When the COVID-19 lockdowns hit, flautist Anne Charrier began cataloguing Bach cantatas, and baritone Ben Kazez designed and created this site, to help people find music by instrumentation, text, and more. It launched in January 2021, and we have since catalogued the full vocal works of JS and CPE Bach, French baroque vocal music, Italian music, and more.
We now have multiple contributors, but our focus is the same: We are baroque specialists creating a practical tool to make it easier to find music for research, sightreading, or performance. We start with facsimiles or critical editions and take care to note original instrument names, continuo instrumentation, dessus lines, alternate versions, editorial suggestions, and more. Many entries include include texts, keys, meters, ranges, and other details, which are all searchable online.
Read search tips to get the most out of VMII.
VMII has been featured by the music libraries of Juilliard, Royal Academy of Music (London), Univ. of California (Berkeley), Stanford, Univ. of Michigan, Oberlin, Carleton, Univ. of Texas, Brigham Young, Univ. of Minnesota, Roosevelt, Wittenberg, Tulane, and others.
We’d love your help. If you like cataloguing things, have a look at our style guide and contact us.
Anne Charrier is a flautist performing on both modern and historical instruments. She studied at the Conservatoire Royal of Brussels, Haute Ecole de Musique of Geneva, and Royal Academy in London. She has performed under Philippe Herreweghe, Christophe Coin, Jordi Savall, John Butt, and others at Wigmore Hall, Philharmonie de Paris, Théâtre du Châtelet, and Victoria Hall.
Baritone Ben Kazez has performed as soloist in Europe and the US under Václav Luks, Christian Curnyn, Dame Sarah Connolly, and Mark Padmore. He has sung in Ghislieri Coro e Orchestra (Giulio Prandi) and the Monteverdi Choir (Sir John Eliot Gardiner) at the Salzburg Festival, BBC Proms Royal Albert Hall, Vienna Musikverein, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and Berlin Philharmonie.
Thanks to Katie Boardman, Robert Bringhurst, Vijay Chalasani, Olivia Clayton, Pamela Dellal, Colin Donihue, Daniel Kazez, Steve Marquardt, Brian Mason, Catriona McDermid, Packard Humanities Institute, Emma Seibert, Andrew Wong, and everyone else who has helped!
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