From Roma to Beijing: T . PEDRINI. - A . CORELLI. Episode 6/7

Teodorico Pedrini is a very special figure, due to the extraordinary destiny that led him to the Chinese emperors in the 18th century. His only surviving work is a series of 12 sonatas, which follow exactly the same model as Arcangelo Corelli’s. Teodorico Pedrini was a Lazarist missionary sent to the court of Peking in 1702 to approach the Kangxi emperor, in a tense diplomatic context linked to the influence of the Jesuits present at the Chinese court. He is said to have written his 12 sonatas during his stay in China, and we were able to obtain a facsimile of the sonata manuscript from the Peking library during one of our trips to China. This score has not yet been published. We made a recording of some of his sonatas with the ORF label in 2009. Avec le soutien de la Fédération Wallonie Bruxelles.