The Cello According to Dall’Abaco

Son of a famous composer from Verona, Giuseppe Dall’Abaco learned to play the cello as a young boy growing up in Munich, Germany at about the same time that Bach wrote his famous cello suites. A few years later, in 1729, Dall’Abaco found his first employment as a cellist, in Bonn at the court of the Elector of Cologne, and began a fascinating musical career that led him to prominence in London, Paris, Vienna, and other European musical centres. As we begin to perform more of Dall’Abaco’s music in today’s concert halls, we not only restore his compositional voice but bring into our lives cello music that remains fresh, audacious, alluring, and often utterly beautiful.