This is the first in-depth study of Italian instrumental ensemble music during the seventeenth century based on the great majority of surviving primary sources. The book provides comprehensive coverage of every major composer of Italian "trio" sonatas until Corelli, and is intended as a standard work of reference. It also attempts to undermine the mythology surrounding the development of the free sonata acquired from successive generations of historians. The musical development is placed within a broad historical perspective examining such factors as performance and function.

Lelio Colista (1629–80) is considered the foremost composer of Italian trio sonatas in Rome before Corelli. In the Papal City, where he lived for most of his life, he was an acclaimed lutenist, composer, and teacher. He was part of a closely-knit professional milieu including the most appreciated instrumentalists of his generation, such as Alessandro Stradella, Carlo Ambrogio Lonati, and Carlo Mannelli. However, Colista’s trio sonatas were not published during his lifetime. No autograph has survived, and the many manuscript sources are today scattered throughout various European libraries. Their wide dissemination bears witness to the significant circulation of Colista’s trio sonatas in the last decades of the seventeenth century, particularly in England. This volume presents a critical edition of the complete output of Colista’s trio sonatas, and offers for the first time a full reassessment of the entire manuscript transmission, including all the known sources and concordances, as well as incomplete and doubtful works.

What is a sonata? Literally translated, it simply means 'instrumental piece'. It is the epitome of instrumental music, and is certainly the oldest and most enduring form of 'pure' and independent instrumental composition, beginning around 1600 and lasting to the present day. Schmidt-Beste analyses key aspects of the genre including form, scoring and its social context - who composed, played and listened to sonatas? In giving a comprehensive overview of all forms of music which were called 'sonatas' at some point in musical history, this book is more about change than about consistency - an ensemble sonata by Gabrieli appears to share little with a Beethoven sonata, or a trio sonata by Corelli with one of Boulez's piano sonatas, apart from the generic designation. However, common features do emerge, and the look across the centuries - never before addressed in a single-volume survey - opens up new and significant perspectives.

This is the story of the orchestra, from 16th-century string bands to the "classical" orchestra of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Spitzer and Zaslaw document orchestral organization, instrumentation, social roles, repertories, and performance practices in Europe and the American colonies, concluding around 1800 with the widespread awareness of the orchestra as a central institution in European life.

This classic reference work, the best one-volume music dictionary available, has been brought completely up to date in this new edition. Combining authoritative scholarship and lucid, lively prose, the Fourth Edition of The Harvard Dictionary of Music is the essential guide for musicians, students, and everyone who appreciates music. The Harvard Dictionary of Music has long been admired for its wide range as well as its reliability. This treasure trove includes entries on all the styles and forms in Western music; comprehensive articles on the music of Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Near East; descriptions of instruments enriched by historical background; and articles that reflect today’s beat, including popular music, jazz, and rock. Throughout this Fourth Edition, existing articles have been fine-tuned and new entries added so that the dictionary fully reflects current music scholarship and recent developments in musical culture. Encyclopedia-length articles by notable experts alternate with short entries for quick reference, including definitions and identifications of works and instruments. More than 220 drawings and 250 musical examples enhance the text. This is an invaluable book that no music lover can afford to be without.