Despite enjoying two hundred years of popularity, the works on this recording have only recently been ascribed to the Dutch nobleman Count Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer. This was not through bad fortune, but rather because the author took active steps to remain anonymous. Before it was established that he was the creator of these works, they were attributed to the Italian Carol Ricciotti, before being renamed Concertini and included in the Collected Edition of Pergolesi. Written in an idiosyncratic Baroque style after the manner of Corelli, these ‘Pergolesi Concertini’ – Concertos for four violins – suggest that Wassenaer was not just a part-time musician for whom music was a leisurely, aristocratic pursuit, but a serious composer.