Moderment, Sonata 6, Opus 7 by Joseph Bodin de Boismortier/ Trio Pardessus

Trio Pardessus (Tina Chancey, Annalisa Pappano and Joanna Blendulf) performs a movement from Boismortier’s Sonates en Trio, Opus 7 on three five-stringed pardessus de viole. The pardessus was invented in the 1730s so that French aristocratic women amateurs could play the violin sonatas of Corelli without resting an instrument on their shoulders. A hybrid of the violin and its cousin, the more genteel viola da gamba, the pardessus was played on the lap and bowed underhand. In spite of its pragmatic beginning