The celebrated sonatas ‘Il Pastor Fido’ are recorded here for the first time on the instrument for which they were produced.

Published in Paris in 1737 under the name of Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) by Jean-Noël III Marchand (1700-1781), the sonatas “Il Pastor Fido” were greeted with enthusiasm when they were rediscovered in the twentieth century by flautists, oboists and violinists in search of baroque repertoire. They were thus the subject of numerous recordings, in particular with the recorder, an instrument that is not named explicitly on the title page, but whose range corresponds to that of the musette for which these sonatas were originally realized.

Unlike the other works of the Red Priest published in Vienna and Amsterdam, this one was produced by a small Parisian publisher. And this, in addition to the mention of the musette and the vielle on the titlepage, attracted the interest of musicologists. It would have been surprising if Vivaldi had composed for musette, an instrument typical of the French tradition and not common in Vivaldi’s Italy, and thus not part of his sound environment.

Very fashionable in France since the 16th century and particularly in the 18th century (between 1730 and 1735, the musette was the melodic instrument for which works were most commonly composed in France), the sale of music composed for it could have constituted a strong commercial argument for Vivaldi who was known to closely follow the sale of his works. A notarial deed dated 1749 found by Mr Philippe Lescat, however, sheds light on the origin of the collection that had caused much ink to flow as to its authenticity at the time of its reappearance.

The analysis of the Danish musicologist Peter Ryom, a specialist in Vivaldi, was thus confirmed: apart from a sonata and some fragments in the movements of the five others, this collection was composed for the most part by Nicolas Chédeville, a musettist of great fame.