Avison: Concerto Grosso Arrangements of Geminiani's Opus 1 Violin Sonatas

Charles Avison was the leading advocate of the Italian concerto-grosso style in England during the eighteenth century. A pupil of Francesco Geminiani and a friend to many other Italian musicians who immigrated to England during this period, Avison wrote more than fifty works in the genre, including his well-known orchestral transcriptions of Domenico Scarlatti’s keyboard sonatas, and he was happy to assume the role of the genre’s staunchest defender. Avison’s arrangements of Geminiani’s Sonatas for Violin and Basso Continuo, op. 1 (1716) were unknown to us until 2002, when they were discovered in the second of two of his workbooks that reappeared after being hidden for more than two hundred years. These works represent a significant addition not only to the repertoire and reputation of Avison, but also to our understanding of the influence of the Italian concerto-grosso style in England during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

1. Concerto in G Major (from Sonata in A Major, Op. 1, No. 1)

I. Grave; Allegro; Adagio; Allegro; Adagio

II. Allegro

III. Grave

IV. Allegro

 

2. Concerto in D Minor (from Sonata in D Minor, Op. 1, No. 2)

I. Adagio

II. Allegro

III. Adagio

IV. Allegro

 

3. Concerto in E Minor (from Sonata in E Minor, Op. 1, No. 3)

I. Adagio; Allegro; Adagio; Tempo giusto; Adagio

II. Allegro

 

4. Concerto in D Major (from Sonata in D Major, Op. 1, No. 4)

I. Adagio

II. Allegro

III. Grave

IV. Allegro

 

5. Concerto in B-flat Major (from Sonata in B-flat Major, Op. 1, No. 5)

I. Affettuoso

II. Vivace

III. Grave

IV. Allegro

 

6. Concerto in G Minor (from Sonata in G Minor, Op. 1, No. 6)

I. Affettuoso

II. Adagio

III. Allegro

IV. Andante

 

7. Concerto in C Minor (from Sonata in C Minor, Op. 1, No. 7)

I. Grave

II. Allegro

III. Grave

IV. Allegro

 

8. Concerto in B Minor (from Sonata in B Minor, Op. 1, No. 8)

I. Affettuoso

II. Vivace

III. Adagio

IV. Vivace

 

9. Concerto in F Major (from Sonata in F Major, Op. 1, No. 9)

I. Vivace

II. Andante

III. Allegro

 

10. Concerto in D Major (from Sonata in E Major, Op. 1, No. 10)

I. Adagio

II. Allegro

III. Adagio

IV. Allegro

 

11. Concerto in D Minor (from Sonata in D Minor, Op. 1, No. 12)

I. Amoroso

II. Allegro

III. Adagio; Allegro