It is tempting to imagine the weeks spent by Sylvius Leopold Weiss in Leipzig in the summer of 1739, when he repeatedly visited the Bach family home. The virtuoso lutenist then joined Johann Sebastian and the young Wilhelm Friedemann – his colleague in Dresden – to improvise throughout the night in a challenge. We now know that Bach’s violin and harpsichord suite BWV 1025 was adapted from a lute sonata by Weiss himself. Similarly, we can also imagine what the atmosphere would have been like in the noble salons of Paris during the Ancien Régime. What would the protocol have been like at the concerts held at the Tuileries Palace by the Concert Spirituel institution? Most likely, violinist Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonvill and harpsichordist Jacques Duphly crossed paths in those corridors. Thus, two musical styles closely associated with these two cities are placed side by side. From Leipzig, expressive density and contrapuntal invention. From Paris, ceremonious refinement and dancing ease.
From Leipzig to Paris
Solistas da Metropolitana
Works by Sylvius Leopold Weiss, Johann Sebastian Bach, Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville, and Jacques Duphly
Ágnes Sárosi violin
Fernando Miguel Jalôto harpsichord
