6 Sonate op. 5 H.103-108/ 6 Sonate op. 5 H.109-114

The six sonatas of Opus 5 are Geminiani’s only solo works for cello, and were rapidly followed by his own adaptation of all six for violin. Both versions appeared in 1746, first in Paris, later in the Hague and (after some apparent commercial chicanery) in London. From the small number of surviving copies (RISM lists only five copies of the cello version, and eleven of the violin), they do not appear to have achieved the high sales of his earlier sonatas and concertos, maybe because of their technical difficulty and “fantastical” style. However since the 20th century their status has risen perhaps more than any other opus of Geminiani, evidenced by more than one printed edition and several facsimile reissues of original prints.