Maute Sonate e Concerti per flauti Ensemble Caprice Rebel ACD2 2273 When Giuseppe Sammartini arrived in London from Milan (probably in 1728), he was one of many Italian musicians who saw their future in Anglo-Saxon terrain. Geminiani, Barsanti and Bononcini were among the composers who made their home on the isle. Why was this trend for emigration out of Italy so strong? Two different reasons must be mentioned. First, ever since the seventeenth century, Italian musicians were in demand abroad as stars of their trade. The sunshine of Italian art that seduced so many central European artists to Rome, Florence, and Venice could be brought, in the form of Italian musicians, right to the front door. The numerous appointments of Italian maestros to highly endowed positions above all at the courts of Austrian and German nobles says much in this regard. Second, particularly in England, in the early eighteenth century the work conditions for musicians were favorable. The middle classes had emancipated themselves from the nobility, so that culture, now largely financially independent of the nobility, could blossom. Public concerts and opera undertakings multiplied musicians' opportunities, making the importation of stellar virtuosi not only desirable but necessary. Matthias Maute Translation Johann Rom
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