Trio sonata

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The trio sonata is one of the most important genres of chamber music of the Baroque period , from around 1600 to 1750. It is a three-part composition of two upper voices and figured bass , classically divided into three or four movements . It offered a broad field of activity to both the bourgeois or aristocratic music lover and the virtuoso. Numerous prints and new editions from the earliest times testify to their popularity.

characterization

The trio sonata is characterized by two equal (upper) melody voices over a figured bass . The models could have been the operas and sacred works of Claudio Monteverdi , on whose ritornello the first sonatas are based. The focus was on the melodic line and less on the timbre. Many of the sonata movements consist of two-part fugues or fugatos, in later works there are fully worked three-part fugues that include the bass. In the Rococo period, movements that abandoned the fugal style increasingly appeared, with the first voice taking on a solo leading role, while the second voice became a secondary voice. The stages of development of the different forms of the trio sonatas run parallel to similar chamber music genres, such as the more virtuoso solo sonata and other multi-part sonata forms that emerged later.

While the melody parts were initially almost exclusively composed of violins , violas and spikes (cornetto), woodwind instruments are often found in the 18th century. The bass part was usually played by a cello , bass viol, bassoon , violone, or theorbo . The harmony given by the numbering was interpreted improvising by a harpsichord , organ or lute .

The name of the genre refers to the fact that the music has a three-part movement; The designation does not specify the number of musicians. In fact, more than three performers were usually involved, as the figured bass was usually distributed over several instruments. Contemporary performance material suggests that even the melody parts could be cast multiple times continuously or in passages, thus making the trio sonata a field of experimentation for the Concerto grosso that flourished towards the end of the 17th century . On the other hand, Johann Sebastian Bach also wrote trio sonatas for two players (harpsichord and a melody instrument, the harpsichordist's left hand plays the basso continuo, the right hand a treble part) or for one person ( trio sonatas for organ , in which the pedals take over the basso continuo).

Early baroque

The country of origin of the trio sonata is Italy. The first works to adopt the trio form date from the end of the 16th century and have their origins in vocal music. Giovanni Gabrieli built trio passages into the canzones of his Symphoniae sacrae from 1597, while the music-historical canzone alla Francese a 4 1602 for violin, corneto, 2 trombones (as supporting parts) and basso continuo (Bc) by Lodovico Grossi da Viadana are the first real ones Can denote trio sonata. The oldest collections of trio sonatas were created by the violinist Salamone Rossi , who worked under Monteverdi, with his Primo libro delle Sinfonie e Gagliarde from 1607 and his Secondo libro from 1608. Giovanni Battista Buonamente , Dario Castello , Giovanni Paolo Cima , Biagio Marini , Tarquinio Merula and Marco Uccellini .

This new type of high-quality instrumental music also quickly found acceptance north of the Alps, first in works by Paul Peuerl with his Gantz Neue Padovanen ... printed in Nuremberg in 1613 , with the Innsbruck court conductor Johann Stadlmayr in Philomenus cœlestis (1624), with Johann Vierdanck and with Johann Erasmus Kindermann in his Deliciæ studiosorum (1643). In the French-speaking world, Henri Dumont (Paris 1657) published three-part church pavans in his Meslanges , and Dumont's further trio sonatas can be found in the Canti sacra of 1662.

High baroque

The Catholic priests Giovanni Llimi and Maurizio Cazzati developed their own trio sonata style in Bergamo. Their sonatas were performed during masses. Around the middle of the 17th century, the northern Italian instrumental style was transferred to Emilian centers such as Modena and Ferrara by Uccellini and Cazzati . The musicians working in Modena introduced French dance forms, scordatura and canon forms , while in Bologna the “Da-chiesa” style (church sonata) was cultivated through cantability and powerful timbres. Giovanni Maria Bononcini and Alessandro Stradella should be mentioned here as examples. With their trio symphonies, Lenzei and the leading musicians in Rome in the 1670s, Alessandro Stradella and Carlo Ambrogio Lonati and Lelio Colista (lute) exerted a direct influence on the works of Arcangelo Corelli and Henry Purcell .

Outside Italy, the trio sonata was coined by Johann Heinrich Schmelzer with his Duodena Sonatorum Selectarum from 1659, the works by Heinrich Biber ( Harmonia artificiosa-ariosa , 1670), and the six sonatas from Musicalische Erötzung (1691) by Johann Pachelbel . In Northern Germany we find Dietrich Becker's First Part of Two-Part Sonatas and Suites from 1674 and, as the high point of this period, Dietrich Buxtehude's collections, Op. 1 and Op. 2 (1696), each consisting of seven trio sonatas, some of which include the viol as a second melodic instrument is used.

In England, John Jenkins broke new ground at an advanced age with a few trio suites. Twelve sonatas for two violins and bass are ascribed to him - not with certainty; they have not yet been found, but are considered to be the first Italian-style trio sonatas composed in England. Apart from that, the three sonatas by William Young , published in Innsbruck in 1653, are the first English works of the genre.

The Italian court composer Jean-Baptiste Lully with his Trios pour le coucher du roi and Marin Marais with his viol works dedicated to Lully (1686) and the sonata for violin, viol and continuo with the programmatic title Sonnerie de Saint Geneviève du Mont de Paris are trio examples from the last two decades of the 17th century.

Late baroque

Arcangelo Corelli's op. 1 (1681) and op. 3, with the slow-fast-fast movement typical for the Emilian violin school, can be described as a trend-setting for the work of the following generation of composers for the type of late baroque “ Sonata da chiesa ” (church sonatas) as a trio sonata . slow fast. The fast movements are mostly fugati , in which the bass part is included in parts . His chamber sonatas (“ Sonata da camera ”) Op. 2 and Op. 4 (1695) begin with a slow “Preludio”, followed by two to three dance movements (Allemande, Corrente, Gavotte, Gigue, Sarabande). Corelli dispenses with outstanding virtuosity in these compositions, which makes them interesting for enthusiasts and opens up a wide range of creative possibilities for professional musicians. During Corelli's lifetime alone, there were a total of 78 reprints of these works, which suggests their extraordinary popularity and widespread distribution. The first ever collection of instrumental works published by a female composer is Op. 16 by Isabella Leonarda , published in Bologna in 1693 , which contains eleven trio sonatas.

In the following heyday of the Italian trio sonata, which was decisively influenced by Corelli, the works of Tomaso Albinoni (op. 1, 3 and 8) and the sonatas of Lrimi's pupil Antonio Caldara (op. 1 (1693) and op. 2 (1699)) were composed who - himself a cellist - added an obbligato cello part to some sonata movements. Many of the fast movements of the latter two are fully developed three-part fugues. The sonatas by Francesco Antonio Bonporti (op. 4 (1704)) and Antonio Vivaldi (whose first publication, the Sonate da camera op. 1 of 1705) date from the beginning of the 18th century . They begin with a da-chiesa-like prelude, followed by dances. Vivaldi's collection of works, Op. 5, also contains two trio sonatas. Several of Vivaldi's sonatas (Op. 1 No. 8, 11 and Op. 5 No. 6) have the concertante structure of a solo sonata in several movements. While the first violin takes over the melodic lead throughout, the second part accompanies the ostinato of the bass. The sonatas op. 3 from 1712 by the Italian Evaristo Dall'Abaco , who is associated with Munich and Brussels, are mostly in three movements.

In Germany, Georg Philipp Telemann composed around 140 trio sonatas, around a third of which follow Corelli's structures. Telemann emphasized in his “Lebens-Lauff” in 1718 that he was obliged to Corelli and was proud that his trio sonatas were valued for their Corellian virtues . In addition, he wrote overture suites in the French style or sonatas with a rhythm borrowed from Slavic folk music, such as the two sonatas polonesi . The majority of Telemann's trio sonatas were intended " for the amusement of great princes and gentlemen, for the entertainment of distinguished guests, with wonderful meals ", but also for the Collegia Musica in Leipzig, Frankfurt and Hamburg, which he directed himself. In his collection of sonatas, Essercizii Musici , Telemann published trio sonatas for the most varied of upper voices. In addition to the violin, he used the “flûte traversière” (transverse flute), which was then fashionable, as well as oboes, recorders, viols and obbligato harpsichord.

Also to be mentioned are the works ascribed to George Frideric Handel , Op. 2 (this opus, published by the publisher Walsh in London, contains three early works, the so-called “ Dresden Sonatas ”). Handel's Chamber Sonatas op. 5 from 1739 also often begin with a Da Chiesa introduction, followed by several dance movements. Johann Sebastian Bach was less active in the field of the trio sonata in the narrower sense with the works BWV 1039 and the trio sonata from the Musical Offering , BWV 1079. The authorship of the sonatas BWV 1036-1038 is not unequivocally secured. He developed a special form of the trio sonata for a solo instrument and harpsichord, in which the harpsichord took over the bass and - in the right hand - the second upper part. He wrote sonatas for harpsichord and violin in concert (BWV 1014-1019), flute ( BWV 1030-1032 ) and viol ( 1027-1029 ). The youth works Wq 144–147, which the 17-year-old Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach created , have a similar design . With the six trio sonatas BWV 525–530 , Johann Sebastian Bach transferred the principle of the trio sonata to the organ. By Jan Dismas Zelenka , who worked in Dresden, come six trio sonatas (ZWV 181, probably 1721/1722) for two oboes, bassoon and basso continuo. Due to the independent, virtuoso leadership of the bassoon part, it is de facto works for three melodic voices and continuo, so actually “quartets”.

For a long time, France closed its doors to any Italian influence, more for political reasons. The tragédie lyrique , coined by Jean-Baptiste Lully under Louis XIV , was the main musical genre that the Académie Royale de musique paid special attention to. From around 1700, young composers, spurred on by the charm of Corelli's works, dared to reunite Italian and French tastes, in which the perfection of music can be found . François Couperin published his first trio sonatas under a pseudonym , while in 1724 he drew Corelli's entry into the Parnassus with the six-movement Grande Sonate en Trio . In the work L'Apothéose de Lully from 1725, with a concluding Da Chiesa trio sonata, in which Couperin lets masters Lully and Corelli celebrate the union of the French and Italian styles together. Other French trio sonatas are: Jean-Féry Rebel with the Recueil de Douze Sonates from 1695 , Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre (Four Sonatas from 1695), André Campra , Joseph Bodin de Boismortier , Louis-Nicolas Clérambault with his sonata La Magnifique and JJ de Mondonville (Opus 2). Jean Marie Leclair was instructed by Corelli's pupil Giovanni Battista Somis and with his sonatas Opus 4, 13 and 14 (posthumously) represented a final high point of the French trio sonata, after he had already made a name for himself with solo sonatas. The bridge to the gallant style with main and secondary voices can be found in the works of Louis-Gabriel Guillemain and Jean Philippe Rameau with his Pièces de clavecin en concerts, written after 1740 .

Henry Purcell also treads the paths of the Italian style in England, but Purcell includes French elements and the tradition of English consort music in his 22 works of the genre. The first volume of 14 sonatas appeared in 1683; ten more sonatas were published in 1697, two years after his death. John Ravenscroft made a name for himself posthumously with his Corelli-style sonatas Opus 1 and 2, because eight of his trio sonatas wrongly went to Paris in 1740 as Corelli's Opus 7. England's trio sonata landscape was also enriched by emigrated composers such as Johann Christoph Pepusch , Francesco Geminiani , Nicola Francesco Haym and Felice Giardini .

The trio sonata enjoyed longest popularity among the English bourgeoisie. This is evident from the numerous reprints by Walsh and other publishers up to the beginning of the 19th century. This is also attested by the numerous contemporary, written statements of the contemporary English music lover and biographer Roger North .

The gallant style

During the Rococo period, the strict requirements of baroque music were abandoned and from 1740 onwards, the style gallantly prevailed. There are now increasing numbers of works in which, instead of the fugue-like structure of the first upper part, a solo part is performed, while the second part often has an accompanying part. The works of the older masters from the Mannheim school fall into the period of origin of this style . To name just as are the court of Frederick the Great acting brothers Graun , which left more than 200 trio sonatas, Johann Joachim Quantz and 29 trio sonatas by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach , who composed between 1731 (Wq 143) only after baroque model and 1765 progressively the To illustrate the detachment from the traditional style. In his sonata Conversation between a Sanguineus and Melancholicus (Wq 161/1 Nuremberg 1751), the son of Bach already outlined the dialectics of the classical music. The early church sonatas for two violins and figured bass organ accompaniment by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are among the last of their genre in German-speaking countries, before the symphonic style replaced the trio sonata.

This development of the trio sonata among the Italian composers can be traced back to Giovanni Battista Sammartini , Pietro Nardini (1760), Carlo Tessarini and Pietro Locatelli (op. 5 from 1746 and op. 8). Gaetano Pugnani's op. 1, 3 and 9 are already forerunners of the last works of this genre by Luigi Boccherini and Giovanni Battista Viotti , in which the first signs of the burgeoning Romanticism can already be seen.

With the increasing independence of the individual voices, the era of figured bass was coming to an end. More and more new forms emerged. From the end of the 17th century the violin sonata can be found , which at first still adopted a basso continuo, later on the sonata type with an obbligato harpsichord. The String Trio and Piano Trio and the String Quartet took over the dominant role in chamber music in the following period.

Exploring the trio sonata

The musicologist Ludwig Finscher received the Balzan Prize in Rome in 2006 . Finscher dedicated half of the prize money of one million Swiss francs to a project to systematically research the trio sonata at the University of Zurich , which ran from 2007 to 2012. The resulting catalog raisonné was published in 2016 and includes more than 10,000 works of the genre from around 1,200 collections.

literature

Web links

Wiktionary: Trio sonata  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://www.musik.uzh.ch/de/Research_BC/research/projects/triosonate.html
  2. ↑ http://www.uzh.ch/news/articles/2008/3143.html
  3. ↑ Finscher u. a. (Ed.) 2016.