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Instrumental Music – The Sonata
The Baroque period saw a flowering of instrumental music. While the church continued to be an important patron of the arts, many Baroque composers found employment in the service of a nobleman or noblewoman who wished his or her court to be a center of culture and music. Such courtly settings demanded much more instrumental music for entertainment and concerts. These performances generally did not take place in enormous concert halls, but in more modest-sized rooms or chambers in the palace. Music for these smaller settings is accordingly called “chamber music.” The sonata is one of the primary genres of chamber music in the Baroque.

The name sonata comes from the Latin and Italian verb sonare, which can be literally translated as “to sound,” and refers to the fact that the music is sounded or played on instruments rather than sung by voices. The Latin and Italian word meaning “to sing” is cantare, which is where the name for one of the vocal genres you’ve already studied comes from, namely cantata.

In the mid-Baroque there was a tendency to divide trio sonatas into two categories: sontata da camera and sonata da chiesa.  These names indicate music for court and  music for church respectively. However, both types were often used as concert pieces. We won’t concern ourselves with this distinction as it had largely disappeared by the late Baroque. However, it is important to note, this as  you will see those terms in the list of sample pieces presented below.   Trio sonatas could be in the style of the sonata De Chiesa or Sonata da camera. Sonata da camera literally means  “chamber sonata” . The sonata da camera consisted almost entirely of idealized dance tunes, though  the features of sonata da chiesa and sonata da camera then tended to be freely intermixed.

Trio sonata

Arcangelo Corelli

Sonata (from Latin and Italian: sonare, “to sound”), in music, literally means a piece played as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian cantare, “to sing”), a piece sung. The term designated a variety of forms until the classical era, when it took on increasing importance, and by the early 19th century came to represent a principle of composing large-scale works.  Though the musical style of sonatas has changed since the classical era, most 20th- and 21st-century sonatas still maintain the same structure.

The trio sonata was popular during the  17th and early 18th centuries.  It is is written for  two solo melodic instruments and basso continuo, making three parts in all, hence the name trio sonata. However, because the basso continuo is usually made up of at least two instruments (typically a cello or bass viol and a keyboard instrument such as the harpsichord), performances of trio sonatas typically involve at least four musicians.  The trio sonatas by Arcangelo Corelli (opus 1, 1681, opus 3, 1689) were of unparalleled influence during his lifetime and for a long time after.

In the works of Arcangelo Corelli and his contemporaries, two broad classes of sonata were established, and were first described as the sonata da chiesa (that is, suitable for use in church), which was the type “rightly known as Sonatas,” and the sonata da camera (proper for use at court), which consists of a prelude followed by a succession of dances, all in the same key.

Sonata da Chiesa

Sonata da chiesa (Italian for church sonata) was not very clearly defined until the works of Arcangelo Corelli, when it became the essential sonata and persisted as a tradition of Italian violin music.

It is often mistakenly believed these sonatas were composed to be performed in religious ceremonies. In fact, symphonies written in the sonata da chiesa form were frequently played during religious ceremonies, but they were not, however, written for the church.

Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713) was one of the greatest exponents of the sonata da chiesa. Among his finest compositions are Six Sonata da Chiesa, Op.1, which were dedicated to queen Christina of Sweden.  Giovanni Battista Bassani  composed twelve sonatas da chiesa (circa 1710). Three solo violin sonatas of J. S. Bach are of the sonata da chiesa form, as are his six sonatas for violin and obbligato harpsichord.

The sonata da chiesa had become outdated by the time of Joseph Haydn (1732–1809), although he did compose a few of his early symphonies in this style (slow-fast-minuet-fast). Later, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart  composed  seventeen “church sonatas,” but they  were single-movement organ and strings pieces that were played during the celebration of the Mass between the Epistle and the Gospel.

This work is a  trio  sonata Da Camera. Listen only to the last movement at 6’40”.  It is a very dance like   Gigue in 6/8 meter. characteristic of some of the movement in sonata Da Camera.

This  work  is another trio sonata this time a sonata da chiesa:  Corelli: Sonata da chiesa in F Major, Op. 3, No. 1.

Listen to the this work  0’0″ to  6’50”    (You may listen to the additional selections after this which are  also  trio sonatas.)

Movement 1 –  Grave – Listen for the cello part (plays the continuo in the bass) with  solo instruments (the violin and flute)  playing the melodies above. Between  these two parts are chords of the harpsichord – are less prominent  in this selection  yet they are present. Be sure you hear them.
Movement 2 –    Allegro – A fine example  virtuoso performing  typical of the virtuosity which characterized the Baroque (developed  for the violin especially by Corelli) . This  movement is very imitative. Meter is duple.
Movement 3 –  Vivace Though titled Vivace  this movement is not especially fast  – in triple meter
Movement 4 –   Allegro  Note that the continuo part becomes somewhat involved in the melody parts of  the  solo instruments.  This could well have  be improvised by  performers during Corelli’s time. These improvisations could possibly have been  written down over time by performers.  Again more trio sonatas follow on this video. One could assume they are also by Corelli.

For your reference – Examples of trio sonatas:

• Tomaso Albinoni, twelve sonatas da chiesa op. 1 and 12; sonatas da camera op. 8
• Arcangelo Corelli, twenty-four sonatas da chiesa ops.1 and 3; twenty-four sonatas da camera ops. 2 and 4.
• Henry Purcell, twelve sonatas of three parts, 1683, ten sonatas in four parts, 1697.
• Johann Sebastian Bach, trio sonatas BWV 1036–1039
• Dieterich Buxtehude, op. 1, six trio sonatas, and op. 2, seven trio sonatas.
• George Frideric Handel, trio sonatas opp. 2 and 5.
• Georg Philipp Telemann, around 150 trio sonatas. Listen here.
• Johann Pachelbel, Musikalische Ergötzung (Musical Delight), containing six trio sonatas for two violins and basso continuo. Original score in scordatura.
• Antonio Vivaldi, twelve trio sonatas da camera op. 1, and two trio sonatas mixed with solo sonatas in op. 5, and about ten unpublished trios.