Kaczkowski/ Polish Violin Duo - Violin Duos 10 & 16

Joachim Kaczkowski, a Polish violinist, teacher and composer, was born in 1789 in the city of Tábor in southern Bohemia. He came from a family with strong musical traditions. Joachim Kaczkowski took his first violin lessons from his father. He grew up in Lviv at a time when such outstanding representatives of the musical community as Polish conductor and composer of German origin Józef Elsner and violinist, conductor and composer Karol Kurpinski were active there. The form of violin duo has never gained great popularity and attention among composers of chamber music throughout the musical eras. Due to the relatively limited sound range of the violin, this kind of works, on the one hand, severely hampered the artistic potential of composers, and on the other hand, unlike the much more popular string quartets, it did not arouse much interest among a wider audience. Therefore, Joachim Kaczkowski, an excellent violin virtuoso, had a great opportunity to experiment with a rarely exploited musical form, which resulted in numerous innovative and often surprising textural and sound effects.