Instrumental Music of Giovanni Legrenzi
Last updated: 17.12.19
La Cetra, Sonate a Due, Tre E Quattro Stromenti, Libro Quattro, Opus 10, 1673
Paperback (September 1992) Usually ships within 3-5 weeks.
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Synopsis
One of the pivotal figures in Italian Baroque music, Giovanni Legrenzi
worked in Bergamo, Ferrara, and Venice, and closed his career as
maestro di cappella at San Marco. He composed in nearly all genres
then cultivated: opera, oratorio, cantata, sacred music, and music for
instrumental ensemble. Both Bach and Handel borrowed his themes for
their own compositions. This second volume of Legrenzi's instrumental
works provides a critical edition of the contents of his La Cetra, Opus
10 (1673) and is designed for both performer and scholar. It comprises
18 sonatas, all of which can be classified as church sonatas. They are
composed for various combinations of stringed instruments, six each for
two, three and four instruments. Among the sonatas for four instruments
are two that are playable in two different keys and either on viols o
come piace. Several others reveal an interesting connection between
Venetian opera and the sonata form. Bonta completes the volume with a
discussion of 17th-century performance practice.