Virtuosi and improvised counterpoint in the early 17th century, part 3

Book 2 of Dario Castello's Sonate concertate in stil moderno was published in 1629. The fifth sonata is for winds: solo cornet and trombone with continuo. The pattern of soprano and bass instrument that we saw in sonatas from Book 1 continues, as does the treatment of the bass solo as largely an ornamented version of the continuo part. The overall design is very similar to the sonatas we have already looked at in previous posts (nos. 7 and 10 from Book 1). Like those pieces, this sonata has eight sections: a fugal section in duple time is followed by a short homophonic section [probably meant to be an adagio, though it's not marked] and another fugal section; next are two solos, first for cornet and second for trombone, a fugal section in triple meter, a short section in sequences, and a closing adagio that begins in imitation but quickly turns into a cadenza.

The points of interest include the closing cadence of section 1 and its approach, which is the most extended and direct that I have seen in Castello's sonatas (but see also the end of section 4 below).

 Within the brief section 2, there is a rare 6-8 cadence:

The end of section 4 is similar to that of section 1, but this time note the firmly marching parallel tenths between the continuo and the solo cornet.


Finally, a curiosity: the cadence ending section 7 and leading into the final adagio attempts to combine the cadenza perfetta and the cadence with 4-3 suspension. Presumably performers would have understood ways to manage this that were more musically effective than the written notation.

Virtuosi and improvised counterpoint in the early 17th century, part 2

This is the second post in a short series on Dario Castello, a virtuoso wind player in Venice in the early 17th century. Sonata 10 from book 1 (1621) is for two violins, bassoon, and continuo. Like sonata 7 that I discussed yesterday, it has eight sections. The first section closes with a scalar flourish after the cadence (another feature of soloistic music in this era). Note also the 3-1 cadence (circled) in the two violins—this realizes the "three-part rule" that I mentioned in the previous post: cadenza perfetta in the upper voices, root of the chord in the bass.

A triple-meter imitative section—similar to the one in sonata 7—does close in the upper register. Note the cadenza perfetta in the two upper voices, and the C# (as ^#3) rather than A (as ^1), breaking the cadence in order to supply a third for the final chord.

The ending of the sonata repeats the cadence of the first section and adds a block-chord adagio that is very likely to have been heavily embellished in performance, perhaps resulting in something that sounded similar to the written-out ending of sonata 7.

Virtuosi and improvised counterpoint in the early 17th century, part 1

Little is known about Dario Castello, except that he worked in Venice in the first decades of the seventeenth century, that he worked at St. Mark's cathedral, and that he was apparently a virtuoso wind player, probably first of all a bassoonist. In his own time, though, he was quite well known: as Andrew dell'Antonio puts it, "The unusual number of reprints of [his two] books of sonatas is an indication of the popularity and wide diffusion of Castello's works" (Oxford Music Online).

Book 1 was published in1621 as Sonate concertate in stil moderno, libro primo. The seventh sonata is typical. Eight sections of varying lengths—but mostly short by modern standards—are typical of the canzona style, as is the continuo bass and virtuosic solo writing. It is from works like this that the sonata da chiesa and the mid-eighteenth century sonata developed.

In this post I first present an overview of the design with incipits for each of the eight sections. After that I look at the closing cadences for same.

An imitative, "fugue-like" section opens (1), but is interrupted by an expressive ornamented adagio at (2). An extended imitative section in triple meter is next (3), then two solo sections follow, first for violin (4), then for bassoon (5). A short section (6) consisting of elaborated sequences is followed by another "fugue-like" section in triple meter (7) and an elaborate cadenza-like close (8). The opening in duple with a change to triple later on, the fugato work, ornamentation, and elaborate close are all typical of solo musical practices from at least the 1590s on.

Now for the cadences. The range of the violin is restricted; the topmost significant note is A5: Bb5, B5, and C6 are *briefly* touched on only once or twice in sections 1, 3, and 4. Most of the section-ending cadences show the soloist's tendency—which will only be exaggerated in subsequent generations and centuries—to want to end brilliantly and therefore in a higher, not lower, register. As a result, rising gestures are common. The cadenza perfetta does not appear because the bassoon matches the continuo, and the "three-part rule" of basic counterpoint, where the bass provides the root of the dominant, is followed throughout.