Wassenaer, Concerto Armonico No. 6 

Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer (1692-1766) published his collection of concertos titled “Concerti Armonici” anonymously in 1740. The Concerti Armonici consist of six sets of concertos, with each set containing six individual concertos. These were until recently falsely attributed to the Italian composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi and to the violinist Carlo Ricciotti.

Born to a noble family in the Netherlands, Wassenaer spent his adult life in various public service positions, and his compositions were not widely known. He composed the concertos between 1725 and 1740 and took them to a musical gathering in The Hague. Ricciotti played first violin and asked Wassenaer for permission to publish them, but Wassenaer refused. He was later prevailed upon and agreed to allow Riciotti to have them engraved on the condition that Wassenaer’s name not appear. All of this, however, was not discovered until 1980 when the manuscript was found in Twickel castle where Wassenaer was born. The manuscript included this account of the publication written in Wassenaer’s hand.

Later in 1755 when the concertos were printed in London, Riciotti was listed as the composer. It was Polish composer Franciszek Lessel who, a generation later, asserted that they had been composed by Pergolesi.

Among the Concerti Armonici is one that formed the basis for Stravinsky’s 1919 ballet Pulcinella, which all believed at the time to be a work by Pergolesi.