Dario Castello
Dario Castello’s Sonate concertate in stil moderno mark the shift from canzona to sonata: strict polyphony cuts against dramatic recitative over continuo, with stile concitato repeated notes and parts specified for violin, cornett, sackbut and dulcian.
Working in early seventeenth-century Venice, he wrote instrumental music that treats the violin as a singing voice and still demands real virtuosity. Short, highly contrasted sections keep the older canzona habit of active rather than lyrical lines, while the “stil moderno” title signals freer rhetoric over basso continuo. The surviving sonatas for one or more soprano instruments remain technically pointed and inventive; modern players still reach for the solo sonatas when they want the robust, experimental Italian sound of that generation.
Compositions by Dario Castello appear on
Venice to Versailles
Venice and Versailles stand for the two dominant Baroque styles in Europe: Venice for the robust, joyous exuberance and barocco character of the Italian manner, and Versailles for the refinement, delicacy, elegance and douceur of the French.
La Prima Stravaganza
Sonatas of 17th-century Italy from Capella Corelli: a window on instrumental music as it found its own voice, from the experimental works of Cima, Castello, Montalbano, Fontana, Frescobaldi, Marini and Uccellini through to Corelli.