Divertimento

Description

This music was written in response to a request from my friend and colleague Lorenza Summonte. We were at a flute orchestra concert in Pescara in December 2024: I was in the alto section, and she was in the basses. She suggested this trio combination, and later that month the first ideas started to come to me.
I was initially inspired by the various dances in the baroque suite and have tried to remain faithful to the rhythmic characteristics of these (even though they vary tremendously in the actual repertoire,) but I have naturally kept to my own harmonic and melodic language, so the result is a sort of neo-baroque. I have chosen to use the Italian names for the dances: Allemanda, Corrente, Sarabanda and Giga.
Due to the chromatic nature of my writing, I have preferred to avoid key signatures, so the parts are in “open key”.
I have not adhered to the baroque convention of having all the movements in the same key, rather I have tried to fit the music, where possible, into the best sounding range for the chosen instruments. My intention was for these pieces to be enjoyable to play and useful. I have included repeat signs in the dance movements, but for a shorter performance these may be ignored; just going straight to the second time bar, where there is one.

Geoff Warren. Montesilvano, 2025