The subjects which the icons refer to can be divided into two general types: picture icons (for example saints portraits, Mother of God of the Sign, Christ Pantocrator) and scenic subject icons. Some of these subjects also inspired the great musicians'magnum opus H. Biber (XVIII cent.), Bohemian, lived in Salzburg and Vienna. He was included in the rollcall of violinists and composers and he became famous for his skilfulness. Up to the middle of the last century, a 36-voice mass composed by him was ascribed to Bach. Some of the "Sonatas of the Holy Rosary" will be played; Biber describes all its mysteries and to better differentiate the spiritual atmosphere of each sonata he tunes the violin each time. J. S. Bach does not need to be introduced. What is worthy of new studies (Helga Thone: chaconne, dance or funeral music? Lipsia, 1994) is to have diagnosed that the six sonatas for violin only were finished in a very dramatic moment and the famous chaconne was written in one go virtually. Bach was coming back from a travel when he found his young wife dead, living him with their four children to be raised. In that moment and taking a few days only, he composed the six sonatas for violin only: an eternal masterpiece. In the C major sonata, whose fugue represents the most complex example of polyphonic artistry entrusted to a monodic instrument, there are many music subjects, taken from various chorales previously composed by Bach, and all about the Pentecost, just as in the first sonata the music subjects concern the Nativity and, in the second one, they concern the Passion. The Concert that Vivaldi dedicated to the Assumption of Our Lady Virgin Mary, is one of the two that the author offered to such a feast (15 August), which is very loved in hisVenezia. In marked contrast to the profound and suffered profundity of the previous compositions, Vivaldi will end the evening in an extroverted and joyful manner, with a touch of untroubled Mediterranean brilliance.
Marco Fornaciari, violin
