Strings Of Enlightenment: Violin And Cello Duos In The Classical Era – Duo Synopsis

In spite of its undeniable positive qualities, the duo for violin and cello has not been employed by musicians as often as it should have been. This Da Vinci Classics album offers us a valuable insight into how this genre developed from a kind of solo violin work with cello accompaniment into a form in which both instruments possess equal dignity. The Duet by Franz Joseph Haydn (1782) is in fact one of the first examples of this novel attitude; Mozart’s Duets KV 423 and 424 were composed for (or rather on behalf of!) Haydn’s brother, Michael, whom an illness was preventing from completing a series of six duos for viola and violin (here transcribed for cello and violin). Finally, Beethoven’s Duo is the only surviving fragment of a probably larger work, dating back to Beethoven’s student years in Bonn; it already demonstrates the young musician’s mastery of the form and of its style.