Claudio Constantini, bandoneon

PROGRAMME

Johann Sebastian Bach: Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 903 / Aria from the Orchestral Suite in D Major, BWV 1068 / Girolamo Frescobaldi: Gagliarda in G Minor / Johann Sebastian Bach: Chaconne, Partita n. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004 / Johann Sebastian Bach / Alessandro Marcello: Concerto in D Minor, BWV 974 / Dietrich Buxtehude: Choral prelude Mensch, willst du leben seliglich / Johann Sebastian Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565

Known as the solo instrument of tango orchestras, the bandoneon is a square accordion with button keys invented around 1840 in Germany by Heinrich Band, an instrument dealer who wanted to offer his customers an accordion with more possibilities, "a small orchestra", according to the advertisement that accompanied his instruments. Over time, the instrument arrived in Argentina through German immigrants and did not take long to earn a place in the first tango orchestras. Beyond the tango, Claudio Constantini takes us back to the origins of this instrument, created to play popular music in the mid-19th century and many of the chorales that were sung in churches, in this Baroque programme with Bach as the protagonist.