*   Performing instruments: violin, Lombard mandolin, cello, theorbo
** Performing instruments: violin, Neapolitan mandolin, cello, theorbo

The Violin and the Mandolin, accomplices and rivals: in the field of musical literature of XVIII and XIX centuries, many violinists and composers who knew the mandolin - such as Vivaldi, Van Hall, Beethoven, Calace, Giuliani, Hoffman and many others - transposed their knowledge from one instrument to the other: the bow's beats turned into strokes of the plectrum, while
arpeggios, double string chords and virtuosities began to be used very frequently. Asort of expressive complicity or even a strong rivalry between the violin and the mandolin can be due to many factors: the simple possibility of passing from one instrument to another, the use of a similar virtuoso technique and the presence of an analogous instrumental idiom. Complicity comes from the rules of their common language, while rivalry is caused by the attempt to take the lead and to fascinate the listener.
Giovanni Francesco Giuliani was a violinist, a harpist, master of harpsichord and singing; what is clearly evident is that the composer had a particular skill and a rich inspiration in making the instruments talk together, thus obtaining the most of their timbre's variety and their technical and expressive possibilities. This recording proposes the even numbered Quartets no. 2, no.4 and no.6.
Very little is known about Giovanni Hoffmann, but it's sure that at the end of XVIII century he was one of the top virtuosi upon the mandolin. Herewith performed the Divertimenti number 3 and 4.
The Ensemble Baschenis took the manuscripts of the Quartets directly from Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna and edited them directly from the microfilm.

Iconography: Gianluca Corona, Resurrezione, 2009, oil on wood

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