Coperario - The English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble

 Another composer that I feel is less known from the baroque era is John (Giovanni) Coperario (Cooper), this could partially be due to the fact that he supposedly changed his name after visiting Italy even though there is no evidence that he was in Italy. As Italian music was becoming popular he may have changed his name to capitalize on its impact. 

I find it incredible the amount of unknown and assumed information that we have on composers from this century due to lack of documentation. See my earlier post about Pergolessi.

Coperario was a viol player and wrote mainly for strings. He wrote almost 100 fantasies many of which were transcriptions of his Madrigals. This particular recording from the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble was originally written for strings, but is a great arrangement for early brass instruments. I have never seen or heard a tenor cornetto before this recording. The Bass Sackbut is more common to see.