Dialogue Viols – Violas da Gamba Duo
Peter Wendland & Jacqui Robertson-Wade
Dialogue Viols was formed to bring the beautiful yet rarely performed music of the French Baroque for two violas da gamba to audiences. This includes the rich source of music for the smallest members of the viola da gamba family, the six pardessus de viole and five string quinton, as well as the seven string bass viola da gamba, also known as bass viol.
If it wasn’t for lockdown, Peter Wendland and Jacqui Robertson-Wade, who are established performers and teachers, may not have started playing viols together! However, musicians everywhere learnt how to use technology to enable them to continue working and playing music together. Peter and Jacqui were living in different countries when they started to play viols online and were able to explore new repertoire and develop specialist concert programmes. They share a love of French Baroque music and enjoy playing different sizes of viol. Now that lockdown is over, they rehearse in person as well as online.
Latest News
Boismortier’s Op 63 has been not been heard for centuries, since it has been in a private collection. It was published in 2021 by the Canadian Publisher, Atelier Philidor. 
Our recording for two pardessus de viole is now available, below, from First Hand Records and on all major streaming platforms.
Here’s a taster from the disc to listen click here.
Click the album cover to order your copy.
“The interpretation by both artists impresses with an extraordinarily fine feeling for the style and tonal characteristics of the pardessus de viole and is both technically adept and musically engaging, underscoring the delicacy and virtuosity of Boismortier’s compositions.” Michael Brüssing, Viola da Gamba Gesellschaft 2025.
“A beautifully played pardessus CD, which proposes the rediscovery of a little-visited repertoire and encourages the return of this wonderful instrument to a central position in the violist curriculum.” Vittorio Ghielmi
Thanks to Angel Early Music, all our wonderful supporters on Crowd Funder, (especially the anonymous donor), all of whom made this recording possible.
New programme Before the Guillotine with Ibrahim Aziz and Lynda Sayce – recorded on original viols and cello. CD coming soon!
Played on orginal viols and cello, with theorbo, our programme starts in France at the end of 17th century, with the rise in popularity of the violin and the pardessus de viole, with music by Marais, Hotteterre, Leclair, Morel, Dandrieu, Corelli, Bouin and Corrette. We explore taste and fashion in music with these tiny viols during the 18th century up until the French Revolution in 1789 as well as the bass viol, with the beautiful Pièces à trois violes by Jean-Baptiste Antoine Forqueray. Our programme also includes the mesmerizing bells of the Sonnerie de Sainte Geneviève du Mont de Paris, arranged by Jean-Pierre Villeneuve in 1759 for pardessus de viole.
The violin shaped viol, the quinton, shared the same repertoire as the pardessus de viole and developed sometime after the opening in 1725 of the first French series of public concerts, the Concert Spirituel. In the spacious hall of the Palais des Tuileries, the quinton could project, unlike the beautifully resonant, but quieter, flat-backed pardessus de viole.
Michelle Corrette said of the Quinton: “The quinton has a delightful sound because it possesses the fluted high register of the pardessus de viole and the sonorous bass register of the violin – it sounds much better than an ordinary pardessus, the table being less loaded with strings.”
Enormous thanks to the Countinuo Foundation and Angel Early Music for making this possible.
Concerts
Before the Guillotine – Peter Wendland, Jacqui Robertson-Wade, Ibrahim Aziz and Lynda Sayce – more concert dates coming soon!
“Beautiful music and talented musicians.”
“You played so well together, your ensemble sounded like one instrument.”
“I was transported to a different time and place. Splendid! Thank you.”
Played on orginal viols and cello, with theorbo, our programme starts in France at the end of 17th century, with the rise in popularity of the violin and the pardessus de viole, with music by Marais, Hotteterre, Leclair, Morel, Dandrieu, Corelli, Bouin and Corrette. We explore taste and fashion in music with these tiny viols during the 18th century up until the French Revolution in 1789 as well as the bass viol, with the beautiful Pièces à trois violes by Jean-Baptiste Antoine Forqueray. Our programme also includes the mesmerizing bells of the Sonnerie de Sainte Geneviève du Mont de Paris, arranged by Jean-Pierre Villeneuve in 1759 for pardessus de viole.
The violin shaped viol, the quinton, shared the same repertoire as the pardessus de viole and developed sometime after the opening in 1725 of the first French series of public concerts, the Concert Spirituel. In the spacious hall of the Palais des Tuileries, the quinton could project, unlike the beautifully resonant, but quieter, flat-backed pardessus de viole.
Michelle Corrette said of the Quinton: “The quinton has a delightful sound because it possesses the fluted high register of the pardessus de viole and the sonorous bass register of the violin – it sounds much better than an ordinary pardessus, the table being less loaded with strings.”
