The Night Shift at The Old Queen’s Head

Three is the magic number as Matthew Truscott and friends pop up at The Old Queen’s Head with trio sonatas from Italy and England.

In the 17th Century trio sonatas were hot stuff. Composed for two melody instruments with a bass department, the flexibility of instrumentation meant they could be played by different combinations of instruments in a variety of locations, from homes to courts. It made them a top seller for the burgeoning music publishing business and enabled their distribution across Europe. There was no greater exponent of the form than Arcangelo Corelli, an Italian violinist who was to become a huge influence on Handel. Italian sonatas also reached Corelli’s slightly younger contemporary Henry Purcell in London, where he mixed it with French and his own distinctly English flavours.