Air: A Baroque Journey

"Life has often been precarious for musicians, and it continues to be so. But at least the financial and psychological battles endured by musicians today tend to be less deadly than those waged by some of their predecessors. The violinist Daniel Hope — an engaging speaker during a concert of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center ... said that during wars in the Baroque era, trumpeters would be sent first into the fray. The enemy would try to shoot them to knock out their musical signal. Mr. Hope offered the anecdote while introducing 'La Guerra Così Nominata di Sua Maestà' ('War, so Named by His Majesty'), a piece by Johann Paul von Westhoff, a 17th-century German composer and favorite of Louis XIV. Westhoff’s music was featured in a program of Baroque music that explored the roots of the modern violin and featured excerpts from 'Air: A Baroque Journey,' Mr. Hope’s recent Deutsche Grammophon CD" (Vivien Schweitzer, "No Musicians Harmed in Playing This Concert," New York Times, 12/13/10).

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