Hardly any biographical information about the composer Martin Christian Schultze has been handed down to us. On the cover of the Trattamento dell’harmonia, which was engraved and published in Paris in 1773, we find his name with the initials ‘M.C.’ and ‘D.B.’ (‘M.C. Schultze D.B.’), which according to the RISM signifies ‘Martin Christian Schultze from Berlin’. The six symphonies contained in this collection may be understood as harmonic treatises. They have been written very much in the Italian style, and in them we find very many polyrhythmic elements running through all the movements – for example, frequent triplets against sixteenths. In addition, at the time Schultze must have had an outstanding gambist by his side who was able to render this extremely demanding gamba part. The violin part with many double stops and virtuosic passages likewise presupposes some talent. By contrast, the flute part more probably would have been written for an amateur.

Here these pieces are interpreted by the Klingekunst Ensemble, whose members base their work on well-founded occupation with historical performance practice but also always assign foremost importance to vibrant musical communication.