Friends of Ferdinand
Agave Baroque plays seventeenth-century chamber music from the court of Emperor Ferdinand III — Bertali, Schmelzer, Biber, and more.
- 01 Chiacona
- 02 Sonata à due for violin, viola da gamba, and basso
- 03 Sonata Op. 1, no. 10
- 04 Sonata variatia à due
- 05 Sonata for violin and continuo in E major, C.108
- 06 Sonata X from Prothimia Suavissima (part I)
- 07 Lamento sopra la morte Ferdinandi III à tre
- 08 Sonata di Chittarra, e Violino, con il suo Basso Continuo
Agave Baroque is a Grammy-nominated chamber ensemble based in the San Francisco Bay Area, specializing in string chamber music of the 17th through 20th centuries. Co-directed by violinist Aaron Westman and harpsichordist Henry Lebedinsky, the ensemble has been praised as "energized" and "free-spirited," known for "brilliant and knowing" performances and "profound" interpretations. The group was a finalist in both the Early Music America/Naxos Recording Competition and Early Music America's Baroque Performance Competition, and their album American Originals was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Classical Compendium category.
Friends of Ferdinand explores the vibrant musical world of the Habsburg courts in Vienna and Salzburg during the 17th century. The title refers to Ferdinand II and Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperors who were passionate patrons of music, and the five composers who flourished under their patronage: Antonio Bertali, Marco Antonio Ferro, Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, and Giovanni Battista Granata. While Schmelzer and Biber are relatively well known today, the music of Bertali, Ferro, and Granata has fallen into near-total eclipse, making this recording a valuable act of rediscovery.
The program showcases the stilus fantasticus, an extraordinary stylistic approach that combined serious liturgical music with lively secular court entertainment—what Schmelzer celebrated in his collection Sacro-profanus concentus musicus fidium. The resulting sound world is at once groundbreaking, sublime, and vibrant. From Bertali's opening Chiacona to Granata's unpredictable Sonata for guitar, violin, and continuo, the album reveals a remarkably inventive musical culture where, as the ensemble's viola da gamba player Shirley Hunt observed, "you're never sure what's coming next." The recording has been described as "a strong future reference for this little-known repertoire."