17th Century French Viol music

As for so much, I have to thank Gustav Leonhardt for introducing me to 17th century French Viol music. He had reccomended the wonderful Kuijken brothers, Sigiswald (violin), Barthold (baroque flute) and Wieland (Viola da Gamba).

Wieland played music for Viola da Gamba by Le sieur de St. Colombe (nobody knows his christian name!). Marin Marais and others. I was immediately blown away by the incredible romanticism (yes, romanticism!) and expressive freedom of this music. Apparently, it is written without bar lines. 

I don't think there is anything like it is music at any other time or place.

The Viola da Gamba is not a precurser of the 'cello by the way but a much earlier instrument mainly used in the context of domestic music making as its tone is not large. It fell out of favour for at least 200 years before Arnold Dolmetsch and later Wieland, Jordi Savall and others championed it from the mid-twentieth century on. 

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