Brussels, 1734: VI Concerti for Violin

Henri-Jacques De Croes:
the discovery of the violin concertos

Henri-Jacques De Croes was born in Antwerp on 19 September 1705. Little is known about his musical training, except that he went for lessons to Josephus Guillielmus Soussé (Antwerp, 1676-1752) at the Sint-Andrieskerk. Soussé was also cantor at the Sint-Jacobskerk, where De Croes was appointed first violin at the early age of eighteen. De Croes’ career as violinist took a sudden international turn a number of years later; he entered the service of prince Anselme-François von Thurn & Taxis as first violin and followed him to Frankfurt, the prince’s primary residence, in 1729. He would later become the prince’s Kapellmeister.

The concertos recorded here are clearly Italianate in style and are often reminiscent of Vivaldi’s Le quattro stagioni. To go by the instrumentation of De Croes’ concertos, it would be easy to classify them as concerti grossi; they are also listed as such in the RISM (Répertoire International des Sources Musicales). Such a term, however, is not strictly correct here, as two equally important solo violin parts are contrasted with two accompanying violins in a concerto grosso. De Croes departs considerably from this definition by giving the first solo violin the lion’s share of the work and by limiting the second solo violin’s contributions; the works therefore seem to be closer to violin concertos than to concerti grossi. De Croes also toys with the remaining violin parts: the second ripieno violin plays a more important role in the first concerto than the first ripieno violin.

We hope that this rediscovery and recording of De Croes’ violin concertos will help these works obtain a prominent place in today’s concert repertoire, for we find that they greatly deserve it.

le Pavillon de Musique

Ann Cnop: baroque violin and musical direction
Yun Kim: baroque violin
François Fernandez: baroque violin
Marieke Vos: baroque violin
Frans Vos: baroque viola
Mathilde Wolfs: baroque cello
Elise Christiaens: baroque double bass
Ben Van Nespen: harpsichord