For several years, Clematis has been exploring the fascinating repertoire of Sonatas from 4 to 8

instruments by David Pohle (1624-1695), a talented pupil of Heinrich Schütz. Some of them have been

inserted into various parts of our programs. But as these discoveries were made, the idea of recording them emerged.

The integral became the obvious choice.

These sonatas employ various combinations of violins, violas, and basses (violone, bass violin, sometimes bassoon). Some also include a bass viol. Heir to the polyphonic tradition, Pohle was certainly influenced by the art of Italian violinists and of Carlo Farina in particular. These sonatas appear to us in a wide variety of forms, being constructed on the models of emerging Italian forms or clearly influenced by the style of the French court ballets which were highly prized in Germany at that time. Some seem to be true "sinfonias" or opera overtures (a genre also practiced by Pohle, but none of which have survived).

An evident taste for theatricality and a certain virtuosity also foreshadows the development of the renowned stylus fantasticus in some respects.