Simplicissimus Ensemble: 17th and 18th century classical music on period instruments.


The Simplicissimus Ensemble was founded in 2012. It has been a regular guest in Budapest's main concert halls (Müpa Budapest, Liszt Academy, Óbudai Társaskör, Nádor Hall), cultural community spaces and churches (FUGA, Lumen, Szimpla Kert), has given a series of concerts at the House of Arts and Literature in Pécs and has performed at numerous music festivals in Hungary (Valley of Arts, Müpa Early Music Festival, Öt Templom Fesztivál). The ensemble was a prize-winner at the Antré Festival 1.0 of Budapest in 2013 and at the "IV. La Stravaganza Baroque Music Contest" of Cluj-Napoca in 2015.

The ensemble consists of a group of freelance musicians, generally of 6-7 players of bowed and plucked strings and keyboards. But it is flexible in size, with the number of musicians and instrumentation always changing according to the repertoire. Thus, the ensemble has so far performed with only three musicians but also with up to twenty performers.

The repertoire of Simplicissimus mainly includes compositions from the second half of the 17th century and the first half of the 18th century. They play on period instruments, utilizing instrumental techniques that were not alien to the past centuries. The ensemble's aim is not only to restore the sound and performance style of the period, but also to make the music sound as revelatory in their performances as it did in its own time.

The name of the ensemble is a tribute to the German writer and composer Daniel Speer (1636-1707), who traveled in Upper Hungary and wrote a book about the practice of music in the Kingdom of Hungary, published under the pseudonym Ungarischer oder Dacianischer Simplicissimus. However, Speer also borrowed the name Simplicissimus from Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen's picaresque novel Der abenteuerliche Simplicissimus Teutsch. This work is set during the Thirty Years' War, with the protagonist traveling halfway across Europe and getting involved in a thousand adventures. The adventuring is also characteristic of this late successor of the baroque Simplicissimus: each performance of the ensemble is a great journey between eras, styles, and music of different nations.

The artistic director of this ensemble is violinist-musicologist Zsombor Németh.

  Simplicissimus Ensemble

[Mensa Sonora et Al by Simplicissimus Ensemble]

Mensa Sonora et Al



Simplicissimus Ensemble lives in Törökbálint, Hungary.

Tagged as: Classical, Instrumental Classical, Classical Period, Baroque, Composer: Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber von Bibern.


Recommended artists:
  1. Edward Martin: vihuela, renaissance and baroque lute
  2. Ensemble Mirable: rare and extraordinary music of the Baroque
  3. Alison Crum and Roy Marks: Ethereal, enigmatic and exhilarating renaissance miniature masterpieces for viol and lute
  4. Daniel Shoskes: A feast of Baroque lute
  5. Fortune's Wheel: a spirited rediscovery of the riches of medieval musical traditions
  6. Janine Johnson: Harpsichord and fortepiano classics
  7. Jacob Heringman: renaissance lute
  8. Da Camera: Celtic Renaissance/Baroque Ensemble
  9. Federico Moscogiuri: Original and evocative lute music
  10. Healing Muses: early music for healing
  11. Takashi Matsuishi Spark: flautists with finesse, intelligence and grooves
  12. Alex McCartney: Reflective, historically-informed performance on the lute
  13. Richard MacKenzie: Virtuoso English Lutenist and Guitarist
  14. Misericordia: sickeningly good Medieval
  15. Paul Beier: solo lute of the Italian renaissance.
  16. Canconier: Medieval music from the 12th to the 15th centuries
  17. Mauricio Buraglia: a marvelous classical spiral of lute sounds
  18. Musica Pacifica: Baroque and traditional music from England, Scotland and Ireland
  19. AlmaNova: lively flute/guitar duo
  20. Stephane Potvin and the Con Brio Choir: choral conductor extraordinaire