The composer and violinist Biagio Marini (1594-1663), from Brescia, is generally acknowledged as one of the most extraordinary personalities of the early seventeenth-century instrumental music...

The composer and violinist Biagio Marini (1594-1663), from Brescia, is generally acknowledged as one of the most extraordinary personalities of the early seventeenth-century instrumental music tradition. He was an exemplary representative of the baroque-age wandering musician, and was hired by a great number of prestigious musical institutions, not only in Italy but also beyond the Alps. We should mention first of all the periods he spent in the Basilica of San Marco in Venice, and those in the employment of Duke Wolfgang Wilhelm von Pfalz-Neuburg. He was also active, for shorter periods, not only in his native Brescia, but also in Parma, Milan, Brussels, Bergamo, Padua, Ferrara, and Vicenza. Today Marini is remembered essentially for his contribution to the development of the seventeenth-century instrumental repertoire. To put it briefly, he is appreciated because of two main achievements: that of having taken part in the early definition of the trio-sonata genre, and that of having decisively contributed to the development of the violin technique. The work on this release, discovered by the collaboration of Musicali Affetti from Vicenza with some researchers from the University of Strasbourg, finally can be performed by the Musicali Affetti ensemble directed by Fabio Missaggia and the RossoPorpora vocal ensemble directed by Walter Testolin.