This fourth volume dedicated to the opera omnia of Francesco Antonio Bonporti from Trento (1672-1749) features the Inventioni per violino e basso continuo Op. 10 and the Sonate da camera per violino e violone e cembalo Op. 7.

The Inventioni Op. 10, dedicated to the Sacred Roman Emperor Charles VI, are among the most important and original of Bonporti’s production, revealing the most creative, and at times bizarre, aspect of his artistry. Each composition consists of four movements, the succession and form of which are quite unconventional. It is difficult to say how fond Charles VI was of such music; but we know for sure that it attracted the interest of a German musician, then better-known as an organist than as a composer: Johann Sebastian Bach, who transcribed four of the ten Inventioni. For a long time, this led people to believe that they were his work.

The ten Suonate / da camera / A Violino, e Violone, ò Cembalo / dedicate / All’Eminentissimo, e Reverendissimo Prencipe Il Signor Cardinale / BENEDETTO PAMPHILII. Opera Settima are the first example we know of, of a Bonporti work for violin and basso continuo, five years prior to the Inventioni Op. 10. Quite obvious is the formal homage to the model of Corelli’s famous Sonate Op. 5, published in 1700. If we take a closer look at Bonporti’s works, however, we find that their style is more concise and tense, not to mention less classical than Corelli’s. The writing is dry and shuns easy symmetries, characterising a composer who, for all his life, stubbornly wanted to hold a position of his own.