From the Music City Baroque
Unabashedly European: Chamber music from the Court, Church and Coffee house
Music City Baroque welcomes the return of acclaimed keyboardist Steven Matthews to Nashville for a special performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Harpsichord Concerto in G Minor (BWV 1058). Now serving as Professor of Organ and Harpsichord at the University of North Texas, Dr. Matthews will be familiar to many in Nashville as the former organist at Christ Church Cathedral and from his earlier appearances with Music City Baroque.
For this performance, Matthews will play on a remarkable instrument built in Nashville by master builder Keith Hill. The instrument is a replica of a 1658 harpsichord originally constructed by Jerome de Zentis for Queen Christina of Sweden, offering audiences the rare chance to hear Bach’s concerto on an instrument modeled after those known in the seventeenth century.
The program places Bach within a vibrant European musical landscape. Bach, the towering figure of the German Baroque, transformed the Italian concerto style into something deeply architectural and expressive; his G Minor Concerto adapts earlier violin material into a dramatic, virtuosic work for harpsichord and strings.
Italian composer Francesco Gasparini, represented by his Sinfonia in F Major, was a major operatic and sacred composer of the early eighteenth century and an influential teacher whose students included Domenico Scarlatti. His orchestral writing bridges the theatrical brilliance of Italian opera with the emerging instrumental concerto style.
The Concerto Grosso in D Major (Op. 6 No. 4) by Arcangelo Corelli reflects the composer who effectively codified the concerto grosso form. Corelli’s music, admired across Europe for its elegance and balance, became a model for generations of composers and helped define the language of late seventeenth-century instrumental music.
Two works by Antonio Vivaldi—the Concerto Ripieno (RV 158) and the Concerto Madrigalesco (RV 129)—show the dazzling inventiveness of the Venetian master whose hundreds of concertos reshaped the genre. Vivaldi’s music is characterized by rhythmic vitality, vivid contrasts, and a flair for dramatic gesture.
From France comes music by Marin Marais, whose Pièces en Trio, Suite V reflects the refined courtly style cultivated at Versailles. Marais, a virtuoso of the viola da gamba and a student of Sainte-Colombe, wrote music that combines lyrical grace with subtle harmonic color.
The program concludes with the Trio Sonata in D Major by Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, one of the most remarkable musicians of the French Baroque. A celebrated harpsichordist at the court of Louis XIV, Jacquet de la Guerre was also a pioneering composer whose instrumental works reveal a sophisticated blend of French elegance and Italian energy.
Join the Music Ctiy Baroque for an unabashedly European musical journey—exploring chamber music from the court, the church, and the coffeehouse.
Reserve your ticket today (here) and experience an extraordinary afternoon!
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