Giovanni Battista Vitali
Giovanni Battista Vitali (18 February 1632 – 12 October 1692) was an Italian composer and violone player.
Life and career
Vitali was born in
The first documented evidence of Vitali’s musical activities appears in the records of the San Petronio orchestra for 1658, when he is listed under the title ‘Violoni’,[2] referring to the cello/bass instrument that he played (to be discussed below).
Vitali remained in the orchestra until 1673, when he took up an appointment as maestro di cappella at the chapel of the Confraternità del Rosario, Bologna.[3] His first publication, Opus 1 (1666), tells us that he was a member of the Accademia dei Filaschisi. This musical institution, which had been established in 1633, disbanded in 1666 when most of its members joined the Accademia Filarmonica. Vitali is also listed as a member of the Accademia Filarmonica in 1666, the year of its founding. The academy archives record various details of its members, including where they came from (if not from Bologna) and their dates of birth and death. Vitali’s death date is here recorded as 12 October 1692.
Vitali never reached a higher position in Bologna than that of maestro di cappella at the Santissimo Rosario. There may be several reasons for this. By the time he left Bologna and moved to
In 1674 Vitali attained the position of one of two vice-maestri di cappella at the secular court of the Este family in Modena. Unlike Modena, Bologna was part of the
As a musician
Vitali played a bowed stringed bass instrument but, due to the shifting terminology in use at the time, this is referred to under various names. When he joined the orchestra of the
During the time Vitali was at the
New techniques in producing gut strings wound with metal wire took place in Bologna during the 1660s.[7] It is probable that the wide variety of terminology in use was due in part to the experimentation with bowed bass instruments capable of producing good lower notes without the need for long string lengths due to these developments. Other terms in use at the time include the viola da spalla, a cello or smaller bowed bass instrument which was held at the shoulder and rested on the player’s lap, supported by a strap Giuseppe Torelli was appointed to the cappella musicale at the San Petronio Basilica in 1686 as a player of the ‘tenore viola’.
One of Vitali’s few surviving unpublished works is the Partite sopra diverse sonate, for ‘Violone’, ca. 1680. The style of the writing is much more clearly suited to the cello, which suggests that Vitali is still using ‘Violone’ as a general term for bowed bass.
The Bolognese Academies
Bolognese musical life was enhanced by the existence of academies. The Accademia dei Filaschisi was formed in 1633 by Domenico Brunetti and Francesco Bertacchi
The links between the orchestra of the San Petronio Basilica and the Accademia Filarmonica are apparent from a comparison of lists of members of both institutions.[9] The most significant absentee from the membership of the Accademia Filarmonica is Maurizio Cazzati. The musical community of Bologna was split in the 1660s by a bitter polemic started by Lorenzo Perti, a priest at San Petronio. He identified some apparent musical errors in the Kyrie of Cazzati’s Missa primi toni, which had been published in his five-part Messa e salmi, Opus 17 (1655). Giulio Cesare Arresti (1619–1701), newly installed as organist at the San Petronio Basilica, sided with Perti and was consequently dismissed in 1661.[10] This contentious affair invites the speculation that the Accademia Filarmonica was set up specifically in opposition to Cazzati and his followers. However, Vitali publicly acknowledged Cazzati as his teacher in the letter to the reader of his Opus 1 (1666) – an unexpected gesture from one of the Accademia Filarmonica’s most prominent members, if indeed hostilities were rife.
Vitali at the Este Court, Modena
As one of two vice-maestri di cappella to Duke Francesco II (the other was Giuseppe Colombi), Vitali must have been required to provide church music as well as music for various state occasions. His two published sets of vocal music date from his period at Modena (1674–1692): the Salmi concertati, Opus 6 (1677), vesper psalms in concerted style, and Hinni sacri, Opus 10 (1684), a collection of forty-nine hymns for solo voice with five-part instrumental ritornellos. There are also many vocal works from this period found in manuscript: ten sacred and secular cantatas and four oratorios, the music of two of which survives. The texts of his oratorios are either allegorical or based on the Old Testament. One cantata, Per l'Accademia della Coronatione delle Regina d'Inghilterra, was written to commemorate the coronation of Maria Beatrice, Francesco II's sister, when her husband became King James II of England.
Works
Instrumental
Of the fourteen publications in Vitali’s output, nine are ‘
The majority of the da chiesa works (thirty-six sonatas in total) are scored for two violins and organ continuo. Opus 5, however, is unusual in that it contains a variety of scorings: as well as sonatas for two violins and continuo, Vitali includes sonatas for two violins, violone and continuo and as well as sonatas for four and five parts and continuo.
Da camera sonatas
The bulk of Vitali’s output consists of dance music. His last collection of dance music, and his last printed work, Sonate da camera a tre, Opus 14 (1692), was published posthumously by his son Tomaso Antonio Vitali in 1692.
Correnti, e Balletti da camera, Opus 1 (1666a), was first printed in
In Vitali’s next dance collection, Balletti, correnti alla francese, Opus 3 (1667), we see a greater diversity of dances: as well as pairs of balletti and correnti, there are gagliardas, a canario, a sarabanda, two sinfonias and a brando suite in several sections. The set is scored for two violins, viola and continuo but the viola part has little melodic interest and tends to fill in the harmony.
In Vitali’s third set of dance music, Balletti, correnti, gighe, allemande e sarabande a violino, violone o spinetta con il secondo violino a beneplacito, Opus 4 (1668), he states on the title page that the second violin part is optional.
We find a greater variety of dance types in Opus 4 than in Vitali’s previous da camera collections. There are twenty-four pieces: ballettos, allemandas, gigas, correntes, sarabandas and a rare example of a zoppa.
In Balletti, correnti e capricci per camera, Opus 8 (1683), Vitali returns to a relatively simple arrangement of paired balletti and correnti with the addition of one giga and two final movements entitled Capriccio. Each pair of balletto and corrente shares both a key and thematic material. The concluding capricci of Opus 8 are contrapuntal pieces.
The most significant point of interest in Varie Sonate Alla Francese, & all' itagliana à sei Stromenti, Opus 11 (1684), is the unusual scoring of three violins, two violas (one alto viola and one tenor viola) and continuo – although, as mentioned above, Vitali makes it clear in his preface that the middle parts can be regarded as ad lib. The thirty dance movements that make up this collection are grouped together by key. Dance types include a balletto, capriccio, introdutione, gavotta, giga, borea, zoppa, sarabanda and corrente.
The next collection of da camera sonatas, Balli in stile francese a cinque stromenti, Opus 12 (1685), is scored a quattro, for two violins, viola and continuo. The dances are grouped together according to key, not presented in pairs as is the case with Vitali’s Opera 1, 3 and 8. Each suite starts with a balletto and continues with three or more dances, either giga, borea, gavotta, minuet or sarabanda. The final group presents a brando followed by four more dances.
In Vitali’s last published collection, Sonate da camera a tre, due violini e violone, Opus 14 (1692), the forty-four movements, including examples of ballo, giga, borea, minuet, gavotta and zoppa, are divided into eight suites. Like Opus 8, there are thematic links between the dances in some of the suites.
The remaining collection of da camera sonatas, Varie partite del passemezo, ciaccona, capricii, e passagalli, a tre due violini, e violone, o spinetta, Opus 7 (1682), is a highly unusual set for the period, containing only dance movements employing variation technique, rather than balletti, correnti and other common dances. There are two Partite, one using the chord pattern of the
Artificii musicali
Artificial Musicali ne quali si contengono canon in diverse manners contrapuntal topic, inventions curious, capital e Sonate, Opus 13 (1689) is one of the most comprehensive studies of counterpoint before Bach’s
Da chiesa sonatas
Vitali’s first collection of ‘da chiesa’ sonatas, Sonate a due violini col suo Basso continuo per l'organo, Opus 2 (1667), consists of twelve short, three or four-movement works. Vitali uses a few basic movement types: the fast fugal movement in duple metre; the fast contrapuntal movement in triple metre with use of dance rhythms; and the slow homophonic movement in duple metre. Like the sonatas of his teacher Cazzati, Vitali’s Opus 2 sonatas use the model of the monothematic
In these sonatas the texture consists predominantly of two melodic lines, either homophonic or contrapuntal, over a supporting basso continuo line. The bass part primarily provides harmonic support, although it does occasionally participate in the contrapuntal interplay. Notable features in Opus 2 are the running or walking bass, which anticipates Arcangelo Corelli’s Opus 1 (1681), and the use of chromatic themes.
Vitali’s second collection of da chiesa was Sonate a due, trè, quattro, e cinque stromenti, Opus 5 (1669). The sonatas in Opus 5 are divided into sonate a due (sonatas no. 1-5, standard trio sonatas for two violins and organ continuo), sonate a tre (sonata nos. 6-9, adding an independent violone part), sonate a quattro (sonata nos. 10 and 11, adding alto viola) and a sonata a cinque (sonata no. 12, for two violins, alto and tenor violas, violone and organ continuo). The sonatas in Opus 5 are all given individual titles, and these titles are in effect dedications to Bolognese ‘Signori’ or senators.
In Vitali’s last book, Sonate da chiesa a due violini, Opus 9 (1684), the twelve sonatas are more consistent in terms of number and type of movements than those of Opera 2 and 5. Many of the sonatas expanded to six movements which are often linked thematically. Contrapuntal textures are more complicated than those of the earlier collections. In this opus, the continuo part does not on the whole contribute thematically – the contrapuntal interplay in the fugal movements is largely confined to the two violin parts, as in the sonatas of Opus 2 and those sonatas in Opus 5 without an independent bowed bass part. Opus 9 contains more passages of chromaticism than his previous da chiesa collections.
Selected discography
- Giovanni Battista Vitali, Vespers 1677 (Domine ad adiuvandum, Dixit Dominus, Confitebor, Beatus vir (2 versions), Laudate pueri, Laudate Dominum, Iste confessor (4 versions), Magnificat, Quia vidisti me Thoma), I Madrigalisti Estensi, Michele Gaddi; Novantiqua 2021
- Giovanni Battista Vitali: Sonatas Op.XI. Performed by Luigi Cozzolino (violin) and Semperconsort, with excellent liner notes by Carlo Vitali. Released in 2010. Brilliant Classics 93976
- Giovanni Battista Vitali: Triosonatas Op.2 . Performed by Luigi Cozzolino (violin), Anna Noferini (violin), Gianluca Lastraioli (theorbo and guitar), Gabriele Micheli (organ and harpsichord), with excellent liner notes by Carlo Vitali. Released in 2012. Brilliant Classics 94405
Notes
- ISBN 0-253-34365-8. Retrieved 16 January 2008.
- ^ ).
- ^ ISBN 1-56159-239-0.
- OCLC 25246514.
- ^ Alfred Planyavsky and James Barket: The Baroque Double Bass Violone
- ISBN 88-222-3474-X.
- ^ a b Stephen Bonta: ‘Terminology for the Bass Violin in Seventeenth-Century Italy’, Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society; iv (1978), 5-42.
- ^ Gambassi, op. cit., pp. 132-42.
- ^ Gambassi, op. cit., p. 138.
- JSTOR 740868.
External links