Ivan Basso | basso profondo | Keith H. Basso | Basso profondo | basso |
The work is scored for Momus (soprano), Mercurius (alto), Tmolus (tenor), Midas (tenor), Phoebus (bass), Pan (bass), a six-part choir of those voices, three trumpets, timpani, two tranverse flutes, two oboes d'amore, two violins, viola, and basso continuo.
Adopting a formula successfully employed by Mondonville a few years earlier, these pieces differ from trio sonatas in that the harpsichord is not simply there as basso continuo to accompany other instruments (the violin, flute or viol) playing the melody but has an equal part in the "concert" with them.
He wrote a number of operas, which were performed in Lisbon; among his other compositions are a number of sacred works, including a Dixit Dominus and a Magnificat for four voices with basso continuo.
His opus 1, Premier livre de sonates for violin and basso continuo, was published in Dijon in 1734.
Pièces de viole were collections of suites for bass viol and usually continuo written by several French Baroque composers, most notably Marin Marais, whose five Livres form a core of the viol repertoire.
He was also principal cello of chamber orchestras such as the Goldsbrough Orchestra (later known as the English Chamber Orchestra, or ECO), and was an outstanding continuo cellist.
He also teaches harpsichord, basso continuo and musical rhetoric (Bachelor/Master) at the Centre d'Études Supérieures de Musique et de Danse in Poitiers.