During the eighteenth century, Trondheim experienced strong economic growth. The Great Northern War was over and the merchants began exporting wood, stockfish and copper from the mines of Trøndelag. They kept in close contact with their networks in the most important cities of Northern Europe, and Trondheim’s luxury and extravagance shaped the social milieu. This is how the latest fashion, literature and music from the continent found their way to Trondheim.

This recording features a selection of contemporary music preserved in Trondheim. The manuscripts are in the special collections of the Gunnerus Library and probably belonged to the city musician and polymath Johan Daniel Berlin (1714-87) and his circle of musicians. They provide a unique insight into how European instrumental music fell on fertile ground in one of the largest Danish-Norwegian provincial towns in the decades before the dissolution of the Union in 1814.

Joseph Meck (1690-1758)
Violin Concerto in G Major, Op. 1 No. 9, XM 141

Anonymmous, ‘Sigr. Opfermand’
Violin Concerto in C minor, XM 49

Johan Henrich Berlin (1741-1807)
Sonata a Cembalo, Violino è Violoncello, XM 3

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Violin Concerto in A major, RV 335 ‘The Cuckoo’, XM 140