The Sonata for violin and bass violin ca. 1700

PART I

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By the end of the seventeenth century, a new type of musical composition within the da camera genre was blossoming featuring the violin and the cello, or bass violin, as main protagonists. Based in the rich Bolognese musical sphere, was probably developed under the auspices of the Accademia Filarmonica and led by string players like the Bononcini family, Giovanni Battista Vitali, Giuseppe Maria Jacchini, Giuseppe Torelli, Bartolomeo Laurenti and many more. The sonata a Violino e Violone or as it appears in other Bolognese prints, a Violino e Violoncello, is probably a heir of the popular Balleti a Violino e Violone collections from the previous decades. We are going to see how this repertoire may be the earliest compositions for a string duo.

Collections of Balleti for both instruments appeared as early as in 1668 Giovanni Battista Vitali’s Balleti […] a Violino e Violone o Spinetta […], Op.4. Up till about 1685 no less than eight books by different composers were published in Bologna, always carrying the same title and characteristics. These books contain what we could normally call a suite, with not a homogeneous form, arranged many times by dance type, paired or grouped by three or more movements. The order and number of dances vary depending on the composer, however consistent patterns appear in some collections, such as Giovanni Battista Bassani’s Balletti (Balleto, Corrente, Giga and Sarabande). In most of the cases the bass violin part, so-called violone, is a mere sustain of the harmony with some interactions with the violin. All these collections offer a second violin as an ad libitum choice.

Balleti collections were not only specifically written for violin and bass violin, for they appeared often during these years for bigger ensemble settings. Some of these publications were connected to Francesco II d’Este’s court in Modena, a place with a predilection to a certain French influence, as we can see by an often use of “alla francese” dance movements. Modena was next to Bologna a city in which string playing was developing, at least since Marco Uccellini ruled the court ensemble during Francesco I d’Este's reign as Capo degl’instrumentisti and Maestro di cappella at Modena’s cathedral. But let’s talk about that matter in other entries!

Some collections that appeared right after for the same duo instrumentation were following the “da camera” setting with little exceptions. Balleti became in disuse as a title for chamber music collections from about 1690 and other titles were used to name these collections, such as Trattenimenti per Camera, Divertimenti per Camera, Allettamenti per camera, etc… next to more standard ones such as Concerto per/da camera and Sonata per/da camera. These collections were not exclusive for two instruments but also for settings like the trio sonata.

The first collection that continued the dance grouping structure of the Balleti is the Concertino per Camera a Violino e Violoncello, Op.4 by Giuseppe Torelli. Probably written in the late 1680s, it may be considered, with some distance, the first duos for violin and cello for they don’t name any extra bass instrument in the title nor do they contain figures in the cello part nor offers an extra violin ad libitum. Before this collection, we see that Balleti could also be performed only with the two string instruments. Giovanni Maria Bononcini advised, as early as in 1671, in his Arie, Correnti, Sarabande, Gigue et Allemande, Op.4 that it’s recommended to use the violone instead of the spinet for it will make a better effect with the upper voice: “Si deve avvertire, che farà miglior efetto il Violone, che la Spinetta, per essere i Bassi più proprii dell’uno, che dell’altra.”

Example 1: G.M. Bononcini, Arie, Correnti, Sarabande, Gigue et Allemande, Op.4, Bologna 1671

Continuo figures, on the other hand, may not just mean the use of a chordal instrument since we know cellists from that period were able to do continuo realisations on their instruments, as Giuseppe Maria Jacchini, colleague of Torelli, did. Torelli’s pieces already show an interaction between both instruments elevating the violoncello as an equal voice with the violin in many passages. Other collections to name are the 1691 Suonate per Camera a Violino e Violoncello, Op.1 by Bartolomeo Laurenti. The Ballo of the third sonata, although we see how the cello plays an ornamented accompaniment, is a clear example of equalising both instruments in terms of roles. This occurs also in some pieces in Jacchini’s Concerti per Camera a Violino e Violoncello, Op.3 from 1697 but not in his Op.1 in which the cello is just a bass.

Example 2: G.M. Jacchini, Sonata V from Concerti per Camera, Op.3, Modena 1697 - Violoncello part

Two collections at the Museo Internazionale e Biblioteca della Musica di Bologna show the importance that this formation had during the last decade of the century: Sonate per Camera a Violino e Violoncello and Sonate a Violino e Violoncello di Vari Autori. Both books are engravings made by Carlo Buffagnotti, himself a cellist from Bologna and engraver of Jacchini’s Op.1 and Torelli’s Op.4.

Image 1: Sonate à Violino e Violoncello di Vari Autori, Bologna ca.1695, Carlo Buffagnotti

These two books comprises sonatas among others by Corelli, Jacchini, Torelli, Laurenti or Giuseppe Vincenzo Antonio Aldrovandini. The cello part presents in most of the pieces an accompaniment role with some interactions in the sonatas by Carlo Mazolini and Clemente Rozzi. This last one presents the cello as “Violonzello obligaro” [sic]. Bartolomeo Bernardi and, again, Carlo Mazolini present in the other book as well some dialogue between the cello and the violin. From Mazolini little is known, just that a Bolognese was, as his 1687 Sonate a tre, due violini e Clavicembalo o Tiorba, Op.1 informs at the front page. The rest of the composers were all located in Bologna, including Corelli, who, let’s not forget was called “Il Bolognese.” Both books are a compilation of pieces that could have been composed in a span of twenty years. For instance, Corelli’s sonata is found in the Assisi’s Abbey manuscript, composed probably when he was still in Bologna. This tradition continued appearing in bolognese collections such Concerti a due, Violino e Violoncello, o Tiorba, Op.3 by Aldrovandini from 1703 and one year later Concertini per Camera a Violino e Violoncello o Tiorba, Op.1 by Francesco Manfredini. Note the similarity in the title of both collections.

It is evident that this type of composition had its roots in the Emilian region (Bologna, Modena, Parma, etc…) and that in many cases was meant to be played with just both string instruments.

In our next post we will continue to see how this formation developed further during the first half of the eighteenth century. We will also analyse how Corelli’s Op.5 produced an enormous influence in the advent of many collections of sonatas for violin and violoncello with or without a chordal instrument.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Primary sources, chronologically ordered:

Instrumental collections for violin and bass violin

Vitali, G.B., Balletti, Correnti, Gighe, Allemande, e Sarabande à Violino, e Violone, ò Spinetta con il Secondo Violino a beneplacito, Op.4, Bologna 1668, Giacomo Monti

Antonii, P. degli, Arie, Gighe, Balletti, Correnti, Allemande, e Sarabande a Violino, e Violone, ò Spinetta con il secondo Violino à beneplacito, Op.1, Bologna 1670, Giacomo Monti

Antonii, P. degli, Balletti, Correnti et, Arie diverse à Violino, e Violone por Camera, et anco per suonare nella Spinetta, Op.3, Bologna 1671, Giacomo Monti

Bononcini, G.M., Arie, Correnti, Sarabande, Gighe, & Allemande a Violino, e Violone, over Spinetta, Op.4, Bologna 1671, Giacomo Monti

Bassani, G.B., Balletti, Correnti, Gighe, e Sarabande à Violino, e Violone, ouero Spinetta, con il Secondo Violino à beneplacito, Op.1, Bologna 1677, Giacomo Monti

Albergati, P., Balletti, Correnti, Sarabande, e Gighe, à Violino e Violone, con il secondo Violino à beneplacito, Op.1, Bologna 1682, Giacomo Monti

Gabrielli, D., Balletti, Gighe, Correnti, Alemande, e Sarabande, à Violino, e Violino, con il secondo Violino à beneplacito, Op.1, Bologna 1684, Giacomo Monti

Torelli, G., Concertino per Camera a Violino, e Violoncello, Bologna ca.1688, Carlo Buffagnotti

Jacchini, G.M., Sonate à Violino e Violoncello, et à Violoncello solo Per Camera, Op.1, Bologna ca.1690, Carlo Buffagnotti

VV.AA., Sonate per camera a Violino e Violoncello di vari autori, Bologna ca.1690, Carlo Buffagnotti

VV.AA., Sonate à Violino e Violoncello di Vari Autori, Bologna ca.1690, Carlo Buffagnotti

Laurenti, B., Suonate per Camera à Violino e Violoncello, Op.1, Bologna 1691, Pier Maria Monti

Ariosti, A., Divertimenti da camera à Violino, e Violoncello, Op.1, Bologna 1695, Carlo Maria Fagnani

Jacchini, G.M., Concerti per camera à Violino, e Violoncello solo col Basso, Op.3, Modona 1697, Fortuniano Rosato

Pegolotti, T., Trattenimenti Armonici da Camera A Violino solo e Violoncello, Op.1, Modona 1698, Fortuniano Rosati

Aldrovandini, G.A.V., Concerti a due, Violino e Violoncello, ò Tiorba, Op.4, Bologna 1703, Marino Silvani

Manfredini, F., Concertini per Camera A Violino, e Violoncello, o Tiorba, Op.1, Bologna 1704, Marino Silvani

Source: http://www.bibliotecamusica.it/cmbm/scripts/gaspari/src_aut.asp

Secondary sources:

ALLSOP, P., Da camera e da ballo -- alla francese et all'italiana: Functional and National Distinctions in Corelli's sonate da camera, Early Music, Vol. 26, No. 1 (Feb., 1998), pp. 87-96

ALLSOP, P., Arcangelo Corelli: New Orpheus of Our Times, Oxford University Press, 1999

BARNETT, G., Bolognese Instrumental Music, 1660-1710: Spiritual Comfort, Courtly Delight, and Commercial Triumph, Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2008

OLIVIERI, G., Arcangelo Corelli: The Assisi Sonatas, CD booklet, GLOSSA GCD 921209