Robert Valentine: 12 Sonatas for Recorder and Basso Continuo

Printing music was expensive in the 18th century and copying manuscripts was commonplace. The works in this premiere recording are part of a collection of five volumes of recorder music titled Sinfonie dei varij autori bearing the name Paolo Antonio Parensi (1688-1749), who was thought to have been an amateur musician in Lucca, Italy. Several of the works in this collection are by Robert Valentine (c. 1674-1747) but there is little know about his life: he was from Leicester, England, but left for Rome in his early 20's to carve out his career. We don't know what his connection to Parensi was, but this collection is a hugely valuable source of Italian recorder repertoire from the earlier part of the 18th century. Several of his sonatas were also published by Walsh & Hare, but this premiere recording presents his Opus 11 as it appears in Parensi manuscript, as 12 recorder and basso continuo sonatas. Valentine wrote over 60 works for the recorder - his output makes him one of the most prolific composers of recorder repertoire in the early 18th century.