The origins of the string quartet genre are naturally associated with the Classical period and the works of Joseph Haydn, but four sonatas for two violins, viola and cello can be found in the oeuvre of the Baroque composer Alessandro Scarlatti. In their anonymous copy from the composer’s time, we find the note senza cembalo on the title pages of most of the instrumental parts, meaning ‘without harpsichord’. At this point, one might suspect that Scarlatti wanted to move away from the basso continuo practice characteristic of the Baroque era towards a string quartet without harpsichord accompaniment. This suspicion was reinforced by the Italian music collector Fortunato Santini, who copied four Scarlatti sonatas and titled them quartets. Paradoxically, however, in Santini’s notation, the cello part lost the title violoncello in favour of the term basso. In another manuscript, the sonatas were annotated al tavolino (It. ‘at the table’), apparently referring to the singing of madrigals at the table, unaccompanied by a keyboard instrument. Scarlatti himself used the term to describe his own madrigal that he sent to the court of Ferdinand I de Medici in 1706. So what were Scarlatti’s sonatas? Anticipation of the future and the Classical era, or Baroque reminiscence of the Renaissance madrigal?
Simply… Philharmonic! Project 1:
The search for perfection in the art of music can have various facets. In the field of solo performance, it is reflected in virtuosity. In the Baroque era, examples of the first manifestations of this phenomenon in flute playing can be found in France, but in the eighteenth century, the most important centres boasting outstanding flautists were the German states.
Performance perfection, however, is not only about solo performance, but also about the ability of the musicians in an ensemble to communicate perfectly. Still today, the string quartet is regarded as the model in the field of chamber music. Although it is mainly associated with a Classical-Romantic pedigree, works for this line-up were already being composed by Alessandro Scarlatti during the Baroque era. He may have been looking to the old masters of the Renaissance madrigal for inspiration, as Scarlatti is known to have held the work of Carlo Gesualdo in high esteem.
Compositional ideals in the art of counterpoint, in turn, were formulated by Johann Sebastian Bach, in his symbolically last work Die Kunst der Fuge, where he showed the multitude of possibilities for contrapuntally elaborating a chosen theme. Thanks to Bach’s efforts to quickly publish the collection, Die Kunst der Fuge became not only a coherent compendium of his achievements in the field of instrumental writing, but also an emblematic culmination of his entire career as a composer.
Daniel Laskowski
