Today, the five-string cello is treated as an exotic and rarely-played cousin of the standard cello. However, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries it was simply one of the many instruments used in the family of bass violins, and was particularly important for virtuosic sonatas and solos.
The royal courts of mid-eighteenth century Berlin were lively crossroads for some of the greatest musicians of the time. Court musicians and visitors were famous virtuosos performing music full of expressivity and fantasy. In Berlin Sonatas, the sonatas of J.C.F. Bach, C.P.E. Bach, C.F. Abel, Johann Kirnberger, and C.H. Graun each demonstrate the language of Sensibility (Empfindsamkeit): an expression of sadness, anger, wrath, joy, love, and praise. In their music, emotions are fleeting and instantaneous and, above all, the beauty of melody is emphasized. In Berlin in particular (where several court musicians were students of J.S. Bach), sonatas for cello seem liberated, natural, and comprehensible when played on a instrument fit with a fifth string. The five-string cello also allows for the performance of violin caprices by Franz Benda. The works of Berlin Sonatas achieve a great quality of expression of the kind that helped make Berlin composers famous, especially for their rapturous Adagios and tuneful Allegros, each leaving ample space for the performer’s creativity. Elinor Frey, five-string cello and Lorenzo Ghielmi, fortepiano or harpsichord - Passacaille
