Bernardini meets Dreyer: an outstanding oboist who plays on historical instruments explores the music of a little-known Florentine ancestor.

Domenico Dreyer was born in Florence in 1701 to an Italian mother and German father, at a time when Italy was experiencing a golden age for the oboe, led by technical innovations in the instrument's design. The family was musical, but why he took up the oboe is unknown, as are most of his early years. In any case, these sonatas survive in manuscript form under his name - his only surviving music - and may have been published in 1727.

What we do know is that Dreyer traveled throughout Europe and as far as St. Petersburg with his brother, a singer and impresario.

In the early 1730s Dreyer was playing in Venice, where he most likely met Vivaldi, and a musical connection between the two men is illustrated by these six appealing sonatas. Bernadini is in any case drawn to these sonatas, as he explains in the introduction to his booklet, "because they combine ornate and highly expressive slow movements with fast movements of great virtuosity, exploiting the possibilities of the two-part oboe to the utmost." Bernadini notes various thematic correspondences between certain movements of the sonatas and different parts of Vivaldi's work, while observing a more general Vivaldian character to the compositions.

We might know more if Dreyer had not died suddenly and inexplicably at the age of 34 "due to an unfortunate event", as the best available historical records attest. However, the sonatas can also be enjoyed in their own right, as stylish examples of Italian Baroque chamber music at its peak.

They are performed here by Bernadini on a copy of an instrument made in 1730 by Giovanni Maria Anciuti (1674-1744), the most important Italian wind instrument maker of the time. This is not only the instrument that comes closest to Dreyer's sonatas in terms of place and time, but it is also one of the few oboes of the 18th century to feature the low C sharp that Dreyer notates at the end of the fourth sonata. He is supported by a quartet of Italian specialists for historical instruments, who provide a varied continuo part.

Domenico Maria Dreyer (ca. 1680 - ca. 1740) was the son of the German tenor Johann Conrad Dreyer, born and raised in Florence. His life was closely linked to that of his younger brother Giovanni Filippo Dreyer, a castrato, impresario and opera composer. The brothers worked for a long time at the courts of Moscow and St. Petersburg and later in Italy.

Six oboe sonatas and two recorder sonatas have survived from his oeuvre. The oboe sonatas are of great musical beauty and stylistically belong to the Venetian High Baroque period of his contemporary Antonio Vivaldi. It is assumed that they were composed around 1725. Each sonata typically follows a four-movement structure, alternating between slow, lyrical passages and lively, dance-like sections.

This format allows for an extensive exploration of the oboe's tonal possibilities, from its warm, mellow lower registers to its bright, penetrating high notes. Dreyer's sonatas are often characterized by elaborate ornamentation and intricate melodic lines, requiring both technical skill and expressive nuance from the performer. Played by the famous Italian oboist Alfredo Bernardini (founder of the Zefiro Ensemble) and a continuo group consisting of cello, archlute and harpsichord/organ.