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Baroque Behemoth


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Andrew Flory full profile / Solo Theorbo / 1 musician


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The theorbo is the largest of the lute family of instruments and was developed in the very late 16th century in Florence, Italy. A behemoth in size and sound, the theorbo quickly gained popularity as an accompaniment instrument where it excelled playing continuo in the earliest of operas and for chamber groups and solo voice. Throughout the entirety of the baroque era, the theorbo flourished in its accompanying role but a mere sliver of solo works for the instrument survive when compared to what can be played on the instrument for accompanying purposes. However, there are three composers that stand out in their quality of solo music for the instrument and in the amount of their solo theorbo works that survive. Those three composers are Alessandro Piccinini (1566-1638), Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger (1580-1651), and Robert de Visée (1655-1732/1733).

The Piccinini and Kapsberger works in this program exemplify the early 17th century Italian style through their florid toccatas and lively dances such as the corrente and bergamasca. Also included the program is a passacaglia which was a popular ground bass form of the time that utilized a repeating bass line with variations played over top.

The evolution of solo theorbo music is demonstrated in the Robert de Visée works featured in this program. De Visée was a French composer of the late 17th century into the early 18th century. He was a court musician for Louis XIV and wrote in the typical French dance suite style that is more familiar today than the dances found in Piccinini and Kapsberger works. I find de Visée’s works to be some of the finest solo theorbo works and I am so pleased to be able to share these with you today.


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