Dario Castello | Sonata prima a Sopran solo | for cornetto & organ | 1629 organ |

Kindly enjoy our last effort: Dario Castello's Sonata prima a Sopran solo performed on cornetto and an authentic organ from 1629.

This amazing Sonata has been published on "Sonate Concertate libro secondo" in Venice on 1629. Well, we tried our best to find the perfect authentic organ to perform (and record) this representative sonata from early baroque: an amazing authentic organ by Tomaso Meiarini built between 1629-1630, located in the astonishing Church of "S. Maria del Carmine" - Brescia. What a perfect match, not only chronologically but also for the beautiful principale and ripieno stops that take us to the times of Claudio Monteverdi.

Seicento Stravagante already recorded this sonata on CD for BIS Records:
https://open.spotify.com/intl-it/albu...

Seicento Stravagante's albums
Il Cornetto del Doge - Music from Venice Renaissance https://open.spotify.com/intl-it/albu...

Maurizio Cazzati - Motets & Sonatas https://open.spotify.com/intl-it/albu...

Dario Castello (bapt. 1602 - 1631)
Sonata prima a Sopran solo
from "Sonate Concertate libro secondo" Venice, 1629

Ensemble Seicento Stravagante
David Brutti - Cornetto
Nicola Lamon - Organ

www.seicentostravagante.com
Management: Miriam Callegaro ‭+39 347 0662764 ‬
[email protected]

Organ by Tomaso Meiarini 1629-30, Church of "S. Maria del Carmine" - Brescia.
Cornetto by Paolo Fanciullacci (2024)
Pitch: 440Hz

Special thanks to Miriam Callegaro, Alberto Chiari, Monsignor Maurizio Funazzi.

Dario Castello (Venice, bapt. 19 October 1602 - Venice 2 July 1631) was an Italian composer and violinist from the early Baroque period who worked and published in Venice. As a composer, he was a late member of the Venetian School and had a role in the transformation of the instrumental canzona into the sonata.

Dario Domenico Castello was born in Venice, where he was baptised on 19 October 1602.[2]
The title page of the 1621 edition of the first volume of the Sonate Concertate in stil moderno records him as Capo di Compagnia de Musichi d'Instrumenti da fiato in Venetia, indicating that he led a Venetian company of piffari, a band that could include sackbuts, cornetts, shawms, but also violins and viols.
On 19 November 1624 he was appointed «sonador di violin» (violin player) of the St. Mark's music chapel, at the time headed by Claudio Monteverdi.
The title page of the second volume (1629) of the "Sonate concertate in Stil moderno" lists him as Musico Della Serenissima Signoria di Venetia in S. Marco, & Capo di Compagnia de Instrumenti, indicating that he worked at the great Basilica of St. Mark's where Claudio Monteverdi was maestro di capella. Castello's use of the stile concitato (agitated style) —with quick repeated-note figures— is consistent with his association with Monteverdi.
His brother Francesco (trombonist) and his father Giovanni Battista (violinist) also were working at St Mark's.
Dario Castello died in Venice on 2 July 1631 during the great plague of 1630.

Of his music, 29 separate compositions survive. Castello's music is inventive and technically challenging. Strictly worked polyphonic sections alternate with dramatic recitatives over basso continuo, in keeping with the title of the publications "in stil moderno"; however he also uses some of the older canzona technique, which uses short sections of highly contrasting texture, and active rather than lyrical melodic lines. Unusually for the time, Castello often specifies the instruments for each part, calling for cornetti, violins, sackbuts and dulcians. That these works were still being reprinted in the 1650s attests to Castello's influence.

#baroquemusic #baroque #seicentostravagante #earlymusic