The Baroque Trio Sonata and Concerto and their Forms

Italian composers never embraced the dance suite that the French clavecin composers so diligently and joyfully developed between the 1640s and the 1720s. Instead, the Italian need for instrumental music was met in the late seventeenth century by the trio sonata and the concerto. Two different types of concerti emerged between the 1680s and the 1730s, one related in concept to the French dance suite and the other modeled on the form of the fugue.

An early developer of the trio sonata was Giovanni Legrenzi (1626-1690). In his concept, the trio sonata was a composition for four instruments, two soprano instruments (usually violins), a bass instrument (violincello or bassoon), and continuo. This texture is called trio sonata texture, and became the typical texture for small instrumental ensembles or for standard vocal accompaniment. Legrenzi was not the innovator, however, of trio sonata texture. It emerged in the early Baroque in all the genres of music as a consequence of the Florentine Camerata’s late sixteenth-century innovation of recitativo. Legrenzi’s trio sonatas followed a three movement scheme. The movements were often played without a pause between. The first and third movements were played at fast tempi; the central movement was played slowly. All movements were imitative and, not surprisingly in Italian music of this period, all three movements also featured sequence.

The early trio sonata and concerto attained their “classic” form in the music of Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713) For Corelli, the difference between trio sonata and concerto lay in the number of instruments, the latter employing considerably more by doubling melodic parts. In his work, both the trio sonata and concerto were informed by different applications and differentiated in titling. The sonata or concerto da chiesa was a work intended as supplemental music to the Catholic Mass. The sonata or concerto da camera was a work intended to entertain in the private chambers of the aristocracy. Both da chiesa and da camera sonatas and concerti showed the heavy influence of the French dance suite, and both were multi-movement works. Corelli’s concerti were published into the first decade of the eighteenth century.

The intended use of the music had serious consequences with regard to form and the names given to each of the movements. The sonata or concerto da chiesa had to conform to church decorum. Da chiesa compositions could not reveal the relations to the dance suite, and each movement was titled to describe tempo and character rather than any relationship to dance choreography, regardless of any dance elements that might be present in the music. Hence an allemande might be titled as “grave.”

Sonata and Concerto da chiesa
The sonata and concerto da chiesa was generally contained four movements, though many examples contain more. The usual arrangement was slow-fast-slow-fast. All movements featured imitation between the upper voices and occasionally permitted the bass voice to participate. The texture represented a true blending of the textural possibilities and the compositional trends of the time: the upper-voice imitation was supported by an obbliggato bass and chord fill furnished by a harpsichord or, occasionally a lute. It is in trio sonata texture that the stile antico (imitative composition) and the stile moderno (chordal texture from the frottola) were reconciled.

The first movement of the sonata and concerto da chiesa borrowed heavily from the allemande grave, as did the slow segment of Lully’s ouvertures, so that the character of the music was most frequently slow, stately, processional, and serious, often possessing tension resulting from a dramatic undertone. Imitation was often employed, but not in the overt manner of the fugal exposition. Instead, imitative entries were close, and canon was used in place of true fugue. The use of canon, especially at close intervals such as the unison, permitted the two voices to move along in a closely-spaced duet separated roughly by the interval of a third. By avoiding large leaps in the subject melody, the two voices sounding imitatively actually blend so that chords form on accented beats, and the impression of chordal texture, not contrapuntal music that stretches the bounds of dissonance, is created.

The second movement unfolded so that imitative exposition, and the excitement such expositions generate, was the most predominant feature. Here the bass voice often participated by carrying one of the entrances of the subject. The character of the subject was often rousing, and the music drives forward a relatively quick tempo. The similarity of the first two movements of the early sonata and concerto to the French ouverture are more than likely not coincidental. Moreover, the pairing of a slow, essentially chordal movement with a faster imitative one was a practice that became common in later works of composers such as J.S. Bach. The prelude non mesuré also often featured two sections. The first section consisted of rhythmically, harmonically, and melodically free-ranging chordal textures. The second section was imitative and tightly rhythmically organized so that a strong, regular, and fairly rapid beat drove the music forward.

The third movement was slow and often assumed the metric and rhythmic characteristics of the sarabande. Unlike the early, wild guitar sarabande or the somewhat calmed-down sarabande of the clavecin suite, the upper voices of this sonata or concerto movement utilized integrated close imitation. The sarabande influences are heard in the slow tempo, triple meter, and sarabande phrasing. The phrases could be identified by a second-beat accent or by two-measure phrases that end on the third beat of the second measure.

The fourth movement of the sonata and concerto commonly resembled the compound triple-meter (12/8) gigue of the clavecin suite. The fourth movement was quick in tempo, imitative, with the bass voice stating one of the subjects, and, unlike any other movement in the sonata or concerto, binary in form. Like the clavecin gigue, imitation opens each section but, after the last entrance of the subject, continues to the section end in free polyphony. The binary form most closely identifies this fourth movement with the dance suite. Although the other movements of the sonata or concerto obviously borrowed dance characteristics, they tended to be through-composed.

Sonata and Concerto da camera
The sonata and concerto da camera were similar to the suite. There was no predetermined order of movements and impact upon the listener of the ordering could become a consideration to the composer or conductor. As in the sonata da chiesa, the movements were not, for the most part, linked to their dance models by title. Music that was effectively an allemande or a sarabande was not labeled as such but instead identified by its tempo or character. Dance titles were occasionally given, however, and these most often appear on pieces that would have been to Lully’s suites the optional movements. Hence, titles such as “minuet” or “gavotte” were not uncommon. As in the clavecin suite, these movements were presented in the second half of the aggregate.

Ritornello Concerto
The ritornello concerto came into popularity in the early eighteenth century and remained the preferred Baroque concerto form until the end of the period at mid-century. The principal developer of the ritornello concerto was Giuseppe Torelli (1658-1709). His concerti comprised three instead of four movements in the order fast-slow-fast. This order was adopted by subsequent composers and remains somewhat the normative to this day. Each of the fast movements used the ritornello form. Torelli’s concept of the possibilities of usage inherent in the orchestra was more modern, as well, breaking from Corelli’s somewhat casual view that the sonata becomes a concerto by the addition of players. Here Torelli pitted the larger group of the complete orchestra, called the tutti or ripieno, against a group of soloists, called concertino or soli.

The ritornello concerto does not draw upon the French dance suite for its form, rather several different contemporary forms. First and foremost in its conception is the ideal of melodic materials that return throughout the composition. The concept is first illustrated by the ritornello of the opera aria. The melody of the aria ritornello often anticipated the melody to be sung, but often the melody of the ritornello was an independent, unrelated one. Bach, of course, took the independence of the aria ritornello to the extreme, so that what he created could accurately be described as a “piece within a piece.” The aria melody (to be sung) served as a cantus firmus and was derived from the chorale repertory, and the aria ritornello was a piece unto itself that could omit the aria melody and still be a complete, high-quality composition.

Another model “return” form was the French rondeau. Here the “theme” material, usually the first section of eight measure length, is alternated among theme statements and episodes. The episodes contained musically unrelated materials. The materials could consist of new melodies with chordal support or even be imitative. They new materials were contrasting, not derivative. When the “theme” material returned, however, it was literally restated.

The third model for the ritornello concerto was the fugue. The fugue is through-composed but may be divided into two types of sections. The first is the exposition. Here the subject is presented and developed imitatively. The episode, the second type of section, is neither imitative nor related melodically to the exposition. It usually consists of a new melody that is used in sequence. In each subsequent exposition, the key of the exposition changes and order of entrances of the voices differs. The episodes, then, not only offer relief from the subject and the imitative texture, but serve as the transition to the key area of the next exposition.

The ritornello concerto movement borrows elements from all three forms. The theme music recurs throughout the movement but, unlike the rondeau and like the fugue, it recurs each time in a new key. The final ritornello statement is, however, in the tonic or original key, balancing and grounding movement. The recurrence of the theme, like the rondeau but not like the fugue, is in Italian concerti not in imitative exposition. In the concerti of Bach, ritornelli may be imitative, though they are not always so. In the ritornello concerto, musical materials are not part of the theme are musically unrelated to the theme. This practice is shared with the episodes of both the fugue and the rondeau. Like the fugal exposition, ritornello concerto episodes use sequence as primary device and are transitions to the next key area of the theme.

Moreover, Torelli uses the orchestra to further differentiate function, heighten contrast, and vary dynamics. The ritornello is assigned to the tutti, and the episodes are assigned to the concertino. Ritornello concerto movements tend to be more free-wheeling and less intellectually weighty than fugues. In practical application, a ritornello in a concerto movement is defined as any fragment of the initial theme, regardless of how sort it might be. The only prerequisite for a melodic fragment to function as a ritornello, besides the fact that it must be derived from the initial theme, is that it is recognizable to the listener as being derived from the theme. The device, even as a fragment, is remarkable for its ability to unify an extended movement by reminding the listener of the “home” idea.

Torelli’s ideas regarding concerto were developed further by Italian contemporaries such as Albinoni and Vivaldi, though not all concerti composed by Vivaldi follow precisely the ritornello model. German composer J.S. Bach, who learned a considerable amount about concerto by reading scores by Vivaldi, was another practitioner of the ritornello practice. His concerti, like all his works, tend to combine elements, and his ritornelli can be simple melodic fragments or full-blown imitative expositions, even in the same movement. Curiously, G.F. Handel’s output of concerti follow the Corelli model. One might speculate whether he stayed with the concerto he learned during his time in Italy or whether his choice was based on preference. The elements of style galant in the late operas show that he was abreast of musical developments on the continent.