THE SOLO VIOLIN SONATA OF THE BOLOGNA SCHOOL'

Abstract

relatively infrequent in I7th-century Italy, where the more typical chamber music consisted of three or more written parts. However, the violin sonata did originate in Italy during the first decades of the I7th century, and its history to 1700 (the date of Corelli's solo violin sonatas, Opus V, Sonate a Violino e Violone o Cimbalo), though modest in extent, reflects a steady development, which profited from the great strides in technique learned in the more richly cultivated field of the trio sonata. Before proceeding to a discussion of this solo literature, it is necessary to clarify certain ambiguities in a nomenclature which, during the I7th century, is never scrupulously consistent. Just as no invariable distinction between the sonata, sinfonia, canzona, concerto, capriccio, and ricercata of the early I7th century can be maintained2, so are the very terms sonata a uno or sonata a tre often misleading. The distinctive designation, solo or trio sonata, must not be considered as applying to the number of instruments participating. A trio sonata may be intended for two instruments, as is Biagio Marini's Sonata for violin and organ, Opus VIII, 1626, in which the organ has two written parts; for four instruments, as the usual I 7th-century title specifies, Sonata a tre, due violini e violoncello (o violone) col basso continuo per l'organo (o cembalo); or even for five instruments, as in G. B. Bononcini's Sinfonie a tre ... Opus IV, i686, for which there are five part-books -first and second violin, 'cello, theorbo, and organ. It is rarely intended for three instruments alone. Similarly, the sonata a uno stromento may be meant for two instruments-violin and keyboard-, or, as more often happens, for three, in which case, a 'cello or violone doubles the bass line. Even a consistent identification of the trio sonata with three