In Baroque Italy the specification "for lute" was almost considered equal to "for archlute" and vice versa. Italian archlute compositions from the late 1500s until the 1700s would be commonly adapted and played on the lute too.

Italian archlute music from the 1600s changes a lot depending on the author. Compositions by Piccinini, Kapsberger, M. Galilei, Melli have rather few common features. This is due to the fact that in the 1600s these compositions had three different styles of composing and performing: the first one is the most "avant-garde" and it involves the use of the archlute or of the theorbo, which had just been invented. The main representatives of this style are Kapsberger and Piccinini. They worked for the nobility, but never for the same one through their whole career, so they were rather independent.

The second type of background was that of the court, where music was composed by lutenists such as Garsi, in a less innovative language, which better fit the festive events of the courts. The music composed by Melli and by Falconieri is to be considered of the first background under some aspects and at the same time, under other aspects, it is of the second background. The typical character of this background is the lutenist who isn't just a performer, yet he can also be as a teacher, a gentleman, a valet or a chronicler at the same court. The instrument involved can be both the lute and the archlute.

The third type of background was that of the domestic use of the lute, that of the beginners or of the amateurs, who often play the lute, not the archlute, because it was simpler and more convenient. This wide range of people used manuscripts with a lot of music by anonymous composers.

My journey through Italian Baroque aims at covering this whole period, so you will hear some pieces composed by Santino Garsi, from the late 1500s or early 1600s, all the way to the 1760 pieces by an anonymous Neapolitan composer, which are included in Filippo Dalla Casa's manuscript (drafted 1759-1811). These Neapolitan pieces are, in my opinion, closer to the Classical style rather than the Baroque.

The Toccata I from Alessandro Piccinini's second volume, published in 1639, after his death it is here recorded for the very first time.

In the 1600s lute music composition background this is a rather long, complicated piece, with daring dissonances and well-diversified and distinct sections. One of its peculiarities is it goes over the common range of the archlute: it gets to very high notes that require frets the archlute does not have. I also included three piece from Giuseppe Antonio Doni's manuscript (around 1640).

The first one is a Toccata del Signor Arcangelo: it probably refers to Arcangelo Lori, a lutenist-composer who worked in Rome, of whom we now know several vocal compositions, but only this lute piece. It's a Toccata with no dense composition structure (which Piccinini's Toccate do have), but it seems to be meant as a series of baroque eloquent and voluptuous theatrical gestures, so in this sense, it has an innovative style. The second piece of the manuscript is attributed to Andrea Falconieri and I chose it in order to give a sense of lightness amidst the other rather dramatic and intense pieces. The last of these pieces is an anonymous passacaglia which, through its simplicity, brings us back to the essence of this widespread baroque ground.

The other authors I included in this album are nowadays well-known, it is rather easy to find their music and their biographies, so I won't explain about them, I'll let the music speak to you.

1. Toccata XX by A Piccinini
2. Corrente I by A Piccinini
3. Aria di Sarabanda by A Piccinini
4. Toccata I by G Kapsberger
5. Corrente I by G Kapsberger
6. Toccata by M Galilei
7. Corrente in do min by M Galilei
8. La Mutia by S Garsi
9. Gagliarda by S Garsi
10. Toccata in sol min by A Lori
11. Corrente in do min by A Falconieri
12. Passacaglia in do min by Anonimo
13. Toccata I libro II in sol min by A Piccinini
14. Gagliarda la Rossa by PP Melli
15. Corrente in fa by S Garsi
16. Toccata VII by G Kapsberger
17. Gagliarda III by G Kapsberger
18. Corrente X by G Kapsberger
19. Tastata la Cortese by PP Melli
20. Furia in volta La Scapigliata by PP Melli
21. Corrente La Massimiliana by PP Melli
22. Allegro by Anonimo
23. Grave by Anonimo
24. Spiritoso by Anonimo
25. Ciaccona by G Zamboni

Listen to: the entire album.

Release date: 04/13/17
Francesca Torelli lives in Reggio Emilia Italy

Tagged as: Classical, Instrumental, Baroque, Lute

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