If, at the beginning of the 1600s, it was the English who were acknowledged to be experts and virtuosos of the viola da gamba, then it was the French who surpassed them by the middle of the century. They, in turn, had to share this status with the gambists working at German courts towards the end of the century, if not cede it to them. At that time, Johann Schenck, August Kuhnel and Conrad Hoffler were well known to the musical world as gamba virtuosos and masters of their trade. But up against the lasting public relation campaign of the Sun King, whose brilliance also made his musicians, in particular, the court gambists Marin Marais and Antoine Forqueray, famous far beyond the borders of the countries and centuries, the gambists working at the comparatively small German courts back then were powerless. Although their surviving works are no less elegant, virtuosic and idiomatic than their French counterparts, the fame of the creators of these musical works of art has faded- making it high time to put an end to this imbalance and give three great gambists and their exceptional masterpieces the attention they deserve.
