Jean-Luc Ho

In 1649 the Prince-Elector of Saxony announced a musical duel in Dresden between two giants of the keyboard: Johann Jakob Froberger and Matthias Weckmann. An extended correspondence, along with the exchange of music manuscripts, reveals that the two musicians subsequently became firm friends.

Cousin to the lute and harpsichord, the clavichord is the instrument of expression and intimacy par excellence, that of meditation and the development of affects, bent to the character of dance. It is also a composer's working companion, the instrument of learned polyphony and the ricercar that holds up an idealized mirror to the world. Equipped with two manual keyboards and a 16′ pedal, it fully embraces the spectacular organ effects of the fantastic style and the Lutheran chorale. In the mid-seventeenth century, was the organ not the richest and most versatile keyboard instrument?

For this concert, Jean-Luc Ho plays his pedal clavichord, created by Emile Jobin (2012) from the interpretation of historical instruments.