder part is supplied to make A A A/T B Quartet
• The original score is transposed up a minor third to D minor, to fit the range of recorders in the upper parts; other melody instruments may also be substituted.
• Part 3 has been supplied in two alternative versions, suitable for treble or tenor recorders.
• The original figured bass line has been realised here by Robin Bigwood for keyboard – ideally harpsichord or chamber organ.
• A separate basso continuo part has also been supplied for use by cello, bassoon, bass viol or other continuo instrument.
• The supplied bass recorder part can be used as part of a continuo group, but can also function on its own to make an independent recorder quartet.

Audio Example