CONCERTO ITALIANO

Whilst this concert focuses on lesser known compositions from the early Baroque era, the listener will be treated to music full of remarkable virtuosity and exquisite melodic writing, typical of Italian music from this and other periods. The instrumental compositions included in the program contain elements not only of earlier vocal music but also of the new emerging genre - opera.

The influence of the multi-choir technique used in performances in St Mark‘s Basilica in Venice is audible in the Venetian instrumental canzone (the work of GIOVANNI GABRIELI), whilst in Rome the style of composition was influenced by a tight link to the liturgy at St. Peter’s Basilica (GIROLAMO FRESCOBALDI). In a similar way, the character of individual regions is also reflected in these compositions. With composers from Naples (GIOVANNI SALVATORE) one hears the lively spirit of Southern Italy, whilst composers from the North can be identified by specific rhythms in their music, the origins of which lie in their native regions (BIAGIO MARINI). The dominant genres in Baroque instrumental music were Canzone, Sonatas and Sinfonias, often for string or wind ensembles. There developed in the latter two genres a growing solo virtuoso technique, from which grew the Baroque concerto. Violin playing developed noticeably in compositions by BIAGI MARINI, whose music used long scale passages, large interval leaps, high notes and new ways of positioning the fingers and hands. Surprising experiments with harmony can be found in the works of GIOVANNI DE MACQUE, GIROLAMO FRESCOBALDI and TARQUINIO MERULA, composers who were looking for new possibilities of harmonisation in the then not yet tempered tuning. The most important composers, as far as form and innovative ideas are concerned, were probably GIROLAMO FRESCOBALDI and GIUSEPPE TORELLI. Many stylistic elements introduced by these composers can be found in the work of their successors, composers who to this day are still venerated, such as J.S. Bach.