CORELLI
Context and forces
Corelli was an Italian violinist and composer whose works were very influential in the development of instrumental music in the late Baroque period
NAM 15 comes from a collection of 12 trio sonatas, published in 1689
The term trio refers to the three melodic lines printed in the score, but normally four players are required for a trio sonata
The two treble staves are for solo violins, but the lowest stave, known as figured bass because of the numbers and other symbols printed below it, is labelled for violone and organ
The violone was any sort of low-pitched bowed string instrument (the part is usually played on a cello today)
The figuring part below the bass part indicates the type of chords to be improvised by the organist in order to fill out the texture between the high violin parts and the much lower bass notes - known as 'realising' the figured bass
The music on the lowest stave is known as a continuo part - found in almost all Baroque music that requires more than one performer
Instruments for this part can vary, but it normally needs at least one bass instrument to play the notes as written and one chordal instrument, such as a harpsichord, lute or organ to realise the figured bass
Most of the 12 trio sonatas that make up Corelli's Opus 3 have four movements, in the order slow-fast-slow-fast
The whole set are sometimes described as church sonatas,perhaps because of the use of the organ as the continuo instrument
Could have been played during church services but would have also been played for entertainment in the palaces of the nobles
Corelli's string writing is idiomatic - each part is conceived in terms of the instrument for which it is written - one of the reasons why Corelli's work was so influential
Doesn't use the extremes of the violin's range but the first violin part in bars 34-35 does require the use of the third position with the left hand higher up than the finger board and both violin parts exploit the contrast between lively rhythms and sustained notes
Structure
NAM 15 is in the style of a gigue, a dance in fast compound time often used by Corelli and other Baroque composers to conclude a multi-movement composition
Binary form, it's two sections being indicated by repeat marks
A and B don't necessarily represent contrasting themes: the initial musical ideas and mood are maintained throughout each movement
Harmony and tonality
Diatonic harmony and cadences help to clarify the binary structure
Movement starts in D major and then modulates to a perfect cadence in the dominant key of A major in bars 10-11, where it remains until the first double bar
Longer B section passes through several related keys before returning to the tonic in the closing bars
Harmony is functional - defines the keys we have identified, chiefly through the use of perfect cadences
Most of the chords are root-position or first inversion triads
Dissonant suspensions that usually resolve by step to a consonant note
Nearly every 7 in the figured bass is followed by a 6 - resolution of the dissonance
Rhythm
Movement contains rhythmic variety, especially in the violin parts
Dotted crotchet pulse is enlivened further by the following rhythmic features:
Cross-rhythm in bar 26, where the tie across the middle of the bar results in the first violin sounding as though it is in 3/4 while the lower part remains in 6/8 time
Hemiola in bar 27 that results in all three parts sounding as though they are in 3/4 time
Syncopation caused by the first violin
Texture
Contrapuntal texture
Begins like a fugue, based on the subject heard in the first two bars
Followed by a real fugal answer played by the second violin
Third entry comes in the bass at bar 6
At the start of the B section the fugal subject is heard in a free inversion
Imitative second violin and bass parts now enter only a bar apart, forming the fugal texture known as stretto
Most of the melodic material derives from the quaver and semi-quaver motifs in the subject
Although the imitative entries are shared among all three parts, the bass takes on a more functional role after bar 23
Texture is mainly widely spaced, with the two violin parts often crossing and placed high above the bass (as in bar 12)
The wide gap (which is filled by the organ) is known as a polarised texture and is a feature of much Baroque music