Another musician in Pisendel’s circle—and who also had Vivaldian connections—was Johann Friedrich Fasch, who spent most of his career at the court of Anhalt-Zerbst (where he became acquainted with Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, who later became known as Catherine the Great). Fasch had attended the famous Leipzig Thomasschule where Bach was to become kantor in 1723 (after both Telemann and Christoph Graupner had declined the post). Much of his career from 1708 until 1721 was spent either in Leipzig or travelling throughout Germany, but in 1721, he moved to Prague to become Componist to Count Wenzel von Morzin who granted Vivaldi the title of Maestro di Musica in Italia; it was the virtuoso bassoonist of Morzin’s famous orchestra, Antonin Reichenauer, for whom Vivaldi penned most of his bassoon concertos.

Given the reverence in which Vivaldi was held in Morzin’s establishment, it seems certain that Fasch would have encountered many of Vivaldi’s concertos there, possibly including Le Quattro Stagioni which was already in the repertoire of Morzin’s orchestra before its publication and dedication (to Morzin) in 1725. It is therefore unsurprising that much of Fasch’s solo violin music bears a distinctively Vivaldian touch. This would have been particularly welcomed by Bach (who is known to have possessed instrumental music by Fasch) and Pisendel, who received regular instalments of music from Fasch for the Dresden court; Pisendel sent manuscripts by return in way of recompense. The present concerto is one of two surviving concertos that share a similar scoring; whilst we can’t be certain that this work was one of those sent to Dresden, a fragment of its sibling currently resides amongst the archives of the Dresden court orchestra.

Sadly, only around thirty per cent of Fasch’s output has survived, as is shown by an inventory of court musical sources compiled in 1743; Fasch is the composer who appears most frequently, followed by Vivaldi, and then by Telemann—Fasch’s idol—in third place.

from notes by Adrian Chandler © 2019