Henricus Albicastro

Kilravock Sonata in A minor

A manuscript of this sonata was discovered in the collection of the Rose family, Lairds of Kilravock (near Inverness). Copied in a late 17th- or early 18th-century hand and inserted into a keyboard book of later date, it was possibly brought to Scotland, around the time of copying, by a Scottish student returning from the University of Leiden. The piece has five movements, the second of which is noteworthy for its combination of polyphonic writing and brilliant passage-work. It is a fine example of Albicastro's synthesis of the Corellian style with the polyphonic art of the south German school of violinists.