Baroque music ensemble on period instruments
Specialized in 18th century French violin repertoire.
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The Story of Sonate 1704
The ensemble Sonate 1704 was born in 2003 from the desire to explore and promote the French sonata for violin and continuo, from its earliest roots in the late seventeenth century to the dawn of the Revolution. Thus, violinist Olivier Brault invited gambist Mélisande Corriveau and harpsichordist Dorothéa Ventura to support him in his search for the colorful sounds of this period, rich in eloquence and emotional gestures, marked by an art of living that led them from architecture to dance, from philosophy to painting, through poetry.
This approach allowed them to meet more than fifty composers and to build an impressive catalog of more than one hundred original works performed in public, notably from 2012 onwards during their concert seasons in the heart of the magnificent Vieux-Terrebonne in Lanaudière, sharing this musical field with a Quebec audience that is increasingly sensitive to its cultural heritage and to the art of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Sonate 1704 can be found in the programming of such excellent series as the Montreal Baroque Festival, concerts at the Chapelle Historique du Bon Pasteur, the Festival classique des Hautes-Laurentides (now Stradivaria), Les Belles soirées de la chapelle (Sainte-Adèle), la Maison musicale de Warwick, Music and Beyond, and the Ottawa Chamberfest.
Each concert is enlivened by historical commentary about the music on the program and its context, providing great listening and appreciation tools for the audience, who keeps asking for more. The performers in this ensemble each have careers that extend far beyond the borders of Quebec, as soloists or as members of renowned musical ensembles, and their concerts and recordings have garnered praise and awards. Why “1704”? Because this number corresponds to the year of the first publication in Paris of French violin sonatas, works by François Duval, a great pioneer in this adventure.