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.

Music for dancing, 1650-1700, part 5

This is the last entry in the Playford series of posts. Mug House appeared for the first time in a supplement to the 7th edition (1687); this version is from the 14th edition (1709) and includes the dance instructions that were printed with the melodies in all editions of The Dancing Master. (I deleted those from graphics in the previous posts.)

Four phrases, (a) to (d), are marked up with a soprano-alto pair—(1) and (2). The upper voice is centered on D5, traces a neighbor note figure in the first phrase, then a line into the cadence in the second phrase. It disappears in the third phrase, to re-emerge in the fourth, which, however, is dominated by G5, not D. The alto voice is similarly centered on B4, and it also disappears, after the opening notes of the fourth phrase.

 I have made a more traditional linear analysis, as well, based on the above. The reader can decide how plausible this all seems. For my part, I would be inclined to prefer a proto-background B4-D5 to begin, expanding to the sixth B4-G5 by the end of the second phrase, then remaining there for the duration.

In this series of posts, basic information about the individual tunes is taken from Jeremy Barlow, ed., The Complete Country Dance Tunes from Playford's Dancing Master, 1651-ca.1728.

Music for dancing, 1650-1700, part 4

A well-known 16th century tune, Wooddicock, also known as The Green Man, is reproduced from the first edition, The English Dancing Master. I have sketched this in a preliminary way in the manner of linear analysis. An initial ^8 (final of the once-transposed Aeolian mode) sinks to ^7 by the end of the short first phrase. The figure appears again in the second phrase and in two consecutive notes to begin the third. An ascent from below (see the angled line) meets ^7 and closes to ^8 in the final phrase.

In this series of posts, basic information about the individual tunes is taken from Jeremy Barlow, ed., The Complete Country Dance Tunes from Playford's Dancing Master, 1651-ca.1728.

Music for dancing, 1650-1700, part 3

Today's tune is The Cherping of the Larke (this facsimile is from the first edition, The English Dancing Master). From the second edition on, the C at the end of the third phrase and the C five notes from the end were given sharps—all that suggests that a player would have changed the notes in performance anyway (in the manner of the by then ancient musica ficta practice).

Four short phrases are marked (a) through (d) under (1) below. Under (2), patterns of recurring notes and lines are sorted, and under (3) registers. These last clearly parse the octave F5-F4, suggesting a proto-background, but the end of the melody is a surprise, as a wedge figure draws lines to a close on D, final of a once-transposed Aeolian mode. In this case, the registral isolation of F5 at the beginning of (c), its repetition a few notes later, and the ascent to D5 from below, all make a line F5-E5-D5 credible.

In this series of posts, basic information about the individual tunes is taken from Jeremy Barlow, ed., The Complete Country Dance Tunes from Playford's Dancing Master, 1651-ca.1728.

Music for dancing, 1650-1700, part 2

Madge on a Tree appeared in the first edition of The English Dancing Master (but this facsimile is from the fourth edition [1670]). The tune was called Mage on a Cree and Margery Cree in some other editions. (Many songs and dance tunes went by various names in that era.)

Clearly a modal tune, Madge on a Tree is in once-transposed Dorian (one flat in the signature with G as the final or tonic note). The climb to the final cadence is as clear as it could be, occupying the entire fourth phrase.

As a postscript to an earlier series on the clausula vera or cadenza perfetta in the sixteenth century, I have created a second part (at *) to show how naturally the 6-8 figure appears in a cadence with an ascending upper voice.

In this series of posts, basic information about the individual tunes is taken from Jeremy Barlow, ed., The Complete Country Dance Tunes from Playford's Dancing Master, 1651-ca.1728.

Music for dancing, 1650-1700, part 1

This post initiates a series on dances from Playford's English Dancing Master (its first edition, 1651, was the only one called The English Dancing Master). I have already gathered fifty numbers with ascending cadence gestures in a PDF documentation essay published on Texas Scholar Works: Playford rising line file. Material from that essay is also included in my Rising Lines essay.

In this series of posts I will analyze a small number of these melodies for matters of register, line, and cadence.

Here is a simple example of register treatment, apparently in service to the title: Under and Over, which appears initially in the second edition (1652). I am using the text as it stands in the fourth edition, from 1670; according to Jeremy Barlow's annotations, several note changes in the ninth (1695) and later editions reduce the modal turns and emphasize typical tonal figures for G minor. (The second flat in the signature, on the other hand, was added in the fourth edition.)

Three of four phrases immediately establish the octave G4-G5. The first phrase then moves by step through that octave from above. The third phrase drops that octave by a step to F4-F5, while using many of the same notes (see double arrow). The second and fourth phrases drop the lower fifth and hold to the upper fourth instead, with a strong linear motion into the cadence.

Note that, overall, the lower range is extended by a step (from G4 to F4—see *) and the upper limit also by a step (from G5 to A5—see **).


A slightly more complex example: Arcadia, which was added in the seventh edition (1686). Four phrases again, marked (a) through (d), and in all of them lines (based on accented pitches) rather than spaces seem to hold sway: a third overlaps the end of the first phrase, reaching the first note of the second phrase, Bb, which then ascends into the cadence on F5; the third phrase continues from that note to an accented A5, then in the final phrase the march continues upward to close on the remarkably high note Bb5.

(If one insisted on gathering the lines into a middleground-background shape, the options would include (1) Bb: ^3 in bar 1 eventually reaching a primary ^5 in bars 7-8, then ascending in the second strain to ^8; (2) raising the pickup note F5 to background status, and holding it throughout till the final cadence completes the ascent; (3) treating the first phrase as "preliminary" [initial descent] to Bb4, which initiates a rising octave line to Bb5; and (4) reading a line of the sixth beginning with Bb4 in bar 4, ascending to F5 by the end of the strain, then further up to Bb5 in the second strain.)

In this series of posts, basic information about the individual tunes is taken from Jeremy Barlow, ed., The Complete Country Dance Tunes from Playford's Dancing Master, 1651-ca.1728.